On Feb 25, 7:56 pm, "ZBicyclist" <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Yeah, it's a great video. I like the vicarious excitement.
>
> In real life, this is likely as dangerous as it looks. Sunday, a rider in
> an "alleycat" race was killed in Chicago. I can give a couple of links and
> part of the story below, but I don't know further details.
>
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/...e.com/news/local/chi-bike-fatal-bothfeb25,0,2...
>
> According to a local Chicago list poster, "It was the "Tour de Chicago", an
> alleycat race series.
> There were about 40 participants total, and apparently there were roughly 2
> "packs" when this occured."
Not long ago the participants in these informal races were almost
exclusively messengers, battling it out among themselves. The riders
in the Lucas Brunelle videos look extreme and perhaps insane or stupid
but in general they are all highly experienced pros who have an idea
of what they're doing and the risks involved. The guys in this video
have been messengers for about 15 years; Brunelle himself is extremely
skilled and has been around the block more than a few times. But
people watching the videos don't realize the combo of experience and
inebriation that goes into such retarded riding. They simply think,
hey, I can be that crazy too. In recent years, no doubt largely due to
the videos in question, there has been a huge increase in 'alleycat'
races and a huge influx of non-pros entering them. The messengers have
been more than happy to allow all comers into their races -- it meant
more money, bigger prizes, bigger crowds, bigger egos for them as the
non-messengers happily threw down entry fees but never challenged for
wins. The one thing that nobody ever seemed to want to think about
was: what happens when one of these amateurs gets killed? I predict a
shitstorm.
Robert
