BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

« Back to Archive
30

Pittsburgh Alleycats of days past

So I'm trying to compile a list of all the alleycats that have gone down that the lot of us can remember. i can see the ones on pghalleycat.com, but i know there are more. id like to get a running list on here, so think way back.


he oldest one i recall is the beers and water carriers from 2005.


floggingdavy
2010-09-10 04:11:32

I recall a Halloween alleycat in 2005.


I organized one in 2006 (the Caffeinator) and another for BikeFest (the Rallycat).


Random list of other ones I remember from days of yore:


* Rub-a-Dub (2006)

* Ace of Spades (2006)

* Book-It (2005)

* Scrabble Scramble (2005)

* Spring Dandy (2005)

* Iron City Icepick (2004)

* Steel Back the City (2004)

* Iron Lung (2004)


bjanaszek
2010-09-10 12:21:14

oh man, there are a lot.


ted will be able to fill in some details on the early ones, such as randy's devil night one.


-the first book it in early oct 2005.

-i believe brad threw one near halloween 2005. there were 2 routes - the hard one where you had to go in order to make a pentagram or just any order. forget the name, but the spoke card reflected this.

-beers and water carriers - started at duke's, entry fee was a six pack.

2006

-caffeinator

-rallycat

-warhaul - carry as much bike junk to free ride. ended at casey's in the northside.

-ace of spades

-dead men tell no tales

-misfits halloween

-tour de yinz

-stairway to hell


2007

-2nd book it is sometime around this time

-what would jesus ride?

-creamcycle

-tour de yinz two

-bark at the mon

-pittsburgh roubaix


2008

-2nd creamcycle

-pittsburgh roubaix

-clash halloween


i'll let jason tell everyone how many he wrecked in.


steve-k
2010-09-10 13:08:03

you should post the list that you have so we can see what might be missing.


some of the original alleycats were when some messenger types were organizing the burgh burners stuff way back in like 2002/3(?)


erok
2010-09-10 13:10:19

Brad's was the "Spirit of the Streets." Randy's was 2004? That started at Mr Roboto's, right?


bjanaszek
2010-09-10 13:14:07

yeah, you're right. i feel like there are a couple holes missing. once i unpack all of my stuff after moving i can look at the old posters/flyers/bikefest calendars i have and see what else there is.


steve-k
2010-09-10 14:09:04

If anyone really wants to make a project of this, I have a few fistfuls of spoke cards in my basement from the earlier races...


bjanaszek
2010-09-10 15:03:13

I believe that the first alleycat that Pittsburgh

had was called "the burgh burner" and was maybe in

2004.


steevo
2010-09-10 15:48:02

I kinda forgot about the Icepick back in 2004, that was fun and cold and ended at Duke's. The Iron Lung was organized with me, Rob W, tall CMU Joel, and some other heads at The Sharp Edge and ended at the Peach Pit... totally awesome, and when we still had the never ended PBR cans hookup.


Yeah, Spirit of the Streets was my first Halloween alleycat w/ Carol back in 2005, as the Devil's Night race ran in 2004 that went to a bunch of cemeteries. Two routes based around a 5-point star onto of a PGH map, one around the circumference that was shorter and one to each point in order, crossing town a few times. Since then it's been with Erok and a few other contributors... the 2006 Mommy, Can I Go Out And Ride Tonight? Misfits race, 2007's Bark at the Mon Ozzy themed race, 2008's Pittsburgh Calling Clash themed one, and 2009's Bonzo Goes To Pittsburgh Ramones themed one. There will be a 2010 punkrockofsorts themed Halloween race, we're just busier people than we were a few years ago to think of things months in advance.


Pittsburgh spokecards I have, w/ dates when I have them just to add to the list:


11.8.03 Iron City Scramble

2.28.04 Burgh Burner Poker Race

Summer.04 Iron Lung

10.30.04 Devil's Night

12?.??.04 Iron City Ice Pick

??.??.05 Springdady

10.29.05 Spirit of the Streets

12.10.05 Beers and Water Carriers

4.8.06 Caffeinator

8.26.06 Dead Men Tell No Tales

10.??.06 Mommy, Can I Go Out And Ride Tonight?

10.20.07 Bark at the Mon

10.25.08 Pittsburgh Calling

11.??.07 Le Tour de Yinz

3.22.08 Bros n Bikes n'at Alleycat

6.13.09 Dinocat

8.21.09 Streetcred

10.24.09 Bonzo Goes To Pittsburgh

4.20.10 Spring Roll


Mystery Dates

??.??.?? Frozen Hell

??.??.?? Big Idea Race

??.??.?? Creamcycle

??.??.?? 2nd Creamcycle

??.??.10 3rd Creamcycle

??.??.08 Pittsburgh Roubaix

??.??.?? Alleycat Soup

??.??.09 Another Alleycat Soup

??.??.?? Some all girls alleycat for Bikefest

??.??.08 Pittsburgh Roubaix

??.??.?? Rub-A-Dub

??.??.?? Scrabble Scramble


bradq
2010-09-10 18:19:11

what happened to my post?


did it get marked as spam?


eric
2010-09-10 19:57:04

wow brad, that is pretty organized.


steevo
2010-09-10 21:24:42

creamcycle was 7/4/07, creamcycle 2 was 7/4/08.


rub a dub was during bikefest 06 i believe.

all girls bikefest was pussycat. jessie threw that, i believe.


alleycat soup 1 was in 2007. summer. before i moved back.


date for misfits was what, the last saturday of the month i think. it was right before my birthday, so it should be the 28th i think.


also, i think the first tour de yinz was 11/06. this was a very rainy day. i watched justin hit a car at the top of stanton. and then the second was in 9/07.


all of my spoke cards/flyers are in boxes right now. but yes, i do believe this stuff to be accurate.


december 06 was stairway to hell. maybe the 17th?


steve-k
2010-09-11 04:45:12

some of the burgh burner stuff was earlier, i think before people here knew what an alleycat was. they were like weekly races around town, but all called "burgh burner"


erok
2010-09-11 05:59:58

eric, it did get picked up as spam. probably the link made it happen


erok
2010-09-11 06:01:48

I remember the Search and Destroy race. I wonder where that spokecard made it to... I've certainly lost a couple over the years.


bradq
2010-09-11 14:26:18

Spirit of the Streets was good fun--I recall working a checkpoint downtown, watching folks make the difficult decision of choosing between circus peanuts or a cup of pumpkin pie filling....


bjanaszek
2010-09-11 15:42:43

@brad: also there was the "neighbor of the beast alleycat" that ended up being a ride from the wall to my house for beers. :)


unixd0rk
2010-09-13 18:10:13

@rob: that was my favorite alleycat ever.


ndanger
2010-09-13 19:52:57

balmy heaven


erok
2010-09-15 01:53:54

Go Fast, Get There First - January 2008


And, for the record, Champagne, I only crashed in two alleycats, Caffeinator and Beers and Water Carriers (the race in which just about everybody crashed ... mine was just more "epic"). The "third" crash was at the Warhaul after-party (Hey, Casey, sorry again for bleeding all over your bathroom).


And I'm the current reigning PGH Alleycat champion, so, yeah, suck on that!!!


jcme
2010-09-19 22:04:50

i saw the pista concept yesterday. i teared up on the inside just a little bit.


steve-k
2010-09-20 13:31:21

I didn't know that there was a Pittsburgh Alleycat Championship.


bradq
2010-09-20 18:14:21

I think you get disqualified if you have a UCI license


erok
2010-09-20 19:13:32

True ... I'd say Steve and I sandbagged the last alleycat, the black metal one ... we were the only two that raced that didn't smoke.


jcme
2010-09-21 01:42:57

Wow, I can't believe that I have forgotten about some of the alleycats that I have won or helped to put on! I need to keep a journal.


First one I did in PGH, was The Iron City Scramble (2003) it was awesome. Randy and Nathan's Devil's Night Alleycat was also one of the best ever.


thelivingted
2010-09-21 03:44:39

By the way, I still have all the Polaroids Stacey took on the bridge during Beers and Watercarriers! I think I have a picture of nearly everyone in this thread!!


thelivingted
2010-09-21 03:49:21

damn, that was 7 years ago...


erok
2010-09-21 13:35:27

only five, thankfully.


thelivingted
2010-09-23 12:17:44

iron city scramble


erok
2010-09-23 14:42:24