what was that? is that all there is? who is this? this is it.

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June 5, 1999

July 30, 2014

A coworker of mine has photocopied flyer on the wall in her office, it's a poached image of Messenger 29 and all it says is

Alleycat Race

June 5, 1999

In May of 1999 I made a stack of those 11" x 17" photocopies and Devlin and I put them up in bars and bike shops around town. The posters were intentionally vague as it was mostly a word-of-mouth thing and those that actually showed up to race or party knew someone that knew someone.

However at least one of those posters paid-off when a rep from Red Bull called me (on a land line) to offer me cash and product for the race and party. We weren't asking him for prizes, he somehow found out who was doing the alley cat and got the number for Wa Legal and gave us $200 in cash and cases of Red Bull and suggested we use some of the money to buy vodka because that mixed with his energy drink was all the rage in 1999.

The winner of the race (Mike Dodge) got $100 cash and a trophy while 2nd place (Brad Lewis) got $50 cash. With the $5 entry fees we had enough cash left over to buy vodka, two kegs of Elysian beer and plenty of hot dogs with matching buns and such.  It was a party more than a race. Just one of the many raging parties that took place at that 19th Ave East house.

 Tim Mason used to ask questions that went a little something like this: "why race in local crits and win a box of Clif Bars when you can race in alley cats and win cash and prizes and plane tickets all over the world??"

Today when I look at this photo from the end of the race it makes me stop and think and do a little gut-check check-in and kind of count on my fingers how long ago 1999 was. How many of these people have since passed away? (here's to Brad and Devlin) How many of these people are now attorneys? What the hell is that guy doing now? Where is she these days? and so on and so on.

I delivered one of those alley cat flyers to Bike Works in 1999 when Adam Smith worked there and it has been on various walls in various rooms ever since. Into Adam's hands then adopted by Suzanne and now on the wall in Tina's office. That little flyer brings me full circle.


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