Friday April 6 and Saturday April 7 were the first two days of a 3 day event here in Shanghai, the Shanghai Alleycat. Originally created as a bike race for messengers using fixed gear bikes, Alleycat races have turned into an international phenomenon with people all over the world sponsoring and participating. The Shanghai race that just occurred was one of these.
I signed up a few weeks ago thinking, "Hey, that looks cool!" Little did I know that this event would open my eyes to so many new and exciting opportunities in this grand city. Shanghai is home to 70,000 foreigners, or "laowai" as we are called by the locals. In the race this last weekend there were 411 of us, including many white women like myself! Oh, I was so happy to meet other girls.
I was riding a 35 pound monster of a mountain bike. The Hunter 2.0 by GIANT. It was manufactured in Taiwan and the thing is a beast. I felt like an elephant compared to the majority of the fixed gear titanium frame bikes at the race, but we were all there to have fun.
The race festivities started on April 6th with a night-ride. Ten of the checkpoints had already been distributed by email and we were going to ride out together to find the remaining 2 hidden checkpoints. These were, in order, a bagel shop called "Egghead Bagels" and a skate park way down past the Dapu Bridge. The skate park was really far away from the rest of the checkpoints, this was the part of the race designed to test our endurance.
On Friday night I accidentally had a run-in with a road stanchion, it won. However, I only ended up with a few cuts and bruises, nothing broken, yay! On race day, Saturday, check-in began at 11 am. I didn't arrive until 11:45. The race was due to start at 1:00 pm, but due to some problems with local authorities the starting-point had to be moved and we were going to start in heats of 10 people each. I was in heat number 38. So, I began the race at 1:38 pm.
I was prepared with my route planned out by Google Maps. Still, with my heavy bike, and with my winning attitude it took me 2 hours and 56 minutes to complete the race. The winning time was 46 minutes. I am very proud of myself for actually finishing the race. There were over 600 participants and only 400 people actually completed all the checkpoints. The grand total of distance covered was 25 kilometers on my part, or about 16.5 miles. We could have chosen any route, but I went with my map. The race covered three of my favorite things, navigating out an unknown course with a map, biking, and spending time with new friends.
Thank you to Shanghai Alleycat for making my weekend so much fun!
If YOU want to learn more about biking in China, go to www.peoplesbike.com
