The Race To Space: Alley Cat This Saturday

Forget the XPrize -Raleigh has its own space program. Saturday is the big one, cyclists will be sent on interstellar missions like the city has never seen before. If you like biking but have never tried an Alley Cat race- this would be a great first race to try. The ‘races’ are fun light-hearted and social in a way that your traditional bike race just isn’t. This Alley Cat is being organized by one of Raleigh’s most creative young minds: Miles Holst. Between Miles and the space theme its sure to be a once in a life time space mission. Upon arrival at mission control, space racers will affiliate themselves with the Russian Cosomonauts or the American Astronauts. Your mission will involve travel to distant planets, docking on the international space station, releasing satellites into orbit, in flight refueling and retrieval of the once lost Saturn capsules.

Safety is a primary mission directive. Our forces cannot afford to loose anyone in the quest for galactic domination. Red lights are a must and time deductions are awarded for helmets. In fact lighting is so important for a proper space craft- the more blinkers, headlights, flashlights, glow sticks, black lights etc on your space craft better! These greatly prevent any loss of heat tiles or damage to your shuttle/crew during mission objectives.

bring: a bicycle (space craft), lock, bag, lights
+ a $5 Space Federation entry fee.

Other:
Cash prizes and prints of autographed photos of real NASA astronauts will be awarded to the fastest top four space cadets who successfully complete all in flight objectives.

Costumes of any kind are encouraged!
Especially those influenced by: NASA, CCCP, classic 1950s Sci-fi films, Star Wars, Star Trek, Robotech, Lost in Space and absolutely anything else of an interstellar nature.

astro-Volunteers!
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Star Fleet and helping out with the race, please e-mail Miles at
Possible assistance may include; operating checkpoints, registration, pre-race prep etc.

After the race there will be games and an after party-

Alley Cat Space Race Facebook Page

15004/29 12:21 PM

Am I reading this right?

Lots of bicyclists, racing/competing, in the dark, on a Saturday night?

I’m going to get blasted for this, I know, but isn’t this a bit dangerous? This is the type of thing that makes me lose sympathy when I hear people complaining about bicyclists’ rights. It’s not really fair to those driving motor vehicles, to have bicyclists darting all over the place. This doesn’t sound like an instance where bicyclists are going to be following traffic rules. I don’t really care how many blacklights/glow sticks/reflectors one has, it’s going to be difficult to see those on their bikes. It’s asking for an accident.

I’ve got to admit though, it sounds like a lot of fun.

David04/29 12:25 PM

Actually its pretty carefully done- routed around traffic and volunteers there to guide cyclists and cars to keep everything safe.

Jason Sullivan04/29 12:45 PM

“You must be logged in to view this page.”

Am I like the last person on the planet who thinks an announcement on a website that requires an account (that may or may not be easily attainable) is really annoying? Is it really that much harder to get a blogspot, typepad, or even a myspace page (even though I hate myspace, they seem to be ok about other people at least looking at pages without an account)?

Miles04/29 12:51 PM

I understand your concern and I have definitely taken it into full consideration.

The entire course takes a little over an hour to complete. And given that the sun will set at 8:04pm most of the event will take place with sunlight present.

Also the check points are distributed as to avoid most of Raleigh’s largest and sketchiest roadways/intersections.

There will also be safety sheets handed out during registration that will strongly encourage practices such as riding in packs, signaling, and adherence to traffic rules for self-preservation.

I have raced in three night time Alley Cat races in Raleigh and have never experienced or heard of any serious incident. If everyone looks out for one another, obeys traffic laws, and keeps a good head on their shoulders this race will be a fun, exciting, and ultimately safe one.

jedidiah05/05 12:49 AM

Saturday was the perfect night fora race and from my knowledge there were no accidents. Go Cosmonauts!

Miles05/09 11:39 AM

Links to photo albums and other materials from Saturday’s race to space!
http://yes-sputnik.net/spacerace/

Welcome to New Raleigh. We welcome your participation in the ongoing discussion. If you are new we invite you to register with our site. With registration you can upload a picture, message other users, and comment more easily. If you want to keep up with the site, subscribe to our RSS feed or get emailed every time we post.

David Tuesday, April 29, 2008