alleycat
n.— «The Staten Island Invasion was a type of race known as an “alleycat,” a high-speed scavenger hunt that has become popular among messengers and bike enthusiasts around the country. Alleycats are like marathons for the anti-marathon set, for those who prefer showing off their tattoos instead of their spandex.» —“A Bike Race With a Mission, Plus Cigarettes” by Manny Fernandez New York Times Aug. 20, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
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About time this word has been incorporated into the lexicon. They’ve been around for over twenty years. Alleycats have been recently been popularized with cycle couriers since at least the early to mid-90s. They gained in popularity with non-messengers due to the participation of the international community of bike messengers, especially around 2000, when the Cycle Messenger World Championships was held in Philadelphia. A five-day warm-up event called Metropoloco was held in NYC to “hype up” the main race of that summer in the week prior to CMWC 2000, which consisted of racing, drinking, carousing and other side events including the bunny-hop, sprints, and skids, (track bike required, at least for a long skid worth recording). Lately, larger alleycat post-race games included footdown and bike polo.