2 Alleycat Races this weekend and article

One is in Boston, Saturday the 15th

The Legend of Zelda Race

The Legend of Zelda Replay race is tommorow. I'm hereby announcing the start of the race to be:

The Hatch Shell on the Charles River bikepath. From there ALL racers will go directly to Winthrop Sq. to receive their manifest. After that, you're on your own with your maps until you defeat Ganon atop Death Mountain and sprint to the finish line which is The Squealing Pig on Smith St, off Huntington Ave in Mission Hill/Roxbury/Northeastern territory.

See ya'll there, be safe, and any questions please get in touch!

Jacob--jacobsmoller@gmail.com

More on the race based on this 80's video game series--Wikipedia definition of Zelda..."The Legend of Zelda series (often shortened to just Zelda, TLoZ, or LoZ), first published on February 21, 1986 by Nintendo, is a series of video games created by the celebrated game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. In Japan the series is known as ゼルダの伝説 (Zeruda no Densetsu), often shortened to just ゼル伝 (Zeru-Den). The games are primarily set in a fantasy world, in the Kingdom of Hyrule, although some have been set in different countries or other equally fantastic worlds. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure, role-playing, and puzzle-solving, occasionally with minor platform elements. The series is known for its beautiful and inspiring settings, creative gameplay, interesting characters, stirring original music, and high overall production values. It is widely considered one of the most influential video game franchises ever created. It also claimed the #1 spot on G4's 100 Greatest Games of All Time. As of September 2005, the Legend of Zelda series has sold 47 million units.[1]

----Here is information on the race--

i sure hope you have a good map.

one day, an evil army attacked the land of hyrule and stole the triforce of power. this army was led by ganon, the powerful prince of darkness who sought to plunge the world into fear and darkness under his rule. fearing his wicked rule princess zelda split up the triforce of wisdom into eight fragments and hid them throughout the realm to save the last remaining triforce from the clutches of the evil ganon. at the same time, she commanded her most trustworthy nursemaid, impa, to secretly escape into the land and go find someone with enough courage to destroy the evil ganon. upon hearing this, ganon grew angry and imprisoned the princess. impa has finally found someone she believes up to the task of freeing the princess.

it is your mission to free princess zelda! collect the 8 pieces of the triforce of wisdom and defeat gannon in his lair atop death mountain to free her from his grasp.

the 8 pieces of the triforce are hidden in 8 different labrynths around hyrule. the locations of all 8 of these labrynths are listed on the map you will get at the race start. after collecting all of these 8 pieces, reuniting the triforce, you will be strong enough to travel to death mountain to defeat the prince of darkness, ganon.

the location of death mountain will be revealed to you at one of the 8 labrynths.

you may visit the labrynths in any order you choose, but you must go to all of them in order to be strong enough to battle gannon atop death mountain.

if you are able to defeat gannon, you can then sprint to the finish line, which will be announced online at the same time as the race start.

good luck to you, and travel safely. the princess depends on your courage!

prizes from:

crumpler
chrome
fortyninesixteen
laek house
kryptonite
jacobs custom bicycles

first out of town prize is a custom track frame. is that enough incentive?

Special note--
This is to be a race, not a scavenger hunt or anything like that. First crazy ******* over the line wins stuff. There are no points, bonuses, whatever. You ride faster, pick the better route, you win!

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Also the 2nd Race--
Kings of New England


Check the flyer
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Article about Sydney Bike Messengers

Wheels turn as feet are beaten by fingers

Sydney Morning Herald, July 15, 2006

There was a time not so long ago when tattoos, cut-off shorts and
shoulder satchels appeared to rule Sydney's streets.

It was the late 1990s, the dotcom boom was in full swing and hundreds
of bicycle couriers roamed the central business district at will,
pausing for no man - or red light.

So hectored were pedestrians by wheel-borne urban cowboys that in 2002
the City of Sydney pressured bicycle courier companies to sign an
accord, in which they promised to refrain from intimidating or
endangering other road users.

Four years on, bicycle couriers have become the endangered species,
their numbers dwindling in the face of an ever-greater take-up of
high-speed internet, PDF files, digital photography and audio.

Simon McKenzie, from the Sydney Bicycle Messengers Association,
estimates that the legion of riders carving up the CBD has shrunk by
almost 75 per cent since 2000: "Back then you had more than 10 bicycle
courier companies employing close to 250 riders. Now you've got seven
businesses and about 70 riders, although the numbers fluctuate
throughout the year.

"When the Y2K scare came along, no one wanted to use their computers.
Since they got over that, our work has been in steady decline," Mr
McKenzie says.

Couriers make marginally less money an hour than they did six years
ago, he says, "but back then they could work much longer hours so the
difference is a lot bigger than you think".

In the mid-'80s, New York had more than 7000 bicycle couriers. During
the dotcom years there were 2500 and now there are barely more than
1000, says Joel Metz, who has a courier business in Portland, Oregon,
and helps run the International Federation of Bike Messenger
Associations.

Although he believes talk about the death of the bicycle courier may be
premature, Mr Metz concedes that business is on the wane: "Whether
[the] dent is due primarily to the general downturn of the economy ...
or to changing methods of sending information ... I'm sure either point
could be argued."

Electronic file transfers will "change what the industry moves, but in
the end, we'll adapt and rebound - perhaps not to pre-email heights,
but enough".

There will always be deliveries that can be made only in person, says
Craig Otis, a courier for more than 17 years who is now with Sydney's
Toll Fast.

"Our biggest clients would be legal firms with original documents that
need to be signed for, or investment banks or travel agencies sending
tickets - wherever you have a document that can't be reproduced there's
a need for us," he says.

Business might not be booming, but solidarity among bicycle couriers is
as strong as ever. In October Sydney will host more than 500
competitors from dozens of countries at the Cycle Messenger World
Championship.
----------------
Messenger Institute for Media Accuracy