Chris Schmidt proved himself Washington DC's fastest bike messenger as 
he won his second straight DC St Valentines Day Alleycat completing the 
14 checkpoints spread around the city in under 35 minutes, just seconds 
ahead of DC's Track Bike Messenger Champion Eric Romain. Third place was 
taken by Frank Peele, who rode a mountain bike, perhaps to prepare for 
the April 4th Mountain Bike Messenger Sprint Challenge. Laura Vogel 
demonstrated her consistency as one of the cities top messengers as she 
took first place honors for the women followed closely by her good 
friend Edra London. 

All five of these racers represent the best of the hometown hopefuls in 
the 6th Annual Cycle Messenger World Championships, which will take 
place in Washington DC, September 4th-7th 1998. 

Chris Schmidt, who as well as being an exceptionally fast bike messenger 
is also an up and coming traditional road racer, lead the race from the 
third checkpoint and by the 8th checkpoint, he never looked back. It 
wasn't an easy victory by any means, however, as the top ten riders all 
crossed the finish within 3 minutes of each other. Chris Schmidt won a 
trip to represent the DC Couriers in Toronto at the Human Powered 
Rollercoaster, a figure-8 bike messenger track. Other prizes were 
donated by Timbuk2 Designs, Swobo Clothing, local bike shop City Bikes, 
and local messenger company Bega Services. 

The race helped 6th place finisher Barry McMenamin, along with his 
excellent finish in Minneapolis on January 24th, to move into 1st place 
in the Timbuk2 International Alleycat Series. This series, sponsored by 
cycling bag maker, Timbuk2 Designs, will decide the best all around 
alleycat racer in the world. Alleycats are mostly local messenger races 
that have been popping up in virtually every city that has bicycle 
messengers. They are ridden in live traffic and usually have 30-100 
competitors. In contrast, the Cycle Messenger World Championships, also 
presented in part by Timbuk2, will have as many as 1000 competitors and 
will take place on a closed course designed to test all of the skills of 
a bike messenger. 

As well as heading to Toronto for the Human Powered Rollercoaster in 
April, the DC Couriers will be sending teams to Boston for the March 7th 
Crazy 8 Alleycat, and Richmond for the the March 14th Ides of March. The 
District of Columbia Bicycle Courier Association currently sponsors a 
monthly Solidarity Ride, and, along with the Washington Area Bicycle 
Association, is conducting a contest to declare Washington DC's Most 
Bike Friendly Building. Needless to say, the DC Couriers have been 
extremely busy, spending their weeks working 9 hour days as bicycle 
messengers, their weekends racing in Alleycat races, and their nights 
preparing for the 1998 Cycle Messenger World Championships. 

for more on the DC Bike Couriers, please visit: 
http://www.dccourier.com 

or contact: 
Rebecca Reilly Media Liaison 
1220 L ST NW 
SUITE 100-399 
Washington DC 20005 
202-265-4247 

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