This was in to days Register Guard local Eugene news paper. We are grateful for the press, but a few points were missed. The red text is my added info. Thanks to the 35 racers who braved the elements and threw down this weekend. Cat Scratch Fever was a great success! We had about 60 people at the skid, trick, track stand, and foot down comp. The trick highlights were Sean Watters 180 skid roll out to keo spin with a wheelie out. He also won the alleycat. Sequpia Hill dominated a 360 tail tap. Impressive because he has had a fixed gear for only 2 months. His stock Redline925 held up just fine. Look for our next alleycat called “THE AMAZING RACE”! This will be a four person team event that will be an all day affair. Bigger missions, bigger prizes, and the biggest CHARITY event ever to happen in Eugene on a bike. E-mail me any ideas of local charity’s you would like to see get help! fixedgearrally@yahoo.com

Sunday was a perfect day for a bike ride.

Perfect, that is, if you enjoy racing around town in chilly temperatures, dodging cars and completing ridiculous tasks as you try to best your buddies in a citywide scavenger hunt for charity.

Those conditions suited about 40 young bicyclists who competed in the latest Alleycat Race, a mad dash around downtown Eugene that benefited Greenhill Humane Society and FOOD for Lane County. We were able to donate 300 lbs of kitty litter to Greenhill Humane Socity and donated 150 cans to Food for Lane County.

Alleycat races are informal cycling competitions, or, as 29-year-old coordinator Luke DeMoe put it, “a mix between scavenger hunts and seeing who can navigate the city the fastest.”

Relying on maps and their know-ledge of city streets, the racers tried to be the first to whip through eight checkpoints and the tasks at each. At the downtown library, for example, the riders hit the stacks to find a specified quote from the book, “Fight Club”; they also had to summit the formidable Skinner Butte hill and check in at Autzen Stadium.

The race favored the experienced rider, and Alexander Hongo, a 24-year-old courier from Eugene, expected to do well. Minutes before the start, he visualized which routes would slow him down with traffic lights and cars.

“Know the city,” he said. “Know which streets to avoid and which to take.”

At Alton Baker Park, the bikers were required to down shots of tequila or vinegar before touring around the duck pond on either a skateboard, a Big Wheel or a kid’s bike.

Steve Hauck, 29, was just minutes into the race when he reached the park. As he wobbled off on a skateboard, he said the race is going “really good — already wrecked once. Already got some pretty good skinned knees.”

Not that Hauck was complaining, mind you. The race drew a rough-and-ready crowd, mostly twentysomethings, some with elaborately pierced ears and a look that suggested they’d be quite at home at the next punk rock show.

“These aren’t the people with the $1,500 bikes,” volunteer Ryan Garner said, as he merrily handed out vinegar shots and waited eagerly for someone to lose his or her lunch. “These are the kids who throw together their bikes based on what’s available.

“These kids love riding,” Garner said. “They’re taking it to the next level.”

And no one took it to the next level faster than Sean Watters, a 24-year-old hospital technician who won with an unofficial time of “45 or 50 minutes.”

Wattersattributed his victory to route selection: He was able to loop through the checkpoints without needing to backtrack to any, something that has cost him in past races, he said.

The air’s bitter chill gave Watters “freezing legs,” he said. But victory clearly warmed him from the inside out.

“For people who ride bikes, something organized like this gives us a reason to get together,” Watters said.

“It’s fun riding alone, but if you can ride with a lot more people it makes it more enjoyable.”