Svart Katt

This Year's Darkest Alleycat
by Trevor Bush

It is legend that when a black cat crosses your path you are cursed with bad luck. How about sixty of them, at midnight, on Halloween? Many unexpecting bystanders were cursed with years of bad luck on this year's Halloween as over sixy riders dressed in all black with corpse paint whizzed past them just after midnight. It was the start of the first annual Svart Katt (black cat) race in Gothenburg, Sweden. As far as alley cat races go, the Svart Katt has certainly been dwarfed. But for those of us who live in this small Scandinavian industry town (city proper population just over 500,000), this race proves the attitude of bikers here. With over sixty riders in attendance, the Svart Katt was Sweden's biggest alley cat in its' cycle history. Kristian Hell, one of the event organizers, comments, 'We had never dared to think there would be such a big interest in biking through the dark in Gothenburg on a cold November night. The entire parking lot was full with black clothed people wearing corpse paint, masks and death inspired outfits, and with death-metal in the speakers, the scene was indescribable.'

The race was set up in two manifests, each with questions to answer about specific graves in graveyards across the city. The first manifest, consisting of six graveyard stops, was barely half the race. The start was utterly magical as the group took off through the central streets of the city. The flash of each bike in the street lights, with death riding at the handlebars, was a sight to remember. Halloween party goers out on the street stopped in aw of what they saw. We made it through the first two graveyards no problem as the whole group was following each other to the answers. The third stop, Östra Kyrkogården (East Graveyard), was the first challenge with three questions. We fell behind at this point as the darkness and rush of the event distracted us from recognizing that three questions were to be answered at this graveyard. There were others who also fell mistaken. As a result, the group spread out significantly.

It was two more stops after this and we picked up our second manifest. We arrived at the checkpoint near the middle of the pack. The seriousness of the race then settled in as we soon realized close to double the distance was to be covered in the second half. The next stop was a solid ten minute ride and we arrived there to count fenced in family graves. It was a great thing watching ten some odd blinking lights make laps around this small graveyard counting fences. At this point, we certainly felt our legs were going fall off and it was only the first of four lengthy stops on the manifest. Two stops later, we sprinted in to Västra Kyrkogården (West Graveyard), Gothenburg's biggest graveyard. Nearly every single grave had a candle burning on it, but there was little time to gaze at the spectacle with three questions to answer and one stop to go. We answered the questions quickly and took off to the final graveyard stop with the very last of what we had in us. From the final stop to the finish was a short 4 mile sprint. I guess we felt like we were sprinting, but after over two hours of riding and nearly 16 miles our sprint was equal to that of a tortoise. Coming into the finish line was a great feeling, having survived, and there could have been nothing better than a cold beer to bring us back to 'life'. The finish line and after party was held at the local bike club. All who stood there agreed that it was a mystical event, a glorious event, that truly built on the already tight biking community. Prizes, of course, went to the fastest rider, but were also given to best costume/corpse paint and to DEAD last. Svart Katt is certainly an alley cat we will all wait patiently for next year. We are hoping for double attendance. For all those ghouls and zombies out there, come one come all, 'vi ses igen, om inte tidigare, klokan 23:00 någonstans i Göteborg den 31:e Oktober, 2010.' (we will see you again, no earlier than 11:00, somewhere in Gothenburg, on the 31st of October, 2010...)