issues, particularly that of throwing unsanctioned events. Andrew thinks that, “People know what they’re getting into.” This will be his first Monster Track, although he has traveled to NYC for other bike events. He is used to riding a fixed gear brakeless, and only rides with a brake when he is late for class and knows that he is riding half asleep from an all night cram session. When Andrew isn’t riding his fixed gear, he rides a homemade tallbike.

The Fast Female: Heather Muller, 24-years old, is the resident “fast girl” in NYC and has been tearing it up at alleycats for a few years now. She came in 5th in Monster Track 2006, third in 2007 and won in the rain soaked 2008. Unlike the new crowd of fixed gear forum readers, Heather is a working messenger who started out with Breakaway and now works for the messenger-owned and operated cooperative, Mess Kollective. As a woman, Heather has never felt excluded from the alleycat scene…probably because she is as fast as many of the men and because there are a good number of other women couriers. Heather says that alleycat racing has opened up a new community for her and overall, “It’s been a really positive experience.”

The Fast Male: Christian Thormann, 25-years old, is a messenger for NY Minute and a strong competitor. This will be his 4th Monster Track, the first was 2006 where he had never raced brakeless before. At the start of that race, he was doing well and was able to keep up with the top pack of riders that included Andy White, Alfred and Felipe. Then he got squeezed in on the double yellow with an MTA bus. A woman pedestrian popped out of nowhere and sent Chris tumbling over the bars and totaling his ride. The pedestrian was fine and Chris walked the rest of the way, finishing 135th. But he was hooked on racing and went into this year’s race wanting to win.

The Organizer: This year’s torch got passed to the Mighty Chin, a film producer, event organizer and when

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