VIDEO. We participated in an alleycat, an improvised orienteering bike race

A hundred cyclists wait at the corner of Place de la Concorde, in the heart of Paris. Their bikes doze on the hot cobblestones, a few meters away. "Three, two, one, go!" "Yell the organizers, before throwing a stack of A4 sheets in the air. The 159 participants flock to the pieces of paper fallen from the sky. These photocopied pages are manifestos. A list of addresses to reach for the competition of the day: an alleycat.

Organized by a handful of enthusiasts without official authorization, these urban orienteering races come to life in the midst of traffic, without marked routes. The goal of the game: to run as quickly as possible through the meanders of cities to reach the various crossing points, or "checkpoints", listed on the manifesto.

Each participant is free to compose their itinerary as they wish to go for the stamping of the paper at each stop. Some checkpoints take the form of an enigma, to add a dose of complexity to the race.

"Come who wants with the bike he wants"

Created by couriers in the 1980s, these races were imported into France in 2005. “The whole idea [of the trick] was to run in the middle of the urban environment and all its architecture, to live the city for what it was, get some fresh air and mix our bikes together ”, decrypted in 1998, John Englar, one of the pioneers of the movement in Toronto.

If the leading groups are still composed of couriers, the alleycats are open to all those who wish to try speed spikes in a dense, rugged and demanding environment.

For a low price of 5 €, stickers and food included, each participant is guaranteed to live several tens of kilometers full of adrenaline. “It's an event that turns on Facebook. This is how we learn that it takes place. And whoever comes with the bike he wants, by the way. There's everything, ”says Anne-Louise, participant and member of the Girls on Wheels women's cycling group.

VIDEO. We participated in an alleycat

"If you want to win, you have to take a little risk"

The mass of Concorde participants catches the eye of passersby, unaccustomed to seeing such a gathering. "I wonder what's going on and I find it funny. It's great, you have to invade Paris with bikes, "laughs Thibault, himself a cyclist, in front of the tide of racing bikes, freighters and fixed gears lying on the asphalt.

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Once the manifests have been distributed, the participants get on their horses and make their way to their first stop in small groups. "It's the fastest, the most comfortable in the city that wins," points out Victor, a novice participant. "If you want to win, you have to take a little risk, that's for sure," smiles Betty, another member of Girls on Wheels.

No injunction to mark the stop at all the crossing points to be invited to the aperitif at the end of the race: the chistole, the other pillar of the alleycats. After at least 32 km and 7 stopping points between Paris and Suresnes, the day's event will end at the bottom of the Bois de Boulogne.

Our journalist slipped into the competition without any training and for only companion his old city bike inefficient. Thirty kilometers of a little special adrenaline. Watch our video above.