A little bit about ByBox and why we’re doing this. Working in and with ByBox is an adventure. We’re a group of people with a passion to revolutionise the way we send and receive parcels.  An ordinary problem being solved by really rebellious people and a network of electronic dropboxes.

The dropboxes are like our checkpoints, we visit them every single night to pick up and deliver parcels into each box. Then we text our customers with their access codes so they can pick up their packages rather than waiting at home.

A couple of years ago we thought about using the boxes as checkpoints for our own alleycat using three tandem bikes and three teams of ten people (red, blue and yellow). The route was from Milton Keynes to Coventry via two of our dropbox locations, which worked out to a 50-mile trek. The teams set out at 11am and pedalled like mad to get to each checkpoint, where they collected packages containing superhero suits and challenges to complete on the route when they weren’t cycling.

Five hours later the blue team winners crossed the finish line – elated, proud and with sweaty brows – they celebrated at our hub in Coventry. The tandems are still hanging pride of place in the hub today.

Rather than stop after one event we thought – why not let other alleycats and riders use them as checkpoints for their races? Why not give them the codes and fill the box full of prizes so they can have some fun too? And why should we take all the credit for doing it?

That’s when we met up with Jonty and Dan – the smiley guys who run the Oxford Cycle Workshop by day. And by night, committed alleycat-ers if you ever saw them!

So far they’ve organised three ‘Find me Friday’ treasure hunts, encouraged masses of old and new faces to ride a bike before bike week, plugged over 50 businesses into a cycling scheme that helps encourage employees to cycle to work, and run their own workshops on safe cycling in the Oxford area.

We love them and the work they do and we want to help spread the message. So if you’re interested in taking part and winning some prizes or you’re out to break your own alleycat record – then follow this blog or our twitter page or just get in touch and we’ll happily let you know when and where the next event is.