diff --git a/src/c3nav/mapdata/middleware.py b/src/c3nav/mapdata/middleware.py
index a827dfaa..aae34fdf 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mapdata/middleware.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mapdata/middleware.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import re
 from functools import wraps
 
-from c3nav.mapdata.utils.cache.local import per_request_cache
+from c3nav.mapdata.utils.cache.local import per_request_cache, LocalCacheProxy
 from c3nav.mapdata.utils.user import get_user_data_lazy
 
 
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ class RequestCacheMiddleware:
     """
     def __init__(self, get_response):
         self.get_response = get_response
+        LocalCacheProxy.enable_globally()
 
     def __call__(self, request):
         per_request_cache.clear()
diff --git a/src/c3nav/mapdata/utils/cache/local.py b/src/c3nav/mapdata/utils/cache/local.py
index 9c1a6271..0e660f24 100644
--- a/src/c3nav/mapdata/utils/cache/local.py
+++ b/src/c3nav/mapdata/utils/cache/local.py
@@ -41,18 +41,27 @@ class LocalCacheProxy:
             self._items.pop(next(iter(self._items.keys())))
 
     def _check_mapupdate(self):
-        # todo: would be nice to not need this… why do we need this?
-
+        # todo: thanks to enable_globally() we shouldn't need this any more
         from c3nav.mapdata.models import MapUpdate
         mapupdate = MapUpdate.current_cache_key()
         if self._mapupdate != mapupdate:
             self._items = OrderedDict()
             self._mapupdate = mapupdate
 
+    enabled = False
+    @classmethod
+    def enable_globally(cls):
+        """
+        This gets called when the per request cache middleware is loaded.
+        We don't want local cache proxies to work outside of requests.
+        """
+        LocalCacheProxy.enabled = False
+
     def set(self, key, value, expire):
         self._check_mapupdate()
         cache.set(key, value, expire)
-        self._items[key] = value
+        if LocalCacheProxy.enabled:
+            self._items[key] = value
         self._prune()
 
     def clear(self):