Home / Cycling, Featured / A Night at the Races

A Night at the Races

Their shaved legs are the first indicator this is not the usual motley crew. A fireman, a web producer, a mortgage banker, a chiropractic physician, an architecture student, a car salesman and a bike mechanic are hanging around the NW Park Blocks leaning over their bikes. This might be the start of a joke but they’re all dressed in spandex, legs freshly shaven and have numbers pinned on the backs of their skin tight jerseys. None of the HP Chiropractic/Hammer Nutrition men’s cycling team are paid to race their bike but they all dedicate enough time to the sport for it to qualify as a part time job. Most have been racing for at least five years, some for over two decades. And tonight they’ve brought their team to Portland’ biggest cycling race to prove that this small but elite group can compete with some of the fastest teams in the region.

Under the umbrella of road racing, there are a few different genres. Criteriums are short circuits known for being exceptionally technical with lots of sharp turns, and exceptionally fast with the races averaging around 30 mph and the final sprint topping out over 40 mph. They are also flatter than flat and the types of riders who usually excel at climbing are unlikely to be strong crit racers. The recent lexicon of cycling is all about power: a cyclist’s torque plus velocity (force times distance) to see how many watts are produced per kilogram of body weight. The golden ratio of course, is to have a low body weight and a high power output. The Twilight crit will be all about consistently high wattage and heart rate. Muscles will shred, legs will burn and your heart will drum so hard that you might feel as though your body is about to explode. And the HP Chiro boys are getting excited for the pain.

The team has met to warm up and sketch out a game plan for Portland’s Twilight criterium and when I ask racer Jason Riffle (the architecture student) what their thoughts are, he responds simply “to hold on as long as possible.” The Portland-based Land Rover professional cycling team is here along with Hagens Berman a strong amateur squad out of Seattle. A lot of money is on the line; $5,000 split among the top ten finishers. In the world of bike racing, winning races is rare. With an eighty rider limit on a technical course that sends racers careening around the NW Park Blocks (and don’t forget these guys are on bikes with only a thin layer of lycra between them and the pavement), only a small percentage of those entered have a decent chance to collect money. This is one of the great quirks of sports like cycling where winning is not often the primary goal. But despite there only being place for one on the podium, no one can make it very far without a team. One HP rider, Aaron Coker (the mortgage banker), is a sprint specialist. During the next hour, his team will be on the constant lookout. If a rival sprinter or strong team attacks and gains a gap on the field, the HP Chiro boys will have to either counter-attack and send one of their riders up to the break, or ride at the front of the group at high tempo to chase the break. If all goes well, during the final laps, the team will lead their sprinter to the front of the group so that he can go for the win. If he finishes in the money, he’ll distribute the winnings amongst his teammate and maybe buy some pitchers of beer to celebrate.

Soon after the gun sounds and the race is up to speed, the attacks start. As predicted, two of the strongest teams, Hagens Berman and Land Rover, send riders up the road. Steven Beardsley, a regional sprinting power house from the Gentle Lovers team is also in the break. The HP boys know that this is a dangerous move and start putting riders on the front. The high speed and constant corners start to whittle away the pack and racers are pulled once they lose significant contact with the main group and are in danger of being lapped by the leaders. This keeps the race safe but the frustration shows on the face of the riders forced to exit after only twenty or thirty minutes. Quinn Keogh (the bike mechanic), one of the youngest members of the team but who has ten years of racing under his belt, attacks off the front and attempts to bridge up to the leaders. He doesn’t make it but will pull this move constantly throughout the night, attacking, then going back to the pack to rest and then hitting it again. Teammate Donald Reeb (the fireman) spends a lot of time near the front third of the main group and launches a spectacular bridge effort late in the race as well. But the break is moving somewhat comfortably and teams that are represented in the break do not have to work in the main field. The mortgage banker decides to go for it. He and Portland Bike Studio’s Molly Cameron attack and move up towards the leaders. Seeing Cameron charge out of the field, the crowd goes wild. Subaru has set up a promotional tent and been handing out cowbells, the traditional noise maker at cycling events, and almost everyone between NW Couch and NW Flanders are ringing bells as the riders come around. Coker and Cameron are about to attach onto the lead group when they take a corner wide and both go down. The team has already had some mechanicals during the race sending both Coker and teammate Patrick Marzullo (the web producer) to the pit for wheel changes. But this crash is more than a mechanical; the mortgage banker nearly flies into the crowd and loses a large patch of skin on his upper right thigh. A few laps later he pulls out, disappointed and frustrated. Now there are only a few HP Chiro racers and only a few laps left. Both Keogh and Reeb try to make it up to the front group again but they run out of time and pavement. Hagens Berman’s Adrian Hegvary wins the race followed by Land Rover’s Evan Elken and the Gentle Lover’s Beardsley.

Afterward, the team gathers in the pit to check on equipment, give back borrowed wheels and get fixed up at the medic tent. While the race didn’t go as planned, life goes on. A few hours later, they’re showered, bandaged up and back in street clothes. You’d never know they were cyclists.

See more photos of the Twilight Criterium from Josh Berezin.

Comments