Friday night is the 10th anniversary of the Twilight Criterium, Portland’s only major downtown bike race, and organizers are pulling out all the stops.
Over the years, the event has morphed from just a bike race into a huge party and mini-festival. Ayleen Crotty with Good Sport Promotions says they’ve made several additions to the event this year that will take things up yet another notch.
Enjoy the race from the beer garden…
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… or from your porch!
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Roll on down to the North Park Blocks for dinner before the race and take your pick from Portland’s best food carts. Ogle locally made bicycles and meet the people who make them in the hand-built bike showcase. Watch the members of the Rose City Rollers roller derby team as they lead out each race with a lap of skating. Hang out in the beer garden with friends as the area’s fastest bike racers zoom by!
The Twilight Crit is definitely one of Portland’s must-see bike events. I haven’t missed one since 2005 and I’ll be out there again on Friday. Let’s pack the Park Blocks for this great race! More info at PortlandTwilight.com.
— Check out BikePortland coverage of the Twilight Criterium over the past six years.
Awesome. My office is actually INSIDE the course!!! Look for me on the roof with the absolute best view ever.
“Good Sport Promotions says they’ve made several additions to the event this year that will take things up yet another notch.”
How about that women’s category? Oh yeah they don’t offer one! But the women can race with men, how sweet?!
Thanks Good Sport Promotions for your un-support of women’s bike racing.
The Giro di Portland the weekend after, on the 21st, will feature a women’s race, with equal prize payout.
http://www.girodiportland.com
We’re extremely excited for the 10th Anniversary Portland Twilight Criterium. Brett Burmeister from Food Carts Portland and the authors of Cartopia, a book about Portland’s food cart revolution, will be on site to share their tips for finding the best food carts in Portland.
BIKE BUILDERS
We still have room for bike builders, and it’s free to exhibit. More info is here: http://www.GoodSportPromotion.com/builders
WOMEN IN THE RACE
Due to the timing of the event, there is no way to fit in a women’s race before it gets dark, and the course would be too dangerous in the dark. I hope to see a ton of women racing, and you can race a category down.
Why not race everyone together but track different “classes” in the race? Seems like an easy solution employed in all manner of racing.
While a good idea in theory, and something that works decently well in road races due to the pack splitting apart and never seeing each other again, this wouldn’t work well on a short crit style race with everyone together. The group would split and you’d end up with several groups going different speeds and possibly lapping each other many times on a short technical course. Combine this with the fact the lower cat group being passed would have to neutralize and stay out of the way in an already small space and things become chaotic and more dangerous than they need to be.
I agree, there should be a women’s category as well, but most women in the Cat1-2s that I’ve met are almost as fast as the 1-2men and would have no problem sticking with the Cat1-2 group or dropping down a category and riding with the Cat3 men if need be.
They pull riders off the back in this race. the other ‘classes’ would just pay a fee to race less.
Start earlier? Two day fest? Take out a mens race and replace with a womens.
Indianapolis has a bigger road cycling scene than most people realize and they have a couple of downtown Crits each summer. The Mass Ave Crit includes a kids’ race, a women’s race, and the Police and Fire Championship. If the Portland races were started earlier or expanded to two days, you could add a women’s race and also consider adding categories such as people who work in:
– the transportation field or public sector
– the sporting goods or bicycle industry
– the food industry or farming
Keep your (tennis) balls off the course this time, folks…
Mrs Dibbly’s racing days are behind her, but she’d be very disappointed. Otherwise, this looks like a great event. Maybe I can distract her from the lack of a distinct women’s event. Hopefully the organizers will figure out a way to include one in the future.
Ride downtown to watch — depart from The Waypost at 5:30.
http://www.shift2bikes.org/cal/#12-2571
Watching bike races is fun. Bring a friend, or make some on the ride.
Ted Buehler