Back Downtown

(right, Richard and Gerald pace the peloton in downtown Norfolk.)

Some facts about the Norfolk Cycling Classic, happening this Sunday in downtown Norfolk:

1--The race has been happening yearly since 2000, twice in August, four times in July, once in April and now in May. Tripower promotes the event.

2--Ford was the original title sponsor for the race. They brought oversized superballs in 2000 to give away to kids and many of them ended out getting bounced onto the course--with riders--going fast--no disasters though!

3--We used to have event T-shirts made. Until the year that the T-shirts had typos. We got out of the clothing business after that.

4--We used to have a longer modified version of course closed to traffic for 2 hours before the races. It allowed time for recreational riders to bring bikes and enjoy closed downtown streets. I miss that.

5--The mile-long crit race course was designed by Peter Teeuwen back in the 80's. Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, Bobby Julich and Rebecca Twigg all raced in Peter's editions early in their careers.

6--The biggest names we have had here in the modern version are Olympian Marty Nothstein, Scottie Weiss, and Candice Blickem. I am sure this is debatable--who do you remember?

7--The race has been teamed up with various partners. For a couple of years, there were the twilight street sprints on the Friday night prior in Portsmouth. Noel Wick Gran Prix happened for a few years on the Saturday prior at Fort Story in Virginia Beach. One year, we had a Friday night prologue at Pendleton in Va Beach, and another year there was a time trial in Smithfield the Saturday before. We have been busy.

8--The race course is super fast except for the 180 in front of Nauticus which brings riders to a near stop. The Elizabeth River wind is always blowing in the face coming down the long stretch to the finish.

9--The most remote racers came from Australia. Bunch of guys on a cross country trip stumbled out of a van and produced international racing licenses. Interesting.

10--Below in the orange is Janet who has been entered in the corner guard hall of fame. Once you have stood in the middle of Waterside Drive directing pedestrain traffic, you'll understand why.

I wonder what others remember about the event? (Photos by Bob Devich.)