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After a decade away, the Philadelphia Cycling Classic will return to the city this weekend.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of spectators are expected to line the streets along the 14.4 mile course that passes through Logan Square, Kelly Drive, Lemon Hill and, of course, up the daunting Manayunk Wall,
While Sunday’s race is exclusively for professional riders, there are still some ways that you can get involved with your bike — or just your feet.
Saturday will have the Amateur Time Trial, which involves an eight-mile course racing along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, with a turnaround at Falls Bridge. Unlike Sunday’s much longer race where all the riders jostle for position, the time trial is a sprint between just the cyclist and the course. The first rider goes at 9 a.m. and the next follow in time increments.
The race is sanctioned by USA Cycling as part of the New Jersey Time Trail Cup Series. While there’s a category for specialist time-trial bikes and equipment, there’s very few restrictions in the “Eddy” and other categories.
“It doesn’t have to be a road bike,” said Dave Berson with Guy’s Racing Club, the group organizing the time trial alongside Independence Youth Cycling. “Just a working bike with brakes and you wear a helmet.”
The race may be a sprint, but Berson said that racers still have to pace themselves and not run too hot out the gates. The turn can also be treacherous if you take it too fast, as he experienced first-hand trying out on an unofficial time trial.
Berson said the event was so popular that the initial 200 spots sold out quickly, prompting the organizers to add an additional 25 spots. Registration for those spaces closes on Thursday. He expects several youth riders from the National Interscholastic Cycling Association coming with their mountain bikes.
If you’re looking for something a little less intense and a little more communal, there’s the Sunday’s Charity Ride for the AACR. That event begins at 6:30 a.m. at Lemon Hill and involves a lap of the course before the pros compete on it. Funds from that ride will go towards lifesaving cancer research.
Don’t feel like riding this weekend but still want to stop by the race? There will also be a Fan Fest at the Iroquois Sculpture in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art over the race weekend. The free fest will have food, drinks, a beer garden and 200 vendors, with live entertainment and activities. The fan fest runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Berson hopes that watching the Classic and getting the chance to be involved in everything surrounding it will inspire Philadelphians to test their own physical limits afterwards.
“I just hope it motivates people to just want to be healthy and to keep moving. That’s really the name of the game,” he said.
