By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Bicyclists braved the heat and congregated to Galion Saturday afternoon for the city’s first ever CritFest.
Starting with races on foot for a 5K at 8 a.m. and a 10K at 8:15 a.m., the CritFest moved to the criterium (numerous short laps at high speeds) bike races at 12:15 for the USA Cycling sanctioned races. The event was organized by Cycling Sports Center bicycling shop out of Galion.
Troy Chipka explained what inspired him to do the CritFest in Galion.
“They do races all over Ohio just like this and we thought being a bicycle shop in Galion, Ohio, we would bring it to the community,” Chipka said.
Chipka felt that the turnout was pretty decent for the first time event.
“It has been pretty well, I think we got more than we were hoping to get which is always good,” Chipka said. “We had a few people from Michigan register today.”
Aaron Ringle and Rick Voithofer of Team 614 out of Columbus were preparing for their race later in the day.
“It’s a different style of bike riding,” Ringle said.
“For me it started with the longer tours, and once I got into better shape I thought I would give this a try,” Voithofer said.
The races are measured by the average time of the first few laps, the time that it takes to compete each lap; the average of those lap times determines how many laps each race has.
Megan Bair, who took first place in the women’s division of the USA Cycling sanctioned race, enjoyed the course.
“This is my fifth actual crit, (it was a) flat course, with good turns, it was hot out, but it was a good course and I liked it,” Bair said.
Bair explained her training regimen for the crit races.
“I am usually out six day of the week, I only take one day off per week, so I am usually out strength training or cycling,” Bair said.
Sergeis Bowers, Bryan Ream, and Zach Niles took the top spots in the juniors’ competition. Bowers and Ream, who originally hale from Russia, but currently live in Columbus, have been teammates for two years.
“I came out just to see the course because I am racing later,” Bowers said. “I guess the wind made the biggest separation for us.”
Niles, who has been riding in crits for six years, finished in third place. He explained that it was his father’s trip to Europe that got him interested in the crit style races.
“My dad went to Holland and told me about it, and I wanted to try it out,” Niles said.
Jen Toops, who had finished second in the in the women’s division, explained that this was her first crit race.
“I started racing mountain bikes last year, so this is my first crit race,” Toops said. “It was intense, really hard. Mountain bike is kind of gradual pace over a longer distance, and this was a sprint for the whole thing.”
“I really like the strategy, the cornering, and having to draft people it is really interesting,” Toops added.
Watching the races and cheering on the riders was David Tidd. Tidd explained what brought him out to the Critfest.
“We are enjoying watching the races,” Tidd said. “We have a team Mid-Ohio VeloSports, we are out of the Marion area. We have three racers out on the course now, and we had our women race earlier and they did a good job, so we are just out enjoying the day.”
USA Cycling sanctioned crit races continued throughout the afternoon Saturday with the Women’s Pro/Semipro races taking stage from 6:30 – 7:45 p.m. the Men’s Pro/Semipro races concluded the evening with races going from 8:00 – 9:30 p.m.
PHOTO GALLERY: 2016 Galion Critfest