Photo by Allan Crawford.
Every summer, when the sun stays up late, cyclists of all ages and skill levels gather Tuesday nights at El Dorado Park to race around its 1.75 mile-long closed-loop circuit.
The criterium-style event—known professionally as the El Dorado Park Race Series (or casually as the El Dorado Crit Races)—has, since its inception 29 years ago, become an institution in the cycling community.
Though started by a group of enthusiasts who wanted to get together for an hour of hard training away from the busy city streets, the weekly summertime crit races are today are known as a breeding ground for great local talent and are often frequented by everyone from Gold Medal Olympian cyclist Steve Hegg to Long Beach Bike Ambassador Tony Cruz.
A few weeks ago, however, the event announced its first non-profit supporter—the Long Beach-based advocacy organization, Bikeable Communities, who began hosting the weekly races last Tuesday.
“A number of our members, including a few on our board, have participated in the El Do Racing Series for years, some as far back as the early 1980s,” says Josh Frank, Interim Executive Director of Bikeable Communities. “…We all felt that the El Do race is an important Long Beach event, and one that can help build Bikeable Communities.”
Around 75 riders from novices to professionals come out to Long Beach’s largest park each week to train on the historic track and compete for prizes as well as points that help USA Cycling-licensed riders move up levels in the professional road-racing ranks. Dozens more attend just to watch the intensity of a live cycling event, in which clusters of riders speed precariously around the track.
“We hope more [spectators] will show up and be inspired to ride their bikes—even if they don’t ever want to race,” Frank says. “It’s certainly exhilarating to watch so many men and women speed past at 25 to 30 miles per hour.”
Bikeable Communities was founded in 1998 to advocate for infrastructure to create bicycle-networked cities throughout Southern California and today operates with the goal of increasing the number of people who ride bicycles for pleasure, health and mobility. It collaborated with the City of Long Beach to plan, fund and build the country’s first Bikestation and now adds the El Dorado Crit races to its long list of bike-friendly achievements (with even more in the works!).
Racing entry fees are $12.00 per rider with proceeds, for the first time, helping to support the work of a non-profit.
“You don’t have to be a racer to appreciate the history and tradition of the course,” Frank says. “It’s an important piece of the larger cycling community and we’re happy to carry on this storied tradition.”
Weekly Racing at El Dorado takes place on Tuesday Nights at 6:15PM with registration open at 5:15PM. Racers are divided into 3 peloton groups based on experience & age. Weekly racing continues through September 4th and prizes are awarded weekly along with an overall Points Award to GC Leaders of each peloton group at the conclusion of the series.