Tag Archives: Gateway Cup

Night Racers

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Night Racers

Night Racers

Strange photo, if I do say so myself. It was taken at night, with a flash. The camera couldn’t keep up with some of the fast-moving riders, so they appear somewhat ethereally in the image. Those are not stars, but bugs illuminated by their proximity to the flash. This picture was taken at the end of a rather frenetic Friday. Anne and I went to the opening venue of this week’s Gateway Cup bicycle races.

Gateway is billing itself as the premier crit or criterium bicycle race venue in the nation. A crit race differs from the more conventional Tour de France style bicycle race in that the racers repeatedly circle on a small, about a mile long course. This makes for a much more audience friendly experience.

There were plenty of pro bicycle racing team’s vans out last night. The venue was Lafayette Square and of the four this one is probably my favorite, although tomorrow’s Tour of the Hill is the most venerated. First off, it occurs at night, while all of the rest are during the day and it’s the first one of the weekend.

We arrived in time to catch the end of the men’s Masters and stayed to watch the kid’s races which are always a hoot. They gradate the start line for the kid’s races. Closest to the finish line were the Big Wheelers and they stepped back by age from there. For the first couple of races parents could at first walk and then had to run to keep up with their cycling prodigy. After that helicopter parents had to ride a bike to keep up, which led to calls of foul, “That guy looks older than eight, he has a beard!”

After the kids, we ducked into a bar. We went to Square One Brewery where we had to wait. We did get to see Karie on her birthday! We ended up being seated in the bar and were treated to dueling TVs. One had the Cardinals on, who were losing to the Pirates and the other one had Michigan State beating up on Western Michigan. While waiting, we each had a Light Squared, a light beer which Anne observed was equal to energy over mass.

Not Quite Pink Flamingo

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Not Quite Pink Flamingo

Not Quite Pink Flamingo

The rot has set in and I’m not sure if it will ever leave again, anyway, another Friday, another day off. At least for me it was. Anne was the teacher of English as a second language, which entailed shuttling back-and-forth between the district’s three campuses all day. It was hot today and it is going to be hot all holiday weekend long. I started the day with a bike ride in Forest Park, but I was not alone by any means. Labor Day weekend means bike races in Saint Louis, the Gateway Cup runs all weekend long. In addition to the usual suspects there were bike racers out for a morning roll, including a women’s team all with identical bikes and outfits. It must be a pro team. Clayton middle school was also present, with about twenty-some students on bicycles. After my ride, I turned things around and headed back to the park. This time I was driving. My first stop was the zoo. My mission was get a picture of Kali, the new polar bear, in the water. I figured that it was hot enough that any self-respecting polar bear would be in the water and I was right. I got a decent shot of him, but it just wasn’t as beautiful as the flamingo. I love the contrasting orange and green colors. After the zoo, I did a drive by of the art museum and took advantage of it being free Friday there. I could get use to this lifestyle. Wait a minute, I think that I already am.

Giro Della Montagna

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Giro Della Montagna

Giro Della Montagna

Giro Della Montagna or Tour of the Hill is the third leg of this holiday weekend’s series of Gateway Cup bicycle races. It is also the oldest of the four legs. In celebration of these races Trailnet sponsored a Fun Club ride this morning also called Giro Della Montagna. We were late getting out of the house and we biked to the venue, which took longer than driving would have, but wait bonus miles. Once on the Hill, it took us a while to find the starting point and we ended up wandering up and down the Hill, more bonus miles, so registration was almost closed when we got there and it was definitely closed by the time that we left. You can have us bright or you can have us early, but you can’t have us bright and early. Because of our late start, we elected to do the middle route, which was a smart move, because halfway through the ride, it turned hot.

Our route took us back and forth across the Southside of Saint Louis and we passed by the other three race venues. We ended up taking a couple of unscheduled rest breaks for crossing trains. The first one was carrying oil and the second one coal. When we made it back to the Hill the bike racing was in full flower. We were both feeling a little crispy by then so ducked into the cool dark recesses of Mama Campisi’s Ristorante. You could still glimpse the racers as they rode by through the open doorway. We each had salads, shared a plate of bruschetta and drank gallons of ice water. After lunch, we were back out on the street feeling almost human again. Anne found a rather tasty gelato place. I got a souvenir t-shirt and a beer. We stayed to watch the above pictured race conclude. Then it was back on our bikes and home again, home again we rode, just not very lickity split.

A Night at the Races

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Gateway Cup Start/Finish line

Gateway Cup Start/Finish line

I left work early today, because last night’s chilly Mac was still churning below. On my way home, I swung by REI and Whole Foods and once home, skipped lunch for Tums which then turned it all around snicker-snack quick and I launched towards the park. It was a balmy 90 °F. The park was pretty empty. I did one turnaround and got caught at the light at Forsyth and Skinker. While I was waiting there, a bevy of beauties rode past me on their green. It was a women’s racing team, in town for this weekend’s Gateway Cup. The dozen of them were all in matching red and white poke-a-dot uniforms. They looked cute as they rode away from me, I still being stranded at the light. They were a quarter-mile ahead of me when my light turned green. Try as I might I couldn’t catch up to them and they receded into the distance. I had dreams of making a fool of myself, by first racing ahead of them all and then shooting a selfie with them as the scenic background, but it was all for naught, except as a workout.

Anne got home from school not too long after I finished my jousting at windmills. We soon drove downtown to Lafayette Square, site for tonight’s Gateway Cup bike races. They’ll be in town all holiday weekend folks. Lafayette makes for the perfect crit (short for criterium) race venue. Perfectly square, a quarter-mile on the side, it makes for a mile long race track. Before we left for the night, some of the faster racers were peaking to 45 MPH in the straightaways. Bike-mates Tom and Audrey own one of the 19th-century townhouses that circle the square. Really, they surround the square in more of a rectilinear fashion. Just saying! They graciously throw a lawn party, with the best of floor shows, the bike races. We had dinner with Don and DJ at Square One, which had a great spare tips special. It was great catching up with them again. Then we decamped to Audrey and Tom’s to watch the races and kvetch.

Nepenthe

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Nepenthe is a medicine for sorrow, literally, an anti-depressant.  Homer mentions it in the Odyssey when Helen of Troy is given a magical potion called Nepenthe by the Egyptian queen, with this prescription, “It quells all sorrows with forgetfulness”.  Nepenthe is also a restaurant in Big Sur, California in the heart of the central coast.  The restaurant has been around since the sixties.  Chris and my folks went there for lunch on Saturday and sent these pictures. 

The property was once owned by Orson Wells and Rita Hayward.  They bought it on a whim while they were in Big Sur on their honeymoon.  Wells was researching his magnum opus, Citizen Kane at the time.  The real life subject of this movie, William Randolph Hearst lived just down the road in his castle at San Simeon.  Big Sur was probably as close as Wells dared to approach the powerful Hearst; Citizen Kane was none too flattering of Hearst.  “Rosebud”

We launched relatively early on Monday morning, ten o’clock.  We cruised through the Park, retraced our route up the Hill, site of Sunday’s bike races, passed by Francis Park again, site of Saturday’s bike races and stopped off at the Chippewa Ted Drewes.  We only had mini-concretes, which later became a problem.  Anne had this year’s new pomegranate flavor and I of course had my usual chocolate chip flavor.  Anne met a young couple from Montreal that was on vacation.  They were tracing the route of Old Route 66.  They wanted to go to the transportation museum, because a portion of the Coral Courts Motel had been moved to there.  Part of their adventure westward is staying in the old Route 66 era motels.  In its later years the Coral Courts became a bit, let us say notorious.  The most distinguishing feature of the Coral Courts was that each room had its own, fully enclosed, attached garage.  This feature became invaluable to lovers in illicit relationships.  Except for the moments that it took to rent the room and park the car, no prying eyes would know who was there.

At this point in our ride we decided to head to Benton Park, the site of Monday’s bike races.  This is the first time for this venue.  We watched a couple of races and then stayed for the kids races.  Watching the kid’s race was a hoot!  They staggered the kids by age group, starting with the big wheel crowd closest to the finish line.  Each age category would race and then be cleared off the road before the subsequent and older category could begin.  It was fun to see a ten year progression in just about ten minutes.  On our way back home we stopped at Saint Nicholas, the Greek Orthodox Church and site of the best Greek Festival in town.  I loaded up the messenger’s bag with gyros and we headed home.  We got 30 miles.  Monday was a nice day in a great weekend.

As we were outbound through the Park, Anne spied this kite flying over Art Hill.  She pointed it out and suggested that I zoom in on it.  I responded that it we really wanted to get a good shot we should climb Art Hill.  Well she was fired up, so we climbed up Art Hill and I got the shot that made the preceding movie.  Traffic caused Anne to lead us up Government Hill next.  This Saturday we begin the big ride, the 2010 MS-150.  Wish us luck or better yet, donate.