Brian Slattery Photo
Amber Pierce breaks for the pack to win the women’s pro division race.
Kyle Crowell, 16 years old, began cycling competitively with CT Cycling Advancement Program three years ago. He was on Chapel Street at 4:30 p.m. Friday to cheer on his father Chris in the masters divison race of the New Haven Grand Prix, before he raced himself in the junior division two hours later.
“When I was a little kid, I always watched my dad’s races, and I always wanted to try it,” he said.
Kyle Crowell.
Kyle’s mother Debbie related that Chris had started cycling in high school, stopped for a while in adulthood, and resumed it 19 years ago. Between Chris’s and Kyle’s meets, they now travel from their home in Prospect throughout the state and to New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island for races nearly every weekend in the spring and summer.
“It’s a big commitment,” she said. “But it’s great that they can do it together.”
“I love it,” Kyle said. “Nothing I’d rather do.”
The Crowells’ enthusiasm was writ large for the New Haven Grand Prix and Apizza and Eats Feast, which turned downtown New Haven into a celebratory road race and general party that went strong from mid-afternoon until its end at 10 p.m., as hundreds of cyclists competed before a crowd of thousands.
It began with the men’s masters division — for racers over 40 — competing through the criterium course that began at the intersection of Chapel and College Streets, headed west and took a right on High Street, took another right on Elm Street, another right on Temple Street, and another right back on Chapel to complete one of many laps. The women’s professional division race followed; after that was the junior division, followed by two levels of professional men’s races. Competitors came from far and wide (in a few cases internationally), turning those downtown blocks into a racetrack, to often mesmerizing effect.
Competitive discipline on display as cyclists drafted off each other on the incline toward the finish line.
The hustle on display during the junior division race received possibly the most applause from the crowd.
There were glimpses on fatigue, even as the cyclists never perceptibly slowed their pace.
But mostly it was about the exhilaration of watching the cyclists’ sheer speed. A leader might break away from the pack to bank the corner from Chapel to High Street all on his own …
… but the pack was never far behind.
And lap after lap, they never let up.
Cyclists joined the spectators to cheer one another on, or just chatted before their races.
That sense of camaraderie spilled over — way over — into the Apizza and Eats Feast, which featured trucks from Zuppardi’s and Holy Guacamole to Reggae Vybz and Lemonade Grenade, among several others.
The food and beer on offer and the warm weather were enough to draw a robust crowd that filled College Street a block south of the racecourse, where long lines prevailed from about 5:30 until the festival’s end at 10 p.m.
A rock climbing course gave kids a chance to ascend (safely) far above the heads of the crowd, with guidance and encouragement from the staff below.
The College Street block north of the racecourse, which last year had been the site of a stunt bike demonstration, this year featured more food trucks and their own steady stream of customers.
Later in the evening, the duo Swamp Yankee busked in front of the Shubert with cello-fueled electronica.
Meanwhile, the bars along College Street were packed, with the Owl Shop seemingly at the crowd’s epicenter.
Seated outside near the Owl Shop’s window, Robert Ellis of Hamden surveyed the crowd with friends. He hadn’t known the Grand Prix and Apizza and Eats Feast was going on when he made his plans to go out on Friday. “I came down for the Anchor and the Owl Shop, and this happened to be going on at the same time,” he said.
His impression? “I’m very impressed,” he said with a smile. “Great food options as well as cocktails. Drop that in with fellowship and good cigars.”
He noted that the weather, balmy but not too sticky, was almost perfect for the occasion. “It’s almost like the climax to the summer,” he said. “This is a wonderful time to be here. They need to do this more often.”