On a hot and sunny afternoon in august 23 cyclist gathered at TheHandleBar at Torontos Kensington Market to do something no men ever did before on the continent: to stage a bicyclerace at a Bar. After the Trainingsession which took 2h the rules of the „Altbaukriterium“ (the name of these races in Austria where they come from) and the track was explained at the ridersmeeting and the first rider hit the track. After a good start and a very fast sprint down the bar something happend and the world will never know what. Instead of taking the turn like he was supposed to he went straight into the glassdoor and almost fell out of the Bar. Great sportsman and cyclist as he is he straight jumped back in the saddle and finished the heat even though he knew that a crash results in a 10 lap penalty. Everybody was greatfull that the rider didn’t get hurt and since the glass in the door was reinforced by a metalweb no big shards where around and the race proceeded. The very tight turns on both ends of the course put the breaklessfixedgearriders to a very tough test but various bikes where spotted and circled TheHandleBar in amazing ways.
After about 4h the 1st North American Housecat ended with two Canadians on the podest and lots of tired but entertained racers without any major injury or damage to the bar.
Result:
- Joel Anderson 6
- Benn Voss 5
- ChriSTOP (Team Muchar Junior Racing Team) 4
- Cole Misukel 3
- Martina Radhofer (Team Woman on Wheels) 2
- Martin Brunner (Team Steirerbruch) 1
- Alex BG
- Karsten Loukides
- Luke Asworth
- Burn Hard (Team Muchar Junior Racing Team)
- Ali Stewart (Team Woman on Wheels)
- OZ
- Max Manca
- Mattae Katolyk
- Ronan
- Matt Randal
- Thomas Hodgins
- Matt Williams
- Nicolas Cole
- Claudio Gonzales
- Cynthia
- Kyle (Team Woman on Wheels)
- Danielle Schön
Pictures of the race are online on instagram #muchar and on Altbaukriterium on flickr.com
The Altbaukriterium Weltverband wants to thank all the Riders, ChriSTOP, Carmel Dias, Niki Dias, Martina RADhofer, Rachel Conduit and the whole HandleBarCrew, Africycles, Pedalbelt and Switchbackcyclery. Hopefully see you again next year!
altbaukriterium 