Redlands’ rolling party fills the bill

REDLANDS – Earnest Hemingway would have called it “A Moveable Feast.” I just call it a rolling party.

By whatever name, it thundered into downtown Redlands last weekend in all its lycra and multi-colored splendor. The 39^th Redlands Bicycle Classic exploded in our midst, and everyone was covered by its wondrous shrapnel.

“It’s great,” said men’s overall champion Eder Frayre of Ensenada, Mexico who lived for a few years with a family in nearby Beaumont. “I love this town. I love the weather, and I feel like I’m at home.”

So they gathered near the finish of the decades-old race, dressed in short sleeves and ballcaps and sunglasses and sipping drinks on a sun-splashed day. They waited patiently for the final sprint and the chance to bang on the boards and roar their approval. It is a scene that never grows old. Sunday, it happened again, and we were all the better for it.

I DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ BADGE

I arrived noonish at the podium/media area where the sign said, “credentials only.” Signs, signs, everywhere signs. Isn’t that how the old song went?

Unfortunately, I forgot to apply for a media credential and an alert official wanted to give me the boot. I asked if communications director Craig Kundig was around, but was told no. Eventually Redlands Bicycle Class grand poohbah Scott Welsh came to my rescue. “Everyone knows you,” he said. I felt like Norm on “Cheers.”  

I filched a folding chair from the trailer and plopped myself down. I cracked open an orange cream soda which another sharp-eyed official determined not to be a brewski. It was to be a long day ahead.

But if I was ever tempted to catch a few winks, the P.A. announcer screaming, “Five laps to go. Five laps to go. FIVE LAPS TO GO!!!” surely would haven wakened me.

BRAINSTORM

The classic began in 1985 and has been held every year but two -- the latter due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Back in the mid-1980s when Bruce Springsteen and Joe Montana ruled the Earth, newly minted Redlands mayor Carol Beswick had a brainstorm. Downtown Redlands was ailing, and she wanted to give it a makeover. Inspired by the recently completed Olympics in Los Angeles, she thought a bicycle race downtown was just the tonic. She approached the city manager, who informed her that Peter Brandt, a cycling enthusiast and physical therapist in town, had one day earlier inquired about holding a road race downtown. It was fate.  

The two met, along with councilman Dick Larsen, and began to organize the Redlands Bicycle Classic for Memorial Day Weekend in 1985. They decided on three stages, and a $14,000 prize which helped get approval from the local cycling federation.

Thurlow Rogers was the first winner.

A ‘MAGICAL RACE’

Baltimore’s Scott McGill roared to the finish Sunday and raised his right arm in triumph, then pumped his fist like John McEnroe after hitting an ace. The fans cheered wildly.

Later, I approached McGill -- albeit without my media badge.

“Are you, like, a journalist or something?” McGill said.

Indeed.    

Convinced of my legitimacy, McGill said, “This is my fourth time racing Redlands, and the Sunset Race is the marquee event. It’s the last stage and so it’s nice to be able to win.”  

Women’s overall winner Alia Shafi of Portland, Oregon was no less impressed with our citrus and fulfillment center-dominated hamlet.

“Redlands is a magical race,” she said. “It’s the community and the wonderful stages and how well this event is run. It’s awesome.”

Forty years after Mayor Beswick and citizen Brandt had their brainstorm, the Redlands Bicycle Classic has filled the bill.  

It is the longest, continuously running invitational stage race in the country and is well known throughout the world. Riders have competed in the Olympics, the Tour de France, and other world championships. And the only Main Street that is perhaps more vibrant than ours, is at Disneyland.

Long live the Redlands Bicycle Classic.  

Reach John Murphy at berdooman@gmail.com and follow him at @PrepDawg2.