Rubber Meets Road in Ventura Cycling Classic

The whir of spinning wheels and the click of changing gears sounded through downtown Ventura on Sunday as cyclists vying for state championships rocketed around streets transformed into a tough, tight racecourse.

Scores of men and women rode up to 50 dizzying rounds up and down Poli and Main streets between Ash and California streets as part of the fourth annual Ventura Cycling Classic.

“This is a very difficult, technical, challenging course,” said Jon Avery, a race organizer and owner of Open Air Bicycles in Ventura.

The six hours of events included a men’s cycling race, a three-mile run and the state championship races, criterium events in which 91 men and 15 women completed laps around a short course.

Professionals placed ahead of amateurs in both the women’s and men’s state competitions, but they were only eligible to win cash prizes and not the championships.

About 200 people watched the event, some of them passersby who happened upon the competition.

“It’s exciting,” said Ventura resident Eldiaz Serrante, 32, walking with his 7-year-old daughter. Jocelin agreed, saying that watching the cyclists made her want to take the training wheels off her own bike.

Other spectators, family and friends of contestants, sank into lawn chairs they keep ready in the trunks of their cars because they attend competitions so frequently.

The professional NetZero team swept the 50-lap men’s state competition, with 21-year-old Matt Yates placing first and winning $500, and teammates placing second, third and sixth.

The state championship went to Santa Barbara amateur Chris Walker, 39, who placed fourth.

All 15 of the women who competed won prize money ranging from $300 to $40, as the top 15 were awarded cash. Suzanne Sonje of the Saturn professional team placed first in the 30-lap contest, and the championship went to Trish Choo of San Diego. Erika Coble of Ojai placed seventh.

The competition was sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank, Venoco Inc. oil company, Open Air Bicycles and Gold Coast Velo Cycling Club of Ojai. It was a benefit for Ventura Youth Employment Services, a nonprofit job placement center.

As the laps wore on, some cyclists fell behind and dropped out of the race. “I just didn’t get in the trance,” said 46-year-old Don Edwards of San Clemente, as he sat on his bicycle in an entryway of a Poli Street law firm and looked at the speeding pack he had just left. “You get yourself in the zone.”

“It’s a lot about numbers,” said NetZero manager Marty Church, as he consulted his watch and yelled out times and instructions to his passing cyclists.

Amateur Ryan Yee of Ojai was in his fourth competition.

His mother, Kathy, said she couldn’t stand to watch the sharp downhill left turn at California and Main.

At that corner, the turns were the sharpest, the speeds the highest, and the most bales of straw were stacked to intercept bicyclists going off-course at 40 mph.

Some 20 laps after Kathy Yee expressed her fear, in the last lap of the race, her 20-year-old son swerved to avoid a collision that brought three cyclists down, leaving one with mild scrapes on his thigh.

Officials from the U.S. Cycling Federation examined footage from three video cameras trained on the finish line and determined that Ryan Yee placed 20th.

Yee, who frequently rides from Santa Barbara to Santa Paula and back, said he hopes to do better next year. “It means I keep training, I guess,” he said.