The Heavy Pedal - Phoenix Suffer Cat
As we prep for our upcoming season we decided last minute to take a drive to Phoenix AZ for their annual Suffer cat race hosted by our friends over at @TheHeavyPedal & @TrackOrDieNYC . We packed our bags, bikes and took on the 6 hour drive forgetting about the change in Time Zone, but lucky for us we got their just in time even thought we made some pit stops along the way in the middle of nowhere. Felt great to get out of our city for a couple days. We went into the event not knowing the city or what to expect for the alleycat race, all we knew we had to keep up with the fastest locals of the city and make sure our google maps location was on.
With over 45+ racers attending this event we were stoked to get rolling and of course staying safe on those streets! The suffer cat consisted of 5 checkpoints scattered all over the city with an easy concept: For each checkpoint you went to you had too come back to the start line, There was no order. So as they made us line up our bikes across the streets we knew we had to be one of the first ones out and head to the furthest checkpoint on the manifest. As the rest of the party stayed watching who was coming in, it was hard to tell who was in the lead since everyone scattered and hit different checkpoints making it a close race. 43 miles in and there was one last checkpoint remaining for Rios and Barra along with 2 other athletes. After a couple hours, a few beers and the sun finally setting we saw a White Lazer Helmet sprinting for the finish. RIOS! with all 5 cards from his checkpoints and not far back Barra as well. We were so stoked to get 1st and 2nd for the Annual SufferCat and wouldn't have been possible without the help of some locals and organizers. This was definitely a suffer fest and most importantly a fun race. It is always good to be reminded that its not all serious and about racing crits. We grew up with the love of fixedgear racing in the streets whether it was a checkpoint race or a open course traffic crit, we live this lifestyle and as more pro retired athletes take adaptation of the brakeless track bike only the true riders own it out there on the streets! So if you're one of them keep crushing! Thank you Phoenix for being welcoming and letting us check out your city. Special Thanks to Jesse and the crew at @theheavypedal and @trackordieNYC for the goods times, rad hangs, and keeping us safe out there.
Cover photo by @boostamantefotos Check out more of his coverage here.