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Loveland hosts cycling nationals

By Sean Keeler, Post staff reporter

LOVELAND - The pet portion of Loveland mayor Lee Skierkiewicz's platform sits on wheels.

Two of them, actually.

''It's a marketing program, there's no doubt about it,'' Skierkiewicz says of Loveland's cycling obsession, a mission that in just two years has snared the 1998 USA Cycling Elite National Championships to the area this weekend and made Cincinnati a contender to host the 2000 Olympics cycling trials.

''There's an economic development part to it. I was at a race three weeks ago in Philadelphia, and the donations from the corporations were over $1 million. People don't want to put that kind of money into (something) unless it gives back to the community.''

Skierkiewicz, 43, is a late-bloomer for a bike enthusiast. He calls himself a ''recreational cyclist,'' which is a politically correct way of saying ''non-competitive'' and, more bluntly, a pokey pedal. So his red-white-and-blue USA Cycling jersey, a montage of stars, stripes and sleeves that hangs on the wooden wall behind his seat in the Loveland city council chamber, will remain encased this weekend.

The jersey was a gift from USA Cycling, the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based governing body that has seen a lot of Loveland and Skierkiewicz as of late. It has become a coat of arms in the tenure of the Chicago native, the point man for bringing Loveland to the cycling community and vice versa.

What started as a small gesture to boost the Cincinnati area's Olympic hopes - Skierkiewicz was the first call to Greater Cincinnati Amateur Sports Association president Nick Vehr - is now a very large cycling event running right past the front steps of city hall.

Loveland hosts two stages of the USA Cycling Elite National Championships this weekend. The time trials begin Thursday at Loveland High School (running through Loveland and Symmes Township), and the final day's events, the short-course criterium, are Sunday in downtown Loveland.

Skierkiewicz is the honorary co-chair of the 1998 championships with Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls.

''The thing is, if I see something, I go for it,'' says Skierkiewicz, an investment banker with Fifth Third/The Ohio Company and a Loveland resident since 1988.

''I don't let very many things get in my way. So I see this as a challenge, and I think it's something the community could really benefit from long-term, five or 10 years down the road. (Cycling) is a lot more exciting than most people think. You see 60 cyclists coming by at 45 miles per hour, and you still feel the draft for minutes (after they pass). We're trying to promote this as a family sport, a community sport.

''Back in 1990, I got involved with all of this because I gave a presentation to the city on how to finance a recreation center. Yeah, it sort of catches up with you, and I never woke up when I was 4 years old and said, 'I want to be mayor of the city of Loveland.' It sort of just happened.''

The same might be said of Loveland's status in the national cycling community, which has jumped considerably since Skierkiewicz became mayor in 1996. Last August's Tour de Loveland drew more than 4,000 spectators to the area, and the

championships this weekend could draw up to three times that total.

''Loveland is really the cycling hub in Cincy,'' says Renee Yablon, manager of Loveland's Cycle Sport bike shop. ''You go to downtown Loveland any night that's just right - you can't find a parking space downtown because everyone's come to go biking (on the Loveland Trail).''

Evan Call, managing director for USA Cycling, said he has been ''very impressed'' with the area's commitment to cycling and is in negotiations to bring the national championships to the Cincinnati area full-time.

Baltimore, Denver, St. Louis, San Jose, Portland and Los Angeles are also vying for the nationals, Call says.

The latest project in Skierkiewicz's portfolio could give the city another edge - and an international profile. The mayor just returned from a trip to Manchester, England, where he visited an indoor velodrome.

The city has commissioned a study into building one, the first track of its kind in the United States since 1936, over the next two or three years. Skierkiewicz will do most of the research hands-on and, he says, ''out of my own pocket.''

''This is not a city-level project. It's more of a regional project,'' he says. ''There's no (indoor) track in the United States, and Germany has five. This (project) is a little further along than most people think.''

Cycling Celebration Weekend

What: National Road Championship

When: Thursday, Saturday, Sunday in Loveland, Symmes Township, Cincinnati and Newport, Ky.

Admission: Free.

For information : 421-8200.

SCHEDULE

Thursday: Time trials, Symmes Township and Loveland, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Start/finish is at Loveland High School.

Friday: Cyclist and Volunteer Picnic, Nisbet Park, Loveland, 5-10 p.m.

Saturday: National Road Championship Road Races, Cincinnati, Eden Park and Newport, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Youth Bike Safety Clinics, Cinergy Field, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Police Mountain Bike Challenge, Cinergy Field, 1-4 p.m.

Sunday (all events in Loveland) : National Road Championship Criteriums, noon-7:30 p.m.; Youth bike safety clinics, noon to 2 p.m.; Bike Expo, noon to 7 p.m.; Kids' races, 1-2 p.m.; Historic Loveland Food & Wine Fest, 3-9 p.m.; Police Mountain Bike Challenge, 3:45-4:15 p.m.; Big Band Concert, Nisbet Park, 6:30 p.m.

TYPES OF RACES

Time trial: Based on comparing individual times over a 5.1-mile course.

Road race: A pack event that favors endurance and adjusting to various terrain over an 8.7-mile course.

Criterium: Race of 25 to 60 miles held on a closed course of less than a mile that emphasizes speed and tight turns.

WHERE TO WATCH

Thursday: Loveland High, Fallis Road; Wall Street.

Saturday: Eden Park, Walnut Street between Third and Fifth. Start and finish is at Fourth and Main.

Sunday: W. Loveland Avenue and Karl Brown Way, near the Loveland Bike Trail. The Harrison Avenue side of Nisbet Park (west) is convenient to the first turn and to the Wine & Food Fest on Railroad Avenue. Riders will be making their final turns at Wall and W. Loveland.

Publication date: 06-24-98

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