The Lorain County Speedway
usually plays host to thundering high-performance stock cars
and fans screaming for their favorite speed demons as they
roar to victory or defeat.
But on Thursday nights this summer, the paved oval track held
a quieter, but no less competitive, kind of racing. USA Pista
Elite, Ohio's only professional bicycle racing team, met at
the banked course to train and race on track bikes weighing as
little as 14.5 pounds.
The team includes a Columbia Station man and an Amherst teen.
Team members ride spidery machines called fixed-gear bikes,
made of aluminum and high-tech compounds such as carbon fiber
and titanium. Riders' shoes clip to the pedals, and the
brightly colored bikes have only one speed and no brakes.
Joe Nieto, 39, of Columbia Station, raced this season after a
20-year break to get married and raise two children. The
return to racing came after a January layoff left him with
time to pursue an old passion.
"When I was a young man, I raced for the Cleveland
Wheelmen," an earlier version of USA Pista Elite, he
said. But maintaining a national level of competitiveness
required a greater commitment than he could give.
"You have to dedicate your life to the sport, and I did
not want to do that," he said, since he is a Jehovah's
Witness.
"I do it now to stay in shape and as a hobby. I actually
feel a little younger and I probably lost 10 pounds. I also
like to help the younger people in the sport."
One of the younger people is Kyle Hill, 16, a junior at
Amherst Steele High School. During the school year, he is a
forward on the Comets hockey team, and has ridden for USA
Pista Elite for five or six years, he said.
Hill said he prefers bicycling to competitive running, which
he did before high school.
"Everyone (in a foot race) works as hard as they can and
falls over at the end," he said. "On track cycling,
you can only go so fast, so it has a lot to do with
positioning and timing. Everyone has a tactic they try to
apply, so you read them and try to work against that. It's a
lot of judgment calls. And you don't throw up at the
end."
Hill said he has treated hockey more seriously than cycling
for the last few years, but plans to change.
"I saw how much time I would have to put into hockey, and
I'd suffer academically," he said. "In cycling you
get to ride no matter what, and you never have to sit on the
bench. So I've decided to push the cycling a lot harder."
Starting in January, Hill plans to work with a personal coach
on aspects of track racing, including training and race
tactics."
Tony Smith, 50, is the USA Pista Elite team manager and a
competitor in his own right.
"At Lorain County Speedway, we had a range, including
people who were learning how to ride a bike," he said.
"Joe (Nieto) is trying to gain his fitness and
competitiveness back, and Kyle Hill is a national-level racer.
People worked on all different kinds of things." Hill won
a bronze medal at the national track racing championship in
2007 in Colorado Springs, Smith said.
One night this summer at the Lorain County Speedway, an Ohio
highway patrol trooper clocked Smith, Nieto and Hill at 47.5
mph with his radar gun, Smith said. The Ohio State Track
Championship took place there in July, with Hill and Smith
each winning first places in two different events.
"I view cycling as a contact sport," Smith said.
"It's a full-contact ballet on two wheels. Nobody is
punching or elbowing, but there is pushing and bumping, which
are allowed in the rules. Riders are competing for the same
space, so they ride into each other. You can go through there
like a pinball."
Riding without brakes may seem unwise to the uninitiated, but
Smith insists it's safe.
"It's far less dangerous than road racing," he said.
"There's no car traffic to worry about. The most
dangerous thing is when riders panic, which doesn't usually
happen on a track."
Slowing down is possible by putting back pressure on the
pedals, he said.
"You can also put a gloved hand down on the front
tire," he said. "You can't stop fast, but it's safe,
because there are no cars. Every time I've been in a crash,
it's because someone does something abrupt. But when nobody
has brakes, you have a different kind of flow."
There were no crashes at the Lorain County Speedway this year,
he said.
2008 Ohio State Time Trial Championship
USA Pista Elite riders are
on fire! This last weekend Team Pista Elite has claimed two
1st place, one 2nd place, one third place, one 4th place, one fifth place
positions on the podium. Erick Madis, Ryan Madis, Mary Beth Ballenger,
Allie Bercaw, Nick Elia, and Mark Ballenger, set the
course a blaze. See our results page for more information.