Traffic managers will be out before sunrise to close off the roads around the Idaho Statehouse, but the highlight of the Boise Twilight Criterium won’t happen for many hours later.
Before the pros begin, hundreds of kids will take over the streets around the Capitol – four races in all. There’s a two-lap race for 9 and 10 year olds, one-lap races for 7 to 8 year olds and 5 to 6 year olds, and perhaps the most popular event of the morning: a half-lap race for 3 and 4 year olds. And yes, scoot bikes (training wheels) are allowed. That’s at 11 a.m.
“We’ve had over 500 kids for the last several years,” said Karlee Mae, the Criterium’s event director. “It’s the cutest part of the day.”
The afternoon is filled with amateur races, featuring some of the finest cyclists in the region.
The cycling will pause briefly for a unique event: a foot race celebrating the Girls on the Run program, which combines physical activity with life skills for girls in elementary and middle schools.
Then, as Saturday inches toward twilight, the pros will roll in.
“We’re one of the top six ranking national criterium races in the U.S., which is what drives the number of pro athletes that we have,” said Mae. “It’s pretty special to be elevated into this category."
And the thrill-a-minute races will require huge bales of hay at the curbs to protect the public from the possibility of a 40-mile-per-hour cyclist from crashing while rounding the tight corners. Boise’s Twilight Criterium is called “the fastest four corners” in the nation.
Come Sunday morning, some of the best endurance cyclists – amateurs, pros, even Olympians – will take on the Bogus Basin Hill Climb.
A police motorcade will take the lead in a grueling 18-mile climb to the top of Bogus. In its 54th year, it’s the third-oldest cycling hill climb in the U.S.
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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