Cal Poly students are accustomed to the sights and sounds of bicyclists whizzing by on campus.
On Sunday, anyone on campus will have those senses intensified as the Cal Poly Wheelman Club hosts their annual Campus Criterium Race.
“The Campus Criterium is something we’ve always done,” said race director Kathryn Hicks. “It’s a fun event because we’re on campus and we usually get a lot of people out to support the wheelmen.”
Hicks said the race could have as many as 200 riders from around California and Nevada, including 50 members of the Cal Poly Wheelman Club.
There will be a total of six races run beginning with an 8 a.m. men’s race. The finale, which begins at 11:20 a.m. will pit the fastest and the strongest of the men’s racers against each other in the 60 minute race.
The wheelmen will also participate in a Saturday race at Camp San Luis Obispo military base where they will ride a five-mile course multiple times.
The wheelmen are no strangers to racing on the Central Coast, even on the professional level.
Several members of the group went to see the AMGEN Tour of California when it made its stop in Paso Robles earlier this month.
“A bunch of us went to the stage in Paso Robles,” Hicks said. “We were lucky enough to get some passes that gave us really a good spot on the course – right by the finish line.”
Lucky is perhaps an overstatement.
The wheelmen came together to work on a creative project to support Breakaway from Cancer, a cycling effort to raise cancer awareness.
“We took our old bike chains, broke them into smaller pieces and made them into bracelets,” Hicks said. “All proceeds went to Breakaway from Cancer.”
The wheelmen’s efforts were well received, as the group was mentioned during the televised coverage of the tour.
“Announced it during the broadcast on the tour,” Hicks recalled. We started getting e-mails from people all over the country.”
The support has driven the group to continue producing their bracelets.
While they are happy to be supporting a worthy cause, the team still has its sights set on the upcoming race and is looking forward to having the school come out and cheer them on.
“Any support from the student body would be great,” Hicks said. “We’d love to have as many people come out as possible to watch our team.”