John Riordan: How Harlem became a hotbed for cycling
HOTBED: Every June for five decades, hundreds of professional and amateur riders race around the one mile course which is shaped by the iconic Marcus Garvey Park in New York.
There is a deep and historic connection between the village of Harlem - as lifelong resident Richard Cox refers to it - and the city of Paris.
It starts and endures healthily with jazz, the visual arts and food. For well over a century, the traffic of influence travels both ways, equally. And for a group of dedicated Harlem cycling enthusiasts, today's opening stage of the Tour de France will be watched keenly. As will the subsequent stages right through until, three weekends from now, what's left of the Peloton cruises from Paris' financial hub of La Défense into the climactic eight laps of the Champs-Élysées.
They'll gather at one of the fine eateries in Harlem which, in spite of my efforts, Cox won't divulge, slightly wary that my humble little column will draw attention to their sanctuary. Which I respect. The neighbourhood is bothered enough by gawking tourists and the best kept secrets should stay that way.
But it's not simply because of the Tour or French culture or the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong that this pocket of the United States will be activated early during most of the key stages.
The deep affinity between Harlem and the sport of cycling goes way back and a major factor of that relationship celebrated a 50th anniversary just two weeks ago on Father's Day.
The Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic is an iconic New York City event which boasts a uniquely uptown twist. Started by David Walker, a New York City Police Community Affairs Officer in Harlem’s 28th Precinct, in 1973, it began as his effort to provide an outlet to the young men and women of a beleaguered and forgotten district.
Every June for five decades, hundreds of professional and amateur riders race around the one mile course which is shaped by the iconic Marcus Garvey Park. Anyone who saw my favourite movie of 2021, Summer of Soul, will know that what was then known as Mount Morris Park hosted the Harlem Cultural Festival over several weekends in 1969. I won't dwell too much on the sad reality that the optimism and joy which defined that incredible event was usurped pretty swiftly by abandonment and decay. Hence the need four years later for something innovative.
It's almost ten years since Lance Armstrong and Oprah Winfrey sat down for an interview that stopped a nation.
Somehow it feels like a different century to the one we're saddled with now.
Barring any of the usual hiccups that tend to beset the Tour - as well as a few notable new ones - there should be seven US riders rolling down the start ramp in Copenhagen today. It's unlikely that Oprah or most of the rest of the country will be able to name a single one.
The TV rights holder, NBC, will air almost all of the stages on its slightly backwater but very accessible cable channel, USA. It will also stream everything on its subscription service Peacock. The only time they are angling to capture the largest audience is for the penultimate 20th when hopefully there'll be a bit of jersey movement.
So not exactly a mainstream bet but given the time difference and lack of anything even resembling a Lance protagonist, it's a very understandable move. Interestingly, when Stage 12 heads up Alpe d’Huez on Bastille Day, they'll be herding us all onto Peacock where we will be shrewdly forced to part with our money for the privilege of enjoying that unique spectacle. Or we'll have to try and find Richard Cox in his lounge of choice in Harlem.
He chooses his words carefully when I ask him about the popularity of the Tour in the US since the messy demise of the disgraced Texan.
"I don't have any opinion about Lance Armstrong. I never knew him personally. So I don't have any opinion about him or his impact on cycling. The only thing that I can say overall is that cycling has its challenges and its conflicts and cycling also has its mysteries. I think overall, the cycling community - like other communities - have proven that they can move forward past controversy and rebuild and reestablish the trust of the people they're trying to serve."
Cox grew up in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem, two miles north of the park and a fairly easy 15-minute cycle little further uphill. Founder Walker called it Harlem Skyscrapers because of the unobstructed view of Midtown Manhattan's sky rises from a fire department watchtower built on the highest peak of the park way back when that was the only way to detect a fire happening.
"Detective Walker worked in Community Affairs," Cox told me by phone on Wednesday evening, "and when you work in community affairs, you're really tasked with keeping your ear to the streets. You're not only protecting your community but also developing your community. So he came up with the concept of this event and once it took off, within three years, it became one of the major stops on the United States Cycling Federation tour. Which is amazing."
The race director was still recovering from the event management he had been enduring just ten days prior. The all hands on deck effort engages every city agency from the police to sanitation, hiring their own private ambulance for the reassurance of the professional riders and amateurs alike who tear around the sharp corners at a scary clip.
Part of the appeal for the crowds that come to view the event is the challenge of navigating the tight square course which also partly features in the closing stages of the New York City Marathon.
"You really have to be a criterion professional to ride in Harlem," he notes. "But we take that into consideration and place limitations on the field. Some of these criterion events might have 150 riders. Harlem has a limit of 100 and we may go to 125 for the professional man but we rarely get to that amount. This year the pro men evened out at about 110. I think the pro women field was a little bit more than 60.
"Less people means less of a chance of an accident or injury. That's one of the ways that we also encourage people not only to come back but to register quickly. You can't sit on Harlem when the registration opens up - you need to jump on that right away."
Cox discovered the event in the late 1980s, striking up a friendship with David Walker as part of a safety education forum which the NYPD was setting up for young people like him. He became more involved in the running of the event while also enjoying a successful amateur career as part of Team Unity. About six years after Walker passed away in 2008, Cox assumed the role of race director.
The beating heart of US cycling is Boulder, Colorado so it’s a remarkable achievement that Harlem has for so long maintained both an event of prestige and an outlet for real community impact.
What’s more, Harlem Skyscrapers also produced the first ever African American Olympian to medal in cycling, Nelson Vails. Before a decade-long professional career that culminated in the mid 90s and before an amateur stint that yielded that silver medal at the 1984 LA Games, Vails was a bike messenger in New York City. Walker and Harlem paved the way for him to be able to bring his natural ability onto a larger stage.
“You have folks in Harlem that get together and they can dream and they can listen, they can watch the Tour, but they sit back and say to themselves, ‘that's not unattainable’.
“Nelson Valles comes back and stands next to me every year for Harlem Skyscrapers. So here's a person from Harlem who sat back and watched cycling, got involved in cycling, had that dream. When I see some of the younger folks out there in Harlem and they look at something like the Tour de France and they say, 'you know I could actually be at that calibre, I could be at that level. Nelson Valles made it. He could do it, so can I.'”
Cox is hoping soon to change the current logo of Harlem Skyscrapers which is the familiar Manhattan skyline. Whereas once they watched down from the peak of Marcus Garvey Park to a seemingly unattainable midtown, the community of Harlem has constructed an infrastructure rendering those distant views superfluous. The best part is that some of what’s been built has improbably and magically risen around the sport of cycling.
