The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunrmedia.net

BEFORE everybody gets bogged down in front of the television to watch the National Football League’s Super Bowl, New Providence Cycling Association members are hoping that they can come out on Sunday to show their support to the local cyclists as the 2014 season officially gets underway.

The NPCA, headed by president Barron ‘Turbo’ Musgrove, is scheduled to hold its Super Bowl Sunday Road Race, starting at 7:45am. The race will cover a 24-mile distance from the Oasis Restaurant in Coral Harbour, ending up at Goodman’s Bay Beach on West Bay Street.

“Normally our season starts in February and runs through October. Super Bowl Sunday is normally when we start our Tour de Bahamas,” Musgrove said. “But that has not been held for the last two years. So this is a normal start and we wanted to continue with Super Bowl Sunday to kick things off. So we want to do our race early in the morning and then in the afternoon, you can enjoy the Super Bowl parties. So it’s a great way for us to kick off the season.”

The event, according to Musgrove, is opened to all cyclists wishing to participate as they try to increase their field of competitors. It will also be the first of two events scheduled for February. The other is the West Bay Cycling Classic, a 28-mile road race, slated to begin at 7:45am from Baha Mar Boulevard off West Bay Street and end there as well.

“This year, we are going to try and change things up a bit,” Musgrove said. “For the past two years, a lot of our events were held on Saturdays at the same place and we’ve not been able to get the kind of crowd that we wanted because it’s just too far away. So we’ve been changing it up a bit, based on the cyclists who have been currently racing. They want to change the scenery and do a lot of different types of racing. So we are adding some events this year where we will start at one point and end at another point.”

Starting in February, Musgrove said they intend to build their programme, starting with the shorter distances to help to get everybody in some type of shape before they increase the distances as each month progresses.

“We want to help build the cyclists by encouraging them to race because some of the cyclists don’t want to race because they say the distances are too long early in the season,” he said. “So we’re changing things a bit and we are also going to be introducing BMX racing, which is a big event in the USA and Europe and is now an Olympic sport. So we are getting our feet wet with that.”

The BMX races, according to Musgrove, are held on Saturday mornings from 9-10:30am at the One Mile National Cycling Track at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex. But he noted that they will eventually move to Goodman’s Bay, Fort Charlotte and RM Bailey Park in the near future.

“The BMX races call for jumps and hurdles, so we are looking to create that type of atmosphere for the young people who we hope to attract to compete in these types of racing,” he said. “We hope this year, we can do a little more things, including building a better fan base and also do some community rides where we get the community more involved when they have events like Fox Hill Day and other events in Golden Gates and Bain Town.”

Once again, the NPCA will be partnering with the Baptist Sports Council to organise their annual cycling classic. This year’s event is tentatively set for Saturday, July 12 at the One Mile Cycling Track. Musgrove currently serves as the director for cycling for the BSC.

“We also want to work closely with urban renewal as we try to do an annual bike ride for the kids in the various sectors of urban renewal,” he added. “So it’s going to be a busy year for us. We are really trying to garner more support in terms of the participation from the parents. We feel if we can get more participation from the parents with their children riding, it will strengthen our organisation and encourage more people to come out and participate.”

Musgrove noted that if you pass through any of the communities, you would notice a lot of youngsters riding their bikes, but they are hoping to encourage the parents to get some of their children to come out and participate in their activities.

For those persons interested, they can contact Barron Musgrove at 425-1057 or email barronmusgrove@yahoo.com

Here’s a preview of the first two months of competition in the NPCA:

February

Sunday, 2nd - Super Bowl Road Race, starting at 7:45am from Oasis Restaurant, Coral Harbour

Sunday, 23rd - West Bay Cycling Classic, starting at 7:45am from Baha Mar Boulevard off West Bay Street.

March Madness

Sunday, 2nd - Family Fun Day Bike Ride at the National Cycling Track, starting at 3:30pm

Saturday, 8th - Biathlon Series No.1 at Clifton Heritage Park, starting at 7:40am

Sunday, 9th - Road Race, details to be announced

Sunday, 16th - Fun Charity Ride

Sunday, 16th - BMX and Mountain Bike Classic at National Cycling Track, starting at 3:30pm

Saturday, 29th - One Day Tour de Clifton Heritage Park, starting at 7:40am