Anonymous local heroes and regional pros square-off in front of their families and folks from the neighborhood. Kids wander around with dirt-streaked faces; teens make-out behind the Port-O-Lets. It’s a festival built around an odd sport, a curious carnival of cyclists tilting headlong around corners, the most treacherous of which usually have the largest crowds, all waiting for riders to take a big stack into the hay bales.
This year’s Hyde Park Blast in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 25 offered those familiar sights in spades. A bad cover band provided entertainment and Miller the refreshment. The more enterprising brought a cooler or snuck in a flask. Families on porches distractedly watched and then wandered around to visit with the neighbors. The bike racing was the main attraction, to be sure, but the party was in the yards and corners.
Words and pictures by Robert Zach Thomas
