Biking through buildings and the elements

After avoiding black ice on Second and Third Avenues in La Grange, Crestwood’s Alan Keeling steered his bike up a ramp and into the lobby of The Oldham Era’s office.

Jason Stamm/The Oldham Era

Crestwood's Alan Keeling maneuvered through The Oldham Era's office en route to winning the category three race.

Keeling quickly ran into his biggest obstacle.

After entering the office, Keeling’s glasses fogged, clouding his vision.

But Keeling adjusted to the visual challenge to win the seventh leg of the La Grange Urban Short Track Series Feb. 11.

Bikers raced .6 miles from the La Grange Skate Park, cut through a wooded area to Third Avenue, north on Second Avenue and went through The Oldham Era’s office at 202 S. First Ave.

Biking into the office out of the frigid 25-degree temperature, Keeling said his fogged glasses added another hurdle.

“You come inside the building and it’s dark and there’s not enough light in there,” he said. “I was struggling because my glasses adjust to light. By the time they sorted themselves out, I was coming out the back door.”

Keeling bested 14 racers and won the category three race in nine laps with a time of 30:11.

He said he also benefitted from the misfortune of another competitor.

Louisville resident Joe Driver, who clinched the category three series by winning four of the first six races, biked in the category one race. But Driver pulled out of the race with two laps left due to a flat tire after exiting the newspaper’s office.

“It was tight, but you don’t wanna wash out and put a hole in the wall,” he said. “You don’t wanna be that guy. It was wet, sloppy and pretty much the worse conditions you could think of. The only way it could be worse would be a big rain and frozen ruts.”

Louisville’s Anthony Slowinski took the category one race in 15 laps and 42:47, though afterward his bike had over an inch of mud caked next to the wheel and frozen mud splattered across his face.

“Sliding through the mud on the quick left and right downhill was tough,” he said. “Then, there was a little ditch you had to wheelie through. You were just slipping and sliding down that hill.”

Keeling said the hill required some adjustments, but didn’t have an aid like the newspaper’s office did.

He said he navigated through the dimly lit office in part because of a cheering family inside ringing a cowbell — Era Editor Jacquelyn Hack with her husband, Gregory, and their daughter, Harper.

“It was something to look forward to every time you came around,” Keeling said. “If they weren’t cheering, you wouldn’t have known where they were.”

The series concludes Saturday in La Grange.

Email us about this story at: sports@oldhamera.com.