Road cycling series Bend Summer Criterium starts this week with clinic and races

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bend Summer Criterium road racing series, backed by legendary cyclist Chris Horner, is five weeks long, with races taking place on Wednesdays.

Wednesday is the first day, starting with a clinic at Pacific Crest Middle School.

The series has been in town for many years, under different organizations.

This year, it's been brought back by the Horner Cycling Foundation, a nonprofit helping kids get access and exposure to road cycling.

Director Molly Cogswell-Kelly says road cycling is a great sport to practice in Bend, and hopes the series will get more kids involved.

“You know, we’ve really seen a decline of people riding on the road, and so we thought this would be a great opportunity, with Chris leading the charge, to get kids on road bikes again,” Cogswell-Kelly said. “Because they used to ride. We just don’t see them that much, and we just want kids to be active.”

In addition to the pre-race clinic with Horner and other pro cyclists, there are three different age groups for races: the Kiddie Crit, for kids 4-8, Junior, for kids 9-18, and Masters, for adults 18 plus.