This Sunday, June 16th, was filled with excitement on the streets of Harlem in NYC. With the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop over 100 of the nation’s top criterium racers competed in the Harlem Skyscraper classic. This year’s race was more of a spectacle than previous years as it was promoted by the flamboyant Rock Racing cycling team. The race ultimately delivered everything you could expect from the team that represents the over the top and in your face Rock and Republic designer jean company. Television cameras were everywhere, hanging over the start/finish area and hovering above every turn, while a helicopter circled overhead with more cameras covering the action below. WCSN broadcast the race live on television and online as three commentators screamed continuously while covering the high speed event. The scene resembled an outdoor rock concert more than it did a bike race as thousands of spectators lined the .8mile course. The event was an adrenaline charged 55 laps of high speed crash-filled action, which was animated by the who’s who in American professional bike racing.

Nick Bennette and Graham Garber represented the Metlife Pro-Am Cycling Team in Harlem as they went up against 3-time national champion Freddy Rodriguez, Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton, Cuban sensation Ivan Dominguez (who last won on the streets of New York against Lance Armstrong in 2002 at the New York City Cycling Championship) and many of the best criterium riders in the nation. Metlife’s Nick Bennette didn’t seem to be intimidated by the competition as he was one of the first riders to throw down the gauntlet leap away from the field in front an enthusiastic crowd of thousands. As expected, mayhem ensued in the chasing field behind, the rest of the field was clocked at 35 miles per hour in pursuit of Bennette as the as they entered turn one and this resulted in a crash nearly took out Metlife’s Graham Garber. Bennette was reeled in, but it set the tone for the rest of the event as racer after racer took their chances off the front only to be brought back by a peloton traveling at 30 plus miles per hour.

As the race wore on, Bennette and Garber realized that an attack at these speed would be futile and they tried to carefully position themselves for the final sprint. Unfortunately their efforts were hampered by the continual crashes as the field size was steadily reduced to less than half of the initial starting numbers. With 6 laps to go a large pile up of 10 riders occurred in turn 3 and Metlife’s Garber was caught behind it, leaving him hundreds of feet behind a flying peloton. This event, being Garber’s first race of the 2008 season, inspired him to chase for over a lap at 35 miles per hour to successfully catch the peloton being driven by the entire Rock Racing professional team. Unfortunately, this effort prevented Graham from being of any use to his teammate Nick Bennette, who was left to fend for himself in the closing laps of the race. By the final lap Bennette had courageously clawed his way into contention near the front of the star-studded field, but at the 250 meter to go mark Bennette’s chances at a top-10 finish were dashed as a pile up next to the barriers forced Bennette to lock up the brakes. In the end, Metlife’s Nick Bennette safely made it across the line in 34thplace (given the same time as the winner) and Metlife’s Garber made it across the line in 48th place (also given the same time as the winner) just a few places in front of Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton.

Nick and Graham were both relieved to finish the event unscathed, but they weren’t the only ones counting their lucky stars, all the top ten finishers were forced to dodge at least one crash at the finish: Erik Barlevav, the winner of the race put in a final effort so intense that he lost control of his bicycle and crashed just after the finish line. The other racers in contention were very lucky to make it through the finish without loosing any skin as they slammed on their brakes to avoid crashing.

At the end, anyone that finished without leaving skin on the pavement seemed content with their day of racing.  Harlem was ultimately the big winner of the day as it was able to host one of the most spectacular and dramatic professional cycling events of the 2008 season. The motto displayed on the shirts of all the race representatives was “here to stay,” and that will certainly be the case as bike racing does not get any more exciting than it did on Sunday.