Is the Manayunk Wall coming back?

[merckxman]

An effort to bring back the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic is underway, https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle...wned-bike-race
Maybe for 2025.

I saw the race 2x, spectating along the wall was a road racing classic experience.

[glepore]

Carlos owned a bike shop for a long time-Bicycle Therapy. Great place.
What drove the race out of Philly was a combination of the city wanting to be paid for police overtime and some mismanagement. But yes, it was a great event.
The Wall was cool-had a friend with a house a block away. But after he moved, we moved the party to Lemmon Hill-you could spread out a full on picnic with a popup tent etc and have something to do between laps.

[trener1]

I sure hope so, I went to the race about half a dozen times, I would bring my bike and split my time between the wall and lemon hill, had some great parties on Lemon hill.
I would love to be able to bring my kids now.

If they could time it to be a week before the Baltimore race that would be a great incentive for the euro teams to come over.

[C40_guy]

My uncle and cousin ran a bikeshop in Manayunk named after the race - The Wall. While I never saw the race, or even rode the hill, I did drive it a few times and could not believe that people could cycle up it!

[dmitrik4]

That would be great; I got into bikes after we first moved away from Philly so I’ve never seen it live but would love to see it return.

[trener1]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

I did drive it a few times and could not believe that people could cycle up it!

I rode it once (the wall not the race) and actually I had the opposite thought, with all of the hype I was expecting it to be super hard, but it wasn't really all that tough.
Now doing it after 150 miles at race pace is of course a different story, but really as far as climbs go it wasn't that tough, hence the race was mostly won by sprinters (and also the fact that it was pretty far from the finish).
It still made for great spectacle and parties though.

[dcama5]

My wife and I attended one year and rode the course with other cyclists before the race started. I cannot remember the year - quite a while ago. Funny thing about the wall is that you are on a street perpendicular to the wall and it turns 90 degrees to the left to go up the wall, but it doesn't gradually increase in steepness. It is pretty steep from one inch after the turn, like the corner of a box. The race was in a nice part of Philly overall and we enjoyed it. May go back if it comes back.

Dave

[robt57]

Lemon Hill baby!

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by dcama5

M The race was in a nice part of Philly overall and we enjoyed it. May go back if it comes back.

Lots of good mountain biking nearby too...

[vespasianus]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Lots of good mountain biking nearby too...

The PA MTB scene is way under-rated.

Saw the first core-states race and many after. Except for a stretch in the middle 90's I think I went every year. Was a great time and a Philly tradition.

[AngryScientist]

Oh man, I would love if this came back.

I used to go every year with a pal of mine. We really had a blast partying with the locals, drinking all day and watching some good racing.

[benb]

Originally Posted by trener1

I rode it once (the wall not the race) and actually I had the opposite thought, with all of the hype I was expecting it to be super hard, but it wasn't really all that tough.
Now doing it after 150 miles at race pace is of course a different story, but really as far as climbs go it wasn't that tough, hence the race was mostly won by sprinters (and also the fact that it was pretty far from the finish).
It still made for great spectacle and parties though.

Yah it seems like in today's world where 34x34 is a normal low gear on what they are selling as road bikes a lot of people would be less impressed by it.

It's short at 0.5 miles. 17% is steep but not horrific, and if the whole thing is only 0.5 miles the steep part it likely something most can power through with the average grade being 8% which is pretty easily within the realm of normal gearing. If you weren't a climber it would have seemed WAY worse 20 years ago if your bike had a 39x23 or 39x25 low gear.

But IMO any race is made better by having something like that in it!

[robt57]

Originally Posted by benb

It's short at 0.5 miles. 17% is steep but not horrific, and if the whole thing is only 0.5 miles the steep part it likely something most can power through with the average grade being 8% which is pretty easily within the realm of normal gearing.

Question is how many times you hit it in the circuit. And not only hill to steam up, milder Lemon Hill in circuit as well.

Last 2-3 laps, walls finish off the damage done thus far. By design of course.

[MatchDave]

First pro bike race I saw in person, I think in 1989. As with many pro sports, remember thinking "these folks are a LOT faster in person than they look on TV".

Would be great to see it return.

[carpediemracing]

Watched the race many times. I'd love it if it came back. Every time it was hard to understand just how fast everyone was.

A few things come to mind.

When Yates won, I didn't see him for the first 2 of the 3 final short laps. Why? Because I thought the motorcycles were simply sweeping the course clear for the rider behind, and so I was looking *behind* the motorcycles for Yates. I thought there was no way Yates was in the midst of the motorcycles. The third lap, the last one, I realized his helmet wasn't a motorcycle one and that Yates was, in fact, going something like 30-35 mph. Absolutely insane.

Another is when Jelly Belly had a rider puncture during the first three parade laps. I didn't realize that they were going super fast, because on TV you see them ride curb to curb and I figured they were going 20-22 mph. Well, they were riding curb to curb... at something like 30 mph (okay, maybe a bit slower, but it was close). The Jelly Belly rider that flatted, he couldn't get back on, even in the caravan. The team sent two riders to help him. I think only one of the three made it back into the field. It was brutally fast... and that was before the race was on.

A final one is I had a friend that rode at a low level Euro pro level. He could ride so fast in local crits. One race he soloed for about 40 out of 45 laps of a crit, got caught with half a lap to go. A decided non-sprinter, I felt bad for my friend. I found him after the race, and he looked appropriately heated up. I'd be heated up too, a rouleur getting caught with 500m to go by a team leading out their sprinter.

I cautiously asked him how he did. "I won!" What? "I effing won. They caught me on the last lap and I led out the sprint and rode away from them."

He knew he wasn't at the top level in terms of potential. He'd try to peak in Feb or so, so he could do stuff early on. Even then he got smoked. In Spain he said they'd be going 40kph, 25 mph... up the (admittedly shallower grade) climbs. He was okay in February, when that was tempo, but when it went faster in March and April, he couldn't hang. And that was before the strong riders hit their good form.

So he was my first hero cyclist that I knew. And at Corestates... the best he ever did was he was in the main group on one of the last big laps. But he never made it to the finishing loops. And when he was in the group, he was suffering like mad.

When unattached pros could still enter. It was getting really tight in this picture, it was in the short finishing loops. The rider getting squeezed is one of those composite team riders, an individual who took out a pro license but didn't race for a team. You could do that for a while. I was thinking of doing that just so I could stay I lined up at Corestates:


Same year, I think the front of the field, maybe a lap earlier, maybe the same lap, not sure. I think Hincapie and one of the McCormacks (Mark?) is in the group:


One of the Liberty Classics (Women's race). The rider in the middle is a local, she got 6th in the race, an amazing result:


My friend with some of his Italian training partners. Stephan Zanini was funny. "So this is your Chinese friend?" "Japanese, but yeah". The Saeco riders also rode with them, and apparently the Saeco director was someone they saw all the time, so he honked and gave them crap as he drove by:


Tom Steels signing my jersey. My then-gf took the pic (if I'm not in the pic, I was taking it):


The Mapei guys early on. They didn't take the race too seriously. I mean, they tried a bit, but they weren't very good. My friend said they were treating it as a vacation, and if they won some money, great. They must have gotten some start money, or at least air fare and stuff covered.