Rosedale neighborhood sees speed racers

State bike championship makes way through town

POTTSTOWN >> Normally, the Rosedale section of town is pretty quiet.

Well-tended lawns and wide streets are perhaps what it is best known for.

So it’s not too often racers go wheeling through the neighborhood at speeds requiring all the traffic to stop.

What’s so strange about when that happened Saturday, was it was still pretty quiet.

Instead of thundering mufflers and revving engines, the Pottstown Criterium bike race was marked by the quiet whirr of finely-tuned racing bikes, and the occasional grunt of physical effort.

“Everything hurts,” one racer cried out as she passed photographer Lloyd Mason, up from Washington, D.C. to take photos of the racers — specifically his wife Kim.

“She’s the racer, not me,” Mason chucked as he aimed his long gray lens. “I’ll support her any way she wants but I’m not going

to race.”

But 401 people did race in 10 categories along the three-quarter-mile, sixcorner race High, Beech, Roland and Mount Vernon streets and Rosedale Drive Saturday in the 2021 state championship.

Distances covered in the different categories ranged from 15 to 35 miles.

Food and beverages were provided at High and Roland streets by Sly Fox Brewery and Goodwill Ambulance.

Dani Whitfield was taking care of her own food and beverages, and those for a few friends during the race.

A new resident of Pottstown via the Washington, D.C,. area, Whitfield said she did not know when she moved to the corner of Mount Vernon and Beech streets that she would be living in a front-row seat for the Pottstown Criterium.

“Dawn Gulick, the race organizer, knocked on our door and told us about it, so we decided to have some friends and family over and make a day of it,” she said as the pack of women racers sped by her front yard.

Unlike Whitfield, Bob Bickel has been living in his landmark stone home at the corner of Beech and Rosedale for more than 20 years.

“I think it’s really enjoyable, I watch it every year,” said Bickel “I’m amazed at how fast they travel and how little protection they wear.”

EVAN BRANDT — MEDIANEWS GROUP Racers in the first women’s race of the day round the corner of Beech and Mount Vernon streets Saturday during the Pottstown Criterium bike race.

EVAN BRANDT — MEDIANEWS GROUP Racers in the Pottstown Criterium take some pretty tight corners, which is why padding, foreground, was added to street signs along the route.

EVAN BRANDT — MEDIANEWS GROUP Dani Whitfield, foreground, just moved from the Washington, D.C. area to a house on the corner of Mount Vernon and Beech streets and hosted a lawn party to watch the Pottstown Criterium bike race in front of her house.

EVAN BRANDT — MEDIANEWS GROUP Bob Bickel has lived on the corner of Beech Street and Rosedale Drive for more than 20years and said he loves having the Pottstown Criterium bike race go past his house.

EVAN BRANDT — MEDIANEWS GROUP Lloyd Mason crouches to photograph racers as the round the corner from Beech onto Rosedale.

EVAN BRANDT — MEDIANEWS GROUP Most of the racers in the second race Saturday remained close to each other.

EVAN BRANDT — MEDIANEWS GROUP Of particular interest to Lloyd’s Mason’s lens was his wife Kim, shown here rounding the corner onto Rosedale.