Bike track needs repairs, say bikers, coordinators

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by Cecilia Tran

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"The track was horrible. The straightaways were fine, but if your bike hit any of the little ridges on the turns, you could very easily end up [in] a skid," said Tracey Kreider, Sid Richardson College women's bike team captain.

Kim Hunter, Beer-Bike co-chair, agreed. "The track was in very poor shape. Parts of it were very uneven, especially on the two turns near the backstretch," she said.

Steve Moniaci, assistant athletic director in charge of facilities, explained that there are problems with the racetrack every year.

"Basically, the track is just a raised circle of asphalt in the middle of the parking lot. There is no drain, so there is a lake in the middle every time that it rains. The build-up in water wears away the asphalt," Moniaci said.

The Beer-Bike track comprises part of the stadium parking lot, so cars routinely go over it.

Cadillac, Corvette and BMW dealerships also rent the track twice a year for their cars to be test-driven by the public.

Moniaci said that the car companies must pay for any damages that they cause to the track.

Hunter said, "We have been trying to repair the track. But, there was not enough money in our budget this year [to do so]. It should be repaired as soon as we can afford to."

Brenna Copeland, Hanszen College Beer-Bike coordinator and captain of the Hanszen women's bike team, said she feels that patching the track would not help because the patches would futher contribute to the unevenness of the track.

"We should just scrap it entirely, steamroll it and look into making a new track," Copeland said.

Copeland fell and broke her collarbone during this year's race in an incident unrelated to the track conditions.

Kreider said, "I think that Rice is going to have lawsuits on their hands if Beer-Bike is not safer. I'm worried that they will kill Beer-Bike altogether if it becomes too much of a liability."

Mike Hardy, Jones College men's bike team captain, disagreed.

"It's not that big a problem. At the speeds that we're going, it's not that dangerous. They don't have to replace the whole track if they just patch carefully.

"Besides, no matter what we do with the track, we can't make up for the outdoor conditions, like pollen and gravel, that also interfere with the race," he said.

Beer-Bike Co-Chair Scott Brasher said that repairs to the track will be costly.

"It may not be up to the standards of the Rice [Cycling] Team, but the construction of a brand new track would cost roughly $20,000."

This year the event ran a surplus of $4,000. The RPC, which sponsors Beer-Bike, has started a fund for track repairs with this money.

"In four to five years, we'll probably have saved enough money to rebuild the track properly," Brasher said.

Steph Cecere, Jones Beer-Bike coordinator, said, "Just because we resurface [the track] doesn't mean we won't crash."

"It's not worth repaving. I think that the $20,000 should be spent somewhere [else] in the university," she said.

This item appeared in the News section of the April 7, 1995 issue.

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