2016 RED HOOK CRIT barcelona

Team 8-Bar rides Barcelona

Welcome to our new adventure!
This time we are in Barcelona for the 4th Red Hook Criterium.
We are going to meet the German 8bar team and have a nice ride with them.
Sami, the only local rider of the team, promised to show us around.

CHAPTER #1: THE VELODROME

We met the 8Bar team in the Velòdrom d‘Horta on the annual RHC track day.
The velodrome was built for the 1992 Summer Olympics and had recently been renovated.
It is a beautiful open-air structure surfaced with good smelling wood.
To get there from the city center you have to do quite a bit of climbing, as we experienced on a group ride from the My Beautiful Parking bike store.

Getting ready to meet the track

Stefan is the founder of the 8bar brand and team.

“I have been building bikes from scratch and racing for over 15 years.” he said.

Together with a collective of “cycle-crazy friends”, he brought his vision to life and started a company for customized bicycles.
This is how the company differentiates itself from other brands: every bike can be personalized by the client by combining components and frames of different colors.

“When I started Fixed Gear racing there were only Alley Cats, Sprint races and Goldsprints.
I had a bunch of friends and we were racing together at all kind of events.”

His first RHC was the 2012 Milano one. He liked the format of the race so much that he decided to create a fixed gear racing team.

“After a few years we also created the 8bar Rookies Team to support unattached riders so they can compete in races like this.”

“Our goal is to get all riders into the finals and two riders into the championship points (Top25).” Stefan said.

“The men’s qualifying on the newly designed circuit was pretty fast and actually only three of them made it into the finals.”
Stefan told us after the race.

Max and Stefan also made it into the finals but unfortunately couldn‘t manage to get to the front and finish within the points.
Paul and Konrad raced the Last-Chance-Race and finished within the Top 20.
Tim managed to finish on 22nd position, which is quite impressive because he is just back on the bike for around six weeks after a ski injury this winter.

Sami is the newest member of 8bar team and she lives in Barcelona.
She will be our guide for today and she’s going to lead us to special places!
She does not really expect any good results on Saturday’s race as she had an injury last week and could barely walk until a couple of days ago.

“If I don’t qualify in the top 20 positions I don’t think I will race.”

She eventually started the race in 16th position and finished it in a very good 29th place.

CHAPTER #2: LUNCH TIME

ON Y VA COFFEE BCN

This cozy little bar / restaurant is located outside the town center, far from the other cool cycling shops and bars of the city.
It opened last year and they are part of the On y Va Sports Culture network.
They aim to be one of the best hubs for people that share two great passions, the one for coffee an the one for bikes.
They promote cycling at various levels and among other activities every week they organise a bike ride that is open for everybody who enjoys cycling.

Sami is a passionate On y Va Sports Culture member and she brought us there to have a special lunch.
The bar owner, was there for us with a tasty Catalan lunch. Thanks for the homemade gazpacho, the hummus and the vegetarian paella, Ferran!

After the effort in the velodrome and the strong sun it was time to refuel!
Watermelon and of course an espresso were perfect to finish the meal.

CHAPTER #3: HEADING TO THE NUMBER PICK UP LOCATION…

…while bombing some (small) hills and running some red lights (there are definitely too many traffic lights in Barcelona).

BREAK #1: CROSSROADS

A few red light stops were actually respected and used as an excuse to practise some basic urban riding skills.

CHAPTER #4: NUMBER PICK UP

Fabrica Moritz Barcelona

The Red Hook Crit organizers the Moritz beer factory as the early number pick up location, just in the center of barcelona.
Louis Moritz inaugurated this new beer factory in 1864, in the beautiful Raval neighborhood.
It’s a huge building measuring more than 4.500 square meters.

CHAPTER #5: HEADING TO THE BEACH 🙂

BREAK #2: WALL CLIMBING

Stefan could not resist the temptation to ride some cobbled “walls”.

CARLA

She is feeling pretty confident about her race on saturday and her goal is to be on the podium.
She raced most of the time in the front group but unfortunately her position in the last lap was not that good and she was held back in the sprint.
She still finished on a good 16th place and received some championship points.

FINALLY WE MADE IT TO THE BEACH!

BREAK #3: FRIENDS ON THE BEACH

CHAPTER #6: THE MIRADOR

TIM

Tim is the only french rider of the team, while most of the others live in Berlin.
He can’t really train with his team mates but he meets them regularly at bike races around Europe.
This will be his first Red Hook Crit of the championship as he injured his knee before the cycling season started.
He’s passionate about skiing too and that’s how he crashed.
He got back on the bike six weeks ago though and he has already kicked ass in the few races he competed in.
He will manage to finish the race just outside the top 20, a great result considering how the level of the field increased since his last RHC in Milano last year, when he placed 6th.