After 5: St. John's Cycling Team brings criterium racing to Commercial Street

Warning: Criterium racing may cause white knuckles. Or a few scrapes and bruises.

Described as NASCAR on bikes, criterium racing drops roughly 40 bicyclists on a short, closed urban course where they maneuver through city streets, swiftly making left- and right-hand turns and topping speeds of 40 mph.

"It's 'go' from the gun," describes racer Sean McQueary, a member of St. John's Powerful Medicine Cycling Team, which is holding the Queen City Twilight Criterium on July 25.

As riders dive into sharp turns at high speeds, they often lean their bikes at seemingly gravity-defying angles, before powering out to jockey for position, McQueary adds.

"It's very intense," says St. John's teammate Cale McAninch, a Springfield Public Schools teacher by trade. "You're always fighting. One corner, you're inside with a good line and the next corner, you're stuck on the outside, get shuffled back and have to work your way back through. ... There is kind of an ebb and flow ... you feel the people around you, and as you move, they move with you. It kind of morphs itself."

The fast-paced action draws a crowd and occasionally draws a wreck.

"It's not really what we're shooting for, but inevitably it happens when you have 40 guys going through a corner," McAninch says, adding that in his 15 years of racing, he's suffered only scrapes and bruises - "nothing more than just getting cleaned up afterwards."

That's one area where St. John's comes in. As sponsor of the two-year-old team, emergency medical staff will be on site during this month's race, which starts and ends on Commercial Street.

The team's partnership also means racers speak at St. John's safety clinics for kids, often about wearing helmets while riding.

St. John's officials say they jumped on board when they were approached last year by McQueary, a Barker-Phillips-Jackson producer and co-owner of Integrity Home Care Pharmacy.

"We saw them as potential role models for youth of our community," says Bill Hennessey, a St. John's Health System senior vice president, via e-mail. "They participate in our safety and prevention programs, and we are very pleased for them to wear the name of St. John's on their uniforms."

The team's Web site, www.stjohnscycling.com, lists nine members, including Bud Hogan of Hogan Land Title. A group of seven locals decided to seek a sponsor because they were racing with separate teams around the Midwest, McQueary says. The current mix includes members from Kansas City and St. Louis.

Last year, the Queen City criterium drew about 130 participants, and McQueary expects to clear 200 racers in the second round. Participants will travel from about 200 miles away - there are teams signed up from Tulsa, Okla., and Fort Smith, Ark., for instance.

The guys are quick to say they're not professionals, though Category 1 racers are just one step away. Still, McAninch, a 36-year-old who races in the top tier, has no aspirations of turning pro.

"It's a tough lifestyle and a tough way to make a living," he says, noting that many pro racers eek out less than $10,000 a year. "At my age, I'm not ready to turn it all in and live for $10,000 a year out of a suitcase."

McAninch is happy to let his Pershing Middle School teaching job complement his summer riding passions.

"Most of us have to go to work on Monday, so we don't do anything cutthroat to each other," he adds. "Everybody keeps it in perspective."[[In-content Ad]]