Le Tour de Mont Pleasant sports professional, amateur bikers

As the bicycles whizzed by in downtown Mount Pleasant this weekend, the crowd saw a little bit of everything.

Le Tour de Mont Pleasant was held June 8 through 10 in closed downtown streets. Time trails were held Friday, closed circuit racing on Saturday, and a 120-mile road race on Sunday.

Andy Prickett, 27, from Pleasant Hills, Ohio, has been cycling in professional races for three years. He said the Le Tour de Mont Pleasant is among the best race weekends.

“It’s a good race venue and has good races,” Prickett said. “It just seemed like a good race to do.”

Prickett competed on each day, finishing 14th in the road race with a time of 07:35.

In all the venues he has seen, Prickett said the Mount Pleasant crowd is one of the best he had seen.

“There is really good race support,” Prickett said. “There are really good racing crowds and courses.”

To prepare for races Prickett has his own regime that includes crits, a course less than a mile in length.

“I do a lot of base training,” Prickett said. “After that I narrow it down to really specific training and intervals. As the year progresses, you start to do crits.”

While there were many professional cyclists there, the event also held races for amateur bikers. Children under 10 could raced for free, and there was also a family community bike race.

One group even dressed up as the Marvel superhero team the Avengers.

These bikers were the most entertaining to watch, said Mount Pleasant resident Dale Windwood.

“This is a great event where I can bring my kids,” Windwood said. “We can sit in our chairs and watch the races all day. My kids have enjoyed seeing the Avengers team and thought the Incredible Hulk was pretty cool.”

Windwood went to Le Tour De Mont Pleasant last year and said he will keep coming back each year.

“It’s just a great atmosphere here in Mount Pleasant,” Windwood said. “It’s a great event to have during the summer. I look forward to this event each year.”