The Radavist

10 Years of the Red Hook Crit Brooklyn
Photos by Brian Vernor, words by Dan Chabanov.

The Red Hook Crit turned 10 this year. I first did the race in 2010, Brian Vernor was also there for the first time, making a movie and shooting photos. Seven years later we were both in the media tent at the 10th edition of the race trying to take it all in while simultaneously being completely blown away by the race. A few days later I got to see his photos from that day (the one’s you see in this gallery) and the images he made just struck a cord with me. The choices he was making about what to photograph and what not to photograph made me feel like he was understanding the race in a way that was similar to mine. So I called him up to just talk about the Crit, his photos, and why he keeps coming back.

Pre-Season Preparation at Richard Sachs
Photos and words by Dan Chabanov

I pretty much wait all year to get this email. It’s short and simply reads;

“The bikes are ready. When can I expect you?”

The Misery of the Hardcore 24
Photos and words by Dan Chabanov

It’s rare that I get a boring text from Dan Timmerman. When he asked me if I would be interested in a 24 hour mountain bike race I figured he was mostly joking and not really expecting me to be interested in that sort of thing. He later admitted this to be true. Although I have to admit that Dan’s assessment of my level of interest was probably correct normally. I guess he just caught me on a weird day and so we started working out the details…

Dan Chabanov is one of the first people I knew who transitioned from a cocky bike messenger to a less cocky, more mature professional bike racer. His perspective is unique, especially at the Red Hook Crit, because, you know, he won it a few times.

I reached out to Dan to lead into the Tales from the 2014 Red Hook Crit series here on the Radavist. Below you’ll find his report.

Red Hook Crit Observations from the Ground
Words and photos by Dan Chabanov

It’s amazing how much access you can get to an event when you know pretty much everyone putting it on and you’ve won it three times. Dave Trimble runs a really tight ship so I consider it a special privilege that he lets me get away with running around with my little point and shoot in places where I clearly shouldn’t be.

I have a love/hate relationship with the RHC. I love going and supporting all my friends who are racing. I love taking weird photos of them. I don’t really like having random strangers bugging me in the bathroom about why I’m not racing though. Honestly that question is getting pretty old. I imagine it’s like being a marathon runner who constantly gets questions about why he isn’t running the 1000m or something like that. Maybe that analogy makes no sense but I don’t really have a good answer to that question anyway. Bike racing is supposed to be fun and I’ve had more fun watching the last two years. So let’s just leave it at that.

In that time, this race has gotten pretty crazy, but this year with the downpour it was particularly intense. After a bad crash interrupted the women’s race there was a sense of dread ahead of the mens race. Dave and Al were crazy stressed out and worried. They couldn’t realistically cancel the race but at the same time I know they at least considered it. In the end the race was shortened to 15 laps and a couple hundred people stood out in the rain and cheered.

The RHC has changed a lot in the last four years. In 2010 I got made fun of for bringing a trainer to warm up on. Last Saturday three hundred people showed up with rollers. The field has also grown decisively more international. Thibaud Lhenry’s win on Saturday is the first in Brooklyn by a foreign rider. The field gets deeper every year and at this point I think it’s no longer possible to be successful at the RHC without being full on. For better or for worse this is no longer a race that can be won with a cavalier approach, some track bike experience, and a bunch of fitness.

Follow Dan on Instagram, Twitter and at his blog, Bonedeth.