Some races were able to take place Monday, but the rain caused the V.I. Police Department’s Third Annual Bike Coasting Competition to end early.
Initially, the competition was scheduled for Saturday on Queen Mary Highway in front of the Superior Court in Kingshill. However, because of occasional downpours and wet roads, the decision was made to reschedule the event to Monday.
At the top of the hill, bikers begin to line up. “Ready, set, go!” the announcer blurted out and they were off! While placing their weight to the front of the bike, they took off.
What’s different about this race is that the bikes are meant to “coast.” Coasting is when a rider stops pedaling and allows their bicycle to coast without any effort. Their head goes to the front of the handlebars and their body gets low to put their weight to the front of the bike. What’s unique about these bikes is that they have no pedals and no chains. The bikes are BMX and are transformed with a banana seat and handle. Helmets were required for this event.
The bikers zoomed by passing onlookers until they got to the bottom of the hill arriving almost close to the newly constructed Midland bridge, making the course about half a mile long.
Organizer of the event Deputy Chief Uston Cornelius said, “In hearing our youngsters saying there is nothing happening, nobody is doing nothing for them,” the event was created.
“Honestly, this started with a young man that we caught with a weapon and when we had him at the station, I asked him why he needed a weapon for? He responded that nobody don’t do nothing for us, I’m going to try and get mine,” said Cornelius.
“With that, I was like, wow, and I remember some of the things I did when I was younger, and this was one of them. I said that I was going to be one of the people that is trying to do something for our youngsters to just have a little enjoyment and from there it took off,” he said.
The history of bike coasting goes back more than 20 years in the community of St. Croix and was not encouraged by the community. Cornelius said that back in the day our older folks never did this so it was like, you can’t do this. “I did it so I came up now and joined the force and being a leader in the department I know that there is nothing negative to it,” said Cornelius. “So I said to the rest of the guys that I want our young people to enjoy the roads and do something that I feel is productive. So, this is one of the events we pushed,” he said.
Cornelius said that the trick to a fast bike back in the day was to go low and cut wind. Today, coasters can be seen swinging the bike handle to take off and to get ahead moving the handle from left to right to get in front of the crowd.
Some of the competitor categories included ages 10 to 12, 13 to 17 and adults. There was also a deputy race planned, and the younger competitors were competing for first, second, and third. The adults competed for a trip to St. Thomas.
The older racers raced from the entrance of Herbert Grigg Home for the Elderly, while the younger riders raced from the entrance of the superior court. There are also plans to eventually battle it out in St. Thomas in a district challenge. Cornelius said as long as the children enjoy it, they will continue.
