CG: Here in the city of Azusa City Hall, meeting with the producers, if you will, of the Azusa Twilight Criterium. We have Patrick Caro, race director of Go Fast Andiamo, and we have Jose Jimenez, director of economic and community development. Hello to both of you.
PC: How you doing? Good morning.
JJ: Hello. Good morning.
CG: So, what is the Azusa Twilight Criterium, and why does it have such a cool name?
PC: Azusa Twilight Criterium is just…. a criterium, is a short and closed bicycle race. We’ll be speeding down the streets of Azusa here. The pros will reach up to 30 miles an hour, 40 miles in the sprint, but it’s just a great event we wanted to bring to downtown Azusa.
CG: and why specifically here? We talked a little bit before I turned on the mic about you producing races in different towns across the SGV, and you’re a local from Claremont, you told me you grew up all over the area, why the partnership with Azusa this time around?
PC: Well, as a rider, I ride the Azusa almost weekly, if not daily, and I’ve noticed that Azusa has really been trying to build their infrastructure with the metro, with with Target, and also looking in the downtown, I thought this was a great venue. So we worked together with coming up with a great course. So the great course is great for spectating and great for racers, so just all the elements kind of fell into place.
CG: and Jose, per your role here in the city, why did this seem like a good idea for Azusa?
JJ: Since coming on board with the city, there’s been direction from the city leadership about activation events in our downtown area, and we felt that this would be a wonderful opportunity to showcase what we can do here with the city.
CG: So when and where exactly is the race taking place? Can you tell us a little bit about the course, as well as just signposting for us numerous times throughout the interview when is it happening?
PC: So the race will take place Saturday, july 11. The first race will start at 2o’clock The basic, the course is kind of shaped like a T, or even like a top hat. There are 2u-turns but they were there, they’re wide U-turns, and so it’s great for spectating. So, you come out of 1u-turn and then you’ll head directly south on Azusa Avenue, which is great for spectating, going down the heart of the downtown.
CG: So, this is happening in the afternoon, and a little bit hotter part of the day, but Jose, how have you guys been looking at setting up watch zones, spectator zones?
JJ: working closely with Patrick, his needs, understanding the route, and just strategizing the the city team. Here we are a little bit time tested, which we’re happy to report with events, so we have the ability to be a bit fluid, work with the promoters, in this case Patrick, to see where we can designate the fan zone. Patrick will probably do a better job of explaining this, but in his description of the T setup of the race, we want to try to strategize and centralize that watch zone one along the perimeter of the T route, but then to concentrate it at the start stop, which would be right in between along Foothill between San Gabriel and Azusa.
CG: and is this going to be like bleachered or folding chairs already set up or areas cordoned off, and how are you getting the word out to residents just for viewing this?
JJ: Well, going back to the, we will have an expo area that will be on the south side of Foothill or Route 66 where there’s 12 different vendors in the bike industry. We also be notifying, obviously, the residents and the other business owners of the street closures, the street affected, and how they can get to and from their business. The business will be open, it’s just, you know, they’ll be detoured in certain directions, and there’ll be, there’ll be plenty of directions for spectators and racers to kind of, you know, get around the course.
CG: Now, I know you guys are community development department, you’re not public works, and you’re not the council, but does there seem to be further interest in the city for more bike infrastructure or open streets events like you might have seen in Alhambra? You know what I’m talking about, where they close down the street?

JJ: Oh, yes, most definitely. I think we have a very innovative council, a council that is interested in ensuring that we could cement some level of legacy for the community, and we’ve already done some level of improvements regarding bike infrastructure on the southernmost part of town, as it connects with the county trail system through Irwindale. Of course, immediately northwest of us is the ever popular San Gabriel River Trail, which we provide a cross section of those that cycle between the area between here and Glendora Mountain Road, so we believe that there’s already a community here. It’s just, yeah, finding a way to double down wherever we can, and I think our leadership is committed to that.
PC: Yeah, one thing that we’re doing on the race half is this race is going to be covered on live stream, Lacritz.com, and we’ll have multiple cameras on course, as well as drone coverage. This would also help bring awareness for those who cannot attend, but who watch the live stream coverage of what is actually Azusa is doing open up their communities. It just gives different aspect for those who cannot be here, but who can see what we’re, what we’re doing here for the community.
CG: for competitive racers, what opportunity does this race represent? Does this help them with any kind of standings or qualifications for anything else, or is this purely a fun run?
PC: Well, so our races are sanctioned under USA Cycling, and you start off in categories as category five as beginner, you go up to category one, which is semi pro. Now the lower categories, yes, they try to win races. As you win races or placement races, you get points able to upgrade. So this is an opportunity for riders who are trying to get those upgrade points to get to the higher levels. When you get to the professional level, it’s more about, you know, price purse, it’s more about their sponsors, more about, you know, TV coverage, more about quality of racing. Also, the good thing about this bicycle race is the next day is the state championships in Manhattan Beach, so it’s a race weekend versus just a one day race. So we’re hoping to bring down riders from Northern California, as well as, you know, the Southern Cal riders, is this it’s a race weekend versus just a one and done race, so we’re offering them two races in Southern California.
CG: And how are you reaching them in this broader Californian race community? San Gabriel Valley isn’t particularly known as a destination for these kinds of things. What’s the outreach like, and how do people sign up?
PC: Well, the outreach, what we’re doing is all of our social media presence. We have a great social media team who’s making videos, pinging writers not only in Southern California, but also marketing towards Northern California, Arizona, even Nevada, you know, other parts of the state, actually, that we can say Arizona, they don’t race right now because it’s too hot, so we’re offering them to come over here for a weekend of racing, so we’re doing a lot of social media pushing to get that’s why we’re advertising to be able to race, you do have to have a license under USA Cycling, just it’s called it’s a one day license, which that will give you a license, also covers insurance and just more of those formalities, so you have to be a licensed racer to race, which is pretty simple to get a one day license,
CG: and on our way out, Patrick, since you mentioned at the top that you cycle through this area quite often, what to you are the best cycling routes through the San Gabriel Valley? What are your favorites?
PC: Well, just north of us, there’s Azusa Canyon, which that connects onto Glndoor Mountain Road all the way up to Crystal Lake. Those are some of the best climbs you can literally be on the bike, stay away from traffic for miles, and even gaining up to over 5000 feet of elevation up at Crystal Lake, right over to Mount Baldy. So that’s probably the one and done route for a cyclist. Here is going up Azusa Canyon GMR Crystal Lake.
CG: Is there anything you wanted to add about the upcoming event, Jose?
JJ: we’re excited here again to welcome a unique cross section of the cycling community into the city of Azusa, especially this particular year, since it’s the 100th anniversary of the Route 66 the mother road, which prominently runs through the city of Azusa and will be prominently featured as part of the race in a few weeks, so yeah, we’re very excited for that, and looking forward to having the cycling community here with us.
CG: All right, well, thanks again to you guys for setting this up and having us down here for SGV Connect.
JJ: Thank you for coming down, appreciate your time.
PC: Thank you very much.