CHUM News first heard about the Woodland Park Gran Prix from a devoted reader (thank you Rob), who regaled us with tales of a carnivalesque cyclocross race just a stone’s throw from the Zoo. Last’s year Gran Prix — not a typo — saw more than 1,000 participants, we learned, making it the largest race of its kind in the US, if not globally: battalions of sporty people of all ages mounting and dismounting bikes of all stripes, trudging up and down the park’s muddy hills in a glorious, day-long series of races to the finish line. It’s a buzzy, boozy, day-festival-like atmosphere featuring silly outfits, and, perhaps, the largest tandem-bike race in the world. (Citation pending.) 

Our interest piqued, we sent Seattle sports photographer David Jaewon Oh to investigate. Oh, who’s lived in Seattle for nearly two decades, debriefed us following the Gran Prix, framing the race as unlike any other he’s covered. Clown costumes, high-spirited day-drinking, and cardio-intensive silliness galore. Here’s David’s dispatch, without further ado:

I thought I was familiar with covering endurance sports. I’ve taken photos at marathons, gravel races, bike rides around the city, and stuff like that. The race was nothing like that. The race was just so removed from what I’ve experienced in the past — in a really delightful sense. I’d have never thought this was happening on the other side of Green Lake.

I had a bit of a problem locating where the race was. But then I found it: It was a house party, slash frat party, slash trail-running event, but people were on bikes. It was just wild.

I could sense this deeper sense of community. People were unabashedly themselves; that stood out to me, because at these types of events — trail running, or marathons, or ultra-marathons — people are typically very locked in. People are like, I’m a weekend warrior, I’m here to compete. That was still there, but then there were also people riding on a tandem bike or unicycle.

Different teams and bike groups had their own tents, brewing coffee or throwing whipped cream or tossing small bottles of Fireball at the cyclists. And the racers were eating and drinking it up.

It was very white. I imagine there were a lot of techie people there, like, This is my actual personality. I’m not a product developer at Meta anymore: I’m Brian.

There was that, but I also saw a bit of old Seattle there: the classic flannel-wearing, Birkenstock-wearing white Seattleites. There weren’t a lot of people of color there, but it did feel very aggressively Pacific Northwest and very aggressively Seattle. Like, Oh yeah, this is something white people in Seattle would do in this weather, and at this time of year.

At the same time, I think it was diverse in a way. You saw trans and gay riders, and the way everyone got together to create an intimate and fun environment really resonated with me. As long as you had a bike and could be safe about it, you’re gonna ride. And I liked that.

My favorite heat was the tandem bikes. You had a mixture of super competitive people, but also people who had already been competing all day long, and so they were like, I’m not taking this shit seriously. So those people were having a ball. (Same thing with the unicycles.) The best way to describe the tandem bikes is, “Very unhinged, but in a really fun way.” People were carrying these giant-ass bikes and falling all over the place, but also having so much fun.

You see people on any given weekend cycling down the Burke-Gilman, and they have a different vibe. Here, I saw people racing with their commuter bikes; someone told me that, in the past, people have competed with Lime bikes. I didn’t see any Lime bikes, unfortunately.

There are certain stereotypes about unicycles. You think they’re clownish, right? One of the unicyclists, she actually dressed up as a clown. I can’t imagine riding a unicycle down a regular street, let alone up a trail. They looked like they were struggling every step of the way, but were genuinely making an effort. I really loved that.

When you get down to it, at the end of the weekend, they’re gonna go back to their regular jobs, probably go to an all-hands meeting at 9am on Monday. It’s gonna be what it is. But, for that moment, it really felt like a lot of the people were living for the present.

Interested in learning more? Check out how you can join the next Woodland Park Gran Prix.

If you enjoyed the photos, you can see more of David’s work on his website.