PEZ at the Movies: Crit Dreams

With the apparent gradual extinction of professional-level road racing in the United States and the popular rise of gravel racing, it is easy sometimes to overlook another type of bike racing that has a long history in North America. While the biggest and most celebrated gravel races seem to take place in the middle of nowhere on endless dirt tracks with only a handful of spectators, criterium racing is found in the hearts of small cities, with short courses, plenty of turns and an audience pressed up to the barriers. A recent film, “Crit Dreams,” takes the viewer into the world of crit racing in America, where hard-fought events are fuelled by enthusiasm and determination more than money.

The film was made by Australian videographer Angus Morton, who has made documentaries in the past featuring his brother, noted endurance cyclist Lachlan Morton, and is focused on the 2023 season of the American Cycling Group, a new team dedicated to competing in criterium races only. The film is focused primarily on team director Thomas Craven and veteran rider Danny Summerhill. Craven is a very experienced manager. He ran the Best Buddies team that folded at the end of 2022 in spite of a very successful season, something that perhaps reflects the perilous state of finding sponsorship for domestic teams. Being a team director for an American crit race team does not involve sitting in a car and radioing instructions. It is more like driving the team Sprinter bus cross country, cooking for team members, filling bottles and standing on the sidelines during the race. Once these races are underway, hectic turns around short closed circuit in a downtown area, Craven’s instructions are that if he is wearing his cap as the riders fly by things are going well; if not, then not.

Getting ready by the van

Danny Summerhill is the experienced rider at 34 and has had an up-and-down career and “Crit Dreams” shows the personal cost of being a pro racer. Summerhill was suspended for a year for failing to obtain a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for medication he was taking for depression and has climbed his way back up in spite of this black mark. He is also the primary caregiver for a parent with Alzheimer’s, no small burden. The schedule for the American Racing Group takes the team all over the country, undoubtedly adding to the stress. Other team members flit in and out of the video, with some of them having regular jobs next to racing, and for some races the team can only afford to bring along a handful of riders.

Danny Summerhill

The general stress level cannot be helped by what is an obvious lack of money. An element of US domestic racing, even at the pro level, is that teams are housed with local families rather than in hotels so there is an degree of potluck in what kind of accommodation there is going to be. We never see any of the homeowners in the film although one is curious about them. In terms of team support, Thomas Craven juggles most of the responsibilities but is also assisted by a mechanic, who appears to be the only other non-rider on the team.

The video opens with Craven cooking (something that the filmmaker likes to show!) before the first race of the team. This is at the Tour of America’s Dairyland (which uses the terrible abbreviation of ToAD), which is probably the premier racing event in the United States and was begun in 2009. It extends over 11 days in different locations in Wisconsin and offers a range of races for pros and amateurs, men and women. The first races shown are in small towns (Janesville, Grafton) that you would not think of as hotbeds of cycling fandom but there are excited crowds and good racing. Grassroots racing it may be but still serious racing.

The film follows the team as it continues through parts of the American Criterium Cup series of races. The ACC was established in 2022 aiming to be the premier criterium series in the United States and is partnered with USA Cycling. In 2023 there were 10 races (this year eight) and “Crit Dreams” shows American Cycling Group racing in Indianapolis and St. Louis after Wisconsin.

A personal note here: the US criterium racing environment seems confusing to outsiders. In addition to the recently started ACC, there is USA Crits, which runs a series of six races from April to May, including the well-known Athens Twilight series, which began in 1980. L39ion of Los Angeles, a UCI Continental-level team that competes in the ACC and USA Crits races, also is connected to its own “CRITS Championship” race, held in St. Petersburg, Florida, in October 2023 but which seems to have been a one-time event. And while most criterium races don’t get much media exposure, there was an attempt to raise the bar with the short-lived National Cycling League, boasting big-name sports figure investors, which ran three races in 2023 but “suspended” operations in early 2024, stranding a number of pro racers.

Seeing how basic is the American Cycling Group operation—at one point unilingual Thomas Craven communicates with his Spanish-speaking riders with his laptop translator—one has to be impressed with how well they do in racing. As the film progresses, one sees that these are very talented athletes indeed and the rather surprising results at the end of the season speak for themselves. This makes “Crit Dreams,” an affectionate look at this little team, even more compelling.

Given the ups-and-downs of domestic racing, we can report that the American Cycling Group team only lasted one year but there is a positive ending as it merged with another team to become the REIGN Storm team, with a 12 rider roster (including Dan Summerhill), and an extremely successful 2024 season, winning both the ACC and USA Crits series as a team plus having individual riders at the top of both as well. Thomas Craven must not have taken off his cap very much this year!

“Crit Dreams,” directed by Angus Morton
Featuring Thomas Craven and Danny Summerhill
48 minutes
Released in May 2024

Available on YouTube at: www.youtube.com

For more information on US criterium racing, check out these links:

American Criterium Cup: americancritcup.com/
USA Crits: usacrits.com/
REIGN Storm Racing: reignstormracing.com/

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