HIGH POINT – Riding a bike can bring about nostalgic memories of zooming around the neighborhood as a child, but the cyclists that circled the downtown area Friday night took “zoom” to a new level.

Cyclists from across the Triad peddled their way through the first High Point City Criterium at unimaginable speeds. Criteriums are short, high-speed bike races that are usually shorter than 5 kilometers in length. On laps that are deemed “primes,” notified by the ring of a bell, racers push even harder so they can be declared the winner of that lap and receive an extra prize.

The races continue through today, starting at 2:30 p.m. and ending at 9:30 p.m.

Rick Lee, who is sponsored by Winston-Salem-based Mock Orange Bikes (MOB), is one of the cyclists who took to the streets Friday. He said he competes in about 30 to 50 criteriums a year and was drawn to the sport because of its individual nature. “With cycling, I don’t have to rely on others to show up,” Lee said. “I train by myself.”

Angela Craven, who was a course marshal for the event as well as a team member of MOB, had a hand in developing the event. She attributes the idea of bringing the races to the furniture capital to Chip Duckett, owner of Mock Orange Bikes and a High Point native.

“It was Duckett’s dream to help High Point out and to see the city come to life beside the week of market,” Craven said.

Jim Martin, who is responsible for organizing the Piedmont Triad Omnium in Lexington, teamed up with Duckett to help organize the event.

The two work together through the Piedmont Charities Sports Promotion, which Martin founded.

“With this event, we wanted to bring attention to the charities within High Point,” Martin said. “The events are put on mainly to support the Multiple Sclerosis society and then pull charities from the city that the event is held in.”

Martin attributed a large part of the event’s success to the city of High Point and the sponsors of the event.

“Without them, the race wouldn’t have gone off as well,” Martin added.

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