Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Allegheny Cycling Association Class B racers make their way around the track on Washington Boulevard in Highland Park. Click photo for larger image. Related article: Cycling: South Park cyclist sets her sights high

They come from different counties. They come from different athletic backgrounds.

Every week for as long as the evening light allows, they come to the Pittsburgh Bike Oval, a road-racing course built for speed on Washington Boulevard in Highland Park where once there was a driver's license test course. Now there are undulations, banked turns and smooth straightaways over a two-lane, half-mile loop.

"It's a blast," Steve Bedilion, 26, of Waynesburg said before a recent Wednesday night A race for those with a Category 3 or higher license.

The 34th-year Allegheny Cycling Association, which is registered with USA Cycling, has about 170 members ranging from Category 5, essentially beginners, to three in Category 1, the top amateur level.

Mike Friedman, 22, of Washington County is probably the club's top rider. A Category 1, he has a combined four national championships between road and track racing.

The ACA has a criterium point series that concluded last week, although the races continue until mid-September.

About 100 racers compete each week, matching numbers that peaked in the early 1990s. In addition, more sponsored teams have sprung up in the past few years, and most racers have hooked up with a team.

In another boost to the sport locally, USA Cycling is expected to announce that its 2006 national championships will be at Seven Springs in July.

"We have a good thing going here," said ACA board member and past president Fred Baldassare of Murrysville, a Category 3 racer with Team Freddie Fu.

Tuesday nights are for beginners and some of the less experienced women and include clinics. Wednesday nights, there are B races for the intermediates and A races for the most advanced riders in the club. Races are 15-30 miles, depending on how early darkness descends.

A racers average about 27 mph and have reached 35 mph for short stretches.

The riders put in 100-400 miles a week in training, and many travel with their teams to regional races. Whether on their home course or away, they utilize the same pack, drafting and breakaway strategies you see in the most famous bicycle road race, the Tour de France.

The popularity of American Lance Armstrong, who won his seventh Tour de France this summer before retiring, is one of the reasons the ACA is flourishing.

"Lance has definitely put a good spotlight on the sport," Bedilion said. "I have lots of friends who follow the Tour."

Bedilion, a self-employed systems engineer, finished third in the 2005 ACA criterium series and rides with the newer Trizilla team. His background was in mountain bike racing. Other ACA members have come up through BMX racing, triathlons, running or other sports.

For many youngsters, BMX is more appealing and more affordable considering the expense of the road-racing bikes.

"Plus, what kid wants to wear the Spandex we wear for road racing?" Bedilion cracked.

As they get older, they might gravitate toward road racing, though.

Stephen Cummings, 25, a bike messenger from Bloomfield who is on the verge of moving from Category 3 to Category 2, is a BMX graduate who switched to road racing in 2002.

"I'm young and I don't have a family and kids, so I'm going to get as far as I can until I have too much responsibility," said Cummings, who plays a strong support role with the Kraynick's/Mezzatesta team, but specializes in road races.

"There are some guys around here who are really fast, but they have careers and families, so they don't get to travel very far. But, if they did, they would do really well. The guy [who won] the points series here is so strong, but he has a family and you don't want to work all week and then go away on weekends all the time."

That would be Jason Zimmerman, 36, a family therapist from Latrobe who rides with Team Freddie Fu.

Zimmerman has been racing since 1993, five years before the ACA moved its races from the Pittsburgh Zoo parking lot to the oval. His background was in football and tennis, but he fell in love with road racing after riding a rail trail in 1990.

"The first year I was racing, I was on this old, heavy bike and I'm keeping up with these guys with these high end, super lightweight bikes, so it kind of went from there," said Zimmerman, who has seen the competitive level of the ACA grow.

The ACA's longevity and its growing appeal to a more diverse group, including some young, talented racers, is impressive to Jamie Sloan, vice president of the local club and an official with USA Cycling. He's especially impressed since the Thrift Drug Classic folded in 1997 and Western Pennsylvania streets aren't ideal for two wheels.

"We're not known for being a cycling-friendly place," she said. "But I have seen an upswing, especially in the aspect of women."

About 10 percent of the ACA members are women.

Pretty soon, it will be too dark to have evening races, and the riders will scatter. Some cross-train with cross-country skiing.

Others run, including a group that tackles the Cathedral of Learning steps.

Next year, when the days begin to get long again, they'll be back at Highland Park.