David Adams describes his bicycle racecourse at the Wilson Historic District like this: “It’s like a really beautiful woman who is an axe murderer.”
The Matrix Challenge, known as “the King of Crits,” is a two-day event every April consisting of 36 bike races, and it draws at least 1,000 competitors from all over the region. It pays $25,000 in cash prizes, and it is the oldest and largest bike-racing event in the state of Texas.
Adams, who lives in the White Rock Lake area, has been promoting the races for 10 years. The Matrix Challenge started in 1982 at Collin County Community College. Later, it moved to a location on Campbell Road and then to Fair Park. When construction at the park forced the Matrix Challenge to move five years ago, Adams imagined a course at the Wilson Historic District.
The Meadows Foundation, which oversees the district, was leery at first. But once the foundation realized it was a safe, family-friendly event, the Matrix Challenge was given a home there.
“It’s at Old City Park, and a lot of people bring their picnics and just hang out,” Adams says. “It’s beautiful.”
But the racecourse is brutal. “We don’t call it the Matrix cake walk,” he says.
A criterium, or “crit,” is a time-driven race on a short track. Think NASCAR on two wheels. In elite races, the pack could be moving at 45 miles per hour.
“There are significant team tactics involved. People can work together to control the speed of the pack while one team member goes off the front,” Adams says. “It gets quite complicated.”
The Matrix Challenge also features a just-for-fun kids’ race that is free and open to kids younger than 12, who all receive medals created from recycled bike parts. The races, on April 21-22 this year, are free for spectators. Adams suggests arriving in time for the men’s race that starts at 11:25 a.m. each day. That is followed by “the kiddie challenge,” the elite women’s race and the elite men’s race at 2 p.m.
