Art Longsjo

The race currently known as the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic was first held in 1960 as the Fitchburg-Longsjo Memorial Race. It was renamed by the USCF in 1980, and is one of the few races in the country to be designated as a "classic." The first race was organized by Guy Morin as a memorial to his teammate Art Longsjo, along with local officials and Terry Longsjo, Art’s widow.

Longsjo was originally a speed skater from Fitchburg, and a very good one. As part of his training, he took up cycling, which uses similar muscles and involves similar tactics. The picture to the left was taken at his first bike race, the 1953 Massachusetts state championship. His clothing in the photograph is what he rode in, a t-shirt, cutoff skating tights, and moccasins, augmented only with a borrowed helmet. Longsjo didn't have a car, so he rode his bike for the hour and a half journey to Westboro Raceway, stopping along the way to reinflate his leaky front tire.

Website by Ed Collier Photography

Fitchburg Cycling Club / P.O. Box 923 / Fitchburg, MA / 01420

Marketing Director / Bill White / wwhite @ longsjo.com

Executive Director / Ed Collier / ecollier @ longsjo.com

General Questions / info2008 @ longsjo.com

                  Four weeks later in Lake Placid , at the North American indoor championship, Longsjo won two events and scored second in two others to become North American champion in both indoor and outdoor events.

At this time, amateur athletes were expected to fully fund themselves, and Longsjo was not a man of great means. There were no large prize lists or corporate sponsorship, so it was left up to Longsjo and kind donations to fund his training. He worked various jobs while training year round (including a regular 180-mile, four-state training ride ending atop Mount Wachusett , on a fixed gear bike).

In 1954, his first full season of bicycle racing, Longsjo won his second Massachusetts state championship. He also finished fourth in the prestigious Tour of Somerville, fourth overall in the national championships, and won the longest one-day amateur race in the world, the 170-mile Quebec-to-Montreal race. In this final event, Longsjo broke the course record by seven minutes, in a group a full four minutes ahead of the main pack. For his victory, he was named Canadian cyclist of 1954 by the Association des Cyclists du Canada.

In February of 1955, the Olympic skating trials were held. Longsjo attended, accompanied by a rival of his and his childhood friend, Dick Ring, who had helped finance the trip. These days, Dick Ring who was a fixture at New England bike races as an announcer until his retirement in 2003.

Despite an injured knee, Longsjo won the five-thousand meter event and made the Olympic team. Unfortunately, Longsjo became ill shortly before his event in the 1956 Olympics, and finished in fortieth place.

In 1956, Longsjo won nearly every bike race he entered. The Olympic cycling trials that year consisted of two 116-mile road races, three days apart. The top three finishers in the first race were selected, as were the top two in the second. Shortly after the start of the first race, Longsjo's rear tire burst. He was also having derailleur problems and was forced to pull out of the race. During the second, much more aggressive race, Longsjo got into a breakaway of 20 riders, competing for two positions on the Olympic team. Longsjo finished half a bike-length down on the winner, securing his place.

At the time, officials determined what events cyclists would compete in, regardless of what they had qualified for. Longsjo was assigned to the 4000-meter team pursuit, which was a disappointment, as he had qualified for the road race. The team had little time to train together prior to the event, and was unable to get past the preliminary heats. Nevertheless, Art Longsjo still had an amazing accomplishment. He was the first person ever to compete in both the Summer and Winter Olympics in the same year. It is this accomplishment for which he is most remembered.

After the Olympics, Longsjo continued to race, and to win every race he started. In July of that year he won his sixth straight Massachusetts state championship. In August, he forsake the national championships to ride in the Tour du St. Laurent stage race, a four-day event in eastern Canada . Stages were at least 100 miles in the morning and another 24 to 40 in the afternoon, and drew some of the best competition in North America . Longsjo won this race, becoming the first American rider to do so. He then attended the Quebec-to-Montreal race, where his earlier record still stood, and won it yet again.

After winning the Quebec-to-Montreal race, Longsjo was a local celebrity and was interviewed on local television stations. He was 26 and in the prime of his career. The next morning a friend of his drove him home. Longsjo was asleep in the passenger seat as they passed through Vermont , on wet roads. At around 11:15 , a bee in the car distracted the driver. He swatted at the bee and lost control on a curve. The car crashed into a utility pole. The driver's back was broken and Longsjo suffered a fractured skull and internal injuries. He died that evening.

Longsjo's death shocked the community. He was liked and admired in both the speed skating and cycling communities, as well as his local area. The pall bearers for Longsjo's casket were three Olympic speed skaters and three Olympic cyclists. In his memory, the Fitchburg-Longsjo Memorial race was started, and a memorial was built in downtown Fitchburg . It is one of the few public memorials for an athlete, and lies on the race course.

Since its inception in 1960, the race has been renamed to the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic. In the last decade, it has also been expanded to a four-day stage race, with one of the stages ending atop Longsjo's training destination of Wachusett Mountain . It has attracted innumerable international-caliber cyclists. Among some of the notables who have attended are Tour de France winners Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong, Eric and Beth Heiden, Rebecca Twigg, Connie Carpenter and Davis Phinney, Kathy Watt, numerous Olympic teams, and many other world-class athletes. Terry Longsjo still attends the race each year.

Much of the information on this page has been gathered from Peter Nye's excellent book, Hearts of Lions: The History of American Bicycle Racing

Art competed in three events, the one-mile race, the three-mile race and the 25-mile race. His very first race was the qualifying heat for the one-mile, which he won impressively. He proceeded to win all three races.

This success qualified Longsjo for the national championships in St. Louis . The local Fitchburg Sentinel started a fund raiser, which mostly went to buying a racing uniform. Local racers helped him fix up his bike, a second fund raiser went towards travel expenses, and Longsjo was able to attend.

The nationals represented Art Longsjo's second event in his career. He crashed twice during the four races, but came in third in the three-mile event and ended up ninth overall. Hardly a bad result for your second race. Longsjo's third race was at the New England track championships in Lonsdale , Rhode Island . He won all four events.

In January of 1954, Longsjo attended the national championships for speed skating. He set a national record in the two-mile event and won the five-mile. Unfortunately, falls in the other races cost him points and he ended up finishing second overall. In the North American outdoor championship the next month he won the two-mile event and the 880-yard event on his way to becoming North American outdoor champion.

Art Longsjo Winning 1958 Tour of Somerville

2005 interview with Terry Longsjo and Dick Ring, courtesy of FATV