Gresham businessman hits the ice

Kevin Conord competes in motorcycle race on ice in Memorial Coliseum

By Calvin Hall

The Gresham Outlook, Dec 16, 2009

Kevin Conord, owner of Jazzy Bagels in Gresham, has been racing motorcycles for years.

Jim Clark / The Outlook

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Customers at Jazzy Bagels in downtown Gresham may have noticed the large red motorcycle with studded tires that is stationed near the entrance.

The motorcycle, a 1984 Honda CRF 450R, belongs to Jazzy Bagels owner Kevin Conord, who started racing motorcycles in the 1970s when he was in high school in New Jersey, and he had progressed to junior level in the American Motorcycle Association before deciding to quit around 1980 and move on.

“I thought it was out of my system, and it was for 25 years,” Conord says. “It had been something I had done and enjoyed.”

But after such a lengthy absence, Conord has returned to the tracks and will be kicking his motorcycle into high gear alongside the professionals on the ice with the World Championship Ice Racing Series on Saturday, Dec. 19, at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland. It will be the fifth and last race of the series for Conord, who will also compete in the series race in Kent, Wash., on Friday, Dec. 18. The series will then move to the Midwest for more competitions.

In addition to possibly being the only Portland-area resident in the race, the 52-year-old Conord says he may be the oldest racer, as his fellow competitors tend to be in their 20s and 30s. He notes that when he is introduced at races, he usually gets a lot of cheers and yells from fathers in the audience.

Conord says he comfortably speeds up to 40 mph on the ice, although it feels like he’s going much faster. For Conord, racing on ice is similar to racing on dirt tracks, the big difference being that “when you fall you don’t stay there; you slide until you hit the wall.”

Conord says his enjoyment of riding motorcycles was rekindled after so many years when he started talking about motorcycles with fellow motorcycle enthusiast Greg Grokett, the owner of Goldart Jewelry, which is across the street from Jazzy Bagels. Conord says he then purchased a street bike and started riding again. After seeing some older motorcyclists at a competition at the Castle Rock, Wash., speedway, Conord thought, “I could do this again.”

At first, Conord thought he could get back into shape just by riding his motorcycle more and more. But after being inactive for so long, Conord says that riding put a lot of strain on his muscles.

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