The city’s oldest continually held bicycle race has bred several generations of talent since it began in 1973 as a Father’s Day event.

The Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic around Marcus Garvey Park is the oldest continually held bike race in New York. A light rain produced several spills.

Josiah Strawn, a 5-year-old, his race number still pinned to his shirt, leaned against one of the barricades that encircled Marcus Garvey Park as a pack of fast-moving racers hummed by.

“He rode the race,” his father, Ray Strawn, said, beaming. “First time without training wheels! He fell down once, but got back up and finished.”

Josiah was one of the hundreds of local and international racers of all ages and abilities who descended on the three-quarter-mile circuit around Marcus Garvey Park on Father’s Day for the Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic, the city’s oldest continually held bicycle race.

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