U of M team Criterium - Water Tower Turnaround 4/29

[mkelly]

Hello, bicycle racers!
We apologize for the delay in getting detailed info out for our home crit. The flyer and course map are now available at http://www.umct.org/team/umct-criterium-2012.

Pre-registration is available at https://www.usacycling.org/myusac/index ... year=2012#. You will need to be signed into your USAC account. Please consider pre-registering - you save a couple of bucks, you don't have to sign a waiver onsite, and we don't have to figure out where to keep your waiver for the next 10 years. If a minimum number of people register, part of the service fee goes to little kickbacks for the team, the conference, and the MCF.

Though we're disappointed not to be able to run the traditional campus crit this year due to light rail construction and general campus construction/road re-routing wackiness, this alternative should be really fun. It's a short lap, with a punchy climb and some very technical corners. Registration will be on the first floor of the St. Paul Student Center, and that is also where bathrooms will be available. Awards for collegiate categories will take place after the Men's A/B race, and will include the inaugural pink jersey for the overall season omnium winners, so if you arrive early, you can cheer on the collegiate riders vying for the championships. Awards for the USAC categories will take place after the Men's 1/2/3 race.

Hope to see you there!

[sacave]

First of all, I would like to say thanks to all who took the time to run this event. Nice work! I know that a lot of time and energy was spent here, and I am very happy to pay 30.00 to enter any of these races.

With that being said, the lap distance was way too short!!!!! This was very apparent when racers are being pulled 10 minutes into a race. Keep in mind that I realize that the U of M cycling team did their best to secure a venue and make it happen in a short period of time, but the length of the race was course was absolutely ridiculous!
How long was the course? I bet it was not even a 1/2 mile long?

Thanks again for your time U of M Cycling team, and I wish you all the very best.

Cave

[thayes]

I know it takes a lot of work to do this: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5435992

Comes out to about .86k



FWIW, the Athens Twilight has 150+ racers on a 1k course. The Tampa Twilight Crit (NCC/NRC Event) had 130+ racers on a .9k course. Granted none of these races has a technical turn into a hill, but they do feature a ton of people and lots of them get pulled...constantly.

I love the course they shoehorned in there. I wish I would of have had the gall to put something like that on. Wish I was there for it.

[ctsmith]

Yes, it was a short and fast lap at the race yesterday. But a lap at the NSC velodrome is 0.25 kilometers, so they get a lot shorter.

It is a race after all. The fast riders ride fast and will catch the slower riders on a short course. Slower riders should be aware of this possibility and make a decision prior to registration if they want to take the risk on getting pulled. That's a reality of racing on a short and fast lap course.

Personally, I enjoyed the fast technical course yesterday and I heard no complaints from anyone else I raced with. It's refreshing to ride on a new course, especially one that had the challenges that this one had.

Thumbs up to the UofM for putting that race together, it was much enjoyed and appreciated.

[james]

I think the course was fair and demanding. I've never been at anything quite like it. There was room for 2 wide at any given point in the course. On any given lap, a stronger rider could hope to gain at most 5 spots, from what I saw of the last collegiate race.

After my ignorant analysis of the course, what I thought was going to happen was that the pack would ease into the race to feel out the dynamics. While the pace was ramping up, I was going to get myself into a reasonable position and try to survive. What actually happened was a few smart riders gunned it from the whistle. Thus grabbing the "hole-shot", MTB style, and putting immediate, unmendable gaps into otherwise strong riders. Only those willing and able to gun it from the start, with the guts to stay off the brakes in the corners, and with the strength to dish out multiple punchy efforts on each lap were going to make the front group. Although it was kind of a drag to get pulled, I thought it was cool experience, and well run by the UMCT. Thanks you guys!

[afrye]

I think the course was fair and demanding. I've never been at anything quite like it. There was room for 2 wide at any given point in the course. On any given lap, a stronger rider could hope to gain at most 5 spots, from what I saw of the last collegiate race.

After my ignorant analysis of the course, what I thought was going to happen was that the pack would ease into the race to feel out the dynamics. While the pace was ramping up, I was going to get myself into a reasonable position and try to survive. What actually happened was a few smart riders gunned it from the whistle. Thus grabbing the "hole-shot", MTB style, and putting immediate, unmendable gaps into otherwise strong riders. Only those willing and able to gun it from the start, with the guts to stay off the brakes in the corners, and with the strength to dish out multiple punchy efforts on each lap were going to make the front group. Although it was kind of a drag to get pulled, I thought it was cool experience, and well run by the UMCT. Thanks you guys!

Agreed.

[afrye]

My two cents and a linky to some photos of the end of the 40+ race.

http://fryeontherivet.blogspot.com/2012/04/fauxpin-faux-pas.html

[sacave]

ctsmith,

I will rephrase my first post, as I did not intend to complain about the race course. I thought the actual course was awesome, however it would have been nice to have at least one long straighhtaway to allow for some regrouping of the slower cyclists to have a chance to enjoy the course longer! I personally did not do my due diligince in course recon, to understand the fact that the 40 yard sprint into the S turn downhill was huge! The Holeshot was key, and I was pinched off in the S turn, caught way back. Shame on me for my lack of fitness, and agression at the start of the race.

Kudos to you, and the other work horses for pressing the pace, and dropping everybody. It's always cool to know that we are lining up against some of the best Masters racers in the Midwest, Nation and World for that matter. Former Pros. Etc...

Kudos again to the U of M Cycling team for putting on a well run event. I am very happy to pay 30.00 for 10 minutes of pain. I also sincerely appreciate the fact that there's a ton of good people out there putting in their time to run these races. Hopefully we can back to the old course next year.

Cave