It’s not exactly well known outside the cycling community, but every year bicycle racers from all over southern California converge on an empty industrial park for the Chuck Pontius Memorial Criterium. For those unfamiliar, a criterium is sort of like a cross between a regular bicycle road race like the Tour de France, and NASCAR. The cyclists race laps on a short circuit in tight groups. Crashes are not only possible, but sometimes likely.
It’s a pretty exciting style of bike racing because the courses are much faster than a regular road course (flat with wide sweeping turns) and you can watch the riders as they progress up or fall behind.
Anyway, some pictures from today’s pro-level race:
At least 80 riders raced on the course for exactly 60 minutes in the Industrial Center
The peloton, loose in the straights, tightens up and speeds through the corners at 25+ mph
No guts no glory baby!
The whooosh sound they make as they ride by is quite exciting
A Winner is Yuo! This guy from Team Helen's Cycles won the race. On the final lap he, and the peloton, hit 39mph
I enjoyed going to the race but it struck me as kind of sad that these athletes and the race were sequestered off in the vacant industrial center. Many other cities make an event out of their yearly criterium races, closing downtown streets and showcasing the best part of their towns for the athletes, visitors and fans. Merchants and food vendors come out to sell products to the fans, the streets are closed, and new people are exposed to the sport of cycling.
That would never fly here; the amount of bitching about closed streets in the SCV during the 2007 Tour of California was truly epic.
A shame. But a fun time nonetheless! Maybe next year I’ll try to race.
Comments (10)