This Friday is the annual Raleigh Downtown Criterium, also known as a crit.  A crit is basically an all out race on a short circular course of a several city blocks usually about a kilometer in length.    If you’ve never gotten a chance to attend one you really should try to find one in your area.  You’ll be amazed at how fast these cyclists can get up to and maintain.  Id guess that they run over 30 mph the entire length if not faster.  The past two years Ive been out to Austin for the Livestrong Challenge there has been a professional criterium downtown which Ron and I have made sure to attend.  Just standing on the sidewalk you get blasted with a gust of air generated by the bikers with cowbells going off all around you from the fans and the clicks of gears changing on the course.

The Raleigh Downtown Criterium will have two women’s races and two men’s races followed by a men’s professional race.  Its the pros that really ramp up the speed but even the amateurs can crank out excessive bursts.  Another thing to watch for is the prime, which is basically a race within the race.  Every once in a while a prime will be called out to the riders and whomever wins that lap gets a special pre-determine prize.  Thats the one that you’ll see those not in it to win the overall  burn themselves out on in the hopes of winning.

So if you’re in Raleigh this weekend head downtown Friday around six and expect some fun.  If you’re not in Raleigh keep and eye out for a criterium and attend, you won’t regret it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pm and is filed under Cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.