Racing in the Park

After talking to a few people and hearing that there is interest in cheap, easy Wednesday night racing here is what I propose.

July 2nd, 6pm. Meet at the Discovery Park lower parking lot and roll at 6pm. This will not be a sanctioned race, meaning no entrance fee, no numbers and no officials. Instead it will be a self-organized "event". No one will be officially in charge.

The paradox is that there will be an agenda. Those who show up at 6 will start off with 2 warm-up laps of the big loop that runs from the parking lot up to the course, over the course and then down to the Indian Center and back up.

After the warm-up laps, we'll do controlled pace line drills for 10 laps like they do on the track over the upper loop.

After that we'll start racing.

I have been assured that this works everywhere else in the world, and the secret to a solid unorganized "race" is the structure. The idea as well is that Cat 4 or 5 riders can ride with more experienced riders and learn pace line techniques and other etiquette.

The Upper Loop at Discovery is 1K and in the open. That way walkers will have a clear view of us and we shouldn't have any problem with people stepping in our way. I also noted a lack of rabbits. The pavement is a bit old; the blocks themselves are fine but there are cracks between the blocks. It's no Ronde Ohop and I suspect that it won't be a big deal at speed.

I found another loop neer Carkeek park that runs the perimeter and might make a good course, but could also be very hard. If anyone is interested in riding it with me this weekend let me know.