blaronn

I won a prime a couple weeks ago in a cat-4 state championship crit. I had no idea what I won until after the race. It ended up being a $10 gift cert. to a small antiques shop in the small town holding the race. Yay.

An early season crit gave out wheat grass pills to prime winners. Yay.

Not many great primes around here I guess.

What are some of the really bad, or really great primes you've won?

KendallF

A huge German sausage (Alachua, FL crit).

zzzwillzzz

in one of my races this season i won three primes: a $20 gift cert to a lbs, a big jar of cytomax (even gave me my choice of flavor) and a pair of smith glasses (with 3 sets of lenses and case worth $120) like the ones i already wear and that was worth more than first place which was $70, which i also won. i think i got my $20 worth for the entry fee

tfro

A case of pickle juice. I'm scared to actually try it.

botto 

primes are for the desperate or the very strong.

urbanknight

Flourescent green bottle cages + flourescent green saddle cover

50 individually packaged samples of Up Time (like a caffeine pill)

Used cycling jerseys

These were in junior class races, and I actually sat up to let someone else win the used jerseys.

I have actually seen crits where the prime was given to the last person across the line... and 2 or 3 people actually resorted to track stands to win them, throwing the race finish to the wind!

waterrockets 

The best prime ever was the Potato Head prime for the Bandimere circuit race in Denver. Every category had a Mr. Potatohead Prime, every year, and people went after it harder than the win. You might come out of the Potatohead Prime with only 10 guys left in the pack, one of them smiling.

acorn_user

I saw Gerrit Glomsers mother being awarded a massive Wiesbauer sausage during the Tour of Austria.... sponsored by the sausage maker in question of course. THe guy who won the stage into Graz got given a bottle of the local Schilcher wine, which is very sharp indeed.
I've never won anything though. Collegiate only give out points, and I was off the back of my only USCF crit within a few laps!

NomadVW 

Bag of rice, fresh from the fields.

yonderboy

At least it wasn't a fresh bucket of natto. uke:

recneps

I took a couple of primes at a race last year and walked away with 8 boxs of powerbars, a bunch of cereal bars and like 8 things of gatorade mix, that wasnt too bad. Took a beer prime earlier in the year and also got some cheap tires.

If your not feeling too strong you can always take a prime and show yourself at the front of the race, even if you dont win, you were seen at or off the front.

redal

I usually only sprint or attack for cash primes. The largest I have won was a $200 prime. I have seen much larger, the largest being the $5000 gamblers prime at the criterium at Interbike. Botto makes a good point, you usually have to have very good legs to get the good ones. I watched Bahati beat another guy for a pair of Oakleys at a race. On the backside the guy asked why Bahati would sprint for glasses. His answer cracked me up "Ebay baby".

Duke of Kent

Good:
Cat2/3 race. Won $50, $25 and a pair of decent Serfas sunglasses out of a break this year. Took third in the last prime, and it was only for the winner. Normally they give the primes to the field, but the organizers decided to give the break a chance.

Came in 7th when the dude in front of me inexplicably stopped pedalling 200m from the line and opened up a gap, which I was only able to close part of before the line. Made $125 and some shades for the day, minus $25 for entry.

Bad:
Cat3 race. As I've told in another thread a while back, some schmucks gave out urban camo bar tape. I intentionally sat up before the line to get passed as to avoid being the recipient of this dubious honor.


Cool:
Race organizers passing a 5 gallon bucket around. Not my race, but the winner of the prime walked away with a fist full of money, (like $63) and a variety of PBR, Old Style, Milwaukee's Best, etc. I think there might have been a Snickers, and half a pack of gum.

YMCA

Ooh, The Larsens' and their January training crit premes. I've won beer many times at their crits. Plus chocolate and chips.

Frunkin

Good: Large cup of lemonade after an hour long crit when it was 98* outside

cmh

The Pepsi-Lowenbrau classic was an ominium in Wisconsin many years ago. They had many primes for a case of Lowenbrau. I was an intermediate (14-15yr old) so our primes were cases of Pepsi. I also remember races in Oshkosh, WI (probably in the P-L classic or Superweek) with primes for a pair of overalls.

Bob Dopolina 

Some race in Southern Taiwan: Bars of soap (actually worked out OK).

Tour of Okinawa KOM (amateur): A pinapple (once we found a big 'ol knife, that worked out OK, too).

Best Primes: All currency (in the collective noun, sense).

Worst Primes: Any coupon that insists that I go somewhere I'd probably never go and then have to spend money to get my d**m prime!

dpr

Whats a prime? A sub-category in criterium races? A bit like white jersey, polka-dot jersey ect?

waterrockets 

A "premium," which is a prize for winning a given mid-race lap in a crit, signaled by a bell

dpr

Ahh I see. Thank you.

CrimsonKarter21

$3 per prime at the training crits during the summer, the last race was $6.

urbanknight

I forgot to add: Bad or good (depending on how you look at it) was the Dash for Cash Criterium, when they had a cash prime every lap (or was it every other lap?). Good if you're a strong and fast rider, but terrible if you didn't feel like spending Sunday repeating Tuesday's interval workout.

redal

CBR still does a Dash 4 Cash race in SoCal. The original was good because they had the $20 a lap plus $400 or $500 at the end. Now it is strictly $20 a lap. It's still a cool format if you're feeling good.

asmallsol

Prizes and primes that I have won...

-Pair of cycling socks
-$10 Canadian (twice)
-$20 gift certificate to a Canadian bike shop (race was in Canada, but after they closed) so I would have to pay to cross the border both ways, so I would have to find something less then $12 to actually make it worth it. But some guy offered me $20 cash for it. I took it.
-4 pack of Energy drinks.
-A Gary Fisher Team MTB hat for a 4th place finish in a crit
-An XL T-shirt (a few times) Thanks for a flag.

asmallsol

That would be one FAST crit.