Iowa City Crit...
 

Wondering about tactics here.

If a thunder storm doesn't put the race to bed, it's suppose to be very windy.

The race consists of a pretty short but rather steep hill. You go down it and up it (this profile shows a spike in the hill, that's not there...it's smooth)
http://www.oldcapcrit.com/images/occ_map.png

Cat 5...only 10 laps :rolleyes:

I'm not sure how much of a factor wind will play because most of the route is surrounded by pretty tall buildings.

I'm kind of assuming that a race like this is going to thin the field out a bit, rather than one big pack. How do races like this tend to develop at the lower levels???

I lived in Iowa City many years ago, and raced in the "Old Capitol Crit" back then. Depending on the day, the wind can be absolutely hellacious. The buildings channel the wind into strong streams at specific points on the course.

If I recall, the lower cat races did string out quite a bit.

Last years Cat 5 race was ran at the same time as the Collegiate D race so the field was quite large, this year doesn't seen to be the case. What I found worked well was to get out in front early on the first couple laps if you are a good descender as you can take the corner at the bottom of the hill at about 30mph and most guys were riding the brakes for part of the hill. That way you can recover for a few seconds before attacking teh hill. The hill isn't all that bad, was able to do it in my big ring all 10 laps, just watch for an early attack within the first 2 laps and if you can get in on that you should have a good size group to work with. Last year I missed the break and found myself soloing for a lap or so in the middle of the race. Wind will play a big factor if it is out of the East, but really any other direction you should be fine. I will be there doing the 4's race this year, 20 times up the hill :twitchy: