Keep SA Lame

I could eliminate the 180's and just square off the corner, but I thought they added a little pizazz. Maybe I could eliminate the first one and just have the second one as my funnel of death that dumps them out onto the final straightaway for the sprint to the finish.
It's a full two lanes wide- I think that's fair enough.
I wonder if moving the s/f line to the back straightaway would be more spectator friendly?
I've seen videos of people riding the Driveway crits- just couldn't find a map of the actual course- thanks! That looks like a really gorgeous course- almost like a golf course.

Val23708

I think we need satilite photos. What is the distance per lap? i'd try to keep it under 1 mile. In fact .5 miles works better.

Here is the Davis 4th of July Crit course for reference. Probably one of more interesting courses. 5 left turns 1 right turn.

waterrockets 

I think the shape of the course is fine. The finish placement is my only concern. If riders can roll straight there after the sprint, you'll have to barricade for spectators, while making it clear to the racers that they can go there after the race. Seems kind of awkward.

Regarding the Driveway, you're not far away in San Antonio. You should come up for one. Top-notch event, and it happens every week. Prizes, primes, officials, 250 racers. Good stuff.

Keep SA Lame

Is it just a free for all in the middle?? or is there any kind of traffic control?

Keep SA Lame

One more course- short with a hill, a 180 turnaround and a figure 8.


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gsteinb

Crossing over? The promoter should lose his ability to put on races just for suggesting it. If it was approved someone should actually be shot.

Creakyknees

that one's totally a non-starter. the course may not cross itself, for the obvious reason.

of course you could just run it as an L shape, but even then it looks too short.

caloso

The Lodi crit is a figure eight. There's no cross-over, just a shared intersection with a bisecting row of hay bales running from diagonal corners.

Creakyknees

Here are google sat views of the 3 DFW weekly courses. I've marked the S/F line and the parking areas (gotta plan for parking too!) Also left the scale in so you can see. Plano is .8 mile, Sunnyvale is almost exactly the same, and I forget but I think Ft Worth is about 1 mile.

Note that NONE of these courses is completely closed... Fort Worth has a centerline rule, the others just have cones and course marshalls so cars are rarely on the course.

brad06ag

This is a figure 8 crit course for those questioning what that meant (random course image from google).

Keep SA Lame

hahaha ok, so I misunderstood 'figure 8'
How's this?
Loop through the parking lot, uphill ride to the turnaround, downhill descent into right hander into parking lot.

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grolby

Yeah, these are my preferences as well. I also like uphill sprints. 90-degree corners with <100m to the finish are also good; basically anything that ensures that the sprint will start from a relatively low speed is going to be more favorable and more fun for me (I can accelerate well, but can't do drag races). I prefer an uphill to a corner, though, for sure, and short courses as well. The long, open, fast crits are kind of boring, and I tend to get my ass kicked on those courses.

Creakyknees

still too short and the u-turn annoys lots of racers.

from a practical perspective, you're going to incur extra cost / challenge to block off that residential street as well.

you should hook up with the Tree of Life guys there in New Braunfels for some tips and brainstorming.
https://www.usacycling.org/events/fl...rmit=2010-1652

Keep SA Lame

Thanks for the input....I'm trying to get a couple of course ideas together so I can look into permits and such.
The street in the map above only has 20 houses, and they live next to the park.rec center /baseball fields so I hope we can do an early Sunday run with minimal problems. The course is on the backside of a nicer residential area and doesn't have high traffic flow, and also has a low speed limit- under 30 MPH- if I can find a way for the city to be involved, I'm hoping to sidestep some of the fees for police/traffic control/permits and related expenses.

Thanks for the heads up on the NB guys- I have a couple of local contacts as well.

zzzwillzzz

that street is probably too narrow for a hairpin turn, and how would you separate both sides of the road?

short courses are good, we have one four corner crit that is 0.4 miles long, you really have keep your eyes on the break as they ill disappear quickly and can lap the field easily.

Keep SA Lame

There's a line down the center.

I don't know if metal or wood barricades would be any safer.

umd

Yes, but most people don't pay enough attention to notice.

umd

+1 and :facepalm:

Keep SA Lame

Better exposure here, and I wanted to hear from first timers/ the unwashed masses.

How do the cat's break down as far as attendance? I'd SWAG that there are more cat 5's than cat 1,2,3's.

Keep SA Lame

Whatsamatter?? You scared of a the Swirling Matrix of Death(tm)???

Maybe we're just togher around these parts.

umd

Sure, that's it

grolby

Something is always going to annoy someone. There's a U-turn on the Champs... but seriously, they are technically demanding. I'm not saying that's a reason to exclude them per se, but it's the kind of course feature where even reasonably technically proficient riders can be pretty seriously penalized in the lower cats, through no fault of their own.

zzzwillzzz

most courses i know of that have a u-turn are run on a wide blvd with a median down the center. and even the few that don't have a median still are run on a wide street. trying to have a u-turn on a street of residential width is less than ideal.

Keep SA Lame

I'm not crazy about the U-turn either, but I'm trying to work with what I have. I'm hoping the short/intense hill climb and rapidish descent add some extra excitement. I could add more turns if that would make the course more interesting.


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waterrockets 

It's usually pretty even. At the driveway on Thursdays, we've had three mens races, and usually get 50 in each of 4/5, 3/4, and 1/2/3. Then add about 5 juniors and 20 women in the various fields.

When we have an M35+ race (June + July), it usually gets 40-45 racers, and that seems to take the 3/4 down to ~40.