Crit Club

I got a phone call from a buddy who works at a local bike shop inviting me to an underground nighttime crit series that will be taking place every Wednesday night for the duration of the season....or so we hope it will last that long.

The inaugural crit went down last night. 8 racers showed up including co-owner of a local bike shop, a local frame builder, an elite level track racer who is also a pro roadie and some other local cycling enthusiasts.

The crit was in a very quiet, newer housing development on a half mile loop with a bit of a climb. And wouldn't you know it, a local smoky lived on and had his patrol vehicle parked on our "course."

The rules for Crit Club are simple and are as follows:

You must have front and rear lights.
You must wear a helmet.
You must be as quiet as possible while racing.
You assume all responsibility for any injuries to your person.

The crit lasted 30 minutes and had prime laps at 10 and 20 minutes in. Primes were a 40 and a smut mag. The track racer took both primes and "pulled out" of the race a lap after he won the primes.

I attacked with what I thought was 2 laps to go but I had read the clock on my computer incorrectly. I tried to hold off my fellow Crit Clubbers for an extra lap than I had anticipated completing and it stuck.

It shall be forever known that I won the inaugural Crit Club race. More importantly, since there are no points or upgrading involved, I had a freakin' blast. Sure it was a little dangerous with the crit being on an open course. A few cars came through but, we kept things clean. The whole idea may be somewhat illegal but, it was a rush and some great training to boot.

We all enjoyed some PBR's after the race and had some laughs until the fuzz showed up. What a scene it must have been for that cop. A bunch of grown men in spandex drinkin' beers in the middle of a suburban street at 10:30 at night. He brought back-up too.

The cops ended up being totally cool. They asked what we were up to and they seemed fine with the idea that we were doing a "team training ride" through the little neighborhood. They asked if the drivers were sober and asked how much longer we were gonna be there. So we finished our Pibbers and drove back to the west side of town.

Awesome time, awesome folks and an all around awesome time. Can't wait for the next installment of Crit Club.