I'm proud to (finally) officially introduce "Le Circuit" for the inaugural running of Le Circuit de Mayhem! It's been a long time coming, and everyone here at Midweek Mayhem is pretty excited! Our goal was to produce a race course that will prove to be challenging to ride, selective enough to reward aggressive racing, and great for spectators. Oh ya, and all within the Calgary city limits.
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What we've delivered in response to those goals is a 5.3km long loop around the Bearspaw Golf & Country Club. The start/finish and race headquarters will be at the Bearspaw Lion's Club on Nagway Road, just a few meters north of Hwy 1A between 12 Mile Coulee Road and Bearspaw Road. Travelling in a clockwise direction, racers will turn right off of Nagway Rd onto Hamilton Dr, following it North and East around the golf course until a right turn takes you plunging South down 12 Mile Coulee Rd. At the bottom of 12 Mile Coulee racers will make a fast tricky right sweeping corner back onto Nagway, and will then immediately climb more than 100 feet in just over a kilometer to the finish line.
Here's some information on the major features of the course:
1. Climbing: there is several hundred feet of climbing on each 5.2k lap of the course. The climb to the start/finish will, in particular, be selective as races wear on. Riders will need to fight for position coming into the last corner in order to be at the front and avoid the gaps that are sure to open up at this point. While it's not particularly steep, this climb is deceptively hard when tired, especially when you factor in the prevailing strong westerly winds in this area.
2. Final Corner: As mentioned above, racers who want to have a chance of winning this race will need to be working hard to maintain position at the front coming into this challenging corner. There's something of an optical illusion at play as you approach the entrance that makes it appear much tougher than it is. Riders who can trust their cornering skills at the front should be able to make it through without scrubbing too much speed. Those who are wallowing in the middle to back of the field will likely be almost doing track stands while they watch the leaders rocket away up the climb with the help of the speed they carried. Be out of the top 10 at your own risk - you could be out of the race!
3. Rolling terrain, curvy road: If you are racing from the front you could well be able to turn small gaps into long breakaways. This course has the potential to get out of sight of the main field, and "out of site" often becomes "out of mind". A 30-40 second gap might well be enough to be gone and never seen again! As such, we absolutely think that smart racing will mean just as much as strong legs on this course.
We believe that we've delivered on our goal of developing a challenging selective race course that is great for spectators. The winners on this circuit should truly be the smartest and strongest riders in the bunch. We look forward to seeing you on August 7th!
View Larger Map
What we've delivered in response to those goals is a 5.3km long loop around the Bearspaw Golf & Country Club. The start/finish and race headquarters will be at the Bearspaw Lion's Club on Nagway Road, just a few meters north of Hwy 1A between 12 Mile Coulee Road and Bearspaw Road. Travelling in a clockwise direction, racers will turn right off of Nagway Rd onto Hamilton Dr, following it North and East around the golf course until a right turn takes you plunging South down 12 Mile Coulee Rd. At the bottom of 12 Mile Coulee racers will make a fast tricky right sweeping corner back onto Nagway, and will then immediately climb more than 100 feet in just over a kilometer to the finish line.
Here's some information on the major features of the course:
1. Climbing: there is several hundred feet of climbing on each 5.2k lap of the course. The climb to the start/finish will, in particular, be selective as races wear on. Riders will need to fight for position coming into the last corner in order to be at the front and avoid the gaps that are sure to open up at this point. While it's not particularly steep, this climb is deceptively hard when tired, especially when you factor in the prevailing strong westerly winds in this area.
2. Final Corner: As mentioned above, racers who want to have a chance of winning this race will need to be working hard to maintain position at the front coming into this challenging corner. There's something of an optical illusion at play as you approach the entrance that makes it appear much tougher than it is. Riders who can trust their cornering skills at the front should be able to make it through without scrubbing too much speed. Those who are wallowing in the middle to back of the field will likely be almost doing track stands while they watch the leaders rocket away up the climb with the help of the speed they carried. Be out of the top 10 at your own risk - you could be out of the race!
3. Rolling terrain, curvy road: If you are racing from the front you could well be able to turn small gaps into long breakaways. This course has the potential to get out of sight of the main field, and "out of site" often becomes "out of mind". A 30-40 second gap might well be enough to be gone and never seen again! As such, we absolutely think that smart racing will mean just as much as strong legs on this course.
We believe that we've delivered on our goal of developing a challenging selective race course that is great for spectators. The winners on this circuit should truly be the smartest and strongest riders in the bunch. We look forward to seeing you on August 7th!
Labels: General Info, Race Course
A couple of weeks ago the organizers of the Calgary Bike Week races got together over some beers to talk about how everything was coming together and various scheduling issues.
After the main part of the meeting was over I had a chance to talk with Scott Kelly (Road/Track/Cyclocross coordinator from the ABA) and Jayson Gillespie (Alberta Provincial team coach). I mentioned that as a not for profit event we were looking for somewhere to send proceeds from the race (if any, trying not to be too optimistic here!), and that I was hoping that I could forward any profits to the ABA in order to keep the money in the sport. They were both super-cool with that, and after some quick discussion we decided that we could earmark the money to support the Provincial team. This helps meet Midweek Mayhem's goals of supporting/developing racing here in Alberta, along with the race organization desire to keep money/proceeds in the sport.
(More information on the Alberta Provincial Cycling team)
After the main part of the meeting was over I had a chance to talk with Scott Kelly (Road/Track/Cyclocross coordinator from the ABA) and Jayson Gillespie (Alberta Provincial team coach). I mentioned that as a not for profit event we were looking for somewhere to send proceeds from the race (if any, trying not to be too optimistic here!), and that I was hoping that I could forward any profits to the ABA in order to keep the money in the sport. They were both super-cool with that, and after some quick discussion we decided that we could earmark the money to support the Provincial team. This helps meet Midweek Mayhem's goals of supporting/developing racing here in Alberta, along with the race organization desire to keep money/proceeds in the sport.
(More information on the Alberta Provincial Cycling team)
Labels: General Info, Youth racing
Race HQ:
Forgot to mention in the previous post about the Permit that I have also got the Race HQ site booked. It's an excellent facility, with lots of capacity, a great paved area for expo stuff (more on that later!), wireless internet, and it's perfectly situated at the top of a >1km grinder climb for the start/finish. There's also a great large deck for post-race festivities if required!
As with info on the race course itself and some other organizational details, I'll be posting more complete information when the Permit is officially completed. Stay tuned!!
Race Announcer: introducing Sean Carter!
We're excited to announce that Sean Carter (local racer, Veloplzen club big-wig, all around good guy) has graciously accepted our offer to be the cornerstone of our race day announcing/commentary team! Trust me, his enthusiasm and knowledge is going to bring a little something special to the race. We're stoked! Look for some Q&A with Sean as we get closer to the race date...
Forgot to mention in the previous post about the Permit that I have also got the Race HQ site booked. It's an excellent facility, with lots of capacity, a great paved area for expo stuff (more on that later!), wireless internet, and it's perfectly situated at the top of a >1km grinder climb for the start/finish. There's also a great large deck for post-race festivities if required!
As with info on the race course itself and some other organizational details, I'll be posting more complete information when the Permit is officially completed. Stay tuned!!
Race Announcer: introducing Sean Carter!
We're excited to announce that Sean Carter (local racer, Veloplzen club big-wig, all around good guy) has graciously accepted our offer to be the cornerstone of our race day announcing/commentary team! Trust me, his enthusiasm and knowledge is going to bring a little something special to the race. We're stoked! Look for some Q&A with Sean as we get closer to the race date...
Labels: Organization, Resources
As a first-time race promoter it's been a bit overwhelming when looking at all the tasks that have to be completed in order for the race to be a "go". As mentioned previously, the first hurdle is getting insurance lined up. Thankfully this is a pretty simple process, and it's quick too. It's all taken care of, so hurdle #1 is dealt with.
Getting the insurance in place is critical as it's a requirement before the City will even consider giving you a special event roads permit. And that permit is beyond critical, as quite simply it all boils down to "no permit, no race".
Road Permit:
I'm happy to report that it looks like the permit has now gone thru most of the City's internal processes/sign-offs. In the end I had a bit of back and forth with the Calgary Police Service's traffic boss as we discussed what the requirements would be from their perspective for a safe race course. It's a bit nerve-wracking dealing with this stuff, as you can almost hear the cash-register in the back of your mind as the Sergeant adds more cars/constables to the list, but I quickly realised that he was truly interested in a safe race course. At no point did I think he was trying to rack up OT for CPS members. In fact, I really got the impression that he was acting as a partner, and that he was trying his best to make things affordable for me.
At any rate, it looks like we've come to an agreement on policing requirements for the race that is super reasonable. We also agreed to slightly novel arrangement for police services. I'll talk about it more, but I'm going to wait until I have the permit in my hands with all sign-off's in place!
All in all, I've been really happy with how the City has been working with me and helping to make sure that this race goes off safely. I've heard a lot of horror stories, but my experience to this point has been that if you go there in with a positive attitude and are willing to listen to what they have to say, you're going to sail thru the process. These people have TONS of experience dealing with different events taking place on City roads. Treating them as resources/partners instead of regulatory hurdles is a smart move.
Getting the insurance in place is critical as it's a requirement before the City will even consider giving you a special event roads permit. And that permit is beyond critical, as quite simply it all boils down to "no permit, no race".
Road Permit:
I'm happy to report that it looks like the permit has now gone thru most of the City's internal processes/sign-offs. In the end I had a bit of back and forth with the Calgary Police Service's traffic boss as we discussed what the requirements would be from their perspective for a safe race course. It's a bit nerve-wracking dealing with this stuff, as you can almost hear the cash-register in the back of your mind as the Sergeant adds more cars/constables to the list, but I quickly realised that he was truly interested in a safe race course. At no point did I think he was trying to rack up OT for CPS members. In fact, I really got the impression that he was acting as a partner, and that he was trying his best to make things affordable for me.
At any rate, it looks like we've come to an agreement on policing requirements for the race that is super reasonable. We also agreed to slightly novel arrangement for police services. I'll talk about it more, but I'm going to wait until I have the permit in my hands with all sign-off's in place!
All in all, I've been really happy with how the City has been working with me and helping to make sure that this race goes off safely. I've heard a lot of horror stories, but my experience to this point has been that if you go there in with a positive attitude and are willing to listen to what they have to say, you're going to sail thru the process. These people have TONS of experience dealing with different events taking place on City roads. Treating them as resources/partners instead of regulatory hurdles is a smart move.
Labels: Organization, Permits
