Usual Pre-Race Detective Work

Looks like the ECCC races will offer two more criteriums this weekend: one at Columbia, the other at Stevens. I did my usual pre-race investigation using DeLorme Topo USA 7.0, though the amount of information Google Earth and Google Maps can give you about the "look and feel" of a course is really impressive.



The Columbia crit has three hard corners and one wide one. The sprint is on a slight uphill, and there is a short climb in every lap. I'm just hoping that the roads won't destroy my race wheels. After all, New York City has a reputation to maintain, and the city's streets have never disappointed me in their ability to destroy high-end race equipment.



The Stevens crit is new this year. I hope I drew it correctly, I wasn't positive which way the course ran. Either way, there are three real corners and an uphill finish. These courses are fairly similar in the number of turns and finishes. I wonder how this will affect pack strategy.

Really, I just want to start racing A's as soon as possible.