Some of the MIVA members have been researching new criterium courses for the Club's weekly series in 2012. Some of the submissions are here, here and here. The Extension circuit is the most interesting but there are issues with a poor surface on the back straight, and parking. The out and back course on McKeown has the best surface and it's a dead end with no traffic and therefore, completely closed, no marshals, only cones down road centre,  and ample parking. The Cinnabar circuit is a good one with a hard hill but there is one really sketchy, downhill corner and a lot of parked cars which need to be moved every week.

This week's cyclo-cross clinic, in Beban Park, Nanaimo, will include advice and practice on cross camber riding , running sections, and a review of previously-covered skills. It will conclude with a thirty minute race on a course that will include cross camber and running sections. The course will commence at 4.30pm and the race will start at 5.30pm. The first two clinics were very-well attended, with nearly twenty participants at each.

COTR Race number 6 for 2011: THE GREAT PUMPKIN CROSS at Transfer Beach in Ladysmith. (Second to last race for COTR 2011)

Often a criterium lasts about one hour, which is shorter than that of a traditional road race — which can last many hours, sometimes of several days or even weeks, as in a Grand Tour. However, the average speed and is much higher. The winner is the first rider to cross the finish line without having been "lapped" (overtaken).  Events often have prizes (called primes, usually cash) for winning specific intermediate laps (for instance, every 10th lap). Winning criteriums needs a mix of good technical skills — especially the ability to corner rapidly and sharply — and riding safely with a large group on a short circuit and exceptional fitness to attack other riders and repeatedly accelerate hard from corners

All kinds of courses have been used for closed circuit criteriums over the years. In Europe, criteriums are invitation only races on closed circuits, which may be anywhere from 1km to 10 km in length. However, in North America, the criterium is almost always held on a closed circuit of from less than a kilometer to around 2 km. These courses can be rectangular with four 90 degree corners, more convoluted circuits, with left and right turns, or up and down events with 180 turns at each end. Each type of course requires a slightly different application of rider skills.

Where municipality restrictions limit location and length of courses, the up and back variety is the easiest for which to get approval and the simplest to organise. Of course, the 180 degree turnarounds mean considerable deceleration and intense acceleration out of the turn and favour riders who can produce sprint after sprint and still recover. Mid Island Velo Association may be looking at an up and back course for its weekly criteriums next season unless the club can find a true circuit reasonably near to Nanaimo.

What are our readers' thoughts about the different types of crit. courses?

For the last fifteen months. Mid Island Velo has run two series of criteriums on a nearly perfect 1.1 kilometer course in Nanaimo. It has all the components to make it ideal for the closed circuit style of massed start racing - newly paved roads in an industrial park, no traffic after 6PM.slight rises before two of the ninety degree turns, a wide, safe finishing straight, a good area for registration, and it is easily accessible from nearby communities. However, recent commercial development will result in Boxwood Road becoming a through route, with traffic lights at both ends and a large supermarket near the west junction. This will result in a huge increase in traffic and a reluctance on the part of the city to issue any further  permits to MIVA for the use of the circuit.

So the club is in need of a new circuit to replace the Boxwood Road course. The city may look favourably on a residential circuit if a poll of the residents produces no reasonable objections. The club may also consider a rural circuit but the only suitable ones are quits a distance from the city. If any of our readers are aware of a suitable location for the weekly criteriums for next season, please let us know.

A number of MIVA members, and many other visitors to this web site are in their fifties, sixties and even older.  They will remember the 1960's with affection and will recall Mafac Racer brakes, beautifully finished Cinelli aluminum bars and stems, the first Campagnolo Record gruppos, Huret Jubilee derailleurs, cyclo-cross courses with up to 25% running and LOTS of mud and, of course, Eddy Merckx's domination of the pro peleton. However, as a brief respite from the cycling world we tend to dwell in, here is a brief reminder of some other notable components of the 60's.