Ladera Ranch Grand Prix

This Sunday August 19th there is a crit in Ladera Ranch. Here are a couple of informative links:

Event flyer & registration
http://laderacyclery.com/page.cfm?pageId=106

Course info
http://www.geoladders.com/show_route.php?route=7486

Cheap entry fees and cash/merchandise prizes. The event benefits the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

 

I ride on these streets all the time. There is atleast one good hill to climb but nothing very hard. Should be fun to watch.

 

It's a very short course (.8 miles) with less than 90 feet of elevation gain per lap. It should be similar to the El Dorado series in Long Beach, very fast average pace, easy corners (only one 90 degree turn, the rest are traffic circles) and great for spectators. It is an excellent chance to tryout a criterium if you have never done one before.

A few guys from my mountain bike team (TeamGeoLadders.com) are dusting off their road bikes and giving it a try.

 

I heard 4 turns total, and the 90 degree turn is a great place to watch

Wish I could go, but have to rescue the child from camp (days of nothing but crafts, horseback riding, archery, mtn biking, ropes course, etc etc--if I don't pick her up, she'll expect fun all the time)

 

I live almost next door to this course. I can't imagine where the 90' come from. Pancake is a good description.

As far as the turns, I'm predicting carnage, especially if there is a big turnout.

 

The 90 degree turn is the right turn onto Avendale (see the GeoLadders course walk-through http://www.geoladders.com/gmap_display.php?route_id=7486&walk_thru=1 ). The turn onto Daisy isn't a traffic circle but also isn't as sharp as 90 degrees.

This is about as easy as it gets for a crit.

 

Any race reports?

I wanted to check this out but I was out of town.

I hope it was a success and will become an annual event.

 

Here are some pics of a few GeoLadders mountain bike team guys (Orange camo jerseys) racing their first road bike race...

 

Here's some more of the action...





Team Geoladders discussing strategy





More later.

 

I've done one of these before. Not as fun as mtb racing, but still fun. I got 3rd and I wasn't in shape for it. How'd the Geo guys do?

 

I think they made top ten. Looked like they may have done more than their share of pulling leaving them a little tired for the sprint. Fun race.

 

Yeah, a lot of people think it's just going around and around. There is a lot of stadegy that goes on in these races and you better have friends or team mates that are willing to sacrifice. Some days you'll be the strong one and other days it'll be your bro, so you'll work for him (pull). A lot of the times it does come down to the sprint though, you have to have position and be able to save a little in the tank.

 

Here's a few more...

Team GeoLadders





A little carnage...

 

We had our main hope (Napolean D) make the top 10 (8th I believe) which wasn't bad considering we did do more work than we probably should have and it was all of our (Team Geo) first road race. All three of us (I'm the guy in the white helmet/glasses) made the top 20 and stayed with the lead group the whole race though so that was cool.

It was an incredibly fun time though and I can't wait to do another one down the road (no pun intended ) when I get a chance.

 

When you say first road race, are you talking about it being your first race as a team, of first race period?

Congrats on a solid ride.

 

Are results posted? I have a couple friends that raced this and I haven't heard anything yet.

 

http://www.scnca.com/schedule2007.asp?event=Ladera+Grand+Prix&rank=1

 

None of the three Cat 5, Team Geo racers had ever participated in a road race of any kind before so we were all pretty happy to have the kinds of results we did.

I think there's one more El Dorado race next week so I'm hoping to make it out there to try my luck now that I have some idea of what to expect.

 

Awesome.

What class do you race Mountain in?

 

Just a lowly sport class racer hoping to make the jump to expert some time next year.