Norwich Crits

markos1963

Had a great time today(despite suffering from broncitis) racing in the Go Race event at Norfolk County Hall. Anybody looking to start racing and want to give it a go should get down for the next round on the 28th. Very well run and we got to do several different disciplines, scratch race, keirin and devil takes the hindmost. I was suffering due to my illness but got a lot out of it.

flegghighsmells

Sounds great markos! Sorry to hear you're a bit under the weather. I really wanted to go but was already signed up to the Stowmarket Summer RR.

What was the course like? Sara from BC said it was round the car park but didn't say anything about technical corners/hills or stuff like that. Presumably its dead flat if they're doing track-style events there?

TrueBlueFan

Racing at Stowmarket is no excuse for not doing the crits, most the entrants in the 3/4 race had raced at Stowmarket in the morning including the first two who came 6th and 2nd in the morning.

The circuit is very hilly as it runs up the hill leading to the car park so a very tough crit circuit.

flegghighsmells

Wow, awesome. How did Steve Hurrell place in the crits then? Couldn't tell from your message whether you meant he came 1st/2nd.

TrueBlueFan

Pete Hargreaves won. I think Steve Hurrell got second and Phil Hargreaves third.

markos1963

The 'short' circuit has a bit of a hill on it, none of it is level. The longer circuit has a good hill on it for a crit circuit. I was hitting 35mph coming down it into the left hander at the bottom. Someone told me I looked frightening coming down there(it was my only chance to make up some ground seeing I was so knackered with my illness) I had to drop into the small ring to get up it which shows how steep it was(not in the same league as Hog Hill though)

markos1963

TrueBlueFan wrote:

Racing at Stowmarket is no excuse for not doing the crits, most the entrants in the 3/4 race had raced at Stowmarket in the morning including the first two who came 6th and 2nd in the morning.

The circuit is very hilly as it runs up the hill leading to the car park so a very tough crit circuit.

I was regretting only having a provisional license, I would have been able to hang on to at least one of the racers in the 3/4 race and so pick up a few points towards my 3rd!!!

Kona21

Its really good crit circuit ! A good way of making up time was flying down the hill like a mad man and braking late.... Being on carbon wheels meant it was a tense moment every lap ! And then going up that hill 40+ times would hurt anyone :twisted:

Shame I can't race it anymore (2nd cat), I can imagine with more riders in the 3/4 event it could be very exciting !

Pete H

flegghighsmells

Its really good crit circuit ! A good way of making up time was flying down the hill like a mad man and braking late.... Being on carbon wheels meant it was a tense moment every lap ! And then going up that hill 40+ times would hurt anyone

Shame I can't race it anymore (2nd cat), I can imagine with more riders in the 3/4 event it could be very exciting !

Pete H

Well done on getting your cat 2! It seems like you've timed it just right as there are no(?) more road races around here for the rest of the season.

From the sounds of things the field was quite small for the 3/4 race at Norwich. How many riders were there?

The 'short' circuit has a bit of a hill on it, none of it is level. The longer circuit has a good hill on it for a crit circuit. I was hitting 35mph coming down it into the left hander at the bottom. Someone told me I looked frightening coming down there(it was my only chance to make up some ground seeing I was so knackered with my illness) I had to drop into the small ring to get up it which shows how steep it was(not in the same league as Hog Hill though)

Do you generally look frightening then or was it the fact you were coming down the hill so fast?

markos1963

^ I look frightening any time of the day!

Kona21

The 3/4 race only had 7 riders in... 4 of which raced in the RR that morning

I think its more about the kids race and go-race which had a good turn out apparently (19 in each maybe?)
Hopefully the next rounds will attract more 3/4's as there were two other races on, on Sunday.

I could race up untill middle of Oct ! Involves traveling but their no further than Essex so it not to bad. Im booked into races most Sundays till end of Sept. I only started racing in May/June so my season has been pretty short.

Zachariah

Man! Every race I've been to has had at least 40-50 entrants, the one I'm booked for this Sunday has 71 pre-registered...My area (North Yorks) seems to be fairly thinly served for regular BC races, but maybe that's because I can't travel more than 20-30 miles to get there (no car).

Kona21

Zachariah wrote:

Man! Every race I've been to has had at least 40-50 entrants, the one I'm booked for this Sunday has 71 pre-registered...My area (North Yorks) seems to be fairly thinly served for regular BC races, but maybe that's because I can't travel more than 20-30 miles to get there (no car).

Most of the 'proper' races here will get 50+ riders. It was strange for a 3/4 race to only get 7 ! Probs due to the other two races on in the area. Easy points though!
I earnt my 2nd cat in the mornings RR so shouldn't of really done the 3/4 crit !

Dirty_Harry

markos1963 wrote:

The 'short' circuit has a bit of a hill on it, none of it is level. The longer circuit has a good hill on it for a crit circuit. I was hitting 35mph coming down it into the left hander at the bottom. Someone told me I looked frightening coming down there(it was my only chance to make up some ground seeing I was so knackered with my illness) I had to drop into the small ring to get up it which shows how steep it was(not in the same league as Hog Hill though)

Hijacking this thread.

I was thinking of cycling out to 'hog hill', purely as a reference point what do you reckon a decent time would be? is there a 'record' as such?

Sorry but I didn't see any point creating a new thread.

Thanks.

danowat

Might have a play once the TT season is over, my final TT of 2011 is 2nd Oct, so I can do rounds 5 & 6....although I could probably fit in round 3......

Kona21

Dirty_Harry wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

The 'short' circuit has a bit of a hill on it, none of it is level. The longer circuit has a good hill on it for a crit circuit. I was hitting 35mph coming down it into the left hander at the bottom. Someone told me I looked frightening coming down there(it was my only chance to make up some ground seeing I was so knackered with my illness) I had to drop into the small ring to get up it which shows how steep it was(not in the same league as Hog Hill though)

Hijacking this thread.

I was thinking of cycling out to 'hog hill', purely as a reference point what do you reckon a decent time would be? is there a 'record' as such?

Sorry but I didn't see any point creating a new thread.

Thanks.

I assume you mean one lap of Hog Hill? If so, there are to many different circuits, there may be a lap record but for which circuit who knows!? Higher, lower, half, full, clockwise, anti clockwise,must be over 8.

Dirty_Harry

Very Stupid Mistake Here. :oops:

Stupidly thought you were talking about gas hill, until I realised you were talking about crits (even though it was in the title).

Have been wanting to go up *Gas Hill* as it appears to be the only 'climb' in Norfolk.

:oops:

danowat

Dirty_Harry wrote:

Very Stupid Mistake Here. :oops:

Stupidly thought you were talking about gas hill, until I realised you were talking about crits (even though it was in the title).

Have been wanting to go up *Gas Hill* as it appears to be the only 'climb' in Norfolk.

:oops:

Plenty of decent climbs on the north norfolk coast, there is a big hill (sandy lane) that goes up from West Runton that was used for the national hill climb some years back.