Inside the Grand Prix
By Maurice Carter
Starting Friday, the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix comes to town with four bicycle races in three days around Newton County. The fastest action and best viewing will be Saturday from 2 p.m. 8 p.m. at the Downtown Covington Criterium on the north side of the square. To help you enjoy the action, here are terms and concepts you might find useful.
THE EVENT: A criterium (or "crit") is a circuit race on a short, closed course of usually less than one mile. Racers circle in laps for a set period of time until race officials ring a bell to signal the final lap. The winner is the rider who crosses the finish line first on the "bell lap." Races vary in duration (20 to 90 minutes), depending on classification level.
IT'S FAST: In the highest classification (Men's Pro 1/2) racers easily hit speeds of 30-35 mph in straight sections of the course.
THEY CRASH: Going so fast with sharp turns, how do they keep from crashing? Sometimes they don't. Corners make for interesting viewing.
GROUPINGS: The crit features eight different races, with riders competing based on age, gender, and ability level. Juniors compete with boys and girls together, by age group (10-14 and 15-18.) Men and women compete separately, classified by abilitlevel. Pro is the highest classification, followed by levels 1 through 5. Men also have a Masters division for ages 40 and older.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Don't be fooled into thinking the rider leading the most laps is going to win. The cyclist up front is doing all of the work for the other racers behind. Drafting shields those riders from the wind, meaning they put forth about 30 percent less effort to reach the same speed as the leader. Winners usually come from within the pack during the final laps.
A TEAM SPORT: So, why do all the work for someone else to win? Though prizes go to individual riders, bike racing is actually a team sport. A team will often put riders up front to increase the pace and make the race hard for the other teams, before launching their best rider to victory in the final lap. Occasionally, though, a solo rider will "attack" from the pack and try to steal victory by surprise. As they say: "it ain't over ‘til it's over!"
IF YOU GO:
WHAT: Georgia Cycling Gran Prix Events
TODAY: Oxford Hills Road Race, begins 10 a.m., Byrd Road in Oxford
SATURDAY: Downtown Covington Criterium, begins 2 p.m. downtown
SUNDAY: Newton Circuit Race, begins 9 a.m., Bates Road
LEARN MORE: See http://www.georgiacycling.net/
THE COVINGTON CONYERS CYCLING CLUB: Rides Tuesdays and Thursdays; see their Facebook site or Yahoo group site
Bike riding has long been a passion of Brian Lord.
The Newton County resident was a BMX racer as a child and he's now president of the Covington Conyers Cycling Club.
He's had to cut back on his riding a bit to accommodate daddy duty with his 8-month-old twins, Eli and Abigail, but he still squeezes in some 70 miles of roadwork each week.
He's also found time to compete on Saturday and Sunday as the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix comes to Newton County. In its fifth year, the five-day event began Wednesday at Road Atlanta.
There are events in Newton County today through Sunday, with about 500 riders expected.
Today, the Oxford Hills Road Race event will feature racers taking on a 10.5-mile loop over rolling terrain. It will begin with juniors racing at 10 a.m. Pros will begin at 12:30 p.m. The race begins along Byrd Road in Oxford.
The best bet for the casual viewer takes place on Saturday, the Downtown Covington Criterium, which will be held from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The criterium will feature bikers whirling through downtown at speeds of 30 mph to 35 mph on a .6-mile course, beginning with junior riders at 2 p.m. and the pros taking to the course about 6:30 p.m. The start race starts and ends on the square, which will be the hub for the event.
"It's pretty cool to see first hand," said Pete Sherrard, an event organizer and assistant athletics director at Oxford College.
Sunday, the event endSunday, the event ends with the Newton Circuit Race along a 1.8-mile loop across rolling terrain. The race begins along Bates Road in the county.
Lord, a western Newton County resident, will take part in the criterium on Saturday and the road race on Sunday.
When he was a child, his father took him across the Southeast to compete in BMX events, Lord said. That enthusiasm waned for a while when he turned 16 and got a car, he said. But the interest was still there, and he got back into biking when the Summer Olympics Games were held in Atlanta in 1996.
"I kind of got the bug again," he said.
He participated in mountain biking, road riding and road racing.
His wife, Kindle, was no rider, but she has come to embrace his passion for biking, too, taking part in rides and supporting him in racing.
The Covington Conyers Cycling Club has about 400 members, with about 70 active participants, he said.
They hold rides on Tuesdays, beginning at the Depot in Conyers, and on Thursday evenings, beginning at the International Horse Park. Lord was out Tuesday in Conyers on his Cannondale Super 6 bike.
The club is open to all and has a diverse membership.
"It's a real good subculture," he said.
Lord recommends watching the criterium as a good introduction to the sport.
"It gets peoples' eyes open to what happens," he said.
The Gran Prix is sanctioned by the United States Cycling Federation and offers $9,000 in prizes. Learn more at georgiacycling.net.
Learn more about the cycling club at its Facebook site or its Yahoo group site.
