The Circuit Race

Last week we talked about road races and criteriums. This week solobreak steals the "mad props" theme from slowyourroll and others, but instead of directing them at some worthy rider (that's coming soon) we're paying homage to the oft forgotten but always exciting battleground of domestic racing, the circuit race.

I'd have to look in the rule book for the exact definition, but as I recall a circuit race is defined as being held on a course of greater than 2k but less than 5k or something like that. It doesn't matter all that much. If less than 2k then it's a criterium, so that means no follow cars are allowed and the free lap rule would be in effect. That's the only significant distinction. Of course most of our "road races" these days are multiple laps of some loop, but usually it's a long loop that's covered only a couple of times. By contrast, the true "circuit race" generally has ten or more laps. What's the big deal? Simple - if a short course like this has a nice hill in it, then you are talking about one side up, one side down. Since even the best climbers take a lot longer to go up than down, the end effect is it might take five minutes to do the climb and two minutes to get to the bottom. To the competitor, this makes it seem like the entire race is uphill. These are the races feared by the weak and loved by the strong.

I started thinking about this today when I realized many of the New England classic circuit races were no more. Marlboro of course would be the obvious one. This classic was a staple on the Massachusetts calendar for years. The course was an equilateral triangle in what was then a fairly desolate industrial park. One side was pretty flat, one side was a grinding bigring uphill, and the third was the sting in the tail of the climb followed by a short, fast descent. Originally the finish was on the gradual climb, but in later years it was moved to the high point on the course. Many of the races I did here were 18-20 laps of the 5k circuit, in the August heat. I miss this race.

Another short-lived circuit was in Deerfield. Does anyone else remember this one? I'll bet JD does. This also featured a painful climb punctuated by a fast false flat and a quick trip back to the bottom. The original Blue Hills course was also an epic. They used this last year, but for some reason went counterclockwise. They also only ran it a handful of laps, which kills the character of idea. Back in the Dedham stage race days the road was in horrendous condition and we did 18 laps. They called it "Milton-Roubaix." There were no field sprints in that one.

Today's metrowest crowd may not remember Harvard. This was one of the grandaddys around here. It was a 1-2-3 affair, on a 4.1 mile circuit that ran through Harvard center. The uphill portion was later used as the downhill in the Veryfine Grand Prix race that BRC promoted until a few years ago (a fine circuit race in its own right). Harvard was perhaps the race most feared by the cat 3's who dared to enter. It was 15 laps and with a decent prize list, the big motors from around the hood would always attend and put the hurt on the field. This race was always full with 100 or more entries, and usually had less than forty finishers. Sad that it's not around.

You may have noticed that none of the races noted above still exist. Others are gone too - Georgetown, Hubbardston-Barre, Fall River, and I'm sure there are more that I've forgotten. A few have risen to take their place. Last year we had Norwell, not a big hill, but a short, tough, fast race. This year a new race is on the calendar in Newton, on Heartbreak Hill no less. Still not a big climb, but hopefully this will develop. And then there is Fitchburg... Sure, it's part of the stage race. And in the lower categories, the races are very short, as there are many to fit on the day's schedule. The pro-am though, is about 25 laps of the 5k circuit. Some riders call this one of the toughest races in the country. You may recognize this guy winning it in 1992:


photo by jsmcelvery

If you're racing Fitchburg, you might call this the "we want your money and then we want you dead" circuit race. Things can get pretty intense heading into the last corner at the base of the hill. The good news is that for this year they moved the race to Saturday, with the Mt. Wachusett queen stage pushed back to Friday. The FSR circuit is probably the best spectator race in New England, and this way more people will get a chance to enjoy it. I sort of believe if you've seen one bike race you've seen them all, but if you're only going to see one this year, make it this one. It may not be as epic as Frankie and Horner going 25 rounds toe-to-toe a decade back, but the action on the hill will be intense, and the crowd is the best around too. Maybe we'll have the King brothers there this year...

Sunapee tomorrow. Afterwards? Thanks for reading.