Racing at Hughes Park Long Beach

Lots of racing goes on at this course, some of it sanctioned. SoCalCycling lists this as a training ride Tuesday and Thursday evenings year round. Anyone who rides those regularly will have evolved into an official CritMonster and should be feared. I race there about four times a year at sanctioned events and the scary stuff I see just boggles the mind. I've been touched, bumped, leaned on and just downright pushed but have stayed vertical through about a dozen events. I've watched at least ten crashes, some of them quite impressive. My best finished was eighth in a 40+ 4/5 event. My biggest prize was a prime I got by TTing away after a crumbled breakaway and holding out for a pound of coffee (expensive coffee I'll have you know).

So here's a course map. The start/finish is on Via Oro heading north about halfway between the corners. The announcer's trailer is normally on the right. The one used by CBR is just huge and that affects how the pack maneuvers down the stretch. More on that later. Turn one is normally uneventful, but the streets are crowned so don't get too wide. Almost all crashes on this turn are caused by pedals touching down as racers try to maintain speed. They tend to pile up on the outside.

Last time out there was a big crash in the 30+ 3/4s early in the race on the exit of turn two toward the inside. This suggests that it resulted from people squeezing to the inside in the corner. Turn three isn't a turn at all, the road bends and things go on at full speed. Don't get wide though as the course narrows slightly on exit. Turn four is sharper than ninety degrees and has Bot's dots in abundance. Frequently one or two riders will hit them an go down here, but pileups are rare. In the last 50+ race the average speed was 25.5MPH until two to go. Kind of lazy. The next two laps went off at a hair over 27MPH. Last lap was 31MPH. Moving up with less than three to go is awfully tough.

Here's a general comment: everyone's going to want the inside line everywhere on the course. This minimizes potential for pedal touching as the crowning of the roads makes the inside line look "banked". On a small, but mostly wide course running along the gutter also shortens things. Finally, if you're outside on the last corner on the last lap you'll lose three places in an eyeblink. If you're on the inside you might get chopped. Good luck.