Ontario GP Course

There are generally five or six Ontario races each season, spaced out from February to August. This year it appears three of them are on the "Grand Prix" course, two on the "Crit" course and the remaining one is (I think) on the "Airport" course. The Crit course is just the southern segment of the GP, I've never ridden the Airport. The good thing about this course is that it's much less boring than the typical four-corners-flat we get most of the time. The GP course is south of Ontario Airport, east of Archibald in an industrial park. Plenty of warmup room on the other side off Archibald, parking is adequate.

A warmup lap has always been offered, so do this if you've never ridden the course. You go south 200m from the S/F line to an easy, wide lefthander. The wind is normally in your face between turns one and two, and this seems to be where a lot happens. For one thing, there are usually lots of primes (hint: the Sette minipump is piece of junk, but you may want the Schwalbe tires) so post-prime couterattacks get launched. Experienced riders know that they'd better be reasonably close to the front on the last lap before turn three so I'd say this 450m stretch of pavement is associated with lots of pain. It's a quick run between turns two and three, watch out for the lane dots and a persistent pothole near the middle of the road close to turn three.

I see more pedal-clipping in the exit of turn three than anywhere else on the course so beware. For some reason the 250m run from three to four usually sees the pack slow down and people are already looking for sled-dogs to pull them to the finish line. Not good, since turn four is a little tight in the exit. Three across is okay, but if you're on the wide line look out for getting squeezed into the far curb. The inside line is not much better and there are manhole covers. I've never witnessed a crash at this point, but have seen cleanup from earlier incidents.

So here's the scoop on the last lap. Turn four is one kilometer from the finish. From this point you go up a 1% grade to turn six followed by a 1% downhill to the finish. Mid-race, the run from four to five is usually pretty easy. Near the end, things are getting downright urgent. Speaking from my own variable results, I'd say the inside line on turn five is just a bad idea. If you have to brake, or even coast, you lose  more ground than you can possibly make up later. Spend some energy and carry speed through the following crooked straight. The finish order of this race is usually hammered out between six and seven since someone's always willing to turn it on and just go like hell. Turn seven is a powerful filter. The exit is a nasty little chicane with a half right turn onto the straight.

At this point there's 300m of slight downhill - things happen fast. This is a very wide street, but the far left and right lanes are closed to accommodate spectators and the announcer's booth. Crashes happen, keep your head up and remember it's just a bike race. If I had to say, being slightly to the left is probably safer, since that's the announcer's side and spectator behavior is less predictable.