The cycling community is a tight-knit community. Along with that comes a lot of terminology many outsiders don’t understand.
Among two of the more important racing terms are criterium and omnium.
Criterium is a French word referring to a cycling race on a closed course. Sometimes there are a set number of laps in each criterium race, and others – as is the case with the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic – have time limits with riders racing to turn as many laps as they can before the time limit is reached.
Blake Knoll, the IHBC race director in 1978, succinctly explained the criterium more than three decades ago as “half roller derby and half horse racing.”
Criteriums typically are raced on downtown streets. The IHBC criterium will begin at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, with the professional men’s field set to begin at 3:15 p.m. Considered the most spectator friendly event in cycling, criteriums draw great crowds.
With so many riders on such a smaller course and with slower riders being lapped by the leaders, more accidents likely are to happen during criterium races. Vultures will flock to the areas of the course that are more susceptible to crashes, hoping to get a glimpse of a big wipeout.
“Unlike the road race, you can see the race every lap. Also, to no one’s surprise, crits also have a higher probability for a crash,” said defending IHBC road race champion Kip Taylor, who placed third in the overall standings one year ago and sixth in the criterium. “That is not so good for the racer, but for the fan I get it.”
Taylor admitted seeing the fans cheering at every corner helps motivate him throughout the race.
Ned Overend, a five-time IHBC road race winner and Hall of Fame cyclist, said the strategy of riding in a peloton, another French word meaning platoon and cycling-speak for a pack of riders, is a big part of how criteriums are raced.
“You get a feel for how important drafting is in a race like that. While it is exciting, it is danger, as well,” Overend said. “To draft, you have to ride real close to the guys in front of you. When you are going 25 to 30 miles per hour and you are going around turns in groups like that, it’s definitely a rush.”
The criterium has been a mainstay in the IHBC program since 1997. It made its first appearance in the IHBC in 1973 and has come and gone as trends have changed, said Ed Zink, who has been the chairman of the IHBC committee the duration of the race’s existence.
“We haven’t had it every year, and the key issue has been the interest,” Zink said. “When we first began, we were a three-day stakes race, and it was a real racer’s race. Then mountain biking got real popular, so we did two days of mountain bike racing instead. Mountain biking was waning a little bit, so we went back to the criterium.”
Cyclists who ride in the criterium, road race and time trial have the chance to go after an omnium title.
Omnium, Latin for belonging to all, is the accumulation of the total results from a multiple racing event. Riders will receive points based on their finish in each event. In the Iron Horse, omnium winners are whoever has the best combined finish in the criterium, road race and time trial. Winners are awarded 25 points, while second gets 24, and so on down the line.
“I think omnium works well for this event,” Overend said. “A guy who does well going to Silverton and the time trial could win even if they don’t have the best crit ride. Guys who maybe do well in the crit and time trial could beat a guy who is just a good climber in the omnium.”
Taylor said omniums benefit all-around riders. After finishing third last year, he hopes to win the omnium title this year.
“You have to be a jack of all trades. This is especially true with the IHBC,” Taylor said. “There is also this thing called luck. Get a flat during your time trial, and you can kiss that omnium podium goodbye. Take your eye off the wheel in front of you during the crit, bang, no omnium finish for you.”
A few terms that make cyclists cringe? Squirrel’s and ticket collectors.
A squirell is a rider who seems to have trouble holding a line or keeping a constant speed, and ticket collectors are riders who sit in the back of pelotons to draft the entire race without ever taking their turn at the front of the group, similar to a leech.
Riders always are looking to avoid bonking, cracking or hitting the wall, meaning they have run out of energy.
And now that the men’s road race has been shortened to a 27-mile sprint to Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort rather than the full 47-mile race to Silverton, the Classic could favor a kite – a rider who is good at climbing but not so good on downhills.
“Who knows what the strategy will be for guys tactically. If it is a bit of a climber’s finish to the parking lot at Purg, it could favor a guy who can give a nice two- or three-minute burst up the hill,” Overend said. “There won’t be much downhill at all. Guys will have climbs up Shalona Hill, then to Haviland and then to Needles (Country Store). Climbers are going to want to break it up for sure.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
