Tour de Tysons I think
gotcha. I wanna do the race. We shall see!
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Iām kicking the tires on this convo looking for good group ride/meetups (in NOVA specifically).
A little bit of recap of what I found post my summer move back to the area (Iād love to hear other recaps as well):
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Armed Forces Challenge was good riding with a friend, very cool route, the only thing that is āiffyā is the group dynamics. You have multiple clubs working together on laps with total strangers diving in and out of pelotons and Iād say that the majority of those folks donāt have experience riding in pelotons (or at least donāt act like it). Overall just be careful, lots of wheel overlapping and unpredictable moves - there were a handful of wrecks.
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Hains Point Hammerfest is definitely a thing still, Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30AM. Thereās a Facebook group. If you commute into DC this is a great ride if you want to come into town a little early and beat traffic. Thereās an A and a B group, B group follows the A so you can always ride the As until you drop. Overall great group of folks.
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Velo Pigs - This is a group of gravel riders that meet in Leesburg every Saturday during season to go ride throughout some of the best gravel in the country. Thereās almost always an A, B, and C group with a wide variety of experience plus beers afterwards. The group does a great job creating a welcoming environment and they change courses every week. If you want to put some miles down without being worried about normal traffic (there still is some traffic but much lighter on the gravel roads) then this is probably a great ride for you. The routes are still quite punchy so they make a great workout. Highly recommend a gravel/cross bike for this one (35mm+ tires), you can get by with smaller tires but depending on gravel conditions (new gravel, wet/mud, etc) it just makes descending/cruising easier. You can find all the details about these guys in their Facebook group.
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The Hains Point āFight Clubā happens weekdays at noon
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Iām a newer rider closer to Towson/Lutherville. Iāve spent the majority of my nascent structured training time indoors on TR and still have a significant amount of fitness to gain/weight to lose. But Iād love to dip my toes in some crits and other racing this year for motivation.
Is anyone aware of some good opportunities in the region for a complete novice to practice? I saw from last yearās MABRA calendar that thereās a good mix of random races and heard whispers of some weekday training crits maybe being started. But for a random dude who raced motocross a decade ago but has otherwise done nothing in this space, would love a way to to ease into racing a bit more.
Thanks for kicking this off!
After my first season of racing in 2022, here are my thoughts on the events in which I participated. I made YouTube videos for basically all of these which you can easily find by searching jameskim3 on YouTube.
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Black Hill CR - very fun course! Has a huge hill every lap which blew up the entire cat5/novice field lol. I think they arenāt holding this event this year due to a couple issues in 2022. I believe the severity of a couple of the crashes may be one of the reasons.
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Polling House RR - another good course with some rolling hills. This was a 4/5 race and was 33 ish miles (11 ish miles per lap)
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Poolesville RR - great course with rolling roads (bit more hilly than Polling House) and a fairly choppy (for road tires) gravel section each lap (lap about 11 miles). Also a 4/5 race - officials made sure everyone knew about the center line rule by making a huge deal about it and then they didnāt enforce it at all
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Carl Dolan CR - fantastic event and atmosphere at this one. Just happened to be my best result in 2022 (2nd place
). The course is pretty safe as there is basically only one right turn each lap. My favorite race/course out of the ones I did in 2022. -
Ride Sally Ride Crit - wiide open course with freshly paved roads that basically looks like a Dorito. Fast and fun.
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Backyard Boogie (Crit?) - slightly more technical turns (the first turn was pretty tight from curb to curb) and a little more hilly than RSR, which adds some dynamic to the racing. There was some construction going on in the area, so the backstretch of road was a tiny bit hazardous and there was a bump across the road about 50m from the finish line haha. It was a fun race though.
If I had to do these all again and they were all happening in 2023, my interest level in each of the races (descending order) would be:
- Black Hill CR + Carl Dolan CR tied
- Ride Sally Ride
- Backyard Boogie
- Poolesville RR + Polling House RR
They were all good events. Nothing wrong with the road races, but I preferred the shorter duration events 
So far, I only see Charlottesville Crit in bikereg as an event that interests me, but itās far from northern VA (speaking as a dad of four young kids 
) and may not be feasible. I have seen footage of the course and a few racers I have spoken to said it was def top 3 races/courses from 2022.
I have a friend who did the Torture Race (mixed surface) this past year and said it was savage lol. If anyone likes savage mixed surface climbing, thatās the one for you!
Hope this helps a little!
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Gonzo isnāt happening anymore.
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No more Gonzo? I did the short version on an MTB - ton of fun! Bummer.
I thought it would be too ambitious to have Steamboat as my A race and come back for Gonzo this year but now Iām sad.
+1 for HPH (Hains Point Hammerfest). Iām a fairly regular participant when itās in season. It is currently in off-season mode as the primary ride leader is in FL for winter; it does run sometimes (when above freezing) and last year they used winter as a time to practice things like echelon riding which are tough in warmer/busier weather. Definitely check out the FB group, though, as thatās where youād want to see if anyone will be there. But HPH, in whatever form, is an excellent, very-disciplined ride. Great place to work on group-riding skills and get a predictable workout (A or B group).
The HP Noon ride (aka āFight Clubā) is definitely very different. That is basically race-pace. Itās a great ride. I try to make it down once a month for that. There is a FB group, but this ride goes pretty much daily year-round (in reasonable weather).
Additionally there is the https://www.dcpaceline.com/ website; itās not fully up-to-date, but gives a good idea of the rides in the DC area. Iād probably try to reach out to confirm times/places on those rides before just showing up, though.
VeloPigs for gravel, as mentioned. Gears & Beers does regular MTB rides at Lake Fairfax; though mountain biking is tough in winter (especially in afternoons when freeze/thaw usually makes for wet trails).
Later in the year, check out Great Eskapeās Coffee Outside rides. I havenāt done it yet, but Iāve meant to and definitely will this year; I have a friend on the team and just love the idea. I spend a lot of time riding the towpath all year round.
While NCVC isnāt doing the GTR (Gonzoās Torture Race) this coming year, there are lots of great gravel/off-road events around.
- The Dirty Kitten Gravel races are such a blast. Gralley Cat is a great race to do with friends or kids (I do it with my younger son). And the main DKGR is a really tough race.
- Rumor has it that the Crystal City garage races are coming back this year (as a single weekend event, I believe).
- The Loudon 1725 is a wonderful gravel ride (not a race).
- A little further, but I hear the Lost River Classic is an amazing gravel race in nearby WV. Iām considering adding that as an A race for later in the year (first up is Croatan 150).
- For any mountain bikers, EX2 is bringing back the Cranky Monkey race at Fountainhead for 2023.
- And Rails to River is another great local MTB race.
- And Wednesdays at Wakefield! (typically June/July timeframe)
There are many other races (or rides) nearby to consider, but those were some off the top of my head. I believe Poolesville RR will happen again this year too; that certainly is a fun one, though Iāve largely stopped road racing in favor of gravel at this point.
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Iāll also point out that thereās a pretty great Cross season here and a lot of races in the area. Between Northern VA, DC, and Baltimore, thereās a surprising large number of cross races. Much more so than crit races.
Bikereg is the probably the best place to hunt for CX races, then youāll find the websites and Facebook pages for the event organizers.
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So a little outside of your geographic area but Iāve currently got 3 crits and an omnium up on Bikereg in Hampton Roads and Richmond. The Newport News Twilight Crit is my marquee event though if you only wanted to travel down here for one. Large cash payouts, Frankie Andreu announcing, technical 8 turn figure eight shaped course in downtown Newport News. Itās apart of an omnium this year with street sprints Friday night, a 5 mile, Merckx style TT Saturday morning, the Newport News Twilight Crit on Saturday evening, and a circuit race at Fort Eustis on Sunday morning.
Langley Speedway March 4th: Langley Speedway Criterium - VCA BAR Event Online Registration
Bryan Park Criterium March 26th: Bryan Park Criterium - VCA BAR Event Online Registration
Tour of Newport News (Featuring the Newport News Twilight Criterium) April 14-16: Tour of Newport News (Featuring the Newport News Twilight Criterium) - VCA BAR Event Online Registration
Hampton Criterium (Age-Graded VA State Crit Championship) July 23rd: Hampton Criterium (VA Age-Graded State Criterium Championship) - VCA BAR Event Online Registration
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Just saw this popup for all the DMV folks - Trade Zone Training Series, Week 1 Online Registration. Looks like a good pre-season event.
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Yup! Saw those. Gonna try to go on any weekends I am available. Hope the weather is good enough that they donāt cancel some!
Also, the MABRA calendar seems to have all the events updated. Not sure if that is final, but it gives an idea of when things are going down.
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Just an update here on the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo, which I had mourned as gone forever because they skipped the 2022 event. I learned today that it is coming back this year: https://www.bikereg.com/granfondo.
Itās always a great event (this will be my sixth year of attending it). MTB pro Jeremiah Bishop and his wife Erin host the fondo, and sometimes other pros from Virginia participate (Joe Dombrowski, Ben King, Andrea Dvorak, and Eddie Anderson have all participated over the years).
The flagship route includes about 10 miles of gravel that typically can be completed on very durable slicks, e.g. Gatorskins. Other routes are paved-only. Be prepared for climbing.
Typically this attracts 400-550 folks, with a great vibe, good aid stations and mechanical support, and a beautiful, challenging route. Sometimes, the course has an unadvertised āEaster eggā for participants, such as a moonshine bottle at the top of a climb, or a guy playing banjo on a truck tailgate at the start of a climb.
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Does anyone have any recommendations for road racing teams to look into? Hereās my wish list:
- The team races at a decently high level. Iām currently Cat 3 (male) but hoping to upgrade to Cat 2 early this year and long term I have the goal of getting to Cat 1.
- But also not overly serious. Iām just here to ride bikes hard and have fun.
- I mostly race on the road but might dabble in MTB and triathlon a bit.
- Baltimore area, but MD and DC are fine too.
- Some diversity would be nice.
- Still open for 2023.
@patrickmohl, you might consider also posting in a new thread with Baltimore in the title to ensure you are capturing teams in that area, since it sounds like that is closer to where you live. Iāll throw out a couple of DC/MD ideas since you arenāt getting responses, but my knowledge level on this is not high, so caveat emptor.
Artemis Racing
District Taco
A new team called Equip Racing
All three have more diversity than is typical for the sport, and the folks I know on these teams are good peeps. I think DT probably has the highest category racers, including cat 1. Artemis has a Maryland focus I believe. Equip is brand new, started by two folks that I really respect (crit and tri focused, and stemming in part from last yearās Grit tri team).
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There are a few Artemis people in Baltimore. Baltimore bike works sponsors a team (they used to be Baltimore bike clubās racing team but then they ignored the bike club). And there is Kelly (the company is based in hunt valley, no idea where the team is)
Getting It In (GII) is a good group with both a social and race side. I think theyāre primarily African American, so not sure it meets your diversity qualification, but Iāve seen them at races all over the region and have always had good interactions. However, Iām usually in the Cat 3 or 4, so I donāt know how many members they have at the 1/2 level.
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