shootstories

Ottawa’s Little Italy is host to the annual Italian Festival which concludes with a criterium.  A criterium, or ‘crit’,  is a bike race held on a short course, often on closed downtown roads.

pace car leads the riders

The riders require good technical skills.  Things like the ability to round corners smoothly and to ride safely in a tightly packed group (at high speeds).  The best have excellent ‘sprint’ or ‘attack’ abilities.

riding in a pack

The distance of this particular crit is 100KM or 60 laps of a 1.65KM rectangle in this core neighbourhood.  It is an exhilirating event to watch, and inevitably there is a crash or two.

readying to round a corner

At some point in one’s life, whether you are a serious cyclist or not, you need to see this race in action.  It’s an exciting spectacle to watch.

Carl Kiifner, one of my husband's riding buddies, takes 4th place