COURSE NOTES
Stoney Point Road Race
This course has lots of rolling hills and a mix of good and bad road surfaces. The entire circuit is on typical two-lane country roads, some of which are rather narrow. There are lots of the low rolling hills typical of this area, none of which are particularly long or steep. The second turn comes up suddenly just after coming over a little rise, so be prepared! Likewise, turn #4 (the left-hand turn) comes up suddenly after a slight downhill. The course will be open to traffic and of course the center line rule will be in effect. We will allow both lanes to be used only for the final 200 meters before the finish (not for the hot spot sprint), but keep in mind that it is always possible that a vehicle will manage to get onto the course as the sprint approaches so be sure that the road is clear before crossing the center line. We expect to have a lead motorcycle and a following car/wheel truck if available. All of the classes will be on the circuit at the same time. It is probable that the Cat. 1,2,3 field will catch and pass the Women and Juniors before they finish, but it is not usually a problem. Race numbers go on the right side and back. Details are in the Race Bible - be sure to read it before the road race. Results of the Road Races will be posted at the start of the Time Trial.
Parking: Parking for the Road Race will be in an unpaved field downstream of the start/finish near the Stony Point Baptist Church. Absolutely please respect church property so we can use this course again!
Wheel Trucks: Each group will have a single wheel truck. Please bring spare wheels to the wheel truck, which will be in the parking area, well ahead of time. Wheels will be "neutral" which means we won't take time to look for your specific wheels while the pack rolls off into the distance. Be sure to mark your wheels with your name and number, and if you receive a wheel during the race, bring it back to the wheel truck immediately afterward. The wheel truck will generally stay with the largest group in the race.
Special Rules: We use pack timing for the road events, which means that everyone in the pack gets the same time. There are bonus points for the top three places, but if it ends in a field sprint everyone else who was in contact at 200 meters to go gets the same time, so there's not much point in sprinting if you don't think you can make one of the top places. If there is a pack sprint, you need to check in at the start/finish immediately afterwards so the official can get your verbal sign-in, otherwise we may assume that you did not finish. Yes, we will penalize riders who we catch advancing their positions while over the center line. Riders who suffer mishaps during the road race may be excused from finishing and allowed to race the other stages at the discretion of the Chief Referee but will generally not be eligible for GC placings or bonus points (Road Race placing will show DNF).
Individual Time Trial
The Time Trial starts at the Lakeshore High School on La. 1088 near Mandeville, LA. The TT is a one-way 3-mile route along a two-lane road with a good to very good asphalt surface and low traffic volume. Because it is a one-way Time Trial, riders will have to ride back to the start/finish area on the same road. It is extremely important that you do not ride back two-abreast and that you stay as far to the right as possible so that cars passing you from behind do not have to go very far into the oncoming lane where the other riders are doing their time trials. Riders start at 30-second intervals. Your number goes on your right side.
Special Rules: Check the Race Bible for details and estimated start times. All riders are allowed to start the Time Trial. Your official time starts whether you are there or not, so don't miss your start! Riders who ride back from the finish two abreast or otherwise block the road will be penalized. Riders start in order of number within their groups.
Time Trial Results: We should have the TT and GC results posted to the LAMBRA website (www.lambra.org) within a few hours of the finish of the time trial. Results will also be posted at the Criterium in New Orleans.
Covington Criterium
The Criterium course starts at the Covington trailhead of the Tammany Trace bicycle path and is a technical 8-corner circuit of 1.25 km. This course will test your bike-handling skills and recovery time more than brute strength and raw speed. Despite the tempting smooth asphalt, there are a few cautions about this course:
- The extreme inside of some of the corners has a drop-off because they didn't put the new asphalt overlay all the way to the corner, leaving about six inches of the original, lower, road surface there.
- Like most old-town criterium courses, there are numerous immovable objects all along the course, right at the edge of the road.
The course will be ridden clockwise and race numbers should be on the right. There are a number of restaurants located around and inside the course and we expect there to be some pedestrian traffic in the area for the later races. It is always possible that a car will manage to get onto the course, so be careful about that.
Parking: There are a number of parking areas scattered throughout the downtown area, along with the large St. Tammany Parish Justice Center parking lot, which is a couple of blocks north of the course. If you arrive before the course is closed in the morning, there are some parking areas insided the course as well, but of course you will be trapped there until the last race is over.
Wheel Pit: Please bring spare wheels to the wheel pit before your race and be sure to mark them with your name and number. Wheels will be neutral if we get enough, otherwise we may have to resort to wheels-in, wheels-out.
Special Rules: We usually try to avoid pulling lapped riders in smaller races if we can, but of course all riders finish on the same lap as the leaders. If you are lapped, your finish time will be calculated using the USAC formula. Likewise, if you are pulled, your time will be calculated according to the USAC formula. Ties on GC are broken by using tenths of a second from the Time Trial, and calculating the sum of stage placings if still tied. If there's still a tie, then the placing in the criterium determines the winner. We won't worry about tie-breaking for riders whose final placing is beyond the prize places in order to speed up the results, but we'll break those ties later if possible before posting the results to the NOBC website. The criteriums are all time-based (i.e. 60 minutes). The officials will start putting up laps-to-go cards when the leaders have approximately 8 km (around 6 laps) to go. Once you pass the start/finish line with 8 km to go, no more free laps will be granted. We use pack finish timing just like the Road Race, so if there's a pack sprint, you will need to check in at the start/finish for a verbal sign-in with the official, otherwise you might get a DNF. If you do drop out, be sure to let the officials know so that results don't get delayed because they're trying to figure out if you finished or not.
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