A Short Walk From Roosevelt Island To Long Island City Last Sunday Finds The Rainey Park Cyclocross Bike Race - Only One Of Its Kind In NYC, Take A Look

Last Sunday, I took a walk over the Roosevelt Island Bridge to Long Island City and spotted some sort of bicycle race taking place a few blocks away in Rainey Park.

Watched part of Rainey Park Cyclocross bike race in Long Island City a few blocks from Roosevelt Island last Sunday. pic.twitter.com/CtpdQwjNHf

— Roosevelt Islander (@Rooseveltisland) December 13, 2018

I stumbled upon the Third Annual Rainey Park Cyclocross Bike Race and spoke with the event organizer Keith Garrison who described what was going on as:

We're putting on a little bike race here... the cycling equivalent of cross county running ... people are challenged by flat, fast turns, varying degrees of hillside slopes ... it drops down to the water so there's alot more technical riding there so it challenges skill, not only fitness and speed ...

... This race is really special because it is the only one of its kind in NYC...

Here's a map and description of the Rainey Park Cyclocross 1 1/2 mile course.

Like most things in NYC, we're cramming a lot of action into a little bit of space! The prologue starts on a slightly false-flat section of grass, turns onto pavement briefly and then back onto grass where it links up with the main course. A slight drop in elevation flows into a series of U-turns before a fast sweeping turn around the baseball field, followed by some brief up and down along a small hillside (which is in the outfield for some reason?) before passing the pit for the first time.

Next up is a quick dip down onto the pavement, down an off-camber right hand turn and back onto the paved, slightly up-hill finishing stretch. The following section is a series of flat zig-zags in between and around the large trees that line the park. Once the course takes you along the water it starts to get interesting. A set of ~30cm high barriers (lower than the standard 40cm, but still tricky to bunny hop!) precedes a series of up/down off-camber turns leading to a stair run-up.

After passing the pit for the second time there is a long sideways off-camber descent back down to the lowest elevation in the park. Some more up and down before an up hill drag with 3 Belgian steps (spaced apart enough to be ride-able with some finesse). Elevation levels out again as you begin to approach the street, and some more rooty turns follow.

Next up is a fast section back towards the playground before one last trip up and down the off-camber hillside and heading back towards the prologue. Average lap time for the pointy end of the Elite fields the last two years has been between between 6:45 and 7:45 depending on weather conditions.

More info on the Rainey Park Cyclocross race from To Be Determined web site

"Big events have to start somewhere, and Rainey Park Cyclocross is on its way to big things. And the experience bested many of the big, weekend-long events" https://t.co/kq7WpT9Mcy

— ToBeDetermined.cc | TBD.bike (@TBDcycling) December 11, 2018

Also, check out the NYC Cycloross Facebook page for upcoming events.