Candy Cranks

This Saturday, March 26th brings the fourth annual Red Hook Criterium, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally see it! The race takes place in the mainly-deserted, post-industrial neighborhood (read: horribly neglected streets) of Red Hook, Brooklyn, and unlike most [alleycat] races in the city, it begins at 11:00PM. A little bit about the Crit, from their website:

Track bikes are mandatory and the field consists of elite level roadies, bike messengers, and urban cyclists. The race distance is 20 laps around a .75 mile circuit which features several hairpin turns, a technical chicane, a cobblestone stretch, and a sprint finish.

According to the Red Hook Crit Twitter, they’ve expanded the registration to include 85 riders so far, with 7 open spots for registration still available. Cyclists from all over the world are slated to compete, and the prize list is impressive to say the very least. Fingers crossed for a few female competitors!

Cinelli’s blog featured an in-depth interview with David Trimble (founder and organizer of the race) back in February. If you’re at all curious about the event–or can’t make it on Saturday–I’d suggest popping over there for a quick read. In my own (admittedly limited) race experience, it looks like an extremely unique event, and I can’t wait to watch.

There’s also a group ride down to Red Hook prior to the race, being organized by Mike Spriggs of Gage+DeSoto (who also happen to be exclusively carrying this sweet Red Hook Crit t-shirt). For more details on the group ride, check out Gage+DeSoto’s entry here.

I’ll be there cheering along and taking tons of photos, if you come out and spot me on the Lurker, feel free to say hello!