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.

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 T o Be Determined web site

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