No, it’s not an ROT do-over, the engines this time are human powered.

With the Tour de France about to start, the timing of this weekends 5th Annual AT&T Downtown Austin crit couldn’t have been better placed, unless that is you need to get around on the course.

Saturday afternoon and evening will see the roads around City Hall and the 2nd St District including The one-kilometer course will be laid out around City Hall, including Guadalupe, 2nd Street, Colorado, and 4th Street, closed completely, or partially while the races going on.

Crit racing is possibly the most interesting of cycle racing since it normally uses small circuits such as the one out in East Austin, everyone starts at the same time and the first person across the line wins. If only it were that simple though. Bicycle racing has as much to do with aerodynamics as it does with muscle, jump out of the pack at the right moment and you can get a 50yd lead. While Saturday afternoon and Sunday see the regular cyclists racing(aka the amatuers), Saturday evening from 7pm sees the pro’s race and there are some good teams, such as Rock Racing and Toyota United Racing, including international riders such as Ivan Dominguez from CUBA and Henk Vogels of Austria, as well as Sean Sullivan from Austrlia to give local team Hotel San Jose and the US domestic riders a hard time.

There is a PDF flyer here with an overview of the racing, and you can find a list of the pro teams here. I’ve considered having a go a couple of times, only I really don’t think my sprinting is up to it, besides I don’t want to be responsible for a crash.

So, feel free to go along. Unlike last nights Yoga at the Blanton, which I knew I shouldn’t have written about, as it was full when I got there, there will be plenty of room on the streets for more spectators!