Continental cycling in the streets of Aberystwyth

The streets around the old college area of Aberystwyth will be transformed for three hours one Saturday night in June when they become the course for a series of cycling races known to aficionados as ‘criteriums’. These are races particularly popular in Flanders and Holland based on doing laps around closed-off town centre streets. The continuous turning, changing gear and accelerating is an intensive form of racing for the riders and the format is good for spectators as the riders are constantly passing.

The event, organised by the Ystwyth Cycling Club, will use a 980m course shown here and will have up to 50 riders in each race, quite an interesting prospect when the narrow streets and tight bends, like the two sharp lefts in the picture above, are considered.

The Aberystwyth Seafront Criteriums will be held on Saturday June 19th from 6 – 9pm.