Sunday night it was standing room only as Sacramento’s Hot Italian hosted another Savage Sprints event to benefit the Sacramento Valley Velodrome Project.

The venue worked well, providing food and drink for the adults, along with a comfortable location for the many children that also came out with their parents.  The races saw brother pitted against brother, and even a national track champion was in attendance.

Kevin Mansker, USA Cycling track rider, demonstrated the difference between a full time cyclist and, well, all the rest of us.  While the fastest men were posting times within a half a second of 9 seconds, Kevin clocked a 7-second whopper.  Donning his USA cycling jersey and – yes – aero track helmet, Kevin personified the general feel of the entire event.  While the event is clearly a competition, it is a good natured, fun event that anyone can participate in and enjoy.

The Sacramento Valley Velodrome Association is a group dedicated to getting a velodrome built in the Sacramento area, and utilizes these Savage Sprint events to help raise both funds and awareness for the effort.  According to their mission statement, the Association is:

…a nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. It is organized under the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law for charitable purposes.

B. The specific purpose of this corporation is to develop and operate a velodrome for the use and benefit of the communities in the greater Sacramento region.

Charitable and educational programs will include:
a)bicycling safety and education, with an emphasis on junior development
b)the promotion of healthy lifestyles and fitness
c)the promotion of local, regional, and national sporting events

Watch for these events to continue in the Sacramento area as other local business like Hot Italian and Rex Cycles (Steve Rex, owner, pictured at left) get behind the effort.

Part of the lure of the group ride is the friendly (or sometimes not so friendly) competition.  Many groups have taken on the racing convention of having marked places along the route for sprint or KOM (King of the Mountain) points.

KOMs are, by definition, at the top of significant climbs.  Generally points are awarded for the “category” of the climb, which is determined not only by the steepness and length of the climb, but also where in the route the climb falls.  For example, if two climbs follow one right after the other, but are otherwise identical, it may be that the second climb is of a higher category, and thus worth more points.

Sprint points are a little easier to deal with.  There’s a line, and the first person to cross it takes the point.  Sprint points can also be a little more dynamic and exciting – at least in my opinion.  As the group approaches a sprint point, folks will begin to jockey for position within the group, trying to place themselves best.  The idea here is to hold of on starting the sprint until just the right time – optimizing the potential to get out in front before your fellow competitors can answer your challenge.

Cycle Folsom – and specifically Brian Acord – have again helped out the community and started putting together a map of key sprint and KOM points throughout the greater Folsom, CA area.

View Cycling Points; SAC, ELD, PLA in a larger map

Brian has a couple of caveats regarding this map, however:

Google’s StreetView is what I’ve used to locate most of the signs; some have been ground-truthed, but other have not. Also, in many cases its signed in both directions (county lines), but not always (city limits). So, you may be changing jurisdictions, but the sprint only counts if it’s signed. Also, the only non-jurisdiction sprint that is on the map is the Coffee Republic race training ride sprint on Auburn-Folsom. This sprint is marked on the pavement with a final line and hash marks every 100 meters from 400 meters out.

Also, as alluded to above, the number of points for a particular KOM is very subjective.  It also depends greatly on where in the particular day’s route that climb might fall.

A huge thanks to Brian for putting this together.  This is another great example of the benefits that a good club can provide.  While getting together to ride with others is obviously key to a cycling club, it is what the club gives to the community that counts most.  Cycle Folsom continues to provide services that help the entire cycling community – club members and non-members alike.