Ventura County Stage Race
In an area that has a tradition of criterium racing comes the new stage race Ventura County Stage Race. It consists of three stages. The first in a short prologue run on Saturday morning, May 16th, 2009. The second is a criterium. It was run around three blocks in downtown Ventura on Saturday afternoon, May 16th 2009. The third is a road race that was run east of Ojai on Sunday May 17th.
Conditions
The prologue was raced in cool overcast conditions. The criterium was run under cool, overcast conditions with the fog rolling in at the end of the men's Pro 1-2 race. It was also getting dark by the end of the race. The road race was raced under clear and hot conditions(in the 90° range) especially for the end of the Men's Pro 1-2 and Women's 1-3 races.
Comments
By the end of the Criterium on Saturday it was quite dark. It was hard to see and photograph the finish of the race. Start the final event ½ hour earlier. There were (two) one and a half hour pauses in the racing on Sunday for the road race in Ojai. This pushed the whole Men's Pro 1-2 and Women's 1-3 into the hottest part of the day. If these pauses were ½ hour then the last races could start around noon instead of 1:30 pm. The finish could be by 3:30 pm and have less time for traffic interference and time for volunteers in the hot sun.