Riders and fans turn out for Sunday bicycle racing in New Albany

More than 100 bicyclists competed in the second annual New Albany Crit Sunday.

A crit — short for criterium — is a bike race held on a short course, usually through closed-off city streets.

Lightning delayed the start of the event and shortened the first race. "We'll race in the rain, but not if there's lightning," said Jerry Juliot, one of three race directors.

Put on by Clarksville Schwinn and the Whayne Supply bicycle racing team, the race offered over $3,000 in purse money to the winners, along with thousands of dollars more in merchandise given away by sponsors and vendors.

The New Albany Crit is a six-corner criterium with its start/finish line downtown at Pearl and Market streets. The course was seventh-tenths of a mile long and included parts of Main, Fourth, Bank, and Spring streets.

There were 11 races in all, with categories for men and women at skill levels ranging from most advanced to less experienced riders.

Masters races for those 40 and older and 50 and older were open to riders in any category. Kids and juniors had their own race categories.

Criteriums are timed races. Rather than counting laps, races ran from 20 minutes for the 10- to 14-year-old juniors, to 60 minutes for the more-advanced male racers.

Michael Scott, 40, of Indianapolis, winner of won the category 5, or introductory level, men's race. He has been racing for two years. "I mostly race mountain bikes," he said. "But my weekends are free and I try to look for races as much as my wife will let me."

Several teams traveled from as far away as Dayton, Ohio to compete. The Nomad Race Team, sponsored by Middletown Cycling in Louisville, brought 17 racers.

Team members Matt Stepp, 36, and Carlos Fish, 60, formed the team unofficially four years ago. "We've got all levels," Stepp said.

The event was a point-earning opportunity in the Indiana/Kentucky Cycling Association Criterium Series. The New Albany Crit was the eighth of eleven races in the series this season.

New Albany Crit

For a complete list of winners and information on other events in the INKY Criterium Series, go to www.inkycycling.com/series.