Ride Name: Hughes Park IMPORTANT: This is not a Velo Allegro Club ride. For your personal training information only. Start Time & Location Ride starts at about 7:30 PM, Thursday nights Runs year-round Rain cancels the ride (unless you're a real die-hard!) Hughes Business Park is located northwest of the 710/405 freeway junction. Major cross streets are Carson St. and South Santa Fe Ave. Intersection to look out for is Carson St. and Via Oro Ave. (just east of Santa Fe) Click here for a Yahoo map using 4001 Via Oro Ave, Long Beach, CA 90810, or click on the map to the right with course and freeways highlighted Runs clockwise. Specific streets are: Via Oro Ave. (western side. Start/Finish about 2/ 3 way up) W. Via Plata St. (north side) Via Alcalde Ave. (east side that runs adjacent to 710 freeway) W Carson St. (south side) Overview Evening training criterium in a low/very little-traffic business park. Distance: 0.9 mile loop, fast and flat with good to excellent pavement, adequate lighting. Time: Typically one (1) hour plus five (5) laps Other This is the same course used for the Velo Allegro UPS Criterium (2002-2006) and other quality races over the years. Although there's no official organizer or leader, the ride usually gets started by consensus at 7:30P and goes for 1 hour plus 5 laps. Sometimes someone will break-out lap cards, but the time results is about the same. Anyone can show up and ride and they usually do. There's no cost! Especially in the early parts of the SoCal season, there are some very fast guys out; there are regularly Cat. 2s out and sometimes there will be some Cat. 1s or pros. The majority of riders are probably at the Cat. 3 or 4 level, but there are also lots of beginners and juniors. The point is that even if you don't stick w/ the main pack, there's usually secondary packs that form to accommodate the various levels of riders. Because of the diverse and sometimes large amount of riders, and because riders of different speeds pass others on the course, it can sometimes be a sketchy ride. Overall, I consider this a great training ride that's usually safe, but keep your head up. Info by Anthony D. Morrow Updated 12 March 2003 Questions? CONTACT us for more information.