Race Report: 2026 Snake Alley Crit - Men’s Pro/1/2

Race: 2026 Snake Alley Crit - Men’s Pro/1/2

Date: May 23, 2026

AVRT racers: Jon Wells

Top Result: Jon Wells, 41st of 63

Course: 0.8 mile loop in Burlington, Iowa with a lot of corners and featuring a STEEP cobbled climb called snake alley that is just like Lombard St in San Francisco. Its maybe the only time I’ve every used my granny gear in a crit? Descent is also very fast with a lot of corners on suspect pavement.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18627784450 

Nutrition: Pre race redbull plus a 90g bottle of Maurten

Race Recap:

Pre race plan was to try to ride near the front and survive for as long as possible. Every lap was under a mile long with over 100 feet of vertical climbing so I knew I would be in for it. The course makes this race very attritional historically, oftentimes with less than 10 riders on lead lap in recent years.

Your start position in this race is determined by prereg order so I had callup #35 in a field of around 70 prereg riders. There are about 2 blocks of racing before the first go up snake alley, which is very narrow and only allows about 2 riders wide so we started hard and never let off the gas. First lap was hectic with so many people around but I felt in control. On lap 2, there was a slow speed crash at the bottom of the hill which split 13 guys off the front who we would never see again. I was caught behind and left scrambling through groups along with everyone else. Another interesting wrinkle to this race is there are no free laps at all, so you have to chase for any incidents. I would chase for 6 more laps in small groups of 3-4 that were constantly forming and reforming based on individual abilities to climb or rip the pretty technical descent.

Overall its a super unique course that I would be excited to go back to with a little more specific prep for such a hilly, VO2 heavy course. I’m glad I got to race it, and while its no sellout 150 person pro field that I remember watching when I started racing 10 years ago, I’m still glad to check it off the list.

-Jon