A front wheel, thin as a razor cuts through the Welsh mist, an almost-perfect mirror image of handlebars frames the foreground just above, as riders push into place ahead. A second passes and Harry Macfarlane appears, an out-of-proportion megalith, fanning the brakes before pushing hard over Aberystwyth's relentless cobblestones. After thirty seconds the short snapshot into the National Criterium Championships is over, 2,000 likes up and counting.
Crit racing - or criterium racing - involves riders competing for the fastest time around a lapped circuit. Usually held in towns or cities, these races can attract thousands of fans, who have front-row access to riding that doesn’t flash past in a peloton-blur, but rather loops round and round again for an afternoon of action. Riders like Macfarlane are increasingly strapping a GoPro to their headsets and capturing their rides for Instagram and YouTube.
