I'm registered for the W4. Really want to end my CP season with a top 10 or better finish. Plus I somehow convinced my parents (visiting from California) that trekking out to CP at 5am is exactly how they want to spend their vacation. So the pressure's on.

I'm signed up for the 3/4.

There shouldn't be too many crossover problems, but the 24th is the first cx clinic.

Erika Tarte said:

Plus I somehow convinced my parents (visiting from California) that trekking out to CP at 5am is exactly how they want to spend their vacation.

Jedi mind trick?

Related, I may throw my muffin top belly into the 40+ race to see if all my track and MTB racing has helped improve my road fitness.

I can't imagine I'll be back on eastern time by then.

Im glad you're racing @brendan!   cats paw is just passed the boat house, at the top of that winding hill.  engineer's gate finish is a straightaway, just after the Met.  A few of the teams have massive numbers.  Point out Sven to me so we can watch your nemesis.

 Registered. Going to think Foundation and RKO are going to try and keep it fast. I think I'm going to try and freelance off Vandivort. Glad it's the 90th finish, I like that sprint better.

Mattie, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for you and your plan for Foundation and RKO to keep things interesting. But be prepared for general chaos. Very rarely do I see good, organized teammwork that can control the field in CP. It's the nature of the course, for one, that makes it hard to do.

bertucco, do you have a link handy to your walkthrough of the cp course? I searched but couldn't find

or people can come on my Friday ride and I can ride through it all.

Good idea. 11 am? I'm there! You can lend me your gearing insight: keep the 11-28 or revert to 11-23

You should be able to do it on a straight block, so the 23 should be fine.

A message from CRCA - the 3/4 field is now one lap longer, 6 laps (versus 5 before).

Phillip Maronilla said:

A message from CRCA - the 3/4 field is now one lap longer, 6 laps (versus 5 before).

Good luck guys.  Wish I could join you.

JP taught Brendan how to win in central park. Win tomorrow Brendan.

Brendan, Mattie, 

Pretty good day for Kissena at the races. Mattie, Phillip and Brendan were in the 3/4s (didn't see Hubbard), new member Erika in the 3/4 women's field and JP and I in the 40+ group.

Having been accustomed to Master's racing generally being brutally fast, my personal goals were modest for this race. Finish with the bunch. As we kicked off, I did say as I always do, to JP, "I'll help you out if I can." And I meant it. With a team of two, you are sort of limited to what you can actually do, add to that my questionable fitness and unquestionable belly of large proportions, I expected JP to be mostly on his own.

And he didn't mess around. You know what JP does when things start a little too slowly? Well, they did and he did that. "That" being rolling off the front and getting a gap immediately. The opening gun roll off/attack usually gets caught at the latest by the base of Harlem Hill. Not this time and so as JP continued to roll away undeterred I pushed to the front and parked it 3 or 4 wheels from the front and watched guys furiously flick their elbows at me while, in my mind I just shrugged and either didn't pull through, or pull through at moderate pace that encouraged other guys to start jumping around me, letting me slot back into a good position to react to any big chase efforts.

Here's a quick skills/techniques note. When the guys in front of you start doing that dramatic swing wide off the front after their epic pull, don't follow their wheels. Just continue to roll straight ahead, and do your job, without the drama of the big swing off. It's safer for all.

Sometime during that lap, a few guys go to bridge. I want JP to have some company, so I let them go. Unfortunately, they couldn't bridge the gap, and the field reabsorbed them. After a lap solo off the front, JP gets pulled back too. Traditional racing tactics says this is the time for his teammate to counter-attack. Fortunately for me, and my cautious feeling self, JP's caught just before Harlem Hill and so the field is already in attack mode. I slot in and hang on for a few moments of harder racing.

I plan on making a move on the west side rollers, but other riders have similar ideas and so there's half a lap or so of pretty brisk racing. I ain't getting away from the field at this pace! And then general chaos ensues. We're getting passed and/or passing other fields multiple times. Neutralized. Un-neutralized. Neutralized. Incessant motorcycle horn-honking accompanies our every pedal stroke for the next 2 laps or so. It's all rather annoying.

Heading up the rise just before the descent past the Shakespeare in the Park theater, a small group gets a bit of a gap. Only a few laps left in this unusually fussy Master's race. I'm gearing up to follow some wheels up to that group. The move seems good. This was the time to go. Of course, JP was thinking the same thing and he must have been just a few riders in back of me and a few pedal strokes ahead of me, as he came by flying. JP YOU STOLE MY MOVE!

No matter, a Kissena was in the move, JP clearly the team leader and so I slot back into blocking position. And keep track of the jokers in the field. Including two of the more dangerous riders in local strongman, David Taylor and former Mengoni super sprinter, Wilson Vasquez.

Taylor, predictably, goes for the bridge. I'm slightly out of position to react to his exact move, but I see that he's got a rider on his wheel and I smile a knowing and calm smile. I don't have to worry about Taylor or that other guy, because when Taylor gets company, he sits up. ALWAYS. He NEVER works with anyone even if is to his advantage. It's frankly bizarre, but for me, it made my job easier. Because if he raced like a normal person, I would have had to hammer to get up to him and/or bring the field along to close the gap. As it was, I see him get off the front, I see him look back with a rider on his wheel and cue countdown, 3, 2, 1, and he sits up. Excellent.

A bit later the field's other danger man, Vasquez goes with 2 others and they get a bit of a gap. But the field is having none of it and the chase is on. They get pulled back with 1 to go. JP's group of 10 is still up the road. Normally, I don't love those odds, but given my relative weakness, and the small size of our team, I'm happy with those odds. Top 10 is virtually guaranteed and that's pretty good in my book.

As it turns out, JP hammers home for 6th place and $40 which he generously split with me. I generously accepted of course, having done what I was supposed to do that race. In the end, even if the race isn't an epic showdown of blood sweat and tears, it is our job as racers to go out there and do the best we can in any given context. So if the race is helter-skelter and kind of slow, we need to figure out how to succeed in THAT race THAT day and not moan that this isn't some windy FBF slog fest where we get to set all kinds of power and Strava records.

And frankly, I think we did a pretty good job of it.

PS Saw Dan Strika out there too. Can't remember if he was in the 3/4 field, or maybe the 50+ field.

A quick note from CRCA FB page:

Also note the speed of today's Men's 3/4 field - it was the same as the P/1/2/3 field at Mengoni GP

That would be 28.3mph.. I thought it felt fast.

how'd the 3/4s do?

And this. Very, very much this:

"Here's a quick skills/techniques note. When the guys in front of you start doing that dramatic swing wide off the front after their epic pull, don't follow their wheels. Just continue to roll straight ahead, and do your job, without the drama of the big swing off. It's safer for all."

For me, in the 3/4, the race started really fast.  There was a motorcycle parked on the right side just in beyond the start.  It bogged people on the right and when I got around it, the race was way out already.  I had to go full gas just to get back on.  

I didn't feel especially strained, although 28.3 mph average would indicate a brisk pace. I never really dropped out of top 20 wheels except after trying a couple moves stacked with RKO and Foundation guys, no real gaps opened up. On our bell lap I thought RKO would string it out more, considering they had 8-9 guys on the front. Coming up Cat's Paw we were pretty tight, with people bouncing for position. I was sitting around 10th wheel into the finish straight. Came out on the left to sprint, pulling well. The wheel ahead of me started coming backwards so I moved left to get around him, right as the left side cones on the Engineering Gate finish were starting to come up. I could have shot the gap, tightly, but hesitated and waited until I was clear before kicking again. Ended up 8th, dick spot right out of the money. That pause probably cost 3-5 spots in a fanned out finish like that.

Nice to meet one of the club's newest, Erika, after the race. She reports that outside of feeling not 100% rock solid on the big sweeper on the north end, she had plenty of legs to stay near the front of the Women's 3/4 peloton all day long. Nice!

Massive tangent alert...

One thing that was also nice to hear (and this may be old news for you Brooklyn kids who have met and ridden with our newest recruits) but Erika mentioned that a motivating factor for joining Kissena was the ability to ride with and learn from a group of chuckle-heads (my descriptor, not hers) who are willing to share their knowledge. I wonder if a fall "women's only" new member recruiting ride would be in order?

Also overheard in the post-race chit chat sessions...

Phillip M, remembered a tip I provided early in the season during a pre-ride breakdown of the CP course and says he uses it to great effect. (Between this and him lending me his MTB wheel last week this makes him my new best friend. You're all right with that right, Phillip?)

Between this kind of feedback I'm hearing and the cross clinic I missed (sad face...just couldn't do the double today) that sounds like it was a success, it reminds me that we, as a club, are really doing a few things right. Keep up the great work everyone!

BFF you and me @Marc..

But yes, that's the one thing I remember above all else, on turns in CP, especially the one after engineer's gate, the inside line gets pinched, and outside is faster (& safer). Very true.

Results bro...

http://results.prtiming.com/?page_id=117#/results::1377377358156

Loving this trend of actually placing everyone, not just the money spots. Oh, small pleasures...

ah the masters throwdown.  I had taken a look at the startlist and didn't recognize many names.  My fear was the guys I don't know are strong enough to fight for wheels but not to attack, giving the race a slow staccato that plays into the hands of a super-strong sprinter, who in this case was Wilson Vasquez.  I wanted a breakaway of course, and I wanted Matt Seaton, Kevin Molloy, and one Axis rider to be in it, preferably Paul Carbonara. Experienced riders who know how to ride a break.