I am going to try to make it tonight to the rapha thing (if works allows, so hope to see some of you there!)

I also was thinking of something....

Do you think it would be totally nuts and useless to do the race this weekend also? I'm not signed up, but am a spontaneous kinda gal and if y'all thought it wouldn't be tooooo crazy I would do it & sign up now.

That being said, I feel very slow and outta shape...but I figured...heck...maybe try?? 4.8 seems daunting!

thoughts??

and of course super good luck Erika & Gwynna!!!!

These races tend to draw out a handful of lone wolves, especially when the cat 3s are absent. That's not to say these women aren't strong and smart racers, but it does make it easier to encourage someone (usually in non-team kit or tri/fondo kit) to take the front, then just sit back and wait for them to blow up and fall off the back. They don't have teammates to tell them to back off, nor the race experience to tell them that being on the front for all of lap 3 of 4 doesn't mean they're "winning."

Let's keep our cool, play it smart, and see what happens. I sincerely doubt you'll be dropped @Gwynna. (And if you are, make sure you take a few others with you!)

Thanks for the intel @Gwynna! I think this is going to be an interesting race. Most, if not all, of the other CP races will be 3/4 fields, and after the CRCA women's clinic in late April, I expect an influx of completely green cat 4s into the women's peloton. But this early in the season, the cat 4s are (mostly) experienced racers, and perhaps because of all the racing opportunities for women last year, they're also without their cat 3 teammates.

I'm planning to get there about 6:15am, warmed up from my 10mi schlep from Brooklyn, with just enough time to pin my numbers (in the women's bathroom) and get to the line without getting too cold.

@mugwump that sounds fun also.... what about those without track bikes?

Hope everyone is doing well and finally able to get some riding in on the intermittent warmer days.  For those of you who have been meaning to get the bike out and start riding again--now is the time.  And to start you off on the right foot, I highly encourage you to come to the Kissena Velodrome on Sunday at 9 to work on many of the riding and racing drills and techniques that we talked about at the kickoff meeting. You don't need a track bike.  Road bike only!  Don't fear the velodrome, (I haven't ridden on them much myself,)  just think of it as a closed flat course for us to practice riding together and to better understand race tactics.  I'll be out there with a few of the other mentors, and if we can get enough of the women out there, we can split off and do our own thing.  

If you've never raced before, this will be a great primer to riding in a pack attacking out of the group.  Hope to see you there.

THAT SAID, though this seems to me like the perfect opportunity to meet new folks, if the mentors organizing this say it's an inappropriate venue for prospective new members, then we should respect that.