NYC Spring Series - Forum Archive

Mar 26, 2014 at 03:06 AM

I'll be there

mugwump said:

Anyone joining me in Prospect this Sunday in the 1/2/3? Promises to be brutally fast and exciting. And it is the legendary Prospect Park.

David Yang

Mar 26, 2014 at 03:29 AM

@Joel - Here's some very rudimentary stuff I wrote out to a few new-to-racing members last year:

Prelim - READ THIS: http://www.kissenacycling.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/How-to-race-your-bike-v10.pdf

Step 1 - Purchase USA Cycling license at http://usacycling.org/

Make sure your club affiliation is Kissena Cycling Club. You'll receive the license in a week or two via snail mail. Even better, download the USAC app on your smart phone and it will have the license in there when you log in. Even betterer, take a screen cap of the license in the app and save it in your phone's gallery so you can pull it up quickly at reg table.

Step 2 - Pre-register for the race so you don't have to stand around on the pay line with cash in your hand and anxiety in your stomach because start time is creeping up on you. See the calendar at the top of the forum for convenient bikereg.com links.

Step 3 - Get to the race at the bare minimum of 30 minutes before the start time, but I highly suggest 45mins to 1hr. You'll want plenty of time to check in (ask the reg volunteers where the Cat 5 line is), get and pin on your number (in Prospect Park, traditionally the number goes on your right side, portrait wise - check how others are pinning on), and take a warm up lap if you have time (you have a solid 15minutes before start). Use the center drive shortcut if you need to.

Race in a Kissena jersey. If you don't have one, ask around on the forum and someone might have an extra one you can put on over your long sleeve jersey on race day.

Last bits of advice - Read that PDF! Tons of good info in there.

Some really basic stuff to point out not related to the actual race skills:

Strip your bike of unnecessary crap - includes lights, pumps, saddle bags, etc. Do it the night before (except the lights which you should be able to clip off quickly) and while you're at it, make sure your bike is in good working order: brakes braking, gears shifting, quick release skewers are tight, etc. You do NOT want to be doing this stuff at 5am when you're half asleep and panicking about making start time.
For a park race, esp as a Cat 5, you will barely need one bottle of water so keep that extra one in your bag back at the start/finish along with some post race snacks.
Eat what you normally eat before your training rides. Don't over eat thinking you'll need massive amounts of calories, and don't under eat because you're nervous and forget. Name of the game is consistency.
Your race will end earlier than the Cat 1/2/3 and 4 races. Hang out, watch the race(s), and bring a jacket and hat to stay warm.

Good luck!

ChiZhang

Mar 26, 2014 at 05:31 AM

@joel i'll be there for cat5

Joel Rodriguez

Mar 26, 2014 at 12:51 PM

Very useful, david. Step 1, done. The rest, great tips. Big thanks!

Phil Maronilla

Mar 26, 2014 at 02:15 PM

@DYang forgot one more thing...Konditori is the preferred coffee shop after each PP race.

Jules

Mar 26, 2014 at 03:07 PM

Kondatori on 5th

coffee.jpg

Mark Clifford

Mar 28, 2014 at 12:09 PM

kissenuzz -- in town for the weekend and i thought what better way to spend sunday morning than freezing my balls off in a park watching people ride around in circles.

so i'll be there to shout support and look after coats and afterwards eat muffins and drink coffee.

vlad

Mar 28, 2014 at 01:21 PM

Bring an umbrella

Tim Heckman

Mar 28, 2014 at 03:47 PM

@Joel and @Chi, I'll also be there for cat 5.

Joel Rodriguez

Mar 29, 2014 at 02:12 PM

Few questions for tomorrow PP Race:

- How much of a factor is a wet road in PP? I wonder because there are no real sharp turns in PP loop.

- Do they cancel an event if its raining? ... or raining hard enough?

love to know. Thanks.

Jeffrey White

Mar 29, 2014 at 02:55 PM

@Joel - I haven't noticed any difference between a wet course and a dry course in Prospect in terms of safety. However, if experience is any guide, a break has a much better chance of sticking in the rain and wet. The pack can lose motivation much easier in those conditions.

And in terms of race cancellation, in general they'll only cancel due to rain if the course gets flooded.

Brendan Rigby

Mar 29, 2014 at 02:57 PM

what's the day-of reg fee?

Joel Rodriguez

Mar 29, 2014 at 03:19 PM

Thanks for the tip, Jeff.

Sent from Joel's iPhone

Tim Heckman

Mar 29, 2014 at 11:19 PM

Given the forecast, the fact that I got to race twice at Branchbrook today, and that I want to stay healthy for Battenkill next week, I'm probably going to skip this one.

vlad

Mar 30, 2014 at 01:37 PM

It is a special and oh so rare occasion when you can show up to a race and, regardless of your results, finish in the money.

Thank you Mr. Van Dunk.

JP 4th from the break. Me 6th (out of 6). When it was all said and done, we rode to the coffee spot with $109.

Combined fields. 123 raced with the masters and 3/4, but did an extra lap.

Rain held off. Was quite fun actually.

ChiZhang

Mar 30, 2014 at 01:45 PM

cat5 won by a 5 men breakaway. finish 6th TT

vlad

Mar 30, 2014 at 09:49 PM

I saw this and felt it was apropos.

Marc Bertucco

Mar 30, 2014 at 10:19 PM

vlad said:

It is a special and oh so rare occasion when you can show up to a race and, regardless of your results, finish in the money.

Thank you Mr. Van Dunk.

JP 4th from the break. Me 6th (out of 6). When it was all said and done, we rode to the coffee spot with $109.

Combined fields. 123 raced with the masters and 3/4, but did an extra lap.

Rain held off. Was quite fun actually.

More race reportage please!

mugwump

Mar 31, 2014 at 12:58 AM

boring race. I'll write more later.

In the meantime, turns out I'm fourth overall in the spring series thusfar.

And next Sunday is another Central Park race! I'd love some support--and for those who haven't raced it at all, or only rarely, here is one of those golden opportunities.

As Kayt wrote elsewhere, it's a much more interesting course than Prospect. More hills, more curves, more places to attack. Lots more to think about, lots more to be prepared for. If you haven't raced it, you should. If you've raced it occasionally, you owe it to yourself to race it a bit more.

twoyacks

Mar 31, 2014 at 01:47 AM

Truth...Central is a fantastic race course.

Marc Bertucco

Mar 31, 2014 at 02:30 AM

JP, I'll be out there. 4th place overall is sweet and worthy of a defense/attack from KCC! Looking forward to it.

mugwump

Apr 04, 2014 at 01:41 AM

Looks like we've got myself, Vlad, Mark, Andy DS for this Sunday's Spring Series Race.

Anyone else ready to throw down in Central Park?

https://www.bikereg.com/2013-new-york-city-spring-bicycle-racing-series

Reg closes Friday night at 9:30.

Marc Bertucco

Apr 04, 2014 at 02:36 AM

Who's Mark? ;-)

-Marc

Marc Bertucco

Apr 04, 2014 at 12:39 PM

Also, Andy DS is not registered for Sunday's CP race. And from forum chatter, it seems that he's doing Saturday's PP race. Of course JP, with his maybe top-secret BMC bike situation, probably has some top-secret info that's he's not sharing with the rest of us.

Looking at pre-reg numbers, it looks like the KCC 1/2/3s will have KCC-cat 4-like domination of the field numbers wise. Somehow I don't think the rest of the field is going to mind that we're there keeping the race spicey and safe.

Craig London

Apr 04, 2014 at 01:18 PM

Not that it matters for the 123 race but I'm registered for the 34 Sunday in cp.

josephmueller

Apr 04, 2014 at 01:23 PM

JP I'm out of town this weekend or I would get my license and come out and ride for you. Other guys who are in town and can come support please do so.

Andrew Da Silva

Apr 04, 2014 at 03:40 PM

Marc, Check again

Marc Bertucco

Apr 04, 2014 at 04:10 PM

Andrew Da Silva said:

Marc, Check again

Awesome!

This weekend is going to be a good one for JP collecting points. Smaller fields, more KCC riders to help support. Here's how the rest of the series is looking. After this weekend, starting on the 13th, the races shift to two of KCCs all time favorite race venues. I'm of course talking PP and FBF.

April 12 CP
April 13 FBF

April 20 FBF

April 28 PP

Craig London

Apr 04, 2014 at 04:12 PM

Question: How do you guys get out to FBF from manhattan when the races start at 6am? I'd like to race at Floyd but when the races start at 6 or 6:30 it just seems too far to ride from midtown at 4 am.

Andrew Da Silva

Apr 04, 2014 at 04:12 PM

Is there a TT in there?