Scott, count me in! Fingers crossed on the weather.

https://www.bikereg.com/crcabearmountainclassic

as of 11:34am EST, only 6 spots left in Cat 4.

The Cat4 race is just about to sell out ... five spots remaining.

I might jump into a masters field. I am figuring out weekend responsibilities 

@MarcosGirado et al,

I signed up for the Masters 35-44/45-54 field.  7:30 start.  four laps.

I live in Harlem, close to a Zipcar rental spot.  Can pick up car easily.  Figure we'll need to leave around 5:30am.

I've never done it...

My schedule cleared and I impulsively signed up for the CAT 5.  Very excited.  Hope to see some of you around!

3rd time's a charm w/ the rain forecast tmrw ... @niallsmart , good thing we have GMSR 2017 stage 3 as practice ... looks to be similar conditions, perhaps 1 or 2 degrees warmer

I found this old photograph of Eloy and myself in a draw this morning “when we were young”

So sharp!

I'm still wearing my Verrazano team winter jacket...

When I initially looked at the weather earlier this week I was confident in the potential for warmth.  And when I arrived on Friday, reports of cold and rain.  While I was looking forward to not being cold, my favorite races have always had good mix of weather.  Bring it!

Three of use in the 4’s, Ricky, Niall and myself.  Dry-ish when we arrived the rain started coming down just before start.  And rain it did.  I think it rained for 2 or 2.5 laps of the 4, I can’t recall.  The rain certainly tempo-ed the pace for the first two laps.  Sure, folks were punching the climbs and others occasionally left to dangle, but nothing inspiring.  Good Guys did their best to manage the front. 

The race really started upon the start of the Tiorati on 3rd lap.  Slip back I did and lost contact with the front.  However, once I got to the traffic circle, I saw Ricky, Niall and a CRCA Dev in the distance.  I traded pulls with a guy to bridge up to them and the 5 of us worked together to catch the reformed peloton on Lake Welch Dr.    We were all together at Tiorati on the 4th lap, but the engines of the mighty fired back up and I drifted back again.  By the top, Ricky and I were still together with shredded legs and begrudgingly kept it together to finish.   The race ultimately turned into a 5-man sprint finish with the next batch of guys 1:40 back.  We finished 6:55 behind. 

Aside from the heavy rain and limited visibility for the 1st two laps, my favorite part of the race was Ricky, Niall, myself and 2 other guys working together over 4+ miles to bring ourselves back onto the peloton.  Rotational pulls like what we’ve done southbound 9W during group rides kept us in the hunt at least for the final lap.

BTW, 100 reg’d, ~25 weather weenies DNS, and 58 finished.  I don’t think there were any crashes either.

TL/DR: 13th in the Masters 45+

The field was a combined 35-44, 45-54 NY and NJ Masters Road championships.  Nice and confusing; four races.  79 pre-registered.  Turns out that 31 of those 79 were the ones I was competing against.  No seeming order to the numbers issued or anything.  

When looking at the pre-reg, I figured John Loehner was the guy to watch, and he had three teammates, two of them strong, as support.  On the line, there was no way there were 79 starters, and Loehner and his teammates were not there.  Rob Lattanzi of Jamison was now the guy to watch.

This was a good thing.  Before, I thought I had an outside chance at medaling.  Now I thought it was really good.  I think I can match Rob most of the time, so that was positive.  Of course, I had been feeling fatigued all week, so that was a fear.

There was also the weather.  It was wet, intermittent drizzle, but not raining.  I  had a rain jacket in my pocket and full gloves and booties.  Most of the competition didn't seem as prepared.  I started hoping for rain.

First time up the hill, I was doing fine, sitting about third wheel. until the final ramp to Tiorati.  And then I found I was sucking.  When I start to struggle in the mid 170s, I'm not on a good day.  And that's what my body was doing. 

Dropped at the top, I kept riding, picking up a few people on the ride to Tiorati circle. Then keeping the pace going once past. And picking up more people.  

The sad thing is that no matter what field I get dropped by, the stragglers generally suck at chasing back on.  I did 75% of the pulling on the chase back, and I had five guys with me.  Caught the group after the next circle.  

The race was looking pretty negative; FinKraft setting a tempo, everyone else sitting around.  I hoped that meant they'd go up Tiorati steady and that would give me a chance.  They went steady; I just didn't have the heart.  I even got myself to  third wheel again to maximize my chances of surviving.

Kept rolling.  Did  a whole lap solo.  Then, on Tiorati the next time up, after I took a nature break, Alejandro Guzman caught me.  He had missed the start!  We rode together, though it turned out, I was much stronger on the rises.  We did a lap together.  Then on the final time up Tiorati, we caught two guys dawdling as the rain started to come down hard.  I picked up the pace.  Sadly, The guys came with me and we dropped Ale'.  Then, we caught more guys on the next stretch.  Once again, I was doing most of the pace--even on the flats, Ale' had been going 50-50 with me.  I think I caught five or six riders on that last bit, while only two were doing anything to help.

I started the sprint second wheel.  But I ended up second, to someone who sat on since Tiorati. So it goes; once I was dropped, my goal was to catch as many people as possible.  Turned out, I needn't have worried.  No one I had caught and passed that lap was actually in my "race."

So this is interesting, @niallsmart on the front! But CRCA touting their members winning their fields ... I’ll take Kissena repping the pic though

https://www.crca.net/crca-news/2018/5/eight-crca-members-win-state-championships-at-the-bear-mountain-classic

dude...just looked at the site...this was a mess!

so maybe a downhill finish after all that climbing and rain was a bad idea?  Finish it on a climb...it's just more humane

Ouch. At least one of them landed in grass tho...

Registration for the 2019 Bear Mountain is up and open.

For the first time in easily a decade, I'm probably gonna sign up and race it.

https://www.bikereg.com/41537

Considering the Cat 4 45+ Masters at 7:45am, or the straight up Cat 4 at 10:20am -- Leaning towards the shorter 45+ race (68km vs 90km), but not sure I wanna mix it with Cat 5 riders. Will depend on other Kissena's racing.

Let's go race bikes. Who is in?

Always a crapshoot about which is safter - the old guy field - presumably aware of their own mortality but still short on skill/experience or the younger - I'm gonna get drafter by radio shack today so I better try and pedal on the top tube while descending at 55mph...

Buona Fortuna!

PS please keep in mind Paul Carbonara's near death experience in this race - he flatted and got a neutral wheel change - he was riding 25mm rims and they swapped him a 23mm rim - no brakes!

I'm targeting this for the Cat 5s- anyone else in?

@Matt Budofsky good luck! Are you racing before this race at all?

@RobertPeras thanks! I’m going to do some of the park races (next couple weekends are tough scheduling wise) and just try to get as many climbing miles in as possible beforehand

Sounds good! I like flat roads, so I am skipping Bear Mountain 

@Matt Budofsky Sorry to be another Cat5 calling out of this one, work schedule isn't going to allow it, best of luck man! I will, however, absolutely join you for some climbing miles over the next couple months

Calling all CAT 4 riders! I can feel the acid in my legs already...

ErikPfiffner said:

Calling all CAT 4 riders! I can feel the acid in my legs already...

I'll likely be there this year, pending the logistics of getting there. I did this race maybe 6 years ago in collegiate, and I'm still wondering if it's too soon to try again...   

I have just registered!  The race is on the Saturday morning of May 11th.  I would to do a Kissena training ride to view the course and hurt ourselves a few times before the actual race.  Proposing Saturday April 27th (L&C Race May 4th)
Lets try to get organized... @RichardCornetta you better start cutting back on Pizza Fridays!

I need to take care of a few things in Rockland at my parent's house next Friday (the 12th), so I'm going to head up to Bear Mountain on Saturday morning to scout the course and get some good training in on the climbs if anyone's interested in joining!

Not sure i'm going to be racing but 100% down to get some big rides up in Harriman. The race route is actually a super nice training ride if you're racing or not.