Looking ahead to this year's women's racing series in Central Park, and possible open spring series, (both in early March) I'd be happy to lead a course recon ride, where we pedal and talk about the things that make racing in Central Park so uniquely challenging. That said, specifics discussed are often also applicable to racing EVERYWHERE. This pedal & chat mentor event should pair nicely JP's upcoming sit-down talk on racing tactics and strategy. Choose your preferred date! The one with 5 votes wins!

Doh! My bad, Sun Feb 21 is OUT...going out of town that day. If a Forum administrator could get in there and delete that option that would be great. Thanks!

Question, since Sat Feb 20 is "in the lead" here, wondering if those who voted for other days (David, Kristina, Jill and Deina) COULD do the 20th? A group of 7 would be nice and I'd like to get as many of our new women racers involved as possible.

Alternatively, I kind of like the idea of doing it this weekend (David's choice) because looking at the forecast, it looks to be dry and we have no way of knowing what the road conditions on the 20th are going to be.

I can do 20th, just have a limited amount of time I can be away. Earlier the better as well of course (especially to avoid as much normal park traffic as possible).

I cannot do the 20th as I'll be riding in Malibu, sorry suckers!

I should be able to do the 20th

That was great!  I just burst out laughing at work!  Thanks for doing this Marc!

So, awesome guys. Thanks for everyone who has switched up their schedule a bit to make the 20th the date for this event. A couple of notes about the upcoming session.

• Dress EXTRA warmly! Because it's impossible to ride and talk about everything I want to cover and have everyone actually hear what I say, it will end up being a lot of stopping and starting. Depending on folks' time availability, we might do an actual lap or two non-stop, but mostly stopping along the course during key transitions to different sections.
• This is NOT ONLY for beginners. I always end up relating a TON of information with the expectation that some of it will stick, some of it will slip past, some of it will lurk in the back of your head until you hear it from someone else down the road and then think to yourself, "hmmm, that sounds familiar." Even if you are a more experienced racer, I encourage you to come out pick up some helpful racing hints. For example if there was a team of 3/4s who were planning on racing Lou Maltese or Mengoni later in the season, this would be a nice opportunity to ride together and talk specific team tactical opportunities. Central Park demands and rewards tactical, team racing!
• Bring your questions! I have plenty of material kicking around my head and there's a lot of ground to cover, but this is a great opportunity to ask me just about anything* that relates to racing or training. *Save your bike tech/equipment questions though for just about anyone but me.

A general outline of the points I intend to cover:

1. Introductions. Who are you? And why do you care what I have to say?
2. Dressing for success. "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing."
3. Mastering a good race start. Warm-up, clip in, relax.
4. The fastest part of the course: Or where not to attack.
5. Dropping in and climbing up Harlem Hill. You won't win here, but you can lose it.
6. West side rollers. Shit, this hurts. PS ATTACK!
7. The racing line. When to take a face full of wind, when to hide behind the biggest rider you can find.
8. Moving up like magic.
9. The approach to Tavern on the Green. DANGER!!! When/why to attack or sit in here.
10. Horseshit Alley. Last call for a good finish! PS keep your mouth shut, especially on wet days.
11. Cat's Paw Hill Finish. Longer/harder than you think. Position is critical.

Again, while I will be "teaching" this course very specifically, the lessons are generally applicable to many other kinds of racing situations. So yeah, I'm going to go into some detail about Harlem Hill, the line, the approach, the effort level, the effect it has on this race, etc., but these are things that could be applied to many other races with a similar feature/dynamic.

Hey gang, John Malcolmson found some nice documents and videos that lay out some of the basic rules of road racing. I recommend reading/watching them before we meet up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drD3Ez-HmfM

More pre-clinic reading material. This one from our club. I think ex-Prez Jules Roazen wrote this:

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

Quick question for attendees...

An earlier start time has been requested to take advantage of a sunny morning/afternoon riding over the GWB.

How do folks feel about meeting sometime BEFORE 8am on Saturday?

preferably not much earlier, traveling from the southern end of the R train haha

Fantastic idea!

I think thats a great idea!

I can do earlier if it means ending earlier, but don't mind 8am start either.

Yeah Id be fine with an 8 am start but if the group wants earlier that works too

More reading material before tomorrow. Still can't find the super detailed breakdown I wrote while watching someone's GoPro of the course, but this is not too shabby a start/lead-in to tomorrow:

http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/33369/#Comment_33369

Also, let's split the difference, make it a little earlier but not so early as to be painful for John Olsson. Folks can peel off the group whenever they want to/have to. There's a lot of info to cover, and I'll cherry pick the most important things that can be reviewed fit into the 1 hour window. That said, if anyone wants to stay/talk/discuss past 8:45am, then I'm more than willing to do that too.

7:45, meet at the top of Cat's Paw Hill. That's on the east drive, just past the 79th street transverse, the start of all CP races.

Here's my cell, I'll have it with me if you need it. 646-761-8755

(I'll be doing a long endurance ride of 4-5 hours over the GWB, jersey wormhole style after the clinic.)

I originally RSVP-ed but am stuck inside this weekend with bronchitis enjoy the sun!!!

Kristina Miele said:

I originally RSVP-ed but am stuck inside this weekend with bronchitis enjoy the sun!!!

No worries, thanks for letting me know. Rest up, get better soon!

A good refresher for me this morning with Marc and John. It's always good to be reminded how to race after several months off.

Thank you to all who came out to play in Central Park this morning. It seems like we've got a nice, motivated group of new racers ready to rock the NYC racing scene in 2016!

Shout out to Malcolmson, Yang and Maronilla for keeping us on track, bringing up great points I missed. It's easy to get lost in one's own head when doing this sort of thing so having other experienced riders helps a lot.

Beautiful day in the park, not too crowded and we packed a lot into about 75 minutes of riding and chatting. I'll post a "review" sheet over in the mentoring thread. It's not necessarily all-inclusive, but it touches on a lot of the key points discussed today.

http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/741/mentoring#latest

Thanks again to everyone. I know your time is valuable and I really do appreciate you coming out to the clinic.

PS Don't forget about JP's tactics talk this Tuesday at Redbeard!

Bump!

Tactics Talk Tonight at Redbeard.  8:15pm.

I haven't really been active in this club although I would like to make it a good start to do some road racing this year, Iv'e renew my USA licence for this year.  During most weekdays I may be able to head out for a ride and train, or do laps. my weekends are usually work weekends given that there is most ride on weekends I can't attend most of them. If its a race weekend ill be sure to make it.  Any way I would like to know if this can still work out, who can train me or ride with me. I think I would be a cat 5 but I am not sure if I still qualify for junior races given that they are only up to 18 year of age. although base on the usa licence it shows Racing Age: 19 but I am still 18 up until 10/2016.
  

Quick and dirty tips for racing in Central Park. My first time will be tomorrow's Mengoni Grand Prix. 

Believe it or not, last time I raced Central Park it was in the old kit, with the uphill finish at Cat's Paw. So I could use any pointers the CP veterans can give.

The finish line is at Engineer's Gate.

oy!
So much to write!  Surprised we don't have stuff down.

Marc's overview is here: http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/33369/#Comment_33369

so much to add.

The first climb heading south, 110berg, might seem like a launching pad for racing-winning attacks.  It rarely is.  The problem is the fast downhill on the other side.  Lots of people can struggle over this hill and recover on the descent.

The second and third rises are better springboards for attacking.

The drop from west 85th to west 74th is actually the fastest section of the race. I've hit 45mph there.

The false flat from about West 73rd to Tavern (west 67th) typically causes the field to slow and go wide.  If you attack a bit before 67th, you can get a gap, then shoot down the hill to the southern end of the park.

It's easy to move up on this section if you want.  The problem is the same goes for everyone else.  Move up, then fight for wheels.  The road funnels as it heads north, and  it's best to be at the front.  Better to take wind then have to deal with guys slamming brakes.

The curves from E59th to E72nd can make and break races.  It's hard to hold position on the various sweepers.  the good thing is that if you're out of position, you can use the sweepers to your advantage.  If you're out of position on the right side, wait till the road curves left, everyone usually moves left.  Jump up then.  

Because the finish is at E90th, the finishing dynamics are different.  It's better to ride at the front over Cat's Paw then have to jump around guys blowing up.  You'll go hard up the hill, try to hold position over the top, keep position until the left curve at E87th, and then it's drag race time.

Have fun!  In the warmer months the course is very flowing, very dynamic.  In position one moment, out the next.  Try to take advantage of the hills and curves for attacking.  Like there's the dip from W90th to W85th.  If you start several riders back at W92nd, and go hard, you can use momentum to get over the rise.  Problem is continuing the move.

It was a really sketchy 4 race with crashes, almost no marshals, and even off-leash dogs walking through the field. After all that, due to a crash in the women's sprint for 8th place, our entire post-Harlem-Hill last lap was neutralized. So after I went to all the trouble to be in the top 15 wheels over the top of Harlem, the neutralized field massed curb to curb at 15 miles an hour until Cat's Paw. Then they let us race again. You can imagine the pandemonium. It was just one of those bullshit waste of money races. Won't be racing CP anymore.

Thanks for the tips @mugwump. First- and second-place riders in the Cat 5 race broke away together on the last lap on one of the westside springboards you mentioned. We'd brought back three small breaks already so I figured we'd grab them too--I was wrong! Knowing what I knew, I shoulda tried to follow as soon as I saw them go. I'd found that dip between W90 and W85 on an earlier lap, so an attempt to bridge across probably would've been worth a shot (I think).

Around on the east side, I tried to follow Giacomo as he shot off the front of the field just before the left curve at E87. Both of us ended up losing steam way too soon to contest the top ten. We were first over Cat's Paw, because Scott volunteered to empty the tank there for me, which I feel bad about wasting.

As it was my first time racing Central Park, much of my focus went to feeling out the course, which I liked. Fora while, at least, I expect racing there to feel like one of those small but special occasions I like so much about living in NYC, just because it's Central Park but also because of how few open races are held there. Which also means a steeper learning curve. I'll be more prepared next season.