With my first race still  fresh in my memory having only just done my third race I would thoroughly recommend a park race as a good introduction. Next Prospect Park race is 11th June. 

A park race will be much more fun because win or lose you'll get to hang out with the rest of the Kissena crew.  

Watermelon Crit on 6/4 is relatively nearby and laid back as far as atmospheres go.

Thanks @JamesShaw & @David Yang Park race makes a lot of sense, especially since it's well known turf.

Do I need to wait until I've gotten my team kit?

@BenFinoRadin there should be a kissena jersey floating around that you can borrow.

I know it is far in advance, but is anyone thinking about racing the Tour of Catskills? Aug 6th. It seems an awesome event, I am down for it...

The Tour of Catskills sounds fun and hard enough, but it has become what Battenkill will be next year, a gran fondo.

cool, they have 3 different lenght options though, 25, 55 and 76 miles... have you ever raced that @eloy ?

I have yet to ride a fondo event.

Just to be clear, for 2016, The Tour of Catskills sounds fun and challenging, and by all means you should do it, but it is not a road race.

yes I have seen it says "open categories"... does it count still for USAC as a race?

No. It doesn't count. It is not a race.

@GiacomoVischi some background, the organizer is Dieter Drake who also promotes Battenkill, and he's had a long disagreement with USAC around requirements for promoters and race organizing, so in the past few years he's been organizing his events as non-USAC events, which just means he has to organize his own insurance and run things a little differently which you as a rider may not notice in how it the event is run. 

The one big difference you will notice is his events don't count towards your upgrades and will not weigh in some of the race performance predictors.

That doesn't mean they're not awesome events in their own right, with challenges of their own. Especially Devil's Kitchen is as hard as all get out.

good to know thanks @Dan Reiners ! I am looking forward to do it yes

@RileyHoonan no worries, I think I've sorted out a temporary solution… 

@GiacomoVischi looks like a nice ride - i'll probably do it

Ben is on the new kit design committee.

guys, so who is interested in doing the Tour of the Catskills? I was hoping to organize the thing, let me know if you are in and we plan car trip, logistics and the rest...! If I am alone I won't go but another Kissena mate and we go!

we have 1 day left for pre reg with a cool package too

I'm registered

Awesome. What is the difference between elite and open? I mean, why the majority of the ppl is registered in the open field?

No idea, but I registered elite.