well ????
I think I'm done for awhile...still on a cross bike, gnarly trail bender
Would love to hear about this morning's shenanigans 

Yacks,
       TL/DR.  I got 14th.  Didn't sprint well.

Long story...

It would have been great to have teammates.  Last race of the year, every jersey could have switched shoulders, and the turnout was a bit over 40 I think.  No team had more than three.  Foundation, which led the overall, had three, and the other two were in position to take the KoM and Sprint jerseys.  The sprint leader had no teammates (triangle cyclists).  the KoM leader had no teammates (5th floor). The guy in second overall, Constantin Schreiber, had no teammates (Veselka).  PPR had three guys, TBD had two guys.  Bicycle Habitat had two.

The race strung out from the line.  Lots of attacks, lots of chasing and regrouping. The first KoM and sprint were contested, then I countered, and failed, and a break of three coalesced and took the final KoM and sprint and were caught.  

More attacks, more chasing, and all together at the bell, when Al Barouh attacked.  Nobody attacked, PPR and TBD largely worked to bring it back.  Which they did by the top of the hill.  It was pretty safe going up the hill the final time, and the sprint was safe, too.  I just didn't have the gas.  TBD guy won with Screiber second, PPR in third.

A little disappointed in my ride.  I could sit in no problem and even attack, but my sustain wasn't so good.  I was bridging short gaps, but 15-second gaps I couldn't manage.  Thought I'd have more for the sprint than I did.

The KoM jersey stayed with the leader, the sprint jersey switched, and the overall leader won by two points.

And the small field resulted in a pace that was almost six minutes slower than the fastest races.  Surprised the masters didn't catch us.

JP....and anyone else looking for a fast race on cross bikes...
I'm doing this on Sept. 10th.
https://www.bikereg.com/rocky-point-50
A 50 mile mtb ride you can easily do on a cross bike.  I'll be riding the course tomorrow on my cross bike to check it out.  Rocky Pt. is where I got my start in cycling.  I rode my Bridgestone mtb there in the early 90's.  It's hard pack pine barrons...SUPER fast.  The race should take about 3.5 hours give or take
So excited and giddy about this

Awesome. I wish you luck with it.

Sept 10th is the first mid atlantic cyclocross race of the year:
https://www.bikereg.com/whirlybird-cross

An actual cyclocross race. I encourage you and anyone else to come race hard. I'll be there.

Any reason you posted this on the Castelli thread?

just trying to recruit JP...as I'm sad he was all alone on Saturday...Have fun at the cross races...my weekend time restraints don'rt permit me to make it to those

BUMP!

New year.  Same Series.

Who is in for what races this Saturday.

https://www.bikereg.com/castelli-series-round1

Masters is a lap shorter I believe and will be the larger field...think im doing that

A quick reminder to sign up to help with registration and race for free!

link is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h68kb_QnO2NSAaAd2gradwBk12Q3uw__kjm2yTAv8Zg

If I am a cat 4 do I just sign up for the masters race? 

@RichardCornetta is your racing age 40 or above? If so, then yes, but I suspect you are younger than that, no?

Yes I am under 40. So I guess there’s no class I can race in this series

I'm planning masters.

@PatrickGrehan I signed up to be a marshall for this Saturday's race. Can you let me know what time I should be there and where exactly you guys meet? Thanks

Robert,

Meet at the start/finish area which is on the park drive just in from where 3rd Street intersects the park.

Race start is 6:30 so I would say arrive no later than 6:15 for marshaling. 

Ask for Charlie.

I will help during registering but I won't be racing ( because I don't feel like it). 

Thanks @jim_nelson

Quick report.

• Windy and cold, but better than last week
• Jim looked great
• The Yacks looked amazing too, didn't break any parts too! last lap attack y'all
• JP was riding like the fire! attacking and going for it at all the right times
• Dave Sommerville has been training, and got the sprint points, was fun to see
• A couple of promising breaks got away
• Eventually, it all came back together for a bit sketchy last lap
• JP placed 11th -- which kinda sucks but in the most hotness awesome way possible
• SLOOOOOW RACE 38.5km/h
• Great to see all the Kissena volunteering and marshalling!

Cheers!

I heard John Loehner solo breaked and held it by a few seconds in the end.  Weather channel sat all over the front of the race.  It was a slow race....which was fine for Yacks as its my 1 st race of the season.  There didn't seem to be any interest in chasing by many...I saw Brands trying.  I tried a few times to pull through and a gap would open...so sad
Yes JP would have top 10 had it not been for the solo up the road

Now the 2/3 field really chewed Charlie's ear after the race as they were neutralized on their last lap.  Since I took a flyer before the hill...was caught & dropped on the hill...I had a good view of the 2/3 finale and they had room to sprint for their placings from what I could see.  
I have to say Charlie really did something unbecoming by picking up his mega phone and lambasting the Masters field for riding slow (most of them were up the road cooling down)...I felt like I was the only Masters rider standing their and listening to it...until I took my carbon wheels and went home.  Now yes the Masters rode a slow race.  That is bike racing.  A car gets on the course = that's bike racing....there are wheel breaking pot holes = that's bike racing....someone cuts your wheel = that's bike racing.  
A few seasons ago when I cracked 2 carbon rims and blew out 6 tubulars in Prospect...I didn't  gripe about the course conditions or the lack of any visual markers on the course = that's bike racing.  When Charlie sent out a reminder email with an incorrect start time and I missed a race start...I didn't gripe = that's bike racing...but I did have to request a refund on my entrance fee. 
So when one field is caught by another field...to borrow the phrase...SORRY CHARLIE...THAT'S BIKE RACING !!!
 

I was a bit surprised myself. I finished with the pack and we were absolutely all over the line well before the 2/3's hit the sprint zone. There might have been a few stragglers, but no more than you would normally find in a public park on a Saturday morning.

If they think that was bad, I can tell them some stories about really terrible race finish conditions. My old team did a stage race in Louisiana a few years ago. At the end of the 4 race, we were at the front, made the final turn, and went flat-out. I was sitting third wheel, bleeding from my eyeballs, when we saw an ambulance blocking half the road only 300m from the finish.

We slipped past it with ease, but it was absolute mayhem when the rest of the field tried to shove through that pinch point.

That's bike racing.

That’s what I’m talkin bout hoss !

Oh off the top of my head I remember a motorcycle Marshall with a sidecar (picture it) doing a full brake lock 360 spin on the chicane downhill in Central Park that almost killed me...also a seaplane being towed across the race course while I was in a break at Floyd...did I whine...no = that’s bike racing !!!

Good to see everyone out there.

Weather Channel was easily the dominant squad, though Brand's was good and Dave Jordan huge.  I figured WC was going to work for Karl Rahn for the green jersey points, possibly Kevin Molloy for the polka dots, and wasn't sure about whom they'd favor for the win.

On the first green jersey sprint, there was a small group ahead, but dangling.  Karl got to it, and I followed.  I shadowed him up the hill, figuring I was in good position to sprint, as we were second and third wheel on the left side of the road as it started to tilt down. Then Ray Diaz of Jordan attacked on the far right side.  I was blocked by the first guy, but Karl swung hard to the right and followed Ray and another rider.  Three up and a  gap.  No reason to sprint.  Then a second Weather Channel, Dan, attacked with Tom Bencivengo of Mangoseed.  That might have been something to follow.  And then the riders got together after the sprint and kept going.

Brands took the incentive to bring it back.  They did, just before the first KoM sprint.  I was in ok position, thinking of either going for it or following and attacking through.  But I momentarily lost Kevin's wheel and that was it.  He took it uncontested and then waited for the field.

The second sprint was more hotly contested.  The second KoM looked like another Weather Channel setup.  Their guy John Loehner (he was a pro the 90's) rolled off in advance.  Then Kevin decided not to sprint.  Loehner took it uncontested and kept rolling.  The field largely let him go.  It didn't seem that Jordan knew he was off, but Brands did.  There were a bunch of small efforts to bring Loehner back, but little coordinated.  We were closing on the last lap, but there was no team driving it.  As we went up the hill, Weather Channel was at the front and not going hard, and I was behind them, feeling good.  Probably sitting third or fourth wheel up the hill.  

Over the top, there was a surge.  I slotted in about 10th, figuring the sprint would be explosive.  It wasn't.  I never felt like I was going all out, as there was no room to move.  

10th in the field, 11th overall. 10 paying places.  Was hoping to make it rain muffins.

It was good to see everyone make efforts at the front.  I'd love to see us be one of the teams that controls the race.  It will take a bit more effort, but I think it would be good, hard, fun and worth it.

Not to be a curmudgeon....but maybe it's not the masters who should have rode faster...if the 2/3 field had just ridden a little faster they would have passed us way before the finale....juuuuust sayin  

twoyacks said:

Not to be a curmudgeon....but maybe it's not the masters who should have rode faster...if the 2/3 field had just ridden a little faster they would have passed us way before the finale....juuuuust sayin  

the last two races in prospect park are the slowest i’ve ever done there.

consider my report updated to include Loehner pedaled solo for the win 

wow...you'd think with everyone zwifting over the winter...speeds would be up?

PP Cat 5 race breakaway: we passed Masters and the 4's. 
 

lets dispense with the nonsense and jibber jabber
 
 what's the password for the Victor picks???

Pics are up and they are as glorious as Yacks mullet !

These require no password
http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Clients/Kissena-Race-Season-2018/Castelli-Race-Series-33118-1800/n-Sknh5r/

JohnMalcolmson said:

PP Cat 5 race breakaway: we passed Masters and the 4's. 
 

U can only throw barbs if you pin up and tow the line...no straw trolls aloud