awesome!! way to go @eloy

FIYAH

Celebrate every victory. 

B race was a bit of tempo ride, with a few strung out sections until the climb. Missed the front group after an ill advised attempt at an attack. Patience is virtue. PB'd the climb, ended up 17/32.  

The a race was boring. We would average like 200 watts for moments of the race. It was like a spirited group ride. A couple times I tried to just launch a seated attack of accelerating to like 6.5ish w/kg and see how long I could hold. Nobody was biting for a break, so I hung back into the pack. Last climb just went to ride hard from the bottom. Legs were kinda dead from a 5 to 20min power pr from the day before, hit 362 for 20mins and I was in the hurt box. The dude who won sprinted by me in the last 500 ft. I was gassed and didn't have a sprint. I'll take a second, and celebrate the little wins of nonracing race season. 

RichFreeman said:

Celebrate every victory. 

B race was a bit of tempo ride, with a few strung out sections until the climb. Missed the front group after an ill advised attempt at an attack. Patience is virtue. PB'd the climb, ended up 17/32.  

I enjoyed that one, partly because i'm finally getting the hang of drafting/pack riding on zwift and tempo was good steady pace to feel that out.
Finished 2:17 behind you @RichFreeman, in 22nd - took me a moment to realize that was you as "T.Parade..."!

Is there a link for Sunday race?

First B race ever. Missed the split halfway through lap 2 and lost the 3 way sprint in my little chase group (what else is new). Game over, man, game over. I have a feeling this was a lot easier than B races with hills.

Also Yacks had a "mechanical" before the race even started. Of course.

*Note: Realized my ancient laptop I run Zwift on gets BT interference from my wireless earbuds connected to my phone when another song starts streaming which was the cause of multiple dropouts in stages power last time. Went with wired buds and no problems this time.

Cross posting here- RACES ARE BACK! Mark your calendar and set those alarms!

Anyone know when these races are gonna be available on BikeReg?

Muzzabiker said:

Anyone know when these races are gonna be available on BikeReg?

Once there is better certainty that they will actually happen.

@eloy - thx

Go register. Also volunteer to help Charlie with registration and marshalling.
https://www.bikereg.com/castelli-series-round1

I'm in for Cat 5!

We are looking for someone to act as the KOM official for the Prospect Park races. This is a paid role.

You do not need to be an USAC official, but will need to score the top 3 across the line and ring the bell the lap before.

Please contact Charlie Issendorf at charlesissendorf@gmail.com for details.

Feel free to let me know or post any questions/concerns here too.

Cross-posting here from Slack:

**BUMP**

Wow. Charlie just opened up five spots for the masters 40+ after it had been closed out earlier t his week.  I was about to register for the 2/3 when I saw the spots had been open.  

Just got in to the Masters 40+ this Saturday

Here's who we got starting so far.

Steven	Murray	Brooklyn	NY	Kissena Cycling Club	5/07
Eloy	Anzola	Brooklyn	NY	Kissena Cycling Club	5/07
James	Reeder	Brooklyn	NY	Kissena Cycling Club	5/07
Jeff	Condon	Brooklyn	NY	Kissena Cycling Club	5/07
Joe	Matunis	Brooklyn	NY	Kissena Cycling Club	5/07
Thierry	Bonnaire	Brooklyn	NY	Kissena Cycling Club	5/08
J.P.	Partland	New York	NY	Kissena Cycling Club	6/16

Jerry Kapko, who won the L&C race last week, is the guy to beat.  He's got at least three teammates supporting him.  There are some other sizable squads, but not sure if they're in shape--like Mangoseed has three Burrowes showing, Brands has a bunch, as does Jordan and Montecci and Mineola.  L&C's third place, Christophe Palazzi is also on hand with at least one teammate.

This looks like a good squad. Steven Murray took 3rd at the Trooper Brinkhoff Cat 4 race a few weeks back. I'm down to support in any way possible. This should be a fun one!

Joe,
     How are you riding?  Do you think you can attack or ride tempo at the front?  how were you at the last race?  

it would be great to hear from others how they're feeling.

Because this is going into the unknown, I think we're going to have to make a point to talk to each other during the race, adjust our thinking on the fly.  

I'm not sure what I'm capable of.  the L&C Cup was my first race and second group ride of 2020.  Earlier in the year, I was showing good power numbers, but the training program I tried out seemed to push me pretty hard and I've been recovering from it for the past few weeks.  I'm thinking I'll be at least OK on Saturday.

I'm hip to try to position myself for the first KoM sprint and see how that goes if everyone is ok with that.  No idea how I'll do.  If I don't find positioning all that hard, I'll go for it.  

Happy to try to set up moves, or counter off of others.  

I'd also like to suggest figuring out what range we're comfortable attacking and trying to force a break.

I figure we might want to ride conservatively for the first half of the race, just making sure we're not missing any splits or out of a big move.  Maybe after the first green jersey sprint try a move then and start to engineer moves in the second half.  

Hey, is Charlie doing a number pick-up tomorrow?...

answered my own question.  He is.

same as last week.  Great thing.

JP, I felt pretty good last race. Pretty comfortable and fairly strong. I generally have difficulty holding a position in the front, but feel like I probably can if we're setting up a break. I think communicating during the race will be key to making anything happen. 

Joe Matunis said:

JP, I felt pretty good last race. Pretty comfortable and fairly strong. I generally have difficulty holding a position in the front, but feel like I probably can if we're setting up a break. I think communicating during the race will be key to making anything happen. 

Seems like the next step is getting better at holding position.  Could you try to follow a few early moves to see how your legs are going?

Considering the radio silence from the rest, I guess we'll need to talk in the morning.

hahaha JP my fitness is top level ready for barely surviving in the middle of the pack and hoping I don’t get drop each time up the little hill. Going strong, gonna be awesome 😎 

JP, that sounds like a good plan. I'll see what I can do. With 100+ riders in this field it's going pretty packed out there.

pics - some top tens and a podium for Kissena!



 

I raced in the masters field, with JP, Eloy, Jeff, and Joe.

Went into today's race with the goal of working on what went wrong for me last week. So this time I lined up early, close to the front and with teammates, and concentrated on moving within the pack. I still spent far too much time in the wind, but this time it was not at the back of the pack. For me, focusing on only a couple of things - picking a wheel to follow on the downhill, for example - helps immensely, too, and I felt a big improvement in confidence over last week. Looking forward to building on on this.

Been a very long time since a Kissena was on the top step in that race - details please!

Soooooooo sick, congrats Michael! Also looking at comments on Strava, sounds like Colin gave a great lead out. So cool to see actual team tactics going down and being successful. Congrats to all! 

So, a gang of us were in for the 40+ today (6/19/21)

Eloy, James, Jeff, Joe, JP.  Thierry & Stephen had excused absences.

TL/DR: JP 9th, Jeff 36th, Eloy 38th.  Weird race. It was as if people largely forgot how to play the team game.    

Full field.  Seemed like the top riders were Jerry Kapko (Wonder Wheel), Christophe Palazzi (Blue Ribbon), Stephen Dioslaki (Brands), and John Loehner (TCPIP or something).  All had teammates.  I figured these teams would be setting tempo and taking turns attacking and we'd have to choose our spots carefully.

I also wanted to try to mix it up for the first KoM.

An attack got away early and was out for the first sprint.  Considering our strength, and the strength of several other teams, didn't seem like we needed to chase.

It was strange to watch.  I seemed to be able to stay pretty consistently between 10th and 20th, so I had a good view of the front.  The four horses I mentioned at the top were active and frequent participants in the chase and keeping the pace high.  They didn't do all the work at the front, but they were pretty close much of the time.  Palazzi in particular was launching attacks that didn't get far and then kept rolling with the field on his wheel.  All four had at least one teammate nearby who did almost nothing to help with the chase--Jerry got zero help, the others got a little, with Stephen getting the most, and it wasn't much.  And the NYCC guys would often had 2-3 near the front who were doing very little chasing.  I thought maybe the  Jordan squad would help the guy I supposed was their best, Jose Guzman, but no.  The Mineola guys have been decently strong in the past.  Not today.   

Finally, just as we got the KoM bell, we could see the motos ahead.  That whipped up the pace a good bit, though we started to flag a little after the temple.  At that point. a guy from Axis attacked on the right as the field was on the left.  It looked good.  And, about 20 seconds later, he completely sat up.  We kept going.  As we started the hill the break was within reach, we might be able to catch them by the line, I think I was in the top seven, I didn't feel I had the watts to out jump all the guys ahead of me, and still might not catch the break.  turned out, Axis had one rider in the break.

Looked like we didn't catch them.  By about a second or two.

At this point, I wasn't sure the way the race was going to play out.  I didn't see the fastest guys rolling away unless there was chaos of some sort, or a smaller attack to play off of, or a split in the field, but still had to be ready for  attacks.  We went into the second green jersey sprint fast enough that I didn't see attacking off that and then the bell rung.  I don't recall the second (or maybe the first) KoM sprint and I was starting to wonder if they had cut a lap.

With the bell, I doubted anyone could get away.  Loehner did what I should have expected him to do, go to the front and ride as hard as he could for as long as he could, but I didn't see either of his teammates being able to position themselves and sprint. We went up the hill within my comfort zone, which surprised me.  A Brands rider attacked to keep the pace high for Dioslaki.  He blew up as expected.  And I was in pretty decent position, just outside the top ten.  I thought it was going to be harder.  Over the top there was a pause.  But I was hemmed in on the left side and couldn't do anything other than hold my position.  As the sprint opened, Jerry was on my right and I was hoping he'd jump and I'd be able to follow.  But he didn't.  And I was pretty close to my limit, so when room finally opened up, I just concentrated on pedaling as fast as I could.  

9th. (five paying places)

Lynn Murray won, Dioslaki second.  Willie Payton third.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5496723967

average speed: 26.35mph.  62 finishers.  I saw only one crash that took out a few guys.

And we did the whole distance.  

Quick (or maybe long) Report from Saturday's race.

TLDR: OMFG pandemic fitness.

• Six Kissenistas signed up, Five Kissenistas started, Three Kissenistas finished
• Jeff looking sharp
• JP mega sharp top 10 FIREH
• I contributed in no way whatsoever, but, like Froome, totally gonna give myself credit for all the, um, "emotional" support I provided JP
• At the start joked with James, pointed at John Loehner "whatever he does you do" James looks back at me, full game face "I got this..., motherf*cker"
• At some point from 5 to 3ish to go, race got hot up the hill and stayed OMG HOT. 
• Had to use every little old dog trick I know not to get dropped
• At least the race was not a total blur (a noticeable improvement from last week)
• Some comfort in that my highest power/hr/everything came the last time up the little hill 
• At 42.3km/h it was the FASTEST Prospect Masters race I've ever recorded in Strava!!

This was 100% the soundtrack, and like the race, it gets better the longer it goes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeuXjh0c9s8