so yacks posted this somewhere else but i might try it out too  http://www.merrickbicycles.com/criterium.html

it's on friday nights (8PM?!) and my office happens to right close to a LIRR stop, so i'm basically already there when the workday ends. only $20 a pop as well.  the idea of not getting up at 4:30 AM to get to a bike race REALLY appeals to me

after looking at a map, i think a good address to use for googling your own directions is 71274 Clubhouse Rd, Merrick, NY 11566

anyone considering doing it?  dates are...

• 5/5/17 
• 5/12/17
• 5/19/17 
• 5/26/17 
• 6/2/17
• 6/9/17
• 6/16/17
• 6/23/17
• 6/30/17
• 7/7/17 
• 7/14/17
• 7/21/17

I plan on trying to make it out there at least once but 645p for the 4/5 race is cutting it close considering the traffic getting down there from the opposite side of the island is pretty rough during rush hour.

This would be infinitely easier from Brooklyn if they allowed bikes on peak hour trains. I can't imagine the drive from my house on a summer Friday evening would be much less than 2 hours.

Then again, I've made the haul to Riverhead a couple times.

Is there any way to get the bike on the train?  Could you take the wheels off and throw a contractor garbage bag over the frame?  Cuz a bike is a bike....but a pair of wheels and a bag....is a pair of wheels and a bag

damnit jim, good thing you pointed that out.  yeah, so i couldn't make it to this race because LIRR doesn't permit bikes on the trains at that time...unless someone else is driving.  lame.

Get creative 

yacks if you drive to my office and pick me up, i'm all in!  how's that for creative?

hmm....turning tricks on the west side highway doesn't exactly qualify as an "office"

autocorrect keeps changing it when i type orifice.

and fyi....I've bee dragging my ass into Brooklyn for 20 years for bike races and haven't complained yet.  Would it kill you hipsters to come to Long Island for a few??? jeez u guys are soft

humbug!  you drive your car out to prospect park!  my commute from washington heights is longer and higher TSS/suffer score than your combustion-engine-commute to brooklyn.

but seriously if you give me a ride to the race i'll do it with you this summer at some point.    118-21 queens boulevard, forest hills, ny 11375.  could also meet you anywhere on the E line 

hmm....let me see
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jamaica+Center+-+Parsons/Archer+Station/@40.6816976,-73.7949854,13.29z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x54c3d6c1eaf23761!8m2!3d40.7021447!4d-73.8008771
take the E to Jamaica center and start riding down Merrick Blvd and I can retrieve you...that is about 10 minutes from my front door

twoyacks said:

and fyi....I've bee dragging my ass into Brooklyn for 20 years for bike races and haven't complained yet.  Would it kill you hipsters to come to Long Island for a few??? jeez u guys are soft

I've traveled to races all over the east coast. the particular trip for this crit is on peak NYC friday night traffic, very different than driving on Sat/Sun at 5am.

I would love to race this. 

FYI I've found Waze "planned drives" feature gives you an good estimate based on time of day you plug in. That course looks fun! 

Oooof it hurt...something like 40 laps....I knew I would be garbage tonight...but I went anyways.  Had my year end work party last night...open bar...I had no warm up...someone crashed in the finale of the cat IV race in the last turn and he stayed on the ground till the ambulance came...so we couldn't pre ride the course at speed.  I overcooked that turn around lap 4 and got gapped.  I rode tempo till Andy Di Silva and another guy came by...then the field and I got back on and was ok.  Andy was able to lap the field.  I think there was like 16 guys in the race...By the end it was dark.  The darker it got, the faster I went in the turns...so weird.  You need a good 20 minute warm up for this race.  The first 10 minutes were exponentially harder than the last 50.  Crit fitness...waaaay different then park race fitness.  Forget the power #'s my hear rate average was 179 https://www.strava.com/activities/983442809#kudos

Yacks I found the problem.  It's clear from the second picture.  You were in the little ring.

a results sheet....and it's a bloody mess....
https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2017-277

twoyacks said:

a results sheet....and it's a bloody mess....
https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2017-277

nice work, @twoyacks
why are there so many DNP in the CAT 4/5? 

results are not quite accurate....you put a bunch of riders on a 1/2 mile course and it's like trying to keep track of bumble bees in a jar.  There are guys dropping off the back & getting lapped rejoining the race = messy.  I would race this circuit without results...it's just bike racing at it's filthiest.  I didn't take a pull of water and I can't remember NOT being in my drops.  I'll be back on Friday

Those are some interesting results.

Brands had 4 out of 16 guys in the race and two of them DNP twice!

And how did you place 13th when only 9 guys finished?

step brothers....underappreciated gem 

Your new nemesis on race predictor:

I got a surprise for that fella...

can u see this??
https://www.facebook.com/merrickbicycles/videos/1113808135389975/

more tomorrow....I'm cooked
https://www.strava.com/activities/1018268172
 Yacks spent the day at 6th grade concerts and then an amusement park so not ideal race prep.  Left the house at 5:00 a.m. and got home at 6:30 p.m.  Time enough to load up my bike and drive to Merrick.  Had a good 30 minutes to pin on a race # and do a 20 minute warm up on the rollers.  Warm up is a must for this course.  The 4/5 field had a nice # of riders....My 123 field had 10...The Dave Jordan race was Saturday and that White Plains Crit Sunday so maybe that impacted attendance.  Doesn't matter how many people there are in a race if the guys who are there go fast.  40 laps of a 1/2 mile course = 160 turns with an acceleration after each one.  Brands had 5 riders and the series leader so it was fairly easy for them to dictate.  They put 4 guys on the front and burned matches for about 15 laps.  Yacks stayed small & in the slipstream.  When the series leader jumped, I knew it was the move but I don't have the snap yet to go.  What you need to know about this course is that if you reach for this....
 at the wrong moment...your race could literally be over.  If you are gapped for 2 seconds you could be done as it never slows.  I overcooked a turn at the 1st race and that's what happened.  Anyway Al Borough was ready for that move and instantly reacted.  I think 2 more guys made the move.  That left me and 2 other guys to chase...the 4 Brand's riders were along for the ride.  It took about 23 laps for the break to catch us...so not bad chasing considering it's only 1/2 mile course.  With 2 to go we were together....Yacks had no idea what the crit rules were so I didn't sprint on the last lap thinking I needed to ride 1 more lap as we had been lapped.  Now I know.  I was a mess at the 1st race of this series.  This race was 1/2 mph faster and my power was up 20 watts.  HR strap went janky for the 1st few miles but for both of these races my average hr has been  179 I'll keep going to this race as it is making me a better bike rider...Oh I finished 8th so a top 10...stop laughing I can actually hear you

Is anyone going June 16? I'm planning on it and it will be my first race. I'd love to meet some other riders from the club.

I had my first race last night. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish. Only about 15 riders for the 4/5 race. I started falling off the main group after a couple of laps and just couldn't fight my way back up to them. They eventually lapped me around lap 18, and the official pulled me out about 5 laps later. Definitely the hardest 30 minutes I spent on a bike. I hadn't ridden on flat in a long time and forgot how constantly draining it is, especially when you lose the group. I had a blast though. I hope I can make it back before the end of the summer.

Giddy up....that race requires at least a 30 minute warmup...if u have rollers or a trainer get there early and use them