https://www.bikereg.com/randallsislandcrit

Verrazano Cycling announces new series out at Randall's Island, Sundays and Tuesday in March.

https://www.facebook.com/VerrazanoTeamRacing/photos/a.160754820942860/805443009807368/?type=3&theater

I’m going to try to make one of the Sunday races 

Anyone thinking about giving this Sunday a go? Might be a good rust buster. 

RobertMullen said:

Anyone thinking about giving this Sunday a go? Might be a good rust buster. 

It's a great rust buster.  Then, so is Branchbrook.

Regardless, for the cat 4's who are planning on racing together at Grant's Tomb, getting in one race as a group before the bigger race is a good idea.  See how each other rides, try a few coordinated moves, a leadout, and so on.

mugwump said:

RobertMullen said:

Anyone thinking about giving this Sunday a go? Might be a good rust buster. 

It's a great rust buster.  Then, so is Branchbrook.

Regardless, for the cat 4's who are planning on racing together at Grant's Tomb, getting in one race as a group before the bigger race is a good idea.  See how each other rides, try a few coordinated moves, a leadout, and so on.

I agree! NJ might be better even. I haven't seen anything on BikeReg though. Is reg somewhere else? 

eloy said:

https://www.bikereg.com/randallsislandcrit

Verrazano Cycling announces new series out at Randall's Island, Sundays and Tuesday in March.

https://www.facebook.com/VerrazanoTeamRacing/photos/a.160754820942860/805443009807368/?type=3&theater

Looks cool , not sure about those giant rocks on the side of the course

@RobertMullen

https://www.facebook.com/events/405730769995064/

just checked out the course.  It's pretty narrow most of the way around, like a car lane, good for people who position well.  There's a short rise 100-150 meters before the finish that's also narrow (there's a wall on the left side of it and a massive post for lighting on the right side), which will make the sprint between the first four or six riders.  

There's a GO pro course ride on the website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIJT5-S5RZg

OK, this course has a ton of boulders. Does anyone know race director? I mean seriously, the finish stretch is literally a grove of boulders.

Now, I'm a nervous Nelly , but i watched the video and thought .....Fabio Casartelli

Yikes...this is incredibly dangerous for an inexperienced racers. This course does not allow for many missteps and with my limited experience, I will pass. 
The video does little justice for how dangerously narrow this course is, especially with a larger field (cat4/5). I believe this can be for a more experienced racer. My cat 5 guys, do much re-con before endeavoring. 

Full dusclosure....I’m not a huge fan of the race director. 

Yeah, Verrazano did add a big stupid artificial 180 degree chicane to one of their Floyd Thursday night races and everyone hated it 

Funny thing.  I assumed, wrongly, that the course would run counter-clockwise.  Wonder why they're going clockwise.

Joshua Wilson said:

Yikes...this is incredibly dangerous for an inexperienced racers. This course does not allow for many missteps and with my limited experience, I will pass. 
The video does little justice for how dangerously narrow this course is, especially with a larger field (cat4/5). I believe this can be for a more experienced racer. My cat 5 guys, do much re-con before endeavoring. 

Full dusclosure....I’m not a huge fan of the race director. 

Branchbrook is a really good race for beginners. You can race 2x per morning which is a super efficient way to gain experience in the pack.

Hey everyone,

The board has looked into this race and we are very concerned about the safety of the course. We strongly advise that members avoid this race until certain hazards have been remedied by the race organizer. There is a lot of other good racing to be had early this season, there is no need to risk injury or worse. If you have any questions or concerns don't hesitate to reach out to a member of the board. 

-The Board

Will Kalbacker said:

Hey everyone,

The board has looked into this race and we are very concerned about the safety of the course. We strongly advise that members avoid this race until certain hazards have been remedied by the race organizer. There is a lot of other good racing to be had early this season, there is no need to risk injury or worse. If you have any questions or concerns don't hesitate to reach out to a member of the board. 

-The Board

Will,
      Have you alerted the promoter?  Methinks it would help to let them know the club's position.

Love to see the club taking a stand on this. Chapeau to the Board.

Raced at Randall's this morning with Michael.  I raced there a few times last year.  It's narrow.  There's some technical turns.  It can be windy.  But I have yet to see anyone hit a boulder.  Alex (race director) has put up some pads on some of the more crucial large rocks.

Either way, it was business as usual; especially for an early season race.  A few guys tried to breakaway early, but didn't get far.  With about 10-12 laps to go 2 guys went off the front (one from CRCA develop, not sure about the other).  Until about 3-4 to go, their teammates we in the front 5 or so wheels keeping the pace down to help them stay away.  The right side of the finish straight was a solid spot to gain some positions today (wind from the North-ish).  I took advantage of that going into the bell lap.  Put a dig in and started opening up a gap.  We had slowly catching the break; it looked like they were starting to fade.  Caught a few riders that were out in no-man's land.  About half a lap in I was second guessing my decisions, but the break was within reach.  Going around the technical corners on the north side of the course I clipped a pedal, said some sort of expletive, and pushed on.  As I rounded the final bend into the finish straight, I hear the sounds of carbon hitting the ground from behind me.  Like a noob, I turn and glance.  I see the a crash at the front of the peloton.  I take my chance to catch the break.  The CRCA Dev rider opens his sprint and leaves his break-mate.  The other break guys is fading; I'm catching him.  I open up to go for second.  Then out of the corner of my eye I catch the green strips of a Veselka rider coming up the right.  I've got nothing to challenge him, but I did pip the other guys in the break for a 3rd place. 

Good start to the season.  Not sure how I feel about getting doused in champagne in this weather...

Congrats Greg! Well raced. 

Congrats!! what an awesome way to start the season!

The first few Randall's Island dates have been dropped on bikereg:

February 26th (https://www.bikereg.com/randallscrit)
March 4th (https://www.bikereg.com/randallscrit2)
March 18th (https://www.bikereg.com/randallscrit3)
March 19th (https://www.bikereg.com/randallscrit4)

Randall's has some good early season racing you can ride to and is a great way to shake off the winter rust to get into racing form before racing starts back up in Prospect Park.

I highly recommend Randall’s. It’s a fun course: short, flat, fast, with some fun corners and a good race vibe.

Here's a similarly technical crit with a Cat 5 rider and their coach breaking the race down. An excellent guide to setting yourself up for a chance at the W... as the saying goes "eat their lunch before you eat yours". Of course training for months to improve FTP and developing a 1500W kick was the key here    https://youtu.be/WG0wi_Cr_j0
Great channel btw: https://www.youtube.com/@NorCalCycling/videos

Yea the dude Jeff (NorCal) is training this season for his couch to crit series made crazy gains.  I wish I had a 1500w kick...

GregHoge said:

Yea the dude Jeff (NorCal) is training this season for his couch to crit series made crazy gains.  I wish I had a 1500w kick...

1500W isn't out of reach for your Greg. I went from mid 1200s to mid 1400s with one big chainring hill, a 200m sprint every ride, 20-10s and the odd staircase. If you worked on core and sprint specifics—box jumps!—you'd easily add 100W. 

Coming off a rest week on my training plan for KSR.  Raced 3/4s and P/1/2/3s back to back today.  It was rough.  First races of the season and didn't quite have the legs.  

3/4s - A single ride broke away and none of the team's wanted to chase.  At one point a couple of riders from Good Guy's Sat on the front and had a chat.  When someone decided to try and bridge, I went to jump on and dragged the field with me.  Hoping it wouldn't just be the 2 of us pulling the break back, I gave a pull only to find the guy who initiated the bridge on my wheel when I sat up.  Turns out the field was just looking for a few suckered to start chasing.  Eventually got caught behind a split and never got back on terms. Ended up getting pulled with 2 to go.  Not the result I was hoping for.

P123 - I knew I probably wouldn't make it the whole race and after how the 3/4 race went I lowered my expectations further.  Made it 1 lap until I was gapped.  Sat up after another lap cause there was still an hour left in the race and the gap kept getting bigger...

Rough day out and a brutal reminder that I need to stay towards the front of the field.