Brendan Rigby said:

visualizing, away!  it looks like one of the turns on that course is abusively sharp.

I can be...depending on which course they end up using based on how many cars they got towed the night before. But there's a really nice smooth way to take "turn one" on the short course. Fear not. We'll practice it many times.

i think the fact that the cat 5 field is less than 1/3 the size of the other ones (50 v. 175) indicates the general faith cyclists place in the ability of us newbies to stay on the course and off one another's wheels.  i look forward to learning the lines!

Marc Bertucco said:

Brendan Rigby said:

visualizing, away!  it looks like one of the turns on that course is abusively sharp.

I can be...

It's true - Marc can be abusively sharp.

You'll get a lesson you'll never forget.

Brendan Rigby said:

i think the fact that the cat 5 field is less than 1/3 the size of the other ones (50 v. 175) indicates the general faith cyclists place in the ability of us newbies to stay on the course and off one another's wheels.  i look forward to learning the lines!

You'll also be happy to shed 1/3 of those people in a matter of a few laps, so stay near the front. The ones you have to watch for are the guys that are strong but bad bike handlers who can stick with the group even though they can barely stay upright. Listen to Marc and try to keep just a few of the things he tells you in the front of your mind while you're racing (probably the hardest part of racing, not letting your brains leak out of your ears while on the rivet).

Just registered, KCC for the win!

Aaron Blum said:

So mad the cat 5 race is full i find out about these races kinda late

Everyone, lets "bump up" and refresh the "can't miss races" thread. If "riding in the heat, gets a permanent 1st page status, I think the "can't miss" thread deserves a "sticky" too.

Aaron Blum said:

So mad the cat 5 race is full i find out about these races kinda late

you can ride on my handle bars. it will increase my front wheel traction during turns.  everybody goes home happy.

Just got the last waitlist spot for cat 5.  See what happens.

Cross posted from the "Mentoring" thread:

The weekend of March 2/3, I'll be running a pre-race workshop of the following weekend's Grant's Tomb. Topics to be covered include:

• The ideal racing line on both the short and long courses
• Alternate lines through key corners
• When you stick to the "ideal" and when you take an "alternate" route
• Team racing tactical suggestions (individualized for your racing field based on who is pre-registered)
• The final sprint: How to achieve success even if your name isn't John "I don't care what Bertucco said, I'm going to start my sprint from 300 meters out into a cross-headwind, up a 2% false flat and still win" Malcolmson.
• Hot laps
• Sprinting practice
  

I expect to spend roughly 45 minutes to an hour on this workshop. The course will be open to traffic, but early on a weekend morning (say between 7:30 and 8), we shouldn't have too many problems getting done what we need to get done.

I do want to keep this early so that folks who are on their way to meet guys by the GWB for a weekend ride don't have to miss out on the group ride fun that typically starts at 9am.

I'd like to hear from folks who might be interested in attending which morning, the 2nd or the 3rd, would work better for you. If Anthony Van Dunk gets his spring series going in CP on either of those days, then I'll hold the workshop after his morning race.

The spring series starts march 3rd.  I'd be up for either of the days for the workshop.

Bruce van-Schalkwyk said:

The spring series starts march 3rd.  I'd be up for either of the days for the workshop.

Huh...good detective work Bruce. Thanks!

For my own personal edification, I dug a little deeper, first going to AVD's twitter account and saw nothing, then clicked on his website and saw nothing about dates, clicked on his embedded bikereg.com link and got zapped to a general page of all road races throughout the country, no mention of the Spring Series still, then clicked on the PDF flyer and there you have it. The dates! Ahhh, it wouldn't be spring in NYC without AVD's race series. At least he's not promising to send results to USA Cycling anymore.

Still, it's always awesome to be able to race in CP so early in the year. So I still gotta give it up to AVD for getting something done year after year after year.

I could do either the morning of the second or the third.  I prefer the third, as it is a Sunday and Sunday's group ride tends to be larger in my limited experience.  So I will already be up in that area for the group ride.

I'm fine with either day

Okay, here's the plan. We'll meet up at the start-finish after the CP races, and ride together to the Grant's Tomb course for the workshop on the 3rd. If the weather's absolutely for shit...we'll re-evaluate/re-schedule as necessary.

As far as the 2nd...since the first couple of Spring Series races are happening those first two weekends, and I'm not working that weekend, I'm going to lead a general course run-through of the Central Park race course on SATURDAY the 2nd. I'm flexible on time, but I was thinking around 8:30 am, which after a couple of laps of the course and chatting, should give you plenty of time to head over the GWB for whatever Pre-race ride you want to do and still get home at a reasonable hour.

Hey marc, I'm new here so not quite sure how this works. Is this workshop only for those registered for grant's tomb?

If not then I'm totally down for whichever of the days. Maybe both!

Edwin and all...all my workshops are open to all, no need to be registered for any race...last years crit workshop even had someone from another club join us. This Grants tomb event is going to be a little less of the "drills and skills" that makes up my crit workshop later in the year. It's really about familiarizing yourself with the grants tomb course. Naturally we will discuss and practice some of the key parts of the course and some of the specifics will mirror good general principles of good crit racing. Hope to see a lot of you there. And don't forget about Saturdays central park run through too...for those of you not doing Branchbrook.

I am interested in doing this race, but am unlikely to do any others before for a warm up.  Marc, your workshops sound good, and I will see if I can arrange to do it.  As I have not been riding out doors much, and have only been riding on the trainer, I have only my threshold numbers to go by to judge fitness.  I dont want to go into the race and get blown out.   I am coming back from a season off with a neck injury, and I think i was stronger at this time of year going into the spring series races.   Are there any 4's thinking of racing who are pushing about 270 now?  Is that too low for GT?

McKay,

I would also think it would depend on whether you weigh 45 or 90 kg. If you are 45kg lets see if we can get KCC an entry into the TdF.

good points   
as far as i can tell from the the workout data,I should be around 270 for an hour, but it hasnt been  a TT  since december.   they have been various types of intervals.  i think the score is rated as a % of cumulative power output?  so if i set it for 270 as the power threshold, i think the program gives the equivalent of say 95-97% of what a TT (100%) would be.  (for example, 5 x 8 min intervals, at 95-125% ramps, seems to say 95% .  I think it is a "T" score or something?)

I dont know about the jump, it has been a while.    it seemed to be there in   CP and PP races, but not so much  at FB, or if i grabbed  a prime.  at my age, i am thinking i pretty  much only get to shoot one load,  not much left for a second.
 regarding kilos, perhaps that is more germain to the issue.  at 3w/k, i expect i am not in danger of joining a race with any climbing.  yes, anyone at kissena at 6w/k we should mail to france immediately.    Not having raced GT, i dont have a sense of how hilly it is.   i do have a really hard time with the hill in CP races, and benefit from the downhill in PP races in the leadup to the finish.  If GT seems like more climbing than a CP race, i can see getting dropped. I recall a video looking like most of the race is a single line, not much peloton?  Perhaps it is much faster than a park race?  Fast good, hills bad.

I registered for GT but now am unable to make it.  I know I can cancel on bikereg, but if there is some way to transfer the registration to someone in the club, that'd obviously be better.

So if I can transfer, and someone wants it (it's for 5s), let me know.

Mark Clifford said:

I registered for GT but now am unable to make it.  I know I can cancel on bikereg, but if there is some way to transfer the registration to someone in the club, that'd obviously be better.

So if I can transfer, and someone wants it (it's for 5s), let me know.

I'd love to take it if that is an option. 

McKay, deciding whether to do a criterium based on your hour long steady state power numbers for one hour is almost as relevant as the time I went out to do a solo pre-ride of a windy, flat Midwest road race, and decided not to race because I was going so slow, that I figured I could never keep up. When I read posts like yours, it just makes me want to come to all of your houses and rip out your power meters and throw them away. I've said this before, I'm no old school grouch...I've been training with power for longer than, I think anyone on the club (longer than JP by a couple of years anyway), but there's so much more to success at Grants Tomb than your average power. Some of the teams strongest watt monsters have been crushed at grants tomb...dnfs galore. Try to make it to my workshop on the third and well talk about the best ways to succeed at Grants Tomb. Don't make me name drop here...I'm fat and slow these days, but I know how to race a crit.

Also, there is great value in doing a race even if you get destroyed...so many things to learn. In my mind there is nothing more intense and exciting as an honest to goodness crit. Adrenaline junkies must apply!

well, then, there's no help for it.  i will have to race.  (taste of copper in the back of my mouth)

threshold doesn't matter as much at grants. i would try and get some solid 1-5 minute sessions in though. the short little power climb will hurt, but also a great place to pick up spots by giving a nice 20 second kick. every year, i want to quit after 15 minutes at grants. then it gets better. i'm not, nor ever have been a big ftp guy, i, like you have a healthy sub 5 minute power profile. grants is a great place for that. get at and stay near the front. half the field will be blown out the back by the end.

also, @johnny mac, not looking to repeat, or just waiting to register?

mattie davitt said:

also, @johnny mac, not looking to repeat, or just waiting to register?

Rumor has it Johnny is down under preparing to crush the dreams of all northerners under his alligator boot skinned heel...

Grants Tomb is the one race a year that I will fight for position in the first corner.  I will chop your wheel, kick, pull hair, scratch and insult your moms.  If you can make sure that you are ALWAYS in the top ten of that race, you can ensure that you are going to finish.  The attrition starts early and I have waaay too much pride to get dropped.  Pride has been attributed to a ten point increase in hematocrit.  Here is a tutorial on the power of pride:

Hey Foundation guy...you are CHOPPED !!