I'll prob come out and support the orange and blue!

my buddy from school is registered but hasn't been riding at all, i'm trying to get him to withdraw if he's not going to bother coming out just to get dropped...

Sorry to hear about all the early season injuries. Hopefully, a little time off the bike and a more moderate build/foundation period will have you in fighting form for the summer.

Looking forward to seeing many of you out there racing and/or cheering. I'll be there with my ladies stop watch strapped to the wrist, timing gaps and shouting at you to "MOVE UP."

For those of you not at the Grant's Tomb workshop, let me share a few key points that will help you on Saturday and all crits.

1. WARM UP. The shorter the race, the longer/harder your warm-up needs to be. If you are riding in from Brooklyn, be sure to find a nice quite stretch of road to really crank out serious mega watts, but also give you time to recover from that effort before your start time. If you have cold legs, you will be dropped within 5 laps.
2. STAY UP FRONT. Grant's tomb is a pretty technical course that will punish those of you who insist on riding at the back. If you can't count the number of dudes in front of you, you are too far back. By racing near the front, you minimize the number of times you have to brake and accelerate out of turns. How many intervals can you do in March? Don't find out this Saturday, okay?
3. Suck Wind, IF NECESSARY. Chances are you might not get a great start. So look for your opportunities to move up. The home stretch is wide and windy, and you will always have room to move up on the right side of the road here. You may burn a lot of matches, but if you do it early enough, you should have time to recover near the front now that you don't have to do 4 VO2 max intervals every lap.
4. The best line is not always the shortest line. When carving through a corner, when it's not strung out, from mid-pack, you might just be better off letting the yahoos fight for the apex of the turn, while you maintain your momentum and pedal a wider arc through the turn. On Grant Tomb's "long course," for example there's a fast left-right combo, where you are descending, turn left up a short climb and then right for some more fast 2% descending. The right hand apex of that turn is ALWAYS is a cluster-fuck. The front guys will get through just fine, everyone else will have to brake and curse as they just gave themselves another interval. So here's how you take that turn: set up on the right side of the road, cut across the sewer grate as you turn left (most people are scared of this, so it will usually be open), let momentum carry you 1/2 up the climb and as you pedal go a little straighter up the climb, instead of making a b-line for the curb on the right side. Gently turn the corner and don't worry if you don't have a great draft, because in about 1/2 a second, the whole field is going to come back your way.
5. Go for a prime sprint. I don't know if they are going to have them at the race, but if they do, consider going for it, if for no other reason than you can test how your legs feel in a fight for the finish line sprint. One of the best sprinters I ever raced with, loved going for primes because he felt it really opened up his legs for the final mad dash to the line.
   

Marc, everything you just said is everything I wish I had done at GTC last year.

You are Yoda.

That is all.

^there is no trying spoon

Just got an email from the race organizers saying that 5 cyclists on the waitlist have now been able to register. I am still on the waitlist, but they think that my chances are decent that I should be able to race on Sat.  

I will be there too as a jacket-holder, encouragement shouter, heckler.

@ chris, i got the same email and replied that i'd love to do the race.. We are now 1&2 on the waitlist. Fingers crossed but i assume we'll be riding

I think you'll be in. There are always day of no shows. I reg'd for the 3s. Who is dangerous? I see Lance, I suppose we can count on RKO to throw everything on the wall and see what sticks. Who's feeling lively?

I'm in as of earlier in the week. Form is unknown but if I cannot ride a 45min crit then I should hang it up. I think this is a no brainer for kissena in the 3 race. We have the horsepower to shut everything down all we need to do is get malcomson a clean line out of the last turn. I seriously doubt any of the 3's can take him out up that finish. easy peezy.
RKO have numbers but that's it. They will spend the whole time looking around and riding like sketchy spazzes.
I will try once and for all to lap the field which is a life goal of mine when it comes to grants. If successful I will quit racing since there will be no greater accomplishment I can achieve.
kidding!
I will attack. And then attack again. But when push comes to shove I will try to be there at the end. We should win. It should not even be an issue.
That's not too much pressure is it? John?

Peace Be Upon You,

Keith

I'm in for the 4s.  Can't let Whitey do it alone.

I'm in for the 3s

@CAT 3
I just reg'd! Seriously suspect form after 3 weeks off. I rode a 60miler in NZ and finished, but am top-end challenged.

Joe seems confident and is frankly our best bet with Gardiner out. Dave V. would also be a danger man, but not sure on form post injury--Dave? Ok, I'm going to say we try get Joe and Dave in a last third break (they just chill their jets until then). With the rest of us in support. If a sprint, we lead out Mattie. Watchoo all reckon? I'll also volunteer to captain.
This is just my gut... Vlad I know you're super strong right now too. Keith & Hubbs your no slouches either, please chime in.

@Yacks. If there's one thing I've learned after 80 years of cycling, it's get off the bike the moment you feel knee pain. Glad to hear you're erring to caution, but huge bummer not to have you napalming this race.

@Joe. Alexi's FGX, Foundation and The BH Schmaltzer's will be strong too. Do you recognize those Foundationers btw? Always good to read CRCA's winner picks as well.

Floris Backer van Ommeren said:

@ chris, i got the same email and replied that i'd love to do the race.. We are now 1&2 on the waitlist. Fingers crossed but i assume we'll be riding

Cool.  Will keep my fingers crossed as well.  Can only hope for the best. 

@ 5s / other early birds. What are you doing for logistics? I'm a little concerned with riding up given the darkness (615 sunrise) and potentially icy conditions...I was thinking of driving or taking the train but wondering what other people are doing.

thanks

Floris Backer van Ommeren said:

@ 5s / other early birds. What are you doing for logistics? I'm a little concerned with riding up given the darkness (615 sunrise) and potentially icy conditions...I was thinking of driving or taking the train but wondering what other people are doing.

thanks

I froze my balls of last year.  Literally.  Down to one frostbitten nugget now.

Cat 3s. Thursday night advice (not to be confused with any thoughts that percolate to the top of my head on Friday when I'm chasing around the world's fastest crawler, my boy Peter):

• Definitely need a road captain. Malcolmson and Hubbard (Hubbard has a similar crit racing background to me) would be my two picks. I'll be on the sidelines shouting my advice, but you should have some in-field coordination.
• Take advantage of Keith. (you know you want to with his flecks of silvery manliness in his recently quaffed hair-do) If he says he's going to go balls-to-the-wall, and attack the crap out of the field, then be in position to take advantage of his hard work. I personally would like to see Keith ride a more controlled race, but I know better than to try and Jedi Mind Trick that dude.
• Don't discount the Kiwi. Especially you, Malcolmson. Don't discount yourself in the final sprint. Maybe this new found lack of confidence in your fitness will encourage you to start your final sprint from where mere mortals do.
  
• Keep it in perspective. The thing here, is that most of you guys are racing against local, non traveling guys. I chuckled when Perlberg bemoaned his lack of "race fitness" in a previous race report post on what was, exactly his first race of the year. If you race the pro 1/2 race, you have enough traveling elite cat 1s and other semi-pros who haven't been stuck in NYC all winter, and that can be an issue, if you are going up against guys who have been out racing in Southern California and Arizona, for example.
• Ride to the race, OR bring a trainer. I understand the icey dark thing, but riding through Manhattan at the ass-crack of before dawn is a beautiful rite of passage for all NYC racers. Just be careful and bring lots of extra clothes. You need to get a warm up in. NEED TO. HAVE TO. Especially if it's cold and wet/icey/snowy. Because you are going to want to go ballistic in the beginning and stay in front of the trouble from behind. And you can't do that if you don't have toasty, broken in legs that have already had a course of lactic acid run through them and back out again.
  

I'd say even if you're riding to the race, you'll wanna do some warm ups around the course if you can.  The legs get cold quick, and if there are any issues with moving of parked cars on the course (always a possibility at Grant's) there might be some waiting before you line up at the start.

Sorry, Marc - carry on.

Thanks Mark, right on the money as usual. 

Thanks @John Malcolmson

3s- I'm here to help. Branchbrook was a solid team control in the field. I woul suggest we ride and patrol the front. Follow folks, let the race work into the likely surges, simple breaks, early season anxiety and stay comfy and alert in the top 1/3.  Will be important NOT to sit in the yo yo land in the back 1/3 especially on that front stretch. You'll be riding like youre off the front.

Let's meet 30 min before start and roll around and see how all are felling.

Im happy to read the race for us and call ideas.  Real crits are real fun. Lets rock this shit.

The north wind along the river lately has been fierce. If even half of what it has been, the perceived pedaling resistance (gravity + wind) will be greater on the downhill stretch past the Tomb than on the uphill finishing stretch. This will make the fight to get to the 180 turn critical. As John says, if you can carry a lot of momentum out of that turn you will be well set up for the finish, but you will have to be near or at the front.

All I know is that I am FIRED UP to race tomorrow!

I'm not trying to be a party pooper, but Mother Nature is. I'd say that the likelihood of this race being cancelled seems pretty high right now. Cornering in these conditions would be ridiculous.