Bump!

Saturday, June 22, 2024 is Grant's Tomb Crit which is the NY STATE CRIT CHAMPIONSHIPS.

https://www.bikereg.com/crcagct

With three weeks of local racing in a row, we could get ourselves ready for the team game of this event.  It's more fun, and the chance of a better result increases, with teammates.

If you're among those who hasn't raced Grant's before, it is a turny criterium with two rises.  It helps to be both a good bike handler and comfortable on short hills.  Read the thread for racing advice.

The pre-reg is $40 now, but will increase by $5 increments to $60.

I'm planning on doing the 55-plus.  For fun, I'm considering doubling up and doing the 1/2/  

Anyone joining?

Bump!  State Championships in NYC.  A great course.

https://www.bikereg.com/crcagtc

Going to try to make it out to spectate the earlier races.

JP, is there a single NYS champion for the combined masters groups or do each of the age groups (45-54, 55-64, 65+) individually get categorization? Because as of now there are only 5 registered 55+and I LOVE those odds for you.

David Yang said:

Going to try to make it out to spectate the earlier races.

JP, is there a single NYS champion for the combined masters groups or does each of the age groups (45-54, 55-64, 65+) individually get categorization? Because as of now there are only 5 registered 55+ in the group you're in and I LOVE those odds for you.

I think it's separetly scored.  And I'd bet that the numbers will go up.  I think the Axis team, of which only one is registered thusfar, will have a bunch.  And Tom Cipolla of Brands/Metra will probably get support from Chris Loehner.  

Still, yes.

And can we get a team for the Cat 4 championship?

Any advice or thoughts on going for the cat 5 race vs the 4/5 mixed?  Also considering just sending in for an upgrade and signing up for the Cat 4 only race

I'd say go for both (5 and 4/5).  You've been racing really well.  Race to win the first race, then use the second as training or to try some things out that you wouldn't normally do.

IMO, there's no reason to rush to upgrade.  It's easier to learn how to race in lower cats when you're not bleeding out of your eyeballs just to stay with the pack.

I agree with what Greg says: do the 5 then the 4/5 at Grants tomb. It’s a great opportunity to learn in the first race and then apply your learnings in the second. Both races are short enough that you shouldn’t be too tired, and you’re doing really well in racing right now.

Also, agreed, don’t rush the 4 upgrade. Use this as an opportunity to try and consistently podium or win some cat 5 races. It’ll only get harder to get consistent results as you move up.

Max I may do the early 4/5 race with you, can't stick around too long after that.

Okay Max looks like it may just be us in the 4/5. I'm not really in crit shape so will do my best to stay in the race and up front to chase things down if they look dangerous. If I'm still with it on the last 2 laps I'll do my best to keep us up front and in position.

Your mission is to stay safe and save your legs as much as possible and try to be top 10 (like everyone else lol) going into the kicker and downhill chute so you're not jockeying for position as you come out and hit the long drag to finish. Finish is deceptively long so on slower laps count the mississippis so you know where you want to sprint from (10-15 seconds out).

Race Report:

Cat 5:

I signed up for the Cat 5 and 4/5 race.  Plan going in was to try and race for a win/podium in the 5's and then just try a break or something in the 4/5s just to see. 

Well that all went out the window quite quickly.  Race took off at a pretty chill pace, like I said, my initial plan was to just sit in and try and have freshish legs for a fast finish.  First 10 minutes I did a pretty good job sitting 6-8 wheels back, there was one or two small attacks, but I did a good job of not getting too frantic and following that early in. 

Right about at the 10 minute mark, I decided to try for an attack and made a move on the short hill before turning into the descent portion of the loop. Not my original plan, but whatever. Got a solid gap quickly, and one rider bridged over with me.  We traded pulls for a few minutes before having another rider bridge across and zoom right by us.  Neither of us had the time to hop on his wheel (or the legs) and he took off solo.  We held a solid gap for a little over 10 minutes before eventually being brought back to the peloton (Solo rider still off the front).

Once we were brought back, I kept finding myself right back at the front, pulling the group, and remained there for a significant portion of the back half of the race.  All of a sudden I'd be up front pulling, I'd drift back, and then seemingly a minute later I was right back up eating wind.  The solo rider was still up ahead gaining time though, so I was doing my best to keep the pressure on

Last two laps things picked up, finally got into a better position and let others do some work.  At this point figured the solo break was not going to get caught.  Came into final straight, legs dead and held on for 5th.

Plot Twist: Solo winner turned out to be a cat 3 who raced under someone elses name and got DQ'd

Ended up being a pretty hard race for me, and with the heat decided to not race in the 4/5 after

JP podiums!!! Hell yes!!!

Awesome JP!!!

and good effort Max - what a move from that cat 3 guy. What’s the fun in winning a cat 5 race like that lol 

So close and yet so far.

As Dave pointed out earlier, it looked like I had a pretty good shot at winning this thing.  I figured Keith Ryan was the main threat and that his teammate Paul Carbonara would be the second threat.  Didn't realized Michael Sambrano, Strava sniper extraordinaire, was in the mix, or I would have included him.

The heat was a bit of a concern, but it's a double-edged sword.  While there's a concern about overheating, other people might wilt, which does mean that sometimes riding conservatively and waiting for others to overheat can be the wise move.

The first few laps were a bit chaotic as I tried to figure out which wheels I wanted to follow and which I didn't.  There were a bunch of guys who were not looking comfortable taking the 180 at full speed and a bunch who didn't go into turn three, the one into the hill, at full gas, either.  People who held back on both these turns made those behind them go even slower--I could fly up the hill seated when I had a good, clean line, but had to get out of the saddle and accelerate when not.  I didn't want to be any farther back than the third 55+, which typically meant I was somewhere between 5th and 20th, more in the 8th-15th wheel range.  There were more of the 45s and they were in attacking mood, though nothing was stickign for long.

As we hit three to go, Carbonara took a flyer, which had been something I was going to look for, but I was out of position to respond, and he didn't get far.  So it was looking like a sprint.

On the lasdt lap, I wanted to be the first 55+ in the group and in the top ten.  AFter the hill, I was there.  Felt good about that.  My thought was that we'd go through the 180 likely in single file and someone from the 45s would open up the sprint early, meaning I'd be ahead of the 55s, even if I wasn't sprinting well.  

Then I got bumped out of position. I lost five places, but slotted in behind Ryan before the 180.  Felt good again.  I could stay in his draft and outsprint him.

The sprint did open early.  And Keith tried to follow.  and I tried to follow Keith.  Ouch.  I could barely match him.  he opened up a bike length on me, which I closed down.  Then I could see he was fading.  But I was fading a bit worse.  I coudln't get around him and in the final 25 meters.  Dioslaki got around me.

I should have some podium pics from Ron Short and Kevin Hatt shortly.  CRCA will probably also have images up.

And, because I was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, I ended up doing commentary on the 3/4 race.  

Once again, I'm going to reiterate.  YOU SHOULD DO THIS RACE!  IT IS AN AWESOME COURSE.  And a nice change from our other local race venues.  

https://www.strava.com/activities/11715473335

Sounds like a great day of racing for both of you!  Congrats!

My short race report:

I've been working hard on ftp this last month after some time off the bike and it's been helpful in keeping me in the races. Today my mission was to not get dropped and maintain good position. The heat and humidity really took a toll on anyone attempting to break. Lawrence at ROR just about collapsed after the race because he took a flyer on like lap 12/20 and couldn't cool down. Lucky for me I'm in no shape to attack so hid behind the many considerably tall riders in the field and never really felt pressured. I guess I am expecting too much but the 4/5 mixed field was pretty terrible at cornering and it took me a bit before figuring out that eating 3 seconds of wind to take the inside lines let me pedal through without braking. At one point I was too focused on hiding behind a big rider providing ALL the shelter that I realized I had slid all the way to the back of the field. 2 fast corners later I was back to the front. On the bell lap I ate wind on each corner and found myself floating around 10th downhill. We flew out of the chute and I tried to put in a dig but just didn't have the snap and found myself sliding backwards. After a few guys sprinted around me I sat up and rolled in easy.

It's been a long while since I've raced a crit and glad Grant's was the one I returned to. It's such a forgiving and interesting course. Funny how it went from an early season "will it snow?" to a mid summer "will we all get heat stroke?" race.

Big ups to Max who mixed it up and tried things out in the 5 field and to Kevin who raced his first race EVER and looked supremely comfortable in the pack.

And of course congrats JP!!! It's been a long road to recovery from the last few years and so happy to see you on the podium. 

Found this video of the race yesterday: https://youtu.be/14I_cPS5zYo - great footage of Max going off the front at 10:40.

Achieved my goal of 1. Not crashing and 2. Finishing the race. Definitely caught the bug now and will be looking to sign up for some more!

Great job y'all!!

I wanna comment on a Cat 3 idiot, not only racing with a bandit number in a lower cat, but then deciding to attack and win solo, except there are no words, what the what the wtf?

This level of stupid is so legendary that word of it even reached me as I was riding back home via 9W... 

Anyone know where the photos get posted?  Saw alot of photographers out and the images I have seen posted looked great

Was the Cat 3 rider a local person?

@MaxBucksbaum

While I'm sure there will be more, this is the one gallery I found thusfar.  

https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/91116e6a999040419384e983a0649534

I expect that CRCA will have something on their Facebook page, it will be cross-posted to the CRCA Grant's Tomb Criterium page on FB.  I'd also check in with the ToBeDetermined website.  

GregHoge said:

Was the Cat 3 rider a local person?

Unsure, kit was unfamiliar but then again I'm not super familiar with all the crca teams. We can ask Tom - even if he wasn't there Mains Sports was doing the timing. (Unless JP knows!)

@MaxBucksbaum

https://bicycleracingpictures.shootproof.com/gallery/24856633/home

Lots of good photos here of the crew. The Cat3 was an L&D Cycles guy.

@MaxBucksbaum

https://bicycleracingpictures.shootproof.com/gallery/24856633/photo/3399700456

That's just teh first one I've found.

Here, you need to get lower.
https://bicycleracingpictures.shootproof.com/gallery/24856633/photo/3399700598

at the head of affairs
https://bicycleracingpictures.shootproof.com/gallery/24856633/photo/3399701134

Same race, same spot, same bike, same position, same stupid expression... taller, funner socks!

2024

2016

Almost same kit too even though one was in the middle of winter and one was in the middle of a heatwave!

Bring back that 2016 bar tape!

I may have had 2 jerseys on in 2016 mostly for the new sponsor kit.

If I can find the fizik metallic blue tape again I'll set it up with KCC colors.

Two images of the GT State Champs from Kevin Hatt.

Nice work versus the sprinters JP! 

Maybe you could take a step up the podium for $9 ?  

Grant's Tomb Registration is Up! -> https://www.bikereg.com/70847

I'll register for the 4 but thinking to also (or instead) do the 3/4 an hour later if we have a team? The 3/4 is 50 min which i guess is ~25 laps. Is this something we could train towards e.g. at the track?