It was so good to see you again BvS!

A simple "awesome" tag seems insufficient for such an excellent tale @Bruce van-Schalkwyk

best & sweetest report ever 

That was magical.  It was a pleasure meeting you @Bruce van-Schalkwyk.  Hope to ride with you more often!

Wonderful, poetic ride report Bruce! It was great riding and conversing with you, and the big group of Kissenistas who we met up with at various points along the way. I was a little disappointed that only 1 of the 5 new riders who's signed up for the shop ride actually showed up. That one rider, Bea, as Bruce noted, had an issue with a small crack in her rear rim, but it didn't affect her riding and she was generally strong, competent and confident.  She's done Grand Fondos and some park races in the past year. She wasn't quite up to the pace set by the group, but she wasn't off by much. She expressed satisfaction with her experience riding with us, and seemed interested in continuing. I think it would be great to get some women on team, but I'm not sure how to support her development. I'm thinking it would be best if we can recruit some additonal women. There are a few who have expressed interest recently, but not shown up at new member rides. Have we, in anyone's memory, had a solid group of women as members? Any thoughts about how, or whether to, pursue this?

We had a pretty solid group about 10 years back but NYC being sort of a transient town people moved out and on to other places. Did you get a sense that Bea was looking for riding pals or if she was focused on learning how to race?

Just a note , but two weekends ago the amount of women out riding 9W ( assuming part of the Rapha Women’s 100 event) was beyond impressive ,
don’t really know a good way to recruit as Bruce said Kayt was a huge factor then 

Kait and then Jill were a huge factor about 10 years ago (altho feels more recent) Stacey Jensen was too in the past, she even was president of the club about 15 years ago. 

The other side of the coin, we are often a good place for anyone to get started cycling or level up in NYC, and then move on to other teams/crews (while there's a conversation worth having about this too) --

There's no need to overthink this. If someone is a good fit and wants to join, welcome! We'll help you level up regardless.

let's go ride bikes!

First off, discussing ways to boost club membership is worthy of its own thread.  

Yes, all organizations need to keep replenishing the member ranks, as churn is a fact of life.  

Women joining racing clubs are a particularly tricky thing here in NYC.  Essentially, CRCA runs a cartel that makes it hard for other clubs to have female racing members, unless those members are comfortable not racing in the womens-only races in Central Park.  

mugwump said:

Essentially, CRCA runs a cartel that makes it hard for other clubs to have female racing members, unless those members are comfortable not racing in the womens-only races in Central Park.  

This conversation (including Gentleman Bruce's comments) is almost verbatum what the club has been discussing since 2010.

As @mugwump points out CRCA runs a cartel; KCC women aren't allowed into their races, which makes racing for KCC a pretty limiting experience for women. The last time we asked, CRCA politely told us we could solve our problem if we just became a CRCA sub-team. (I'm pretty sure I still have that email  )

Kate is and was a force of nature for KCC. We didn't recruit her, she chose us and we just rode the lightning.

Generally agree that this conversation belongs in its own thread, and it is a constant topic of the board.

While I share some of the sentiment, and understand where it comes from, I'll play devil's advocate and warn that comments like "CRCA runs a cartel" are an over simplification, likely undermining many considerations of running CRCA, the largest cycling club in the country.

Every CRCA open race has Women's fields. 

-- We should be specially careful, because the same cannot be said of all Kissena races. Kissena sponsored series did not even have a women's field until last year (this too is an oversimplification, btw)

The questions we should be asking, and we are, is what Kissena should be doing to attract and better serve a more diverse cohort. 

This Sunday Sept 22 aprox 9am Cunningham on cyclocross bikes. 

Let me know here or via text if you wanna join: 347.225.1058

If I don't hear from anyone I might change my start time.

eloy said:

This Sunday Sept 22 aprox 9am Cunningham on cyclocross bikes. 

Let me know here or via text if you wanna join: 347.225.1058

If I don't hear from anyone I might change my start time.

Considering it.  Need to figure out other timing before committing though.

I’m a maybe 
what time train do you take @eloy

7:44am train — gets us there 8:30ish
theres a 8:04 am that works too 
@Mark Taylor

See you at Atlantic 

Fellas,
       Looks like I'd have to get on the bike earlier than I'd like and leave at 10am to get back.  

       I think I'm going to pass.  Shred without me.

Tomorrow is my cross build day. Was supposed to be today but bonked pretty hard and it’s taken me until now to feel better. Excited to join more cross shredding soon

I’m actually do a road ride , loving the weather now 
sorry

will miss you 😢 but yeah it’s a gorgs day out, enjoy your ride @Mark Taylor

Heads up that they’re closing the GWB bike path for repairs on Saturday: https://www.panynj.gov/port-authority/en/press-room/press-release-archives/2024-Press-Releases/travel-advisory----george-washington-bridge-s-north-walk-to-clos.html

Might try to do 9W tomorrow then, depending on how I feel after a concert tonight and how the weather shapes up in the morning.

Saturday’s weather forecast failed kitted up and road to the park at which point both Jeff and I bailed , headed home debated a quick trip to Shirley Chisholm after women’s road race ,still raining 
did my first ever FTP test on my new Zwift ride it was horrible and extremely disappointing 
Thank god Sundays forecast was better 35% chance of rain stopping at 7am , No chance rained on the entire ride , did low road with Jeff and through Rockleigh straight through Columbia without coffee stop😩 shorts and short sleeve jersey left me pretty cold when I got home , glad I went out 

Maybe not the right thread for it, I have a 100mi ride on the schedule for this weekend. Due to GWB closure, I'm planning my first wormhole out to Long Island. I am sort of riffing on this route via Strava, not trying to overthink it, but looking for any glaring/eye popping feedback of certain areas to avoid or if this should be generally fine. Looks like I'll have a tail wind out in the morning and a crosswind/headwind on the way back. c'est la vie 

https://www.strava.com/routes/3275599035861497290

With the GWB , does anyone have any good westchester loops, leaving from NYC etc

I'm looking to do this route in the near future (not this weekend).  https://www.strava.com/routes/3227098368234913686

You can also take the south county trail up to the Tappan Zee.  That'll put you in Nyack.