josh is a cat 4 and has raced 28 times according to his USAC page: http://www.usacycling.org/results/?compid=356898

Maybe I overreacted. On second look, the course may not have been as dangerous as I thought. To illustrate my point, here's a video of Neil and Kyle going into the infamous chicane on the last lap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_aWsWrN6cs

Man those guys are good!

Max Skilz hombre... 

those who were there: i'm curious about whether the race organizers put hay bales/soft things in front of metal barriers at any points in the course?

@Brendan, i was there...&yes there were a smattering of hay bails/soft barriers, mostly @fire hydrants &other fixed hard street furnature/architecture. i must say i noted on my course walk around that there were NOT adequate soft barriers!!!!!!

my professionan design impression was that the Organizer did NOT adequately account for need for a considerable number of soft barriers.

for instance an experienced/considerate/saftey consceinious Organizer would have known to apply Liberially soft barriers all along the trailing face(north side...which Josh H carriened into...of the chacain) and the outside edge of the final exiting turn ofthr chacain, as well as throughout the course of (11)turns.

Brendan&Harlem (4) corner Crit participants REMEMBER to walk, ride, inspect CLOSELY THE ENTIRE COURSE for anomolies defects in pavement safe conditions HOURS BEFORE THE RACE, and notify the race Organizer of any percieved uunsafe conditions!

BTW... good luck &safe racing ALL!
-harryB;-)

I was talking to a mate Chris (who rides at the velodrome) Saturday night, he said the cause of some of the crashes was pedal strike. Track bikes have higher BB's, but maybe some were running longer cranks. Yikes.

GoPro from Canadian Mike's holeshot at last year's RHC

Aaron and I are racing this year. I'm definitely behind the ball fitness wise. The fact that 260+ are trying to qualify for a now reduced 80 main event field has me a little worried. Fingers crossed.

Add our new member Jesse Lash to your qualifying group Mattie. I just saw his name on the list.

Ya... I'm signed up but also a bit behind where I'd like to be in training. Realistically, I have no expectations of qualifying this year but wanted to get out there and see what the field is like.

I'll be running the women's 5k. Not as hardcore as you crit racers, but looking forward to watching and meeting more people.

ill be there too. wherever they end up needing spanish speaking volunteers, maybe reg? Glori signed up for the 5K too! looking forward to it @emily !

http://www.bikeworldnews.com/ and then scroll down a bit to the RHC article. Pic of Mattie.

I just saw that the after-party is also a fund-raiser for an injured cyclist.

No brakes only work when there is banking or grass and you're turning left. If it is raining... Just remember you have a long promising season ahead of you, especially on the track.

Andrew Da Silva said:

No brakes only works when there is banking and you're turning left. If it is raining... I hope Trimble has a good lawyer

who needs lawyers when you have redbull for a sponsor?

That too

I highly doubt that Trimble will cancel the race. His previous races have gone off in the rain.

On the legal side, he must have surely learned his lesson after Josh ripped his face off in June. I'm sure you've all signed releases in some form or another.

If the race goes on as planned, Aaron and Mattie are in Group 3 qualifying round @ 3:30p.  I'm going to try to be there for that.

Yep, rain or shine. Too much immobile infrastructure to bump the race. I'm going to qualify and go from there. I'm not going to throw my brand new Serotta down the road on that hairpin. I will be running 25c clinchers at 80-85 psi though.

i'll be there supporting/waiting for spectacular crashes

mattie davitt said:

Yep, rain or shine. Too much immobile infrastructure to bump the race. I'm going to qualify and go from there. I'm not going to throw my brand new Serotta down the road on that hairpin. I will be running 25c clinchers at 80-85 psi though.

solid idea.  

Mattie and Arron try and be with Keith. He lapped the field at states two years ago with JP, has been racing this silly race for a long time and he got a coach over the winter

FYI, from the National Weather Service

http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=NYZ075&warncounty=NYC047&firewxzone=NYZ075&local_place1=&product1=Hazardous+Weather+Outlook#.UzWT9VewX64

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
426 AM EDT FRI MAR 28 2014

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY.

THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR 2 TO 4 INCHES OF RAINFALL...WITH
LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE FROM SATURDAY INTO MONDAY MORNING.
THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL IS EXPECTED FROM SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY
MORNING. GIVEN THAT THE REGION HAS BEEN VERY DRY OF LATE...THE
MOST LIKELY RESULT FROM THIS RAINFALL IS URBAN FLOODING OF POOR
DRAINAGE AND LOW LYING AREAS. HOWEVER...GIVEN THE POSSIBILITY OF
ELEVATED CONVECTION THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE THAT THERE COULD BE
MORE SIGNIFICANT AND/OR MORE WIDESPREAD FLOODING FROM SATURDAY
NIGHT INTO SUNDAY.

I think Trimble might just have moved it to Monday... at least he changed the "passport" event to then

https://www.facebook.com/events/223145961218905/?ref_notif_type=plan_edited&source=1

How very confusing, but according to my contact, RACE IS STILL ON.

I contacted the organizer for the 5k and asked "Can you confirm whether this event, both the 5K races and the crit, is still taking place on Saturday?  I assume an official notice will go out if it is changed, but the "passport" date on the FB crit page has been changed to Monday."

Response is "Hi Emily, the event still on, rain or shine. See you tomorrow!"

For those who haven't heard.

I think I'm going to try to get down there in time for the men's race.  Anyone else?

Going to try to be there for qualifying and men's and women's races. Anyone want to head out from ride Brooklyn?

I'm going to ride there so I'll just meet you there.