I'm still a fresh 4 with very little racing experience, but --if I learn how to execute on a team stratagem in the early-to-mid season-- then I'd love to act as captain in a race or two later on. So, I will plan on joining for the Tactics Talk on the 28th.

Last year I was at the Velodrome every Wednesday from early May till late July ( when I suffered the "I am burnt out and need to not think about bikes till september for CYCLOCROSS" flu). I thought I was pretty friendly with everyone there, and am pretty sure I had to do with the recruitment of at least two track racers (not counting Emily).

sooooo I would really like to be the Cat 4/5 captain at kissena wednesdays.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: Dan Reiners</cite>I will probably try my hand at being a Cat 4 road captain. Certainly for L&C races. I might not be much use in the spring series, since it is too early in my year.</blockquote>

I like this. Dan was a good coach today for our rotating paceline back from Piermont.

Cat 5 Central Park Racers, for this first week, I'll be playing the part of your captain. Naturally, I won't be able to be in the race with you...but, I will be there to lead a brief team racing meeting in the morning immediately before the race, and a debriefing of your race afterwards (which means you have to stick around until the 1/2/3 field finishes).

And if you want, we can try and find a time to meet in person this week to discuss general racing strategies and tactics. It would be nice if you could make it out to JP's tactic talk tomorrow night (two-birds, one stone!) where we can talk more about the unique challenges to racing in Central Park.

I'm going to start a conversation thread where we can introduce ourselves, and start a discussion of the upcoming race, namely what we think our roles might be. Not sure? Too new to the sport? You're never too new to start thinking critically about how to approach a race. And I'm here to help you focus.

A month into the racing season, I wanted to check in with the club about how you think things are going with the new road captain system.

Now that you've had some races together, there might be a tendency to get a little more casual about the organization, and that's okay as long as everyone is on the same page. But every week is just different enough that it's still a good idea to have at least a quick chat before the race. Whether you've got a new guy who just joined the racing fun, or someone's upgraded to the next category, or are racing with a diminished line-up due to your teammates' family and other race conflicts, it's still worth having the pre- and post-race meetings. As a reminder, road captains are responsible for setting time and location of meetings, starting the conversation, giving instructions as needed during the heat of the action.

I think things are still going pretty well, and we still race better as a team than anyone else in NYC, but let's keep that paceline a little tighter to continue earning the successes you've already had this year.

Marc,
Good point about being rigorous about pre-race powwow's . Cat 5 team has had a few start line huddles, which isn't so smart (It is helpful for pointing out the contenders though!). So, 6am next to the tent bins and then post race let's meet at S/F and roll around a lap to debrief.

I feel the single biggest thing that will ensure our team's success is training together—if you can make it out to one of the morning rides this week that'd be huge. Maybe we start a Google calendar for training so people can coordinate? Perhaps we could add a "training" calendar to the existing race calendar—Dan/Marc?

I think the Google calendar for training is an awesome idea.

John,

do you mind putting together a google calendar, you can add a tab to the current racing calendar.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhOIxu6IIA_HdFYtWnNtMkg4OU43MHhINW1yRWxRWVE&hl=en#gid=0