and you can get twisted on the train during the ride back

I have a (small) space in my Mini (no room for three sets of spare wheels). Racing in the afternoon with the other geezers, though.

I'm taking Metro north- 9:48 out of Grand central, 11:35 @ Pawling. If you want to join let me know and we can meet up at GC

@eragot
9am inside the park near GAP ?

Yep

Kissena 3/4 racers:

Team meeting tomorrow at 12:40 sharp in the shade to the left of the finish line.

We'll discuss tactics and roles.

This is going to be an awesome race for us tomorrow - we have several great hands to play.

Sleep well and drink lots of water; it will be hot tomorrow.

Race start is at 1:07

Best wishes for Pawling tomorrow, gents. Go rip their legs off and bring home the bacon.

Hey all, I've a last minute opening in my car going up to Pawling tomorrow for the am races leaving from Park Slope at 5:25 and Wliiamsburg at 5:45. Last time I'll check the board will be about 8pm.

Quick update from Pawling, tito 10th and me 9th in the 4 under 35, out of small bunch sprint finish. Jeff Owens rode really strong as well. And Jeff C won the 5 race! Heard Jorge went down, hope he's okay. Good luck to the 3/4 team

Yayuh - Jeff was a great rouleur; kept both Ryan and I protected a lot and gave us a leg up on some climbs. I blew the sprint - I was in the front on that final stretch around the bog (fiddlehead fern!), instead of marking a promising big boy and getting on their wheel, and everyone swarmed around me.

In the money! Nicely done, fellas! Looking forward to hearing from WDC and the 3Boyz.

Yeah, I was happy that I was able to stay with everyone until the last climbs, and even then a small group of 5 of us were only about 25 seconds down during the second climb. So, for a big, out of shape guy, I seem to be coming around to some semblance of form. Ryan and Tito looked great. There was this tiny 20yr old that shows up at all the climbing races and flies away from everyone uphill. But this team of "(I already forgot their names)" had three strong riders that were able to regroup on the second lap and they might have come in 1,2,3. Heh. They were super nice guys too, congratulating us for keeping the tempo up and stringing things out.

It was starting to get hot, so add another 20 miles and in even warmer conditions....Good luck to the 3/4 group!

Great course though. Thanks to Chris' crew for helping the the h2o hand ups.

Jumping in the lake was $5, so I skipped. The less patroled parts of the lake had "algae pesticide treatment" (or something) warning signs.....probably just to scare off us freeloaders. But you have been warned.

And props to the junior racer who picked up an empty, discarded gel pack that another rider threw down at the start line. I said, "HEY SOMEBODY DROPPED A GEL" loud enough for the slob to hear, but he just ignored it and the nice kid picked it up, found out it was empty, and still put it in his jersey pocket. Kids these days ROCK!

And thanks to Jim and his awesome party wagon and door to door service.

nice job yall!

Congrats to all!! Nice job Jeff wining the 5's!!
I went down hard in the downhill after the first climb, around mile 13... Took a hard right turn too wide and hit yhe gravel and slid to land on my shoulder / chest side... I'm Ok, feeling all bruised up and road rash all over my right side, shoulder, back and hip. Shoulder seems fine, my chest side hurts more, but I think its oK.
Finished the race, not last!! Passed some guys...
Apart of that and having to wake up that early to hit the ground and only ride 20 miles, great race!!
Looking forward for next years as a 4.

Damn, Jorge, that's a bad feeling, many of us have been there! Heal up. Careful what you wish re: extra laps. They hurt!!

I left my shoes (Sidis) near where I parked my car on the grass next to the fence (on the side of the lake), near the feed zone... did anyone notice them? Is there someone I can contact for lost and found.

John Sand: I was in the the car with Ryan and apparently he left his Garmin module at the race last year. Someone picked it up and the promoter sent out a email out that there was an unclaimed Garmin thing. Maybe Ryan can tell you who to call if you can't find out.

RR:
We lined up 8 strong for the 3/4 race today: WDC, Woj, Ragot, Mike P, John S, Norm, Dave V, and myself. The neutral start was pretty uneventful and once we pedaled through that Mike P took off. (Did he live tweet that already?) Someone went to bridge and Ragot stuck his wheel to put two K's away and take some of the pressure off of us from chasing. I hung with WDC, and Woj, in the pack trying to save as much energy as I could. We caught back up to Mike and Ragot pretty much at the base of the first big climb. Everyone took the climb pretty moderate and once at the top I believe there was an attack which Dave V covered and got a bit of a gap on the field. Once that break came back. Starting the second lap we had a rider with 1:15 gap off the front. It was tough to get everyone to work together and WDC, Woj, and my self made some feeble attempts but couldn't really get anyone to pull though. Everyone kept accusing us of "attacking the field", so once we got it sorted out that we wanted to reel in the lone rider off the front Mike P showed up and between some Sententa guys, Mike, Woj, myself and a handful of others we were able to bring him back before the climb. No real breaks took any shape for the third lap but this is when everything started to get really strung out. We still had WDC Woj, and myself. Also Al and another BH guy were around and they were being cool to work with. So WDC filled me in on the plan to push hard up the second to last hill then once we make a left someone would attack to make the others work while WDC sat on. I decided to push up the second to last hill to try and thin things out, I was going great until about halfway up then Nick from Hudson and another guy went right on by like I was standing still I was able to fight my way over to make sure I didn't get gapped and could recover on the down hill. We made the left to start climbing the final hill and I was really hurting, never quite recovered did whatever I had to do to stay with the lead group. Made it over the last hill and had pretty bad positioning with about 15 guys including WDC in the bunch. I felt good by then but never really felt like mixing it up to push my way to the front. Al gave me a little scare when a SUV came in the opposite direction and he was pretty far left... So we hit the 100m mark and I dropped gears and started "sprinting" and worked my way through the guys who were fading. I ended up coming in around 11th right behind Al and just before WDC. I'm pretty happy with the result but I should have done a little more for WDC on the final sprint.

J

Nice one Jeff - it was just a matter of time but a great one to come in first. I'll look forward to hearing the full race report. Sorry to hear about the fall Jorge - feel better soon.

Thanks dan , I posted on the Pawling cycles facebook and apparently someone turned them in to the shop guys.

Hey John did you get the email from the race: Call Pawling Cycle and Sport to claim these items (845-855-9866).

I had a great time out there. It was hard. Congrats to the Kissena guys that made it to the finish in the final select group.

A few notes on Joe's report:

I actually made it over the first climb with about a 40 second lead. I was hoping to force some folks into the wind to chase, but I think I lost a huge chunk of my lead over the first climb. I lost the rest of my lead on the flats and into the beginning of the descent. Dave V passed me in small group on the descent but I was pretty toast so I let him cruise away. I don't know it it was effective at all in forcing other teams to work, but I hope it did something.

I got dropped on the second lap up the first climb, really close to the top. I thought I was done, but spent a long time chasing, and caught back on about half way up the 2nd climb. I had to really dig deep to make it over the final steep climb on the 2nd lap.

I figured I would rest as much as I could and try to survive the final time up climb #1. Then I was told someone had a 1:15 lead. I went to the front as quick as I could and hammered away with the guys. Those efforts were pretty much all I had left and by about 1/4 up the first climb I could barely turn over the pedals.

I watched the field cruise away and I weighed my options. I didn't think I could even make it up that damn climb so I turned around and rode the course in reverse back to the start finish with enough time to catch the finish. It took them maybe only a minute or two to get there by the time I arrived...I'm glad I didn't try to finish, it would have taken forever.

Great racing!

Mike

Yeah, I just got it. phew. Nice job out there guys. I saw WDC Woj and Joe climbing on the second (or third?) lap lookin' mighty strong.

I flatted on the first lap and it sucked.

A million thank you's to the team.

You guys were truly tremendous.

I'm very sorry I didn't finish it off for you today.

WDC: How was the lake?

Sorry I didn't have the legs to help out after that second hill William. After it I barely kept contact with the group.

The descents were something I am definitely not used to, not in a pack atleast.

Comparing it to housatonic: longer, steadier climbs today but an equal amount of climbing. I seriously underestimated this race

Good job everyone nevertheless, we worked great as a team.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: Jeff Owens</cite>
And props to the junior racer who picked up an empty, discarded gel pack that another rider threw down at the start line. I said, "HEY SOMEBODY DROPPED A GEL" loud enough for the slob to hear, but he just ignored it and the nice kid picked it up, found out it was empty, and still put it in his jersey pocket. Kids these days ROCK!</blockquote>

Jeff, what an old guy like you is supposed to do is pick up the wrapper and hand it to the guy and loudly say, "I think you dropped this." And if he doesn't take it, tell him,"Maybe the official has a garbage bag or something."

When you race the Tour, or Vuelta, or Giro, that wrapper might be manna from a god. Here, it's litter and the guy is a bum. A bum who is jeopardizing a race.

I felt good today (at first), but I could not hang with the 3/4 race on the 1st big climb. I scrambled to get onboard the front group early in the second lap, was feeling good, then dropped on that climb again and could not repeat the scramble. No excuse.

On the bright side. My new Skeletor felt great --it felt much sportier than my lovely IF, but it kept giving me lip when I was trying to climb --"dude, is that all you got?".

Great racing all 'round --congrats to Ryan, Tito, WDC and Joe... and what a nice win Jeff C.!

Sorry Jorge --feel better soon. I recommend Tega-derm for the road rash, and a nice Chilean Cabernet for the bone aches.

Congrat's all. Esp. Jeff on the win. Took a bunch of pics of the afternoon fields. Nice form Stéphane, I could tell you really went to the limit to stay with your bunch! Did you make it back on?

I raced the 35+ at 9am with Ian, Jim, Stearns and Eric Voss and knew from halfway up the first climb it was not going to be my day, but I did manage to chase back some time on the descent. Haven't had that much fun racing in a while, felt great blasting downhill and mashing through the climbs (just scraped by with the 39x23).
Not sure of the final placings but I was well back. I caught up with Ian lap 2 and we worked a 5 man chase group for a while before the NY Velo guy shattered it on the climb. Maybe I caught Eric too on the last climb. Rolled in mid field. How'd the other guys do?

Mitch Sonies and I did a few laps of the lake post-race—capped off a great morning (FYI: you just have to ask for a BayWatch style floaty and they'll let you swim anywhere in the lake).

I have more pics, but sad to say not too many Kissena pics came out :B

Posted By: John Malcolmsonfelt great blasting downhill and mashing through the climbs (just scraped by with the 39x23).

Hey, all you old-school ball-busters that apparently don't give a shit about your tendons and ligaments...we do not live in Illinois, get a 25. And if you plan to race Catskills and/or Green Mountain, a 27 or larger is mandatory.