McKay, those guys were fairly enormous. Took a wrong turn on their way to the T-town?
More pics here:
http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cyclings/Tuesday-Night-Race-at-FBF511/17011828_r943rT#1287605697_D75cVGN

@ Neil: F3 "boxed in like Christmas" F4 "chased like swarm of angry killer bees" F5 "2nd victory lap"

i may have to pop in one tuesday and throw elbows. would it be a deathwish to ride 88mm wheels? it's been a while

ohhh, shit. 88mm wheels. That would be so fucking awesome to see you blown sideways taking out the field like a bowling ball taking out ten pins. If only we could figure out a way to arrange that without anyone getting hurt. Too bad we're not cartoons I guess. Hey, speaking of...we've got some artists on the club. Any of you like to illustrate? That would be a fun comic to see on our website or something.

Posted By: Marc Bertuccoohhh, shit. 88mm wheels. That would be so fucking awesome to see you blown sideways taking out the field like a bowling ball taking out ten pins. If only we could figure out a way to arrange that without anyone getting hurt. Too bad we're not cartoons I guess. Hey, speaking of...we've got some artists on the club. Any of you like to illustrate? That would be a fun comic to see on our website or something.

88mm on a cervelo soloist-sl with a ridic oval concepts aero fork. it has the side area of an 18 wheeler. little spanish climbers need not apply.

Posted By: mattie davitt

88mm on a cervelo soloist-sl with a ridic oval concepts aero fork. it has the side area of an 18 wheeler. little spanish climbers need not apply.

Dude, that isn't a bike that's a sail.

Posted By: Dan ReinersDude, that isn't a bike that's a sail.

if we tie a string to him at least the kids can have some fun.

Lols. Mattie D - scariest kite ever.

Anyone else commng out tonight? Its supposed to rain at 5 but should be fine by 7

I am out. I don't think I can make it back for the race tonight.

i am planning on going

Ah, the flavor flave of floyd dirt between my teeth, doesnt get much better than that! for my first race as a 4, it turned out to be nice racing weather this evening. Wojciech and John were racing as well. My plan was to just see if i could not get dropped. i floated around the pack, getting a sense of how it was different from 5 races. a bit. more consistent flow from front to back. I saw John battle for a few sprints. In the last two laps, i worked my way up near the front. Wojciech was in front, and made a couple of attacks. I soft pedaled a bit to let him get some distance, but people came around me pretty quickly, and he did not get away. I found myself in 3rd wheel going into the second to last corner, and did not pick a good wheel to follow when the final leadouts came around me. (read: blew a gasket trying to keep up with the mad pace, and did not have a sprint for the finish) I think John was near winning, but i dont know what place he finally got. I followed the sprinters in for 12th.

RR 5/24:
Rode the green jersey tonight! Felt like caca as still recovering from the weekend sickness.

Wojciech burned it up trying to get away all night, fast pace. Too hard to get away. 3rd in Sprint 1.

Got called a guinea Pig by W.S. United guys for leading Frias out in sprint 2, (4th). Guy seriously needed to use his inside voice. All I can say is this guineau pig's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer! He's got huuge sharp er...

Ran out of pellets for the finish and was swamped right on the line for 7th. Might have held the jersey as united guy got 2nd and 3rd. Woot!

Frias has glow-in-the-dark sand bags.

Power to McKay for hanging with the bunch in his first 4 race! Josh/et al, I'll try to get there early next week so we can chat team tactics.

Nice racing tonight! We had a good amount of representation and we definitely worked a lot. I believe I got in 3 breaks, one with John M, where we bridged up to 2 guys and I tried leading him out for the green jersey sprint, not sure what happened but I thought I made a mistake when I didn't see a green flag waving. Later I learned its only waved at the end of a lap prior to the sprint.

Next break was myself, the older setanta guy and a Scottos guy. "I can't, it's too fast, I'm sorry man." - Setanta. Summarizes that break.

Last break we had 5 or 6 guys, Lance, 2 Kissenas (I forgot you're names guys, sorry) and two other riders. We worked "eh" together, and on the last lap at the old finish line we turn around and see that we have a nice gap and most of us were sure we would keep it. So the whole "I ain't pulling, I need to save myself for our sprint" bull$#!^ started. At that point I didn't really care who gets the sprint in our group, I just want to make it to the finish line in the break. (I know, my morals make me loose races)

So I try to pull and drag us to the line when JJ flies past us. The whole field then does the same right after the corner. FUN FACT: James Joseph's hand is broken in two places and he has a cast, hence he couldn't hold his sprint.

The winner was some national track champion. ...

Now for the RANT:
I know tactics play a large part in these shorter races, but I think hiding out in the pack, and waiting for the sprint is dumb. No offense to people who do that (I know I do too sometimes, sometimes being the key word) I don't even know how that's considered racing. I guess I have a lot to learn


I will let the other guys tell their stories

<blockquote><cite>Now for the RANT:
I know tactics play a large part in these shorter races, but I think hiding out in the pack, and waiting for the sprint is dumb. No offense to people who do that (I know I do too sometimes, sometimes being the key word) I don't even know how that's considered racing. I guess I have a lot to learn</blockquote>

That's the game. the majority of races you'll do will be dominated by packfill, guys who either can't ride any harder or won't because they are under the illusion that they can sprint. When they finish, they're surely telling themselves, "I was so close this time," and they're 15-30 places out of the money. Why do they harbor this illusion? I've never been able to figure it out myself. The key is trying to use them against themselves and the guys on other teams. Figure out the times they'll fold and try to be off the front when they mentally pack it in.

cupcake was sandbagging it up i see

This is an interesting concept for me too. My opinion is the same as Wojciech's. Obviously, at this level of racing, breaks are very hard to keep away. In fact, it is several orders of magnitude harder to win from one.

I think that basically, these wins are a bit false. The reality is that for the most part, hanging in the bunch until the finish line isn't too hard. However, at higher levels of racing in that situation you'll just be bullied out by 'dedicated' sprinters. Although I would see this as a good way to get upgrade points, the reality is that you will be found out when the opposition improves. Also, you'll be crap on group rides when you might have to pull once in a while, and who wants that!??! I think that with cycling, the sport as it is, there is a huge discrepancy between riding defensive and aggressive. Being aggressive, and successful, is much, much harder!

Re Wojciech's comments, here's my observations:
First of all congrat's to Wojciech and Jeff(?) who almost stuck an impressive 2 lap breakaway—was super close (caught in the sprint). It took some major leg burning from Foundation and company to drag the break back.
Also, congratulations to Jan who picked up sprint points to move to 2nd in the sprint series. Tito and Jan were away too and made strong moves.

Sitting and sprinting goes all the way up to pro level, and usually involves a crazy plus-sized trackie (as we saw last night). The only way to beat them is to burn them off the back with repeated hard attacks—very hard to do in light winds. You can see how the race unfolded here: http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cyclings/Tuesday-Night-Race-at-FBF-6711/Cat-3-and-4-fields/17450336_kF579F#1327955070_4c5Ncc2 Check the guy who won, reminds me of a Boss Level on Street Fighter II!

The Opportunities:
- We have numbers/depth to pull some hijinks as a team, esp. in wind.
- Experiment with different tactics; Two or three Kissena's attacking together, and two or three counter attacking when pulled back. As opposed to the one rider dangling off the front @ 15 waiting for the bridge.
- A commitment to ride in close proximity so we can talk tactics on the road and importantly be seen as a "force" on the road.
- An organized lead-out train or finish line strategy (last night we saw a solid lead-out that caught the break for example).
- A commitment to getting to the front and blocking/countering when our guys are up the road.

The challenges:
- You need minimum 5 riders working together to stay away from the bunch.
- We've got opposing teams riding together for the overall, with riders happy to sacrifice. Plus strong riders like Lance S. have no issue dragging the entire bunch up to breaks to shut them down.
- You've got Gigantor, Joe J, Sam Frias, etc; naturally talented sprinters who will know how to secure the 10th wheel the entire race and drop bombs in the finale.
- We don't have that sprinter guy. Kevin and Carl are placing top ten, few of us can try to get in the mix, but we don't have that guy with the necessary high wattage jump at hand.
- A few K's just ride as if they were unattached, they won't chase a Kissena but don't interact with the "team". Can be a bit confusing on the road.

Personally I'd like to improve my team skills, if people are interested in giving it a go, let's assign a team captain for Tuesday night. I'd be happy to volunteer or insert your name here. If we can agree on strategy on the boards then we can discuss and assign individual roles/goals on the day to each rider.

I'm into the captain idea - with just a bit of coordination on the road, we can be a real force out there.

The winner was Andrew LaCorte:

# Cat 1 Track Racer
# 2 Time US National Sprint Champion and Current 2010 Champion.
# 2009 Bronze medalist at World Championships in the Sprints.
# 10 Time New York State Track Champion.
# Team captain and whip cracker.
# Loves to wear his stars and stripes under his suit like superman

Why is he racing cat 3/4 on the road? If I was him I'd be ashamed of myself. Someone should crack the whip at him

Wojciech,

La Corte shouldn't be wearing stars and stripes on the road. I think this is a rule violation and it would be fun to protest it. I think he's over 40 and a cat III on the road which is why he's there.

Thinking about your race situation. With Two Kissenas, probably you should have taken turns attacking rather than letting it slow down. Get rid of the chaff, go down in a blaze of lactic acid and maybe glory.

He's Masters champion. To do well at worlds - just show up...

Quick comment regarding race tactics from another point of view. While I can admire all of your desires to go out and be hard men, taking 150 pulls into the wind and watching the manly hair grow thicker and more lush on your chest with each 400+ watt effort, I don't want you to forget that if you are racing to place (i.e. not out for a night of "Intervals at FBF is way better than intervals on my trainer at home"), then he who works the hardest is not necessarily the one with the fattest wallet at the end of the night.

It kind of reminds me of a story my wife told me about this person she used to work with, who loved to tell everyone how early she came in and how late she stayed at the office. And the thing is, she just wasn't very good at her job. And people knew it. And all her extra hours ended up making her look a little silly.

Now FBF is a course that favors that hard-man style of racing on most occasions. But a more measured, thoughtful approach is often required during more technical, tactical events like criteriums. Think about the race and your resources. How are you going to use them most efficiently to come up with the best result?

I know that certain riders can't sit on a wheel during a Sunday group ride for more than a few minutes without charging to the front again, and in some situations that kind of attitude is awesome. But sometimes, you just gotta reign in the beast, and let other guys do some work.

That 21-gun salute by Gigantor is more indicative of someone who's bagging his first big win at Battenkill, not a national track champion taking down the 3/4 sprint at Floyd. I'm going to go out on a limb here and call douche on him.

Also, I would LOVE to get some more intelligent team tactics going. We've got the firepower and numbers to do more than we've been doing.

Jeff wins the prize. Figuring out the most common nickname for said rider. "Tinkerbell" is the nicer nickname people use.

Posted By: mugwumpJeff wins the prize. Figuring out the most common nickname for said rider. "Tinkerbell" is the nicer nickname people use.

Jeff - how did you figure out LaCorte's nickname? I am impressed.

i thought it was Cupcake

so glad he had an extreme fist-pump session after his small-fry race poaching

Douchy
Cupcake
Tinkerbell

all have been attributed to him, one is a national kickname

I really need to see a video of these gesticulations. I missed the Foundation guy's double arm swing "two-fer" orchestration that Marc described, as the picture just didn't do it justice from that park race a month ago.

Also, when you're actually really good, you celebrate by sitting down after the race:

http://www.dailycamera.com/cycling/ci_18168225

Former teammate of my brother. And he's 20. Not 40+.

Cupcake. Ha. Love it.

Yes it is strange that Cupcake is racing in a 3/4 race.

I've looked into this and it all makes sense now. If you carefully inspect the series of arm maneuvers and visualize him holding colorful flags, Cupcake is actually spelling douche in International Semaphore. So he's really just being ironic.