i think i may try to make it this tuesday, and mix it up in the sprint. i've been top tenning all over the place, beating lacorte is a talllll order though. straight up anyway.

Looks like it could get a little wet out there tonight.
I'm riding out from GAP 5.50pm. Meet 6.30pm near the start/finish and discuss goals and strategy.

John - nice work in the sprints! Excited to see the overall results.

Cheers Mike! Was a bit of a sufferfest.

RR CAT 3-4
Jan, Patrick, Daniel, Myself.
Results: http://spasport.com/tuesday_night_race_series_results.htm
Sprint 1: Jan & I TT'd to 1-2 it after breaking away out of the blocks (as planned!)
Sprint 2: Me 1
Finish: Not so hot
Jan was in green so we concentrated on the sprints. (Jan is now 11pts, myself 12pts with Frias still leading @ 18.)
Patrick blocked doggedly for Jan and I but I packed it in after the lap 3 sprint. About lap 6 I slow pedaled to let Patrick and unattached power away for a lap and then jumped on an attacker with Jan and suddenly we'd bridged to Patrick to get the bell for S2. I put in a big effort to get Jan clear and dropped back to bunch leaving Jan and attacker away. Bunch chased like crazy this time to catch coming into sprint which let me counter to take the sprint. Charlie knocked a lap off for the rain, which didn't leave us with much time to recover. Also made for a sketchy sprint for 3rd (Lance and Bernard got clear). Would have preferred a little pay cheque, but fun racing! Team pre-race conferenced, stayed together in the bunch, we blocked well for each other—felt good. http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cyclings/Tuesday-Night-Race-at-FBF614 (Check Giganteraptor v Friasaur)

Hugest thanks to Patrick for the ride home.

P.S. Here's some extra Race for the Wine pics (via NYVelocity): http://missvikk.smugmug.com/Cycling/Cat4and5/Floyd-Bennett-Cat4and5/17164941_rNPtHV#1301061171_6QrvwqW

Great report:

is this "cupcake" everyone is talking about?

http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cyclings/Tuesday-Night-Race-at-FBF614/Cat-3-and-4/i-ZK793X2/0/M/thinkbothtook3rdplace-M.jpg

cupcake it is
notice the Kissena Royale jersey, not the affinity one he should be wearing...

Maybe he got icing on that one.

Posted By: eragotcupcake it is
notice the Kissena Royale jersey, not the affinity one he should be wearing...

all his affinity jerseys may be stars and striped, just thinking out loud. i thought it was a bvf jersey at first.

I'm driving down for tonight, and bringing the cervelo kite. I think andy is coming down as well.

Who's up for Floyd tonight? I'll be in the green trying to grab some points off Sam Frias.

6pm GAP?

RR:
Windy, hard racing. Wojciech, Jan, Tito, Da Silva, who else?
Got sprint points 1st and 2nd. Frias in yellow seems to be happy to let it go. Still 1pt in arrears.
Lots of attacks and field splits. Blocked for Jan and Woj in a break for a few laps. Last lap Woj tried to bridge to two separate breaks up road, but got no help when he passed the first one and got stuck in limbo.
Sprint for 6th, I had frias and tinkerbell on my wheel. They jumped, frias was well gone then la corte sat up for some rea$on so I took 7 or 8th. Fun stuff! Lots more happened, will leave it to the others to commentate (iPhone).

Mattie was out there as well flying his kite proudly

Uhh, I think you got me confused with someone else John... I wasn't in two breaks nor did I try bridging up solo in the final lap, I uhh, sat in the whole race and saved myself... (:

I tried sitting in, I really did, but I wasn't hurting, I was at <50% of my max hr, and I was bored as hell. Maybe I should bring a book or something next time

In all respects I agree with everyone that told me I'm over doing it and should chill out a bit or take a week or so off, I just have to plan it out now I guess

Congrats to John! I'm pretty confident he can keep the green jersey through to the end

Posted By: Wojciech P

I tried sitting in, I really did, but I wasn't hurting, I was at

Hah! Maybe text live-updates from your phone, the crowd here seems to like that.

that was me, not tito, though we are often confused, both being such handsome fellows.

first time at floyd since i was a 5 two years ago, kind of forgot the pain. came down hoping to help john in the sprint competition and place top 10. spent most of the race near the front policeing frias or cupcake. marked more then a few bridge attempts when we had people up the road. john didnt need much help in the sprints, he would jump before the last turn and more or less solo the way in, no lead out necessary. i found myself at the front with one to go when what was the winning break went up the road, having done quite a bit of chase work already, i was in no mood, and soft pedaled the front. and no one, NO ONE came around me. woy tried to make a bridge move but got hung out. i didn't think the marked men would let it stay away, so i was suprised it lasted till the end. maybe i should have jumped the same time woy did? i was on frias and cupcake on the 3/4 straight, but when they moved i got separated with some dead wheels here and there. the break of 7-8 stayed away , i got somewhere in the 10 of the field sprint. maybe next week i'll give another swing.

Thanks for the great pics Mattie (my bad on the names). Those zips you're rocking remind me of Philip Johnson's spectacles—serious weaponry!

That first pic is me getting pipped by that Brauer guy Bernard after some wheel sucking.
3rd one is Jan trying to take a point off Frias. Thanks Jan!

Note to all: Jan and I are 2nd and third in the sprint jersey, if you have the opportunity please steal the points from behind us—particularly from Sam Frias in yellow and the Brauer guy Bernard McGarry. Frias is still leading the sprint competition by 2 points. Or, if you feel like leading us out or dragging one of us out of the bunch pre-sprint that'd be awesome. With the two of us in contention we can have one attack while the other covers.

P.S. So who was the other K away with Jan?

I forgot to mention: Carl, who is Kissena member but doesn't ride as part of the team, was absolutely livid after the race.
He asserted that TWO BACKSTABBING KISSENA'S! were chasing down his break—one that didn't contain any jersey threats. It get's a little weird because he's riding like he's unattached, however Carl "plays nice" when other Kissena's are in a break so I feel like we should return the favor. Of course if someone is threatening the jersey it's a different story. If you're not sure about what's up with a break, conference in a teammate.

ALSO. If the opportunity presents itself tonight to "reward" the hard of hearing Scotto's and Organic guys from last week, please do. Not Breaking Away style, just no favors. Those guys were turds. I fart in their general direction.

yeah - Carl was pretty upset after last Thursday until i explained to him that we (a) won the race, and (b) got mike back into the GC lead.

I will try to talk to Carl before the race today if he is there.

Oh man, double whammy on Carl—I was talking about Tuesday night!

wait, Carl was in a break?...I've never seen him anywhere near the front of a race until the final 200 meters, and even then usually he's 6-9 places back.

Ok guys, Carl isn't active on the forum so let's hash it out in person before the next race. Let's make an effort to include him in pre-race strategy. He has a nice sprint.

^ this

Carl is definitely a nice dude and gets results - we should make a better attempt at integrating him.

yeah, carl is always sociable, says hi at races, and he does place. i've not seen him participate much in team games so chalked it up to him doing his own thing (which is fine) but offering to include him in whatever talks we have would be cool. if he's not active on the board, perhaps he doesn't know whatever strategy is in the works (however vague or implied it may seem).

Here's my opinion on the team player thing. I like that Kissena is as loose or structured as you want it to be. But you can't have it both ways. If you want to race your own race, that's cool, but I don't think it's right to expect your "teammates" to ride for you, or even not to ride against you.

At the same time, just because you are not participating in forum conversations, doesn't mean you don't want to be a part of the team plan. So I like the idea that you guys are going to reach out to your teammates who might not have internet access, or just have some kind of allergy to the forum, or whatever. That's the friendly Kissena way.

Excuse me now while I take some EPO that I swiped from a renal patient at the hospital, so I can hang onto Perlberg's wheel the next time we get in a breakaway group together...

Not sure if I'll be killing it tonight after hill repeats homework this am, but am IN. Anyone, anyone?

im heading out tonight... if im lucky there will be a storm.. i like it wet.

Yeah a couple Thursdays ago while I was happily waiting to collect my money after my first win as a 4, after a race we totally controlled, won, placed several guys in, and got Mike back in the jersey points, Carl walked up to me, shook his head, and said "terrible." We really need to ride better as a team. It made me wonder if he even had a clue what had happened during the race.

RR:
Patrick, Jan, Nosson, Woj, McKay and _______ <-- add your name here.
McKay and I were going to be the supreme prime team, that is until he flatted on the first corner! Lot's of hard breakaway attempts by Sam Frias in yellow from the get-go, maybe in attempt to topple Tinkerbell. All teams were keen to get breaks away. Wojciech got in a break lap 2. There was some serious freeze put on the front, so I bridged up and we all worked hard. Frias missed a counter attack by Woj just before S1 and lead me out flat-stick for 40 seconds. Very impressive! It got a bit cagey approaching the sprint so I took some pulls and I went waaaay into debt to take it from CRCA generic team guy in yellow. I couldn't even contemplate latching back on to break and Woj continued with the other four after some vigorous gesticulations on my part. Back to the bunch. Breakaway Couriers worked v-hard to stop it getting too far, Patrick helped to block on the front. Break caught 850m from sprint. Went for patented long one but drew 2 chasers (I think the jig is up on that one). Got smacked to third by a tire width. Flatted next corner! Will let the others chime in about the rest of the race. Got enough points to lead the sprint series.

Thanks Mckay for the lift home!

Carl was out there as well & Rene in the 123's

I rarely know how I "feel" before a race, so I didn't want to promise John great leadouts if I wouldn't be able to come through. The first few laps were definitely hard, I think the group split up like 3 times. On the sprint lap I move up and see John in a break with 4 or 5 that had a small gap, John up front working. I come out to the left and bridge up to them, Going straight to the front, telling John to grab my wheel and we take off. On the final corner John follows the crca guy and beats him for first. The 5 of us get back together but John doesnt make it. I knew the break wasn't going to last through to the end, plus I wanted us to get caught before the sprint so John could get it. I took my pulls but didn't go crazy with 'em.

As we're about to get caught I start looking for John. I look over my right shoulder and by the time i turn back around I see him up the road already.

He got 5 points and is now in first with a 2 point lead

For the sprint I had a relatively good position and then got sort of boxed in. James Joseph offered me some spots to take in front of him ( he's not a bad guy afterall) but i wanted to get out to the left for the sprint. I did but it caused me to fall back a bit after the last corner. I'm happy with 14th nevertheless.

I think I'm going to start doing the douchy thing from now on and aside from helping who ever is in the lead just wait for the sprints. Especially when it's not all that windy

John, congrats on taking the sprint lead & nice teamwork Woj. Tough break for McKay -- next time!