I'm not going to make it tonight. Good luck everyone.

Todd

Race report. I lined up with about 35 other cat 1/2/3 racers for the first race of the night. I didn't see any other Kissenas out there tonight, but didn't stay to watch the other races. There were some heavy hitters there including Gavi Epstein, Wilson Vasquez, and Greg "Because I can't wear my goofy helmet anymore, this year I've got a bright orange mouth guard" Olsen. Teams well represented included Adler and Brauer Mick Mgmt.

Work and life has kept me off the bike for over a week and I have to say, that I paid for it on the ride to the course. I got such a bizarre assortment of cramps--including the left ass-cheek double down I might have to stop and stretch cramptacular funtime explosion--that I was a little worried about how things would go at the start of the race. No worries though, legs finally loosened up and coming into the home-stretch in the 3rd or so lap I was carrying a lot of speed through turn 4, so I kept it going and attacked off the front. Small group action for a while, but the field was on us pretty quick.

The rest of the race was pretty unremarkable. Some splits, some chases, some sitting in. Ultimately, I still need to work on my end game and only finished in the pack.

Strangely enough, Gavi and Greg (the series leader), just stopped racing at some point during the race. I guess they had the series one and two spots locked up, and weren't really interested in racing anymore. Not sure what was going on there. I was expecting those guys to TTT their way up to the most successful break of the day that was out there for a good 5 or 6 laps, but other than collecting some no-man's-land folks, they never really closed the deal. And I guess just gave up racing altogether. Weird.

Also noticed that they like to hang out at the back of the pack, but when they wanted to move up on the backside, the huffed and puffed and Greg got all shouty and moved up the protected from the wind right side, as people gave way. And I'm like, c'mon people, make them pay for lazing about at the back of the field. Don't make it easy for them to move up!

This, incidentally is a lesson I learned years ago during the Fitchburg CR. Team Saturn, stock full of McCormack brothers, Trent "there's no clipless pedal I can't break out of" Klasna and Chris Horner, dropped back for a wheel change and they came charging through all shouty and what not and I gave them plenty of room. And I remember one of my friends from the Belgian kermesse scene told me, "Dude, those guys already have all the advantages in the world, don't make it extra easy for them, hold your position." I think of that, often. Hold your position folks. There's plenty of times to be gentlemanly and give your competitors some quarter, but when they are fired up because the action is heating up at the front and they are stuck at the back and want to push hard and dangerously through tight quarters, is not the time for you to change your line.

Hear, Hear! Nice report. I agree people are sometimes too accepting in the bunch, is it some kind of Andy Warhol celeb aura thing? And where are all the head butts or the odd good punch in the guts for the best wheel? Those Belgians are tough as nails.

Greg Olsen's getting all the great press these days. Apparently people didn't appreciate him plonking his kid at the front of the junior race at Harlem. He did donate a bunch of bikes though, so he's got that to feel awesome about.

i did the b race, came into the last race of Series I sitting in 5th overall, which is where the payouts ended. so of course i hoped to keep 5th and hopefully pop 4th. neither happened it. didn't feel so strong during the race. the pace was fairly sedate, with no real breaks going. nyvelocity, foundation and cosmic all had strong team presences. with 2 to go, anthony of cosmic and a foundation guy gave a strong dig so i bridged across. the cosmic guy had won from a break like this, so i figured if any break had a chance, this was it. it was not to be, we dangled for most of the bell lap, and got caught on the back straight. i tried my best to regain my composure so i wouldn't get swamped for position. i took the outside line into 4 and just got boxed/dead wheeled/wooden legs to somewhere right outside the top 10. john blake of foundation won, and those points were enough to push me out to 6th. sigh.

Mattie, sorry I missed your race. I wanted to get home before dark, so I didn't hang out afterwords like I sometimes do at races. Next time I go though, I'll be sure to look harder for familiar jerseys.

FYI, I found that on most laps taking the outside line on turn 4/5 made two things easy. #1 to carry more speed through the turn and #2 to get boxed in as you had to break to avoid running into the back of riders and/or going into the grass. When I made a couple of moves during the race, I cut across the apex of "turn 5" and kept it tight to have room to keep it going without breaking.

Posted By: Marc BertuccoMattie, sorry I missed your race. I wanted to get home before dark, so I didn't hang out afterwords like I sometimes do at races. Next time I go though, I'll be sure to look harder for familiar jerseys.

FYI, I found that on most laps taking the outside line on turn 4/5 made two things easy. #1 to carry more speed through the turn and #2 to get boxed in as you had to break to avoid running into the back of riders and/or going into the grass. When I made a couple of moves during the race, I cut across the apex of "turn 5" and kept it tight to have room to keep it going without breaking.

yeah, i normally prefer the outside line before the last couple of laps because there is much less stop/start and you can just momentum pedal instead of sprinting out. i was hoping i could take the outside line, roll into the sprint with more apex speed, but the inside line just ran it out hard. i was the only other kissena. we line up right after you guys finish, so not much time for pleasantries after the race.

Last minute decision on this one...but I'm going to head out to Jersey for the Thursday night crit. I'll be racing with the 1/2/3s, but I'll keep an eye out for anyone in the next race. I can't stay for the whole thing, but I'll be cheering for you on my ride home.

ugh

the one day i can do this, but i am exhausted and beat-up from my spill last night (bridge plate+rain+not paying attention)

good luck, marc

Mattie and I were flying the Kissena colors proudly tonight. Although he was looking all pro with his tats and deep dish carbon rims and pro bike. I on the other hand, had a laundry situation and was wearing bright red shorts with my Kissena jersey. When I left to go home, Mattie looked strong riding in the 2nd race at the front...hopefully he finished better than I did (in the pack) in the first race of the night.

After a bizarrely standard, two neutral laps, the racing got underway. And true to form, Greg Olsen attacks off the front in the second lap of racing. I'm there, and after he gets a gap, I can see the writing on the wall. And so I bridge up to him and we start trading pulls. Another rider bridges up and then we are three. Except after one of my pulls, rider number three pulls through on the tailwind home stretch a little too fast for me and I'm dropped. Damn. In the next few laps, Gavi Epstein, pulls one of the douchier moves I've seen from this neo pro.

Now I realize there a few guys on our club that are having secret love affairs with the guy, but sitting way at the back for multiple laps, then when he decides it's time to go, gavi bum rushes the field through the esses, shouting, "look out," or some other nonsense. It's dangerous, the field naturally goes from apex to apex, and he's trying to squeeze his lazy ass through quickly and naturally closing gaps, when if he waited like 5 seconds, he would have plenty of road to safely motor away from the field. Plus, it's stupid. I don't get what good he thinks he is doing himself TTing off the front of the field full of guys like me week after week. Yeah, we get it. You're strong. Congratulations. Same thing for Greg Olsen, but he's just a goofy hedge fund manager with an enormous ego who likes to show off, so I don't hold him to as high a standard as an actual professional bike racer.

Training crits are good opportunities to work on expanding your racing tool box. Because when he does an NRC crit, United Healthcare is not going to move out of his way when he decides he wants to attack. And even if they did, he wouldn't have the legs to stay away from them...no matter how many times he gets the job done in the Rockleigh business park thursday night crits.

The rest of the race was pretty much strung out as we tried to bring back a small group of 4 or so riders who managed to slip away in pursuit of the almight duo of Olsen and Epstein (one's a crazy old guy, the other has youthful potential, together, they're cops! friday nights on the WB). With a small field, there wasn't much place to hide. I took my turns at the front too. It was kind of a hurty evening to be honest. Not FBF hurty, but definitely better than the trainer workout that was scheduled for me today. I'm getting better at end of race positioning, but not quite there. Next time though, I hope to have an actual result to brag about.

Does cervelo actually let gavi race anything meaningful?

Trying to get more NYers to eat Chipotle?

I think Gavi did some USA Crit series races. But if I were him and largely had to do my own program, I would have packed up my bags and gone to the midwest for two EXCELLENT criterium series, Tour of America's Dairyland and Superweek (July 7-24). Super hard, super fast Pro 1/2 crits (with a few fun road races thrown in there for good measure) with lots of money on the line. Superweek goes until July 24.

As it is, I expect him to show up for the Kissena gentleman's race, ride WDCs wheel all the way up alpine and attack with 20 meters to the propane tank, and throw up his arms in victory.

Harsh crowd this morning! I watched that live feed from that big Alabama crit earlier this season with him and Bezdek. I think he finished mid pack, a few places behind Bezdek from what I recall.

Hey all, I'm heading out to the races tonight at Rockleigh. I'm under strict orders from my coach to attack like a rabid dog who hasn't eaten in a week. So if anyone is interested in taking advantage of my slobbery behavior (counter attacks, bridge-ups, sitting in, etc), I'll be in the first race of the night, starting at 6pm.

A nice night of racing at Rockleigh. I raced the first race of the evening, but the second had 3 Kissena's. I'll let them tell you how it unfolded, but as I left for home to beat the dark, there was a 12 or so rider break that had two Kissena's in it at about 7-10 seconds, with the third guy blocking nicely in the chasing field.

In the A race, things were pretty fast all night long. No Gavi. And Greg Olson, was effectively marked out of the race. Which, in a way, is a good thing. I don't know how many times the field is just going to let him roll away. Truthfully, I think it helped that we had two Champion System dudes (no idea who they were) who kept the early pace high by attacking early and often.

The strung out for many laps in a row, the field started to split about 1/3 of the way into the race. It looked dangerous, so I bridged across. As soon as I got there (which hurt a lot), Olsen and a Foundation dude split from that group and were HAMMERING. Olson was on his heels, but I had enough juice to jump on the Foundation, Olson followed my wheel, we were away for a fraction of a lap before getting sucked up by the fast-moving field.

I attacked again a bit later, this time, just Olsen bridged up to me and was hollering at me to go faster or something. I don't know if it was my oxygen debt, or his mouth guard, but I actually had very little idea of what he was saying to me. He was making noises, I was riding as hard as I could, and he wasn't dropping me when he pulled through. So that's something, but still we got caught by the field pretty soon.

Near the end of the race, I took off with 3 laps to go. I got a nice gap and held it for over 1 lap before some Westwood Velo dude blows by me. I wish he would have slowed a bit to ride with me. We might have been able to hold off the field together. As it was, we were both reabsorbed and with 1 lap to go I was pretty tired and rolled in with the pack.

As usual, the ride home was exceedingly pleasant. Quiet and quick...the polar opposite of the ride home from FBF.

won the rockleigh b tonight. jumped through the gutter on the backside, opened a gap through 3 and 4 and barely held off john blake of foundation with a throw. i did bethel last night too, fun course. got caught behind a crash right before the finish hill, kicked around a bunch of people anyway into 6 or 7th.

high5

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/___1FrkCwxA0/RxP5_ml3GnI/AAAAAAAAAKc/sUUaPop5UbQ/s400/respekKnuckles.jpg

nice job Mattie!

Right on! Congratulations.

Nice, Mattie. You've been after a W at Rockleigh for a while. Good to hear you pulled it out.

Mattie,
Awesome. A well-deserved win.

Now post up those results at Rockleigh so everyone can see 'em.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?authkey=CMDEg9cK&key=0AhOIxu6IIA_HdHljMGgtMng0UkxmY2lzMlA3NGh1Nnc&hl=en_US&authkey=CMDEg9cK#gid=0

Big turnout in the first race at Rockleigh tonight. Over 50 riders. Including Roger Aspholm, Gavi Epstein, Mr. Deep Dish Mouth Guard, and Thug of the Month Wilson Vasquez. Good night for some hard efforts. Windy backstretch kept a lot of moves in check.No results for me to put on the spreadsheet, but still better than working out by myself today. Spoke briefly to Mattie and Andy before their race. Mattie needed a few points to get on the overall series podium...looking forward to hearing their race report.

On my way home across the GWB, a tall Kissena passes me and gives me the courtesy wave. I wanted to say, "hey who are you?" But that seemed sort of silly, so I didn't.

Hey,
Mattie got 8th giving him the points needed to move from 6th to 5th in overall standings!!!

Congrats to Mattie and Andy! Early in the race, both were well positioned and when a break slipped away, Andy got to the front and started chasing.

Nice job guys! Put the top 5 overall on the results spreadsheet.

Posted By: Marc BertuccoCongrats to Mattie and Andy! Early in the race, both were well positioned and when a break slipped away, Andy got to the front and started chasing.

i totes blew the sprint. i thought we had 1 to go when it was actually the end. andy led me out, but i didn't jump, because of my idiocy. i still somehow rolled in 8th. foundation really controlled the race, put a guy in the break, the leader in yellow just sat in, and the rest of the team blocked, sat on bridge attempts etc. no other team had more then 2 people, and they had 6. i wasn't going to chase it down, one foundation guy actually told me to bridge when the break was still forming, i should have. 50/50 hindsight.

Great job Mattie! You've been working hard for that win.

btw, when you say you jumped through the gutter @ turn 1, do you mean you took that inside line? And were you alone out in front by that time?

Posted By: titoGreat job Mattie! You've been working hard for that win.

btw, when you say you jumped through the gutter @ turn 1, do you mean you took that inside line? And were you alone out in front by that time?

i jumped up the right side before turn 3. usually it's blocked, but everyone momentarily sat up. perfect timing. held that through 3,4 and the finish.

also.

great job on the series guys!