barring rain, we start racing tomorrow. http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=13013 fun course, imo. true 4 corner crit, which is a rarity in the area. flat 1 mile course, pretty smooth. good vibe, good times. i'll be at every one, possibly thinking about taking a jersey.

love this course. i'll probably start next week.

I really hope the weather is alright tmrw

i'm doing this tonight

meeting tito on the manhattan side of the GWB at 5pm

andy is supposed to be in for the bs, so far weather looks good to go.

rockleigh report, 5/19/2011:

tito and i rode out to this at a brisk pace

my race was very hard!

greg olsen, gavi epstein, roger aspholm and other local bruisers were making me HURT

every time i tried to do some (bridge to a gap, follow an attack) it would put me in a bad place and i would inevitably blow up

it ended up being hard just sitting int he draft much of the time

with a few laps to go, i moved back up closer to the front - at this point, greg olsen, gavi, roger and matt doran (bauer) were off the front by a few seconds

i had tried to catch them 2 laps earlier and the attempt had almost killed me, so i wasn't eager to try to break out of the pack again

but . . .

someone else did with half a lap to go, and the pack didn't respond, so i thought i'd give it a go

i got a bit of a gap but ended up just leading out the field sprint and settled for 11th after an in-the-saddle straining/thrashing sprint thing

when i'm gassed, i can never seem to get out of the saddle to but my back into it . . . i'll have to work on this

**********

tito, andy da silva, mattie davitt and todd raced the 4/5 race and it was really awesome to watch

it seemed like the were putting a kissena off the front every other lap - really strong, aggressive riding

it came down to a field sprint and mattie took 7th or 8th on a rear flat - BADASS!

riding home in the dark with todd and tito was awesome

todd made the climb from piermont road back up to 9w seriously intense (i think he was exorcising the demons!)

nothing like sweating hard at night!

(twss)

That was a lot of fun - the best racing I've done so far this season, for sure. Kissena was definitely setting the terms of that race - we consistently attacked and tried to keep the pace high. It was great having KCC represent, not just in numbers but in presence.

There's a lot of slowing down in that course - some reasonable (like going into that first tricky turn) and some just strange (like slowing down on that back stretch instead of taking the opportunity to hammer it - you can pedal right through the 3rd turn at the end of the stretch, especially if the field is strung out).

And believe the hype - the vibe at Rockleigh really is nice; folks are very friendly, and it has somewhat of a community-type feel to it.

i spent most of the race tail gunning, i didn't realize i was that far back until i looked back. i was pretty comfy back there to be honest. we had a game plan of rotating through break away attempts though, so i did get to the front for a bit to try and help creat seperation. no one was able to create a real gap though, everything would get chased down. after mid packing most of the race i moved up with 2 to go and was suprised how easily i was able to get positioned on the bell lap. i did notice my bike getting a little loose in the rear, and i thought it was just the dampness and painted lines. i knew whose wheel to mark and they hammered the last lap and stretched it out. in the sprint i had 2 dead wheels ahead of me i had to slow down and swing out from, which killed my drive and let the podium seperate. i got 8th, hit 36mph in the sprint. after cooling down, i squeezed my rear tire and there had to be only 40 psi or so in there. next week!

Tito, what made the first turn tricky? As we've got a cornering session coming up, it might be good to know.

Posted By: mugwumpTito, what made the first turn tricky? As we've got a cornering session coming up, it might be good to know.

just the speed into it, everyone tends to brake at different spots with different amounts of urgency. some like to park it on the inside corner and sprint out, others fast and smooth on the outside, and some idiots do both simultaneously.

^what Mattie said.^
plus, there's a gutter at the closest inside point of the turn making it necessary to go a little wide, even if taking the inside line.

in again this week, i think andy too for the killer b's.

i'm out for this one, dudes

just finished exams and i'm shelled (plus i already have a couple beers in me!)

William

Didn't your exam have the following extra credit question:

Beers + William + crit = ???

A. No pain
B. Crash fest
C. Slower than my grandma
D. Killer sprint
E. All of the above

f. grand claims at the starting line, dropped during the neutral lap

attack the neutral roll out. be a man.

in other news, i got 5th.

we had a break go 15 minutes in that had some horsepower, but the pack did not want to give us a leash. we had the 2 and 3 in the overall in the mix which probably didn't help. nice big effort to get warmed up. kissena attacked on the last couple laps which help string it out and eject the detritus. i followed the wheels i had to, but had a small bike length gap on the last half of the bell lap which left me slightly gassed for sprint. next week, keep improving.

I'm riding out tomorrow - leaving from Manhattan side of GWB at 5.45pm. Meeting Konrad at Jersey side. Anyone else? Todd?

I'll be there, I'll meet you at the course. 8th last week, big pile up though, I launched my sprint super early to try and stay clean. Revenge! The field has closed out on the b race every week so far, so don't get there too late.

I'm going to try to make it. I'll look for people at the GWB. Don't wait for me though.

so im fifth in the overall points with 2 weeks to go in series I, tomorrow's weather looks iffy, but i like the rain. i've had success marking the right wheels for the sprint, but pulling down the first W would be nice.

I'll be there tomorrow, and I'm assuming Todd will too if he can.

mattie is like the greg olson of the 4's (deeeeeep rims!)

Posted By: WilliamDCmattie is like the greg olson of the 4's (deeeeeep rims!)

Not going to be a 4 much longer...

In other news, threat of thunder storms has canceled rockleigh tonight.

Wow ... after the race in the hail a few weeks ago, I did not think the apocalypse would cause them to cancel Rockleigh. I hope to be there next week to lend a hand.

Todd

NNOOOOOOOOO

I just saw this! What happened to "we don't cancel" (what one of the officials told me a few weeks ago when I asked how bad the rain would have to be for cancellations)? And yeah - we raced in one of the plagues from Exodus two weeks ago!

hmmm...can I make it to FBF and back in time for my dinner party...?

Posted By: titocan I make it to FBF and back in time for my dinner party...?

sorry Tito, FBF's out as well, but some of the crew is going to Prospect for a bit @6.


Update: daaaamn mattie can you get that bike any closer to an airfoil?

(In all seriousness, how does it behave in x-winds?)

you're probably reading that floyd is cancelled tonight too, right about now.

pipped at the line!!

Mattie just looks cool on his ride. I look very dorky on my cervelo. I did get some new "ink" for the first time in like 5 years. My neighbors still don't accept me....But you guys do, right?!

Posted By: rhenning

Posted By: titocan I make it to FBF and back in time for my dinner party...?

sorry Tito, FBF's out as well, but some of the crew is going to Prospect for a bit @6.


Update: daaaamn mattie can you get that bike any closer to an airfoil?

(In all seriousness, how does it behave in x-winds?)

it can be a handful, i'm not the smallest guy, so i got used to it. i took it out to floyd for the first time tuesday and was expecting the worst, but it honestly wasn't that bad. i train on 40s, and these are 88s. it's definitely not a hands off the bars bike for sure though.

riiiiiiiight