mperlberg said:

@Marc - was that bakery where the delicious brownie batter smell was coming from? I kept sniffing it on the finishing stretch. 

Maybe, I didn't go in too far. All I could smell was delicious ice cream on the corner of turn 4. Which explains why I couldn't resist a double scoop and felt embarrassed when LVG and also Vlad rode by me with their fit, no extra-belly selves.

mperlberg said:

https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2014-1764 So..... apparently those guys in the top 10 without a team name are the Venezuelan national team. Ouch

One of their guys, was a boss at the front of the field, in some moves, riding at the pointy end. I think he ended up mechanical-ing out though.

Just realized I left my wheels in the pit.... Awesommmmmmme

@ wes we can check for them tomorrow. I bet they got thrown in the results trailer.

@Wes - I'll email Tom Mains - the guy running the show. What wheels were they?

Tmrw cat 3/4. I say we rally around Craig.

Damn Wes, that sucks.  Heal up.

Raritan 3/4 pics here: http://www.sergiogphotography.com/p1004470628

There are photos for all cats.

No updates?

I got ridden though a huge hole and my chain came off on the third lap, then I went home. It has been a rather costly 20 minutes of racing this weekend.

Craig London said:

Raritan 3/4 pics here: http://www.sergiogphotography.com/p1004470628 There are photos for all cats.

Ooh, goody, he caught my slide into home.

Seems like Ryan is having some withdrawal.

@Jeff. I think we would like to hear about (and discuss) your glue job.

dstokes said:

@Jeff. I think we would like to hear about (and discuss) your glue job.

Murray at Ride Brooklyln glued it for me. He came highly recommended from multiple racers.

I'll refrain from my usual rant about letting LBS touch my bike.

Bound brook looked like a fun / tough race. I showed up just in time to see Craig and Brendan have a sprint off for 5th / 6th ish. 

Today's race was like yesterday except add in what felt like 1000 punches directly to the nut sack because you had to sprint out of the many turns many times.

I think I finished about the same as yesterday, and also barely managed to avoid a last lap crash like yesterday.

Today was 37 miles at 28.7 mph.

I think part of the problem with the crash-nasties this weekend are there just aren't enough honest crits around these parts anymore to allow more folks to get comfortable with this style of racing. So even if you've got your shit dialed in, the jamokes around you don't necessarily know what they are doing.

Hang in there Jeff, with your blistering cx-style starts, it'll come good for you sooner than later!

Today in the Master's 35+, I believe it was just Vlad and I. Dan was signed up, but he raced hard in the 3/4 race immediately previous, so I'm not sure if he doubled up today. In the putting-my-money-where-my-mouth-is category, I came to Bound Brook with my trainer for a quality controlled warm-up. When you are borderline like I am, you just can't afford to cut corners (except when you are slicing through the right-left chicane). After my warm-up, kisses from Peter and Sarah, I positioned myself to win the race before the race. And I did, 1st row, outside line for the first turn of the chicane! And then, I busted out my double top-secret move honed from years and years of leg speed drills and racing on the track in what everyone tells me is a too small gear....

I put it in the small ring baby. That's right. SMALL RING. I don't have watts like Garrigan, but there's more than one way to win a hole-shot. And win it I did. I had a challenge on my inside, but I was on the outside, in front, and no way in hell anyone was taking turns 1 and 2 in front of me. As it turned out I took 3 and 4 onto the backside straightaway too.

The rest of the race, was all about me maintaining good position near the front. And on that front I was pretty successful. One lap I was on point again, with two guys up the road a bit. They didn't set off my spidey-sense, and I still need to be careful about where and when I fire up the turbos. And this guy with Finkraft on his behind (looks like new kit this year?), rolls past me and sarcastically says, "Nice job." And I look to another guy on my right, and say, "I guess he doesn't like the way I'm racing."

And here's the thing. You have to race YOUR best race given all circumstances. There's always someone in the field who doesn't think you are doing what they think you should be doing, but what do they know of you? Nothing.

The winner who was off the front solo for 5 laps, a former teammate of Vlad, revealed (reluctantly) that he does 2 x 20-minute workouts at 340 watts! I most recently did a 1 x 20 at 270 watts. And was kind of tired after that. So there you have it, that dude (about my size, smaller even) has 70 watts on me at threshold. I can't race like that winner did, but, clearly, until he broke away, he and I were in the same race, doing the same thing. And hence the beauty of a technical crit.

In the end, I couldn't hold off the bad bike handlers, got swarmed, cramped in the final sprint and limped past the line in like 29th or so, which is about what I got last year, except Sarah reminds me that after the race last year, I collapsed on the grass where she and Peter were sitting and didn't move for like 15 minutes. Today I had a hotdog, coke and was feeling pretty human.

I'll call that progress.

Looking forward to trying to wreak some havoc on the Cat 2 fields tomorrow with Perlberg, Partland and Ragot. You boys ready to turn the screws to them?

Family friendly report. Food, bouncy castle, playground. Nice BBQ in the front yards all around the course atmosphere similar to what I've experienced at ToAD.

Neither of the Jacobs brothers is 35+, so which Speedwell was it?

Mike Novemsky, former NJ State TT Champ and all around great guy.

In the words of Vlad, "results, bro": http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2014&id=1747

@rigby, ran into Matt Moo at GWB this morn. He was wondering when you were going to upgrade.

vlad said:

Mike Novemsky, former NJ State TT Champ and all around great guy.

On the one hand, I slowed for Novemsky last year at Somerville so we could get away together; he ended up jumping me for a prime.

mugwump said:

vlad said:

Mike Novemsky, former NJ State TT Champ and all around great guy.

On the one hand, I slowed for Novemsky last year at Somerville so we could get away together; he ended up jumping me for a prime.

On the other, at a Spring Series race this year, I mentioned to Mike that I thought one of his guys attacked in the joggers lane.  His response. "If one of my guys did, I'd disqualify him myself."

Best possible answer, really.

Props + thanks to Dusan (Dan?) for dragging me back up to the field in the 3/4 today, otherwise I was gonna be OTB by lap 5. Late restroom visit (= back of field start) made the first couple laps an exercise in alternatively picking the wrong wheels / practising tail gunning...

niallsmart said:

Props + thanks to Dusan (Dan?) for dragging me back up to the field in the 3/4 today, otherwise I was gonna be OTB by lap 5. Late restroom visit (= back of field start) made the first couple laps an exercise in alternatively picking the wrong wheels / practising tail gunning...

Dusan "Dan" Strika is solid like that. There was more than one Prospect Park race we did together last year, where I was hurting big time, he drops back and got me back in the action. Also, if you race cross, he cheers so loudly, you get scared.

One of my best days on a bike.

We devised a plan to keep it to a sprint and lead Craig out. I ate a pack or two of caffeinated sport beans which had me really jacked up for the start. First lap I just wanted to make things hard, ended up getting away by accident. Got caught. Sat up near the front. At around five laps to go Konrad and I are at the front trying to keep the pace high. 2 laps two go I'm a little too far back. On the final lap I move up on the back stretch and make it to the front around half way to the end of the straight. Two little juniors jump I follow dragging the field and Craig with me. The two juniors drop off before the final turn and i come in the home stretch first wheel leading out the sprint. I die at around 200 meters to the line and watch Craig and then Brendan come by me.

Andrew Da Silva said:

One of my best days on a bike.

Awesome, can't wait to hear more. You guys looked rock solid all day long up there in the lead group.

Today was a lot of fun. Finally shaking my crit jitters and getting some confidence. Today was nice because I could navigate the field better. Like Andy said, plan was to get Craig up there and keep the pace high. At six to go the pace lulled and I felt I needed to do something, this would be the time when people start resting and recovering, so I worked my way up. Kept the pace high in the hopes of shedding dead weight and not giving the other teams a chance to rest or regroup.

Since it was so late, once I was gassed the pace stayed high and I had a hard time getting back in the mix. Got swarmed and wasn't able to get back up. Wanted to help deliver Craig but couldn't move back up quickly enough. Seriously impressed with how well Andy was handling the race.

5th and 6th are cool but honestly, we should've probably had someone on the podium today.