For Climbers, there is Killington.

For flatlanders, there are crits.

Saturday - http://tourofsomerville.org/downloads/11SaturdayCritsFlyer.pdf
35+ and Cat 3

Who is in for Saturday?

I have room for 2.

I'd love to race a crit on saturday but no fields for us cat4 peons.

@ Eric. I emailed the organizer — is there a way to see if the fields are full?

They are not full

Tourofsomerville.org

Cat 3s, 4s and Masters:

Rene and Keith, Jeff and Ryan, Conde are going to Killington, Jan, Strika and Ragot at Somerville. June is surprisingly thin in terms of good out of town racing and the Tour of Somerville events definitely fall into that category.

As a reminder, tonight at 5pm there's a 20-mile 3/4 crit. Saturday's crit has openings for Cat 3s, masters 35+, 45+ and 55+. Sunday's crit is open to 3/4s, 35+ and Pro 1/2. Monday is open for 2s, 3s, 50+, Pro/1. If my memory serves you can actually sign up for Monday's race at one of the other races and avoid the $25 day of registration penalty.

Okay, that's the last of my nudges for this weekend. Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend whether they are riding, bbq-ing, racing or just hanging out!

Katz is in as well.
DeBaca?
Robertson on Saturday?

Where-ever you find yourself this weekend, riding and/or racing, it might be the first time you've cranked out big watts in summertime temps. Don't forget, to drink, drink, drink. 1% of your body weight per hour. For my 169-ish lb self that equates to one large bottle per hour. And if you are a salty sweater...don't skimp on the white sprinkly stuff at meals.

I'm off to frenchtown NJ for a 35k TT Sunday morning. If someone wants to do it last minute contact me (516 987-6404) as I might be able to give you a ride.

Good luck to the stage race and crit racers this weekend.

Patrick

Brief report
Crit, 4 corner with a hill.
Cat 3. field sprint = I beat francisco in the sprint. To win.

Masters = I bridged to the break. 6th place. Last in the break, but, I guess its ok.

E

high 5!

nice working EricOriginal!

Nice work Eric!

Because I'm watching The Wire...

Oh sheeeeeet. Great job Eric.

JP and I had awesome days as well. And by awesome, I mean totally sucky. 2.5 miles into the race I flatted just as we were leaving the neutral. Wheel van wasn't giving out wheels unless you put some in and so I got a nice long ride in the broom wagon with a Team Bissel, Team Type 1 pro and a few other guys we picked up along the way.

(warning...rant ahead: In over 15 years of my racing experience the "rule" has been more than 10 sets of wheels in the truck, the wheels are neutral and given out as needed. Other guys flatted too and when they attempted to get wheels that were placed in by THEIR TEAMMATES, they too were denied. And when guys were flatting who had put wheels in the truck with their numbers on them, the truck drivers where taking extra time to dig through the whole truck to find their exact wheels, effectively ending any chance of them chasing back to the field)

JP managed to crack his rear Zipp 303 clincher around mile 25 and his day was over too. He says the roads are rougher than Battenkill and promises to return with a 25mm tyre next year.

Apparently Team All Black, the pros from New Zealand were crushing it all day long. JP thinks he spotted former Tour de France yellow Jersey wearer Jan Kirsipuu racing for Champion Systems. Coming into the final miles the field was shattered. Local standout neopro, Gavi Epstein (Garmin), was in the 3rd group in the road. That's right, the 3rd group. So yeah, I think the race must have been hard.

HUGE congrats, Eric! That's a big-time win!

http://www.tourofsomerville.org/entertainment.html

Memorial Day, Monday, May 30 in Somerville

Parade on Main Street at 9 a.m.

Family Fun Ride on race course at 10 a.m.

Kids' Pavilion located at intersection of Main and Grove St. from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

* petting zoo,
* pony rides,
* moonwalk,
* spin art

Sports and Music Festival located on Bridge St. between Main and High St.

12:00 - Live Music by JUNG WOMBATS!

12:45 - Performance by Serova School of Dance

1:00 - Live Music by Foxcroft Special

1:15 - Bound Brook Wrestling Program

1:30 - Somerville Martial Arts Academy

2:00 - Live Music by Slackjaw

2:00 - Maestro Fencing Club

3:00 - Live Music by School of Rock

3:00 - Skateboard Demo Team by Prime SkateShop of Hillsborough

Throughout 12:00 – 4:00:

USA Luge – come try out the Team USA Luge Sled and meet members of Team USA

Knockout basketball!

Whatsamatta which you Killingtoners? Run out of ink? No 3G? How about some race reports?

Memorial Day racing in New Jersey continued today with an EXCELLENT criterium course in Bound Brook, NJ. Flat as a pancake, lots of turns in 1.2 miles through nice neighborhood streets with folks set up having picnics on their front lawns. The last few weekends, starting with the Tour de Syracuse, my focus has been on racing and not training...so rather than race with the Pro 1-2s, where my relative lack of fitness will hurt me more, I've been racing the Masters categories.

And today was no different. I know I can hang in fast pro 1-2 crit, but I was here to place, so I signed up for the 35+ event where I'd have a better shot at it. Of course, this means I would have to battle it out with Cat 1 sprinters you love to hate, like Ricky Lowe, one of the Burrow's brothers, those two guys from Foundation, the New Jersey State crit champion, and about 8 guys from the Brauer-Mick Management.

And man, those guys just shut it down. After one of the Brauer guys slips off the front (after I took a nice pull at the front, I might add), their team just shut down the action. And the rest of the field was full of individuals or sprinters who were unwilling or unable to take a pull. The three man break continues to put time into a lazy field. We're racing for fourth.

Late in the race a split in the field occurred and it looked like all the money was up the road. Lowe, Burrows, Foundation dudes. Those guys weren't going to pull. Frustrated, I get to the front through a series of left-right-left turns and crank up the watts. Less than 1 lap later I've halved the gap to the split. I'm hoping this will inspire the heroes to try and bridge solo across, thereby igniting the field and bringing it back together again for some last lap sprinting madness. I pull off, sit up and it's like someone put the reverse thrusters on the field as they all come to a sudden halt. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Last lap the fields afterburners are kept on simmer. With 1/2 a lap to go, guys finally start trying to bridge. Some make it, sort of, some don't. The front of the field comes across in dribs and drabs. My position was elcraparo with 3 turns to go and I got nothing. Hrumpf. The legs were good today. The course was technical enough that I had an advantage over most of my competitors and yet...

Tomorrow's another day. Another short crit race for the cat IIs but JP and I are motivated. Ragot, Micko and Strika racing the 3s.

When the alarm went off, the skys were grey and the roads wet. But just a bit southwest of the NYC, blue skies and blazing temperatures greeted racers lining up for the country's oldest continuously run bicycle race. The Tour of Somerville criterium.

JP and I met up and went for a nice warm-up ride where he attempted to bestow some good mojo on both of us by taking us on the very same roads out of town where he warmed up a few years back with ex-Kissena, current pro Neil Bedzek. If I'm going to get all X-files about it though, it had the opposite effect on my bike...more on this later.

After my somewhat frustrating race yesterday, I was pumped and ready to rock today. I even had my fat-suit on (most of you probably call it a skin suit) and was feeling fast. We briefly discussed our plan. Basically, stay up front, out of trouble. Look for promising moves. Ya' know, the usual.

After further delays, our promised Cat 2 20-mile crit was cut to around 15 miles. That's right all you 5s, 4s and 3s...if you upgrade, you too can go around in a circle real fast for like 20 minutes with like 90 other guys. Dare to dream...15-mile crit, awesome right?

Anyway, JP and I did our thing. Parked near the front lap after lap. We each took our digs off the front. JP's got data, but he'll tell you: easy to sit in, hard to stay off the front. I have to agree. The other most difficult part of this race was staying up front. One second I'm 5th wheel, the next I'm swarmed by 30 guys. It was like that all day. Welcome to the world of the short criterium! Even a 25-mile crit in this heat would have burned off some pretenders. But 15 miles? No chance.

With 8 or so laps to go, there was a seriously nasty crash behind us. I heard the carnage and Sarah tells me, "Bodies were flying everywhere. You lost at least 1/3 of the field." With one to go about 3 riders in front of us dumped it. I slammed on my brakes. "Dear lord, don't let me run into the guys in front of us...phew...dear lord, don't let anyone run into the back of me." I escaped unscathed but the field was gone. Undaunted, I took up chase, passed a few guys, but was way, way too far back to place.

After I got back to the car, I popped the wheels off my bike and noticed my rear tire had a little extra squish in it. "You have got to be kidding me..." I put my pump on the tire and it looks like I had about 50 psi in that badboy. 2 flats in one weekend (yes, I changed tires after the first). Maybe I got it during my cool down lap though, maybe I had full pressure all race long. Or maybe on the very same road out of town where I flatted in Saturday's road race and where JP and I were warming up today, something nasty bit me once again? I guess I'll never know...

Jan got some money, I got nothing, but I echo marc's comments in that it was hard to be off the front, too easy to be swarmed at the front and I just didn't have it to bridge to the winning duo. All in all, a good weekend with a win, place and nothing in three races. had or race been 20 laps as advertised, some more of the chaff would have been burned off.

E

Nice job gents. Congrats to Ragot on the win and to Jan as well for placing in the money.

I'm late to this...but I am duty-bound to report that the cat II race was 20 miles as advertised, and I'm betting the cat III race was as well.

15 laps 1.25 miles per lap. 18.75 or so

Bump. Listen up everyone. There is racing "AB" (after Bear Mountain) and Memorial Day Weekend hosts something for climbers (Killington) and you the flat-landers ("Somerville"). I'll let someone else pitch Killington, there are lots of fans on the club of this Vermont stage race. I want to remind you that this year there are 3 good crits not to be missed. Why?

1. Local...all less than 41 miles away.
2. Leg speed...outside of track racing, there is no better way to develop leg speed and acceleration than at a technical crit. Fancy yourself a road racer? Well remember that road race sprint where you couldn't break away/come around/hold the wheel? Yeah, crits will fix that.
3. Handling...become a better bike racer. Practice leaning your steed over at race pace.
4. Family friendly spectating...all three venues boast good sight lines and places to watch. Better yet, if your friends and family want to be on the move, walking a course backwards is a great way to see what's going on, while it's going on!

Here's the run-down of the races this year. Cat 2s on the club are all disappointed that the Hills of Somerset RR has gone the way of the dinosaurs, but rest assured, there are three days of fun in store for almost all.

Saturday May 24. Raritan Cycling Classic. A 6 (or so) corner course with both fast right and left turns, this one is the real deal. In the past there was no Pro 1/2 category but this year everyone gets to play. Also last year a handful of III/IVs took on this race and no doubt might share some memories with you to get you pumped. I raced the Master's event. In terms of difficulty, I rank this one as similar to Bound Brook (which more of you have done). Bring spare wheels for the pit.

https://www.bikereg.com/john-basilone-raritan-cycling-classic

Sunday May 25. Bound Brook. Set in a quiet neighborhood with a one-floor school as the registration line backdrop, this crit can be a lot of fun. There's a playground in the With a fast right left chicane just 100 meters after the start, getting to the line early with respectable warm-up can be the difference between a solid finish or OTB. Bring spare wheels for the pit.

https://www.bikereg.com/bound-brook-cycling-classic

Monday May 26. Tour of Somerville. Set in downtown Somerville, NJ, this is one of the oldest continuously running races in the country. A fast course, with good pavement all around (finally), this one, due to the short race distances and the relatively easy 4-corner-ish design usually means it's over fast. Easy to finish, hard to place. Unlike other races where I generally don't think racing two crits is a good idea, this one, if you want to/can, is a-okay to double up for masters who are 45+ (cat 1, 2 or 3). Family friendly atmosphere. Lots of businesses open, petting zoo, bouncy castle, etc. Big pro crit at end of day. Honestly can be a little sleepy to watch, but it's a good opportunity to see some real pros race up close and personal like. Hang out on a corner, watch how they take it, etc. The other downside to this race is that there is nothing for Cat 4s. But there is a cat III only race! Neutral support on both sides of the rectangular course. Leave your spare wheels at home.

https://www.bikereg.com/tour-of-somerville

P.S. An additional note about Sommerville. For Cat 3s, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, pulling together as big a squad as possible for this race and HAVE FUN. Seriously, with say 8 guys, you actually have a chance at owning this race. Anything less, the course is just too fast, too wide open, too short, too big a field to really do anything productive as a team. But with 6 or 8 dedicated guys...could be the most entertaining race to watch all day!

I will be at all three races too. It's the focus of my season. Pro-1-2 for each. Now registered.

I'm gonna reg right now... Learned my lesson from orchard beach

I'm In for Raritan or Bound Brook leaning towards Raritan because it seems to start a little earlier.

David Yang said:

I'm In for Raritan or Bound Brook leaning towards Raritan because it seems to start a little earlier.

If they use the same courses as last year, I think it's a toss-up as to which is a badder-asser crit, Raritan or Bound Brook. Both have a series of quick opposite direction turns where you find yourself in "Scandanavian Flick" mode (for all you motorsport fans out there). Bound Brook's pavement isn't as good all around, so maybe it's a little badder.

Ooohhh, guess who just signed up for the Pro-1 Crit at Somerville? United Healthcare. Da-uhm! I guess they want their share of the $15,000 prize purse. They are going to OWN that race. Will be fun to watch. Vlad and I got to watch them do their thing a bunch at ToAD last year. Those guys are SICK STRONG.

There is also the Tour of Mt Joy in Lancaster county, PA.  three 60 km road races and a TT over 3 days.