reg ends at noon today for the invitational and right now only 63 are registered. That bodes well for a breakaway.

https://www.bikereg.com/NET/Confirmed/15251

Worthy of mention: Sean Smith is registered for Die Hard. Is this the same Sean Smith who went from cat 5-1 in a single season?

There is also a composite CRCA elite team with Ken Harris, Erin Korf and David Taylor.

Foundation does not have all their stars, but some strong riders nonetheless.

Mengoni appears to be the team to beat. Wonder how they will play this one, but they have 4 legit contenders for the win the race with Breech, Ceasr Marte, Augusto and Savory.

I'm excited to race. I plan to ride my bike today and then sleep.

Looks like a lot of guest riders on other teams for this one. I'm glad that our fake team was able to field a full squad of our own guys.

Looking over the start list, I gotta agree about the high potential for a breakaway. In addition to the guys he mentioned. Stans/AXA has a strong team. Loehner, Margarite, Rahn, none of these guys wants to sprint.

With just 65 starters, it will be tempting to ride the back, because you won't feel too far from the front. Avoid that trap, though. Let's get a strong guy in the winning break. When you get in the break, don't ride yourself out of the break. Ceasar Marte, has been doing nothing but top quality pro races for months now...you probably aren't as strong as him, so don't try to match his pulls. Remember, your job, once in the break, is to stay there and win.

If you are in the break and struggling, take shorter pulls, line up behind the biggest guy you can find in the rotation. Ken Harris comes to mind.

It's going to fill up.  77 entries at 11:41.  There are some guys to watch.  Champ-Sys' Tony Hall should be the class of their group, though Ricky Garguilo should be good as well.  I see the others as support riders.  ken Harris likes this race, so he'll be going for it and the other CRCA "elite" riders are support.  Of BH, I think only Al and Evan present threats.  The Jordan team is there for the srpint.  On Foundation, Padfield and Guzman, so either the tallest or shortest guy.  Mengoni will probably try to set up Augusto or Cesar, which means we could see Brian or Jared for the break.  Stans/AXA has three breakaway guys, Rahn might try to sprint at the end.  

Ohhh reg ends sat, not today. It will fill up.

They've extended registration until tomorrow morning. At 78 right now, it looks like the field could be close to full when race day comes around.

If the field stays relatively smallish, then I have a feeling that an early break (if big enough, 10+) can stick. I also think that the field might split somewhere around the midpoint. If the field is large, then a late break might be the move that sticks but I think a field sprint is more likely.

Don't be surprised if you see a late entry by W.S. United. The teams to beat at Floyd have been W.S. United, Mengoni, and BH (which should be regarded as a serious contender). The Champsys teams will be strong. Foundation should be racing well too, but as Mike mentioned, their studs won't be there. This is going to a tough one.

Some rider intel:

Ricky Gargiulo and Tony Hall from ChampSys - good guys to be in a break with but be careful if following their wheels when bridging. Ricky, with his beastly TT strength, might blow you out and it's impossible to get a draft off Tony.

Augusto Sanchez from Mengoni - crashed on Tuesday, wasn't there on Thursday. By far Mengoni's biggest all around threat. If he's in the break, trust that Mengoni will sit. If he goes early, he's probably playing coy.

Pollo Jr. (Cesar Marte) and Scott Savory from Mengoni - big time sprinters. Scott has a cold but still won the field sprint last night. Cesar is crafty but can fall off the back of moves if you keep him on his toes. Work to get rid of him if you can, otherwise he'll beat you if he's there for the sprint.

Brian and Jared from Mengoni will work for these guys, either pulling stuff back or bridging up to it. Hopefully the other talent in the race will stifle them somewhat.

BH has imposed it's will at Floyd and is now a serious contender. Look for Al to get something started and workhorses like Evan, Erik, and Dylan to finish it. They've been working really well as a team lately. Follow them. They're on fire.

If W.S. United shows up, look out for Paul and Jermaine Burrowes in the break. If you're behind one of them when he jumps, hold on as tight as you can. Trust that he'll get you there. Brett and Tom will work to get them close enough. Ricky is their sprinter if it ends that way, but if he doesn't have it Jermaine and Paul are the wheels to follow. One thing to note - Jermaine and Augusto are close rivals. It's ON when they're in the mix. Recognize and leverage that if you can.

I like that this is a team race. I like how deep the teams go. We're not one of the stronger ones which means that we'll have to stay focused, up front, deceptively in the mix, and race the smartest race we can. We've been working really well together lately and I'm excited about our chances.

My advice: stay close to the action but out of trouble, cover only the promising moves, and be prepared for excruciatingly long and fast 30+ mph surges throughout the race. If you take some risks, which should not be entirely discouraged, make it count. If they miss, which is likely, be prepared to pay the price with minimal recovery once reabsorbed. Hang on as long as you can. We need you. If we work as a team, we can be there when it counts. Either way, it's going to be a tough one.

Psyched!!!

So im in for the 5s, 7 laps, thats new for me. The last race I did there was 3 laps.....

Are we going to get lapped by the 123s?

If so, generally speaking, is it advantageous for me to be in a break if there is a possibility of getting neutralized?

Anyone want to put a guess on what lap we could get caught? Im not sure what the intervals will be on start but we could assume 2 to 4 minutes? Id estimate an average of about 15 minute laps from the 5s at a guess.  

Im not quite back up to full strength from all my time off as far as break aways go. I still feel good for a sprint though so im wondering about tactics on a race thats more or less double the distance to our usual cat5 races.
 

Derek - someone must have dropped.

CRCA says 5:45 start.

Shall we leave from the BB at 4:30?

Sorry guys, this week has been eventful! Entry closed, will ride to Nyack instead.

430 it is at the bridge. Shiat this is early

Pre 5am. Ugh. Makes me kinda glad they don't want my kind...

In the Cat 5 race Ashely wins! I'll let him tell the story.

The team invitation was a long hard race. no results for us. Rene was close to the front but they decided to allow an ambulance to drive head on into our field sprint. nobody hurt, but a few riders had to bunny hop onto the grass. Rene had to slow for that.

Nice work Ashley!

Great result Ashley!

nice work Ashley

Go Ashley!

Bollox. I just wrote a lengthy report and it timed out and lost it all when I went to post it.......

Nice job Ashley!!! The crash put a little killer instinct in you eh?

Ashley you are the cat's pajamas!!! great pics of you offering the V-ictory salute.
yacks

This is the shorter version of the report as I lost the previous one to the world wide web. 
CRCA Central Park Classic - 7 Laps

Race started with the usual 5 and 10 meter heroes presenting themselves in full 3 second glory. 
I watched siggis block as one of them jumped up the road. Given the race was made up of a lot of them and crca guys I figured along with my 53kph crash yesterday in the sprint, today would be a good day for a breakaway if I could get one guy from each team to go with me. I spoke with 2 guys, one from each team and that was that. We hit it with 3 to go out of the 7 laps from about 20 riders back to get a run on everyone. When I went past the front I might have slurred don't chase down your own dudes guys. 

I was the last of the 3 riders to take my first turn on the front. Ive been in a few breaks in the past and found they usually fizzle out quickly or people won't work so I was thinking about how committed my break mates were. I knew this break was for real when I saw I needed 400w  to pull through so I went all in and we got a solid gap with a fully functional rotating pace line doing about 10 seconds each before turning over. Looking at my power data I have 60 intervals of 10 seconds from 850w to 400w.  

There was a 3 man break up the road and out of sight which we quickly caught. Those 3 tried to get on board our paceline (yes a pace line, really, in the 5s would you believe it?). They screwed it up for a minute or two while they skipped goes or did 5 second 250w pulls on the front before freewheeling at a time when we were still trying to get further away so I attacked out the group dropping the 3 previous breakaway riders and bringing with me my guys. We carried on. 

We got neutralized by the 123s and then got stuck behind when they appeared to slow after they passed us. During this time another crca rider breached up from the previous break. 

Same deal as before I wasn't having any of it, especially 2 riders from the same team so I attacked out from the back and blew him out, note the race face. The dude on the back is the one who was dropped through this move. 

...........

Coming into the last lap I realized for the first time we were going to make it so went into power conservation mode as I led us up the hill keeping a steady eye on the watts. 

2k out from the finish the crca guy takes a flyer, I sat at the back on the siggi rider as he tried to close the gap, he started loosing the wheel. I pulled through and brought us back onto crca as we entered the downhill towards cats paw. I came onto crcas wheel so hard down the hill into the corner that I had a run on him. Should I break and sit on his wheel before I open up or shall I go early. 

I wasn't going to use my breaks or coast along side him and I read siggi loosing the wheel as he's toast so I fired out and punched my kracken in the face holding its head under until I was near the line. Too soon I thought to myself but knew if I just kept going id hold on to second worse case so I kept going and going and going so sure crca was on me.

..........<
>

A new max HR later I looked around assuming crca was on my wheel or coming round me, he wasn't. I had about 10 or 15 bike lengths on second, third was nowhere to be seen. I had time to sit up, zip up the jersey, raise the arms and order my chicken dinner. 

........

We took out 4 minutes from the peloton behind according to Victor Chan who appears to take down the times himself. 

Did Ashley bring along his personal photographer? Looking super studly. Good read too.

As far as the 1/2/3 race, I had a lot of fun. 90k...is a nice distance on this course. It was also fun racing with a slightly different crew than usual. I'd like to see some basic racing data on this race from those running computers. My sense was that it was fast. No breaks were getting away. Lots of strung out racing action; including a complete lap that was single file. In the end, Dave, myself and Rene were within shouting distance of the front. I pushed to the pointy end of the peloton just past Tavern, but coming into Horse Shit Alley (which was spewing a delightfully fragrant dust into our lungs all day), there was lots of bumping, jostling and I kind of lost my nerve and allowed myself to get shuffled backwards.

I still had another chance to push forward, but a Central Park Ambulance screaming directly towards us at 30 mph put an end to many of our last hopes.

All in all, I think the team raced pretty well. Good job to everyone who raced today!

Fucking brilliant!

that is fucking dope, ashley!

Nice one Ashley! 

Congrats, Ashley. Makes up for Saturday for sure.

Fantastic win!

I'd like to see some basic racing data on this race from those running computers

Here we go - http://tpks.ws/MadrIROX

• 27.11 mph for 2:00:55
• fastest lap was 8 of 9 at 28.70 mph
• we went screaming up Harlem Hill at 23 mph on the last lap

I was surprised to see that my avg power was 175 W. NP at 221 makes a little more sense, but still seems pretty low for such a hard and fast race. I was cramping on the last lap, so it was hard. I feel like I raced a smarter race and that's why my power numbers were lower. At those speeds, you really need to hide at all times. Taking unnecessary wind at 27+ mph will blow you right out of there. Lots of guys fell off the back towards the end of the race.

Now that I've raced with such a solid field, I can better understand what Marc means when he talks about CP races being crit like. When you're moving that fast and it's that strung out for super long periods (seemingly the entire race), you really don't have many opportunities to move up.

When I got up front and in some moves on the fourth lap, I loved how furious it felt. Flying around from move to move, attacking, and getting pulled back in at those speeds was unlike any other racing experience I've had to date. It was constant  bursts of these controlled and precise flurries of aggression; a combination of raw power and smoothness.

Awesome race.