A seven-lap team race in central park. Both individual and team prizes. Points available for the first 20 finishers,best three teams get money. Always a barn-burner. Teams of four to six riders. I also had some revenge to work out.



We chose the hardest, toughest, attackingest, smartest of our 1/2/3 crew for this race. It was a difficult choice as we have alot of strong guys this year. Thankfully, a few were out of town. Our six were Marc Bertucco, William Doyle Capitman, JP Partland, Mike Perlberg, Eric Ragot, Myles Romanow.



Traditionally, the field is 80 riders strong. And it looked like there were only two teams that would want a field sprint. At 80, and only Die-Hard and Leopard had the roster that said "sprint finish." We went with a team long on getting away.



Surprisingly, CRCA extended the field limit after the registration deadline. up to 100 riders and Mengoni was in the mix. And they brought a team for sprinting, not breaking away. Odds like this and the victory will be more sweet.



Our plan was to be aggressive and work for the breakaway. We did this from the gun. And it was hard. First lap was 13:23, and it turned out to be the second-slowest lap of the day. As getting two guys in the move and seeing the move stick was getting harder, we started trying to break the chain by letting a group with our guys at the front get a small gap. that didn't work.



Everyone of us turned on the style, showed our class, tried to show the field a fresh set of wheels, had the bit between the teeth, pedaled in anger, put in furious attacks, turned ourselves inside out, dug deep into our suitcases of courage several times over. In other words, a typical race. ONly this time, we weren't getting anywhere, an atypical event for us.



Hope the others can fill more in here.



Problem was, lots of people were thinking attack as well (naturally, our thoughts were better, stronger, but not faster). One of our most promising moves took place just before the last lap started, just as people were starting to think "field sprint." Eric and WDC got in a split and, for a few seconds, it looked good. Unfortunately, they were a half-lap too soon. The motorcycle known as Foundation's Rafael Meran took off sometime shortly after 110berg and rocketed to the finish with Ingraham of Adler on his wheel. We were doing out best to ride up to the front in a group, but our timing was off and got lost in traffic. And interestingly, I crossed the line right by Die-Hard's Ricky Lowe, whom I expected to be one of the sprint favorites.



Here are lap times. The course is 6.1 miles around if you take the inside line the whole way.

1. 13:23

2. 13:21

3. 12:59

4. 13:25

5. 13:02

6. 13:16

7. 13:06 (I thought this was a slow lap)



1:32:32 for the race. Because I didn't take a straight line, my distance was 43.22 rather than the 42.7 of hugging the jogger's lane. Average speed was 27.5mph and I came in 15 seconds behind the winner.

This race was really hard but I'm happy with how we held it together as a squad.

I don't think there way anyone with anything extra at the end saying "oh golly, I should have attacked!"

I was thinking I was off and weak after the race.

I just had a chance to look over my power numbers. X-Power (normalized) 274 watts for the race.

The race was hard the whole time.

My peak 2 minutes was in the first 10 minutes of the race.

My peak 10 minutes was from 25-35 minutes mark.

My peak 20 minutes was from 50-70 min into the race. which I lead into with my peak 10 second effort trying to get across (with Williams help). the 20 minute had a 300 watt normalized power effort.

None of the numbers by themselves are impressive. None of the moves were impressive, I was hanging on for dear life when EMS ringer /Foundation / Mengoni / Adler guys traded blows. But overall, in the context of a 90 minute slug fest, I did everything I could do.

One mistake I made was trying to move up at the end - I should have been more aware that I was totally and completely cooked and backed off, but Myles and Marc were taunting me in my head so I tried to move up. I was too hesitant and shaky to do it effectively so I backed off, but not after boxing JP in. Myles, whose wheel I lost, made it to the front. Doh!

I was hoping you guys would download some interesting data that would validate our general feelings after the race. After the race there was a lot of "I wish I was stronger" and "I wish I felt better" at our post race debrief. And I'm thinking, if we are blazing around the course single, double and triple file for most every lap, going 30+ mph at any given moment, who in the race is going to be able to get into the wind and go 35+ to break and stay away? Yeah, exactly, no-one. We made as many or more moves off the front than any other team out there, but nothing was getting away.

I think the same field at PP would have been an entirely diff't story, but the CP course is a roller coaster ride interrupted by a few hard stretches. Make it past those moments and you can breeze along a dip in the road at 40 mph while barely cranking out 250 watts.

Battle of the beards!

http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cyclings/Lou-Maltese-Memorial-Race/Invitational-Teams/18090975_GvjWgZ#1389243498_C9MBXnD

Hey, no fair! I just haven't shaved in a week...this is far from my full winter beard.

8 more laps in CP for us Cat 3 bros.

7 laps for the Cat 5 bros! Get some!!!

Everyone else can sleep in.

Also, did we get a team invite for the 123 and if so, who are we sending?

We did get a team invite. More info to come.

7 laps, wowza. Dont think ive done more than 3 in there ever

What, no cat 4 love?

That is stone cold.

Im going to do this. 7 Laps sounds fun. 

Im registered. 

no soup for the 4's.  sounds like a beach day.

Cat 2/3. If you want in on the invite squad state your case here. Min 4 max 6 riders. I need to know by tomorrow.

i'm out

I've been feeling pretty good and would like a spot on the invite squad.

I'm out.  I've got a triple whammy.  Saturday evening wedding, then my brother's family is staying over, and I've got to start working at 9am.  Bummer.  Feeling frisky and I like this race.  Generally, good positioning is rewarded.  It's a fast one and sometimes a break just rolls away as people are getting tired.

I want in. I've been feeling pretty good in park races lately. I see good things on the horizon. I would love to test myself while wearing the blue and orange in the prestigious team invitation only event.

I just got the last cat 5 spot

I'm outta town

I'm toying with doing this race. I also want to attend William's clambake... WHAT TO DO!?!?! Are any 3's just doing the 3 only race and not the 123? Pawling made me feel like I hadn't ridden a bike in 47 weeks and sort of was a wake up call for my lack of mid-season fitness (but also a reminder of how much summer fun I've been having, for better or worse).

I could probably be nudged to the 123 squad if we have a crew.

Yeah Volbach, get some!!!

If we send a team, and it isn't already full, I'd like to race and be a road captain of sorts. This involves me mostly getting all shouty and saying, "what the hell are you doing back here? there's no racing back here...get your arse to the front!"

Love it.  We only need a car for you to shout from and a white wig... someday...

Paging John Malcolmson....

one more spot open in the 123 "invitational" please contact me. let's field a full squad.

I'm up for this if you need an extra hand in the 123.

So here's the crew for the 1/2/3 race; looks like a 5:45am start. Can we triple confirm this? Bike reg site doesn't have any info.

Vlad
Mike
Rene
Marc
Dave
Daniel

Somewhere, there's a long post where someone posted a video of a lap, and I posted a turn by turn breakdown of the course. If you don't have a lot of experience on this course and haven't already, I recommend watching/reading it.

This is not the usual crew of 1/2/3s who race together, so lets be communicating a lot before and during the race. With 9 laps of the race, it would be awesome if we could get Mike Perlberg into the winning break. Dave and Vlad have monster watts, and would be good in breaks too, but please don't waste too much energy chasing after bullshit that goes on the fast flats of Museum Mile. Those moves ALWAYS come back.

The place to attack is either just before the crest of the Harlem Hill Climb, or better yet attack/bridge/counter on the west side rollers after the climb. That is by far the hardest part of the course.

Rene is probably our defacto sprinter, although if Perlberg is there or there abouts, he should be close to the front if it comes down to a bunch sprint, considering he's got some good 20 second power numbers right now.

I don't know Daniel, so I won't assign a role here.

I'm likely the weakest guy on the squad, but also, the most experienced...especially on this course. Unlike my last outing where I did one early move a flamed out spectacularly, it's going to be more beneficial for the team for me to hide/survive until the end and help with leadout/organizing duty.

This will mostly involve me wringing the neck of anyone who thinks
they can attack at Tavern on the Green on the last lap and stay away for
a top placing.

Vlad has been racing at FBF a lot this season and should know the strongest guys; guys worth chasing down/working with in breakaways.

We're not going to be able to control this race the way the 4s control their races, so we have to be smart. Always be thinking, "why am I doing this? is it helping the team?"

I'll post more as I think of things to share.

Daniel has lots of race experience and is a solid pack navigator. He can be counted on to cover early breaks and to help us organize towards the end of the race.

Daniel has lots of race experience and is a solid pack navigator. He can be counted on to cover early breaks and to help us organize towards the end of the race.

awesome, I'm looking forward to this one...might be my last before my baby boy says hello to the world!

duders: