Hey there Kissena teammates!

I'm Avi. I am thrilled to be re-joining the squad after a way-too-long hiatus of 8 years. It feels like just yesterday that I was circling around PP with you all, but now I'm back and looking forward to get back in the saddle.

Looking forward to riding with you.

welcome!! 

Climbing Haleakala must be awesome. Welcome Charlton! 

Welcome fellow former triathlete!

welcome!

Welcome Charlton! I look forward to meeting you in person soon!

We love new blood here! Welcome!!!

Welcome!

Welcome Charlton! 

Not an introduce myself per se, but a where have I been post.

So, apologies for being quiet for a long time. This past year has been insane. Covid messed me up starting in late October 2022 and I had lasting issues until late spring. Since I was unable to ride much, and do my training, I was unable to race this year. So, I ended up officiating from March through Croton CX. I think this year's officiating resumé is at about 40 races.

On the upside it's good since I need the extra cash to help sure up the finances a bit. On the down side, I am quite exhausted from all that. Also with Robert Marcus stepping away as the official's coordinator at the Velodrome, it seems NYSBRA president Jeff Poulin is looking to make me the USAC officials coordinator, should track stay under USAC. Actually I took on that role at the end of July and had to scramble to get up to speed and stuff... Fun... Fun.

Officiating at the velodrome is a frustrating experience, but I keep at it because I want it to succeed. No racing is bad for everyone.

Now that I've started to train, the hope is that by next year I regain some fitness, drop the extra 17 lbs I put on, and be able to race again and do some nice long rides.

That being said, I will have to balance officiating, racing, work, house stuff, and most importantly my relationship with Amy so it's going to be an interesting year.

Good seeing the Kissenas at Croton CX, the Kissena Velodrome, Prospect Park, and Randall's Island this year. It's hard to hang out while officiating since there is usually a lot going on and stuff to keep track of, but I still appreciate the quick hellos and stuff from all y'all.

Hey everyone,

My name is Blake and I'm brand new to Kissena (and any kind of organized cycling at that). I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with my wife and our dog. I discovered cycling while I was at school in Oklahoma, attempting 2 imperial centuries (finishing only 1), before moving to NY & not owning a bike for several years. That changed in 2017 and since then I've been a casual/hobbyist rider, but always enjoyed trying (and sometimes failing) to consistently follow professional cycling. Earlier this year I finally went to see the Tour de France in person (somehow convinced my wife this was a great honeymoon idea; it was). I think like many over the last few years, I've tried a few new and old hobbies to see what sticks. That experience + some epic stages at TdF 2023 = me deciding cycling was going to stick with me this time. Since then I've been riding a lot more, learning how to train and properly fuel for long rides, and have pushed myself to go beyond my comfort zone. Enter: Kissena. Cycling groups have always been intimidating to me but YOLO. Clearly from this rambling intro I am showing my whole ass nerd self, but having perused a few pages of intros, something tells me I'm not alone.  

My goals with the club are: 1) participate, meet people and learn stuff, 2) get better at riding my bike, 3) start and finish a race with the full expectation of getting dropped from the beginning. I will enjoy all of it.

I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone. I don't take a lot of pictures so here's one from Halloween (I don't normally wear nets), and on my bike passing the finish line at Bike NY's Twin Lights 2023.

I do enjoy distance riding, and am looking forward to the 2024 Super Bowl Century to Bear Mountain. I like climbing, too, something I want to continually get better at. 

See you on the road soon.

Welcome aboard Blake!

Welcome Blake!! Looking forward to riding together soon!

Welcome to the club Blake!!

Welcome @BlakeFoster -- btw, if you can, come join us Sunday

@BlakeFoster  The Super Bowl Century is an awesome event.  Hope you're starting to prepare for it now.  In the discussion thread we have devoted to it, you can see speed/power/calorie expenditure for the thing.  I know we'll have plenty of sunday group rides between now and then as well.  

Welcome Blake! I'd say I had the exact same goals and a very similar background when joining the club  

mugwump said:

@BlakeFoster  The Super Bowl Century is an awesome event.  Hope you're starting to prepare for it now.  In the discussion thread we have devoted to it, you can see speed/power/calorie expenditure for the thing.  I know we'll have plenty of sunday group rides between now and then as well.  

good shout, thank you! 

eloy said:

Welcome @BlakeFoster -- btw, if you can, come join us Sunday

I'm rebounding from 2nd round of covid, will probably be a game time decision but my aspiration is to be there

Welcome Blake!

Hey Everyone,

My name is Billy and I'm new to the club. This is my first cycling club experience. Like @BlakeFoster mentioned above, I too was always intimidated to join a cycling club but, I went on an intro group ride a few months back and felt right at home with everyone on our ride.

I have been riding for about 15 years on and off. It started with road cycling in NJ. I did some short triathlons that I really enjoyed but never took too seriously along with some long charity rides that I really loved and then moved out to Bend, OR for 5 years with my wife. There I got into more mountain biking, gravel riding, and some bikepacking but still participated in some fun road events. Then in 2020 my wife and I moved to Tucson, AZ to be close to my brother for a bit. He is also very into cycling so we did a lot of road riding together there (I miss it in the winter right now!), rode lots of gravel, and did some amazing bikepacking trips as well. We just moved to Crown Heights in August of 2023 and we are stoked to be back on the East Coast! I haven't done any races just long charity-type rides like City to Shore in NJ, Pole Pedal Paddle in OR, and El Tour de Tucson in AZ.

I'm looking to meet some new like-minded people in the club and to gain some cycling fitness. I am also interested in learning more about the racing aspect of cycling as I have never really done that before but having a ride on the calendar really gets me in better shape! I love long rides, I love to climb and I love to eat! However, since I've been back I've been doing a lot more eating than I have been cranking so I am hoping to flip that now with some group motivation haha. I'm always down for some PP laps!

It will be fun to get on some of the GWB rides too since I used to take those in the other direction when I lived in NJ.

Looking forward to seeing you all on a ride soon!

Billy

Welcome!!

Welcome to the club!

Welcome Billy!

Welcome!

Welcome Billy!

Hey Billy, good riding with you and great to see you come aboard!

Welcome Billy! 

Welcome to KCC Billy!