With a mediterranean tan and a lethal kick, Jan defended his champ jersey today. Well deserved victory in what turned out to be a bit of a race of attrition.
I think it was Joe, Tito, Ryan, Ragot, Jan, Marc and Perlberg who got the nice 15 second gap on the final lap. Congrat's Jorge—4th in Cat 5. Cheers all, great way to cap the season.

Oh and Jeffrey and I are definitely pulling Mengoni's in next years spring series — we'll have a forty gallon drum fireplace setup in the bushes at the top of the hill to warm our hands and heat our gatorade.

I bridged to the group after the chute on the last lap. Then I set myself up on Jan's wheel. I just didn't have the pop.

Good fun all.

That was a great fun race. A lot of those laps were fast and furious.

Thought that final group would come back. Just before the temple Eric went by really fast followed by Keith. I jumped on Keith's wheel as he valiantly tried to latch on to Eric. He waved me through but I couldn't get up there either. Marc came by and I tried to jump on his wheel but too many early matches had been burnt. Got within 30 meters or so of the group just as they ramped it up for the sprint.

Props to Joe and Ryan for creating that last move with a serious jump the final time up the hill.

And big congrats to Jan for defending his jersey.

Jan makes old look new. As a newly minted member of the 40+ club, I am in awe. Well done all. I am a fan of the club only championship race. yacks

Jan = The Highlander

really good times, y'all

nice to see everybody out there

It was great fun.

Turns out it was dang hard too - I just plugged in the Garmin to find that I set an hour record for the season @247w and then I maintained that power for another 13 minutes.

That last lap was brutal. I let some aggression out on the hill to get a gap on the last lap, but once some of the hosses bridged they put me through the meat grinder.

Props to all who came out, I saw some great racing from a lot of people. I was particularly impressed with the way Jim Nelson kept himself at the front and on the right side of spilts, fighting to the very end

I had a blast. Really fun and impressive riding from all.

Nice ride by all, gents, just bummed I couldn't race with you. Pretty much everyone said it was an honest, hard race. I just caught a few laps and the final showdown. Congrats to Jan for defending the jersey and to Ragot & Perlberg for fighting to the end.

Highlights from the race:

1. Neutral lap, like every other "neutral" part of any race you've ever done. Best part was when Jan just took off at the top of the climb and made us chase.
2. Charlie I. begging us at the end of the first lap to race because the cat 5s were about to catch us.
3. No lazy racers. Looking around, there was either hurt on the face of guys holding wheels, or guys launching themselves off the front. A couple of times it seemed like the elastic was finally going to break, but big hearts, big lungs and strong legs ensured we mostly stuck together all 9 laps.
4. Seeing a lot of familiar faces, plus a few new ones.
5. Ragot's last lap bridge to the leaders was perfectly timed and blindingly fast. (I was thinking we'd come back together again just past the crappy pavement section after the funnel. I was wrong.)
6. Perlberg passing the helmet and collecting some ka-ching to send Woj off on his biking/hiking adventures with some extra green backs. Can you see that kind of spirit and generosity from another team? No, me neither.

Awesome! Great job gents. Although I'm a little disappointed there was NOT a super sketchy cat-4-esque field sprint.

Jan is strong like monster bull. Congrats on the 2 years in a row.

^ with 3 to go, Perlberg yells out "Cat 4's! it's time for you to start the leadout!"

i was kind of out of it at the time, but i had a delayed lol about 15 minutes after the finish

Yep. Pretty hard race. My peak 60 split was 246 watts. Woj wins most-aggressive rider respect in my book. I'd put him at what, 10 attacks? Also, Perlberg was in almost every break. He'd get into breaks that were countering the break he was just in. Yikes. Would love to hear his avg watts! Fun times, all, and great racing!

Super, super fun.

I was NOT in that first group in the final split...couldn't even hang on to the second group by the end!

I burned waaayyyy too many matches during the race - attacking a couple of times, following attacks (including Woj's attack up the hill on, what, lap 8? UGH - Mike followed too, and I thought there was some potential but when Woj sat up he wisely did too) and lots and lots of bridging. After a few laps I knew nothing was going to stick, but unlike others who also realized this, I kept going at it like a 13-year-old boy who's just discovered wanking.

BTW, so glad others agree that Woj should get the award for most aggressive (was there actually any doubt?) - I've got a jawbone with his name on it.

4 hours of sleep + 30 miles of hard racing + 30 miles of riding to and from = no kinda schoolwork happening here.

Ok so here is my real report.

Went into the race without much confidence after the ass-whooping I was handed last weekend at the opening MAC cross race. Figured I'd follow moves until something stuck. Was also well aware that we all know each other very well, and it was likely that certain riders would be marked and not allowed to get away. With this sort of mindset a field sprint was likely. I didn't really want that. I had two goals - a long long break where folks would be tired and my anemic sprint might hold up, or a break closer to the end without the folks who'd tear my legs off in a sprint.

A very nice looking break formed early. I was marking Ragot and followed his attack. Lucky for me he did not attack super hard, just enough to get a gap and draw some riders out. After the hill, a few more joined us. We had a who's who of Kissena cycling 2011- myself, Ragot, Malcomlmnson, Jan, Lenny, William, and Joe Mueler.

I figured this was it. We were working well together but a few folks seemed tired. That actually boosted my confidence quite a bit, because I was feeling awesome! I started plotting my attack on the group to try to loose a few of the sprinters (well not sprinters per se, but people who'd easily out sprint me) . Before we knew it - caught. What? I want to know who brought that back, pretty sure Ryan Johnston and Keith Snyder had something to do with it.

I followed lots of breaks. At this point, my goal was to get away without Jan and Eric. I was gaining confidence and was hoping for something, anything, without those two.

With a few laps to go Norm - who can ride loops of Prospect like an animal was off the front and the pack seemed to be giving him a generous amount of room. I went after him with William in tow. We caught him, but brought the field was fast on our track.

On the final lap Ryan J flew past me on the hill with a group in tow. I let them get a gap and then tried to jump across. I got in contact before the downhill. Jan was already there, along with Joe, Ryan, Lenny and William and Norm. Ragot bridged up. At this point I was pretty wasted an not ready for the 2km to go attack. I followed wheels and had no pop when Ragot and Jan launched the sprint.

I was nowhere clear to catching them, can't even say I sprinted, more or less crushed the pedals as hard as I could to get to the finish ahead of the group behind.

This was a lot of fun. The Catch Kissena format has its merits, but a balls to the wall club championship is pretty special.

I'll agree with the points above that Woj was aggressive as hell. Not silly aggressive either - he made very well timed counter attacks and moves at times when the field was vulnerable.

One thing that was really cool was that everyone was attacking and riding like a Kissena rider should. Jeff White especially comes to mind, but there were many many guys out there throwing it down.

I had a great time! Nice to see some familiar faces and meet other members. Lots of tough guys in the bunch that inspire me.

Two questions:

1. When/where will the pictures be posted? I feel like so many were taken of us.
2. Anyone fancy the triangle ride tomorrow? I'll be there.

Great to see everyone I knew and those I met anew today. I retired after two laps due to mechanical/my incompetence problems. Oh well, only second DNF of entire season due to bike issues so can't complain (I think I've done 19/20 races this year...) so the ratio is the best that can be hoped for.

Just want to say thank you to a lot of guys in the team. Lenny: thank you for lending me, a bloke you'd never met before, all three of your spoke wrenches. Mike: thank you for, in lieu of any sort of warm up, heading back to your apartment to get me a replacement rear wheel. Joe: thank you for removing my tyre and tube whilst I signed on to help. Dan: than you for unselfishly giving me your rear wheel with expensive Cyclops hub to race on. The fact that 4 people generously and selflessly helped me when I was stuck (broke a spoke on the cycle to the race BTW) was incredible. I felt really lucky an privileged to be in a team like that.



Final note: I stopped at 14th St. Cycles (Manhattan) on the way home for the wheel repair. Excellent service/speed/cost. They charged me for a wheel truing ($20) and $1 per replacement spoke. They didn't charge a separate price for wheel truing and spoke replacement. Really quick. Just went in and dumped the bike, 20 minutes later it was done. As only one spoke was broken the total was only $21. Would strongly recommend.

@mperlberg Yeah, I'd say me, Keith, and actually Marc were responsible for that chase. A couple others worked on it. Lenny maybe? Or was he on the other side? Jim? I can't remember because I was deep in the cave de pain.

Kind of funny, actually. It was one of those "oh shit" moments. I had actually let a gap open up, one of only a few moves I chose not to follow the whole race, and immediately knew it was a mistake. As I told to a few folks after, I looked around and thought "Who's left? Hmm. Not Mike. Not Ragot. Not Joe. Not Wojciech. Not Malcolmson. Not William. Not Norm. Oops. This is probably bad."

Posted By: Ryan J... I looked around and thought "Who's left? Hmm. Not Mike. Not Ragot. Not Joe. Not Wojciech. Not Malcolmson. Not William. Not Norm. Oops. This is probably bad."

I just laughed pretty hard at that. Surely most of us have been there!

I laughed at that one as well --since I was not in that 1st move, I was at the back thinking "that group looks kinda strong"!

yeah - i am honestly EXTREMELY surprised you guys pulled that back

for about a lap, i was convinced that was the race

Had the most fun racing in a while!

I just want to thank everyone who provided me with any sort of support for my upcoming bike trip to Florida & Cali. The gift this morning was more then I could have ever expected

Best teammates I could ask for.

Will start a topic this week dealing with my trip and keep everyone updated every week or so. Will be racing 'cross as well in NC & Alabama so look for race reports!

-Woj

@Mike: "The Quiet" Norm actually pulled back the last 100m or so completely by himself. I was sitting third wheel desperately hoping he wouldn't rotate off.

Of course, as soon as the catch happened I attacked, thinking a lot of fast people just got their break caught, Norm is definitely in the red, and I was deep in the hurt just being there. So yeah, perfect situation to attack, right? Went off for a little while, looked back, and was horrified to discover I had a nice gap but nobody came with me. Then I thought, a lot of the fast people just got their break caught, Norm just burned his match bringing it back, and everyone was really tired from the chase. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Lenny bridged up after a while, but it was for naught. It is safe to assume Woj countered.

anyone have pictures?

and/or the results??

i think the top 5 was:

1. jan
2. ragot
3. perlberg
4. ol' willy
5. lenny

most aggressive rider Possum Jawbone prize: Wojciech

there were some KOM prizes, but i don't know who won them

the "tasted his breakfast" award (a reward in itself!) goes to Stormin' Norman

the "only rider to con his GF into coming to a 6:30am bike race" award: Adam

also, "most improved odor" went to Ryan

Pictures will be available tonight

Hi ALL,
so v. sorry i did not get to either participate or witness the events...sounds like GREAT FUN! nxt yr 4me.
i did race...just posted report on "Tour of the Adirondacks".

Woj, ALL the best on your TRIP/tripping...dress warmly(layers) s chill is in early this year.
-harry

Anyone else totally loving Harry's posts? It's like dude is typing one-handed on his BlackBerry while parachuting out of a plane ON HIS BIKE.

So focused.

:cool: