Some photos from Mihael Ginghina's fb page.

Real bummer to read. I have distinct memories of a BB race where we showed up shivering in the cold and out start was delayed while the ambulance cleaned up and they *hosed the blood off the curb*

I’ve never been so frightened to start a race in my life.

Alright...so all that being said about BB, signed up to the 3/4 race on Saturday (due to the luxury start time of 10.55). @RobertMullen @RichardCornetta @ErikPfiffner @JohnOlsson @eloy anyone else keen (I know Kevin Man is in already)?

Im in for the 3/4s

I’m in 

anyone driving from BK that has room for bike +1?

Hey John, sorry for the late reply but I think my car is loaded up. 

Let's talk some tactics though. I feel like we have had a lot of representation in these races but haven't quite exploited that. We've had some good organization and movement for sure but we've been pretty conservative in terms of attacks and chasing down/ setting up breaks.

I think most of us are targeting the L&C PP races so I was thinking it might be good to take some chances and be aggressive tomorrow. We could try and attack/ counter attack a few times to see if anything can stick. We've talked about sending a guy up the road and counter attacking once the break is caught. I'm down to get a good warm up in and set up some attacks knowing our fast guys and faster guys are setting up for a sprint if/when it comes back together. 

Worst comes to worst, we did some real hard openers for Sunday. I think our best race will come when the race doesn't come down to a slow, bunch sprint so stretching it out might play in our favor.

Thoughts? Prayers? 

Don’t forget to dress like a hockey goalie for this race.

I was thinking the same thing rob. Going in with no expectations other then mixing it up trying to go off the front and see if we can get something going. 

The Boyz Repping It!

THESE PHOTOS ARE FIRE. 

Nice pics. Race lowdown?

A significant improvement on the last time round at BB...Felt like a fast race (25mph avg) from the gun, with a solid 50 person field stringing out quickly which made the race feel much safer than the previous one I had raced. Rob was up the front trying to get things going but with a number of other teams having more riders and exerting a decent level of control, not much was looking like sticking. Obviously at this point a break then did go, with riders from each of the teams (who were organized) in it. From that point onwards a couple of the teams with riders in the break did a textbook job in controlling/patrolling the front. I had a dig off the front to try and catch another guy who was trying (eventually unsuccessful) to bridge up, and carried with me a couple of guys from the patrolling teams (who understandably had no interest in pulling). Rob kept hitting the front, with Ricky and Kevin (resplendent in his new skin suit) also having a bash. Last lap came, tried to move everyone up, by this point the group was swinging pretty hard through the bends which made it an interesting ride towards the end...Think Ricky and Kevin came 22 & 23 in the end. 

Overall a a really good bit of practice; super hard to move up when the group was stretched out and important to tuck in behind the right wheels to get an easier ride to the front. In comparison today (L&C) felt much easier but also I was personally more focused on using the riders I knew to keep me up the front in the first couple of laps (I.e the guys from 5th floor). 

Side note - portaloo situation was immaculate. 5 star.

Yeah it was pretty hard on this race... 3 laps to go I went up front pulling hard around 28 mph for a min, but nobody want to switch and work the front. The teammates of one of the breakaways guys just kept drilling and controlling the front. 

While it was super hard to moves during this race cus it was strung out, it's easy to dive bomb into a better positions because of the winding turn in the course. 

If anyone want to watch the race footage here ya go! It's almost perfect for that 1 hour turbo rides!

https://youtu.be/u4lU8IwEaBs

First one is up on bikereg, Saturday, 2/29/20
https://www.bikereg.com/branchbrook-park-spring-series-bloomfield-tour

There's also a Randall's crit on the same day, which is sold out for Cat 4.

Don’t forget to wear full body armor for this race

Who's coming (driving) from BK?! I wanna go 😬

I’m going to BB 

I may sign up for the 35+ if registration numbers are low.

reports pls!!

Branchbrook 4/Novice Race #1

Possibly most sketch race I have ever been in. Two 10 people crashes one in the first 15mins with Phil involved, second lat 10mins. I raced really dumb and just launched attack after attack and nothing seemed to work. Found myself in the lead at that last "turn" tried my best to get out of it. Ended up getting like 10th place, but Kevin got a nice top 5 that race.

Branchbrook 4/Novice Race #2

We did some sweet team tactics on this one. After an absolute dogged 10mins, Rich set up an attack that sped things up. Once the group reeled him in, Kevin hit the front and to set me up for a break. We managed to split the group and I found myself in a three man break. The two I was with started to faded, and I just kept pulling with a little attack into the windy "turn."  Soloed away for the next 20mins to a good little W for a first win of the season.  Averaged around threshold for 20mins at a shade under 25mphs in my solo break. I am really happy that we raced more like a team during this. If we can replicate this kinda of stuff with a bigger group in PP races, good things will come.

@Phil Maronilla are you OK? That course is absolute garbage! Congrats @Kevin Man and @cpulvidente!

Basically what Connor said.

First race was sketchy, I can feel all the new riders in the field. First lap I was in the front for no reason, I kept looking back but no one was coming.
10 min in some guy overlapped my rear wheel and when down.
@Phil Maronilla Hope you're ok! He seems fine after the race. 
Connor was attacking and being aggressive, I tried to patrol and slows thing down at the front but there was 2 guys that was pretty strong thats basically pulling all of his attack back. 
Last 10 min some noob drop his chain infront of me, instead of raising his hand to slow down he kept trying to shift back his chain, I immediately when around him and surely a second later there was a crash. 
A mineola guy attacked 400m out, I yelled out "right" and one of the strong guy that was pulling Connor attack chased, I sprinted and sat behind his wheel and I gassed out 50m to go and end up 5th.  

Second race, started super slow. Rich came out attacking on the third lap to get the race started. Eventually me, Connor and a small group got a good seperation, I went to the front did a hard pull to make sure the break sticks for Connor. Then I just dropped back to the chasing field, and make them work the rest of the race. I got the chasing field sprint of what was left of it. Connor got the W, I was super stoked that the breakaway succeeded and he soloed after.

Definitely need to try break and patrol at the PP races. We have tons of horse power in our team!!! 

@RobertPeras yeah I'm fine. A couple of guys went down in front of me and I had no where to go. As I was about to hit one of them laying in the ground I just said, well, I'm going to land on this guy. I went over my bars and landed on him. Lol. 

Congrats everyone! Happy you're alright @Phil Maronilla!! 

@Phil Maronilla I’m glad to hear you’re OK

Ouch, and awesome? Glad you're ok Phil - great job Connor!

Here's the video from the race. I only record race #1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VAFfK3vV24&feature=youtu.be

26:06 is where the dude drop his chain or some, 26:12 is where the second crash happen.  
26:22 is where I decide to attack after the crash. 

36:07 is when I yelled "RIGHT" and I sucked on the super strong blue kit dude till I was DEAD! 

Great riding by all.

Next race, you should keep in mind that Conor's solo was a huge calling card.  If he's the guy who starts off the attacking, you can be sure everyone will be going crazy to respond.  That presents opportunities.