Sweet crew tomorrow for the 3/4 race

• Adam Yaffe
• James Reeder
• Joseph Matunis
• Andrew O'Sullivan
• Eloy Anzola

Field is again basically sold out -- around 100 riders.

Let's keep it simple and stick to basics tomorrow, much like last time:

• Ride towards the front
• Make efforts count: Did it bring or keep you at the front? Did it help Andrew? 
• Don't bring the whole pack if chasing
• Hold your position on the last lap -- this usually means positioning on the 2nd to last climb and fighting hard on the downhill
• Communicate
• There will be moments of chaos: keep pedaling!
• Make it fun

Let's go race bikes!

Signed up for this Saturday to volunteer/race in Cat 5. 

Quick(ish) report from Saturday:

JP Started the 1/2/3 race. The crew above + Niall started the 3/4 race:

• 90+ riders basically sold out
• Tons of TBD, Sanba, and Automatic fellows, also quite a few women across both fields, which is good to see
• The race started fast fast, with Automatic attacking from the gun, and basically as often as they could throughout the full race
• With a full field, these attacks  felt a bit futile, but I love love loved that the pace stayed super fast
• At 42.6km/h (26.5 mph) it was a pretty dammed fast race!
• Niall looked amazing riding a cross bike basically at the front
• Andrew super sharp too, on his first 3/4 race
• Joe, James, and Adam riding well too, specially as we approached the last couple of laps
• I felt pretty ok, at least better than I expected after a difficult/busy-ish week
• fast races usually benefit me, it was noticeable today, specially in the climb
• At 3 to go there's a sprint or kom -- forget what -- but it allows a small group of about 8ish to gap the field
• Niall looks pro as he finds himself in the middle of the gap
• Eventually TBD took the front and closed it, pro tour style
• Last lap, did my best to stay towards the front
• Felt decent on the last climb, and will finish 19 (top 20!) as we crossed the line
• Andrew would finish closely behind, with the rest of the crew safely, just a few spots behind
• Later, looks like I hit my highest HR of the season the last time up the hill -- Good sign as I actually felt relatively comfy to most other races this season
• Post race coffee at Konditori was a real treat with Jim, John, Patrick, at al. 

Let's go race bikes! 


photos by Marco

Greg, Joe, Niall, and myself signed up for the L&C 3/4 race last Saturday.

• Awesome to see so many Kissenistas volunteering and helping, even when not racing! thank you!
• Greg is now a Cat 3 -- he is our leader, but he makes clear we should be chill, so Greg is our chill leader
• About 75~80 starters 
• OMG fire humid summer
• The automatic and sanba crew is strong, TBD seems to be a bit less so
• Automatic crew probably learned the lesson from the last race, and are at the front but not crazy town attacking
• My guess is that are waiting for later in the race
• The racing is fast but steady, I am managing to stay in the front
• Gaps do open on occasion, specially after KOM and Sprint primes, but they seem mostly inconsequential
• Note from your development director, they are caveats, but basic: DO NOT GRAB THE FRONT AND BRING THE WHOLE PACK WITH YOU. 
• Automatic starts lighting matches with 4 to go! LFG!
• Then the defining moment: The 3/4 field caught the 1/2/3 field!! 
• The moto officials did a terrible job of neutralizing either field, and while I'd say 95% of the 3/4 field actually tried to stay behind the moto and not mix, the moto hit the brakes, and all it takes is 5ish guys to mix up for the whole thing to go to shits. Which is exactly what happened.
• Totally sucked.
• Once it had happened, Tom handled it very well, stopped everyone at the start/finish, quickly separated the fields, and restarted the 1/2/3 with 4 laps to go (I think) and then the 3/4 with 2 laps to go (making our race one lap longer than planned)
• Not great, but handled well. A mixed field mess once every 12 years or so is not a terrible stat
• Joe looked like the fire all race
• Niall and Greg looked pro as we approached the last time up the hill
• A crash on the left line slowed them up 
• I was on the right line, and skipped the craziness, coming in 21ish or so, with the rest of kissena closely behind
• 42.4 km/h before we got neutralized, 44.1 km/h for the 2 laps after restarting. Definitely fire.
• While stopped, before restarting, I joked about my Normalized Power, got a chuckle. Very proud of that, obvs.
• Post race coffee was a highlight

Let's go race bikes!

Yes, a memorable and very fun day racing bikes and drinking coffees with Team Kissena! Good luck to everyone racing this weekend and next. Unfortunately I'll be away and will miss those races.

I just registered for the L&C Cup race Saturday! It will be my first ever bike race - any last minute tips?

Try not to be a the back at the start of the hill , but mainly , have fun

Last L&C race of the season...

• Was supposed to ride D2R2 but a challenging week conspired against Western Mass, so Prospect Park it is
• Dagmara will try her luck in the Cat 5 field
• Greg, Michael, and myself will hit the 3/4 race
• Start is fast, around 60~70 riders, sure feels like a solid field
• I can feel the rough week in my legs, but trying my best to stay in the front, also trying to notice that I am actually at the front
• Automatic and Sanba are on full force
• As opposed to last race, Automatic is willing to burn matches and their attacks start early, and help keep the race fast
• The dynamic is interesting and kinda fun, as Sanba mostly repairs any gap damage for the sprint and specially the KOM laps
• Greg and Michael looking sharp, moving up as the closing laps show up, Michael will attack and chase a couple of moves
• We have to keep an eye as the riders contesting those sprints and koms are gapping the field, but then sitting up after they cross the line - what if they don’t sit up?
• Unsurprisingly, after the last KOM a group of seven ish stays away, Sanba is not gonna close this one
• Some fall off the break, but 3 are committed and working well
• A crash from another field put an Ambulance on the climb a bit before the kom line, this causes an unusual pinch point on the last 3 laps or so, everyone navigates it mostly ok
• Kinda enjoy that late season we wanna finish safe tacit camaraderie 
• As we get the bell, those 3 guys still up the road, I grab the front and try to help close it
• As some point looks like we gonna catch 'em, so I start looking for wheels... 
• We catch 'em around the temple
• Greg and Michael appear well positioned
• We loose some spots as we hit the climb, ugh that ambulance pinch
• Pack gets around it safely tho
• Greg mixing it up
• Greg will finish 8th, I'll finish 25th, Michael right on my wheel, one spot behind
• 42.4 km/h definitely firah fast!! 
• We then hit hungry ghost. Now a norm, this season post race coffee conversations has been an a true pleasure and highlight

Let's go race bikes!

Photos by @David Yang -- where I'm mostly looking for snacks

2023 dates have been announced! 

Let's goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

I’ve signed up for the cat 5, my first-ever race so I my main goal is to get a feel for riding in the bunch and having fun while doing so. Anyone else participating? 

I'll be in the 3/4s.  

The road in the park is still milled as of this morning 

They must have milled it last night cause it was all paved yesterday afternoon.  Hopefully they do the paving tonight.

I'm signed up for volunteering and reg and racing the 3/4s.

I don't really have any personal grand ambitions for the series so if anyone wants to go for KOM points or sprint points, I'm down to work for ya!

I signed up to volunteer and race 3/4's. Looking forward to my first race of the season. 

Always a treat to see friends and local stalwarts at the first L&C. JP and Greg had a rough time in the 123 field while Joe and Matt hung tight with the 3/4s.

It was a weird, rough day out.  I didn't get much sleep, my hip hasn't quite healed from last week's crash, and I don't have much top end yet since my training plan is for a stage race.

Raced 3/4s cause I didn't feel like getting dropped from the 123s.  That backfired.  The first 3 laps felt good.  I was sitting in Nice and comfy.  Some guys were being sketchy AF and the water on the new pavement wasn't making things better.  3rd lap was sprint points and the pace picked up.  I tried to sag the climb but sag'd a bit to hard and was dangling off the back.  Couldn't fight to get back on and just pulled the plug after the next lap.  Rough day out.

3/4s were a bit weird like Greg said. I hung towards the back the first couple of laps to get a feel for the field and what folks were doing. There was a bunch of sketchiness and I identified a few riders I wanted to be nowhere near. There were also a bunch of riders constantly dipping into the jogging lane/zebra striped areas and there were properly scolded and yelled at by other races.

During the sprint on lap 3 I moved up to midfield and hung a wheel or two behind Joe for most of the rest of the race. The field was surged and slowed a bunch for the next few laps while a break went up the road. Sanba lined out and looked like they were going to put a chase in, then didn't. I'm not entirely sure who made the break other than a Vesselka rider, but i don't think any other big teams were really represented. I figured Hilltop, Sanba, L&D would want to work to bring it back, but there wasn't much cohesion or effort. The break eventually got something like a minute on the field and new started racing for minor places.

I stayed towards the left side of the road most laps, but around lap 6 moved to the right side to see if it was any faster- it wasn't. I stayed midpack near Joe until the downhill of the last lap. I latched on to a few fast moving wheels who looked like they were going to send a flier by the temple. They got to the front and swung off, so I set out on my own. I caught a remnant of the break and tried to get him to jump own and we could chase to the line but he was cooked, so I TT'd for a bit longer. Got to the hill and was reabsorbed about a third of the way up, then just worked to the line. Ended up getting my second all time best 5 minute power so that's something, but the TT effort shot any decent midpack finish I had in the legs

I signed up for the race with the main purpose being to get the first one of the season in. Past experience led me to expect lots of pain and maximum effort just to hang on to the finish in the first race. I arrived early to work the registration tables with David and Matt, making sure I had lots of extra layers I could shed before racing - past experience telling me that sitting at the tables for an hour in 40 degree weather can leave you shaking with the cold. I lined up a few rows from the font, prepared to see how I felt, how the other racers were behaving, and how the legs would hold up. As Greg and Matt noted, there was some sketchy riding, and the surface was pretty wet. I kep an eye on Greg, staying in his vicinity for the first 3 laps, but on the 3rd hill I began to feel like I was going to be cooked if I didn't build in some recovery time. I moved back a bit in the pack and slotted myself behind some big dude who seemed to be pretty steady and was pleased to notice that everything was holding together. I spoke briefly with Matt, and considering the break was well away, decided that the best course of action was to finish safely and think about next week. My legs were feeling good on the last hill and I was able to move up a bit, and I had lots left at the finish - keeping in mind, as always, Charley I's words about the only places that matter are 1,2 and 3, and not to do anything stupid sprinting for 35th place. Overall I was pleased with my fitness and confidence. It was great to celebrate Lennart's first race performance- even if we did ditch him in our rush to get coffee.  I'm hoping to be more involved with making things happen teamwise next week and moving forward and I hope to see a big group of Kissenas lining up on Sunday!

Pretty meh race. Smaller field than last time. Because of the strong wind everyone was fighting for wheels a lot more than last week, which included a lot of people swerving like madmen. I tried staying out of that as much as I could. Got into a small breakaway just for the sake of it in round two or three, sat back a bit after that and was really well-positioned on the bottom of the hill on the final lap.

Then on the hill someone came around me and suddenly fell into me. I already saw myself lying on the ground, but I managed to stay up by pushing back (another shoutout for the Skills & Drills here!). That saved the guy falling into me from hitting the ground too, although someone behind him did fall - nothing too bad I think. I only had a bent shifter, which was easily fixed. 

Ended 17th but with some new experiences!

Woooooof that wind. Started towards the back and was absolutely freezing from working registration. I sat like 2/3 of the way back for the first 2 laps to build some heat then started working my way up. By lap three I found Eloy, he let me know he was there and put
in an effort up the hill, I pushed on off of that and landed somewhere in about the top 15 wheels. 

Quick L&C Eloy report.

• There was a 3/4 race in the park
• I was in the field
• OMFG so much wind
• OMFG I have no fitness whatsoever
• Some 26 year old foundation mofo dropped everyone and won by over one minute
• Matt looked like the hotness
• Pete, a Veselka 24 year old kid got the field sprint, before the race I told him he had to win, but no pressure
• Gonna need to train
• oh yeah, cat 3/4 riders don't know how to ride the wind, we can use this
• Konditori post race coffee discussion on ai image generation, and life in general, was a highlight 

Let's go race bikes.

Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eat you...

Anyone racing this Sunday? https://www.bikereg.com/lccup-4-16-23#Register

Yes!

Hey, I'm in for the 1/2/3's.

Anyone joining any of the races this Sunday?

Race was good this morning. Nice to not be cold and to be back in shorts. Took it relatively easy for the first 2/3 of the race. I started moving up during lap 6 and put myself in the top 15 or so wheels and hung there. We surged and slowed a bunch but the field had their heads on a swivel and nothing happened

I was looking forward to this race--so long as the new asphalt wasn't wet. 

The field wasn't full.  72 pre-reg and maybe another 15 or 20 day-of.

The first few laps were extra-fast.  Seemed like the race might break up early.  I was able to bridge to a few dangles and ride decently.  That is, when I wasn't getting chopped by people cheating on the new right-side joggers lane line.

A big move went.  But the effort to go caused it to sit up and we were back to square one.  I think with 5 to go.  A move of 10 went and got a decent gap, we closed it a bit, and then let it go.  There weren't enough chasers.

I was feeling decent on the flats, but on the hill, I was definitely not able to put in the same kind of effort.  

Oddly, the Jordan team ha a guy in the leader's jersey.  But Stalin didn't even consider him, and the guys left in the field couldn't/didn't help the race leader.  He did lots of pulling and didn't bring it back.

I wasn't in position to attack on the last lap, so I floated behind the field and came in at the back.

While I think that when pro racers talk about "good sensations" I think it's an odd translation, I kind of think I now understand something like it.  I don't think my fitness is changing in racing so much as I'm getting used to the racing stress and dealing with that is getting easier.

FWIW, I averaged 27.2mph finishing at the back, which makes this the third fastest 12-lap race I've done in Prospect from this starting point.  In 25 races.  Fastest I've ridden on this course was averaging 28.0 in the first race back from Covid in 2021, and I sat up at the end as well.  

Sounded like Lennart had a good race.  I also jumped on the Meet Kissena ride to get in some social time.  The extra miles made this a solid 84-mile day for me.  

https://www.strava.com/activities/8904158070