1/2/3's. We've got Dave V, David S, Joaquin, Lenny, Ryan, Dan Strika, and myself.  That's seven of 85.  Another 25 could register tomorrow, but I"m doubting it.

Guys sorry, I'm bailing...

Wahuh? More detail please. Someone chased you down, as in, doing an excellent job of blocking making the rest of the field think they were chasing, or did a teammate who was part of the pre-race planning actually chase you down?

Frustrating race, lets leave it at that.

I don't know what the fuck is happening but I'm getting all kinds of weird code when i try to post...

Okay so let's have this discussion. I wasn't there this morning so I am not speaking specifically; instead I am speaking generally about my experience in 4 races particularly. This should frame the issue as I see it, and then I hope Marc, JP, Eric and the rest of you all who have forgotten more about racing than I currently know will speak up on it.

 A few things come to mind:

(1) I agree that there is a trend of guys thinking they are "bridging" when they are actually just dragging the field along and closing a gap. There is a whole other discussion to be had about when is a good time to bridge, but I think you have to ask yourself first if your goals are team oriented or self-oriented. If they are team oriented, then you have to be clear about what you're accomplishing if you put yourself and anyone who comes with you in a break that already has a Kissena jersey in it. Especially when there's more than one there already.

And if you assess all that and you DO want to bridge, do it like an attack. Get away clean, with no one on your wheel. Look back to make sure that you're not dragging the field up to your teammates.

(2) I also want to address this idea that we're "known" for blocking. I think we’ve done some dumb things, tactially, at times. But I’ve also gotten compliments on our team tactics from coaches and promoters at big races who were impressed by “the way we race as a team for a bunch of 4s”.

So all in all, I don't give this accusation much credence. It requires me to buy into what teams with absolutely no coordination and very little fitness say about us. I believe people think that "blocking" means sitting on the front and going slowly. But in my experience blocking can also mean tapping out 26 mph hoping your guys can hold 26.5. Because if you go any slower than that, the field swarms.

Jules, recall when Vollbach won solo earlier this year. We sat on the front tapping out high tempo and we crushed the hill on the last lap behind him. The field was toast when we got to the top. The “blocking” we did made me so tired that I exploded. But my intention the whole time was purely to help Dave stay away. And he did –  one because he's a total monster, and two because we were careful not to go too fast. This is a tactic that works in the 4s that probably doesn’t work at higher levels.

(3) I think we sometimes don't like to admit that the ultimate problem is that we just aren't fast enough, or we aren't in the right move. It sounds like maybe we made a bonehead move today. Many of us are beginners and it happens. But the other side of it is: do you guys really think that the field was going to let two Kissenas and the yellow jersey go at the end of the race? Jules, is that really the move you want to be in? Could you instead have let Adam and yellow jersey go, knowing the field is going to react? What if you set yourself up for a counter attack by leading your less experienced teammates and telling them to get off the front, and then tucked yourself in behind Hudson or whoever, making them chase? Then you could go after the catch (which is sure to happen) with a guy who is not marked in a bright yellow kit? Similarly, last week you were away at the same time with David G. You’re both super strong, but lots of guys are super strong in the field too. Do you really think they’re going to let two Kissenas off the leash with 2 to go?

Finally, no matter what happens, we should not be yelling at our teammates. I was guilty of it during the race a few weeks ago when I thought a teammate did something I didn't like. It was wrong of me to react like I did but the adrenaline was up, and I felt badly after, and we talked about it. And now that teammate is racing like a good teammate, and getting results for himself.

The thing I love about Kissena is that we are generally humble enough to know that most of us are way down the totem pole of competitive bike racing, so we don't get into the kind of poisonous delusional angry BS that happens in some other clubs. And when we do, those people usually leave pretty fast. 

Let's continue to improve - remember that we're all learning - and let's keep the good vibe going!

I guess I should give a race report or a more aptly titled, how I screwed up a race winning break for Kissena. With less than 2 laps to go (or maybe 3), Jules and Adam? were clear of the field. At some point I saw the series leader make a move from the field and my assumption was that the field would chase after him, so as I saw him come past I followed. He had a good jump on me but I kept pushing assuming that the field was right behind (I later learned talking to people I should have put no effort forward to chase the yellow jersey). I realized I had a gap on the field at this point and now I know if I am in that situation again it would be the perfect opportunity to play with the field as opposed to try and connect to the riders up the road. So in short I managed to bridge the field to the two Kissena riders up the road.

Also we'd be remiss to let this tactics discussion cause us to forget to say good job Christian and Ashley!

Also we'd be remiss to let this tactics discussion cause us to forget to say good job Christian and Ashley!

^indeed!

So I didn't realize the guy who got 2nd in CAT 5 was being
a-holeish when confronted re using the jogger's lane. He was also a dangerous
rider earlier in the race. After the hill in lap 1, he was towards the back and
making serious left to right motion all over the road. I tried to hold his
wheel at first (he is a big guy, I thought I had a chance to hide behind him) -
but it was dangerous and I backed off. Then this guy from CRCA kept doing the
same thing and almost hit me - so I said something to the CRCA guy. His excuse
"sorry, trying to avoid him" - pointing at the same dude I was
avoiding.

For those who don't know, I have trouble accelerating and
holding the pack, so finishing the race with the pack (or making it further in
each race) is my goal right now. I raced Wed and Thursday nights, then took it
easy Friday and Saturday. Got up today with a scratch in my throat and tight
legs, and considered sleeping in. Did a couple minutes of massage with a
roller, drank a packet of vitamin D, and rolled out.

I ran into Owens on the way and got some pre-race chit chat
(calmed the nerves!).

I lined up 3rd row of 4 - I wanted to try going up the hill
slightly more sheltered, last weekend I was near the front and mostly in the
wind.

I made it up the hill in lap one, felt better than expected,
never had to red line it. I went forwards in the pack a bit but ultimately found
myself hanging near the back for the rest of lap 1. [insert comment from above
here re the dangerous rider]

Going up the hill the second time, I tried to advance up so
I could fall backwards - but I was too much in the wind. I fell out of the back
after the hill that 2nd time (in the acceleration right at GAP) (later on the
guys told me it slowed down maybe 15 seconds later) – but I couldn’t re-attach
once I was dropped. I tried sprinting a couple times but it didn’t cut it.

As I get near the temple in lap 2, the same CRCA guy rides
up from behind me. He was having some sort of bearing issue with his front
wheel. Dude had tree trunk legs...and asked me if I wanted to work together.
SURE! I drafted off him, when it was my turn to work (going up the hill, lap3),
he fell backwards fast. I waited, he caught up, I led a bit more, then he took
over and towed me from GAP to the bottom of the hill (flying) , and took clear
off after that. It was a little weird, him barely climbing, then flying so fast
afterwards. Whatever, I got about approximately one lap with some extra speed,
no complaints here. I ended up finishing 5 min faster than last weekend.

Got plenty of post race ribbing re my (heavy) tire
choice..will be buying a set of race tires to swap over to.

Getting there slowly.. 

And now for something completely different!

My race report comes from the sidelines. I volunteered to be the first ever Marshal Captain. This gives a completely different perspective on the racing scene. You meet different people. You see different things. The park seems a completely different place. A little community service is a good thing and I would urge all of you to volunteer for this job at least once.

I arrived at 5:45 and got a nice bright vest. Sat down in an empty chair, ate my breakfast and helped Daniel register the 1-2-3 riders. I listened to the instructions to the various fields on the start line (each was a little different) and watched them vanish up the hill. Then straddled my bike and rode slowly up the hill to meet the marshals one by one.

Lap 1: They had been warned that someone would be coming around to check on them and I think they were a little nervous. But I did my best to be friendly and just chit chat with each one. Thierry was at the KOM sprint and alerted me to a rogue, unregistered rider who had jumped into the Cat 5 field. So I decided to see if I couldn't do something about that next time they came by. Meanwhile, everything was quiet at 6:20am on the west side of the park. The marshals all had their areas staked out and seemed happy to meet me. Top of the down hill, the cat 5 field came by. The marshal at the 15 St entrance tried to call me back to ask me something, but I took off after the field to see if I convince this guy to leave the cat 5 field alone. We jawed back and forth past the temple, but he claimed he was "just using the park". As I passed the start/finish, Charlie nodded and said there wasn't much anyone could do, though I think the confrontation made the rogue rider stay a little further off the back of the field.

Lap 2: I had met all of the marshals on the first half of the course and they seemed kind of glad to see me again. The guy at the bottom of the hill was concerned about a dead branch that was protruding slightly into the road. It was very thorny and he had cut his hand trying to bend it back into the underbrush. We trudged over to it and I determined that it was not a problem. The woman at GAP was waiting for the rush, determined to keep control over the joggers etc who would soon be moving into the park and potentially in harms way. The next guy was in his own world, but took out his headphone to say hello. The guy near the 3rd St entrance was manning a sidewalk and also keeping an eye on the road entrance for bikers who might come through. The next guy was waiting for the dog walkers; he claimed to know which were the ones to watch out for. The guy at the top of the hill told me a long story about his wife who was at the next station a little ways down the hill; she had bladder issues and might not be at her station every time I went bye. 'Don't worry,' I said. 'I'm not a policeman, just here to help'. He seemed relieved. His wife was there and had a question about how to handle the non-racing cyclists. Do they use the road, or the joggers lane? Some jogger had been cursing at her. I told her to just say, 'I'm just doing my job and trying to keep everyone safe. It will all be over in an hour.' She was reassured. The guy at the porta-potty half way down the hill says, 'So you were promoted! I want your job!' I told him he was getting paid more than me. I told the guy at the bottom of the hill, who was standing right next to the bollards, that some racers will occassionally ride to the right of the bollards if the chute got too congested. He should be careful where he stood. The woman at the south entrance had already turned away 6 cars trying to enter the park. One had gotten past her. We commiserated on the entitled attitude of New Yorkers. 'You can never drive in the park on weekends! What are they thinking?' The woman by the temple was shy. Not much to say and kind of hiding behind a tree. Crystal was next and she was very happy to meet me. Wanted to know my name. Talked about how exciting it was to see the riders crest the hill and redouble their speed along the west side. Next was a very young kid who was pretty clueless, but standing in the crosswalk, which was better than nothing. Two people were stationed at the 200m to go mark. The woman wanted to know when I would be racing next. She insisted she wanted to see me racing. 'Next week', I assured her. 'I'll be looking for you', she said.

By this point, the 5's were finished and the 4's were on their last lap and the 1-2-3's had 4 to go. Marshals were keen to know how many more laps to go. Charlie asked about DOT trucks on the course, which I had seen but they seemed to be moving out of the way. Looking for lights to fix or trees to trim. Something to watch out for.

Lap 3: I roll around alerting all my new friends that there were 4 laps to go. They are all appreciative. At the top of the course one off them tells that a crash has just occurred up the road. Sure enough, Eric Mellenbeck is standing there with two others. 'Eric, you ok?' 'Oh yes,' he says, 'but she's not so good.' A guy is holding up his elbow with some missing skin, not too serious. A dazed woman is sitting up in the grass. She's looking at me, kind of, but not really seeing much. Her long hair is soaked with blood. She is fingering a pink iPhone. 'Helmet flew off,' she says. 'Where is my helmet?' (turns out it is lying on the grass and is rather broken. Another marshal says he has just called it in. This looks ugly. I wave off the 1-2-3 field as they come by and continue rolling around telling marshals 3-to-go.

Lap 4: Charlie has heard about the accident and the ambulance is reportedly already there. Sends me back to 'the scene' to make sure everything is ok. I take a shortcut back. Ambulance is parked on the grass well off the road and seem to have things under control. Charlie's assistant (Bill, Jim, John? the guy who deals with the Kissena registrations) is there in his car. A motorcycle driver and I wave off the approaching field for their last 2 laps. I have sort of lost count of the laps, but continue down the hill and tell the marshals its all over (I think). It was. By the time I get back to the start finish, Charlie is agitated by a truck pulling onto the course just before the 1-2-3 finish. I missed that one. Can't be everywhere at once.

I go for coffee with the guys. Go back to the park and ride laps for an hour waiting for Ride Brooklyn to open up so I can strategize with Al about tomorrows Wrenching Workshop. Shop doesn't open until 11:00. *#&^%@. I'm not waiting anymore. I ride home in sort of a bonky daze, which is odd because I didn't even race. But I didn't sleep very well last night - perhaps nervous about my responsibilities as the Marshal Captain.

Christian and Ashley, woot!! Great jobs.

I pretty much sucked in that break. Tired from the whopping 5 minute TT yesterday, although it ended up being a 65 mile day, much of it decently hard tempo. Are they excuses if they're actually true?

Anyway....Yeah, the Hudson guy that Allen and I were in a break with came up to me the lap after we got caught and said "my guys told me your teammates chased us down".  Now, while I know that has happened on occasion, as Ryan pointed out, it's just become a meme from a lot of guys that don't know what blocking is.

I told him (he was very nice about all of this, BTW) that they were probably just trying to block.  He said, "No, my guys were blocking and they said yours kept surging the pace up".  At this point, I didn't wanna belabor it, but I was pretty sure it was just as Jules described: with him tagging along on some bridge attempts, and everyone else probably doing a great job trying to keep the pace high, but not too high (see Ryan's descriptions above).  Like was mentioned, blocking isn't going to the front and slowing down to 18 mph.  Other guys in the 4's just don't seem to know that.

Also, we went with 8 to go!  We either needed more/stronger riders, or bigger initial gap.  I wasn't even really trying to form a break, it just happened so we went with it.  But we never got far.  So I told the Hudson guy, "look, we just weren't going fast enough. On the east side you've got to be going 27-28mph, and we were going 25-26.  That's not enough".  Then we chatted about the Alpine TT and wheel sucked for the next few laps. Nice dude. Probably still thinks we chased ourselves down, but who cares.

I know he thinks we're all turning ourselves inside out and we BELIEVE we should be gaining ground and that we kick ass and everything....but there are at least 20-30 other really strong guys in the race (and mostly in shape at this point of the season), and while we rotated well and all four of us are decently strong (the fourth guy is waiting for his cat 3 upgrade, Alexei who's on FGX now), we're not light-years ahead of the other guys. No one wants to admit that they're just not AWESOME when they're suffering so much!  Especially me.

-Captain Awesome

Oh, and that poor lady who crashed had a spectacular Carrie-esque blood flow coming down her face.  But she seemed mostly fine and in good spirits, thankfully.

That was fun today!  Took a KOM, helped Yacks and Lt. Dan get sprint points and worked the front when Jeff and Allen were away.  My biggest goof was not pedaling through after the KOM line and helping Adam initiate the break - especially silly considering I'm the one who suggested that plan in the thread yesterday.  I mean, I was gassed at the top of the hill - but not THAT gassed.

I think that despite some errors we did great today.  On one of the last laps I overheard some dudes behind me praising Kissena's work in the race - about our teamwork, our blocking and our bridging.  So there ya go.

And props to Christian and Ashley, and Yacks for smashing that sprint - well done, fellas!

Had a good, not great, but definitely fun race in the 4's today.  Spent the first few laps keeping my powder dry in the 1st third of the field, with a couple of forays to patrol near the front.  On the 2nd sprint I moved up on the right side as discussed, and once again slotted in behind Patrick. 

Thor's Hammer !!!  Christians days of toiling with the mortals in the cat IV's are over.  Keyser Soze is now a III.  Dan will win the green jersey and I will place 2nd.  I needs that new helmet they are giving away to 2nd place.  If anyone thinks I am Hinault to Dan's LeMond, you are mistaken.  I am alot of things, but a back stabbing Frenchie ain't one of them.  I assumed Dan was behind me today in the sprint and when I sat up to look around I saw Dan with someone ahead of him and some more guys behind him.  The line was coming up fast and I didn't want to grab my brakes and cause a crash behind me and I also didn't want another team to take the 1st place points.  So I rolled over for 1st.  This won't happen again.  I will be sure that Dan is right on my wheel and I will get him a clean shot at the line. Titio just slayed it in the lead up to that sprint.  I heard Dan did the same for the Keyser in the finale. My prerace dinner last night consisted of 3 pints of Shock Top ale, medium buffalo wings, a chicken pot pie and a shot of pineapple infused vodka for good measure.  I had a babysitter and went hog wild!.  Sticking my nose in the top ten was simply  matter of survival.  I couldn't reach the Kissena train at the front of the peloton to help the Keyser and when I realised this the sprint had already started.  I just maintained my position and tried not to get runover. 
Yacks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdeCPGNRjOU

Congrats on the great results dudes!

@Yacks - next time just lock up your breaks and scream "I don't do field sprints!"

but what would the pundits say?

Anybody hear how Leny is doing?

Like sands through the hour glass...

I have already reminded Dan to keep eating citrus fruits. If he comes down with scurvy, the jersey is MINE !

I want that Van

Lenny is OK.  someone swept over his front wheel in the sprint...he slid and lost a bunch of skin. 

Jules: http://chirls.com/v/OL216IAVZ_M/18

Funny that Jules told me he had a tough, tiring day yesterday.  He kind of recognized before the start, this could be a good day.

So, Ryan, bridging:

Yes!  It is an attack.  Same thing as with any attack that you want to get away solo.  Wind it up without drawing attention, ride by the front of the field before they realize you're going and either use the guys in front to serve as unwitting blockers or go on the other side of the road.

Timing is also to be considered.  The closer the gap, the more likely someone else is looking to do the same thing and is more likely to follow.  As the gap increases, others are less likely to look for the bridge, so you're more likely to get away clean.  Of course, the bigger the gap, the harder it is to get across.

Course also needs to be considered.  You don't want to have the course defeat you.  For example, it's hard as a solo rider to bridge to a group on a descent.  And it can really kill your legs to finish the bridge just as the road tilts upward. 

Blocking: this refers to a whole quiver of skills.  Ryan hit on most of the major points.  So many conditional tips that I should stop before I start.  One thing to know is that sometimes the smart move is when you have teammates up the road in a move you want ot see work, you follow an attacker and let a gap open.  Leave the other rider to hang out there and don't let the field get ramped up.

Two kissenas getting away: This is a hard move to succeed.  Really hard.  The two guys have to be absolutely killing it with no second thoughts.  The longer the move is out there, the greater the likelihood that it will work, so every pedal stroke counts.  And you want the move to be emphatic early, like you've blown their doors off and gained 25 seconds quickly.  At some point, possibly when it's either close to the finish, or hte finish seems really far away, chasers might give up out of frustration or fear.  THe middle ground is huge and when they're eager to chase you down.

A big question is what to do if you find two kissenas up the road in a group.  Depends on whose in teh group, how big the group is, who is behind how big that group is and how far to go to the finish.  If two kissenas seem too strong, the others won't work and you'll need to reduce numbers, possibly only with one kissena.  Likewise, sometimes it's best to let another kissena go, even when you can pounce on a small move.  Be the good teammate, subtly help let the gap grow.  If there are four riders, one is a kissena, and the other guys in the break have teams might be better than two kissenas in the break as the other guys might want to wait for another of their riders.

123 report please. Also what happened in the 4s related to going for the sprint win as was being discussed on the forum obviously kaiser did very well, but was it freelanced or 6 rider lead out from the temple?

We dominated the last lap. Owens and Jules ran the front of the race from the hill all the way across the back side of the course. Adam took over to take us from the just past the bandshell to the bottom of the hill. Patrick took over from the bottom of the hill to just after the temple. Jim took over from there and absoultely flogged it for to take us around the board, I took over from there with Kaiser on my wheel, he kept yelling "Keep going Dan!" and my legs kept screaming "OWWWWWW, WTF? MAKE THIS STOP!" I kept going until the other guys started coming around me just at the base of the hill, and I dropped into the rec lane to get out of the chaos. I had nothing left in the tank after that. Not perfect 6 guy leadout, but we put together a passable leadout that actually got us results. Not too shabby.  

Had a nice day with Adam yesterday pre-riding Stage 3 of this year's Tour of the Catskills.