Here are some words of wisdom from a perpetual 4: The organized finishing lead-out train never works. Ever. And I will not be getting involved with one until I see it work, by some miracle, with my own eyes. Twice.

Boom!!

With all do respect to Mr. White and Mr. Owens. That's a load of bullsheeeeeet.

So those guys are out. They're not going to even try. How about the rest of you? Are you going to waste your strong Cat 3/2 legs when you are racing Cat 4 fields and not try to replicate what you did with near perfect success in the Green Jersey competition last year, and make it work in a more complicated and harder scenario?

In fact, let's flip this argument a bit. There are only a few ways it won't workout:

1. Not enough guys strong enough to get to the front of the field by the Temple of Doom on the last lap of PP.
2. Lack of focus by train that causes them to derail when the field's 50-meter heroes take their shot.
3. Twitchy, nervous sprinter who doesn't trust in his train to deliver him and insists on jumping onto other wheels.

Look, here's yet another what to look at it. So, you think you are a perpetual cat 4. Great. Fine. I get that. That's probably me in cyclocross (well certainly, never higher than cat 3 anyway). So you've decided that for the rest of your cycling career, in the Cat 4s, you are going to race PP in only one way? To go for wins and placings out of small breaks? The next 10 years of racing in the park, you are never going to try something that you were hugely successful at in another context (green jersey hunting)? And I'm not minimizing the magnitude of difficulty level, the fact that it will be exponentially harder to manage a finish line sprint, but you negative Nellies are selling yourselves, and your team, short.

I understand that PP finishes are chaotic and messy.  Let them be chaotic and messy around you. Let guys zig and zag and hop from wheel to wheel. Are telling me that with 3 or 4 strong guys at the finish, you guys can't do a minute each at 400 watts (let those 800 watt jumpers go and fizzle faster than an old 2 liter soda bottle that's been sitting on the store shelf for 8 months).

I know some of you have practiced and done the timing. How much time from after the left pincher/sweeper in PP until you get to the finish line? What is your best 1 minute effort? How many guys will it take to deliver your sprinter to 150 meters to go?

I'm in for all the races in cat 4.  Hoping to get together with you guys to train on the weekdays.

I kid Marc, just giving you a hard time. I don't think the train is a bad idea, however it takes good communication and trust in your teammates. When I led out Andy at the first Spring Series race of the season for 4th place in the bunch sprint, it was spontaneous decision but another guy or two to lead out would have been ideal. I think that it's just a matter of getting organized and the further back a train starts the easier it is to assemble. Also the more guys on a train, the further back one is able to start stringing out the field and the more difficult it becomes to overtake without the support of a team.
Now if people don't have faith or not enthusiastic in it, there's no point because I'm under the impression that it's the type of tactic where you just have to commit and not lose focus of the main goal whilst being comfortable navigating the field before-hand, that means cranking out big watts, being steady and delivering the last guy to the line. Communication is huge also, if someone's legs feel like garbage then let it be known and that guy can be one of the first to pull and peel.
                   

@Cat 4 

I am down for working towards an overall yellow jersey. Especially now you will not be forced to upgrade out of a series (but only one series) if you're doing well, we have a shot of having one rider really dominate the series this year for the overall.

I can do leadout duty, in-fact I volunteer to be the guy in the 2nd hardest position, the last leadout guy who has to die at 200m and keep going. I know it sucks, and it is going to hurt, but I want us to win some of these this year, and we've shown we can put together a tight and effective leadout. all we need is a committed group that can help execute this.

I can road captain again, but I want to hear from you all, and what your goals are. I think we can do a leadout practice sessions in the park starting in April. This is an ideal thing to do on our Thursday park workouts (hint hint coach Eric). 1 minute efforts for each guy starting from the bottom of the hill, each guy going until he drops, and the next goes until we finish with a single rider going for the line. 

@Marc - I've done enough lead-out train attempts to know the deal. And I'll participate with gusto if the team proves itself capable of succeeding with that tactic. Until then, for the sake of my continuing enchantment with KCC racing, I will root for the train from afar!

@Lt. Dan - I intend to lend my legs to the leader jersey hunt.

As soon as I can work with the morning crew,I will.

I am down for working towards an overall yellow jersey. Especially now you will not be forced to upgrade out of a series (but only one series) if you're doing well, we have a shot of having one rider really dominate the series this year for the overall.

I can do leadout duty, in-fact I volunteer to be the guy in the 2nd hardest position, the last leadout guy who has to die at 200m and keep going. I know it sucks, and it is going to hurt, but I want us to win some of these this year, and we've shown we can put together a tight and effective leadout. all we need is a committed group that can help execute this.

I can road captain again, but I want to hear from you all, and what your goals are. I think we can do a leadout practice sessions in the park starting in April. This is an ideal thing to do on our Thursday park workouts (hint hint coach Eric). 1 minute efforts for each guy starting from the bottom of the hill, each guy going until he drops, and the next goes until we finish with a single rider going for the line. 

I don't entirely agree with Whitey on this one, but I do see where he's coming from. There's often a lot of talk all with good intentions, but when it comes crunch time, people are nowhere to be found. This happens for a lot of reasons, but its fair to be skeptical. Especially when you've sacrificed you own chances many times to help others as part of plans that didn't work out, as Whitey has.

I'm going to withdraw my name from any jersey considerations, after all - my summer is looking pretty tumultuous, and I don't see myself committing to racing in PP every weekend.  I'm happy to help other 4's who've thrown in their hat to achieve their jersey goals.

I want to clarify that I'm not saying dont listen to Marc either. Homeslice has prolly forgotten more about bike racing than most of us will ever know.

Photoshop competition:

I'll be there to help out whoever is in the hunt for a leaders jersey. That is one of my goals for the season - have KCC win yellow. The other stuff is: get fit, learn, get a single point in one of the competitions. I can't see why the train from last year with one or two more guys can't deliver someone to the line every time.

The suspense is killing me ....

with the L & C cup coming up...we should have some of these made for our top tubes...So many unexpected road hazards and terrain changes at Prospect....

You're going to need a longer stem than that

In order to win the Cat 4 leaders jersey, one needs:  1) Persistence

my daughters 1st communion is the 20th....i won't be at the 1st one...attack the kom and sprint early...catch em all napping.

2) Belief

are you trying to choke Yoda?  As you know...there is no "try"  you either do or no do.

"choking the Yoda"

I should just do captions: "500 Aurodium ingots for a bike fit! Why you little!"   

If choking the Yoda were a UCI event...I would have rainbow stripes !  Wooo  I got a million of em....

Should we make a chart and have people sign up on certain dates? 

I don't get out to FBF much, and won't be racing anytime soon, but would be more than willing to help out at Prospect races pretty much anytime he needs it (Marshal, reg, KOM, whatever is needed).

I prefer yelling at riders and DQing them as Marshal, though.  And you actually come in handy when there are multiple crashes close together (last Prospect race last year).

I agree with Owens here on the sign up situation.

Asking one person, a bicycle racer, on a bicycle racing team to give up the possibility of him/her racing to show up for 14 races to officiate, pay or no pay, is I don't know, unrealistic.

It was hard enough to get more than a handful of folks to show up to work for 2 days of Supercross...

@mperlberg - I'm willing to be a marshal captain for a couple of races (or three) at either Prospect or FBF.  I think this should be easy enough to fulfill with different people volunteering a couple of races in the series.  

To be clear about the marshaling situation. Charlie is looking for a Marshal Captain. This is a little different, and more interesting, than a marshal. Instead of just standing around and getting cold, the Marshal Captain is expected to ride slowly around the course to check in with the individual marshals, making sure that they understand their jobs, have everything they need, and know when the race is over. Also, if there is a serious crash or some other 'event', then the Marshal Captain can help with communication and logistics.

I believe that I served as the first Marshal Captain last year and it was actually pretty interesting to see the racing from a completely different perspective. The marshals love the attention (and the information). Potentially bad situations are dealt with more effectively.

This is a way to give back to the racing scene that we all benefit from. AND, Charlie has confirmed that you will have credit for one FREE race on a subsequent weekend.