Good thoughts Mark - I'm tired and will write more later. but for now, I will embed that amazing picture, note the guy leading says he can't ride hills.

http://www.oneimagingphotography.com/Cyclings/LucarelliCuprace5-14/i-FSBXpQH/2/M/olsengroupcaughtEricounter7sec-M.jpg

Great shot. See Myles in the background, taking a drink? His assignment was a success. See the gap? I was shocked that the guys immediately in front of me sat up to let the group with you go. Good on Myles and Ragot for drilling it. Bad on me for being too far back and not on your wheel. I figured the sprint wouldn't start until just about where Eric is. But the impressive speed convinced a whole bunch of guys to sit up early.

I attacked moments later in hopes of getting up to the fading remnants of your sprint group and riding through it to the front, but you guys rode off.

Great photo love that you can see the trail of carnage!

Posted By: mperlbergGood thoughts Mark - I'm tired and will write more later. but for now, I will embed that amazing picture, note the guy leading says he can't ride hills.

Is it really a hill? I don't say I can't ride them, rather, I don't have time to train on them to properly ride them. So, I keep things flatter these days. Family before long rides climbing hills for me.

I wish I knew that there was such a separation, I would have eased off and made the break. Much more important to vie for the win versus the measles.

I think this shows us that we are strong enough to go beyond following moves and covering breaks to start thinking about initiating moves at tactical spots in the race. Maybe we can start being pro-active about creating breaks and making stuff happen. We have the numbers and the strength.

Ok Jeff brought up an interesting point about the KOM jersey. I will be putting in for my upgrade on monday 6/20 and if all goes well I will be a cat 3 soon. So looking at the L&C website if I upgrade there are only 2 other riders with one point each. That pretty much opens the KOM jersey back up for contention. Is anyone interested in wearing the KOM jersey? I'm more than willing to work for whom ever that may be. I would really like to pass the Jersey on to a fellow Kissena and since I'm not guaranteed to to get my upgrade lets please not pass this information around to others outside the club.

Joe

@ Joe: I know the upgrade guy. I've heard he's a lush and for a few nice beers he'll pretty much upgrade anyone.

Congrats on your impending upgrade, Joe!

But remember, you get to keep your KOM points post-upgrade in the L&C series. So depending on which horsey is coming around next on the Perlberg jersey carousel you might not want to let up. How do your points stack up in the p123 series?

@Joe: send the upgrade guy your race resume before you submit to get pre-approval

Posted By: eragot@Joe: send the upgrade guy your race resume before you submit to get pre-approval

I hear the upgrade guy likes your race resume stapled to a 4 pack of Sixpoints Bengali Tiger IPA. That may just be a rumor.

Joe maybe the idea for this weekend with the KOM is do a pump fake with the KOM jersey. Have you go early and look to counterattack when the other riders who go for the chase start to fade. Folks will be looking for you in the jersey and with another strong rider counter attacking afterwards we may have a shot at picking up some points for a second Kissena rider.

Who's interested in being the counterattack?

OVERALL
Supposed to be warm, sunny, light winds.

KOM
-Nicholas Van Winkle of Foundation has 8 points, so he'll be the KOM (unless he's upgraded?)
-Joe will keep his 13 points post upgrade.
- There's 5 races to go in the 8 race series.
- David Vollbach, could be a good contender to gobble points, but I know there are other riders who are hitting form—who else would like to contest?

SPRINT
Does anyone know if McGarity is out-out, as in collarbone, or what the deal is?
I am planning to be there wearing green jersey (with the Yacks?).

Let's meet outside the toilets 6:10. Dan, will you be captaining?
David Vollbach Kissena
Richard Petersen Kissena
John Malcolmson Kissena
Patrick Grehan Kissena Cycling Club
Gideon Sorkin Kissena Cycling Club
Ian Ellis Kissena Cycling Club
Clayton Bruckert Kissena Cycling Club

So Joe you're riding Saturday? If so it might be possible to take enough points to lockout the series.

I can captain for this weekend. I will not try to be in every move for the first 3 laps of the race this time. That should help me stick around a little better.

CRCA has a race in CP on Saturday morning, so there is a chance there will be very little appearance from some of the CRCA usuals (NYVelocity, Teany and L.Raphael-Leopard Cycles p/b Dave Jordan featuring the Thomas Jefferson HS Marching Band). Which means we'll have more or less a disorganized field with few "teams" that will share some of the work.

John: Nick upgraded. and I'm going to go sign up for the race right now.

Just signed up. It'll be my first race in a long long time. I'm slowly but surely edging towards that thing people refer to as 'fitness'. I'll be your slave to command in the early part (albeit a fairly wimpy slave) and then when I start falling apart I'll try to hang on for the rest of the race.

Looking forward to it!

Eric

Hey all,

Getting back to racing after 2 months out of it after a FBF crash. I'm definitely not race fit, but I'm one race away from my upgrade, so I'm going to go for it.

Looks like there's 5 of us signed up (Jorge, Jeff, Brian, Murray and myself). So who's the captain of this ship? Anyone in contention for series or other jerseys? Let me know...as I said...I'll probably be struggling just to sit in after the long layoff, but if I surprise myself and actually have some legs, I'm game to support anyone....

Cheers
David

I completed my 10th race last weekend. I put in an upgrade request but it's still 'waiting approval'. Anyone have any idea how long this usually takes? I don't know what races to sign up for at present.

Good to hear you are still keen Dave. Just use the weekend as a training ride with sketchy Lance wannabees for company. Then you can focus on your Cat4 career. Maybe win your first race, like Duncan last week!?!?

Adam

No idea how long an upgrade takes, but I hear you can expedite the process with the upgrade guy by stapling your resume to a 4-pack of Sixpoint tallboys.

See you with the 5's unless the wheels of bureaucracy turn in your favor? I know the field was nearly full when I registered.

Hah, just got an email confirming my upgrade. Will try with the 4's I think, although am in Mexico this weekend so will be out the week after next. Wonder if there will be less crashing....

Posted By: AdamHah, just got an email confirming my upgrade. Will try with the 4's I think, although am in Mexico this weekend so will be out the week after next. Wonder if there will be less crashing....

Wow, it is like the upgrade gods are watching this thread!

I suggest you make a sacrifice: leave a 4-pack of one of these on the steps of 145 6th Ave in Park Slope.

http://bubblewraprefugees.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Picture-1.png

@Adam
Unfortunately there is no less crashing in the 4's.

No connection between the gratuitous use of beer to expedite upgrades and the crashiness of any field in a race. There are still going to be boneheaded moves by people at their limit, no matter what category. There is the hope that people become better bike handlers as they upgrade and have more experience, but somehow my experience has not born that out.

So clearly I haven't done this in a while, so I have to ask a silly newbie(ish) question:

Does Charlie have registration forms pre-filled for us at registration (since we have prereged) or is it best to fill out and print at home beforehand?

Thanks.

Eric If you've signed up on bike reg it will be filled out for you in the Kissena line.

The quick'n dirty RR.
- KOM: Joe takes 1st, 2nd, Dave Vollbach 1st & ?
- SPRINT: S1, Dan takes 2nd from 3-man breakaway. I take 1st in S2 (killer lead-out from Jeff, Ian, Patrick)
- FINISH: Me 2nd to Major Taylor after another killer lead-out by Ian, Patrick, Joe, Dan, Jeff, Nathan (sorry if I missed your name here).
Awesome Vollbach breakaway last lap made the competition chase to just after the columns.

Put's me in 1st for the Sprint (1 ahead of McGarity) and Joe has commanding lead in the KOM with four more races to go (Dave V. in 2nd)

The spoils went to coffee and bagels. Nice work Gentlemen.

Great job guys. And thanks for the coffee and muffins, John! Another exciting finish that resulted in a broken clavicle (that's fancy for collarbone) when the guy in front of me went endo into the pileup.

I was totally shredding some mad skidzzz that my williamsburg neighbors would've loved. I love wasting new tires! But at least I'm not the poor guy who I helped into the ambulance. He said he'd be on the trainer tomorrow. Love it. The good thing about crashing is you get to buy new stuff! He's going to need a saddle, helmet, and maybe a wheel.

I heard that dude smashed his helmet up.
Glad you're OK Jeff. That tire is now technically called a Nontinental Grand Prix.

Awesome work Cat 4 A team, team 2, and KOM team!

Congrats John, looks like you are racking up those upgrade points!

John = strong like bull