https://www.bikereg.com/NET/15789/HUNTER-MOUNTAIN-SPRING-CLASSIC

Anyone else interested. I have signed up and Jules is also on the list. A one day race which for all intensive purposes basically seems like a stage of the Tour of the Catskills.

Also, I will be looking to go up to ride the course (hoping next weekend) if anyone would like to join me. At present, I plan to rent a car to get up there. Would be willing to split costs and share if anyone else is interested. Note, I will probably head up for a relaxed reconnaissance ride with the girlfriend, basically my intention is to see the course, get it plugged into my Garmin and see what combination of my 11-28, 11-25, 53/59, 50/34 gearing I will need so the recon day will not be a paceline hammerfest for those who are keen.

Anyone got a bike rack they want to lend me for the recon ride trip?

Do it!!

hey adam - you're welcome to borrow my bike rack if you want. not a thing of beauty, but it gets the job done.

it mounts to the back of the car - you'd just need to know the make/model of the car before you attach it -- there's some settings that need to be dialed in to outfit it for different vehicles.

http://www.thule.com/fitguide/default.aspx?Language=en-US&Market=US

race looks like a good one....

Oh, and also, will hit Devil's Kitchen the weekend before. Just for shits and giggles and to practise track stands.

from Joe via email:

Hey guys al b to 2nd. I took 5th. Adam took 6th in 4s

Nice job boys. Great results. Can't wait to read the reports.

Excellent work you guys.

Well done! Also on pins and needles for reports.

great showing 4s, 'mt goats' rock!
-h;>

Nice finishes guys! Congrats!

Adam for 5th
Honey Badger Style...

Super cool....

Awesome job guys.

Outstanding!

Someone should let Al B know that despite not being on the club for like 150 years, he still gets more congrats and mentions than 90% of our actual clubmates. I wonder if he gets that kind of love at BH Colorblocking (that's a little fashion joke for you fans of Project Runway) or whatever they're called this year.

Nice! Great showing boys

Posted By: Marc BertuccoSomeone should let Al B know that despite not being on the club for like 150 years, he still gets more congrats and mentions than 90% of our actual clubmates. I wonder if he gets that kind of love at BH Colorblocking (that's a little fashion joke for you fans of Project Runway) or whatever they're called this year.

Come-on Marc, real teams don't compliment their riders, that's just for lowly clubs.

Videos of finishes are up

http://www.youtube.com/user/KissenaCycling

The race itself was a little disappointing; much flatter course than anticipated and everyone rode scared for the first 1/2 until I flatted. Not sure I'd do it again.

Since I don't have an exciting race report, I thought I'd try something a little different.

Zen and the Art of the Out of Town Race
(It’s the journey, not the podium)

I had a fantastic day and a half with the guys; despite flatting after a lap, chasing like a madman, attacking and then blowing up, quitting in despair getting gut rot from some dodgey Thai food. Somehow through it all my stomach is more sore from laughing than my legs are from pedalling. Out of town races are really where it is at.

Honey Badger Just Don’t Care

Handsome Joe put it all in perspective for us: Fat, thin, nice bike, shitty bike, electrolytes, wheels… as Joe put it, “I’m just gonna Honey Badger myself up to the front and outsprint ‘em all” Both he and Adam went on to do just that.

Tuggis
Guys, it’s not a sexual thing, ok?

...

Furry Muffins, or “the truth will set you free”

Joe spotted this beasty on the shelf at Happy Land on the way up to Tannersville. I quickly grabbed my phone for a photo while the guy in line behind us asked if we got a free razor with the purchase. The lady behind the counter was very upset at my photographic enthusiasm – she demanded I cease (not likely) asked repeatedly why I wanted to take a picture and then asked indignantly if I wanted to talk to a manager. “You tell me.” I replied. She summoned the “master of muffins” aka manager for a quick summit of hushed accusations with lots of pointing in my direction. “Boy that got awkward fast…” opined Joe as I continued to grin at the hirsute bakery beast. She then checked me out (Coconut water and skittles if you must know) before ushering the manager my way. “Are you the one?” he asked in a slightly authoritative tone.
“The one who took a picture of your freakishly moldy muffin? Yeah, that’s me.” I replied. We left him grappling with my candor and headed back out for the van.

...

Karma, or “What goes around”

About 15 miles into the race, before I flatted I witnessed a billiard-ball crash that began with Ryan’s (to the left in front of me) rear wheel and finished about three guys later with someone catapulting into the gutter on my right, behind me. I thought little of it (other than one must NEVER, NEVER overlap wheels) until I was cruising (defeated) past the start line. Who did I see but Mark from NYVelocity - one of the very characters that had berated me at Battenkill, “You had you chance Jules!” He was covered in dirt and blood. Turns out he was the eight ball who had gone ass-over-teakettle into the gully of boulders. He’d landed in a stream of vaguely brown, warmish water and was pretty worried about his cuts.
“We’ve got a pretty good first aid kit in the van, come on over and I’ll clean you up” I said with a sympathetic smile. I cleaned him up, shot a photo of his biggest gouge over to Lisa to ask if he needed stitches and a professional “power wash” of the wound or if he could just throw a bandage on it. Turns out a wound as deep as it is wide over a joint gets a stitch. Lisa offered to do it herself and save him the trip to the clinic. Needless to say, he was incredibly appreciative, and offered up all kinds of “You know we talk all kinds of S**t during races, but it’s all in good fun, right?” Sure thing dude. We’re cool. Sometimes the high road is actually easier.

...

Sleep Well
Train hard. Eat right. Get plenty of sleep.

...

Chasing, Chasing, Chasing

Right around the one hour mark my wheel started making some odd “bumps.” I looked down but saw nothing. I asked some friends in the peloton if it looked ok – someone said my caliper was rubbing so I opened it. The bumping didn’t really stop and it started to feel a little sloppy. “Hey Ryan, is my back wheel going flat?” I asked. “Yeah…” was his long faced answer. We were almost at the top of a hill so I raised my hand, slid to the right and pedalled to the top of the hill letting the field pass me. I dumped the chain into my smallest gear, hopped off and removed my wheel and waited. The wheel car was supposed to be right behind us. Nothing. My bike computer shows that I waited about two minutes. Finally he drove up, stopped way to far away and began a terribly slow wheel change. First he even gave me a Campy wheel which I had to remove in favor of Shimano. Somehow in the midst of this Aly appeared. “Don’t worry, I’ll ride up with you” he said. HOLY CRAP! Did Aly just sit up for me to help me pace back? That’s like, the most incredibly pro thing I’ve ever heard of. I didn’t say anything but we began an awesome two man team time trial down the mountain (50 mph if anyone cares) and across the flat. We were hauling. At one point someone shouted “Two minutes” and I wonder if I’d been alone if I would have kept it up. But I couldn’t let Aly’s sacrifice go to waste. Incredibly we saw the field eventually and made the catch. Teamwork baby!
Little did I know at the time that Aly had flatted about a minute before me (hence the slow appearance of the wheel car) Just goes to show what hope and a friendly teammate can do.

You are what you eat

Dinner the night before was Thai food in Brooklyn. Incredibly, we all chose spicy. Howls of agony and laugher were shared equally the next morning as various versions of “If I ever see that chef I’m gonna punch him the face…” were exchanged in the car ride to the start. Extra chamois cream for all.

That is all. Peace out.

Posted By: Jules Roazen
“We’ve got a pretty good first aid kit in the van, come on over and I’ll clean you up” I said with a sympathetic smile. I cleaned him up, shot a photo of his biggest gouge over to Lisa to ask if he needed stitches and a professional “power wash” of the wound or if he could just throw a bandage on it. Turns out a wound as deep as it is wide over a joint gets a stitch. Lisa offered to do it herself and save him the trip to the clinic. Needless to say, he was incredibly appreciative, and offered up all kinds of “You know we talk all kinds of S**t during races, but it’s all in good fun, right?” Sure thing dude. We’re cool. Sometimes the high road is actually easier.

Wow, that dude doesn't know how lucky he was to have you guys fix him up. Honestly though, it seems like he's still getting the better of karma's kiss.

It doesn't matter to me if he knows or not (I think be does fwiw)
*I* know
I'm the one I have to look at in the mirror in the morning

Short race report:

Good job Joe and Adam.

Who knew this race would have no significant hills?

How can a course have 30 miles of descending and no climbing - does that not defy the laws of physics?

Slow, fearful peloton makes for very, very boring 80 mile race.

Time to accept that if a course has no hills large enough to cause natural attrition, we will have a glorified park race because most of these guys are a bunch of goddamn Sallies.

I think Dieter is trying to have a real spring classics style race. I get it, but I think the consensus was we would not travel for this one again.

Well the results are up...apparently I didn't finish. Oh well....

http://www.fastalracing.com/HunterMtn12Results.pdf

Things were mellow on the first lap, I had communicated with Collin from Hudson and John Kniesly that if things were too slow, I was looking to animate things and wanted their company, they expressed interest; however I must say that I never found the sort to speak 'gradient' I was looking for.
And then this...heard air whistling out of my rear wheel, I shifted into the highest gear, raised my right hand and made a quick swap with the support car (although I told him campy 10 speed, I later found out he gave me shimano. My shifting was all wacked out and I managed to scare a few people!). I then saw Jules less than a kilometer up the road and decided to wait for him. I said let's go baby, lets do this! and the heroic act ensued: Chasing back to the peloton was incredibly hard, both physically and psychologically at least until the pack was in sight up the road. We flatted about a km from one another and this was lucky in some way. There were times where I had to skip pulls, I just had nothing to give unless i recovered a little longer behind Jules. He said to me, all I need is 30 seconds at a time. So I forced myself and said ok, just give everything until he passes you and recover on his wheel, for about 15 or 20 miles my heart rate never dipped under 180 and honestly it was one of the most taxing things I've ever had to do in a race. I remember having to tell Jules to wait for me right before we caught the pack because I was so beat up that I couldn't hold his wheel and he was eager to get back on.
Getting back was so gratifying, and it took me a little time to recover until the second lap attacks started going off...I couldn't believe it, i had spent all this time chasing back, and now i'm gonna get dropped? &^%@#$ Thankfully I managed to bridge up to the leaders- who attacked hard on the hill/roller at the beginning of the second lap- with maybe 10-15 riders in the most disorganized paceline I've ever been a part of: people would take pulls and did not peel over without any order, that group was basically attacking itself trying to bridge up to the leaders! I later found out Jules had been a protagonist in initiating this attack and dropped out the race after it, I couldn't believe it!! after all this?! I was both impressed and pretty bummed for him.
After that I basically focused on recovering. There were a few honest attacks, in which Ryan was involved in, but nothing threatening and often without any counter-attacks so without any real blows, although the finishing group was 30 or 40 riders. The sprint finish was a gong show, the support car was honking basically throughout the last km of the race because many riders did not respect the yellow line, and I'm surprised that only 1 rider (siggi's) got DQed but I guess ppl were not looking at numbers at this point in the race! I was also shouting at those punks but no one gave a damn. Ryan and I finished in the back and Adam stuck it and took 5th!
Overall, it was a beautiful day with some hard miles. My left Achilles tendinitis wasn't made any better although I was able to race fine by ingesting almost 2g of ibuprofen before the gun went off that day.
I tell myself that If I can do that at the back of the pack, I should attempt it at the front and attack it more often!

Oh and camping the night before a race is freaking awesome...thanks Woj for the support and lending me gear! In had already won that morning before having started racing.

Sounds like a tough day in the saddle, but gratifying overall. I am so excited to see that we can split the team across multiple races and put some serious results across the entire spectrum. I can't wait to see you mountain goats get your chance to shine.

First off, just want to say how much I enjoy these out-of-town races where there's the opportunity to get away as a group. For all those who are new to the club or never done so, I strongly recommend you try and arrange something and head out. Great banter, often beautiful scenery and the chance to get a conversation in with your teammates that is a little more substantial than the 3 minutes by the toilets before the start in PP.

Awesome stuff Joe; 5th in the 3 race was awesome. Even more so as you did exactly what you said you would: Honeybadger it to the front and outsprint them all! Hero.

I can't decide what I feel was the most pertinent piece of information I gathered from the weekend. It's one of the following:

-When sympathising with Jules about how a flat in a race feels so unbelievably frustrating, like you never got so shoot your load in the event, Joe then chimes in with the correct terminology for such an event: a case of 'bluebike'.

or

-When starting the second lap, Jules and Aly had just put in big watts to get back on. No mean feat. Aly then appears by my side in the pack and proudly announces 'I'm here!'. I'm sure he was expecting more emotion on my part; sorry, going up hill at that point! The short explanation of the predicament of him and Jules after flatting and chasing on was then explained to me. Again, a lack of emotion or real response on my part. This must of upset you somewhat Aly, I'm sorry. So, to get your point across about the strenuous nature of the effort, Aly then adds "It was pretty awesome." I did respond to this, simply saying "If you don't say so yourself". Was funny though. Didn't mean to blank you mate, in hindsight, that conversation makes me laugh a lot. You were spot on. If some dumb-shit teammate isn't impressed with a two-up TT for 8 miles in the middle of a 80 mile race, he SHOULD be reminded of how much you rocked, even up hill. Good stuff

About the race itself. A few guys mentioned that it was a bit boring. I agree. However, having thought about it, I guess that's the whole point of the race. So many times I was thinking how easy/boring it was and then I wanted to do something. Fortunately, about the same time someone from another team had an identical idea and he would shoot to the front to try and mix it up, thereby preventing my glorious yet superfluous sacrifice. I think the biggest thing I learnt in this race is that not all races are like in the park, where everything that happens effects the race. Patience in this scenario was really important. Even a successful break on the first lap, with 3 minutes on the field and 8 guys would not have stayed away. Unfortunately, due to the conditions and the parcourse there was simply no option but to wait for the final hill on the second lap. Having said that, the hills (3-5%) were just not quite steep enough to be enough of a selection in themselves. Probably should have factored this into our race strategy.

I think the biggest problem was that there were only two team with numbers (Siggis had 10 registered, SIDS had 12 according to Bikereg) who could thereby dictate the race. These teams were full of pussies and they achieved nothing, hence, there was no pressure at the front. What are we meant to do with 4? Hit the front with 50 miles to go and set it up for the 22 riders of the combined Sig-Sid megasquad to then slow it down again? As a result, the race was kind of shaped a little less aggressively that I think we all would have liked. Unfortunately, when in low numbers, you can only play off the other teams' strategies. In this case, they didn't really have any. I know for a fact, if there were 12 Kissenas on the start line, there would have been carnage (think back to stage 3 or Tour of the Catskills). Weak.