Floyd Bennett Field - Forum Archive

Jun 07, 2012 at 08:36 PM

with that molester grin, who would ever imagine that you are one of the most talented voice-over actors in the entire GTA series.

nice job, ryan. you've worked at this long and hard.

also, nice job all who helped him . . . for all of us mortals, it truly takes a village to upgrade!

glad to hear Carl is still a moran. my favorite Carl story involved him coming up to me after one of Perlberg's ass-kickings at thursday floyd last year and being all "god damn mon we got no communication where the hell was everybody we coulda placed!" and i had the delicious privilege of saying "carl, you jackass, we won . . . and this is the first time i've seen or heard of you all race."

Ryan J

Jun 07, 2012 at 08:46 PM

Posted By: WilliamDCmy favorite Carl story involved him coming up to me after one of Perlberg's ass-kickings at thursday floyd last year and being all "god damn mon we got no communication where the hell was everybody we coulda placed!"

Ha!

I remember that. It was the night that I won solo! And I think we had one or two other guys in the top 10 and we basically sewed up the series that night for Mike.

We completely dominated the race and Carl was all shaking his head and saying "terrible, mon, terrible."

WilliamDC

Jun 07, 2012 at 09:03 PM

lol

terrible mon

Marc Bertucco

Jun 07, 2012 at 09:09 PM

Awh, jeesh guys...I had a shitty day at work and am already in a foul mood...don't get me started on Carl. At least Kissena's passive douche-separator did its thing:

http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-401026/?affsrcid=Aff0001&mr:trackingCode=8F448CBF-73CD-DF11-98FF-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA&origin=pla&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=9439506461&mr:keyword={keyword}

ericmehlenbeck

Jun 08, 2012 at 04:38 AM

Nice job Ryan! You've been killing it for quite some time now, very well deserved!

I've always tried to stay as far away from Carl as possible. I was so glad to see him wearing a non-Kissena kit this year.

tito

Jun 08, 2012 at 04:26 PM

SO AWESOME

Congrats, Ryan - it's your world, baby!

tito

Jun 12, 2012 at 02:29 PM

Lookin' like steady rain from 4pm on - iffy stuff.

Do we know after all where Charlie posts updates? I've looked on Velocity before and found nathan.

Jeffrey White

Jun 12, 2012 at 03:57 PM

Seriously though, Nathan Brauer is like the nicest guy ever and a great bike handler. He works in breaks, and even lets you win the sprint if you promise to donate $20 to the ASPCA, where he volunteers semi-weekly.

alyoshas

Jun 12, 2012 at 04:00 PM

hahah right?

alyoshas

Jun 12, 2012 at 04:00 PM

shit i wanna race tonight but don't know what the weather promises.

Wojciech P

Jun 12, 2012 at 08:43 PM

Floyd is cancelled! Flooding...

DONT GO TO FLOYD.

(:

Jeffrey White

Jun 13, 2012 at 06:05 PM

I'm likely going to race this tomorrow. Anyone else?

vlad

Jun 13, 2012 at 06:48 PM

Of course I am.

Ryan J

Jun 14, 2012 at 03:58 AM

I'm likely going to race this tomorrow. Anyone else?

Whitey I'll come out and worker bee for you. Let's get you a top 10.

Also, Vollbach, where you at?

Jeffrey White

Jun 14, 2012 at 07:42 PM

Meet at GAP at 5:55?

Dan Reiners

Jun 14, 2012 at 08:41 PM

good luck out there guys. I will be holding down the fort here at LanceLeaks (aka WSJ).

vlad

Jun 14, 2012 at 08:59 PM

I'll be at GAP

Ryan J

Jun 14, 2012 at 09:12 PM

Meet at GAP at 5:55?

yes

tito

Jun 15, 2012 at 04:15 AM

REPORRRRT

Jeffrey White

Jun 15, 2012 at 12:43 PM

Ryan, John, Andrew (in his fancy purple NYU kit), and I lined up for the 3/4 race. The plan was for everyone but me to be active for the first part of the race, in terms of looking for moves. Ryan said he was going to go after a couple of the early prems. I was to be the "protected rider" and keep my powder dry for the end, at which time Ryan and John would lead me out (in that order).

Problem was, there was a lousy $10 prem on laps 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9, I think. So while that kept things pretty fast throughout, it didn't really fit with Ryan's plan to try to get away for a couple laps and gobble up a couple larger prems. So on the prem front, Ryan got skunked, John got ten bucks.

I stuck to the plan, learned the wind situation, and kept myself in the correct position throughout.

With four to go, a group of four got up the road a bit. It didn't seem to be doing much up there and we quickly began closing it down. Just as it was being reeled back in, I heard John behind me say, "That's the winning move." It didn't compute at all, because they were literally being caught when he said it. A few second later, about halfway between Turns 2 and 3 on the short course, John came up on my left, tapped me on the shoulder, said, "Let's go," and we went.

John spun it up to ramming speed into the headwind, and all I could do was stare at his wheel and try not to get dropped. He pulled for about 45 seconds, got us into the fast tailwind start-finish stretch with a very big gap, and I began to pull through. That's when I saw the lone rider in red about 150 meters up the road. "That's gotta be Graham," I thought. Apparently the other guys in the break had come back because he completely dropped them, which is why I was confused at first as to why John and I were on this little adventure.

But there he was, way up there. So I just poured it all on, low as I could get. I pedaled full-gas through Turn 1 and saw that I accidentally gapped John, and paused. But he immediately yelled "GO!" so I kept going. I had to catch him fairly quickly if I was going to at all; dude can TT. I think about halfway to Turn 2 I got to within about 50 meters of the guy -- close enough to clearly see his Setanta kit -- before he began creeping away again. I wasn't fast enough.

The pack finally reeled me in just before Turn 3, when we were momentarily neutralized to let the 1/2/3 break go by (thank god). We came across the line with two to go (another prem lap <i>of course</i>), and I just did my best to sit in and recover from my four minutes' all-out effort. I got exactly one fast lap to do so. I found Ryan's wheel, yelled at him that I had it, and he kind of shepherded me through that lap. But he kept having to slow up for me and close gaps in a stretched-thin field.

At the bell we were a good ways back, and so he said he'd get me to the front, which he did halfway between Turns 1 and 2. He then went straight to the front and began to drill the pace. I slotted in fifth wheel. He hammered it through Turn 2 and got us about halfway to Turn 3 before he started slowing. Right at this time, Andrew rode up beside me and tapped me on the hip. I told him to get on the front and string it back out. I didn't know where John was.

But it was a few seconds too late. Ryan had let up just enough to embolden the sprinters, and they started to surge like crazy up the sides. The five guys in front of me were boxed in and couldn't go anywhere. John came flying by on my right during one of these, and I finally was able to get out and follow. But there were little gaps everywhere and I couldn't get them closed by the final turn, so that was that. I did a half-ass sprint the rest of the way and probably got top 20. Graham Macbeth won it solo.

In hindsight, I probably should have raced for second, with fresh legs and a proper leadout. Or at least gotten the boys to work to bring Graham back and then freelanced the sprint.

JohnMalcolmson

Jun 15, 2012 at 05:04 PM

What Jeff said.

I knew when the Macbeth group went for the prime, that he was going to just sit in and attack post-prime. I was pretty gassed just getting us up there and then Jeff had some major speed in the tail wind and gapped me off. I tried yelling "Wilson!". That was our one big chance for glory—sorry I couldn't get to your wheel Jeff. We also might have had a chance of catching Macbeth if we weren't neutralized. The moto wouldn't let us start racing again, had to ride up along side him and tell him that there was a rider up the road. Welcome to Floyd.

In terms of learning, the pre-race plan as I understood it was for Jeff to "stick to my wheel like glue" for a lead out in the last lap, I think the big effort put the kabosh on that a bit. Ryan, Jeff, Andrew kept the pace high, but the sprinters at Floyd are pretty good at sucking wheels... Johan, Samuel and co. capitalized on that. In that scenario we it would have been better to have Andy attack, then Ryan attack, and then me and Whitey jump on the covering moves. I tried to slip away before the turn but another team had a chaser and six guys tagged along to sprint me in.

One last observation: if you're on the front and you don't have a reason to be pulling the entire field along...

1232313905971.jpeg

Wojciech P

Jun 16, 2012 at 12:43 AM

So if I got this right.. You guys gave the sprinters a leadout and then got out sprinted by them?

: D

danielhubbard

Jun 19, 2012 at 01:13 PM

I'm at GAP at 545 to ride out to the fbf race tonite. Vladimir should be there too.

alyoshas

Jun 19, 2012 at 07:07 PM

goin to Floyd tonight despite still much pain but as long as I dont stand on the pedals...I should be fine.
Gonna go early to help w/ reg.

vlad

Jun 20, 2012 at 04:08 AM

I set a new 20 min personal record - 322W (342W NP!)... then I got dropped. Brutal. Best $13 I could spend on a Tuesday evening. What a great place to learn how to race.

http://tpks.ws/0F71

edit: ... and training peaks just sent me this email:

After analyzing the data you uploaded into your TrainingPeaks account, we believe your
threshold(s) have changed.
Below are the threshold(s) we believe to be correct according to our analysis of your data:

Suggested Power Threshold: 306 watts

Current Power Threshold: 300 watts

I LOVE FLOYD

Marc Bertucco

Jun 20, 2012 at 03:35 PM

Vlad congrats on the new power record. At this rate, soon, your monster legs/lungs will be able to handle anything those Mengoni's can throw at you. But back to our discussion at PP, next time you are out there (tonight?), think extra critically about if there is anything you can do from a tactical/positioning point of view to not get dropped.

On windy nights, with small fields and few guys in the field for shelter, I'm not sure there is. Floyd is often a real-life compu-trainer race, hence one reason why I think it's somewhat limited in providing actual race-learning opportunities. I mean, it's ALWAYS a good workout. That's undeniable.

JohnMalcolmson

Jun 20, 2012 at 03:38 PM

^ Woot! Buried Treasure ^

Aly, Dan and i and I rode 3/4 and it turned into a slog. First two laps I hear "this is the easiest race I've ever done here". Last 5 laps were brutal (for me) attack after attack, didn't see that guy anymore. Aly and I made an attempt to bridge to Andrew McGee and another rider but were covered by a bunch of riders (they stuck a successful long 2-man break which was pretty impressive). I had a rough night—put carl into the dirt on the home stretch, (nowhere to go in the echelon, oops). Last lap: hanging, hanging, big split, hammer to bridge.. look up the road to see the single file went for 100m—tank empty—sat up. Chalking it as bad hair day made worse by bad positioning.

Harlem crash. Why you don't allow overlap. Yikes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Yvfrjw5xQ

mattie davitt

Jun 20, 2012 at 03:43 PM

That seemed like a pretty dramatic change of line for no good reason.

vlad

Jun 20, 2012 at 03:59 PM

... next time you are out there (tonight?), think extra critically about if there is anything you can do from a tactical/positioning point of view to not get dropped.

That's a great point Marc.

I know exactly where I went wrong last night. My goal this week is to ride up front and, on top of that, I wanted to do some work. A few guys were up the road and we were trying to bring them back. I'm getting better at holding position and hiding from the wind (which there was plenty of last night), but it's tough to take wind during a chase like that. Unfortunately, I pulled a little too hard when I got on the front and couldn't recover fast enough to stay with the rapidly diminishing field.

Learning what I can and can't do is going to take some time. Finding that balance between riding well and knowing my limits while assessing the group I'm with and the situation we're in is probably going to take much longer.

Having to do this all while putting out some of the highest personal efforts and being mentally and physically maxed out is kind of a privilege. I feel that for this reason alone, Floyd is the ultimate NYC "training" race.

John Malcolmson, I really wish I could of been there to hear what Carl had to say after his dirt ride.

Jeff Owens

Jun 20, 2012 at 06:51 PM

Jeez! Yeah, John's right: guy in blue moves over, but why wasn't guy in white/black skinsuit protecting his front wheel...durrr.

Also, when I watched it slow, it looks like the Champ-sys guy actual goes endo by hitting his front brake too hard before even hitting the guy/bike on the ground. Good job by the cameraman swerving between rider and separated bike though!