good on ya john!

Nice work John. Hopefully I'll get out there some this year to defend that yellow jersey you'll be wearing.

John is AWEsome! ...he drove race from start to finish, there were some strong attacks and fairly convincing attempts at breaks...but w/a steady 15mph tailwind on start/finish straight w/each of (12)laps rolling it@30mph no one was going to stay away for long, still i doubt there was one rotation in the chasing group, always some strong guy or another pulling the train for :45s-1min, then done(team sacrificial lambs); must say do not get it when speed crew slows to a crawl after turn(2) most every lap and allows entire field to regroup, rather than pushing it and making a selection, it would only require 4-5racers willing to establish a rotating pace line for another 2-3minutes, oh well... easy to say from the back of the pack, i was cooked by final turn finished mid-pack @18-20th. Chapeau! to JohnnyM 'M'is for murderous Monster Racer! -h:-)

Nice John!

Hell yes!

Congrats John! Well deserved.

short review for my race. 

field of about 25. very slow first couple of laps and then a faster third lap that stretched the field, eventually resulting in a lead group of i think eight which i was in. 

a couple of ARC guys in the group tried to break a couple of times, as did I, but everything got pulled back.  or at least that is what i thought... at one point an unattached rider drifted off the front and i could have sworn that we pulled him back.  turns out we didn't, and he took a solo win.

With a lap to go the group had dropped to i think six and everyone had resigned themselves to a sprint.  i started to move up before the final corner, was third or fourth wheel, right behind the guy i wanted to be behind, but then hit a fucker of a hole that jerked me hard and A) caused me to unclip both feet; in unclipping hard, caused my saddle to rotate at a 90-degree angle; and C) caused me to flat.

balls.  although a little gutted i took away a few positives:

1. i broke my FBF cherry and in the most appropriate way (big hole, a flat)
2. i generally felt fine throughout; looking at my numbers afterwards, i was quite a bit below my FTP
3. i raced a relatively intelligent final stretch in the sense that i marked the guy i wanted to (and he ended up taking the sprint, so it was a decent call)
   
4. i raced on a tuesday.  ON A TUESDAY!
   

Awesome work John!!!

Jules said:

Awesome work John!!!

Mac that drift-off-the-front thing seems to work more at FBF than anywhere else.  Mike "Prezidente" Pberg is the jedi-master of that move.

John M....crushing it. Nice.

Drifting off the front...I think one of the reasons it works more at FBF is because on that back stretch, where you have the whole wide world in front of you, it's easier to lose track of riders. While everyone is slammed on the right, in weeds, (regardless of where the wind is coming from guys love that line), you can quickly get out of site by drifting left just beyond the practical peripheral vision of the typical racer without actually adding too many extra pedal strokes to your upcoming hot lap.

And then even if someone does look around and notice you, if it's late enough in the race, you start to question whether that rider is in your field or not...

harry bolick said:

John is AWEsome! ...he drove race from start to finish, there were some strong attacks and fairly convincing attempts at breaks...but w/a steady 15mph tailwind on start/finish straight w/each of (12)laps rolling it@30mph no one was going to stay away for long, still i doubt there was one rotation in the chasing group, always some strong guy or another pulling the train for :45s-1min, then done(team sacrificial lambs); must say do not get it when speed crew slows to a crawl after turn(2) most every lap and allows entire field to regroup, rather than pushing it and making a selection, it would only require 4-5racers willing to establish a rotating pace line for another 2-3minutes, oh well... easy to say from the back of the pack, i was cooked by final turn finished mid-pack @18-20th. Chapeau! to JohnnyM 'M'is for murderous Monster Racer! -h:-)

The slowing-into-turn-2 thing has always annoyed me too (unless it's the first couple of laps of the 3-4 race and I'm hanging on the back, trying to get my legs awake) - I think a lot of dudes are just always trying to avoid the rough patches, or they aren't comfortable pedaling through turns.

Way to go John.

tito said:

And this is by far Harry (aka the Silverback Badger)'s most legible post - I actually read the whole thing.

Awesome work John, Harry, Rene et al!

the "Silverback Badger" Love it

Does anyone know if I can train at FBF on the weekends if I wanted to do specific intervals and avoid the park?

I believe you can, but don't venture to the left side out of bounds area. Last Tuesday a guy drove up in an unmarked car, all antsy, he says "you can't come any further, turn around", end of conversation. And, yes he was wearing a hazmat suit.

Jeff Condon said:

Does anyone know if I can train at FBF on the weekends if I wanted to do specific intervals and avoid the park?

Jeff I used to do TT practice there - never ran into trouble other than it being too hot in the summer

John Malcolmson said:

I believe you can, but don't venture to the left side out of bounds area. Last Tuesday a guy drove up in an unmarked car, all antsy, he says "you can't come any further, turn around", end of conversation. And, yes he was wearing a hazmat suit.

Are you serious?

@Jeff ... I want to believe.

I'm in for tonight. Chance of rain seems slight enough to take the risk. Rolling from near Ride at 5 to help Charlie with reg.

i'm aiming to be there tonight though i'll be cutting it fine.  lucky i have my reusable number. 

do i pin left or right side for flyod?

oh shit i didn't realize today was tuesday!

yep -- just turn up and pay.  race starts at 6:30.

Yo Brendan -- Absolutely. Let's meet at Flatbush and Bergen at 5 and roll from there.

see you then.  if you need to get in touch:  

Konrad and I are going to be out tonight for the 3/4

@Clifford & Rigby - I'm expecting placings in tonight's update.  Going to make it a point to sneak out early and make it out there in the next few weeks.

What's the entry fee for us?

$15