What time are you guys usually back in Brooklyn after one of these races?

about 9, maybe a quarter of.

p.s. I think you'd love it out there Mike

@Mike, if you busted out of there from the finish line you could be back in downtown BK 8:30'ish.

Bring lights and 4 seasons tires.

+1 what Vlad said. This dead flat course is a Watt monster's paradise.

I'm in for the 3/4s and ready to work.


On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 9:42 AM, Jules <

im in for 3/4 tonight

GAP Meetup at 5:45 work for most?

5:45 works for me.


On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 2:21 PM, Jules <

I am in for the 3/4 race if I can get out of work on time. Don't wait for me at GAP. See you @ Floyd.

anyone know the cat 4 start time? can't find a flyer for the race series...

7pm Niall. Start time for the 3/4

In.  See you there.

Ugh seeing clients late tonight. watched a everyone riding down Flatbush. Jealous

Andrew Da Silva said:

Ugh seeing clients late tonight. watched a everyone riding down Flatbush. Jealous

Your office is on Flatbush? That's torture. That reminded me when I used to have the world's greatest commute where I would walk/run across CP to get to work. Weekend mornings when there was a race going on that I couldn't do was a bummer. Seeing all the racers shoot down Harlem Hill...

That was a hard one for me. I was blowing through matches just trying to survive. I made it to the front at one point to put some work in to try to get the break back but it was clear that no one besides us and CIS gave a shit.

I'm pretty frustrated that I wasn't able to help John out more... I was just dying in that wind.

Fbf is hell on earth.

It was hell just getting to Floyd down flatbush. And I don't mean the usual dollar vans etc. Strong headwind going to. I felt beat before i even got there. I lasted three laps tonight. I just couldn't keep up going through the start/finish line section with the tailwind.

That wind...sucked. Coming around turn 1, the wind was ripping people apart as they tried to echelon.

I was up front for most of the race, and it was pretty frustrating that no one seemed to want to work.

That sentiment was truly echoed when I saw Wes with three guys trying to work towards the break. I came up to him and took my pull when It was my turn. When I looked behind me, I was alone, in my favorite place, no mans land.

I could see the break ahead of me (I believe they finished about 1 minute in front of the group) and I knew there was no way I was going to get there alone, so instead of sucking wind, I sat up till the group came back up.

In echoing @wes, I'm pretty frustrated as well that I wasn't able to help out Johnny. Hopefully next week we can have a pre race strategy talk.

One thing is for sure, my legs definitely feel like they got torn off. My normalized power was 289.

Also, I ran 25mm 4seasons at 105 psi instead of the 23mm gp4000's i usually run and they felt so so so good.

Cold and windy, we did not so bad as a team, I much prefer to have everyone finish than ride themselves into oblivion. I really needed to see how people were doing before I waved people into the front line. There were a bunch of times where people were riding single file in the gutter in the side wind, which meant if you were out of position you spent a lot of time staring at the tire tread of the guy in front and wishing you were eating burgers. That was one of Schmalz's tactics actually, he's good like  that, follow that guy around and you'll learn a thing or two.

The break gobbled all the sprint points, so yeah I was envisaging us all casually lining up on the front and doing a Quickstep paceline. If we could have at least pegged it, we could have bridged across. My mistake for letting it go in the first place (trying to stick with pre-race plan of not overworking).

SO after a while it was f'–it time and I really tried to get it organized. I'd pull back maybe 20 seconds but people weren't keen or able to keep it rolling. Jules did huge efforts before exploding in a ball of flames, Jeff A, Wes and Bruce got in the mix, but BH and Frias's Bermuda triangle team did a super job of frustrating the whole effort by accelerating, blocking and letting gaps open. Then there were just idots taking flyers gone in sixty seconds style.

The three in the break were all big engines: Lance, BH dude, and the new guy on Frias's team, Jesus Martinez. Martinez won, and it turns out, after a bit of internet stalking, he won every Cat 5 race he entered before upgrading... He strikes me as a little suspicious as he rides like a Cat 2 and seems fairly experienced. Bring in ze controls.

Fun ride home with the team bombing Flatty. Beers on me next time.

P.S. Got in an early break with Schmalz and we had a guy gapping us, Schmalz yells "wait up stupid" — totally nailed it.

P.P.S. Tiny litlle junior rider put us all to shame.

P.P.P.S Huge thanks to Phillip who gave me his wheel when I flatted just before start time on the way out. Legend.

JohnMalcolmson said:

P.P.P.S Huge thanks to Phillip who gave me his wheel when I flatted just before start time on the way out. Legend.

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that 1/2 of this team would have had to miss a race or two if it hadn't been for Phillip saving the day. Dude's so far in front in the KCC Teammate of the Year race, the rest of us might as well get off in the feedzone next lap.

Mike Garrigan, did you race? Would love to hear your perspective on your first FBF "Hell on Earth" experience.

I rode 41 miles in the Master's race in the park.  14 miles last night.  

@Marc Bertucco‌ , yeah I raced! It was great, my first FBF. I rode out with with the 5:45 depart from GAP. Managed to survive Flatbush and was really happy with myself for bringing some extra clothes ( and maybe also that I don't have 3 kids at home to think of like @Jules‌ ) I waited for a few laps keeping near the front waiting for a break to establish. When I saw a bunch of dudes getting very upset with eachother over who should pull (or maybe one guy was sleeping with the others GF,, I'm not sure but they seemed really mad at one another) whatever I just went to the front and made a hard effort across the flats after turn 2. I brought a camp sys rider with me but I was pretty sure there was already 2 champ sys guys up the road so it would be good to keep the break rolling. Stalin came with me as well. Once settled in the break we had myself, Stalin and Neil Bezdek plus 3 champ sys. I qued up behind Stalin in the rotation. I kept him honest and we told him we would give him the first sprint points if he didn't feck around. My goal was to ride steady and hard. Stalin wasn't taking very solid pulls going into the 2nd sprint so I jumped him with 5 to go to take the points ( and I thought there was cash) he was pretty ticked off,, actually seemed like he was sulking a bit so for the next two laps I wouldent let him pull and just rode around him hard pushing him to the back whenever it was his turn to pull through. After a few laps of that I told Stalin we where even and I didn't want to hear about his loss of points or whatever. Sometimes I think you gotta kill guys with kindness. Now one of the champ sys guys flatted,, and the other two started attacking. One after another like clockwork. I tried to break the guys but just blew myself up in the end. After the 3rd or 4th attack the champ sys guys actually managed to get away together and I packed it in.. I felt bad for Neil because I think he was banking on me jumping to them one last time but I just told him as the gap opened up that I was cracked and happy and I didn't really give a shoot anymore and I just shut off and smiled my way happily blown to bits for 5th behind my break away buddies. Turned out I was riding on a slow leak near the end but I think it just added some more comfort.

What happened to Stalin in the end?

He got 3rd for the night and now leads the overall and sprint points.

Dude is crafty.

results, bros

rode out. got cold. did a lap, flatted. rode home. the end.

I noticed today that the tires I usually ride at Floyd are pretty well worn, and the replacements I ordered still aren't in. How stupid is it to race Corsa Evo CXs tomorrow?

@AdamF
If they're 25's you'll be better off, tubulars even better.
Really even if you don't flat, you are going to beat up those tires at Floyd, I'd save them for park races.

@AdamF
If they're 25's you'll be better off, tubulars even better.
Really even if you don't flat, you are going to beat up those tires at Floyd, I'd save them for park races.

Thanks, John. They're 23s, but I found an older training tire that I threw on the back. Figure that's where most of the damage gets done. Only have a corsa on the front. Will it still jack up the tire? Probably. But at least it still lets me race.