2012-05-10

Rockleigh has posted on Facebook that they got their permits from Bergen County !
It is starting up for practice 2 weeks from now, and for real in 3 weeks.

Marc's crit clinic is right on time

Posted By: Rockleigh Crit
Attention Race Fans!

Get ready to rumble on the Rockleigh Mile! We are good to go! We will be having a warm up race on May 24, just for fun, and our summer championship series kicks off May 31.

Series pre-reg discounts are available through BikeReg!

Check out www.rockleighcrit.com for all the details, race flyer and registration links to BikeReg.com

Hope to see you at the races!

Like last year, I'll be doing the whole series. I got 5th overall last year in Session II, and I want to be in the jersey and win Session I this year. Plan on doing the B race Session I, kick asses, then put it for my upgrade and do the A race Session II.

I want to racce this!

Posted By: spielbergI want to racce this!

Heal up! Plenty of guys ride up from the city. Rockleigh is right before Piermont to give you an idea of distance.

I'm looking forward to this series too. With my work schedule, plus a generally weak road racing schedule these last few years, it will be nice to get in some weekday night training. And unlike riding too and from FBF, there is hardly anything more pleasant than riding home from Rockleigh on a quiet summer night.

Living near the GWB, it's insanely convenient for me. Perfect warm-up ride to get there (about 1 hour), race for an hour, ride home easy for an hour. A good 3 hours of riding. I feel for you Brooklyn kids, but you insane asylum inmates have your FBF races...and you seem to love them.

Another nice thing about Rockleigh, is that the course, conditions and competition are not so demanding that you can't decide how you want to race it. I mean, it's never going to be "easy," but you can easily sit in and get in a "motorpacing" workout. Or you could race off the front getting in hard solo VO2 efforts, or you could race it like an actual race too.

Also, super pleasant promoters and just general chill vibe. People bring their kids, they grill hot dogs for primes, etc.

First race tomorrow. No pre reg, day of, $20. Stand alone race, doesn't count for the overall series. I'll be there. Also note if you pre-regd for the normal series, you gotta cough up cash for this one.




* Cat 1/2/3 1 hour + 2 laps: Starts promptly at 6pm.
* Cat 4/5 45 min + 2 laps: Starts after completion of A race.

Pre-Reg discount: Pre-Reg for a race series and save!
Series I pre-reg $100. That's 6 weeks of racing for the price of 5! Series I pre-reg closes May 31.
Series II pre-reg $100. That's 6 weeks of racing for the price of 5! Series II pre-reg closes July 12.
Pre-Reg online at BikeReg.com. Additional registration fees may apply.

Field Limits:
Cat 1/2/3: 75 Riders
Cat 4/5: 50 Riders

Day of Event Registration Fee:
$20.00

Prizes:
$150 cash/merchandise prizes each week
Series championships - Trophy, medals and merchandise! (awarded at series finale)

* Pre-series Warm Up Race May 24
* Series I: May 31 - July 5.
* Series II: July 12 - Aug 16

Registration:
5:15 until start of event.

Location:
Bergen County Health and Special Education Campus
33-35 Piermont Road
Rockleigh, NJ 07647

Directions:
From South: Palisade Parkway North to exit 4 "9W".
Left onto 9W North. Follow to 1st traffic light (Oak Tree Rd) and go left.
Follow to traffic light @ Piermont Rd. (Rockland County Rt 340) Go left.
School is approx. 0.6 mile on right.
From North: 9W South to Oak Tree Road., and make right.
Follow to traffic light @ Piermont Rd. (Rockland County Rt 340) Go left.
School is approximately 0.6 mile on right.

Course:
1 mi. counterclockwise, flat with 6 turns (and very fast).

Current USAC license must be in rider's possession to register. One-Day license available at registration.

For additional information:
Event Website: www.rockleighcrit.com
email: RCA@rockleighcrit.com
GS Park Ridge/Cyclesport at (201) 391-5269
Westwood Velo/Westwood Cycle at (201) 664-1688

Pulled down 2nd in a rainy wet finish. Not many hardy souls made it out. I kept finding myself at the front of the small group despite trying to soft pedal as much as possible. Covered a couple not so serious moves. When a Siggis guy jumped everyone looked at me, and I shook my head. Eventually another strong guy bridged and it started to look dangerous. A Gennaro's guy went to bridge when the gap was out to 30sec or so and I moved with him. After some flagellation we caught them, my bridge partner was pretty cooked and took short pulls. We dropped the field into the distance and were soon 2 to go when it started downpouring. After I finished a pull the Siggis guy attacked and I wasn't feeling so great, lost the rear a couple times keeping the corner speeds hot. We come into the finishing straight match sprinty, eyeing each other. When all was said and done, I got second. Barely missed.

Nice job Mattie, that sounds like a tough/fun race.

Nicely done Mattie!
Was it Roj, the tattooed boy-wonder-human-cruise-missile?

i'll be there this thursday - prob going to be the only night this summer i can make it.

anyone want to ride out from manhattan with me?

my race starts at 6, so that means leaving the Jersey side of the GWB at 5

4/5 race starts at 7ish

Hey WDC...I'm in, but would want to leave earlier. Me likey to ride slower out to the course and leave time for registration etc. Anyway, I often like to ride in my own head on the way to a race, but we should definitely ride home together.

nah dogg . . . it aint like that . . . i'll meet you at your place whenever you like

holler

crit racing with the sensei: this will be awesome

Looking forward to hearing how Mattie and one other Kissena whom I did not get a look at, did in the B race. When I left, the field was being sort of lazy about chasing down a single breakaway rider who had 15-20 seconds for 3 laps on the field.

In the A race, it felt like a rather sleepy affair. No big moves, but about 30 minutes into the race a group of 6 or 7 slips away and that was pretty much all she wrote. Despite having decent position for most of the race, moves always seem to slip away, when I'm at the back. Anyway, no real organized chasing, one or two guys here or there put in efforts that would string the field out for a lap or two bringing the group about 5 seconds closer, but then some jack-hole would always launch off the front, causing a chase reaction, then a swelling and then the gap goes back up. WIth about 15 minutes to go in the race, I motor to the front and take some nice hard, even pulls, trying to get a rotation through. I even did the finger circle thing on the home stretch indicating where the wind was coming from and which direction folks should pull through. No one would. Well, fine then, I move to the far right side of the road so no one can get a draft from me--no pulling through, no draft from my fat ass--but then I lost a bunch of spots and soon found myself OTB with 4 laps to go. I sat up, waited for the field to come around and jumped back on for the last 2 laps.

They're chill up there about those kinds of things. I couldn't sprint for places/money, but they're okay about lapped riders jumping back in for more training. I don't remember all the results, but AXA's Karl Rahn got 3rd, Pulla "Busted for Doping 2 years ago" was in the top 5 too. Not too many big guns out to race--I suspect they were at Base Camp International, but it was a beautiful night, and one cold Pepsi Cola, and the fragrance of honey-suckle plants after the race was the perfect accompaniment to my ride home.

my job this summer will have me working most Thursday afternoons / early evenings, but I'm going to try to find the one week I can come out to experience these races. They sound great. I hope there are still a few honeysuckles in bloom by then.

I pulled down second from a field sprint. The pace was soft, slow at times. I think the lack of team representation besides the group of Gennaros guys (and gal) kept people staring at each other. A few half hearted attacks, a couple people left dangling, but nothing dangerous. Coming into the last couple of laps it started getting jammed up again, thankfully a CRCA rider attacked, and helped stretch it back out. I sat 5-6th wheel on the bell lap, sat 4th wheel on the Gennaro sprinter coming into the last turn, and passed him and everyone else. An Echelon guy came from behind me for the win.

47 minutes/18.8 miles/ 24.0 avg
NP: 281w
Max: 1317
20s: 976w
1m:595

Awesome shot Mattie - and sick max watts

godamn that shot is fine

i missed this tonight - kind of bummed, but my plate was recently refilled with more shit than i expected

i did get in an hour with some FTP - what a beautiful night

Thinking about the race dynamics as I've noticed them last night and last season. There tends to be very little team work at these races, and if we just got a handful of Kissena's out, we'd have fun with the team racing action power-hour.

I know it's a haul for Brooklynites, and 9-5-ers have no shot at making it in time, but...there are a few people who I think could make it without too much disruption to their normal routine.

Also, Mattie you are still a 4? Can't you just sign up for the A-race regardless of category? 976 watts for 20-seconds...sheeeet. It seems like you pretty much podium every time you race Rockleigh. Come join me and at least this way I'll have a reason to be pulling at the front other than, "well, shit, the breaks up the road, no one else is doing anything, I might as well get some efforts in with 15 minutes in the race."

Mattie! Totally boss. Pic is almost > an Evie shot from yesterday. Almost...

Posted By: Marc BertuccoThinking about the race dynamics as I've noticed them last night and last season. There tends to be very little team work at these races, and if we just got a handful of Kissena's out, we'd have fun with the team racing action power-hour.

I know it's a haul for Brooklynites, and 9-5-ers have no shot at making it in time, but...there are a few people who I think could make it without too much disruption to their normal routine.

Also, Mattie you are still a 4? Can't you just sign up for the A-race regardless of category? 976 watts for 20-seconds...sheeeet. It seems like you pretty much podium every time you race Rockleigh. Come join me and at least this way I'll have a reason to be pulling at the front other than, "well, shit, the breaks up the road, no one else is doing anything, I might as well get some efforts in with 15 minutes in the race."

Yeah, I'm doing Session I as a 4, I want to grab the jersey. Last season I was top 8 ish, but only won once, and only cracked the top 5 once or twice besides that. I worked this offseason to really step up another level. Targetted race of the year is the Witches Cup in Salem first week of August, upgrade request goes in that night. Til then, I'm going to annoy the hell out of the 4s in NJ. Next week Andy, my best trackie-buddy-lead-out-man for life may come up.

4th tonight. A guy soloed for a quarter of the race for the win. Yellow jersey nipped me for 3rd, so we're tight up top.

Might finally be a dry race tomorrow, bringing a fist full of hammers.

Give 'em hell

Awesome stuff, Mattie!

I'd love to come out for these, Marc - I really like the Rockleigh scene, and I agree about a small KCC squad running things.  The times I've been out there we've often been able to control the race.  Unfortunately, my work schedule this summer has me working til 8pm Thursdays.  I have Tuesdays off to race Floyd.

Looking forward to this one tonight. I'm on vacation for a few weeks and there's nothing better than suiting up for a race, knowing you get to recover/train/whatever the next day and NOT go to work.

Mattie, just in case you read this before you leave the shop...any chance you could pick me up a 10-speed chain (SRAM, "ultegra" level, but def. something with a connector link and is stainless) and bring it to the race tonight? Thanks, I'll bring extra cash-money just in case. - Marc

Mattie, never mind...I usually don't see you before your race starts...and gotta leave before the street lights come on. Erg. I hate equipment issues.

good luck out there guys! Would love to see Mattie with a giant W here.

3 Kissena's in the B race, me in the A, and Nosson and two of his friends stopped by during a Rockland Lake training ride.

The A race was won by Gavi Epstein, who had 4 or so teammates to ensure that things were strung out and fast for much of the race.

When I left the B race, it was gruppo compato. Rich was getting his racing feet wet by surfing the back of the pack. Todd B looked good going for a mid-race prime, and the tattooed one himself was in front and aggressive, getting himself into a few moves off the front.

Anyone riding out tonight?