Eric 40th me 42nd. Holly fucking shit that was hard. Cool to race against myerson etc. Happy to finish. Time for beer.

We beat a Keogh!

@eragot can you bring my rudy helmet and glasses tomorrow

Jules et al., so that's the thing. The best racers on our club do an excellent job of maximizing their training time. No question. But at some point, not even taking genetics into account, there is just an absolute limit to what you physically can do against certain competition. So, can you be the best racer in NYC on our local courses? Absolutely, because you can train to race at a top level for 90 minutes--you know those course, you know all the tricks. We have the time to do that.

But when you start racing regional races against, full time pro and semi pro racers, what are you going to do? Today's crit at Bound Brook was filled with such guys. All the Foundation traveling team who have been doing nothing but all the National Crit races, Speedweek, etc. Adam Myerson who's old and has a lot on his plate, but still doesn't have a wife, kid or a job other than managing his pro cycling team. These are guys whose training up until this point have been some of the hardest road races of the season (not including California).

So when you come in with your best 90 minutes of racing, but you've got guys who can take your 90 minute best and double it (at least), what are you going to do? You are going to do your best, use all the tricks you can and hope you can be one of the top "local" dudes and be happy about it.

Even though my race was clearly a class below, I'll echo Mike's thoughts: that was hard.

First 10 or so mins were around 300w and on a crappy warmup (sorry Marc -- don't hurt me) they were tough. I think the 4/5 field lost 50% or so in those first blows.

I hung on and finished with the main pack pretty much. But I raced a dumb crit. Bad positioning, bad confidence coming into and out of corners. But It was my first real crit and I realized it is as much about smarts as it is about power. Lesson definitely learned.

All out of orange helmets. I have white and will bring one with glasses.

@eragot can you bring my rudy helmet and glasses tomorrow

Shit @Marc you have 90 minutes? Wait till #2 arrives...

Oh, Cliffy...I can't be too mad, seeing as how I was running so late that I approached you in a panic confirming I had just 7 laps to change, go to the bathroom and get to the start. And as you learned first hand, this is not the course to skip out on warming up.

I'm really glad though that you got out there and experienced the painful fun of crit racing--for reals! I can talk until I'm blue in the face about the importance of positioning, but you just gotta go out there and do it yourself to really help cement those concepts in your head.

I lined up for the 35+ race along with Daniel Hubbard and Dan Strika. Knowing from yesterday that the only thing I still do well is starting, I knew today was going to be doubly important to get to the front fast and hope that the old-dudes took it easy for a few laps while I warmed up the legs and lungs. HA.

You know how before a race, you feel like you have to pee a million times, and then magically as soon as the race starts that feeling disappears? Well, that's a real thing related to nerves, blood flow and the fight or flight reaction. What I experienced those first opening laps (in part due to NO warm-up), was sort of the opposite of that, something so NEARLY utterly disgusting, I think it must be what happens to people when they die.

Fortunately, I managed to hold everything together and stick with the pack. A pretty big split of 18 or so riders gets away pretty early, but I'm in no position (literally or figuratively) to react. I just want to do better than yesterday and maybe get 1/2 through the race before getting dropped. So I pull out all the tricks. Hammer only when necessary, letting guys squeeze/sandwich me on the inside and outside lines through turns because I realize that the fiercely swirling winds are making the straights out of the turns* really painful...unless I have a couple of jamokes on either side of my blocking the wind and pulling me along in their combined draft. One lap, I made sure a very large dude gets by me in the turn, because I needed the home straight-away for recovery time DESPERATELY.

*Mini crit racing lesson interlude: What line do I take? Start with where you want to end up on exit of the turn and draw the appropriate arc backwards in your mind. Now you have your entry point.

With about 1/2 of the race done, I start to let pain and doubts creep back into my head. I've got some pretty good excuses as to why I'm not racing anywhere near the level that I used to. This is the point, when two laps later, I usually "get dropped." Talking with Wes and Jeff and Jeff yesterday, I was telling them how sometimes, too often, we let that dude get in our head. That dude is pretty smart, he knows you well and he will give you every good reason to try and make you believe that you have done your best. Problem is, that dude is never right...and he's a punk.

Fortunately, I had Dan Strika charge up next to me and kick that dude in the teeth, when he said, "C'mon Marc, let's go." It was just what I needed at that moment and I got back into the pack and finished the entire 41 or so minutes with the bunch.

Both Dan Strika and Daniel Hubbard raced back to back, first the cat 3s then the 35+. No big results for any of us, but big props for those guys who basically gave themselves a pretty brutal 90 minutes of racing today.

But without question the highlight of my day was meeting my wife and dog and boy after the race. Peter gave me the best hugs and kisses and pats on the back (literally, he was patting me on the back; this is kind of a new thing he's doing now and I never want him to stop!) ever. A good day for Bertucco.

One thing to add on cramping: careful of over-hydrating. If you are peeing a lot morning of, and your pee is crystal clear, you can start peeing out electrolytes. This was one of the mistakes I was making a few years ago when I had terrible cramping problems. Although like Eric I suspect the main culprit was just lack of training. You can't ask your body to do things it's never done before just because you're in a race. And like Marc says, we all reach our limit at some point.

Great pics @Jules!

The thing that made me lose my mind today at Somerville? Seeing JP in the 45+ race, late in the game, get off the front, get a group together, establish a sold 10-second gap, watch the field behind them look at each other, letting the "JP group" get away. Then a lap later, JP's group is back in the fold.

WHAT HAPPENED???? That was the winning move of the day, that should have stuck.

Here are the results from the Pro 1 race...this is the first year I couldn't stay until the bitter end, but I could see clearly by 1/2 how this was going to play out. Aggressive at the start, small group gets a "medium-sized" gap and keeps it going seemingly forever, big time sprinter team says, "no, thank you" and brings it back at the end.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-somerville-somerville-nj-2013/results

Note some of the "local" top placers. Pollo Jr. in 8th place! (Now you know if you see him taking weak ass pulls in a park race, he's just being a punk.) Same could be said for Stalin Quiterio in 14th.

There are a bunch of "Team Somerville Bicycle Shop" dudes way up there too. Don't know if those are hired guns just for the "local" race, or the regular dudes who sometimes show up to race in the parks (aka, the guys who got pulled over by cops last year).

Sarah and I stayed till the end. No question that the 4 out front were going to be brought back and the catch happened with about 2 to go. Once United Healthcare lined up with 6 guys at about 7 to go it was all over.

For my money the two most exciting races were the juniors (one kid in solo break for 3/4 of the race holds off the field by 10 meters for the win) and the 3's with lots of fireworks involving the KCC crew.

From what I saw it also looked like JP was the one who started the move in the 2 race that ended up staying away. Not sure if that was how it actually played out but he was charging off the front one lap and then the winning break was away the next time they came around.

I think I set up the winning move.  At about half-distance, which was when we had agreed to start attacking, we were starting up the home straight, which had a tailwind, and I was in the top ten.  I saw a guy from Watchung Wheelmen look back, swing to the right, and start accelerating.  There was a prime on the line, as there seemed to be almost every lap.  I figured this was about the time we had discussed attacking, so I followed him.  As we got close to the line, I considered jumping him, but he was riding like the prime was his goal and I was concerned about not being able to follow through with my planned attack if I sprinted, so I let him have it. went around the top of the course solo, faced the headwind back stretch on my own.  

      In the 45+ race,  I was accompanied by Dan Strika and Ed Nolan. I figured I was probably among the strongest there.  Didn't know how much the II race took out of me.  Since it immediately followed the II race, I wanted to ease into the race and start attacking at around half-distance (six laps to go).

Like the Cat 3 squad that proceeded us, we lined up with some pretty serious firepower for the Cat 2 throw-down. We had Ragot and Perlberg hot off of 2 strong performances in the Hills of Somerset RR and Bound Brook crit, JP fresh off of a rest day at Josh C's wedding, and Bertucco sporting a hand-laundered size large jersey (because my wife took one look at me in last year's size medium that is now also, in addition to being ahem, a little tight, is a literal kaleidoscope of blue and orange "stains" from turn around a too hot dryer and said, "No. No way can you wear that.") that would ensure that I would at least look like I belonged.

After our proper warm-ups ("Was a 1200 watt effort good enough, Coach Bertucco?" Ragot asks sarcastically.), we proceeded to the side street where we, like Grizzly bears stuck in a terrible zoo, did circles around and around (classic, "fake warm up" technique) until called to the line. Stuck at the back of the "race to the line" race before the race, I was only moderately concerned about my starting position. JP was super chill and being all pro and hanging way back near some NCVC douche who, while apparently strong (he was in the Bound Brook Pro 1/2 break), was doing a douchey track stand and riding in circles at the back of the field. Never mind that rules clearly state you have to start races with one foot on the ground.

While I see what JP was doing "way" back there, I actually prefer to tuck myself into a spot that will set me up to be on the outside of the first turn. This way, when the field cuts left to take the turn, daylight, if not already there, shines and I make my move. And we were off!

My start was solid and for the first 4 or so laps I was actually the first Kissena in the field. This race, while not overly technical does have it's challenges, and for less-fit me, it is always the straightaways when guys are drilling it single/double file style. The closer you are to the front, the quicker you get to the point in the road where the guys at the front turn off the gas and it swells and your rest interval begins.

Then Ragot comes up in front of me and for the next few laps I'm glued to his rear wheel. A few more laps and the P&P tandem come charging through on the home stretch. Now with Perlberg and Partland and Ragot too, I think I made my first major mistake. I started to relax a little. I'm like, "Well, our good guys are up front-ish now..." and so I start to drift back. Ruh-oh.

Now I'm stuck behind guys who can't handle their turns and this has a direct and devastating effect on my race. The second turn, a 90 degree left handed turn onto a small, big ring slog up a slight upgrade, guys are breaking and shakey in front of me. They are letting little gaps open and I go from taking this turn smooth as butter, in the saddle, spinning my way up the hill to having to jam out of the saddle hammer style to catch the wheels in front of me.

"I'M LOSING 3/4 OF MY REST INTERVAL HERE BECAUSE OF YOU!!!"

Of course, it's really because of me. Damn. I know I have to move up but each lap I spend near the tail, I have less time to recover and less ability to rocket to the front when I should. There were a few moves off the front, and despite the flourescent orange helmets, I was not able to see that Perlberg got into one of those. I only found out with about 5 laps to go, when I hollered at him that he was "too far back" and he needed to get to the front NOW. That's when he told me he just came back from a break.

Still I was right. He and I were too far back and with 3 laps to go, there was a crash about 150 meters before the start finish line. And we're both caught out. I hammered my breaks went left, watched the field go and rolled around for a few more laps both content that I did not have to discover what my family's new health insurance ER copay was, but also frustrated that I did not finish the race as strongly as I had hoped. Still for my 4th race of the year...ehhh? I'll take it. No where to go but up.

No Kissena's in the money. A disappointment, but honestly, not a surprise. Cat 2s need a solid 30 miles around this course...but we'll never get it. And we need to be able to figure out how to crack the code of this infuriating mother of a race.

mugwump said:

      But it wasn't to be.  With about 1.5 laps left, we get pulled back.  

And then this happened:

mperlberg said:

I'm going to say it again and again. These races are great. If you're in town, you should put them on your calendar. If you don't race crits often- these are a great place to gain experience and really learn how to ride the corners. 

And even if you don't like crits, consider these races as a means to an end in improving your road racing. Leg speed, acceleration, positioning, sprinting, bike handling, recovery after intensity. These are elements that are exaggerated in crit racing, and when you get better at them here, this will translate to better road racing performances.

vlad said:

mugwump said:

      But it wasn't to be.  With about 1.5 laps left, we get pulled back.  

And then this happened:

A guy with no teammates won the race.  Nice job Brauer, Liberty Cycle, Colavita, Driscolls, Major Taylor, Environmental Alliance,  etc.  Bike racers; not very bright.