I am planning a workshop on bike repair and maintenance. Al Barough has agreed to open the Ride Brooklyn shop one evening to host this event. We are currently thinking about a Monday at the end of June (perhaps the 25th but date to be confirmed). 7:30-9:00 pm. I am planning to start with pretty basic stuff, depending on the experience of interested parties. If this workshop is successful, then I would contemplate a second on more advanced topics. A few of the topics I'm considering for first workshop are:

change a tire
change a chain
replace a derailleur/brake cable
adjust front and rear shifters and brakes
true a wheel
change a cassette

Suggestions and feedback is/are welcome

Marc B Repost: First, and someone already mentioned it, and I'll say it again. A good leadout train sprint will take some practice. And if you treat every park race like the world championships, you are never going to get 'er done.

That said, a good leadout train sprint effort is not rocket science and does not require Blue Angel like flying precision. Don't over-think the damn thing. And as far as "swinging off?" It's not so much a dramatic swing as a easing off the pedals and to the side into the wind. Really the guys in back of you should be going so hard and fast you don't even have time to imagine your Mark Renshaw-ian self swinging hard and wide to the right.

John M Repost: Agree with Marc, we'd really need to perfect our train. It's a total bitch if we fail, but if we can nail it, it's something we can enjoy doing over and over.

The challenge is to get the train assembled in the front quarter of the field before the descent (while everyone else is trying to get to the front). We'd all have to be comfortable pushing our way into position/order after the last climb, then have a rider who can drag us up the side of the peloton. If we have everyone in order of power (1 minute max watts) and factor rider size, then we should slowly get faster and faster until no one can come past us. If we want to reference Renshaw, he kicks in at 650m to go. I figure two of our strongest riders would be the closest thing we could get to a Renshaw each pulling 2x250m @ > 28mph. The last guy must deliver the sprinter(s) to 200m without fading. I could be wrong but I think NYVelo tried to get something going Saturday but didn't account for the headwind and perhaps the hour old legs.

As Ian noted, a strong train means sacrificing riders who might be able to win on their own, but if we're agreeing to pool $ then to me that's less of an issue. I'd be keen practice and try it at least once in a race. The alternate to the train is smaller lead-out teams or to fight for the wheel of the strongest sprinters (Misha and Mr black and yellow (who?)), but that will always be more of a crap shoot.

Last point: Riding second wheel at high speed is not ideal for our designated sprinter >> "This was measured in the General Motors Wind Tunnel in 1996, and on the track using the SRM crank dynamometers. The lead rider in a 4-man pace line uses about 2 to 3 percent less energy than they would if riding solo.The next in line needs about 71 percent of the lead rider’s power, and the third and fourth riders about 65 percent. See “Racing cyclist power requirements in the 4000-m individual and team pursuits”, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, v31, no.11, pp 1677-1685, 1999. J.P. Broker, C.R. Kyle and E.R. Burke. << We really need a bigger rider to do the last pull, size is one of the reasons Cav is so effective + his sprint is very aero + he can accelerate like bejesus.

John, are you in the intelligence services? That's some CIA-grade shit.

I'd like to add three things:

1. Another benefit of the hard lead-out train is that the sprint will be much smaller. A lot of guys will be waaay out of position so will not factor.

2. As long as the guys are lined up near to the front, there's no need to go out in the wind if somebody else is already drilling it (like last week when it was already being strung out by that NYVelocity guy). In truth, the train shouldn't take charge until as late as possible, as long as another team doesn't have its own train up there to compete with.

3. Another option besides the long lead-out train -- and I think John made brief mention of this -- is the two- or three-man mini sprint team. So for instance if John and I were a mini-team and he were the sprinter, it would be my job to give him my wheel and guide him safely to the near-front of the race, and basically burn myself as necessary to keep him out of the wind and in position for the sprint. I'd either make myself scarce once he's in position, or if I didn't burn too much getting there, I could get the sprint started. Either way, John would be in a top-5 position and could follow the wheel of his choice.

I've taken over leadout duties at 650m before - two years ago, when we were fighting tooth and nail to keep Yacks in the green jersey. It's way, way, way too far out for the last man. Why? Cause, to put it bluntly, I'm not Mark Renshaw, and neither are you.

A big train is tricky, but worth trying. From experience, I'd say that you need to make sure that the sprinter can stay on the wheel of the final leadout person, and, if the train gets swarmed, that the final leadout person has the pack savvy to get shelter and then be able to start a Long Sprint (going at 300) that can launch the Sprinter.

Also remember that only the Sprinter is allowed to jump. Everybody else has to ramp up speed STEADILY.

good luck!

John, this is crazy!

I think, somewhat like Marc said on another thread, a good lead-out train can have many benefits and doesn't have to look exactly like the pro train to be effective. Likely, other riders will mix in, but if they are interested in keeping the pace fast that is a good thing.

A ramped up sprint is probably better for our type of rider. We don't have someone (that I know of) with that pure burst speed from a slow sprint, but if we string the sprint out our riders are much more likely to be in a good sprint position and hopefully we can catch other guys off guard, out of position, or neutralize their advantage on the jump.

@ Jeff
I got these images via Bikileaks, I think they're taken from the Mengoni spy-plane.
Thanks for the input. We could decide between #1 or #3 on the road depending on how fresh our team is.

@Mattio
That all sounds good too—steady as she goes. Btw, you misread my post; I was suggesting two baby Renshaws @ 650m leading the sprinter out (although even that might be a tall order if there's a headwind).

@Perlberg
Agreed! Crazy awesome! Do you know of any teams that have successfully used this tactic in PP?

When I have mornings free, I will help show what leadouts can be like.
Think committing to lots of pain.
Eric

bike racing, like basketball, is a non-contact sport.

In the scrum of the peloton, nudges are inevitable. In the lower cats, it's because people don't have good control of their bikes. In the higher cats, it's because they're extremely confident they know how to control their bikes. In both cases, you should be prepared to be elbowed, shouldered, even head-butted. In the track and 'cross, it can be a regular occurrence.

So, after the results are official on Sunday, I'm happy to take anyone and everyone out to a quiet, grassy spot in Prospect, set up a little rectangle and practice bumping. It's fun, it's goofy, it will make you a safer, more confident racer in the pack.

JP

Hey JP I was head butting Al when coming across the finish line today, joking around of course. And thought to myself why would anyone head-butt another rider. Is it becasue you want to keep your hands on the bar but still keep someone from coming around you?

This is pretty much what my scenario looked like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L8VLgLX7AM

The Garmin rider (Julian Dean) veers in and tries to hook is elbow over the front of Renshaw's arm to try to wrestle him into the barrier, closing the door on Cav behind. All Renshaw could do to repulse that move without taking his hands off the bars was to use his head to try to keep him away. Awesome finish!

Joe, good question. There is offensive and defensive head butting. I'm more interested in people understanding the defensive, but you might as well know both. It could happen that someone starts to lean on you. They might do it because they're sloppy bike handlers and just rode into you. Or that they hit a bump or started to slide out. If you want to get them off you and your head is available, it's probably safer to head butt them off than to use your elbow or shoulder--elbowing someone in the ribs might cause them to collapse onto you if they're not prepared and since people follow their eyes and heads, pushin their head in another direction will almost certainly direct them away from you. On the offensive, if you want to push someone out of your way. Renshaw's is in between. Dean got ahead of him and intentionally or not started to nudge him slightly to the barriers. Renshaw was probably concerned this would box Cav' out of the sprint so in order to get the good line again, he head butted. Dean has even more top-level experience than Renshaw, so the first one didn't do it. I wonder if Dean was already gassed at the time of the second head shot.

The real danger in the sprint you posted is the way Renshaw tried to push Farrar into the barriers. I'm amazed he realized Farrar was coming up between him and the barrier. MAybe it was an accident, but Renshaw knew there was a space wide enough for a sprinter to get through between him and the barriers and he closed it down just as Farrar was attempting to pass.

I've head-butted people a few times in races. Twice I think. Always to protect myself. I actually find teh skill useful in cyclocross, and I'm sure if I raced points races regularly on the track, I'd probalby need to pull the trick out, too.

But back to bumping drills. In a pack, you should expect that at least once in a while, someone will ride into you. Happened to me this morning on the way to the race. I was behind a rider 200m from registration and he slowed down. I figured he was sitting up, so I tried passing on his left. I was mistaken. He was turning left. I skidded, put my shoulder into him and we both stayed upright. He was pissed, but Paul Choweenam has shown a surplus of anger and a deficit of race smarts of late, so I won't take it personally.

The real danger in most cases is in someone freaking out when they're bumped. The freak outs more than anything else cause the crashes. If you get a feel for the dynamics of bumping and being bumped, chances are you won't freak out when it happens. And that will reduce the likelihood of crashing.

The offer still stands to all for any Prospect post-race. If I'm not around, I'm sure Eric, Myles, Marc, Robertson can take my spot.

The clinic dates, times and locations are:

Clinic 1:

Wednesday, August 10th for instruction signup @ 5:50 AM, starting @ 6 AM - 7 AM and Saturday, August 13th for on-the-road practice signup @ 8:55 AM, starting @ 9 AM - 11 AM.

The location is Central Park @ 110th St & Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. (North end of Central Park)

Clinic 2:

Wednesday, August 17th for instruction signup @ 5:50 AM, starting @ 6 AM - 7 AM and Saturday, August 20th for on-the-road practice signup @ 8:55 AM, starting @ 9 AM - 11 AM.

The location is Prospect Park @ PP West & PP Southwest - the entrance just past the Bandshell.

The session descriptions will also be on:

http://www.crca.net/coaching/coaching-schedule/

starting this Monday, August 1, 2011.

since when did we join the dark side?

I'm afraid I'm to blame. And I owe Eric Ragot an apology for roping him into this. Backstory: a few weeks ago I saw a listing for a Racing/Fast Group Riding Crash Skills course being offered by Scot Willingham/CRCA. I wanted to attend the session, but Scot explained that it was only for CRCA members. But when he found out I was from Kissena, Scot touched base with Eric and they secured a grant from NYSBRA to offer the same coaching course to anybody/everybody. I'm sorry if I started something that seems rudimentary to the rest of Kissena. It's still my first season racing and I want to learn as much as possible from Eric and Scot about crashing/not crashing. You have my word that I will stop fraternizing with CRCA at exactly 11:01 AM on August 20th!! Eric, please accept my apologies for making you wake up extra early on 2 Wednesdays and stay extra late on 2 Saturdays.

The more safe riders in NYC the better, I'm willing to move over to the dark side on this one. We have enough pony tails on this squad that the dark side will never be powerful enough to draw us in.

nobody is moving - it's joint as I am helping to run things (I think).

i take strength from the ponytails

(also, from Ragot's chiseled jawline)

I look forward to hearing how these clinics turn out. Maybe this relationship can continue so that we can get Kissena women (we might have one or two left on the club, I'm not sure) into CRCA club races next year...

^not bloody likely!

i lost a fair amount of hair trying to work this out with Mike Green when i was prez last year.

he was quite difficult and stubborn; a real bummer because CRCA's policy effectively hold back the success of women's racing in NYC

This clinic is basically Jef K's idea and Scott Willingham are old friends. We figured this was good for everybody.
The new president is Dave Jordan. I can say with the current board, things are getting done much easier than in the past.

Can we force certain riders to go?

no - but i have been working on an iPhone app that plays "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins every time someone does the Cat6 elbow bump/deathsqueezewiggle next to you

is that the carrot . . . or the stick?

WDC,
The app needs to predict which riders are liable to do such a maneuver and sound Danger Zone when they're within a certain radius of the phone.

Yesterday, there was some guy in the 1/2 who couldn't hold his bike straight no matter what. He was a crash waiting to happen. And he was the one person I saw taking feeds at the top of the hill. Luckily, he got dropped, but too late for my tastes.

Such a clinic probably should be mandatory. There are several folks I'd love to compel to such a clinic.

Btw, I think this is a great idea. I was talking with Ryan about making something like this a requirement when you get a license. I think he said they do something similar in CA? I got a lot out of bumping drills with JP last year. And like everyone says, riding rollers and racing cx has definitely saved my hide when the inevitable wheel swipe occurs in a local cat 4 clusterfuck. Just learning to not overcorrect and relax in the face of disaster is invaluable, if seemIngly unnatural.

Posted By: mugwumpWDC,
The app needs to predict which riders are liable to do such a maneuver and sound Danger Zone when they're within a certain radius of the phone.

Yesterday, there was some guy in the 1/2 who couldn't hold his bike straight no matter what. He was a crash waiting to happen. And he was the one person I saw taking feeds at the top of the hill. Luckily, he got dropped, but too late for my tastes.

Such a clinic probably should be mandatory. There are several folks I'd love to compel to such a clinic.

once NFC technology in mobile phones becomes ubiquitous, i can add some functionality to my app that would recognize the rider in question (presuming he races with his phone - i know i do), do a scan of whatever social media platforms he's one, rate the occurrence of "i crashed" type tweets/post, then adjust it's proximity-sensitivity needed to trigger the "alert"

anyone want to throw some seed money my way?

i could sell KCC a minority stake, and if this thing takes off, we could all all be racing matching Colnagos

Dude, Kickstarter.

That's a money app dude. For now you could just set up speakers on the finishing straight at PP

I'd pay for an app that just played Kenny Loggins songs really loud. Is there anything like that out there? I suppose a boom-box at the start/finish is better than nothing, though.


Oooh ooooh ooooh oooh ooooh oooooh CUT FOOT LOOSE.

ok

i'm scaling back the scope of the app

it will now play "Danger Zone" whenever Jeff walks into a room

From Scot:
Because of logistic in getting quickly to a nicer place to ride, the Saturdays both will meet @ 110th St & Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. for the practice rides. We go over the GWB and use River Road.

Er, as the "that NYVelo Guy" in this discussion, I'm very happy to read this - and look forward to the practice sessions... even if they have to wait until the spring.

Totally agree the train has to get organized basically at the top of the uphill.

*LOVE* this spy-plane map, fwiw.