I'm with Mike...Westwood is a fun race..nice course, and less than an hour from the city. I took my wife and kids last year, spent some time at bear, and then headed down for the race. It was a really fun day.

Ignore my post about Silk City - same day as KCC championships.

registered for westwood and looking forward to it. any others worth considering closeby apart from the obvious supercross and SICX?

Shhhh, can you hear it? Can you hear the distant clinkity-clank of cowbells somewhere over a muddy horizon? Can you smell the craft-brewed suds as they dribble down from of the corners of the mouths of ironically mustacheoed hooligans? Can you feel the jiggle of your lunch-lady arms, and the snot in your sinuses start to shake loose as you rumble across fields of grass that only look lush and pristine? If you're not there yet, you will be...you will be.

Less than one week from today, in a place that mapmakers call Breiningsville (and everyone else calls "T-town"), the first UCI race of the season, Nittany Lion Cross, is set to open the 2013 cyclocross season with a ferocious roar.

The world will want to know how pros with names like Todd Wells, Justin "Honeybadger" Lindine, and Jeremy Durrin will fare in this opening salvo. Hotlist will too, but he REALLY wants to know how the dudes from the Kissena Cycling Club (celebrating 50 years of general awesomeness) are going to do.

In last season's explosive season finale, where a seemingly random swath of rain-soaked land in Eisenhower Park was shredded by all manner of mythic Fangos and Grifos, most of the team's regular cyclocross racers fought each other for the one (chain)ring to rule them all. Some rose to the challenge and found great glory in battle, others were humbled, shamed even, and left flailing on muddy fields of despair.

Who will reign supreme in 2013? It's time for Hotlist to fire up the hearth, grab a fistful of burning embers and take a hard look at the Kissena players signed up for Nittany. For this first pre-season edition of the Hotlist Report, riders are listed in order relative to their predicted finish by crossresults.com...

UCI Elite

 

1. Eric Ragot, reigning club CX champion. Eric had a solid 2012 contesting mostly mid-Atlantic "Elite Masters 1/2/3" category races where he placed top 20 in every race (except the notorious Northampton races that seem to vex most Kissena racers). In 2013 he's easily coming off his best road season in at least 5 years. As such, you would think there'd be some confidence there, but talk to the guy and he'll mutter-ramble on and on about being off the bike, vacations, already hitting his only ordained cycling peak for the year, blah, buh-blah, buh-blah. This year instead of trying to better his two impressive top 15 placings at Nittany in the elite Master’s, he's signed up to race with the big boys. Which is not totally crazy...

 

2. Mike Perlberg. Rumor has it "Jersey Mike," is a man with a mission. A mission to indoctrinate legions of youth with a brand new school that will have legions of PTA mothers lining up offering gifts of bundt cakes and boysenberry preserves to get their kids on his personal VIP list. Meanwhile back in the real world of what actually matters, his registration in the UCI Elite field gives Hotlist pause. It appears to be an effort to game the system, earning low crossresults.com points, just by finishing. This trickery would make sense to Hotlist if Perlberg were planning on contesting the bigger New England races that use crossresults rankings for pre-race staging. But he's already published his race calendar, and it’s filled with events that keep him closer to home that don't give a fig leaf about crossresults rankings. All this aside, dude's a genuine hammer and it's extra fun to heckle strong guys who just may be a couple of feet out of their depth.

 

Cat 2/3/4

 

Hotlist finds this category, specifically, the Kissenas registered in it, FASCINATING. It’s filled with some of the club’s “Supernova Ghost Riders.” Guys who have, at one time or another freaked the shit out of everyone on the club for legitimate superstar-like race and/or group ride performances, but have also managed to vanish (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively) for weeks, months or more from the racing scene. It’s very hard to predict how the Supernova Ghost Rider will perform on any given day, but no result is a surprise.

 

1.     Todd McLoughlin. Crossresults predicts him to be Kissena’s top finisher in this category and Hotlist agrees. Largely and deliberately absent from the road racing scene, Todd’s focus on cross racing has earned him some top finishes in many cat 3 races. He’s no Supernova Ghost Rider, he’s consistent and present and rock solid and should be fun to watch in 2013.

 

2.     Joseph Mueller. On the heels of many very impressive finishes in competitive cat 4 fields, including a 2^nd place at the totally legit regional rock show known as HPCX, Mueller has upgraded to cat 3 for 2013 and deserves it.

 

3.     William Doyle-Capitman. In their creepily accurate race predictor, crossresults.com has an asterisk by WDC’s name, which is the polite way of saying, “How the hell am I supposed to know?” He’s been working hard in school, business and life these past few seasons, so Hotlist doesn’t expect to see WDC blow the lid off the joint, but anytime this guy signs up for a race you can bet that he’s in it and ready to rock.

 

4.     Joaquin de Baca. Some crazy good road racing results from years past, plus rock solid Cat 4 CX results in 2012, including an 8^th place at Providence and a dominating win at Supercross equals a legit threat if conditions are right. But his reluctance to unleash the beast at the start, coupled with mid-pack pre-race staging position might keep this star under wraps this week.

 

5.     Konrad Ratzmann. So strong. Crossresults has him finishing in 86^th place out of 126 riders. He technically has enough races to get an “unadorned with asterisks” crossresults ranking, but their prediction doesn’t smell kosher to Hotlist. But since Konrad’s racing schedule and results are as unpredictable as his hair color, Hotlist has to give this guy an asterisk. 

Cat 2/3/4 continued...

6.     Keith Snyder. The grumpy old man of the bunch (“WTF is a forum thread, this sucks, stay off my lawn?!”), with scant few off-road races under his belt, crossresults says he’ll be at the back of the pack. But what crossresults doesn’t know is what anyone who has been on a ride (or in a race) with the photo-shooting, drink-slinging, gourmet-food preparing, diesel engine, is that Snyder likes to drop into races when conditions are right and make life miserable for everyone around him. Last year he pulled this trick at the epically muddy and challenging Gloucester, lined up in the back of row of over 120 Cat 4s, passed nearly everyone in the first ¼ of a lap and finished in 50^th place.

 

Master’s 55+

 

1.     David Stokes. Like Ragot, Stokes seems to be having one of his best seasons on the road in a few years. He’s been in the mix in some very fast Prospect Park races. Plus, at last year’s Nittany Stokes cracked the top 10 with a very impressive 7^th place! This year crossresults pegs him at 12^th place, but he’s be drilling his skills and fitness with our team’s best crossers for several weekends in a row and Hotlist thinks another top 10 could be in the cards. Also he’s a scientist and could probably use a centrifuge, magnesium ribbon, hydrochloric acid, one of those new elements they just discovered, and an Erlenmeyer flask to cook up a KickAss homebrew secret sauce. You could do that David, right? I mean, I’ve heard about that dude on Breaking Bad…

 

Master’s 45+

 

1.     Jim Feehan. The silent assassin? I don’t know…for a couple of years now, I’ve been trying out nicknames on this one of the club’s quietest, but most dedicated cross racers. The MAC series is his jam. 2012 was a relatively quiet year for Jim, toeing the line at just 7 races, about ½ of what he did in 2011, but what he lacked in volume, he made up for in quality. In this one of the toughest racing categories, Jim’s worst placing was 27^th…that’d be a nice “worst” placing to have, no?

 

2.     Dan Strika. Another quiet killer…well actually this guy cheers like a crazy man and loves to race cross so much that he spent much of 2012 doubling up for two race in a single day! But since he’s not a chatter-bug on the interwebular forum chatroom 3000, he gets a “quiet” adjective for now. Strika doesn’t rock home the big results, but his enthusiasm after races is contagious (and a little scary…don’t look directly into his eyes). Look for the dude wearing an old-school Kissena jersey and black shorts.

Cat 4/5

Another exciting field full of Kissenas means, if you can drag yourself out of bed early enough, there’s plenty of good heckling opportunities for what is typically the first race of the day. Nittany’s 4/5 Kissena crew is a mix of guys who have been at it for a few years now, plus some newer guys to the club. Which means Hotlist’s intel on some of these guys is a little thin…

 

1.     Marc Bertucco. Crossresults.com predicts, nay DEMANDS (by highlighting his name in red) a win from this Kissena club mentor. And on paper, it almost makes sense. However despite some good performances in 2012 including 2 wins, and 2 second places, Bertucco managed to flame out rather spectacularly at Supercross. And this year’s road season has been well, kind of “meh” at best. But maybe his “secret” training plan of MTB and track racing this past month will give him just the edge he needs for a strong 2013 campaign.

 

2.     Patrick Grehan. Without question, one of Kissena’s best and most consistent crossers. 2012 saw him rack up a really impressive string of 2^nd and 3^rd place finishes that anyone would love to call their own. His CX podium to participation ratio is without question the best of any Kissena currently racing. Of course, Grehan is competitive, 2^nd place tends to make a lot of people grumpy and Hotlist is sure he wants a win--badly. It wouldn’t surprise Hotlist to see Patrick on the podium.

 

3.     Jeff White. Another experienced cat 4 who has in past seasons dared to leave the friendly confines of New York/New Jersey and raced yonder north against New England’s best cat 4s. Jeff has some significant results in 2012 including an 18^th at Whirlybird and another 18^th in the 2/3/4 race at Supercross proving that he’s got legs that will last the entire season. Will he better crossresults.com prediction of 22^nd at Nittany this year?

 

4.     Joshua Caesar. Showing steady improvement on the cross circuit for the past 3 years, Josh has tackled Nittany 2 years in a row which should give him a tactical advantage over less experienced racers. Plus, he’s been doing his own secret track and CX training out at Kissena Velodrome and Cunningham Park learning the ways of the dark arts with club mentors.

 

5.     Phillip Maronilla. With just one cross race in his legs from last year’s Supercross, Hotlist’s crystal ball is cloudy at best. However, we know he’s been racing his mountain bike, training with the Brooklyn crew, and hitting up the CX practice sessions (invaluable).

Rick Perner said:

@josh

Actually, I'm pretty sure that all of the NJBRA races feature a seperate CAT 5 field w 35 minute long races starting w Westwood

Interesting...that's more in keeping with the spirit of the new categories and rules of cyclocross this year. On the other hand, my beloved New England races are seemingly taking the cheap way out and just adding Cat 5 to the cat 4 fields. Kind of disappointed in them to be honest.

The cowbells may be ringing in the distance but you can SMELL WHAT THE HOTLIST IS COOKING RIGHT NOW.

So “Alice git yer knobby tired Whip” ‘cause the season that is the reason is upon us once again.

All hail mud and cowbells!

Hotlist rules!

Hey dudes.  I was thinking of going up to Nittany this weekend to get shredded in cat 4/5.  This would involve bringing the baby along, though, and I'd rather not take him into big crowds just yet. So, can anyone give me an idea how crowded is Nittany likely to be?

Disclaimer - talking as a non parent here - crowds size 2 or 3 on your scale, I don't think it would be an issue. There will be crowds in some spots but you should be able to walk into open space nirvana without fail. I have seen folks with very young children seemingly with no issue (Hotlist himself + family at last years Nittany comes to mind)

Even at Worlds in Louisville this past February you could have found a quiet spot to yourself.

The most crowded areas at Nittany will be far less crowded then Prospect Park on a nice afternoon.

We took Peter to his first bike race at 8 weeks and he's really enjoys being outdoors at the cross races. There are hundreds of racers signed up for this one, but a) they won't be there all at once, and b) being surrounded outdoors by cyclists is kind of a different story than taking a baby onto a subway car.

Last year, my wife parked herself, Peter and our dog Penny on a grassy, shady spot with a blanket on the grass and hung out during my race. Nittany is not the world's greatest course for spectating, but there was still plenty to see from her vantage point just past the start finish, on top of a little plateau where you could see racers in multiple directions. There's also a lot of nicely quaffed grassy parkland at this one, if you are feeling too crowded.

Just remember to bring bottles, diapers, plenty of sunscreen. Although, if you forget the sunscreen, my wife has plenty to share.

When they are little they are infinitely portable. Enjoy it while it lasts!

You guys are awesome, thanks! We'll see if we can swing it, although 2wks old may be too early for the wife if not the baby. Who else is heading up this weekend?

Alex Vaughan said:

You guys are awesome, thanks! We'll see if we can swing it, although 2wks old may be too early for the wife if not the baby. Who else is heading up this weekend?

I'm still hoping to get a ride out Saturday. Is anyone else looking for a ride if so maybe I can rent a car and drive some folks out.

@josephmueller - I'm looking for a ride. Contact me off list.

Hey - I'm driving up on Sunday, and will likely have room for +1 or +2*. Let me know off-list if you want to hitch a ride.

Yeah....I'm confused re the Cat 4, Cat 5 distinction with the new rule. I assumed you had to have raced at least once pre the rule change as a 4 when there was no Cat 5 to be considered a 4 for this year. I just checked my license online and it says I'm a 4 too. I haven't raced in a cross race so I thought I was a 5.

Oh, in case folks missed this - Dan Chabanov / Britlee Bowman are hosting a cyclocross practice for the hipster crowd today on Randall's island.  I'll be there, although my Kissena kit is dirty; if you don't know me, look for the disc-brake Lemond dude with a beard.

Didn't see that Alex had posted the same question on the Nittany thread

A question so nice I asked it twice.

Ill be at the cross thing tonight. 

Alex Vaughan said:

 cyclocross practice for the hipster crowd

I guess I'm not invited :-(

Is this 'cross practice at Randall's open to everyone?

Phillip Maronilla said:

Is this 'cross practice at Randall's open to everyone?

Yeah, I think so.  There's a weds practice that is CRCA only, but this one is open to all.  It's just organized around a the nyccx facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/211715905548876/.  I went to the first one last year, and it was just remount practice and some hot-starts and laps; nothing crazy.

BTW folks, Bubble Cross is moved to Oct 27 to avoid conflict with HPCX.