Anyone going this coming weekend? I went last year and it was a fun race for me and a kids race for Eli. I'm going to do at least one race, and maybe a Cat 4 and Masters.

great course.  I expect to be there.

I should be there... 35+ing

Dude that was awesome.

I'm constantly impressed by just how painful different bike races can be. A 62 W difference between avg and NP = ouch.

I love this sport.

p.s. Marc really knows what he's talking about, especially when he tells you to do something in the middle of a crit. I went from pretty far back to off the front with Durso, Dioslaki, and Elliston in less than 30 seconds... just saying.

Results?

@mperlberg - why you have to be so results oriented?

mperlberg said:

Results?

24th in the 35+ for me! Glad I was able to finish this one. Augusto Sanchez stuck it to Bobby Lea from the break in the 123. J.P. got in a late move with 1 or 2 to go to suck up some of that 20 deep payout, but I don't think it stuck.

I wrote a little something about the weekend in another thread. "Labor Day Weekend Racing 2012" Didn't see this one when I started it a few days ago. sorry yo.

I'm looking forward to hearing how JPs move started and got shut down. It was looking good for a bit there.

Craig Zolan said:

@mperlberg - why you have to be so results oriented?

That was fun, despite my going from the front with Dioslaki, Durso and H. Burrowes to off the back in less than 30 seconds. And of course, as I drift back I get an earful from Marc.

My first time lining up with guys of that caliber (and Marc & Vlad) and its certainly different. A crit might not have been the best place to get that first experience but it was great nonetheless. 

Hah. I hear those names + breakaway and I figured that could lead to a nice result! I thought the race brief race report was a bit of a teaser.

Craig, I'm a big fan of jumping in the deep end. And racing a crit with a bunch of Masters is not a bad way to go. It's always disappointing not doing as well as we might have hoped, but for me, I find value in going to some races that I think (or know) are going to be over my head a bit. It's a good reminder of why we're out there, or why we should be out there training on a regular basis!

This is a crit I like.  The course calls for both good bike-handling skills and smart riding, as well as lots of power.  While the downhill finish is less than ideal, there are six turns, three of which you have to take pretty fast, and 52' of vertical in each 1.1 mile lap.  The first rise you have to sprint out of turn two pretty hard and then keep the power going over the next rise, then take a breather, turn right, turn left, start speeding up to turn left again and take on the next hill, which is longer and gentler, but at the top, it starts to drop, you take turn six pretty fast, have to accelerate out of it and then start going downhill to the first turn. Coming out of turn two is a sprinter's effort, while the rise out of turn five is more of a rouleur's.  The first rise breaks legs, while the second rise grinds them.

This race always starts fast.  Coming out of turn two the first lap, I briefly see 1,000 watts.  The race is brisk. Not sure I can quite hang.  After about 15 minutes, I'm a bit more confident and can start to get a feel for what's hard in the race.  About five minutes later, on the end of the 8th lap, there's  a guy 200 meters off the front and I see someone attacking to get up to him.  Seemed like a good time to go.  I follow as best I can, but my effort is not good enough.  The other guys I'm with bridge up to the solo rider, and that was the race.  

It wasn't like the field sat up either.  I was worried about getting dropped after I was brought back.  Lap 7 was a 2:30 lap, 8 another 2:30, 9 2:22.  10 was 2:36, but we didn't go that slow again until the 17th lap, when we did a mild 2:39, and we sped up again through the finish.  My penultimate lap was another 2:30.

I wasn't looking forward to fighting for position on the final lap, and there was a group ahed with two to go.  I jumped from the bottom of the second hill, caught and passed the group, minus one.  The one guy ahead of me was Mike Rosenhaus.  His one weakness is he really backs off in turns.  I took turn six solo and then went about catching him.  I wanted to get him before turn one, but I knew if I was within a few seconds, I'd be on him coming out of turn two.  I was, even slowed a bit to make sure I didn't ride up his ass on two, then went around him, finished the first hill, kept chugging on fumes, and the field caught me.  Probably should have dug even deeper to stay with, but I took a few breaths, and they got a few second gap and I couldn't close.    

So, the race was 25.34mi long, I finished in 59:09, with the field probably 20 seconds ahead.  I gained 1200' in elevation.  My ap was a mere 3.4 w/kg (230w), but normalized was a more impressive looking 4.36 w/kg (293w).  

One of the benefits of having a power meter and recording all the races is looking back. My race numbers fit in pretty much with all the other times I've done this race.  The start is always the hardest, and looking at the peak 20m of the race, the last four times I've done it, I can see that the hardest year was when I got dropped 24 minutes in, and in that year, I had a normalized power of 4.67 w/kg (314w) for the first 20m, compared to 4.59 w/kg (309w) this year.  Considering my form now, I think I would have held on then.  Same with my race last year, when I got dropped with two to go.

OTB or not that is impressive.  If one day I can corner 1/2 as good as you I'll consider it a victory.

A few pics from the race I found are here: http://dmadson.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=8665261

Craig, thanks for the footage.  It tells much of my racing story for this day.  Too far back.  Yes, the roads were damp, and that made the race punchier (slower into the corners, harder out), but this race is always punchy and hard.  Turn one, the first one Craig showed, was tricky because the far right side where you should set up was wet, then with manhole covers in both the inside and outside of the turn, there were perhaps two good lines remaining.  Turn two, where the apex of the turn feels like the moment you transition from going downhill to uphill seemed damp on the exit, and the curb on the outside came a little too fast when I got going as fast as I needed to go.  Turn six was easier, but dry on the entry and damp on the exit.  think I slid my rear wheel a few times.

Thinking about the above.  This race used to be 35 miles, then 30, and this year, because of lightning delay and some crashes, our race was cut to 20 miles.  That might have made it harder, though my normalized power at the end was pretty much where it typically is at the race, maybe a few watts higher, but not much more than that.

The course was even worse when I started. Here is a shot of the 4s lined up. You can see the standing water on the course and this is on the downhill start/finish line:

Anyone doing this? I'm about to reg. 

people, DO IT.  

Do it... and give me a ride.

Vlad are you keeping track this year?  How many races so far?  I'm willing to bet that number 2 hasn't got half as many.

Holy shit 84!

I got you vlad

Oof. Andy and I lasted all of 10 minutes in this one. I blame poor positioning and lackluster cornering skills. That's my excuse.

What vlad said. 

Found on FB tonight:

Dopers seem to be all over this sport...locally...which is disheartening, for both older and younger riders.  Older cause we just want to have fun and younger cause they question their ability.  I don't know what the German track pro's are doing or not doing.  They are pros for Pete's sake...the should ride away from a field at Floyd Bennett and win Basking Ridge.  The caveat there is "pro" and I simply don't trust any of them.  

You can throw the Somerville squad in there too,,,

I would encourage everyone not to speculate and repeat stories that haven't been officially confirmed. I feel like if the sport is really dirty at a local level let's try harder to change increase testing even more. Write to your officials continue to be involved.