Can't Miss Races 2013 - Forum Archive

Feb 08, 2013 at 05:20 PM

And here it is...everyone's got their own opinion on what "can't miss" means to them, and between all of us, you should have no excuse for missing out on a hot date with your road bike and a hundred other sweaty dudes.

eragot

Feb 08, 2013 at 06:21 PM

Branchbrook all the way

vlad

Feb 08, 2013 at 06:57 PM

Really Eric? That's the one?

Ok, my list, in no particular order (ok... it's chronological. Ya got me!)

Grant's Tomb Criterium
Tour of the Battenkill
Tour of Somerville
Skyscraper Harlem Cycling Classic
Pawling Mountain road Race
Lou Maltese Memorial Team Invitational (I'm requesting consideration for a spot on the team now)
NY Capital Region Road Race
Mengoni Grand Prix
Tour De Fair Haven
Chris Thater Memorial
Olde Mill Inn Tour of Basking Ridge
White Plains Downtown Criterium

*and everything at Floyd

Jules

Feb 08, 2013 at 08:00 PM

Don't forget the stage races Vlad!
KSR, Dragons, TOC and GMSR

Can we send people to Gila this year?

WilliamDC

Feb 08, 2013 at 08:21 PM

I had a good time at Giro Del Cielo last year - fun stage race that's cheap and close to home.

eragot

Feb 08, 2013 at 08:43 PM

Ok ok ok.

Branchbrook

Ronde Von Mullica

Rahway Criterium

Tour de Parc

Bound Brook Criterium

Somerville Classic

Watermelon Crit

Pawling RR

Then its over for me. Don't

vlad

Feb 08, 2013 at 10:08 PM

WilliamDC said:

I had a good time at Giro Del Cielo last year - fun stage race that's cheap and close to home.

and technically not a stage race

was fun

Jeff Condon

Feb 11, 2013 at 12:54 AM

Turkey Hill Classic (May 4) was fun last year even though I dropped out with killer cramps.

Some others I'm intrigued by that are allegedly back for 2013:

Longsjo Classic Stage Race (June 27-30) : https://www.bikereg.com/Net/18432

Tokeneke Classic (Aug 11)

@vlad White Plains Crit is earlier this year (June 9)

mperlberg

Feb 11, 2013 at 01:16 AM

Fun races to consider:

Ronde von Mullica

Zeppelin Crit

Watermellon Crit

Memorial Weekend crits - bound brook and somerville especially

Giro Del Cielo

Pawling

Turkey Hill

all fun.

Brendan Rigby

Feb 11, 2013 at 03:45 AM

I'm new to racing but want to race as much as I can this season, particularly before June. Is there a website that lists all races in this area? I have no car

Marc Bertucco

Feb 11, 2013 at 04:04 AM

Brendan Rigby said:

I'm new to racing but want to race as much as I can this season, particularly before June. Is there a website that lists all races in this area? I have no car

www.bikereg.com is where most (all?) races in the New England and MId-Atlantic regions appear. It's sort of a de facto calendar as such. Some states/regions have their own websites, but to be honest, if your race doesn't show up on bikereg, you aren't going to have any people show up.

As far as having no car, welcome to NYC living where only a handful of our Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island teammates have cars and the rest of us spend a lot of money on rental cars and/or begging our aformentioned dudes for rides with the promise of gas money and stimulating conversation.

And if either of those options are not appealing nor possible for one reason or another, you should know that, traditionally, starting with the first weekend of March all the way through the first weekend of September, you can race in either Central Park, Prospect Park and Floyd Bennet Field almost every weekend. All of these venues can be ridden to reasonably easily. (getting up early enough to get to the line for 6:30am starts, well that's a diff't story.

I personally want to poke my eyes out after about 6 weeks of straight park racing, but there are plenty of NYC riders who ride almost exclusively in our parks.

Brendan Rigby

Feb 11, 2013 at 04:30 AM

Thanks for that info, mark

Brendan Rigby

Feb 11, 2013 at 04:31 AM

Marc, even. I know how that feels: Brenden, Brandon, Brendon

Jules

Feb 11, 2013 at 12:51 PM

Brendan,

If you plan on racing this year more than a couple of time you should cruise on over to USAC.org and sign up for a license.

Brendan Rigby

Feb 11, 2013 at 01:57 PM

I bought a license in January! It will pay for itself after 6 races. Unfortunately USAC wants me to pay another $15 to "reissue" my license in order to have KCC as my affiliation. Is there any way to avoid this fee to change my club from nothing to Kissena?

eragot

Feb 11, 2013 at 02:07 PM

The change at USAC is free - email Susie Diller (sdiller@usacycling.org) and ask her to change your club affiliation. To reissue the license that says Kissena on it does require a reissue and payment.

Get the mobile app for your phone which WILL show Kissena Cycling Club as your team after you make the change. The rules no longer require a paper license be shown to register for a race, so the mobile app is fine.

So:
1. Your license without Kissena on it is fine.
2. If someone challenges you as an unattached rider, print out an authorization to ride form from USACycling. Keep that with your license.
3. If you have a smartphone, get the app and have it ready to go.

The likelihood you ever get challenged as not being part of a team is so low as to not worry about it, but if you take the above steps, you'll be fine.

Brendan Rigby

Feb 11, 2013 at 03:34 PM

Thank you, Sir Eragot. I will do this posthaste.

When I registered for Grant's Tomb, I got an email from president@crca.org telling me I was violating USAC rules by racing for a team that wasn't my official USAC team. And to think, I started riding my bike to get away from all the rules and regulations I was learning in school...

eragot

Feb 11, 2013 at 04:06 PM

@Brendan Rigby

Susie will take care of it in no time. I can do it too, but USAC prefers that they do it.

Brendan Rigby

Feb 11, 2013 at 04:53 PM

@eragot are you some kind of USAC wizard?!

eragot

Feb 11, 2013 at 07:58 PM

Actually, the NYC representative for NYSBRA - the New York State local association. I also handle upgrades for NYC and Hudson Regions.

Brendan Rigby said:

@eragot are you some kind of USAC wizard?!

Brendan Rigby

Feb 11, 2013 at 08:24 PM

I am not worthy

eragot

Feb 11, 2013 at 08:37 PM

I am not worthy

Sure you are. I'm just older!

WilliamDC

Feb 11, 2013 at 11:27 PM

Eric Ragot, A.A.W.*

*Also A Wizard

Marc Bertucco

Feb 28, 2013 at 05:22 PM

Hey, one of my favorite, quiet stage races of the year is happening May 4-5. Two days, 3 stages. Looks like the crit has been replaced with a circuit race (boo), but I'm still going to plan on going with my family. Beautiful part of the country.

I wrote up a detailed race report of this event that paints a pretty nice picture, so I won't bother doing so again...especially since it's now 2 years removed in my mind. However, I will say that there is a note on the website that is encouraging for those of us who are not Ryan Johnson or Handsome Joe:

"All riders must complete all stages in order to be eligible for GC scoring. However, liberal margins for time differences or mishaps have been implemented to try and ensure that no one is eliminated from going forward to the next stage."

This might be a nice opportunity to try a honest to goodness stage race without fear of the draconian time cuts at some of the bigger stage races.

Also, if you click on the home page, and you look at the first picture, you will see me, hiding in the draft of former national champion Mark McCormack during a pretty fierce crit, because that's the wheel you want to be on when the shit goes down!

http://tourofthedragons.com/

mperlberg

Feb 28, 2013 at 09:38 PM

@ Marc - your pick is on the website

- I might be into this, I'll have to see what my schedule looks like and if I can find cheap housing.

125mile road race for the P12 ouch.

Ryan J

Mar 01, 2013 at 03:51 AM

I was looking at Dragons today. I like an early season stage race and I've done Killington two years running. Like it, don't love it. I think I wanna do Dragons. Who wants to think about housing?

Jules

Mar 01, 2013 at 03:53 AM

I'm thinking...

Marc Bertucco

Mar 01, 2013 at 11:02 AM

If I recall correctly, Sarah and I camped last time at a State Park.