Jun 23, 2013 at 01:45 PM
Giro Del Cielo
Jun 23, 2013 at 04:46 PM
Unofficial Cat 4 GC results: Condon first, Konrad second. Dope day here at Cielo.
Jun 23, 2013 at 05:08 PM
Now official.
Jun 23, 2013 at 05:39 PM
domination
Jun 23, 2013 at 06:42 PM
Well DONE!
Jun 23, 2013 at 07:00 PM
Podium? Who needs it.
Jun 23, 2013 at 09:05 PM
I high fived Con and Kon in person, but I'll give another virtual one here. I was really impressed with how the 4s raced together. Also, Jeff C. is remarkably savvy about being in the right place at the end of the race.
In other news, I was thinking ... the young fast guys, and the new guys shredding the 5s and 4s, etc, etc, get lotsa pats on the back here in this forum. But you know who rarely gets a shout out even though he's one of this club's best riders? David Stokes.
Seriously. Raced with the dude all weekend in a VERY hard Cat 3 field, the average racing age of which, considering all the juniors, is probably 20 years younger than he is. He could've done one of the Master's races. But he didn't, because he wanted to race with his teammates.
And not only does he sit in, smoothly and calmly, but he constantly finds ways to not just stay in the race (when other people are getting dropped), but finds ways to actively impact it. I mean, both the crit and RR were damn hard. And hot. And he was just rock steady. Many times when I was in need of some recovery I'd find his wheel because I knew I could trust it, and I knew I was following someone who was riding efficiently.
That kind of thing doesn't show up on the results page, but it's friggin' impressive.
Jun 23, 2013 at 10:00 PM
I'm shattered! But the Double Daddy IPA should revive me.
It was a fun race. I haven't done a stage race in a long time, but this is a good one to cut your teeth on. Hard, but not impossible, with the rolling terrain. The road race was comparable to CP, but hot and with two previous races in your legs. The time trial was my sentimental favorite, being in Stokes State forest and uphill. Also didn't really require a TT rig. Just you against the mountain. Adam kept commenting that the courses were more challenging than he expected. While I did the crit last year, it was a lot more rewarding to do all the stages and deal with the larger context of the GC and recovery issues. I guess my only complaint was the crashes, which seemed to take place right in front of me with alarming frequency (I had to SLAM on my brakes during the RR sprint to allow the downed riders to slide apart enough for me to get through). Adam commented frequently about the hazards of racing with juniors, who have neither fear of death nor experience. Imagine 18 y.o. urging each other forward on the last lap!
No matter what happens, it is always a pleasure to spend the weekend in the company of my Kissena teammates.
Jun 23, 2013 at 10:09 PM
Take THAT country boys !!!! Wow...this is fantastic result. respect. Yacks.
Jun 24, 2013 at 12:00 AM
1-2 Is a good look! Congrats.
Can't wait to hear how it came together.
Jun 24, 2013 at 01:18 AM
Stokes is also a great conversationalist and smart. Good company on any ride. Basically, you should date him.
Jun 24, 2013 at 02:00 AM
Cielo had that summer camp feel.
That feel, when it's the first weekend of summer. Friendly terrain, congenial NJ racers, Ernest-Goes-To-Camp race organizers, road race start-finish literally at a summer camp, pool with girls, watermelon.
That feel, when you race for the first time with new-ish teammates and they shred.
That feel, when Stokes does his usual thing and you take it completely for granted like your chainstay or the Miami Heat.
That feel, when Kissena donates one podium step to charity.
Jun 24, 2013 at 03:41 AM
Actually, I'm going to call out new-ish teammate Adam Fabian.
After a strong TT (well above me in the standings) Adam went off the back of the "crit," lord knows why.
I came across him on Sunday's road race in a better-than-shitty position, possibly even in the top third of the pack. I strongly suggested he get to the front and attack the Rock Star ringer (tied for first in the GC, who probably should've won the whole shebang if he didn't personally chase every single move off the front down, which made attacking on the points prem laps extremely gratifying if not necessarily productive for my own placing).
Adam tenaciously stuck to my back wheel as I moved up through a dense field dutifully obeying the yellow-line rule, and finally, after probably five minutes, I made it up to the the guy on the front, leaving around three feet of road to my right. Instantly, Adam put in a brutal attack through that little gap. It was one of those deals where you instinctually mash three or four pedal strokes in response, then start looking around. Rock Star ringer chased it all the way up the road until Adam looked back, saw him, and promptly sat up.
So fucking perfect.
Three more counters from other guys, Rock Star chased each one, I went, Rock Star chased. When catching me, red-faced Rock Star yelled at me for crossing the double yellow to take a corner fast. Guilty as charged, but I was away clean and had a lead car plus a flag man at the corner. Strange thing to yell about. In the end, he didn't manage to factor in the finish.
Moral of the story: Adam's commitment to fight to the front of a tightly packed field and his balls-out attack (the hardest one of the race before I got crashed out) set off a flurry of moves that weakened the obvious race favorite. Contrast that performance with his getting dropped in the crit and it's clear that he needs to graduate from the 5s ASAP, as all it took to get him shredding was, like, suggesting it.
Jun 24, 2013 at 01:52 PM
Fantastic to read!Jeffrey White said:Actually, I'm going to call out new-ish teammate Adam Fabian.Adam tenaciously stuck to my back wheel as I moved up through a dense field dutifully obeying the yellow-line rule, and finally, after probably five minutes, I made it up to the the guy on the front, leaving around three feet of road to my right. Instantly, Adam put in a brutal attack through that little gap. It was one of those deals where you instinctually mash three or four pedal strokes in response, then start looking around. Rock Star ringer chased it all the way up the road until Adam looked back, saw him, and promptly sat up.So fucking perfect.Moral of the story: Adam's commitment to fight to the front of a tightly packed field and his balls-out attack (the hardest one of the race before I got crashed out) set off a flurry of moves that weakened
Uh... crashed out?
Jun 24, 2013 at 02:22 PM
Jun 24, 2013 at 02:31 PM
The bike and I are fine. A touch of wheels on the uphill took a few of us out. Put my chain back on and chased futilely for a lap.
Jun 24, 2013 at 02:41 PM
Why does he get to be Mr. White?
Jun 24, 2013 at 02:48 PM
Oh wait, that's Mr. Smith.
Jun 24, 2013 at 02:52 PM
@Adam - You know you've made it when Whitey gives you a shout out. Well done, sir!
Jun 24, 2013 at 03:09 PM
THISJeffrey White said:it's clear that he needs to graduate from the 5s ASAP, as all it took to get him shredding was, like, suggesting it.
Jun 24, 2013 at 03:40 PM
i won't bore you with the details of my disastrous TT (dropped chain, twice; broke powermeter) or my shameful late night saturday that meant i didn't do the road race sunday. you already know that we like totally dominated the 4/5s GC and that ryan's TT was offensively good.
my only contribution is to say that this club rules. not in the sense that we dominate every race we enter kind of rules (although that does seem to be happening quite a bit lately) but more in the sense that it comprises such a great group of people. i had a brilliant day saturday hanging out and shooting the shit with stokes, whitey, ryan, adam(s), alyosha, jeff and konrad.
maybe this is short-sighted of me, but i just can't imagine a group like, say, siggis ever hanging out like that. even on saturday i looked over at the six-cycles warm-up tent where it was all business and i thought, i'd take our good times any day.
my only contribution is to say that this club rules. not in the sense that we dominate every race we enter kind of rules (although that does seem to be happening quite a bit lately) but more in the sense that it comprises such a great group of people. i had a brilliant day saturday hanging out and shooting the shit with stokes, whitey, ryan, adam(s), alyosha, jeff and konrad.
maybe this is short-sighted of me, but i just can't imagine a group like, say, siggis ever hanging out like that. even on saturday i looked over at the six-cycles warm-up tent where it was all business and i thought, i'd take our good times any day.
Jun 24, 2013 at 04:08 PM
ditto to clifford. an anecdote in support:
Jun 24, 2013 at 04:09 PM
Here's my report (written in the air en route to Los Angeles):
I had the Giro del Cielo on my calendar early in the season. It's a nice little stage race (or omnium really) and as Stokes says not impossible. Also it's close enough so you're not really abandoning your family for an entire weekend. After figuring out I didn't have enough points to upgrade I signed up for the 4/5 inspired by Eric to try and get those points over the weekend.
As I've mentioned in this thread before I'm not much of a time trialer or at least not on this course. My goal was to cut a lot of time off of last year and try to at least get in the top 15 to score at least a point. Good news is that I shaved over a minute off last years time but alas it wasn't enough to get me any points. The course is rolling so for me it was really proven difficult to get into any sense of rhythm. Oh well. Big up to Konrad and Alyosha who rocked it getting 3rd and 4th.
After pleasurable break for lunch at Adam N's favorite fine dining establishment in New Jersey, we headed to the "crit". The plan was to work to get some points for Konrad in the preme and final and for me to possibly try upgrade points at the finish. There were some sweet call outs for Konrad and Aly to the front line. The pace was decent kicking up during the preme laps. I was able to generally stay up toward the front throughout. I went for the first preme as I thought I had position and it was for GC points. Apparently it wasn't a points preme and I was beat out by the Rockstar guy who won the TT. This guy who incidentally flatted out o n the second to last lap (I think) and was out of contention for GC points.
My problem in crits is that while I have decent position through most of the race I loose it on the last lap (when it really counts). So I made a conscious effort to be top 5 at the bell (for psychological reasons) and more importantly top five going into the last corner before the incline. I was able to do this. As I rounded the last corner I was about 4th. A Stetanta guy took the corner wide and went off the road which caused a jump from the other riders. I jumped with them and passed another guy trying to hold on to the Toga guy ahead of me. I believe we had a little gap and I just put my head down and followed him to the line for second. Turns out the guy who won wasn't in the GC competition which meant I got the full 25 points.
Going into the road race I was second overall one point down on the Rockstar guy and Konrad was in third. I actually thought I have a shot at this thing. I road the course once and since the finish was different this year (on a downhill) I went back to reride the finish. This was crucial to my race IMHO. I thought the last hill may be a place to get away so clocked the distance from the hill to the end to see if that would be possible. I also picked out markers on the road to gauge how close the line was.
I knew I needed to place and I needed to beat Rockstar so my plan was to mark him. At the start they announced that the first lap was a GC points preme that paid 3 deep. I decided I was going to try my luck at it and to give me a little buffer. As we made our downhill approach to the line I was in top 4 or 5. Some guys were going for it and I sat in behind them as the paced picked up. Soon there were just three of us that didn't include Rockstar. I saw my road marker and made my move. As I got to the line I hear someone coming around on my right and we both threw our bikes. Someone asked who won and neither of us knew. Turns out he pipped me (according to the naked eye as I don't think there were cameras) but I got second for 3 points. So technically I was the virtual leader.
After that I decided I was just going to sit in and watch what happened keeping a close eye on Rockstar. I know it's not that exciting of a race strategy but I realized from the preme sprint that I could be there at the finish if I didn't blow up trying to get away. My goal was to win GC and I thought that was the best way to do it. The rest of the race was pretty steady. Whitey and Adam F took some flyers to get the pack jumping and it worked. Rockstar was in the wind pulling a majority of the time and chased anything that tried to get away. I just sat in behind him and a couple of others staying top 5 the whole time.
I finished the race just as I did the preme. Got on at 4th wheel on the decent move up a place as I got to the line. The Stetanta guy was in the lead with me and a Bikery guy neck in neck. Stetanta threw up his arms prematurely and me and Bikery both went after the line for the win. He had to put down his arms and pedal through to take it (he came close to loosing). I wasn't sure if I got 2nd or 3rd as it was pretty close but it turned out to be third. Konrad was right behind me for fourth. We had a long wait for the results and had to make sure they had all the points calculated properly (which was no small feat). But we collected our checks (muffins for Cat 4 team next time I see you) and I got a helmet (for my commuter) in lieu of a trophy (my daughters really wanted a trophy).
Great weekend of racing. Nice hanging with the teammates from both races and driving up and back with Aly and Adam. Thanks to Whitey for being our road captain and strategist. I'm off the bike for a few days on a business trip but looking forward to the next one.
Sorry this report turned out longer than I wanted it to. Feel free to skim or ignore.
Jun 24, 2013 at 07:22 PM
This weekend was a blast, and possibly the most fun I've had racing yet. I came into this weekend with a few goals, the primary being to help Condon get upgrade points and finish the races. I say finish, not because I didn't think I could, but rather because the crit and road race were the final two I needed in order to upgrade and get the hell out of the 5s.
At the TT, I thought I could do OK, but wasn't sure exactly how well I would perform, especially considering that I was riding my heavy, bomb-proof wheels. I broke the climb into three five-minute segment, and decided to go balls out. I ended up finishing in 16:31, good enough for 12th and some GC points. I was gassed, though, and could barely stand after reaching the top.
When I started warming up for the crit, the effects of the TT were pretty apparent -- my HR jumped pretty quickly into the 170s, and the heat and late breakfast weren't helping. Whitey described it pretty well -- I was in the mix for the first few laps toward the back, but once the field attacked for premes I just couldn't keep up. This was bad enough, but passing the few spectators who clapped everytime I came around made it worse. I was praying to get pulled -- after all, I had to finish this race in order to upgrade after the weekend -- but it never happened. Unable to abandon, I pressed ahead. I managed to pass a few other stragglers, but was seriously disappointed with my performance here.
Waking up Sunday morning, my legs felt surprisingly good, and I was excited to race a course that wasn't Prospect Park or Floyd. I've felt pretty good climbing of late, and the TT only made me feel better about my chances on the course. After the crit debacle, I decided that I wanted to stay toward the front, and help Condon and Konrad however I could. The race itself wasn't terribly hard, so I was more than happy to make an attack. Jeff describes it quite well -- my favorite moment was when Rockstar started yelling at me to keep going, at which point I sat up.
After the attack, I moved back, and hung in hoping to help Condon and Konrad into the finish if necessary. My legs started to give on the final climb, at which point I drifted back about ten wheels. I tried to move back up, but didn't make it. Thankfully, my services weren't necessary.
Coming into this, I had been a bit concerned about upgrading, as I've had shit results despite knowing I was stronger than most of the guys who've been beating me. I had suspected that I might need longer races with more climbing to find greater success, and Cielo kind of confirmed that. In the process, we got Condon and Konrad 1/2 overall, I did what I wanted in the RR, I did what was necessary to upgrade, and walked away with 5 GC points.
I also want to echo Mark: Racing was fun, but so was the time spent off the bike. I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend.
Jun 24, 2013 at 08:23 PM
Crit pics:
Jun 25, 2013 at 01:02 AM
That sounds like something Charles Altchek would say. He's a tool robot.Brendan Rigby said:senior foundation rider responds: "foundation riders don't crash" with all the humor of a serial killer.
Jun 25, 2013 at 01:57 AM
Love this report - just when people are starting to get Blase about summer racing Condi gets the first GC win of the year!
Also, the pictures are great; especially like the dude on field right getting shoved onto the grass in the final sprint 
Jun 25, 2013 at 02:02 AM
Heh. Chabanov has crashed at least twice this year, and he's a good cx rider AND on their "elite" squad. I'll never understand the delusional amateur racer mindset...
Jun 25, 2013 at 02:10 AM
Looking at the crit photos, seriously, our kit design is outstanding compared to the other teams.
Jun 25, 2013 at 02:25 AM
foundation's kit always makes me think someone shot a zebra then ran it over, left a big tire mark on it, and wore it in a bike race