Another Top-10 finish, so another race report is warranted.
This past Saturday, June 22 2019, was the CRCA-Hincapie Lou Maltese Memorial race, which for the P/1/2 field meant a 9-lap race around Central Park (~55mi). This race is also part of an omnium series with next weekend's CRCA-Trek Mengoni Grand Prix, so doing well in both races could mean overall placing as well (with additional prizes). The P/1/2 field had 94 racers, so this was likely going to be a fast race. Since this was a P/1/2 field and Conor was out of town, it meant my only teammate in the race was Anthony, who is definitely more of a sprinter, leaving me to do my thing and try to get in a break.
From the start, the pace was pretty high, but I was surfing near the front to watch for anything dangerous that was trying to get away. There were a few moves during the opening laps, but generally things were either just a few riders or the wrong mix of teams, meaning that they were pulled back without gaining much distance. I managed to jump into a few of the more promising groups, and we even managed to get a handful of seconds off the front on one of the attempts, but the field wasn't quite ready to give up time.
On the start of lap 5, and with about an hour of hard racing already in the legs, a small group of four or five kept the gas on over the top of cat's paw and up past the Met. Near the top of the Met hill there was a small truck on the far right of the course, and as we approached the truck I looked over to see Anthony was also near the front of the field. He gave me a look that said "that one looks dangerous" and I figured they had established some space without too much chase from the field, so I made the jump. I tucked in and went full TT to catch them just after Engineer's gate, and quickly assessed that there were now six of us, so I am not sure if there had been five or if someone had hung onto my wheel during the bridge. Regardless, our group was looking formidable: Bill (Foundation), Luiz (Benzel), Josh (Rockstar), Dominic (Jamison), Iain (Bicycle Habitat) and myself. Everyone seemed willing to work and we quickly continued to power away from the field.
The next few laps consisted of hard pulls and recovery as our group worked reasonably well together. There were a few skipped pulls or slowing of the pace that would occur, but Bill and Josh continued to rally the group to keep on the gas and not get caught before the finish. I would occasionally check back to see if the field was gaining, but never saw any signs, so figured we were still doing well, but I was disappointed that none of the course marshals or officials were giving us time-gaps. As we were working down the west-side on the final lap, Dominic, Iain and Bill started to skip pulls. Iain was looking like he was suffering, so I figured if we kept the pace up, he might blow up. Josh again pleaded that everyone keep working so we wouldn't get caught on the line.
As we entered Horseshit Alley, I was on the front and figured that someone else might have to do the last bit of work, however as I flicked the elbow no-one was willing to pull through, and I took a peak back to see everyone start to jockey around. Figuring that since I had already been pulling and potentially had a weaker sprint, I decided to roll the dice on a long-range attack. I put my head down and went full-gas, hoping the others would wait too long to chase me down. I managed to pass 72nd with a little gap and hoped I could keep the power on until the line. I worked to carry as much speed as I could through the line into Cat's Paw, but as I made the turn onto the straight and the final run-in to the line, all 5 managed to shoot by me in a sprint. I held onto 6th, feeling pretty worked, but happy with the result. The field ended up finishing in a sprint about 30sec behind us.
I was surprised to learn that Iain took the win, since he had been looking gassed, but I guess he had just played the sprint right and was saving energy for the finish. In hindsight, knowing we had a big gap, I could have tried to play a bit of the sprint game, but I am still happy with the result. Now it is just time to build up for another chance next weekend.
Photos by Bicycle Racing Pictures
Bike Racing, Fit Science, and Physical Therapy
Showing posts with label CRCA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CRCA. Show all posts
May 12, 2019
CRCA Bear Mountain Classic 2019 - P/1/2 Road Race
Another weekend of hard racing in the books, this time at the 2019 CRCA Bear Mountain Classic p/b Jamison Capital and Lucarelli & Castaldi firm. The P/1/2 race featured 6 laps of a ~14mi course (85mi total distance). The course featured a grueling 3mi climb, long stretches of wind-blown rollers, and a flying descent to the base of the climb (along with a sharp 180deg turn at the bottom to hit the climb!)
The field was supposed to be around 52 riders, including most of the biggest names in the NY-area. Given the course, I figured the race would be a battle of attrition, with the field working hard up the climb, then carrying the momentum along the remainder of the course to keep riders from getting back together. With this in-mind, my teammate Conor and I would try to stay toward the front and watch for any big moves. During the first lap, I was staying in the top-15 to be ready, and then moved with a few strong riders heading through the start/finish around 5th. We bombed the descent with riders jumping into the super-tuck. I was following a Clif-Vinyl rider as we approached the hairpin at the base, and unfortunately followed him into the grass as we over-shot the corner, so instead of staying in the lead of the field, we were now at the back. Since I had just spent the first lap up-front, I sat in for the 2nd climb and let Conor watch the lead. During the climb a Foundation rider managed to escape and shortly thereafter a Jamison rider jumped across as well.
As the field worked to bring back the leaders, we continued to shed some riders, and I noticed that it looked like another rider had escaped (later to learn it was actually 3 more riders, bringing the lead group to 5). As the field turned onto Lake Welch road (final 3.5mi of the lap), Bill Ash (Foundation) leapt off the front. The field, tired from the last bit of full-gas as we chased the leaders, seemed content to let him go as they recovered. I realized he was likely strong enough to bridge, and so I decided to risk it and jumped full-gas to try to bridge to Bill, figuring we could then work together to join the leaders. I spent the next 2.5mi in full time-trial and caught Bill as we hit the start/finish, and we worked together on the descent before being joined by another strong Cat1 (Keystone-Lupine) who had also jumped across. Our group of 3 worked together up the climb and had a serious gap forming, but kept the pace up to work toward the leaders (again thinking it was only 3 riders). We finally caught them at 1k from the start of lap 4. At this point we realized the new group: 2 Jamison riders including Geno (super strong rider), 2 Foundation (Bill and Baris who was the original escapee), 1 CS Velo racer, the Keystone-Lupine racer, 1 racer from Strangers, and myself. However, moments later, Baris' saddle clamp exploded and he was forced to stop. We were now 7 racers with 3 laps to go.
Our group was working together pretty well and as we finished lap 4, we were told we now had a 3min lead of the peloton. Things started to sour after we finished the 5th climb though, because we were now alerted that a group of 2 riders were 45sec behind us. Our group continued to work hard, however the 2nd Jamison rider was just hanging on the back (I originally assumed he was trying to save himself for the finale). As we turned onto Lake Welch road, we were now alerted that the chase was only 20sec back! This was the final nail in the coffin for our break, and moments later the CS Velo rider attacked. The Keystone-Lupine rider and Geno were able to jump across, I was ready to try but found that the legs were feeling pretty cooked, and as I looked at Bill he said he was toast. I noticed at this point the other Jamison rider was gone and the Strangers racer was also struggling. I managed to drag our group of 3 to the descent before the other riders helped again to get us to the start of the climb. At this point Bill and the Strangers rider were fully cooked and just barely hanging on as I worked up the climb.
As we approached the final 1/4 of the final climb, one of the chasing riders caught us - a CCB-Foundation racer. As he flew by I tried to hang on his wheel for a few moments before falling back to my controlled pace. Brief as it was, this was the end of Bill and the Strangers rider, and I was now solo in 5th place. I worked to keep the CCB racer in view as I continued to push along the back stretch of the course. My legs were definitely starting to rebel from the effort of the day, but I knew I was in a good place and forced myself to keep the pace up to get to the finish. As I turned onto Lake Welch for the final time, I was passed by the other member of the chase group - another CS Velo racer. He powered past me, and at this point my legs had nothing left to jump onto his wheel - now 6th place. I worked to the top of the big climb on Lake Welch and was then passed by Mike Margarite, again with nothing to chase him - 7th (uggh, losing spots!). Only 2mi to go of false-flat - keep moving legs!! Moments later I was caught by yet another rider (Unattached as far as I could tell) - I was able to hang onto him for a few moments before my legs reverted to jelly - and now I was 8th. Finally, I crested the hill and it was less than 1k to the finish line, mostly downhill. I jumped up a few cogs and turned over as big a gear as I could still push, worried that with all these single riders coming by that the field would catch me at any moment, and the work of being away all day would be erased in a moment. I actually made ground on the racer in front of me, however I still crossed the line in 8th place. Exhausted, aching, but done - now I just had to find out if any of those other racers were Cat2. In the end, I was 8th place in a difficult field, and my hard work
resulted in winning the Cat2 field! Another weekend on the top of the
podium!
Photos by Ron Short (https://www.instagram.com/shortcycles/) and Mike Tan (https://www.instagram.com/the_michaeltan/)
As the field worked to bring back the leaders, we continued to shed some riders, and I noticed that it looked like another rider had escaped (later to learn it was actually 3 more riders, bringing the lead group to 5). As the field turned onto Lake Welch road (final 3.5mi of the lap), Bill Ash (Foundation) leapt off the front. The field, tired from the last bit of full-gas as we chased the leaders, seemed content to let him go as they recovered. I realized he was likely strong enough to bridge, and so I decided to risk it and jumped full-gas to try to bridge to Bill, figuring we could then work together to join the leaders. I spent the next 2.5mi in full time-trial and caught Bill as we hit the start/finish, and we worked together on the descent before being joined by another strong Cat1 (Keystone-Lupine) who had also jumped across. Our group of 3 worked together up the climb and had a serious gap forming, but kept the pace up to work toward the leaders (again thinking it was only 3 riders). We finally caught them at 1k from the start of lap 4. At this point we realized the new group: 2 Jamison riders including Geno (super strong rider), 2 Foundation (Bill and Baris who was the original escapee), 1 CS Velo racer, the Keystone-Lupine racer, 1 racer from Strangers, and myself. However, moments later, Baris' saddle clamp exploded and he was forced to stop. We were now 7 racers with 3 laps to go.
May 9, 2019
CRCA Zach Koop Memorial Crit at Orchard Beach Park 2019
Hey Readers, sorry for the long hiatus from posting about bikes, racing and PT/Bike-Fit, but hopefully I can get back into a more regular posting schedule. Also, hopefully this race report will keep you entertained!
Men's Cat 2/3 Race
Per my Cat 3 teammate Cormac Daly (who just finished 2nd place in the Men's 3/4 race after his Di2 malfunctioned and he had to sprint from the 53/25) and watching the early races, today the chance of a breakaway win were big; It was cold, wet and windy, meaning that most racers were just trying to survive the race rather than compete for the win. The course was such that there was a solid cross-headwind on the finish straight and a cross-tail on the opposite side, along with the wet roads limiting the corners to a roughly controlled speed.
I made sure to be along the front right away, and sure enough a solid break of 4-5 formed pretty quick - Myself, Ben G (Blue Ribbon), Aaron B (NE Devo), and some dude in Rapha kit, and I think there was someone else who was there briefly. We pushed a few laps and then the Rapha guy pulled the plug, leaving the 3 of us. We were working together ok, although I was yelling at the other guys to keep their pulls smooth and to keep going hard to keep the pace up. I could see from looking across the center of the course that Bastien (Huge engine racing for E2Value) had jumped off the front of the pack, and saw he had someone working with him/hanging on, but couldn't make out the kit and I was more focused on keeping our pace going and trying to prevent the bridge.
Unfortunately Bastien eventually caught on and now it "seemed" like there were 4 of us trading pulls. We slowly caught the field and I quickly moved up through it figuring I might be able to sneak away again while the others sat in the field, unfortunately Bastien, Ben and Aaron all quickly were back with me and we were pulling away from the front of the field. After a lap or so, Bastien put in a deep pull and started pulling away. I was yelling at Ben and Aaron to keep the wheel and they both looked at me drained, so I had to jump solo. I was slowly working back to Bastien's wheel for the next 2 laps when he sat up and I assumed he realized we had a gap and was ready to work together, although as I caught him I heard him swearing and coming to a stop - he flatted his rear tire.
I was roughly 1/2 lap in front of the field with 15ish laps left, so I put the head down and fell into a smooth rhythm: 400-430ish watts into the wind, smooth top corner, 360-380ish with the wind down the back stretch, smooth corner, repeat. While working I would catch a look across the infield to see my progress (along with my teammate Mike yelling gaps at me from the sidelines) and was slowly adding time before I could tell the field lost interest and slowed down.
I caught the back of the field with about 5 to-go and realized I should just sit there safely off the back and easy pedal the last laps rather than get caught out in any scrum at the front - my win was already secure. With 2 laps to go, my teammate Conor jumped hard off the front of the pack - I assumed this was securing 4th place, and was surprised no-one even tried to go with him. He built a solid gap and held it to the line - only afterwards did I learn he was the hanger-on to Bastien's bridge earlier and he was also 1-lap up on the field like Ben and Aaron, meaning he had effectively locked up 2nd place without any sprinting at the line! I rolled in to the finish on the back and happily took the big W, and it was sweet to share the podium with Conor going 1-2 in the race!
Men's P/1/2/3
Lining up an hour after the finish of the 2/3 race, this one was a "see what you can still do" type effort - my legs were definitely a bit tight and I was a bit chilly from the weather, so I figured the good bet was to again stick toward the front and try to warm-up through some efforts. Right off the bat there were attacks and I just worked to stay in the front of the race and defend my position. After a few laps I was feeling better, however the legs were definitely still a little tired. I did a good job of holding my position and suddenly I was in a break with a gap on the field - Alejandro (Foundation), Margarite (Jamison), Myself, and a dude from Bike Habitat.
Our little group actually fell into a good rotation with everyone putting in decent efforts - the Bike Habitat guy definitely did the weakest/shortest pulls and also took the corners the slowest, so I noted he was likely the weakest link in our group and tried to avoid being on his wheel in case he accidentally opened a gap or ate it in a wet corner. We continued to pull away from the field and spent the majority of the race 1/2 lap up. This continued, with me making sure to meter efforts, but also ensure we stayed away.
Once the lap numbers popped up, I figured we were gold, and with around 10 to go, we were actually starting to close in on the back of the field. Realizing that Foundation and Jamison had guys in the field that could help those guys, I reduced my efforts quite a bit to make sure the gap to the field stayed open, leaving it to just be us four. I started really trying to get the right layout with 3 to go, and with 1 lap remaining, the positioning really started to play out. I ended up behind Alejandro going into corner 3 and realized he was going to have to go hard from the corner to have any chance, so I tried to time my jump and catch his tiny draft as well as I could. We were going full-gas up the straight and with about 50m to go, Margarite shot past me, but Ale managed to hold it to the line and I came through in 3rd - not too bad considering the company and having raced earlier in the day. Very happy with the performance and with 2x podiums over the day!
Men's Cat 2/3 Race
Per my Cat 3 teammate Cormac Daly (who just finished 2nd place in the Men's 3/4 race after his Di2 malfunctioned and he had to sprint from the 53/25) and watching the early races, today the chance of a breakaway win were big; It was cold, wet and windy, meaning that most racers were just trying to survive the race rather than compete for the win. The course was such that there was a solid cross-headwind on the finish straight and a cross-tail on the opposite side, along with the wet roads limiting the corners to a roughly controlled speed.
I made sure to be along the front right away, and sure enough a solid break of 4-5 formed pretty quick - Myself, Ben G (Blue Ribbon), Aaron B (NE Devo), and some dude in Rapha kit, and I think there was someone else who was there briefly. We pushed a few laps and then the Rapha guy pulled the plug, leaving the 3 of us. We were working together ok, although I was yelling at the other guys to keep their pulls smooth and to keep going hard to keep the pace up. I could see from looking across the center of the course that Bastien (Huge engine racing for E2Value) had jumped off the front of the pack, and saw he had someone working with him/hanging on, but couldn't make out the kit and I was more focused on keeping our pace going and trying to prevent the bridge.
Unfortunately Bastien eventually caught on and now it "seemed" like there were 4 of us trading pulls. We slowly caught the field and I quickly moved up through it figuring I might be able to sneak away again while the others sat in the field, unfortunately Bastien, Ben and Aaron all quickly were back with me and we were pulling away from the front of the field. After a lap or so, Bastien put in a deep pull and started pulling away. I was yelling at Ben and Aaron to keep the wheel and they both looked at me drained, so I had to jump solo. I was slowly working back to Bastien's wheel for the next 2 laps when he sat up and I assumed he realized we had a gap and was ready to work together, although as I caught him I heard him swearing and coming to a stop - he flatted his rear tire.
I was roughly 1/2 lap in front of the field with 15ish laps left, so I put the head down and fell into a smooth rhythm: 400-430ish watts into the wind, smooth top corner, 360-380ish with the wind down the back stretch, smooth corner, repeat. While working I would catch a look across the infield to see my progress (along with my teammate Mike yelling gaps at me from the sidelines) and was slowly adding time before I could tell the field lost interest and slowed down.
I caught the back of the field with about 5 to-go and realized I should just sit there safely off the back and easy pedal the last laps rather than get caught out in any scrum at the front - my win was already secure. With 2 laps to go, my teammate Conor jumped hard off the front of the pack - I assumed this was securing 4th place, and was surprised no-one even tried to go with him. He built a solid gap and held it to the line - only afterwards did I learn he was the hanger-on to Bastien's bridge earlier and he was also 1-lap up on the field like Ben and Aaron, meaning he had effectively locked up 2nd place without any sprinting at the line! I rolled in to the finish on the back and happily took the big W, and it was sweet to share the podium with Conor going 1-2 in the race!
Men's P/1/2/3
Lining up an hour after the finish of the 2/3 race, this one was a "see what you can still do" type effort - my legs were definitely a bit tight and I was a bit chilly from the weather, so I figured the good bet was to again stick toward the front and try to warm-up through some efforts. Right off the bat there were attacks and I just worked to stay in the front of the race and defend my position. After a few laps I was feeling better, however the legs were definitely still a little tired. I did a good job of holding my position and suddenly I was in a break with a gap on the field - Alejandro (Foundation), Margarite (Jamison), Myself, and a dude from Bike Habitat.
Our little group actually fell into a good rotation with everyone putting in decent efforts - the Bike Habitat guy definitely did the weakest/shortest pulls and also took the corners the slowest, so I noted he was likely the weakest link in our group and tried to avoid being on his wheel in case he accidentally opened a gap or ate it in a wet corner. We continued to pull away from the field and spent the majority of the race 1/2 lap up. This continued, with me making sure to meter efforts, but also ensure we stayed away.
Once the lap numbers popped up, I figured we were gold, and with around 10 to go, we were actually starting to close in on the back of the field. Realizing that Foundation and Jamison had guys in the field that could help those guys, I reduced my efforts quite a bit to make sure the gap to the field stayed open, leaving it to just be us four. I started really trying to get the right layout with 3 to go, and with 1 lap remaining, the positioning really started to play out. I ended up behind Alejandro going into corner 3 and realized he was going to have to go hard from the corner to have any chance, so I tried to time my jump and catch his tiny draft as well as I could. We were going full-gas up the straight and with about 50m to go, Margarite shot past me, but Ale managed to hold it to the line and I came through in 3rd - not too bad considering the company and having raced earlier in the day. Very happy with the performance and with 2x podiums over the day!
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