After last week’s discussion about racer entitlement (and one of the best comments on the site I’ve ever read—from Tiki barber at 4:24), I began wondering—is New York the best bike racing city in the US? We have 4 circuits: Central Park, Prospect Park, FBF and Rockleigh that have races throughout the season—all within riding distance from Manhattan. We have the Kissena Velodrome within a quick ride. We have Grant’s Tomb and Harlem for big one day races, again within an easy ride. There’s even a mountain bike course. Plus, within a train or a short car ride, we also have Branchbrook, Bethel, Wantaugh and all of the Jersey summer town crits.
In fact, for a few weeks in the middle of summer, it’s possible to race FBF on Tuesday, race track at Kissena on Wednesday, race Thursday at Rockleigh, go to the Friday Night Series on Long Island, and then see if there are any park or Jersey races over the weekend. And the racing goes from early March to late September—and that’s without mentioning the laid back world of cross!
Do all of these opportunities to race make New York the bike racing capitol of the US? Transplants, tell us your stories of racing elsewhere.
The borough of Manhattan is organizing a Crit at Washington heights the day before Harlem. It seems that they are going to have a cheap entry fee with much money.
Outside of having no major hills like SF or Boulder, NYC is by far the best place to live if you are a racer: one can race 2-3 times week without having to travel too far. Living in Boulder or SF you have to drive mondo miles to get to races.
Don’t forget about cyclocross
Is that happening this year?
NYC and East Coast racing in general is one of the best areas to race. Not only weekly park races here in NYC yet the proximity of weekend races in NJ, CT and PA mostly under 2 hour drives offer much more variety than most areas of the country.
Yes, the opportunities to be excitable are boundless.
It’s the nuts. There are nuts everywhere but we have the best ones.
As far as racing, its really hard to beat NYC. Because of it’s easy access to races, and rich tradition of racing, I don’t think you’ll find another city or town with as many racers who are married with children.
Training on the other hand, is a different story. So many cities and towns across the US, with roads, real mountains, and views that blow NYC away. Doing the 9w grind and a million laps in the park like a damn hamster makes the nyc racer mentally however!
That’s the irony with places like california. Some of the best roads and group rides to train on/with but too damn expensive to close roads for good road races. (that’s irony right? …irony nazis?)
-ap
Dan, it’s hard for me not to feel that this poll and the last are just an excuse for us to pat ourselves on the back. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt though and suggest that Chicago is as good a bike racing city as NYC. Here’s my reasoning: I absolutely appreciate the number of local races in NYC, but part of the pleasure of bike racing is racing on new courses. Central Park is a great course, but I’ve also done it a thousand times. Chicago has a number of ride-to races, but every weekend there’s a race within an hour or two that’s new and different. Most of these races are in the woods or in the center of a small town, so there’s zero glass, interesting courses (no parking lots), and lower fees. Yes, you need to drive. However, I’m willing to bet that a large number of NYCers drive to FBF, Prospect Park, even CP. When an hour drive became routine, I learned to really appreciate it. It was an opportunity to plan strategy and get to know my teammates. Also, if each guy threw in 2-3 bucks, we’d cover gas, and the total fee for race and gas was typically less than a NYC race. Added to this, Chicago had an eight-race CX season last year with four races in the city and four within an hour. Each race had over 400 participants. NYC can’t match that. Finally, though some see it as a marker of NYC racing cred, there’s far less negative BS in the Chicago race scene. It’s still competitive, but no one is verbally or physically assaulting another racer after the sprint. Take this as you will, but there are other (sometimes better) ways of doing things out there, and I think that most NYC racers are unwilling to acknowledge this fact lest it undermine the huge investment they have in seeing this racing scene as THE BEST.
C
i’d say nyc is the best and most convenient place to learn how to race a bike. CRCA on-ramp (clinics and structure), races that you can ride to and the sizable racing community makes it the best for a new rider without a car.
once you factor in driving, i think california is a better place to race a bike. for the same drive time from nyc, every weekend has 4-5 races, where you can choose your terrain or style of racing.
for those of us who are soft, once May rolls around, you don’t have to check the weather report for months.
california is hands down better for field depth and level of competition (i’ve never raced in boulder so they may have a stronger argument here).
in this race i filmed at sea otter, the locals include 2 national champions and an ex rock racing rider. there are lots of guys (and girls) around here with stripes on their jerseys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkPi-cjPGyE
if you want an ego boost, do the local flat crit. if you want to be reminded that despite training hard, you’re only a hobbyist, enter the races (flat or climbing) with bissell, uhc, bahati’s et al on the pre-reg list. regardless, on some choice weekends with classics or big prize lists, you can’t avoid the big guns.
nyc is amongst the top regions to race a bike, but not the best. lastly, it seems that characters come part and parcel with bike racing, not the geographic location.
after saying all of that, i do miss racing in nyc…
If you race masters in So Cal, get ready to mix it up with Team HGH Presented by Erythrogofastah.
A lot of opportunities to race in the city but they are training races. The races are too short and the courses too unselective and not as technical as a crit. There are many good longer 1 day races and a growing number of stage races within a 1-3 hour ride which makes living in the city a very good place for bike racing.
My choice if i had one.
I agree with 10:29. It’s really easy to come on a NYC based cycling website and say that NYC is the best bike racing city in the USA. Most of the people who frequent this website starting racing in NYC and have no perspective.
Both Chicago and Minneapolis/St.Paul are much more supportive of women’s cycling. Both cities have track racing, midweek races series, junior development programs, beginer racer training, and all the things that NYC has. They also have more NRC events. NYC has none.
I also think it’s interesting that Bicycling magazine just rated Minneapolis/St.Paul as it’s #1 bike city. It wasn’t a racing specific award, but it took bike racing into consideration. NYC was rated #8.
And Robert Moses was the devil, and Detroit’s whore.
I’m moving near DC in a few months…what can I expect in terms of the racing/club scene? Any pointers appreciated, thanx :).
yeah minneapolis is beautiful for riding…for about 4 months of the year.
looks like fun…smooth as glass…wide…no jogger’s lane. we definitely don’t have that here.
can’t say I know minneapolis/st. paul or much of “california” (that’s like saying “the east coast”), but factoring in the training quality puts NY way ahead of chicago. if you live in chicago, or even on the outskirts, you are in traffic lights for an hour before you hit open roads. the roads are beat to shit and flat as pancakes. meanwhile, from manhattan, you are over the bridge in 20 minutes and you almost don’t have to stop pedaling until you’re back in town. hills, flats, even a “mountain” (kinda) are all within range. and central park – go ahead and complain about it, but good luck finding a safe place to train outdoors, day or night, year round, in most other cities. our winter sucks, but it beats the midwest.
I don’t deny that 9W is superior to Sheridan Rd, but there are plenty of training routes N of Chicago that are light-free. In terms of pavement quality, it’s a wash. Both are shit.
in favor of chicago, there are fewer assholes. nice place to live.
Chicago definitely wins in the sausage category
what’s this wantagh race?
I’ll raise the question on DC again. Would be great to know if there is a racing scene there. They are very few and far between from what I can see online.
see, that’s what they do with the assholes
good point 11:35 re: regions/cities. makes more sense to compare nyc metro to bay area.
within the bay, i would probably rate oakland (weather, easy access to climbs and open roads) SF (bridge access to Marin and lots of clubs) and the south bay “cities” (riding access to the peninsula and velodrome) as the top locations.
for racing, all of the places here draw from the same pool of riders.
wantagh = Tour de Parc/Cedar Creek promoted by Kissena
NYC rocks if you ride to live. If cycling is part of your life, and not your life. If you live to ride, you are better off somewhere else.
A few reason I love it here:
Because even with 7 million people, our city feels like a small town
Because I like eccentric people
Because I like grumpy people. I got in a fight with cab driver the other day, it was awesome.
Because Gisele lives here
Because Christians and Kabbalists, Wiccans and Zoroastrians, have a home here
Because I love CP and PP, especially racing there
Because I can ride to a race, and be home before the family is awake.
Because when I leave, I can’t wait to get back
Because I get chocked up when I hear Rhapsody in Blue
Because I hate driving
Because, well, look around
… and Bush was not our fault. But we still like Republicans.
Just because we blow through all the stoplights on 9W doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
Training is actually one of NYC’s weak points in my opinion. Not all of us can afford to live near Central Park. And to get to the other side of the GWB is 25-30 minutes for a lot of people, and if you live in BK (which A LOT of people do) it can be 45 minutes to the GWB. That’s 60-90 minutes of junk miles.
Since we spend the majority of our time training it would seem that would take precedence in ranking a city. Cities like Boulder blow NYC out of the water when it comes to quality and variety of roads to train on.
But the proof is in the pudding. Not that many pros live and train in NYC.
Well, I try not to toot Portland’s horn too much. For the most part we’re just a bunch of underemployed crackers with self-imposed dietary restrictions…..BUT…racing here is quite sick, and also bomb.
During the summer you can race 5 days a week without leaving town. And races are usually <2hr drive. Big races, real road races and stage races and stuff like that. Washington has a good scene too. The girls are much cuter up there. Together it is sickdog.
And we're a long way from the east coast and too far for Cali folks and mid-west guys think they're fast. BUT THEY'RE NOT.
We don't have very good prizes though. The prizes could be better.
Live in NYC that I can think of.
….and we made the PLAYOFFS!!! You’re still sucking on Eddy Curry. How much did that cost ya????
And remember how you couldn’t do jack with Marcus Camby? Well, he RULED AND HE STILL RULES AND WE ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS.
Bringing the Nets in from Jersey and building them a big ass stadium in Brooklyn is easier than getting a Knick to play a decent game of ball.
BLAZERS IN SIX!!! OOOOoooooooooowwwwwwwwwoooooooowoooooooooowwww
For the guy looking for info on DC…
Check out http://www.mabra.org and http://www.waba.org
That will get you started.
There is plenty of racing in DC and the surrounding area
the zoo bomb!
A pretty fantastic scene out there. Well run races, high quality racers, tons of local pros (real ones) who race local races often, fantastic terrain for road races, great criterium courses, much fairer weather, and to be honest, a lot less negative energy. That is not to say there that we all sing hippie folk songes and toke up after each race, but the NYC racing scene bears much of the intrinsic attitude of this city.
The only big negative of the Bay Area Scene would be that one has to drive to most races, but then the NYC “ride to the race” luxury is more a singularity than a rarity.
I’m not sure if one is better or worse than the other. Comparing the two is kind of apples to oranges. They are totally, completely different and very characteristic of their equally disimilar regions.
Riding over the Brooklyn Bridge to a race at dawn
Do promoters in other cities post results?
I was struck however by the fact that with so many great options for road races, I dont see a lot of those roads in races. For example: the loop in Griffiths park that takes one around the the outer roads and cuts up through the road that takes you to the golf course. This loop is equal in length to Central park and has a really good challenging hill incorporated into the loop + if you wanted a finishing climb at the end you could just hang a turn at the top of the loops climb and continue up the mountain (Hollywood sign) – which is kind of like Perkins Memorial drive @ Bear mtn. Griffiths Park is really ideal for road racing and far surpasses central park when it comes to terrain. The problem here – cars. you just cant get away from the friggen cars. they’re everywhere. This town worships the automobile. There are lots of bike lanes but they’re haphazardly planned and dysfunctional. The whole texting while driving is a big time problem out here. For the cyclist – you really have to have your head on a swivel training in L.A.
The Barry Wolfe ride is lots of fun here. They roll thru Griffiths and continue up this really hard mountain (Chevy Chase rd). The downside to that ride is they wait for you at the top of the climb. I was hoping it to be more like Gimbels where if you get dropped you’re S.O.L. – I think the getting dropped notion encourages one to train harder whereas the people here are so friendly, I dont think they have it in them to leave ya behind for being chubby.
I really miss my TUES / THURS evening training sessions in cpk, with Zoli, the Toga and Champ sys guys and lest not forget Big John dropping everybody on the 4th lap. Those were the days. If I could bring anything to CA it would be an after work hammerfest like that, only here a boat load of pro’s would show up.
I’ve not been to the northern region of the state.
Moved to Indianapolis… yawn….
Yeah we got a handful of pros out here, have some OK training roads (other than the lack of hills), plenty of racing too.
But we just don’t get the crazy shit like I remember racing in NYC and NJ. I tell stories to the hoosiers out here and they get all bug-eyed and freaked out when they hear them.
try explaining this guy to indiana folks…tell them you often enjoy a free concert after a central park race…
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/07/14/2009-07-14_its_thoth_luck_for_central_park_fixture_arrested_after_crackdown_on_musicians.html
ok, marcus, very cute. too bad you have always been overrated.
The only way to settle this is to send an impartial observer (me) to race in each city. Let me just check the NYVC travel budget…
would be kind of cool to follow someone doing a racing trip across the U.S. reporting on the cycling scene (even if the purpose isn’t to settle the “where/who is best” score).
a stop through superweek would be mandatory.
i’m sure the various readers on the site could help arrange things and serve as a local guide when the chosen one arrives.
Obviously CA has a lot more talent base, and a lot better training grounds overall, though I feel that many in LA have quite a nasty ride to contend with to get out to the hills, and actually there are only a handful of regular hard rides to do as well up the canyons. SF also lacks in variety I think, given the need just like NYC to deal with bridge crossings to the same old roads heading to Marin.
Still, it bears remembering that if you are a really strong climber and smaller of build, NYC has quite limited options to show your stuff – the stuff that is actually closer to Euro pro capability vs the typical larger US pro crit rider. So, if I were a little climber, Id clearly rather live in CA and race the mountains around the west. If a big fat former fast guy (or still fast guy) who likes to race flatter courses and crits, NYC scene is tough to beat. Plenty of good crits in CA, but farther from home generally and no need for all those mountains to train on to compete in the crits.
Fair?
some local team could challenge mill valley’s above category guys to an erg video race over the internet, get your inner dork on…
a pack of vienna sausages to the winner.
starting with Dubuque
I will be there in July, but there are no races whatsoever in Dubuque during the week, unless you count any sprints against livestock.
If I had time to kill, that would be an awesome road trip. Planning out the races across the nations sounds cool.
Equally cool for the dork in me – setting up riding sessions online using the compu-trainier via (map my ride) data. Doing training sessions with the local yocals in the off season would be a good way to get in shape + ride with folks in different states albeit cyber-wise. Getting dropped online cant be fun. Loops would be easy to set-up and it my understanding the CPK is already a very common route.
Instead of playing HALO – you could play ‘hold my wheels’!
there must be a willing college student out there. a guy i raced against at sea otter came out here again this year. with only a few days’ notice and a couple of emails, we found him some cheap housing.
I’ve always wanted to write a book about traveling across the country and doing the Tuesday night races in assorted towns, but it would be a poverty-inducing endeavor for me.
add sex and drugs and perhaps a publisher will give you an advance
Does Prilosec count?
uggh, then it would just read like a rehash of the life and times of joe papp
Take a Belgian Kermesse.
subtract the betting, cobbles, techno music, bars, drunk fools, start lists, rain, wind, stop-and-go cornering style, Kermesse Kings, and Quickstep/lotto development teams.
If you’re there to experience the race, sure, its different. If you’re there to race, it feels eerily similar to a day in Prospect Park.
Blijf uit de weg van de jogger!
I am planning to do something similar, not that extensive, but racing several states btwn here and portland this summer.
There is a ton of crits and midweek races as well as the velodrome. You will see people ride 20 miles to an event race and then ride home. Yes, New york has three circuits but people here get so used to those three they never see any variaton.
That could be quite an an odyssey. You might encounter a one eyed giant in a Chicago crit, eat intoxicating fruit at a Portland CX race, or fall for the mystical call of the thong clad sirens in some So Cal beach town race.
Yo Tata,
Any links or more info? It’s in my backyard for cryin’ out loud.
For the love of Miley Cyrus, Lee 3, it’s GRIFFITH PARK. No S. A fine point but you sound like you’re saying Prospects Park
Maybe we can combine all of these cross country treks. Let’s get a dog and buy a green and blue van and solve crimes as we race our way across the country.
It is is romantic idea, but you would turn around about 50 miles past T-town and come screaming back to Floyd. Lot of dull stuff out there.
but bombing down flatbush isn’t all that.
Actually bombing Flatbush is kinda fun. It certainly provides some stories to tell your friends as they warm up in front of their Saabs for another parking lot crit.
I like NYC racing because it’s easy. I’ve no talent and don’t train but can go out and ride pretty comfortably with the A group in any of the local stuff. I’m old and my winning/angry days are long gone but it is kinda fun to still be able to get out and ‘race’ at the ‘highest’ level locally. I’m not sure I’d be able to do that in other local scenes.
One thing that the Bay Area doesn’t have going for it is a large website where people anonymously talk shit after races. Seriously.
The people who have it best are the students at Stanford. Riding in and around the Santa Cruz mountains in unbeatable. Everything else that has been said about CA vs NY is dead on. Honestly, NY area racing is better for cat 1s and 2s since you will be competitive in a much higher percentage of races. It’s fun to go up against Bissell (and killer regional squads like Cal Giant and Yahoo!) on a regular basis though.
oops.
When I was younger living in detroit – I use to say Lasher instead of Lahser!
I’ve only ever lived in NorCal but I will say that in most places there are good roads to train on, many road races, and a racing calendar that goes from January thru September. I didn’t see a mention of weather, but it’s possible to train year-round in most places in CA. Yeah, you have to drive some to get to races, but I also think that that can be part of the fun (to get out of your little world).
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=9613
seems to have been aborted.
get the fuck over it!
you all race like bitches too.
Ullrich ready has a book
Too bad. I think they run a Mt Bike race in Wash Heights over at Highbridge
Schmaltz’, Tiki Barber’s and other comments indicate that Charlie has figured out pricing correctly and that CRCA is insane to charge $10 a race and that the people who help put on the CRCA races are totally nuts. CRCA would be smart to charge $35 a race, make the races open and give the promoter the money as Kissena does. With a $35 fee, they could hire enough marshals. Also as with Charlie’s races, no more women’s only fields. Takes too much out of the bottom line.
CRCA- Communist Racing Collectivist Association
Racing being owned collectively and controlled and managed by the producers themselves
CRCA will change or perish. Unless they charge market prices they will be doomed.
CRCA isn’t really a club. Hasn’t been for years. Just a collection of sub teams. Rebuild a real club by kicking the sub teams out and charging market rates with all races open. The private racing league is a joke. Kissena has it right.
CRCA putting on open races can solve the AVD problem. They can hold an open Spring Series in Central Park. AVD will be forced to shape up or go out of business.
I am the walrus?
doomed?
do you have any idea how much money CRCA has?
sure, it’s a legitimate/intelligent form of self-insurance for the time when they need to drop a large amount of money to stay in the park’s good graces (which almost happened a coupla years back…) but damn if they’re not liquid. $100 tracking the growth in CRCA’s coffers would have eclipsed any stock market over the past 10 years. but you wouldn’t know it, because they don’t have any financials. kinda makes you wonder why they never converted to a 501(c)3
doomed?
do you have any idea how much money CRCA has?
sure, it’s a legitimate/intelligent form of self-insurance for the time when they need to drop a large amount of money to stay in the park’s good graces (which almost happened a coupla years back…) but damn if they’re not liquid. $100 tracking the growth in CRCA’s coffers would have eclipsed any stock market over the past 10 years. but you wouldn’t know it, because they don’t have any financials. kinda makes you wonder why they never converted to a 501(c)3
crca racing is a lot of fun. being free of the possibility of pts, promotes trying crazy shit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI7T2iuGjjc&feature=player_embedded#!
brilliant
the commute to OHSU, I know it well
Some one else called the club a marshalling cooperative, that is basically what it is. One of the largest costs of putting on a race in CP is having to pay 45+ marshals. Since CRCA is a club that requires all racing members to marshal at at least 2 races, they have a large pool of “free” marshals to pick from, that is why race fees can be as low as they are.
This year the club has record membership numbers, so CRCA must be doing something right. Contrary to what others say, the club is not rolling in money. I’m sure they are not going poor, but it’s not like they can just throw money around.
If you really want to change CRCA, it’s actually quite easy. CRCA is run by a volunteer board of directors. You could run for the board and have a huge influence on the direction the club is going. Chances of you getting elected are quite good as most of the recent elections have only seen one candidate.
Having been in the club long enough to remember what racing was like before the club structure was introduced, I can see no reason to go back. It makes club races more competitive and more like what you will find at an open race. CRCA races are supposed to let you train for open races. You can practice different moves to see what works, and doesn’t.
You can be that if the parks department allowed it, CRCA would put on more races. Right now CRCA, and other promoters, are limited to 15 races a year.