Hangover 6/6/2011

by schmalz

Weekend Warring

When it came to the amount of activity, it was a rather sedate weekend, with only two races occurring in the NYC area. Saturday was the CRCA TT at FBF, and there was a CRCA club race at Central park. If you were a pro, you did the race in Philly, the rest of us squabbled our way through the weekend.

At Saturday’s TT at FBF Jonathan Adler raced, as they say, a smart race to win the A field TTT. Houlihan Lokey/Sanchez won the B field TTT. The NYVelocity Women’s Racing Team won the women’s TTT. Jeff Ingraham of Jonathan Adler racing won the A ITT. Robert Rakowitz of Sid’s Bikes NYC won the B field ITT. Raqual MIller of Houlihan Sanchez/Lokey won the women’s ITT. Four pages of results can be found here.

Sunday’s CRCA club race brought forth controversy, as relegation and riders that only completed 6/7ths of the race distance complicated the results. The official winner of the A race is Ariel Mendez of Jonathan Adler Racing. Antonio Munoz of Foundation won the B race, and Mike Anderson of Siggi’s/NYVelocity won the C race. Results and explanations are here.

At the New Jersey state championships TT, Roger Aspholm of Westwood Velo won with a frightening 49:20, while Phil Penman of BH/Garneau and Ellen Moses of Comedy Central took out of state honors.

DJ’s friend Kevin Hatt (Mr. Hatt!) took some cool shots in Philly yesterday.

76 Comments

Ermanno Brazeon

You forgot the Watermelon Crit in NJ this weekend. Not everybody is CRCA you know.

Aaron Saddlesore

So what was the fallout from the Rockleigh Crit pileup? Any serious injuries? Anyone know what caused it?

Bernardo Rivnut

I’ll try to get the Watermelon results up on usacycling tonight. They should also be up on njbikeracing.com this evening as well. Here’s an executive summary:

4/5
1- Matthew Vandivort
2- Daniel Cleiman
3- Javier Garcia

35+
1- Mark Light
2- Eric Merrill
3- Kevin Fryberger

45+
1- Lawrence Towner
2- Rick Anderson
3- Patrick Gellineau

55+
1- Michael Shapanka
2- Joseph Zuppa, Jr
3- Andrew Buchanan

Cat 3
1- John Landino
2- Andrew Clerico
3- Scott Steward

4 Women
1- Danielle Kosecki
2- Brittlee Bowman
3- Andrea Brennan

Open Women
1- Amy Cutler
2- Caryl Gale
3- Emily Underwood

Bernardo Rivnut

The course was short of 40k this year. Probably by about 2k or so. Add 2-3 min to the times for more reasonable 40k times.

Cannibal Lecter

Turned out to be a great event with a course surprisingly friendly for a TT. Felt well organized and the weather could not have been better for Floyd. Thank you to Sonny, Alex, Charlie and everyone else that came out to support.

Garmin Fan

I thought they were a strong Master Team in CT. Whats up with them sponsoring a ringer team from TX, CAli etc for this race? This also seems odd.

2 triangles

Why is CRCA wasting member’s dues sponoring a woman’s team for Philly? Are any of these CRCA riders actual members?

Tristan Internal Routing

Amen to that. Don’t blow red lights like an idiot, particularly when wearing team kit.

Mengoni Rider

I usually wear their kit when training. makes it easier to run red lights and no one sits on my wheel for a free ride on 9W.

Excitable

Too funny some random dude has no idea who the NYVelocity riders are but knows them to be wankers….too too FUNNY!

Noa Brifter

Why is the amount of hate piled on a team proportionate to their success. I’m not on the team but know their guys to be decent people and strong riders. Does anyone really think they run lights more than any other team? Or is this just a chance for guys who got beat to lick their wounds by anonymously trashing someones character.

Pierced Head Tube

Was not calling out NYVC specifically (and rest assured it has ZERO to do with their “results” …please) – this is another club’s perception of that team, but, agreed the riding “manners” of many teams/racers/CRCAs is poorly regarding by other cyclists in the area as well – this is on ALL of us…

Bottom Bracket Ball Bearing

Teams,

This has been a very common complaint of “CRCA/Bike Racers” in Central Park.

Tuesday mornings in particular have been very busy.

You must slow down in order to pass safely, but also to avoid the appearance of
recklessness and disrespect for other park users.

Please let your team mates and coaches know that any further reports of unsafe
and disrespectful riding will result in suspension from the CRCA.

Dave Jordan

As follows:

Dear CRCA President, Teams and Rider Development,

Given the recent crackdown on cyclists in Central Park and our current “trial
phase” for treating lights as flashing yellow, it is imperative that we are on
our best behavior and do our utmost to keep the park’s drives available for
early-morning training.
Therefore, as a regular cyclist in the park, I am dismayed at the behavior of a
CRCA team this morning: Four NY Velocity women were cranking up Harlem Hill
about 7am. It was sort of crowded at the top with the Fuze team of about 15
riders and a couple Tri folks. One of the NYV women came bombing up the hill
and, instead of slowing for the traffic at the top, she cut into the jogging
lane, swerving between joggers, forcing one jogger to stop short in order to
avoid being hit. She then swerved back out of the jogging lane into the road,
cutting off the wheel of one of the Tri riders. When I caught up to the NYV
women at the base of the hill, the strong rider with poor judgment had already
gone ahead and turned onto the cutoff for another hill repeat. I said to the
three remaining women, without anger or animosity because we are all part of the
cycling community, “you need to talk to your teammate; that was really
dangerous”. The response was, “f**k off, you a**hole”. I can overlook the
response, though it will have an enduring reflection on the NY Velocity team as
a whole; when you are wearing your team kit, you are speaking not just for
yourself, you are representing the entire team.

BUT, this egregious cycling behavior, endangering joggers in the jogging lane
and cutting off the wheel of other cyclists, is exactly the type of behavior
that has given cyclists a bad rap in the park and compromises our ability to
keep training in the park with the tacit flashing yellow light.

I look forward to hearing from you and to learning how the CRCA will work to
impress on our team members that we all, individually and collectively, need to
be on our best behavior to preserve our cycling and training privileges in
Central Park.

Thank you.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

trapped under cj's ducati

it’s easy to pile on the nyvelocity riders as they are newbies with a very organized program. some people don’t like that. alex, matt, and cisco do a great job introducing new riders to racing and the crca. remember that you were a newbie once- we all have to start somewhere. i’ll wager to say that at least 10% of the racers presently racing in the crca started on the team- peppo, leong, clerico, jacaruso, most of fgx (cj – where is he?), and teany. but as jules rim said, these guys suck…

Tree Forest

I think you’re missing the bigger point – thread is NOT about NY Velocity per se, but about riders behavior. I believe that the message is to just be thoughtful and respectful, and not self-involved – would be better for all.

Schiatuzzo Locknut

Tuesday mornings are rough in the park right now because of the huge number of triathletes. Their groups tend to take over the entire roadway. If they could stay together better (i.e., no more than double paceline, moving to the left except when passing, etc.) it would benefit all users of the park.

Samuel Supple

A field: 14:01, 13:59, 13:09, 13:25, 13:39, 13:35, 13:22
B field: (missing 2 laps) 14:01, 14:04, 13:23, 14:22, 13:38
C field: 14:57, 14:40, 14:47, 14:36

seat post

Aside from the obviously one-sided BS, two statements really stand out in that sanctimonious rant:

“It was sort of crowded at the top with the Fuze team of about 15
riders and a couple Tri folks.”

“It is imperative that we are on our best behavior and do our utmost to keep the park’s drives available for early-morning training.”

So, we are supposed to act nice and do our utmost to keep the park drives open, meanwhile the Fuze team is taking up the ENTIRE width of HH, making it impossible for anyone else to train or apparently even pass safely.

Here is an idea Fuze team, instead of ranting BS, how about you organize a double pass line, quit acting like assholes hogging up the entire road, and do YOUR utmost to keep the park’s drives available for early-morning training. Then maybe you won’t get cussed out.

Daan Dropout

If you’re complaining about Fuze or anyone else in the park, you’re completely missing the point. I can’t say I agree with cracking down on cyclists necessarily, particularly because I am one, but the recent scrutiny has made me aware of how other people, especially other park users perceive us.

I was parking my beater bike back in early March when an elderly man approached me to ask why “you people” always broke the law, ran lights and intimidated old people. I’m like “who me? WTF is he talking about, he doesn’t even know me!” But that’s the general perception. And as much as we don’t like to admit it, people don’t distinguish you, the sophisticated experienced bike racer, from the weekend warrior triathlete. And why should they? If you were that experienced, you should know the rules and be held to a higher standard.

It really isn’t about NYVC. It’s simply about understanding that no one has the expectation of coming to the park to get hit by a bike. I won’t get on a soapbox because I’ve made some mistakes myself, but if there’s an opportunity to build a little goodwill with other park users, just do it. Slow down if you’re not on an interval. Slow down even if you’re on an interval when you get to an intersection. Be careful of your surroundings. Avoid the park during high traffic times or expect to stop. Seriously, if you’re up at 6am riding in Central Park to train for CRCA club races, you’re probably not going pro (Evie the obvious exception). Slow down or stop at intersections when you’re on Riverside Dr. going to or coming from 9W. You’d be surprised at the positive feedback you’ll get from people, assuming you’re into the respect for your neighbor sort of thing. Might make your morning the first time you and a dog walker exchange a kind word or two. Happened to me.

Gherardo Grips

The problem is obviously that pedestrians are treated like they can do no wrong. How many pedestrians are too dumb to figure out what that picture of cyclist painted on the floor means? How many of them walk down the middle of the roadway when they obviously have paths on either, or both, sides of the road? How many walk out in front of traffic when they have a red light and other traffic has a green? Expecting just one group to follow the rules is sending the wrong message to the other group. You need to have fair and consistent rules for everyone to follow if you want people to obey the rules.

Andy Shen

Everyone’s a pedestrian, almost everyone’s a driver, very few are cyclists. Even when we’re right we lose.

2 triangles

Wow, Pierced Head Tube, you “ride for NYCC”. So cool. Do you also belong to the Hybrid bike club, Dungeons n Dragons club, or maybe the feed a ferret club? Stop being a jealous hater . . .

PS — Pierce Head Tube to Mengoni –

Thibault Grips

“Why does it seem like people who dope always try to make it seem like others were responsible.”

Couldn’t agree more. He cheated others out of podiums and people like him keep clean riders from ever making to the peleton in the first place.

Didn’t watch the video…don’t care.

And don’t know if he is clean now, but wouldn’t bet on it either way.

Roger Clamp

“Roger Aspholm of Westwood Velo won with a frightening 49:20”

that’s about 31 mph for 25 miles…frightening indeed

Andy Shen

Re: Aspholm, someone commented below that the course wasn’t the full 40k, so that time is misleading.

Lancie Pie

David Millar – douche coward who now stands on a high horse. Dude cheated for personal glory. Fact. Deal with it. Stop blaming others —

But bigger question is, is the rumor true . . . .?

Shen to NYCC ??????

Adam Biopace

Not to dis on anybody….but the course was 8/10ths of a mile short. Virtually every rider there set “personal bests” by 2-3 minutes. Last year 45 guys went sub-hour. This year 99 guys went sub hour and the registratuion was less.Gotta love the TT crowd. When the course goes “long” they’re all up in arms. When it goes short ya hear the sound…of silence.

Leo Liner

Gotta agree on that Millar interview. Totally not accepting any responsibility. Contrast his attitude with Landis’s and Hamilton’s. Say what you want about those two but at least they had the balls to stand up and say ‘yes, I made a mistake, I lied, I hurt people and I made the decision, albeit years later than most of us would’ve preferred.

Then on the other hand, I’m sure differing teams had different ‘cultures’ about the whole thing. Some more pressuring and some less. Or at least, less overt pressure…

Doffo Ziptie

You guys are too much:

“He cheated others out of podiums and people like him keep clean riders from ever making to the peleton in the first place.”

Ha…You realize that he cheated other dopers out of a podium position, right? And the entire pro peloton (who mostly dope) keep clean riders out of the peloton. I’m pretty sure he didn’t accomplish that by himself.

“Say what you want about those two but at least they had the balls to stand up and say ‘I made a mistake, I lied, I hurt people and I made the decision”

Uhh…are you kidding? No they didn’t? The denied it for YEARS, accusing others of wrongdoing and faulty lab procedures, etc.. Admitting it, once everyone already knows you did it, isn’t terribly honorable.

Noah Butyl

“Say what you want about those two but at least they had the balls to stand up and say ‘I made a mistake, I lied, I hurt people and I made the decision”, albeit years later than most of us would’ve preferred.

Uhh…are you kidding? No they didn’t? The denied it for YEARS, accusing others of wrongdoing and faulty lab procedures, etc.. Admitting it, once everyone already knows you did it, isn’t terribly honorable.

Nice editing. You must work for News Corp.

Thibault Grips

“Ha…You realize that he cheated other dopers out of a podium position, right? And the entire pro peloton (who mostly dope) keep clean riders out of the peloton. I’m pretty sure he didn’t accomplish that by himself.”

Yep, I hold each of those dopers responsible. Millar is one example of someone busted, who now tries to deflect blame. “It was the system that made me dope….”

Riding clean he could’ve been 10th in Worlds, rather than Champion. Or if that wasn’t possible while clean, he could’ve been a top club rider or top amateur.

JohnVeloBlake

for top amateur when you could be top PRO. The way I see it, these guy’s lives are dedicated to doing this, entire industries are dedicated towards these guys eeking out every second and watt or bit of “lateral stiffness” possible. If their not doping they’re slacking, no?
What is wrong with doping?
The only thing I hear people arguing against doping is that they don’t want to have to do it.

Helmut Gescheint

Great book- touched me deeply.

Millar just seemed to live his life like a candle in the wind… Never knowing where to turn to when the rain came in.

Doffo Dry Lube

All this science Millar understands
It’s just his job five days a week
He’s a rocket man, a rocket man

Oh Ye of Little

no can claim JVB is a hypocrit…give him an upgrade to cat4 immediately…no wonder he rides on Foundation…

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