registration looks pretty low. is anyone going?

http://www.teamplacidplanet.org/

kinda want to do this race but its 5 hours away. that’s 10 hours of travel and probably $200+ in gas :/

Giro de Jersey registration also miserable, this one due more to having a fri TT (some people work!) and fees waaaay too high. Too bad. They could have had 2 days of strong racing and full fields with a 2 stage cheaper event.

or just have three stages, tt in morning and crit at night on first day. criterium intl style.

I could win the 2nd and 3rd stage and still not finish anywhere near the front of the race I’d lose so much time in the TT.

Tipping Kloden for the top step this year. Cadel wont have it to take him on.

I thought that Reed piece was really cool. Well done overall. Also just serves to remind us that as strong as we get at our chosen endurance sport, it doesnt do much for overall athletic ability and performance. We basically train the spring, agility, upper body strength, and overall athleticism right out of our single-mindedly focused bodies. But cycling still seems more fun to me than running cones and throwing stuff down a field…so I will keep riding for now.

good job, seems the whole idea was to compare olympic talent to mortals like Reed, nothing wrong with that…

Reed would probably beat him on a bike – I would think that in a race reed would have the mental advantage and would read the race more effectively than a athlete not accustomed to bike racing.

Kloden was on the podium at the tour in the past, what would leave one to believe he couldnt take the top step?

Will you travel to China or are the Special Olympics held elsewhere this year? We are all very proud!

Good piece by Reed. Have to admit, he is a very good reporter. And his results on those tests are good, that other guy is just ridicules. 43 inch vertical leap? Nuts.

can’t a guy do his non-cycling related job without being ridiculed here, ha

if bike racing involved throwing a medicine ball and jumping really high he’d def be a cat 2 in no time at all

not even close to iambic pentameter

“I realized the fastest way back to the car was to be in the lead group.”

…Nice report Dave!

I hate carbon. The last thing I want to think about is my bike shattering under me and shards of black crunchy glorified pencil lead impaling my tackle.

I’m not sure I can clear 12 inches. 24 inches is out of the question. What’s Jeff King’s V-Jump like, or Ricky’s?

Great report Reed. Well done.

Thanks guys. Some inside information for my cyclist buddies: When I shot that video, Clay had just finished doing his morning weight lifting routine which included power cleans and squats. And he was recovering from the world indoor championships. Yeah, he would probably kill me on the bike, too 🙂

Nice recap Dave. Can you describe that nasty burning carbon/epoxy smell on the descents… in your prose?

New Britain and New London seem to have some big names

a carbon frame is basically made out of glue

http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200806/joe-papp-cycling-doping-1.html

*least*

Hey Ugli, glad you’re not badly hurt. I had a feeling you were going to be in trouble the moment I noticed you before the hill. Your body language says “I’m not relaxed.” My wife suggests doing bumping drills on the grass. Good luck.

The Dirt. I rode through that a couple times too. A lot of people did

Hasn’t the pile of wrecked equipment and mangled finger been enough of a sacrifice? The guy is a competent rider, leave him alone.

Sheesh, sorry for the bad luck Ugli.

RE: The Joe Papp article at Outside magazine…

I had to read this 3x to fully absorb what was written, “Papp was expected to catheterize himself and fill up his own bladder with synthetic urine.”

Meaning that he was supposed to do a catheterization to inject fake urine up his own bladder? Gross!

I wasn’t in the club race today and am not commenting on any crash in particular.

There is surely good luck and bad luck in cycling, but to crash less, it’s not useful to regularly dismiss crashes as “bad luck.” That keeps us passive, doing the same thing, instead of looking at how to improve ourselves and crash less often.

As Nico said, being relaxed is really important. Here are some other ideas:
http://www.crca.net/2000/03/staying-up/

These last 2 posts are exactly right. I could not agree more.

to hit the brown pile on lap one was unavoidable. to do so on subsequent laps was dumb.

hit the bmx ramp. get some skilz

armand (1), reed (2), colin (3)

This week’s martyr is Ugli.

Some people go down every week – others go years without crashing. Luck does play a part, but there are some things that help…

-having a sixth sense as far as sniffing out trouble before it develops.

– knowing your limits as a bike handler.

-developing your skills doing cross/mtb and/or having motorcycle experience also helps.

-staying calm when shit goes horribly wrong around you.

Howdy CRCA riders! Its been a while since I joined the forum since I’ve been really busy with new riders that have joined my program trying to get better at bike racing and life. I’m not saying it was the interview here that lolapalooza’d my business, but it sure didn’t hurt! The sign on my car at races seems to have been helpful too.

I did hear the race report and have read on here about the crashing discussion. Crashing, like union strikes, is just a part of life – I just want to make that clear. If I had a nickel for every rider of mine that has wasted a good pair of shorts to slippery horse (or sheep) dung, I’d have enough metal to make a 1980 Chevy Caprice! Man were those big cars. Anyway, sometimes riders just get a streak of bad luck and sometimes it leads to a case of nerves, but be careful to draw too many conclusions.

In truth, some of the most difficult visualization work I’ve done has been with riders who are in a stack streak. I’ll work them into a trance until they’re muttering silently, “can’t stay up, can’t stay up, can’t stay up,” and then there’s no turning back. Its probably the only kind of session where I actually yell at a rider. They just need to be broken of it and I’ve had good success with it. I think I could help Mr. Uglietta if he’d just chase my card out of his man purse and give me a call.

But I’d be careful to be too hard on Chris. He’s come a long way with his cycling – I’ve been watching him from a distance, longingly, for some time, and have had him pegged as one with a lot of potential. But anyway, it sounds like some of these incidents have indeed been bad luck, so give him another chance. Remember that we’re all just one big fraternity and what doesn’t kill us brings us together. We’re stronger as a group than as a collection of individual climbers, sprinters and time trialists.

And congratulations to Mr. Della Monica. Though he doesn’t “officially” work with me, we’ve had some very frank, very personal conversations about cycling and life over these past two years and I’m as proud as a mayor at the county fair to see him win. Great job Armand!

http://gallery.mac.com/rrubey#100066

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o

your an asshole

It might be hard to comeback from a crash with the same confidence, but Central and Prospect Parks are pretty mellow courses, and it shouldn’t be that terrible to just race a bit more conservatively.

It also could be useful for the rider making the comeback to focus on simple, technical “anti-crash” stuff. He/she can ask simple questions while riding: am I keeping my head up and my visual focus broad? Are my arms and shoulders relaxed? Are my hands relaxed? Etc. Don’t dwell on not falling, focus on fundamentals.

Did Ugly tuck and roll? He might just be practicing that.

crca results posted

good ride Armand

good to see that Cecilia Pleva is racing again (and racing well apparently)

Jake’s brother Luke will be the next Sakonnet star. And then their little brother Jesse. Those boys can ride.

I crash just about every race and I’ve gotten 2nd at the Giro. Get over it.

Why the low registration? It was an awesome race. I missed you NYC crashers there.

you’re all retarded. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

…he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, and he was putting too much weight on his front while going fast, downhill, into a corner. there was a lot of people in front of him, taking the same line, that didn’t go down.

…and can’t get back on on the straight or the hill, then, not only do u have bigger problems, ur in the process of falling off, and there’s nothing u can do about it while going down hill

Is it too early to start asking where the pics are?

did you only have one roll of film?

Has anyone ever hear of it?
Why are riders vilified after falling for what ever reason? This superstition thing is out of hand.
Pull your head out of you ass already this is the real world where you either live with each other or be alone lonely and bitter. Life is way too short.

Low turn out but an amazing course and tough finishing climb. Great roads, with flats, rollers, hills and some techical turns. This course had it all and a nice 1.5 mile climb that averaged about 8%. Its far away but in a great area for a weekend trip (if you can deal with the 100s of Ironmen training). Again, next year if they have this race its worth checking out. Very cool! Plus we had some insane weather that poured buckets one minute and hot and sunny the next.

any word?

also saturday pictures–narcissus is getting anxious over here!

1 Mike Margarite, CRCA/Empire
2 Guido Palma, Rite Aid Pro Cycling
3 Lisban Quintero, CRCA/Foundation
4 Jon Chodroff, CRCA/Empire
5 Jake Hollenbach, CCB/Volkswagon
6 Dan Hoffman, Westwood Velo
7 Vincent Scalia, NOREAST
8 Eric Brownell, CRCA/Empire
9 Kenneth Lundgren, Northeastern Hardware
10 Edwin Bull, Van Dessel Factory Team

Lake Placid Road Race is Saturday. Should be nice!

anyone have a link for lake placid? don’t see it on bikereg and google not cooperating.

http://www.teamplacidplanet.org/contentpages/wilmingtonrace.aspx

wow, lake placid looks like a cool race. unfortunatley, was not aware of the race to plan for it

http://trimbleracing.com/race-reports/6-15-08-housatonic-hills-road-race-report-3rd-place-cat-4/

WHAT DRAMA! are you okay-you’re my hero

Is Reed actually functionally retarded?
http://gawker.com/tag/wall-street-journal/?i=5018242&t=reporters-are-not-world-class-athletes

Kloden for the top step of what, exactly? Not the Tour.

reed would beat him on a bike

I do not think that Reed would beat him on a bike.

forgot that Astana’s not going. Too bad cause Klodi had a nice long break.

Great piece, Reed.

You would kick his ass on a keyboard

Would be a really good cyclist if he wanted to be. Probably better than any of the local guys. Genetic freaks excel in bike racing. If he had a Trek and 8 weeks, I’m pretty sure he’d be a good cat 2.

“I leaned my superbike over hard, sweeping across the final right hander with my knee nearly scrapping the tarmac. I passed the apex of the corner and like a fighter throwing the first punch, shot off the front. My sprint, came a long way from home but the timing was (nearly) perfect. The sound of spinning carbon wheels echoed in my oxygen depleted tunnel vision induced brain. My launch faultered ever so slightly towards the line and a certain Colin Prensky nipped me for second. ”

– incredible imagery worthy of either bikesnob or bicycling

used as a simple talent identifier in a bunch of old school eastern bloc cycling programs

I hate any indicator that doesn’t include how much carbon is on a bike. I do really well on those indicators.

vertical leap was 48. 43 is pretty sick for someone who doesn’t play.

I dont think I can clear a sidewalk curb with my vertical. Lately my arms hurt just from carrying my briefcase to the gate at airports. But I can still ride 100 mi and not sweat it too hard!

aluminum is actually prone to catastrophic failure as it ages, my commonwealth friend. ride steel

aluminum is cheap stiff and light. thus it makes a good race frame. people who get stuff for free can ride full carbon jamis SL bikes and not care when they shatter in a crash.

olson won the 3,4

…..sounds like you were drunk on vino when you wrote that flowery piece….

Ryan, Vinny V, sorry for taking you out on the pool downhill. Wet surface, too much brake, broken equipment, but at lease there weren’t injuries.

Be back next week. Hate away dear Adlerphobes!

It isn’t hate Ugli. You just crash way too much and it is your own fault and we are scared to ride next to you. Yes, the road was wet but nobody else crashed. Just you. Oh, the guys you took out crashed too.

He just hit that pile of brown stuff that was right on the inside right line on the downhill, proving, of course, that Ugli might be cursed with bad luck. It might take a sacrifice of some sort to lift the curse.

I had that line on one lap that took me through that pile of muck and it was slippery. Ugli seems to be on a bad luck streak. Are there any exorcists in the club?

why didn’t you other guys crash when you went through the mud?

That is the question.

for taking the time to post results and going 10 deep.

JFT’s correct. It’s not helpful to say that Ugli is a competent rider. He is not. It doesn’t make him a bad guy. Anyone who’s ever met him knows that he’s a great guy, a nice guy and a pretty good bike racer. But he has terrible handling skills. He, like all of us, need to be honest with themselves and evaluate weaknesses and work to improve. Nobody else crashed in the mud spot today because nobody else used “too much brake” when unlucky enough to have to ride through it. So don’t flame the guy, but don’t defend him either. He needs to learn some skillz.

Ugly are you reading? Please do not write this off to bad luck. We all have bad luck in races. You are turning yours into crashes.

This is not a flame.

this is my third year racing. so far, this year, i have had much better *luck* than in previous years, when crashes were pretty frequent occurrences for me (OK very frequent). big things are confidence, riding at the front, etc as JFT mentioned in the good article he posted. and a lot of it too is from more experience/practice in crits and other technical situations…

about uglietta though… there is more to crashing than experience and awareness as JFT suggests in the article (not totally 100%) and definitely one crash makes someone less confident in corners and less relaxed on the bike in general, as others said. the sprint last year at PP was not his fault, he was totally cut off by another (respectable) rider. this year’s GTC debacle was totally not his fault. i would actually like to take the opportunity to publicly apologize to him and the rest of the local folks for what might have been negligent marshaling and basically a really unfortunate situation that found a biker on the road in the closing moments of the race. we are taking steps to make sure this does not happen again.

lastly, yes, i believe that ugli is less comfortable on his bike after having lost his entire spring to a bum finger, and i cannot blame him and totally understand. when racing i have found him to be quite “competent” and his is and will be a wheel i look out for – as a good one to follow. glad nobody was hurt, and ugli, keep your head up and race conservative for a bit, ease yourself back in. i know it is hard to take risks when you have been burned recently, so don’t be hard on yourself if it takes you a couple tries to feel at home again in technical spots.

The bmx ramp post is funny.

Who won the CRCA race today?

Congrats Armand! You rock.

ugli’s handling is fine- he races cross. i love how people are shocked that someone slid out on the patch of mud at the apex of a wet off camber turn. get off your soapboxes, a-holes- i’m sure each and every one of you has had crashes caused by less

Go outside. It’s nice out. Get off the computer (my excuse is the kid’s napping). Who cares if Ugli can’t ride?

at 7th Ave CPS exit of the circuit, there was a woman cyclist with some seriouscut above her yee, and a marshal was attending. Any news? She OK?

So Chris crashes…

I’ve raced against him enough to make the following assumption. When he crashes it is because he is at the limit of himself and equipment. Unfortunately, he does not have the insight or ability to back off before it’s too late.

I’ve seen him puke a number of times in races, which is both a sign of his dedication to do what ever it takes to win, but also a lack of rational ability. This IS at the end of the day a hobby for 90% of us.

OK, who hasn’t puked in their mouth while racing, or training for that matter? If you haven’t you aren’t doing it right.

Secondly, Ugli crashes all the goddamn. He’s the Blake of 2008. Some dudes just suck at keeping it rubber side down.
Some of it is luck of the draw. Some. Like, 10%. The rest is putting your bike where it doesn’t belong. Plain and simple. Defend him all you want, hes gonna keep crashing.

self righteous and delusional. chanting? channeling? Makes Willo seem like a “Dr”…

Keough to Kelly Benefits

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/jun08/jun22news

Sakonnet is a really good development team. The amazing thing about them is that they keep losing their best guys and just reload with new younger guys. They aren’t just getting lucky with. They are actually making riders better.

Nice one ADM, Albergotti, Prensky

Prensky – congrats on the mandatory upgrade to Cat 3.

A Field

1. Armand Della Monica, Bandit Racing
2. Reed Albergotti, Jonathan Adler
3. Colin Prensky, Sanchez-Metro
4. Alex Bremer, Empire Cycling Team
5. Eutimio Quintero
6. Bryan Borgia
7. Inson Wood, Foundation

Women

1. Jamie Nicholson-Leener, Deutsche Bank
2. Ann Marie Miller, Sanchez-Metro
3. Margaret Shirley, Radical Media
4. Alejandra Madrinan, Major Taylor
5. Cecelia Pleva, Radical Media
6. Erica Adelberg, Radical Media
7. Evelyn Stevens, Avenue A-Razorfish

B Field

1. Matthew Diczok, Setanta
2. Stephen Lindholm, Sanchez-Metro
3. Greg Fowlkes, NYVelocity
4. Adam Duncan, Avenue A-Razorfish
5. Jonathan Bloom, Setanta
6 (tie). Abraham Soler, Organic Athlete
6 (tie). Christian Forsyth, Setanta

C Field

1. Alistair Seibert
2. Timothy Voake
3. Leo Lopez, El Puente
4. George Vafiades Jr.
5. Thomas Mikolinski
6. Anthony Mazzella

couldn’t understand all day why certain guys were drilling it into the crash corner…is it me, or is it not a 120 degree, off camber corner that is not in a part of the course that is totally irrelevant to getting away or winning the race

Sometimes riders, especially toward the back, get gapped after the S turn and lose contact permanently on Harlem Hill. Perhaps those drilling it into that corner are trying to catch some people napping.

if you get gaped in that “corner”, just get off your bike and give it to the homeless man at the bottom of the hill, as you do not deserve to be racing it.

http://eventmg.com/gironjpro123thrustage2.pdf

how about the pigeon that bounced off of 3 in the field by Tavern?

cantilever and counter steer a little on wet or hazardous turns like that. It puts more downward as opposed to outward pressure on the contact surface of your tires

http://www.velocitynation.com/article.aspx?ID=2331&CID=50

CP pics svp

Is priceless. Well done.

but no one is villifying anyone

http://eventmg.com/index_files/page0010.htm

Great results to Margarite, Hoffman and Lundgren. Especially Hoffman who was a 3 just weeks ago.