Hopeful Friday 6/26/2009

Close that gap!

This will be a racing weekend that starts slowly and then builds to a frenzy, well a frenzy if you decide to do every bike racing event out there. And that may require cloning and a touch of time travel. But those are options available to most cat 3 racers, aren’t they? 

Saturday starts with the CRCA club race, which, like a hipster’s ironic jacket is member’s only. If you are from Jersey and won’t be down the shore this weekend, you can head to the New Jersey State Road Race Championships, and then maybe after you can go to Wildwood, and enjoy affordable rides operated by shadowy drifter types. Ending the day is the Twilight Criterium to Benefit Cystic Fibrosis Research in Thompson, CT, which this year, is drifter-free.

Sunday is packed full of bike racing activity. There’s the Cadence Prospect Park Series in the early morning. There’s the Kissena International (is Jersey considered a country? I need to know as I have a great suggestion for the national anthem) Track Omnium. There’s also the Tour of Flanders in conveniently named Flanders, NJ, which is – you guessed it – a "cannibal-style" time trial. Also on Sunday, is the Keith Berger Memorial Criterium in East Hartford, CT. And if you really want to travel, there’s the Owasco Flyer in Auburn, NY.

 

100 Comments

Wheelsucker

I did this race in 07. Great race! Fast, nice non-technical course with a good venue and promoter. Worth the trip.

Wheelsucker

“There’s the Kissena International (is Jersey considered a country? I need to know as I have a great suggestion for the national anthem) Track Omnium”

An International Omnium is an event (listed in the USA Cycling rule book), not a description of the participants. New Jersey riders would be classified as domestic riders … PA and upstate NY riders are considered international.

Wheelsucker

Bethel — $2,000 cash Prizes to top 6 spots….current standings. These are Wednesday at 6PM and 7PM every week.

Bryan Borgia – Rapha Racing – 85 Points
Matt Baldwin – Target Training – 57 Points
Leigh Sorrells – Fiordifrutta – 42 points
Chad Butts – Champion Systems – 39 Points
John Funk – Cycle Fitness – 36 Points
Pat McNamara – Bikereg/Cannondale – 32 points

Wheelsucker

seriously, what do you do with all that TDF fitness with nowhere to put it? he should breach his contract and go race for a team that actually appreciates his hard work.

Wheelsucker

dude’s a class act.

but, that probably doesn’t help him at the moment as it relates to the tour.

hope he can capitalize on it in the coming months with race opportunities.

hope lance rubs it in paella’s face and dedicates a stage win to horner.

Wheelsucker

Contador needs one of his “boys” because he knows Horner would back Lance if it there is battle between the two for GC contention. What a dick move though. Horner gets screwed over because of a power struggle.

Wheelsucker

lance will buy or demand loyalty internally and externally.

he supposedly has off the charts form. giro was sandbagging–you know, like we do. why show his cards when it didn’t matter? he never did that in previous years either.

contador will only have his 1 or two fellow countrymen on team to support him and he knows it

damn this is gonna be a good tour!

karlwithak

Two went to Haimar Zubeldia and Yaroslav Popovych, who were selected early as support riders.

Rast also was selected , i do not know Sregio Pahlino other than he is butt buddies with Alberto

but all of these guys will be dropped early and often, popo and Zybedelia have not done anything as of late

astana has exactly zero guys who will ride in the high mountains as a true support rider.

no way contador even if he is way out of it will ever set pace for anyone, Kloden aint touching a water bottle, and lance wont either, Levi peaked for california and can not even climb with Lance much less contador.

Horner will be missed big time

so pissed off no post race interviews that actually mean something

Wheelsucker

CSC will work for Andy S and set tempo like last year until Astana implodes. Lance has sick form = likely. However, his team is not built around one man with one goal. Two guys in the Top 5 GC and some stage wins but I think a Schleck will take it all.

Patrick

Only rider I was looking forward to seeing in the TdF.

HOA-NOA!

Dammit. Tour just got more than a little less interesting.

dont get this?

with this prize money the pros may show up. lol
PRIZE LIST:
Pro / Cat. 1-2-3 (NOTE: Increased prize list for this race only due to neutralization of the June 20 race)

1st = $130
2nd = $110
3rd = $100
4th = $90
5th = $80
6th = $70
7th = $60
8th = $60
9th = $50
10th = $50

TOTAL = $800

Wheelsucker

Pretty cool that the top 4 riders in the A race were all 40+. Also about 45 starters last night– which is prob 25 more than the avg A race last year. Yeah old guys and yeah new pave!! See ya’ll next Thursday.

Wheelsucker

We, the morning dumpers, must unite against the tyranny of the Central Park Conservancy toilet unlockers! Forget sissy fights at Floyd, and Adler headgear arguments, I need open toilets at least 30mins before the start of races in Central Park.
I have a problem. And I’m not the only one.

Wheelsucker

Take some fiber the night before, get up 15 minutes earlier, drink a cup of coffee, and do your business at home. Save those of us who just want to pee the stank.

Wheelsucker

is there a website for this race? that seems like a lot of money for a weekday race so I definitely want to check that out.

Wheelsucker

On a nice cool morning Lisban Quintero won the A race in a tight sprint. Alejandra Madrinan took the women’s race with Deb Killman a tight second. Lesek Sniadowski won the B’s with a strong sprint. In the C’s, a break of 5 turned in sub 14 minute laps and almost caught the B’s. Matt Hughes who competed for the US rowing team in the Beijing Olympics won.

A Field

1.Lisban Quintero,Foundation
2.Karl Rahn,Empire
3.Gavin Robertson,Foundation
4.Mark Alden,Blue Ribbon
5.Armand Della Monica,Empire
6.Chad Marion,Sanchez Houlihan-Lokey
7.Frank Arroyo,Pacifico-Hincapie
8.Franklin Burgos,CRCA

B Field

1.Sniadowski , Leszek,Organic Athlete
2.Steve Marmo,Setanta
3.Gino Scotto , Luzzo’s
4.James Westman,CRCA
5.Daniel Ranchurejee,CRCA
6.Gurr, Christopher.
7.Chris Forstyh,Setanta
8.Taniguchi, Etsukazu,Teany
9.David Carr,Setanta

C Field

1.Matt Hughes,NYAC
2.Vaughn Harvey,CRCA
3.Daniel Bersohn,nyvelocity
4.Andrew Dunn,NYAC
5.van den Berg, Jean-Paul,CRCA
6.Ben Cornish,CRCA
7.carnevale, nicolas ,CRCA
8.Brian Case,CRCA
9.David Passey,CRCA

Women’s Field

1.Alejandra Madrinan,Comedy Central
2.Deb Killman,Signature Rockstar
3.Fabienne Gerard,Teany
4.AnneMarie Donovan,Teany
5.Colleen Conway,Teany
6.Tracy Wargo , Teany
7.Lisa Force,Comedy Central
8.Maria Quiroga,Radical Media

Wheelsucker

I know I’ll get flamed, but really? The 5 man C break took off from the gun and the field was already split just past the Met. the C field put in their fastest lap ever on the first lap chasing (14:25 to the start line at Cat’s Paw) and the 5 man break was already out of sight. The 5 laps were about the fastest ever for a C race at 1:15, about 24.6 mph and the 5 man break were apparently 1.5 to 2 minutes ahead.

I hope that each guy in that break has less than 10 races under their belt or that is really taking advantage of their superior gifts.

Wheelsucker

the fact that any of you WANT to take a shit in the rambles bathroom is beyond me. unless you are homeless. eat some oatmeal with flax seeds, drink coffee, shit it out at home.

Wheelsucker

there are always riders coming through the cat 5 ranks with a lot more fitness than the average new racer. cat 5 races are to gain experience, you get your upgrade just for finishing 10 races. a win is no different from 20th place. so don’t worry about whether it’s competitive. just do your 10 races, learn as much as you can, and move up. today you learned something about sizing up the competition at the start, which guys you might want to follow when they take off from the gun, and how much faster than the pack a motivated breakaway can go. that’ll be valuable throughout your racing career.

Sportique

And when it is a bona fide olympic endurance athlete making the move into bike racing, that’s a good wheel to be on indeed.

Wheelsucker

Yeah, get used to it. There are almost always faster guys that you in any field you end up in. It starts with the Cs, and dont think you are even unique in having fmr olympians in your field – I had the same thing with Tom Auth, who within a year or so was top 3 in club TTs against fmr pro cyclists! Whatever. He had every right, and indeed was forced, to compete in the Cs like the rest of us. So you dont win. So what? Come back next time when Matt is out of town or something and give it a shot. In the mean time, you got experience chasing a strong break and got some fitness, so morning was not futile. Enjoy riding!

Wheelsucker

today’s head song was “feelin on yo booty” by r. kelly

btw, gerry martinez, touch my ass one more time when you squeeze by in the rec lane and i swear to god…

Wheelsucker

Anyway, when you go to work on Monday and they ask if you won the race, you can say, “No, but the guy who won was a Olympic rower.” That sure beats saying, “No, we rolled around the park at 18 mph and then some other fat banker on a $8,000 Cervelo won the field sprint.”

Wheelsucker

Waah waah someone in my race rode fast!

Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. Thanks for the LOLs

Wheelsucker

did anyone notice or care that the organic guy who ended up winning the “b” race sprinted up the rec lane for what seemed like a really long time?

Wheelsucker

maybe while sprinting he burped up some organic wheatgrass juice that was fermenting all morning during those 13 minute laps, and subsequently got dizzy, couldn’t see straight? give the guy the benefit of the doubt. unless you got 2nd, that is.

Wheelsucker

same comments about some ex-rower shitting on the Cat5s for 10 races (see Prensky, Riffellmacher, Sagalowsky), same “did you see the winner moving up in the rec lane”, and the same “where were you when Empire did the 12minute lap”?

CRCA!

Wheelsucker

No record of Will Riff doing a CRCA club C race over the past several years (per the CRCA results). Colin did ONE CRCA cat 5 race (he got most of his 10 races in using the Spring Series) in March last year with one lap in the 16 minute range and three laps over 17 minutes. Not exactly “shitting on the Cat 5s.” Look for yourself, there’s been nothing even close to the lap times put in by the C main field today over the past several years and the 5 man break came in with 1-2 minutes on the field.

Wheelsucker

But the fact is, looking back at the past several years for C race lap times, its clear that very few, if any, of you could have been in a 5 man break doing low 14 and sub 14 minute laps when you were C riders.

Wheelsucker

You don’t hear anyone complaining that Schmalz won a table tennis bronze for the British Seychelles. And had a small part in “Hardbodies.” Suck it up.

Wheelsucker

i’m really trying to wrap my head around the C rider’s complaint. it doesn’t matter if this guy was an olympian rower. he is a cat 5 racer, doing a C race. he can’t race in a higher category. he won.

Wheelsucker

there is some dude who is an accomplished athlete in another sport who picks up bike racing and kicks everyone’s ass as he moves very quickly up the ranks. Most of us aren’t that guy. Deal with it.

Wheelsucker

Indeed — this morning the first two laps seemed excessively fast…guys got dropped, at least 8 1st lap of teh A race….considering a slow start with clip in…I think that was a sub 13 Min lap pace for 12:45 of it

Wheelsucker

10:27 PM – Bethel – 2K Race

It is cyclefitness.com then to races

ALSO– it is on BikeReg

Wednesday Nights.

Wheelsucker

AWESOME pics from the Organic photog.

You take great photos. Seriously. They’re fantastic.

Wheelsucker

5:45 — The result was contested within 15 minutes. The “winner” was not around, but it was denied anyways. There was no one besides the team of the 2nd place finisher to confirm the violation.

But he still needs to stop sprinting in the rec lane and then cutting in. If you’ve got sucky postion, tough shit (to pick up on another them of this thread).

Breakaway rider

Data from the break

Measured from the Cat start line
Lap 1 – 13:57
Lap 2 – 14:22
Lap 3 – 13:58
Lap 4 – 14:19
Lap 5 – 14:41 + a bit (14:41 does NOT include the bit of extra distance from the Cat’s line to the Met line)

avg power of 238 W or 4-norm power of 283 W. rider weight 68kg. (that probably gives it away, huh?)

Quite frankly, these park races often don’t go fast enough to keep everyone honest. It can be dangerous to run a slow race and then have the top 20 wheels all sprinting at the same time. The race should be fast enough so that guys who don’t have the fitness should be thanking whatever they hold dear that the race is over and they’ve managed a pack finish.

Then again, some races run slow, and without an organized pack, there’s nothing to do about it. Successful riders need to have the fitness to handle a fast race or the tactics to manage a slow one (breakaways being one of them). Variable racing scenarios are what makes this sport exciting. Being able to/learning how to deal with each scenario and working that to your, your team’s, or your friend’s advantage is what we work on every day we train as cyclists. We bring those skills to races and we compete and have FUN!

As far as I know everyone in the break had under 10 races. I would assume given the fitness required for this break, some are upgrading soon. Matt’s a strong guy and a really nice guy. I assume he will move up when he has the required experience of 10 races. He was generous with encouragement and compliments of other riders in the break. Also, all the guys took their turns in the wind. Everyone in the break, Olympian or otherwise contributed to this. That’s how a break has to work. If 20 guys in the field organized super fast rotation (like <5 second pulls) maybe the break would have been caught.

It should also be noted that riders who have gotten a good lead out or better position have beaten Matt to the line. There's an element of luck in sprints. If you see your competition boxed in or if you know you've got the legs for a long drawn out sprint, then you work that to your advantage. If you've only got enough for a lead out, make a friend and offer it up. All of this is part of the learning that racers get moving up through the ranks. If it's too hard, do more base miles and intervals. If no one will lead you out, make friends. Learn, improve, and if you've got the fitness, move up when you've got the experience of 10 races.

Wheelsucker

So you got a chance to ride in the hardest C race of the last 10 years, or whatever yr research indicates. That makes you LUCKY, not a victim. Next race, get in that break, and hang on until you get dropped. If you don’t get why this is a good thing, there’s not much else to say.

Wheelsucker

For overall standings go to: http://www.customcyclewear.com/2009cadencecupresults.htm

Cadence Cup Series
June 28, 2009
Brooklyn NY

Pro/1-2-3
103 starters
44 miles

1. Sanchez Beriguetto (Ortiz Celado) 1:36:46
2. Euris Rafael Vidal Paulino (Champion System)
3. Daniel Zmolik (CRCA/Empire)
4. John Loehner (CRCA/Empire)
5. Gavriel Epstein (Champion System)
6. Anthony Lowe (WS United)
7. Adam Alexander (CRCA/Foundation)
8. Vladimir Estevez (Champion System)
9. Gavin Robertson (CRCA/Foundation)
10. Rodney Santiago (Champion System)

KOM # 1 presented by Lucarelli & Castaldi Attorneys At Law

1. Luis Aquino (Champion System)
2. Euris Rafael Vidal Paulino (Champion System)
3. Tadeusz Marszalek (Sommerville Sports)

KOM # 2 presented by Lucarelli & Castaldi Attorneys At Law

1. Euris Rafael Vidal Paulino (Champion System)
2. Vladimir Estevez (Champion System)
3. Gavriel Epstein (Champion System)

SPRINT # 1 presented by Cycles Gladiator Wine

1. Anthony Lowe (WS United)
2. Vladimir Estevez (Champion System)
3. Euris Rafael Vidal Paulino (Champion System)

SPRINT # 2 presented by Cycles Gladiator Wine

1. Vladimir Estevez (Champion System)
2. Anthony Lowe (WS United)
3. Eric Robertson (Kissena)

Category 4
82 starters
31 miles

1. Victor Polonia (Innovation Bike Shop)
2. Sean Barry (Unatt)
3. Leszek Sniadowski (CRCA/Organic Athlete)
4. Robert Lombardi (BVF)
5. Jose Rosario (GS Gotham)
6. Jamul Nicols (CRCA/Foundation)
7. Danny Inoa (BVF)
8. Andrew Gilus (CRCA)
9. Lawrence Uhrlass (EECT/Kreb Cycle)
10. TBD

KOM # 1 presented by Lucarelli & Castaldi Attorneys At Law

1. Lawrence Uhrlass (EECT/Kreb Cycle)
2. Victor Polonia (Innovation Bike Shop)
3. Juanelias Lopera (Unatt)

KOM # 2 presented by Lucarelli & Castaldi Attorneys At Law

1. Christoper Zaverdas (EECT/Kreb Cycle)
2. Nathan Archibald (Unatt)
3. Matthew Montesano (Kissena)

SPRINT # 1 presented by Cycles Gladiator Wine

1. Chris Samuels (Unatt)
2. Mark Spottiswood (GBSC/Babylon Bike)
3. Leszek Sniadowski (CRCA/Organic Athlete)

SPRINT # 2 presented by Cycles Gladiator Wine

1. Leszek Sniadowski (CRCA/Organic Athlete)
2. Victor Polonia (Innovation Bike Shop)
3. Alexander Barouh (Kissena)

A SPECIAL NOTE: 15 year old Christoper Zaverdas (EECT/Kreb Cycle) nearly won the Category 4 race with an impressive solo effort. Chris attacked with three laps to go by himself and quickly built a 30 second lead. He soloed to win the final KOM sprint and was caught on the final lap of the race. Also, junior rider Jose Rosario (GS Gotham) scored 5th place in the Category 4 race. Nice work guys!!

Category 5
40 starters
17 miles

1. David Gardiner (Kissena)
2. Andrew Shapiro (Unatt)
3. Jason Voight (Unatt)
4. Scott Savory (Unatt)
5. Lincoln Wettenhall (Unatt)
6. Ruben Osborne (Kissena)
7. Misha Chiporukha (Unatt)
8. Benjamin Cornish CRCA/NYVelocity)
9. Bruce Mussen (Unatt)
10. Richard Petersen (Kissena)

Thanks to all the marshals, registration volunteers, pacers and officials!

Charlie Issendorf
Race Director
Kissena Cycling Club

Wheelsucker

Dearest Cat 5. You are wise beyond your tender years. And so amply equipped with your wattage device. You are a master tactician, all 68kg of you. One bit of advice though. No one here cares except the three other guys in our break.

I know that’s hard to believe, because when I was a Cat 5 rider everything and anything seemed important. But as you move up in the categories and experience the darkest recesses of failure and woulda-coulda-shouldas … well, you stop feeling the need to over anal-eyes.

You realize that this sport is MOSTLY about failure and self recrimination, punctuated by RARE moments of bliss. You realize that while normalized power is MORE (4-norm) than AP, it still means jack shit in terms of winning a Cat 2 race. That guys your weight can hold 300w for 3 hours while riding tempo. Normalized power is a socialist construct.

See, right now the progression seems linear. You’re shooting for the STARS, and soon you’ll be a B, then an A, and then …

I envy your enthusiasm and expert data collection. There are other sites which welcome your efforts. May I suggest starting a BLOG? At the end of each blog post it is customary to post your power numbers. Or at a minimum you might try Peloton East? That way, you won’t be made un-pure by NY Velocity meanies.

Less talk, more racing. You’ll learn. Just think … at the end of the day who was the bad ass on Star Trek? Did Kirk sit around talking about his power numbers? No friggin way. You never hear him say … “yeah, we were at Warp 2, 4-norm Warp 4!”. He OWNS up to his warp speed. He makes the order, beams down, screws up, knocks up a strangely human looking alien girl, and then Spock saves his ass.

Welcome. Please post more.

Wheelsucker

i dig that cat 5 post. everyone’s an excitable cat 5 once. its like seeing a youngster all googly-eyed in puppy love for the first time … you can’t hate on that.

that being said, around here people play whack-a-mole, and hazing newbies is part of cycling culture like it or not.

still say $100 that anyone who hazed cat 5 guy gets beat by him w/in 2 years

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