Also check out Ben Harris’s report: Upton Performance Systems. As someone who has ascended the ranks very quickly Mike Sherry explained the differences between the categories like this: (and I paraphrase… a lot.)
Cat 4: In the fours, riders try to initiate breaks when the peloton is rolling along instead of counter attacking until one sticks. When you watch a break on OLN, it’s usually 2 hours into the race; they don’t show the ten other failed breaks it took to get the successful one off. That is why they so rarely work, it’s easy to chase a break when you are relatively fresh.
Cat 3: In the threes, the stronger riders know how to make a break work and it’s much harder to stop them. Team work becomes a bigger factor.
P-1-2: In the twos, sometimes a break gets away and guys will just sit up anyway because they don’t like the configuration of the break, and would rather take their chances and wait for the next one. That would never happen in the threes. Everybody is strong, but a much greater premium is placed on being a smart rider.
@##=#<1,L>@##=# On to Saturday’s race
The weather turned from rainy to fair in the middle of the race but the wet roads and shoulder to shoulder riding caused few crashes — I only saw one relatively minor one, in the always suspect 4 field. The pace seemed a little quicker than last year, Jiminy always seems to draw the best talent from NY and New England in the 4’s. Maybe it’s because it’s an early race and the best new racers haven’t upgraded yet. In either case, the 4’s still stuck to the script and the few breaks that got away didn’t have any real bearing on the race.
Even so, Aaron Wolfe (Edgemont Capital), Anthony O’Malley and Kim ‘Mini-Thor’ Riseth (Jonathan Adler) were determined to make things interesting forcing the pace and riding combatively. It was interesting to see how, with the addition of Mr. Mini Thor, Anthony’s attacks have become much more effective – they made a mean 1-2 punch. However, this course is much too windy and flat, so unfortunately no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn’t break it up. Also putting in some time at the front on the hill was Ben Harris (Merrill) with an impressive pull on the hill. Unfortunately it cost him and he rode up the finishing hill with cramps. Matt Serra of Edgemont was also seen doing some nice work at the front. Also impressive was 50-year-old CRCA stalwart Jeff Vogel of Setanta who finished solidly in the pack and looked strong up the climb.
On the last lap after the climb the race settled down as riders started to look forward to the inevitable sprint. Being toward the front was key but of course no one wanted to take too much wind and moving through the pack was tricky. A small group containing most of the favorites made the right corner with a small advantage after the 15th or so position riders had to brake and accelerate on the corner.
Westwood Velo’s Steven Goldman positioned himself well all race and in the end netted himself and impressive 9th place – I think his stock definitely went up as a Bear Mountain favorite. And this new Kissena guy, Rufus, got 7th. Has anyone raced with him before? Kim showed the out-of-town 4’s what the CRCA B’s know all too well: he can attack all day long and still hold his own in the sprint for a NYC best 6th place. Not far behind them were Aaron Wolfe, O’Malley (who did about as well last year too) and big Kenneth King at 16-17-18. A bit further back was Chris Loudon, who took a lot of wind to get himself into good position didn’t get the chance to unleash his potent sprint. As for myself, I started the hill in about 8th position right on Aaron Wolfe’s wheel with grand visions of improving on my 11th place last year, until I completely cramped about halfway up. All I could do was watch everyone roll by until I saw Ben Harris riding at a pace I could match. I think we shared a cup of tea for the last 300 meters. Still I thought it was a fun race. Tell us about your race below.
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Didn’t seem very aero at first but the results speak for themselves. Kim was showing us his busted up front wheel.
@##=#<2,L>@##=# Aaron Wolfe sports his billy goat soul patch.
Thanks Alex, great report. I though you looked good until the end, what happened?
All and all a very good race and though there were no breaks there were at least some strong attacks to keep it interesting I was right in front of the crash so I didn’t really see it but I hear everyone was okay.
Look forward to the next one.
Thanks P,
I wish I had crashed so I would have an excuse
Worse still Was Petr Hupert, what happened to him since last year?
I enjoyed this race and had fun attacking, however foolish it may have been to go against the norm. But I remember a few things differently. I did not see O’Malley and Kim attacking–I thought they were only chasing. In fact, O’Malley told me his job was to cover me, which he did well. Kim rode a smart and strong race. I know my legs were already worked going into the final climb, so maybe I blew my own chances, but I wanted to try to break it up, and that means keep trying. What would have happened if JA had tried to jump away rather than just chase down the attacks with the entire pack in tow?
I wasn’t that far up at the final turn, more like 30th after letting myself get boxed in in the middle-front as riders swarmed around the sides. Maybe you were on someone else’s wheel?
Yes Aaron I was further up around the corner but you caught up after that I was on your wheel about a third of the way up, my account was loose summery of my final hill.
Thanks for your report, we will see what Anthony and others say when they check in. I very easily could have seen or heard thing wrongly.
As far as I recall it was the typical CAT 4 Road Race…stay together and duke it out at the end. There definetely weren’t any worthwhile attempts to create a break.
Overall, fun racing with all of you CRCA friends. And good luck at Bear Mt. this coming weekend.
I made a very stupid move after getting to the front on the final descent. I positioned myself on the right shoulder and completely screwed myself. The shoulder ended up ahead as the road went right, and thankfully I saw that or I would have been in an even worse position. Hitting the breaks was my only option, unless I wanted to try forcing my way into the pack during the squeeze but we all know how that ends up. Smartest and strongest win, so congrats to them!
The constant horn honking down Rt 7 on all laps from the official (I assume it was the official?) was pleasant. 2 feet to the left of the shoulder is apparently the new yellow line rule? A lot of guys must have gotten boxed in on the inside but the lack of bunching up probably reduced the crash potential.
That honking was annoying, it was like that part of the course was governed by the white line rule. I’ve never seen a race relegated to the break down lane
What was that honking all about? I don’t remember it from previous years. I think the official had it all screwed up. How do they expect 100 people to ride in the shoulder…this was a race, not a group ride. I can still hear the honking in my sleep. 🙂
can i blame the honking for my horrible positioning around that last turn? top 20 turned into about 45th after having to brake hard as i nearly got pushed into the curb. too bad cause i still had legs (i think). my own dumb fault . congrats to all the others who placed.
Goddamnit Kim, I told you not to wear that silly Viking hat. No wonder you only got 6th.
This race was easy. Unfortuntely, I lost my position hitting the final climb and blew myself up bridging to the top 15. Aaron was the only one who attacked and never had a chance. All of the other moves were just people who don’t have the power to stay way, wasting energy. The New Englanders played it right. Anyway, good time and good workout. I like all of the excuses, it makes me fell better that I have one too.
I just want to congratulate my buddy, Dean for finishing with the main group for the first time! Congrats, all the hard work has paid off!
I’m team mates with "that new Kissena guy" Rufus..raced twice with him at floyd bennett..all i can say is "strong like bull"
Lorenzo I love the move you made on the dirt to get to the front right before the climb!
Thanks K King…every lane was clogged up except for the dirt! It was fun…I wanted to move up at all costs to take my flyer…there was no way I was going head to head against the climbers on the final climb…it was a long shot…but would have been great if I could have stuck it…my legs died as soon as gravity took over!!! LOL…great racing with you.
30th on the final turn, i dont know whats that far back means to you. anyone 10 wheels back shouldnt even be sprinting.
its a mile to the finish from the turn.
a mile uphill
Aaron nice aggressive race but you should have been attacking on the uphill stretch into the wind not the downhill stretch with the wind.
Lorenzo, that would have been great if you stuck it. Try to lay of the Marlboros and red wine this week. I’m committed to a drug free week, we’ll see if it helps.
Nice write up, thanks. It was a fast and fun race. Aaron is right in observing that I myself did not put in any full blown solo attacks. However O’Malley did attack once or twice that I saw. Instead I focused on staying close to the front and responding to any attacks that might seem to be going somewhere. I went with Ben on one attack that he initiated, and bridged up to a few others, and tried to go in a break-away a couple of times, once with O’Malley. He rode a strong race, and put in a good finish, as the results show.
At the descent after the hill I was up front, trying to make it a little bit harder for people in the back to get in, but I would not call it a real attack. (The last time going down the hill I had to stay in front partly because I didn’t have any real braking power. A spoke in the front wheel broke on the second lap, so I had to ease off the front brake a bit. It was thouching the rim after the race, but I did not notice anything during the race and I don’t think it was any influence on the rolling resistance)
My ambition was to keep the tempo reasonably high, as I figured the finishing hill would suit me better that trying to go alone on the flats.
Edgemont rode aggressively on the last lap, launching attack after attack, and deserve credit for that.
BTWY, I have ordered the carbon/titanium issue of the Viking helmet, should be good for the next bunch sprint, so watch out.
Thanks Craig, the pack of Marlboros before the race didn’t help…and Dean kept telling me not to use Red Wine in my bottles but to try an energy drink…what can I say, I am a stubborn Italian…but if wine helped in the early days of the tour, why not now? 🙂
BTWY, I have ordered the carbon/titanium issue of the Viking helmet, should be good for the next bunch sprint, so watch out.
Jack, of course you are right. But something snaps in me when guys start chatting about what old high school friends are up to, and I had to go. Not very smart, I know.
In the above picture of A. Wolfe, does it seem that the photographer (reflected in his sunglasses) is not wearing any pants?
What’s up with that?
Sometimes in a reflection you just see what you wanna see