Write up your own version of the weekend’s racing, feel free to be inflammatory, try not to be libelous or anonymous.
Find out exactly how easy it is to be schmalz.
Add comments below.
Here’s our quick and sloppy recap:
Roubaix – Mighty Fabian? Big George – steerer or stem, which sponsor takes the hit?
Alejandro Acton comes back east and doubles up right away, winning TARGETRAINING’s TT on Saturday and Bethel Sunday.
CRCA A race – “Lonely” John Loehner and Axis the new Quick Step? (Flanders Quick Step – not Roubaix Quick Step)
CRCA B race – Hungarian Domination from Sanchez Metro.
Comedy Central – The Laughing Ladies dominate the CRCA women’s cup race, but Advil-Chapstick sweeps the podium at Bethel.
Motor Harris takes second on Saturday, second on Sunday at the Spring Series, to Davidenko of the Navigators.
Norton wins the SS on Saturday, Sauvayre the 3/4’s (does it rhyme with ‘so there’ or ‘on fire-ah’?), Rafferty the Masters. So did Rafferty really solo past the 123 field?
Did Chris Loudon finally lose a SS sprint Sunday, or did Johnson Beatte win in a solo move?
Wonder Wheel takes first and third out of a four man break in the Masters, with Thomas Luzio taking the win.
JP Kaminiski had a good weekend, 2nd at the SS 3/4’s on Saturday, 3rd in the 4’s at Bethel Sunday.
NYVC a cesspool of negativity? David Blume wins the Bawm Chicka Bawm Bawm (Maglia Rosa or Jersey of Shame?) for most mature posting.
In MTB news, Merrill’s Gregg Galletta opened his off-road season on Saturday with a solid 2nd place in the expert category of the Root 66 series in CT. Gregg led most of the race, took a few risks on a descent, crashed (do I sense a theme here?), lost a few spots and was able to claw back into the second spot.
George is cursed!
catvii.blogspot.com
Sauvayre: yes, like "so there."
not "suave-y-erri," although i realize that is fun to say.
Very few NYC riders at Seaford. Too bad.
Heard Peter Salon was up there on Day 1 of Seaford but haven’t got other info.
Where should I begin? Kim Riseth is now an A, so as I predicted Adler was nowhere at the finish of the B’s. The truth stings, doesn’t it Jay. Metro was carried by one or two strong riders while the rest of the "team" drifted aimlessly through the pack. The Pastel Posse had one man in the break and another got 2nd, but only because those two riders were sent down from the A field. And as for Foundation I remember seeing lots of red, but very little effect. Why bother guys? I thought Edgemont looked pretty organized and to their credit they put a non-sprinter across the line in 4th. The NY Velocity.com rejects were nowhere to be seen in the race. Maybe they don’t race in the rain. I think I had the most accurate call on the b-race. Send me the t-shirt, I need a new rag to clean my chain.
No, I will not post my name. Face it, anonymous posting is what makes this site so much fun!
I’ve had lots of fun in my life insulting people to their face, or in writing with my name attached. You should try it that way B Cool — siging your name forces you to use higher quality insults.
B cool, were you even at the race? As for NYVC; Chris Mecray was powering the last break that just got caught and Chris Shaw saw most every other break in the race. Mecray still managed to just miss the top 4 (which I am assuming you were in, right?) and same goes for Sprinter Justin Brown.
shout out to wonder wheels, for 2 days 2 wins in the masters. both days with impressive breaks.
B cool….B cool man. The NYV rejects had a good race all thing considered. We took 2 of the top 10 places Chris M. and Justin B and had presences in 3 or 4 breaks. one of which was almost the winning move (Chris M. was in a break of 4 i belive, they got caught last lap) For a bunch of rejects I would say not bad…Ohh I forgot to mention that we are bunch of big dudes and would kick the sh!t out of you in a street fight so it’s best that you keep real name to yourself..
cheers
JT,
Damn you and your intelligence! As usual you have called my hand. To be specific, I thought you were as slow as a slug when we did repeats on Tiorati after Sunday’s Spring Series race. 19.I73429 mph at Level 4b(2) on my SRM is pathetic. I know I am your teammate but the truth can not be silenced anymore then a paper bag can hold fire. Tony Settel
ohh yeah I forgot Chris Shaw covered almost all the breaks…hah bite it!
exactly how far is bethel from the city?
stickboy – that’s why this page is here, so you can write up your own reports. I had a big day at Ikea to sleep off…
"…..sent down from the A field" I cant believe teams are sending riders down from the A field to contend B races. What’s up with that?
3/4 SS on Sunday in CP.
Congrats to Johnson on winning that field sprint. He went from the bottom of the hill and never slowed down. To summarize the race, the field split at end of the 2nd lap I assume due to the Cat 5 finish with 20+ people in the front group. The guys likely to break away were marked pretty closely so no attacks went very far.
Highlight of the race came on the third lap. An unattached rider didn’t get the message at the start that the race was extended to 4 laps from 3. While the main group was single file going up cat’s paw, he swings out and goes into full sprint. A pro style bike throw at the line followed by the victory shout and salute is met with the realization that there’s another lap to go. Got to give the guy some style points though. I can’t do anything but spit the foam out of my mouth and stay upright after a sprint.
Last lap, Rifflemacher and Guzman attack, I assume on Harlem Hill. They get and hold a good 100-200m gap and I was giving them a 50/50 shot of holding it to the finish. Metro wasn’t chasing to start and as the only team with more than a couple of guys (excluding Foundation content with their guys up the road), if they didn’t close it down it would stay away. Metro, led by Willingham had enough of that by the time we got to tavern so they cranked up the pace and brought it back together by the last down hill. That brings us to the finish where Johnson launched it like we were finishing in prospect park.
Bethel. 4’s.
My last thought was: "ok, so everyone is really going to slam to win the second cash sprint?" Then suddenly the front starts sitting up and patting each other on the back after crossing. What??
Did anyone else hear the organizer say that there would be 3 prem sprints–one for ice cream and two for cash?
Maybe I was thrown off by the idea that people were mashing for Ben and Jerry’s at one point.
Could we get a prem sprint for a stick of butter in the SS?
Schmalz…you gotta check this blog about PR, its friggen priceless.
http://cyclocosm.com/2006/04/curse-of-great-tombino.html
some Seaford info:
http://gsmengoniusa.com/_news/041006.htm
SS 3/4
Yes it was me that did the third lap sprint on a four lap race. I gladly accept the idiot award of the week.
Give me hell. I can take it.
Did you catch Fred Mengoni on OLN’s Paris-Roubaix coverage?
Was that him sitting in one of those hoisted-up tractor buckets?
why would they add a lap?
Sat. 4/8 PP SS 5’s
dreary and london-esque. had some "questionable" mexican food the night before and didn’t sleep very much with all the trips to another room.
it was a fun race. some people actually wanted to work (probably just to stay warm) and the pace picked up immediately. people played by the rules and pretty much stayed to themselves.
the lone bvf guy (john, i think..sorry) did a ton of work up front…something tells me that’s the last time.
we were graced by a 50+ italian version of santa claus, complete with the jolly tummy.
i can only imagine how many miles he had in those legs…he totally hung and stunned some 20-somethings into training just a little more next week.
so back to that mexican food. let me first start by giving a sincere apology (seems to be the theme this week) to the 25 people behind me…i pulled some james bond shit on you…i just remember hearing a lot comments that started with "dude….(plug in religious expletives here)" and worse yet, it just happened i had (and i do mean "had") to expunge on the climb…those eager lungs got pasted with my methane…my bad. i’m just happy i didn’t shit my bibs, in all honesty.
back to the race..
one break with Christoffel Prinsloo and James Hines went off about 100 yards during the last lap but got swallowed soon after. nice try guys.
rounding the final corner, there were 4 of us abreast, waiting for the other to go: alex betko, james hines, me, and i think carl maslag. (i’m surprised i got that much right. how some dude remembered friggin’ #’s during a race is astounding)
i jumped first…way too early, what’s new…and just got nipped at the line by tyler matta.
you know that feeling when something just barely grazes your nutsack? …so slight an action, yet soooo painful. (trust me ladies, not fun)
balls off to you tyler for winning…awesome sprint!
if anyone knows that italian meatball’s name, drop it here. super nice guy and i only hope to be that strong when i get "there"
4/9 CP SS 5’s (with 3/4’s) …two laps
i need to clip my toenails so i’ll keep this short.
fun race. being a fledgling 5 racer, it was fun to race in a pack that actually tries to not use brakes and holds a somewhat consistent pace.
metro and foundation were up front trying stuff…nothing stuck in the first two laps of the FOUR lap race.
can i deviate for a minute? ..thanks
ok…would some fancy lawyer in a road-runner race please fall down and bust up his face…or at least break an ankle?!!
that’s what it’s gonna take for them to re-pave that park…a big fat friggin lawsuit. some may defend and point out the "patches" on the east side…
those "patches" are nothing more than some dude with a shovel and a wheelbarrow full of tar. i’ve seen ’em filling the holes. they literaly just slap the ground with the spade to flatten ’em out and hope all the cabs smooth them over. me, like most of you, just did my taxes and we paid a lot of money to the city (2nd highest in the country last time i checked) …
so, if any of you have a masochistic lawyer-friend who’s anti-bloomberg, email me at bru1791@mac.com and we’ll get on it.
i regress…
cruising around towards the end of our bell lap…lol…($22 bucks for a 12 mile race…that’s another rant. i did pay it however) and there’s a little suffering going on. i see it in the faces of my green-numbered-brethren at the front. i smell blood in the water. i’m in perfect position (or so i think)…then all of the 3/4’s fall off (graciously and wisely) at this point we’re strung out and i’m at the front at the loop split…shit. here we go again. but then i hear this familiar voice right behind me say "dude, you got it. Take it!". i can’t see anyone on either side of me so i go…somewhere before the resturaunt. if i were a pettachi or a hushovd, good move but my last name is brubaker and my little fly-fart of a sprint can’t make it nearly that far. furthermore, like a dumbass, i’m leading everyone else out. i pop about 2/3rd’s up the hill and lose 3 places to cross 4th.
i ask my numerically challenged friend later why he told me to go…he said he’d pulled off about 300 yards back. whomever said that? … you’re a friggin’ genius!!! i’m adding that to my psy-ops arsenal for next time.
to andrew, greg, matt, and james…you’re welcome. you all owe me a beer…belgian trappist ale will be fine.
oh yeah…one side note. congrats to rashad "math-boy" guerra for kicking the shit out that third lap. i gotta give you props…when you blow, you shoot high….the only thing is, you got it all in her hair!!! i know exactly what happened…they made the lap # announcement at the start and you were waxing poetic about the size of your…
peace,
k
…A Bawm Chicka Bawm Bawm T-Shirt to kevin b. for the most immature posting. It goes a little like lee3 on crystal.
Nice, Kevin B.
Best dig yet. assface. live it up.
Kevin, love the enthusiasm, but let me remind you that this is an ANIMAL porn site. Easy on the human porn talk, please.
sorry andy … got a little worked up there.
you see, my girlfriend’s outta town and…
what did people do before them internets, anyway? very entertaining.
Girlfriend?…..giggity!
i don’t think you gave enough justice to you weapon of ass destruction kevin b. i know some people launch searing attacks at well chosen moments, but yours was timed to perfection. this beast you unleashed not only smelled horrid, it had fur. considering we were all pulling hard and breathing hard, we had no choice but to chew on it. i kow this stuff dissipates in open air, but yours hung to spray the entire peleton.
thanks again.
Is everyone sick of making sweeping left hand turns in the parks yet?
the philly two day had a crit on sunday that was unlike any other I have done. super fast with some very safe semi technical sections.
Anyway it was fun, maybe next year check it out, it is worth the drive and will give you a chance to get out of the park and show off some riding skills.
Don’t inhibit Kevin. He’s the best new addition to the site. Let him continue in his own unique, irreverant and off-color style. And if he gets it in her hair on occasion, so be it.
Hey what do you guys think about the DQ of the three riders at Parix Roubaix??? Was it justified? What if Cancellara had been caught because he had to wait for the barriers also???
Here’s how it’s done
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5680/scansione00095xl.jpg
Comment on Roubaix:
I read a blurb on velonews which make a great point, the second through fourth place riders made it through before the train, despite the flashing red light. Well if you look at the footage, so did boonen and his group after the train went through. The lights were still flashing. Technically thats illegal as well.
Also, the camera crew were the first to go through the barriers, which I gives the cyclists the nod that the group can go through, then neutral support. They all had enough time to go with out harm.
They got robbed!
Saturday’s cup race may have been fast but Sunday was harder. Smaller field
(50-60) windy and colder, though dry. Ken Harris is amazing. He attacks 1st
lap, Jeff King goes with. Jeff can’t match Ken and ends up being
dragged around
30-40 sec off the field with a stiff wind to boot, which is no mean
feat. There
are 5 pros in the race: 3 Fiordifruitta, a Navigator: Vassilli
Davidenko, and a
Nerac. Davidenko and the Fiordifrita’s keep Harris in check, but he’s
moving so
fast we aren’t catching. Davidenko takes a mondo pull and the field cracks
behind him. I’m the last guy to make the 12 rider split and we catch
Harris and
King with 3 to go. King is cooked but Harris attacks immediately after being
caught! Unbelievable. Not even Davidenko or the Fiordifruitta guys want to
chase. The group comes to a near dead stop and everyone looks around. Maertes
slips off after Harris. Toga/Gotham who have like 4 guys there and the leaders
jersey are now out of the equation. The field catches us on the West side with
one to go and Fiordifruitta chasing again. Suddenly Davidenko attacks and
everyone is totally knackered, we just watch him go and nod our heads in
submission. Davidenko overhauls Harris and Maertes, Harris hangs on for 2nd. I
had a little left in the end and nip in for tenth in a very blown out field
sprint.
cc
If Fabian had been caught by the train, the chasers would have been held back by the same time amount. If the chaser get caught by the train, as I see it – it’s "too bad, you should’ve been at the front"
From cyclingnews:
Under current rules, had Fabian Cancellara been stopped, he would have been compensated for the delay. "The normal ruling is that he would be given his advantage again," says McQuaid. "The commissaires would have put a watch on and given him the same time gap once the barrier was raised. But once the leader is through, you can’t stop him at that point.
Sorry, CC is a really cool guy and strong rider but I have to correct that Sunday SS posting. 3 mistakes:
1. "Jeff can’t match Ken and ends up being dragged around…" I didn’t do as much work as Ken and had to skip some pulls but I did pull through, I would know, I was there.
2. "and we catch Harris and King with 3 to go" it was less than 2 to go
3. "King is cooked" I was tired but I still got 9th overall
Also, I don’t think Fiordifruitta is a pro tem. They are really good but not pros. And the "Nerac" was Mike Norton.
Oh, and Ken is a total A-hole and I hate him…. okay, that’s not at all true I just wanted to see if you were reading this far.
Thin Mike Norton of Nerac was CRCA for a year or two — with Thinkracing. Good guy.
SS 123
Slight correction, when Maertes attacked, I followed, not the other way. And Davidenko did indeed haul my ass around– there was little I could do to help at that point.
Jeff, you’ve broken "the silence of the break." Lose my number. And to think I used to care…
Sorry Ken. I don’t get in breaks that often so when I do, I blab about it. "Hey, guys I got in a break! I was in a break!". Please forgive me
the gap you guys had on the 123 field was silly. our jaws were dragging on the asphalt when the two of you finished. i hate to say it but i have a man-crush on ken harris.
Van Petegem’s sentiments were pretty spot on. Its pretty lame that a world class event, "Pro-Tour points wise" is decided on a friggen train! The outcome of the race was pretty much decided by then – They should have overlooked the rules in this case. Valuable Pro-tour points go to teams that would not have had them otherwise. Hat’s off to Boonan and "?" for not standing on the podium in recognition of the men stronger than them. After riding 250km. and DQ’ing just sucks – Where’s ‘help me Howard’ when he’s needed?;)
Jeff, you are right Craig is cool guy. My bad for posting that without editing anything that might offend. Craig just gave his perspective on the race. Not all facts. I cut and pasted an internal ReMax e-mail. Great job for a big sprinter like you to make the break, take pulls with Ken H. and then still be able to sprint for a place.
First: major props to Jeff for an awesome ride on Sunday. He was in a two up break for five laps which is certainly more than I’m capable of AND I couldn’t come around him in the sprint.
Second: Yo MG, I wrote that for Remax only. I deliberately wrote about Jeff because he’s an awesome sprinter and as our team is based around Alessio we should keep tabs about what other sprinters are capable of. Letting others in on this perspective is counterproductive. Let me know if you are going publlic and I’ll shine it up next time.
Three: I don’t know Pros from non-Pros around here. Everyone looks like a pro to me, what with all your fancy kit. Not so many ride like it. The Fiordi guys and Mr Norton were class acts. Mr Harris, however, is the classiest of all, and a humble "3" to boot. Hats off. With his funny-but-effective on the bike position and stellar wattage Mr Harris could become CRCA’s own Graham Obree. Ken PLEASE register for masters nats.
Okay, now back to the real world.
The train-Roubaix episode was the right call. Precedent must be set and maintained. If you overlook the rule now (and there are good reasons for this from a sporting perspective: race already decided, efforts made, world cup points, nobody hurt or disadvantaged) then you’re gonna have riders going through train baracades all season hoping they can get away with it. Trains stop races all the time in Europe (these socialists what with all their trains runnin’ around), amateur events especially (big Pro events can get regularly scheduled passanger trains changed, apparently the Roubaix train was an unscheduled freighter). The danger of a trickle-down is real: imagine some amateur event being stopped by a train and some hot-heads deciding to go for it cause they saw the Pros do it. Not good.
CC
Big props to all the guys in breaks at SS on Sunday. Ken, you are an animal. It must be nice to have loads of time to train and not much holding you down like wife, kids, big mortgage or demanding job–I’m jealous! Davidenko, Norton (The Noodle), Maertes, and the Fiordi guys did a nice job of controlling, and in Davidenko’s case, winning the race. Of course I can’t forget The King. Considering he works a high-pressure job and barely trains he is just pure talent. He sprints, breaks, slices and dices. Ya gotta love’m!!
Talk about damned by faint praise ? How do you know what pressures Ken may or may not be under ? He works for a living, has a girlfriend, and spends alot of time helping the CRCA as President, dealing with Parks, the Conservancy and all the headaches that go along with it.
Right now hes the CRCA Hammer – full stop. No need for caveats or adendums. (this takes nothing away from Jeff K or Kevin Molloy or above all John Loehner who I’m told works crazy hours) 99% of people in NY could train full time and then could never hold a candle to Ken’s ability, thats ability to train and ability to suffer in a race.
Clearing the air on Raisin – Read this on Velo News
Legeay once again denied that Raisin was epileptic and said reports that Raisin suffered some sort of seizure in a crash in 2003 in a French amateur race are also unfounded.
"The crash he had a few years, when he was choking on his tongue, that was from a reaction from falling," he said. "It’s like when a boxer is knocked out. They are like in a state of shock after a hard blow to the head."
Can Jeff turn a sandwich into a banquet?
CC and MG,
Thanks for the kind words. I now think Remax is the coolest team around. Except for Alessio… I hate him. Again, just kidding.
Andy, I can’t cook but last week I ate 2 footlong subs from Subway for lunch. Does that count for anything?
I think that’s the exact opposite of turning a sandwich into a banquet. That’s turning two sandwiches into a snack for one.
if
k harris = g obree
then
j miller = h verbruggen
some of us admire the ability and willingness to suffer even more than the impressive wattage….ken rules/
What’s with all the upgrading trash talk going on (if not here then CRCA net)? If you’re a cat 3 riding 1/2/3 races, who cares if you upgrade? If you’re a 3 and you smoke the field at Bear Mtn or a similar race then lets talk.
The upgrading talk is purely a self-esteem thing. Some Cat 3’s like to feel like they’re a big deal, and it hurts their pride to have to compare themselves to Ken. When Ken moves up, they can go back to feeling like the big men again.
I recall being a 4 and waiting for Sherry, Ken and Gulla to upgrade so I could have my day in the sun. But I ended up missing them in the field (at least in the Park, I was definitely happy not to have to chase Mike Sherry up any more hills). But those guys could really make a breakaway stick (still can) and they pushed us ordinary humans to ride faster, harder and smarter. Without their engines fueling a break, the races (in the Park at least) were left to trying to stay away from a large and powerful VB squad. Even after Gulla and Ken upgraded (for those who are too new to know, Ken was on VB a couple of years ago), VB still had Ricky as their closer and Justin, Ted, Roger and others to chase down breaks. Every week the usual suspects would try to get away, and every week it seemed like the VB breakaway-hunters would shut it down and lead Ricky to the podium. So the loss of the super-fast guys didn’t exactly lead to better results in Park racing for the rest of us.
As a 3, I’m happier to have Ken in my field than not. I’ll miss him when he upgrades. His tactics liven up the races (think of the Cat 3 race at Harriman last September when Ken snuck off the front and stayed out there for what I think was about 3 laps) and you can always count on him to work a break, etc. Seems like he’s doing a great job as club president too. I won’t go so far as to say I’ve got a man crush on him, because I save that for the Evil Matt Howard, but in my humble opinion (I’m not cool enough to use internet-abbreviations) Ken is definitely on the dreamy side.
I remember the VB days. He looked so tough in the Union Jack. I followed the "Analytic Cyclist" like a favorite TV show, and I still hold out hope he’ll start updating it soon. My wife cannot understand why I insist on parading around the house in cycling shoes with no socks or why I wear a Brooklyn hat to bed. If she ever finds out, I’ll have a tough time explaining. It’s not a gay thing, I just want to be like Ken. Like Ken. If I could be like Ken. Like Ken. If I could be like Ken.