Saturday I participated in my second and third (I doubled up) races of the season. After last week’s survival-inspired dip of the toes at Central Park, I was prepared to show up and actually do more than use the race to metaphorically lower myself into the bathtub of athletic mightiness. No, I would be the letting go of the safety handrail and plunging fully into the bubble bath of the 2015 pretend bike racing season with the aplomb of a seasoned soaker. I was excited, and my enthusiasm rose as I made my way to Branchbrook Park in Newark, NJ.

If you haven’t been to Branchbrook Park to race recently (or at all—why do you hate Jersey?), I would recommend it, the course is interesting—with twist and turns and one very right angle turn—and it’s been recently re-paved, which to those used to the Northern France-esque pavement of both Central and Prospect Parks will come as a welcome respite from the crater dodging required to circumnavigate those courses. Granted, there’s a complete lack of elevation change (Strava says that there’s 25 feet of elevation change per lap, but that feels really high), but on Saturday, we didn’t need hills because we had wind—buckets and buckets of wind.

Anyone who was outside on Saturday would’ve certainly noticed the wind, as there was a good chance that it knocked them over and blew them hither and thither like a tumbleweed through a wind tunnel (studies show that tumbleweeds wearing an aero helmet are 3.5% more tumble-ly, which makes for a significant time gain over a 40k tumble). And Newark was not exempt from Saturday’s marauding winds. This made for interesting racing, as the wind essentially built a hill that needed to be climbed on the finishing straight, and then there was descent on the back side of the course—it was like FBF without flooding or insect plagues.

I’ve got about 20 years of blustery experience, so hiding from the wind isn’t difficult for me. My first race was the one for gentlemen 45 years and above. I was joined in the race by teammate Pascal, who has more even more experience than me. We shoved off and then Pascal got into a three man break with Doug O and Jeff C which quickly gained enough time to make the race a three man contest (Pascal got third). I was content to just ride at the front of the race and crush dreams for the rest of the time allotted for the racing of bicycles.

Immediately after, I lined up for the 35+ race with teammates Chas, Pascal (again) and Marcus, our big Swedish teammate who was starting his first race of the year. This race followed a similar pattern to the previous race, with Marcus and Pascal getting into the break. This situation  was a good one for us again, so Chas and I rode to crush dreams. Big Swede Marcus ended up winning the race, which was fantastic (a win for a teammate is also always a win for me, so it was nice to win again), and I had pleasant morning crushing dreams—what more can you ask for out of a race morning?