Section head text.
Empire’s John Loehner wins the double bell CRCA Team Cup Race after a record setting lap of Central Park that actually produced a sonic boom, MIke Margarite gets second, making an Empire one-two.
Reed Albergotti wins the B race, getting two wins in two weeks. Personally I’d retire and leave that streak intact, but that’s up to Reed.
C Race had a NYVC one-two – Empire style.
And dogs everywhere!
Prospect had Franklin Burgos beating Jermaine Burrowes – details are sketchy so if anyone wants to fill in any details, feel free.
i don’t see them posted
on the CRCA website
I’m sure someone noticed, but velocitynation.com was mentioned in an article in last Saturday’s WSJ. The article was about how people are using the Web to size up the competition in amateur endurance events. There’s also a pretty good pic of Reed Albergotti winning the sprint at the Harlem Crit Cat 4 race (which I believe was taken from the site as well).
where is the “lap”
it’s equally inconceivable that you missed the irony
technically speaking it was VB vs. the online NY cycling community. But then again I forgot about “World Series” complex that pervades in the US…….I’m only joking…
which way is that?
Todd was the best. No question.
I marshaled Trump and pretty sure it was in same direction as our races. They put police barricades everywhere.
Riiiight.
No fair to include the Trump race because everyone knows clockwise is more downhill…
in nyvelocity more than in crcanet
I didn’t even remember half of that stuff! Someone is paying attention.
mankini
And those dark days were even darker than we knew. It was a clear path straight down from Knight Rider to dope fiend. Make fun of JT’s nerdy goggles but he cleaned up a dirty mess making the Park safe for the onslaught of the new uber cyclists of finance.
I think we need to include some of the best from the CRCA Group, so well edited by J(f)T…
1. Crazy Eric rants – simply priceless.
2. The V.B. vs the World argument on Ricky’s title bout.
3. Endless “can you feel the diff between frames” arguments.
4. Do helmets actually make you safer threads.
5. CP police suck threads.
SHUP UP AND RIDE is still one of my favorites.
Some of us battle-scarred veterans remember the darkest of days, back around May 2005, when our young community was in a state of crisis and torn asunder by issues so divisive that even 1,000 emails regarding dogs on CRCA.net simply cannot compare.
JFT – then known simply as JT – was camping out in Central Park with night vision goggles, a nocturnal vigilante with an insatiable appetite to bring down the evil Knight Riders, a reckless band of two-wheeled marauders who routinely pillaged areas throughout Central Park, killing women and raping men. (Not that there would be anything wrong with that second part. Had it been consensual and therefore not rape, that is, of course.)
We were routinely getting bullied into submission by the great and menacing – if not articulate, or even grammatical – Todd, who would taunt us by TYPING IN A LOT OF CAPITAL LETTERS and scored an awesome fourth place win in said night ride, even after a day of massive one-legged squat thrusts reportedly (by Schmalz) while wearing a loincloth.
Cyclistic ethics and knowledge of the USA Cycling rulebook hit an all-time low, with someone named Cisco allegedly mixing fields, all while the officials turned a blind and indifferent eye to his crass maneuvering (or his newbie mistake). There was no justice that day, my friends. (Or it was all blown out of proportion – kinda mattered which side you were on.)
Anarchy was about to ensue. You think you know hate? Please. You don’t know hate. Schmalz didn’t always look like a melted garden gnome, I warn ye.
But out of the wilderness, two sane voices called us back to the fold. First, the wise counsel of “The Good Thursday Agreement,” which not only urged the community to come together and heal, but provided a true and definitive roadmap for peace in our time; and second to the upbeat stylings of the YMCA remix (“If you don’t know this one, go to the back of the line”) which just really just encouraged us to let our hair down and par-tay:
http://www.velocitynation.com/article.aspx?ID=285&CID=53
So, if we are saving posts for posterity, remember these two; for without them, we’d all be reading this on the NYCC message board (cue to Marlon Brando: “the horror
Does anyone have them….. If so, please post them. Also – when you guys go out of town – you should tell people about this site. It will help these guys make some money. I know they aren’t yet. So tell people up in Mass when in Fitchburgh or when you head out of town. And if you know a pro or 2, tell them to become a member of the site. Post a blog or 2…. It helps them too – as its like free advertising for their ability…
7 laps in 1:29:21 – 12:46 a lap –
unfortunately there are no lap times –
They might have gotten close to 12
Can someone in editorial please cut and paste that post into a Toto or somewhere where it will be saved for posterity.
Mccarthy was 3rd.
While marshal duty is usually a bore, Saturday
I remember the Tour de Trump had a stage in Central Park in 1990. The lap times were in the 12’s but I think the last one was was in the 11’s. I’m pretty sure Mike McCarthy got a top 5 on the stage. Also it was done clockwise direction and finished at Tavern. The lap times seemed incredible because those were the days when mid 27-28 min won the club TT.
“The Lap” was cool. Anyone who likes to ride bikes should be able to admit it.
What’s with the double bell lap though. I can’t believe that didn’t get destroyed on this page today. Is it so hard to count laps and ring a bell?
Here are some other contenders for speed. There are no splits listed on the CRCA website, but the CRCA-Details team did a 50:20 4-laps in 1999. That’s an average of 12:35 with aero gear.
http://www.crca.net/racesarch/club99r.htm#jun
Again with aero gear we see a 12:33 in a TTT in 2003
http://www.crca.net/races03/
and Craig Upton doing a 12:43 solo in a TT.
Oh, anoter TTT with Gulla and Upton and Henson and Harris (eeek what a team) with a 12:26 listed. http://www.crca.net/races04/
Apples and oranges I guess.
Okay, that post was crazy funny. I like the “Remember, CRCA does not publish financials, and their accountant is a known scalawag.” part. So true, that guy is a DB or the highest order.
Yes, I hit the bid at 32 and I’m not offering for less that 31. This is not a fire sale.
Eugene did an amazing job to hold in strong; I got blown out and was having beers before the 2 hours were up.
OK, so here it comes. The reason for “the lap” was to see how fast it can possibly be done. The time was measured by myself and well documented by my SRM. The time was 12:23 (give or take a second). I’m pretty sure that we can break 12 minutes one of these days.
great use of finance humor!
Whats the Spread on July 07 CRCA JK Sprint win options?
He’s new to carbon trading and was just trying to get on the scoreboard to up his profile. Markets weaker since early AM, we’re now 28 1/4mph x 28 3/4mph on Rochester, so sure – it looks like he’s sitting on a paper loss. But at least he’s got some inventory to market to accounts and no doubt he’ll retail it slowly to some emerging market where there’s less price transparency (Jersey?) over the next couple of weeks. He might’ve overpaid a bit, but it was loss-leader to get some skin in the game – I respect that. I also wouldn’t discount the fact that he might be domiciled in an aerodynamically efficient offshore market, where he can get 32mph for only 25mph of effort, and is making a couple of mph on this trade. He seems crafty like that. Look for cheap offers of 0.25mph to 0.50mph in small size over the coming weeks, could be helpful for your next TT.
In other market news, most-fasterest-ever Central Park lap holding steady at 12m20 secs on very thin trading, and I’m not expecting a lot of volatilty there unless rumors of Mortimer and Randolph lunching with Ken Harris are confirmed. Personally, I wouldn’t trade that with a 10 foot pole. The semi-accurate seeming time – 12:20 – are the hallmark of either an insider, or someone who knows an insider and is trying to position accordingly. Remember, CRCA does not publish financials, and their accountant is a known scalawag. They’ve also been notoriously delinquent in publishing race results in the 1 hour window after a race as required by reg killer B, which stipulates that any B racer can complain on nyvelocity if he hasn’t seen confirmation that he wasn’t in the top 10 with 61 minutes of crossing the line.
still fast for 8 corners and 2 hours.
Jeff King Is Not Math Awesome
PezCyclingNews has it at 2:01:32 (28.37mph/45.46kph)
No dis just a lapse in memory. I like the Gladiator Wine and thus, Champ Sys are ok in my book. Clubber drinks wine during the race cause I can…
just dis Champ-Sys by not listing them.
LOL let’s talk smack NOW!!!
But I’ve seen them do a mix of races. Some very hard and some less hard local. Loehner got top ten last month at some stupidly fast Jersey crits with lots of pros in them, for example.
They’re mainly working guys (with some cat 2 and even 3s on the team) so it’s not reasonable to expect them to always travel to the hardest events. That’s a path to burnout unless you’re in it full-time. I’d be dissapointed if they stayed local all the time, but they’re clearly mixing it up.
PS they had some guys in Prospect Saturday too. Also local race, but it’s not like the pure focus is CRCA.
Not including CRCA park races Empire races Prospect and the Spring Series in CP. These races have Frutta racers, Targetraining racers, Sakkonet, Mengoni, etc etc. Those teams are perfectly capable of holding down Empire. So in the non-CRCA only races I think its fine that they race in CP and PP. I love when the competition is high. Its better training and at least you loose to the best in a tactical race.
Thanks JFT – I love the hills even though the results do not show same.
I think Empire and Mengoni are the two best teams in the city. People do get pissed when Empire beats up on them on a weekly basis in the park though. Don’t you think Empire should try and do harder races? It’s obviuos the CRCA races are not much of a challenge for them.
Any pictures from Saturday’s race?
I had to get off my bike 1K from the end once, I was so blown and bonked.
If you like racing up and down hill in beautiful terrain this is for you.
Empire won 4 out of 4 sprints few weeks ago, even though The King was there.
weaklings
Go back to Texas Ranger… Clubber is mad!
Clubber Lang is bored…
is 263 what your parents named you?
Just coincidence that they show in force in park race on the day that L’Equipe GS Bandit’s big gun battles the pros? When will they step up to challenge his Awesomeness?
PS. Empire Chicken makes a fine Kosher bird. Fully seasoned and ready for the oven. Available at fine butcher shops.
All of you that anonymously slag Empire on this site do so out of jealousy. None of you have the balls to sign your name. I know I’m not good enough to be on the team, but I think they are cool to watch and they give us weekend warriors something to aspire to.
29 mph average is pretty fast but it is not too big of a deal, Visit Britan had a team good enough to do the same thing a few years ago and before that Dash had a crazy good team, they had 5 guys in a five guy break once. We are just lucky that our CRCA team healthy and hitting some good form at the same time.
I have always looked at park racing as prep for hard races, a good palce to try new stuff, or stupid stuff like blow your whole team up on one lap
So now we are arguing about whether the solid amateur team Empire is ACTUALLY pro? Please people. Can we elevate this discussion? I’d like to hear from Paris on her opinion…
Lighten up! What feild are you racing for F-berg? You know what? I dont care…
let’s recap. empire buries themselves for a lap. rest of the field sits in. shouldn’t that have made it easier for everyone else who didn’t work?
Any thoughts on Tokeneke? Its early and a 2.5 hour drive. Pre-regs are low and was wondering if it is worth the early rise and long drive? Serious responses welcome. Thanks
I believe that speed calculation. That was one of the fastest races I’ve ever done– the Redlands crit is similar. I was at my limit for the entire 2 hours.
BTW, BIG crowd all over the course– not just at the s/f. Night-time racing is fun.
they are so pro, they don’t even do pro races. who will they have in the f-berg pro-1 race this weekend? I bet half of them do the CRCA race instead.
So freakin pro
so pro? You have got to be kidding me
re-measure/calculate
they truly represent the spirit of CRCA club racing, without a doubt. Quit dissing.
Dude Chill out. Re: Tour of VA – I was not saying that because they race Tour of VA they should not race club events. I guess I meant that they are racing such higher levels of competition that maybe CRCA club races are a bit below them at this point and they should leave such races for the smaller teams. Just my thoughts and nothing negative towards Empire. They are always my favorite local team to route for when I wait at the Pro1/2 finish after getting finishing the 4s.
I think they approach all races like they are big time which is cool for them and not cool for those getting spanked. They always roll into big regional races like a pro team with the Cervelos all lined up. I wish I was on that team just for the cool bikes and kits. I dont know any of the riders but they seem pretty cool. They are so pro!
A solid squad. I am sure some of them are naturals but they all work hard. If they win whether in CRCA or other races, good for them. Try to get your boys organized to see if you can take them, or collaborate with others. Don’t be jealous and whine. Big Kudos to them! If you don’t like them, go ride with NYCC, may be you will win.
What, now if you go ride a competitive race outside of northeast you arent welcome in the club? Please take your head out of your ass and re-insert your foot in your mouth. Too stupid for words.
Huh? Are you nuts? I think every guy in that race was thankful to have Empire there. We LOVE to have real competition and get a great workout. I think all the riders were remarking in awe at the lap speeds, not in frustration. Sheesh – finally a race decided by tough riding instead of just sprinting or small breaks. How is this bad? Oh yeah, I should be angry because Ken Harris et al are getting rich from riding with Empire and its huge budget! Hahaha.
Rides Tour of VA and then dominated CRCA club race. I agree – probobly do not belong racing in CRCA club events unless they are there to help develop the lesser riders on the team. Did they have the big white van following the pack for team support also?
it’s not like the team wasn’t a bunch of CRCA racers before this year? same dudes, better results. JLo was winning last year too.
But it was the 40+ crowd in the break at the end…
but only the ones with balls were able to hit the wind and ride away when it was over. Turned out it was Juniors. They rode great aggressive race. Maybe they don’t have the legs to win one of these yet, but they are not afraid to try. Unlike most other people.
and there was not much of a real pack sprint at the end so yes, with a first and 2nd I think Empire’s tactics worked.
Walter’s comment leads to the obvious question…does a team with that budget and number of riders belong in Club races?
weren’t there women in the field? Did they hang on for “The Lap?” If so, that’s awesome.
is it possible that empire was setting it up for the juniors?
i was pacing the front of the A field. it looked pretty awesome when empire came to the front.
it was pro as shit!
still not nearly as hard as following even the non-doped Pulla.
I guess you should have countered when it was over then, eh? maybe you were just dying like the rest of us, and happy to rest when it was over. either that, or the Juniors are the smartest ones out there….
unless you tried to move up. It was easy enough in the middle of the pack.
at the front or getting dragged around? And did you go on to “do anything” better than first or second place?
I wasn’t there but notice they got 1-2 with guys not known as sprinters.
There’s a saying about cycling tactics that isn’t always true, but is worth thinking about: “The winner is always right”
the only one who thought “the lap” wasn’t that hard? fast yes. but hard? almost every crit i’ve ever done has been harder than that. and seriously, kind of silly for empire to put all that effort into a lap and that not actually do anything with it. interesting strategy
http://www.rochestercrit.com/results/2007/pro_men.html
Is the course is too easy, so you can be gagging but still hang on.
Go do some races with hills or hard corners. Much simpler – you can just fly out the back.
http://www.rochestercrit.com/details.html
I know I suck and won’t win an “A” race but I do train.
Am I the only one feeling like crap 1/2 way through these club races wishing I picked a hobby like building model airplanes instead of racing a stupid bike?
in a crit. Not even with someone else’s legs. No thanks. My heart rate went up and my legs felt heavy just thinking about that.
29.6 for 6 miles is fast for CRCA. But for reference, the Rochester crit averaged over 32 mph with hard corners and attacks for over 2 hours; 60 miles.
I had 26 average. (corroborated by someone else) the break, which had a big gap at one point, was down to 20 secs at the finish.
You guys are acting like tri geeks. Why don’t you just get on your TT bikes and powermeters and get it over with.
There are CRCA ITT and TTT times on the website back to about 1998 so know yourselves out.
http://www.crca.net/racesarch/club98r.htm
The real question is what were lap times in the break the year the Tour de Trump (or was it the Tour du Pont) had a stage in Central Park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_Trump#Stage_11:_New_York_City_.28Criterium.29
offical time for the fastes lap (lap 4) was, I believe 13:08. We did 3 laps at 13:10 as well. First lap was slow at a measly 14:55
imagine if it hadn’t been double points and empire could have lined up 9 people. could have broken 12 mins.
is 12:22 an “official” time?
and how are the times recorded anyway?
wristwatches?
not trying to diminish anyone’s effort, just asking.
that was fast wasnt it?
Can you explain “the lap”? Was it planned? What was the reasoning behind it? Why did you want to hurt us so?
almost a 30 mph lap!? ugggg! that’s just painful to hear. i’m glad i did the prospect race where i recorded a more reasonable 24ish average.
those guys rock. cook is doing a great job, after that fast lap they jumped on it. great stuff to see
Three Guys rolled off the front pretty much at the gun, Franklin from Champion, Saul from NYSketches, I can’t remember who the 3rd Guy was, they got a nice gap right away, about 6 guys jumped away at the top of the hill the 2nd time going up, and bridged across and they stayed away for the whole race, and that was pretty much the race right there.
29.6 mph
I think Smiley did a 12:40 solo back in 2004, so this is definitely a plausible time.
http://www.njbikeracing.com/files/2007/cornerhouse.html
http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2007/06/24-Cox-Charities-Cycling-Classic.asp
for being packfill in that race. No way I could get that kinda training in on my own.
i was part of the ill-fated break on lap 2.. basically on lap 3 we were caught by the field at the Met, led by the Empire Express. It was like water skiing – everyone was holding onto the bars for dear life with white knuckles. That did not stop until we passed the met a lap later. it was brutal…
Is it true that someone from Empire at the front at one point raised his hand, napped his fingers and then next moment the entire Empire squad got to the front and just started putting down the hammer? Wooooow!
5-6 Empire guys take the helm: 1 lap “all out”, just to see how fast they can do it. I heard 12:22. The cool thing was the attack by 3 CRCA Jrs that stuck for 3/4 a lap immediately after Empire swung off. 3 17yr -olds on Jr gears, holding off the A field after a lap when most seniors on 11 and 12 cogs were coughing up lungs. Not bad.
Was so fast we actually went back in time.
I made instant coffee in a microwave once. I almost went backwards in time.
Yes, details about the 9 minute lap please. Everyone wants to hear about 7 minute lap. I mean, I wish I was there for the 6 minute lap.
I was hanging on for dear life and did not even catch a glimps of the front of that race. I take it that the record setting lap was the one where we were all strung out in single file with little gaps forming everywhere. Could somebody who was near the front please tell me how it happened. Were they chasing a break, was it mostly one team pushing the pace? Please tell me?