carpediemracing 

For me the weeknight races are the anchor to my season. Sometimes the hour of racing Tues Night was the only hour I rode all week. I love being able to line up, even if it's not necessarily going for the win. At this point in my not-very-illustrious racing career I'm satisfied if I can make a move or two or I help a newer racer have a "more fun than without me" day.

When I was working I arranged to have Tues off or, later, to leave work early Tuesday. Until 2008? I didn't do weeknight races, I wasn't at home because I was working (work 6-7A to 8PM-midnight for many years) or, before working insane hours, weeknight racing didn't exist.

furiousferret

Are these weeknight races actual usac events or just unsanctioned hammerfests?

We have our unsanctioned stuff which for a 4 is harder than sanctioned stuff, but to actually get points we have to drive to Orange County (60 miles) for their series.

mattm

yes

shovelhd

No thanks.

mattm

why

gsteinb

Races. The weekly race series around nyc are all wildly competitive.

globecanvas

There is Sussex Fairgrounds which is more training-race-like than, say, Floyd Bennett aka Beyond Thunderdome.

To the point, though, I like riding in the morning and also I like doing weeknight hammerfests and races. Maybe not in the same day all the time.

caloso

There have been a couple of attempts to do a sanctioned weeknight series, but nothing has gained traction. There's such a well-establish schedule of weeknight group rides around here. Plus a TT series and CX pickup races in late summer.

gsteinb

they're still races, with guys showing up to win. pay your money. pin on a number. the guys winning those are usually the same guys winning on the weekends.

Wesley36

Tuesday night crit series here in Ottawa. Each week alternates between A and B crits during racing season.

carpediemracing 

USAC sanctioned.

In 2014 I didn't even bother entering the A race, I did the Bs. Initially it was a time thing with Junior's drop dead go-to-sleep time about 30 minutes into the A race (and we could get home just about at that time if I did the B race) but later it was because, frankly, I was significantly outclassed.

It's a Category E race so not really an upgrade type of race. Works for experience for the 5s and 4s though, and for me it's a way to experiment with stuff. I would go there to work on particular efforts or help teammates or whatever.

Helping one teammate.
Helping another teammate.
Them helping me.

Prior years I did the A race as Cat 3s could only do the As. I went hot and cold depending on the year, the week, and my day.
Some dude from SoCal making an appearance (the DeWalt / whatever-Chevy shorts) and I was stuck in my 39T.
Fun finish for me. Todd B was the Canadian M35 Cross Champ one year.
Helping a teammate. Tim U has placed 3rd in the Elite RR, 5th or 7th in the Junior RR.
First race as a 2

The California Giant guy is in one or two of the clips as a Junior but I don't remember offhand which ones. There's also a 5x (Junior) National champ that does these races as well, but I don't have many clips with him in it.

shovelhd

Why have anonymous forum then? Hell lets make Strava participation mandatory and require linking your rides. Who needs names when you've got location.

furiousferret

Nice, I wish we had one local. This summer I'm probably going to skew my work hours to race the OC series some. The problem with the Inland Empire is people get offended if any pavement is being used by something other than a car. Its really hard to find a strip of asphalt that can be closed off during rush hour. The other issue is being at the tail end of the LA region some courses that may be candidates are too far away for a decent amount of racers. A hammerfest works because you mix pros, 1-5's, and Masters in one glob. Parse those out and you have small fields.

What we have really isn't that bad, and you can learn a ton but its not the same vibe as racing.

aaronmcd

****! Another broken spoke on the ride home tonight. Good thing I brought my spoke wrench. I guess I'll have to have a pro fix this issue. Kinda annoyed, the mechanic just built this for me a couple months ago.Oh and a flat tire also on the way home (with a new tire, too).

mattm

I can see that; then again it wouldn't be mandatory.

carpediemracing 

If you broke more than one spoke I'd relace the wheel with new spokes.

You'll want to check that there isn't too much tension on them also. Spokes normally don't break because they need to be pretty fatigued to fail. I figure the first spoke that breaks is a one off. Second breaks and I toss every spoke in that wheel. I prefer to build with less tension than some others.

Also I hope your mechanic used new spokes in the build.

hack

I think a weeknight series would be great, but wonder what ride the general public would be willing to give up.

furiousferret

This is not an anonymous forum though. If it were, I could tell a new racer the best way to come out of a corner is bumping your front wheel into someones rear tire, and we'd all have a laugh when he posts from the ER. Everyone here is accountable in some form. Some less than others.

aaronmcd

Yeah, they were new spokes. I'm probably going to take it to the place I bought the spokes because they build wheels specifically.

bmcphx

I don't want people to be able to see and know how fat and slow I am. Will not participate in USAC # thread!

Stas87

Most weeknight races end up as hammerfests depending on who shows up, especially at FBF and Rockleigh

shovelhd

I would definitely find a different wheel builder.

shovelhd

If anyone wants to know who I am they can PM me.

carpediemracing 

carpediemracing 

+1

To the builder's credit there might be some extenuating circumstances:
- you insisted on particular spokes/rim against his recommendation
- he bought a bad batch of spokes
- you did something to the wheel (rode it 1000 mi/week, damaged the spoke by introducing stress raising notches/etc, blah blah blah)

But the reality is that spokes shouldn't break a few months after a build. Even a highly stressed spoke should last a while (Rolf wheels that have absurd amounts of spoke tension, my Reynolds DV46s that I had - 16/20H wheels under a 190-210 lbs rider, etc).