Road Bike Racing - Central Park March 2 Spring Series Vets Race Report

The short version:

http://www.threestooges.com/news/images/photo_PlatterHead.jpg

Soap Opera version:

I get to the race. You know you're getting too old for this **** when the lady @ the registration table has to fill in the form because you can't see good enough to fill out the friggin form. 'I left my reading glasses in the car, sorry'. She couldn't have been nicer. Everybody is total cool, parking on Fifth Ave. is easy, the bathrooms are open and have toilet paper, and the scene is friendly as always. NY City racing ROCKS.

It's freezing. The race goes off 15 mins. late as we all shiver. At last we go. The first lap is friggin ballistic. My plan to ride near the front evaporates in the sub-freezing headwind from hell on the East Side of CP. I'm fine on the first time up the Harlem hill, but the pace stays high. Waaayyyy up the road I see a break forming, like 4 guys, one of our guys later bridged and got 4th, so the team got some Spring Series points, I was busy trying not to get shelled near the back. But I did manage to hang on. DFL +5 more or less. Man, I was toast. But the only way you get faster is by riding with guys that are faster than you. That's easy for Pcad, everybody is faster than me. So I got my head handed to me on a platter, but I didn't get shelled, I didn't crash, I didn't finish DFL, got a great workout, had a good time. What else is there when you suck at racing? You gotta suffer to improve. I suffered today. Oh yes.

Average speed was only 23.4 mph, but considering the sub 30ºF temps and windy conditions and the Harlem hill, maybe that's not so slow. Felt more like 25+ mph. It was a typical NY Vets race: my speedo read 18 mph on some flat sections, 29 mph on others.

I continued the self-flagellation further later this morning by doing the Nyack Ride, which was in rare form with our local Cat 2 from Hell K. Lundgren riding 26mph into aforementioned Headwind from Hell for over an hour. 57 miles, 50 @ ballistic race pace, I am Wasa.

http://blog.joins.com/usr/m/r/mrs386/6/ist2_1526575_wasa_bread.jpg

Utter, complete, friggin Wasa. But I am happy.

I get to the race.

The lady at the registration table had to fill in the form because i'm old and blind. Everybody is total cool. NY City racing ROCKS.

It is freezing. We all shiver, as we wait for the race to start.

The first lap is friggin ballistic. My plan to ride near the front evaporates in the sub-freezing headwind from hell on the East Side of CP. I'm fine on the first time up 110th street hill, but the pace stays high.

Up the road I see a break forming, looks like 4 guys. A teammate bridged and and eventually places 4th. The team gets it's first Spring Series points.

My race consists of trying not to get shelled, but I managed to hang on. DFL +5 more or less. I was toast.

The only way you get faster is by riding with guys that are faster than you. That's easy for Pcad, everybody is faster than me.

So I got my ass handed to me on a platter, but I persevered. I managed to finish with the group. I didn't crash. I didn't finish DFL. I did a great workout. All this, and I had a good time.

What else is there when you suck at racing?

edited for style.

edited for style.

Improper usage of "it's", should be its. Professor.

Me/ Melba in about a month:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j203/TeteDeCourse/Melba-Rounds-200.jpg

Improper usage of "it's", should be its. Professor.

grammar is for those without creativity.

btw - i forgot to congratulate you on a job well done.

what field were you racing in, anyway?

But I did manage to hang on. DFL +5 more or less. Man, I was toast. But the only way you get faster is by riding with guys that are faster than you. That's easy for Pcad, everybody is faster than me. So I got my head handed to me on a platter, but I didn't get shelled, I didn't crash, I didn't finish DFL, got a great workout, had a good time. What else is there when you suck at racing? You gotta suffer to improve. I suffered today. Oh yes.



You contradict yourself.

Besides, I am certain you are faster than me. In fact, I aspire to attain your inspiring level of mediocrity one day.

Oops, typo, Sunday March 2nd. The Sunday AM race.

The short version:

http://www.threestooges.com/news/images/photo_PlatterHead.jpg

Soap Opera version:

I get to the race. You know you're getting too old for this **** when the lady @ the registration table has to fill in the form because you can't see good enough to fill out the friggin form. 'I left my reading glasses in the car, sorry'. She couldn't have been nicer. Everybody is total cool, parking on Fifth Ave. is easy, the bathrooms are open and have toilet paper, and the scene is friendly as always. NY City racing ROCKS.

It's freezing. The race goes off 15 mins. late as we all shiver. At last we go. The first lap is friggin ballistic. My plan to ride near the front evaporates in the sub-freezing headwind from hell on the East Side of CP. I'm fine on the first time up the Harlem hill, but the pace stays high. Waaayyyy up the road I see a break forming, like 4 guys, one of our guys later bridged and got 4th, so the team got some Spring Series points, I was busy trying not to get shelled near the back. But I did manage to hang on. DFL +5 more or less. Man, I was toast. But the only way you get faster is by riding with guys that are faster than you. That's easy for Pcad, everybody is faster than me. So I got my head handed to me on a platter, but I didn't get shelled, I didn't crash, I didn't finish DFL, got a great workout, had a good time. What else is there when you suck at racing? You gotta suffer to improve. I suffered today. Oh yes.

Average speed was only 23.4 mph, but considering the sub 30ºF temps and windy conditions and the Harlem hill, maybe that's not so slow. Felt more like 25+ mph. It was a typical NY Vets race: my speedo read 18 mph on some flat sections, 29 mph on others.

I continued the self-flagellation further later this morning by doing the Nyack Ride, which was in rare form with our local Cat 2 from Hell K. Lundgren riding 26mph into aforementioned Headwind from Hell for over an hour. 57 miles, 50 @ ballistic race pace, I am Wasa.

Utter, complete, friggin Wasa. But I am happy.

"Subfreezing headwind from Hell"?????????????

Query: What is wrong with this metaphor?

;)

Bob

grammar is for those without creativity.

btw - i forgot to congratulate you on a job well done.

what field were you racing in, anyway?

Master's 35+. The euphemism 'racing' only applies to those in the front half of the field, not to idiots like me at the back turning to the bike messenger who jumped on for a couple of fast laps to say 'guess, what, I'm actually supposed to be in this race'.

Great job, Pcad. Masters 35+ can be tough, as I know you must be aware.

P.S.: avoid revealing your embarrassing eye problems. Fill out the forms at home.

I raced the p/1/2/3 and the worst of it was the delay at the start. My legs were shaking, my fingers were numb. Misery at it's best.

I looked for the Patent One, but while I saw a half dozen of his teammates, I did not see him. I am disappointed. I wanted an autograph!

Congrats Pcad, Not only for getting up at 0:Dark:30, riding in the cold, hanging tough throughout the race but to also go home and tempo in another 50 miles...you may be Wasa but some tough Wasa.

Congrats Pcad, Not only for getting up at 0:Dark:30, riding in the cold, hanging tough throughout the race but to also go home and tempo in another 50 miles...you may be Wasa but some tough Wasa.

24 miles of racing in CP, 33 miles of Nyacking = 57 Road Nazi miles. Pathetic Road Nazi in my case, but what the F. I think I did beat that bike messenger up Cat's Paw by the way.

That's a pretty brutal pace for cold temps...IMO anyway. I hate going hard in the cold.....so, I usually don't. Congrats though...I liked the part about the reading glasses. That was awesome.

Today was breezy though....did 50 miles myself, and I LOVE descending or riding on the flat ground at 11-14 mph pushing the small chainring. Not.

:beer: Or would hot chocolate be better.:)

Next time dial it up to 400 watts.;)

Way to go Pcad.....Glad your old ass had a good time

Here's the part that leaves me shaking my head. One of the fastest guys on our team, Jerry, jumps from a spot in the peloton a couple of bike lengths from me 500 meters from the finish, goes to the front and wins the field sprint for 7th or 8th spot (not good for any points in the series, which makes that effort all the more impressive). I mean I was utter complete friggin toast at the end of that race, happy to be there at all, and this guy has that kind of snot and can lay down that many watts. That is amazing. I watched the field ride away from me up Cat's Paw Hill. God I do suck at this. But two major principles apply in this situation:

• It's sure fun trying.

• Better dead than Fred.

Happily there were zero point zero incidents in the Vets race in CP today. The 3-4 race was a total crashfest, I spoke to three different guys who were washed out from those accidents, fortunately there appeared to be no serious injuries.

Here's the part that leaves me shaking my head. One of the fastest guys on our team, Jerry, jumps from a spot in the peloton a couple of bike lengths from me 500 meters from the finish, goes to the front and wins the field sprint for 7th or 8th spot (not good for any points in the series, which makes that effort all the more impressive). I mean I was utter complete friggin toast at the end of that race, happy to be there at all, and this guy has that kind of snot and can lay down that many watts. That is amazing. I watched the field ride away from me up Cat's Paw Hill. God I do suck at this. But two major principles apply in this situation:

• It's sure fun trying.

• Better dead than Fred.

pcaddy - this is one of those situations where avg speed means a small something (i.e. i know the course, i know the race, i know the distance). so... what was your average?

pcaddy - this is one of those situations where avg speed means a small something (i.e. i know the course, i know the race, i know the distance). so... what was your average?

Overall race average speed in the Vets race was 23.4 mph. Very cold, very windy, and typical vets race, not a steady 23.4, but you know, 18mph, then 30mph, like every Master's race. A fair amount of accelerations. Nyack was like that today too, maybe a bit faster, and windier as well. That really fries your guads after 20-30 miles. I rode so hard today my bad right knee is stiff. I have to go very hard to get it to feel bad after cycling, usually it just flares up for bad weather.

Overall race average speed in the Vets race was 23.4 mph. Very cold, very windy, and typical vets race, not a steady 23.4, but you know, 18mph, then 30mph, like every Master's race. A fair amount of accelerations. Nyack was like that today too, maybe a bit faster, and windier as well. That really fries your guads after 20-30 miles. I rode so hard today my bad right knee is stiff. I have to go very hard to get it to feel bad after cycling, usually it just flares up for bad weather

Still very impressive. The Masters races are getting tough. If you can't crank 25MPH average...Forget about it.

Overall race average speed in the Vets race was 23.4 mph. Very cold, very windy, and typical vets race, not a steady 23.4, but you know, 18mph, then 30mph, like every Master's race. A fair amount of accelerations. Nyack was like that today too, maybe a bit faster, and windier as well. That really fries your guads after 20-30 miles. I rode so hard today my bad right knee is stiff. I have to go very hard to get it to feel bad after cycling, usually it just flares up for bad weather.

By way of comparison, I just looked at my file from the p/1/2/3 and we were on the low side as well. Laps were 15:26, 15:16, 15:21, 15:16, and 15:21 for an average speed of 23.5 mph.

By way of comparison, I just looked at my file from the p/1/2/3 and we were on the low side as well. Laps were 15:26, 15:16, 15:21, 15:16, and 15:21 foan average speed of 23.5 mph.

Kind of underscores the conditions impacting the speed this morning. The cold air would take 1-2 mph out of the descending velocity, that headwind coming out of the north was tough.

By way of comparison, I just looked at my file from the p/1/2/3 and we were on the low side as well. Laps were 15:26, 15:16, 15:21, 15:16, and 15:21 for an average speed of 23.5 mph.

for the life of me i can't remember the actual time, but the last i had checked (awhile ago) the fatsest laps times were set way, way, back in the day, when the tour de trump raced CP.

for the life of me i can't remember the actual time, but the last i had checked (awhile ago) the fatsest laps times were set way, way, back in the day, when the tour de trump raced CP.

one of those races was run going the opposite direction, right? i think i heard that somewhere, but it's definitely before my time.

one of those races was run going the opposite direction, right? i think i heard that somewhere, but it's definitely before my time.

unfortunately i got into racing just after the TdT was in NYC.

The vets race felt awfully fast, and if it was that close in avg. speed to the 123 race (even for 4 laps vs. 5) I suppose it was...

I don't want to brag or give specifics of my adventures, but 30ºF isn't that cold.;)

You did better than I probably would for racing on March 2nd.

I ride in temps colder than 30ºF all the time. This felt colder for a few reasons:

• I expected it to be a bit warmer in Manhattan this AM. Half the racers were literally shivering on the start line.

• We had to stand around for 10-15 mins. waiting to go.

• It may have been the windiest CP race I can remember. That park is fairly sheltered from wind compared to out here, but not today.

Once we started rolling it was fine, the chill came off within a couple of miles. First time up 110th Street hill (2-3 miles into the race) and I was toasty.

Still very impressive. The Masters races are getting tough. If you can't crank 25MPH average...Forget about it.

That's how the Cat 4/5 race at Palmer was (40 miles) last April.....I was in the first chase group 4+ min. back and averaged 23 mph (12 of us I think).....the winning group averaged around 25 mph. In many sections, we were cruising along at 33-37 mph in the peloton, for extended periods.....one section was 42+ mph for quite a ways down Rte. 20 it seemed. It was nuts. It was a fun course, but sucked if you got dropped.

Masters guys are fast....there's a Masters 45+ guy that attends our Wednesday night group rides; more of a sprinter type. I can destroy him on the climbs, but on the flats and sprints....man that guy can motor. I seem to be a good lead out for him on the town line sprints, as he always comes around me like I'm standing still at the last moment.

Utter, complete, friggin Wasa. But I am happy.

And that's all that matters...


I know this is late but my daughter got really sick and I was away from the computer.

Couldnt wait to find out how you did, sounds like you did the thing pcad does best , which is pulling up a good fight! :)
congrats pcad! Im sure it feels good to be back in the game!