Road Bike Racing - 6/21 Prospect Park Cat 5 Report

1. Smaller field and slower pack than last week (was there a CRCA race today too?)
2. I missed the winning 2 man break (which went away practically at the start)
3. I was in a 2 man break that turned the same lap times as the lead break, but could not make up the 15-20 seconds they had on us.
4. I guess my break went too late (lap and a half into a 5 lap race), but it took a little bit to realize that this week's pack pace was a bit slower than last week's (quick) pace and would not catch the lead break.
5. This week was a much better workout and riding in a break is more enjoyable than in a huge pack
6. 4th place.

Great show Ben. Keep hammering. I eschewed PP today for a 108 mile training ride. Oddly, I felt like crap in hour one and felt great in hour seven. Go figure.

Thanks! See you tomorrow on the Nyack ride?

I was there this morning wearing Montclair bikery colors. 4th place is pretty good, i was in that early breakaway at the start but then decided to get back into the pack. After that i was pretty burned, legs just weren't there today.

Are you doing the next Cadence race next week? I'll be there, along with some new racers.

Thanks! See you tomorrow on the Nyack ride?

I'm planning on being there. Don't ride right on the front Ben, learn the route. Riding near the front (first 10 guys) is smart, but when your turn to pull comes along, do 50-100 meters and get off. There's a slim chance I may say 'F it' and ride local, but right now I think I'm going.

Don't ride right on the front Ben, learn the route.

Ha! Yessir lesson learned.
I thought there were few things that could top my performance, but a racer leading the pack near the beginning of the Cat 5 race today veered off course, onto the road that exits the park into Grand Army Plaza. I was dumbfounded for a moment after seeing that, as was he after realizing that no one was following him. I knew how he felt.

aperez-
I may race at Prospect next week - it is a tossup between that and the Nyack ride since both are on Sunday.

1. Smaller field and slower pack than last week (was there a CRCA race today too?)
2. I missed the winning 2 man break (which went away practically at the start)
3. I was in a 2 man break that turned the same lap times as the lead break, but could not make up the 15-20 seconds they had on us.
4. I guess my break went too late (lap and a half into a 5 lap race), but it took a little bit to realize that this week's pack pace was a bit slower than last week's (quick) pace and would not catch the lead break.
5. This week was a much better workout and riding in a break is more enjoyable than in a huge pack
6. 4th place.

I was in the 5's pack today, saw that winning break go on the first lap but couldn't believe it was gonna stick until they were out of sight.

So that was slower than last week? Yeesh, I'm glad I wasn't there last week, we were moving it along pretty well today - my computer said we averaged 24.4 mph for the whole race. Actually, I think the first two laps were the fastest, seemed like after your break got away everyone eased up a little. A friend of mine who bailed early from the P123 race said that our field was shattered all over the place. I finished with the main bunch, which was around 10 or 15 strong, but I never found out how far behind you guys we were. Good racing, and nice result!

Last week's pack was a break-away eater- we avg'd 26.3 mph for the race, which would have gobbled up all of today's breaks. Riding in last week's (huge) pack was easy though...hardly a work out except for the finishing sprint. It did not make for fun racing though.

i couldn't believe that 2 minutes into the race, the pink jersey made a break (btw, that guy is a monster- what is he 6-7?). i thought for sure we would catch them but no one wanted to make an attempt to catch either of the two breaks. every now and again, i would try and push the group by going to the front and pushing a little bit, but no one would help and we would all slow down again.

in any case, i still don't know where i am in PP, and i was supposed to pick out a spot to attack at the finish, but i never really did :rolleyes: . when i sprinted at the finish, i was way too far away from the line and my legs were too soft to do anything about it. every time i turned around, there were guys right on my wheel that i couldn't lose. i knew i was done. i guess i've got to work harder...


ben- are you the bloke with the willer that i spoke to about your frame after the race?



:)

The breakaway with the guy in pink was incredible; about a one minute lead in the final lap! (I did not race; I was there to take pictures (to no avail). What was more incredible was the dude pacing right behind him. The final sprint was really intense, but the pink completely destroyed him. I enjoyed the pack sprint more.

Something told me that dude was clearly not Cat 5 level anymore, but I could very well be wrong.

redmist- yes, I was the one you spoke to about the bike.

The cat 5 winner is freakishly large and must be putting out some mega watts. I think the guy that went with eventually winner probably burned fewer calories than anyone else out there since he was drafting off that huge guy.

Didn't race myself......... no good reason actually, just wasn't in the mood.

Anyways, I was browsing through the pics, as I was kinda curious to check out this Giant you guys speak of....

Boy, you're right! Massive! I've never seen that fella anywhere before either! Whats more frightening is, I bet a good sum of money that the fella on his is wheel did not chip in the slightest if he rode like he did at Floyd last week. He's quite the leech in the 5's.


Have you done, or plan on making it out to Floyd, Bnjmn? I'll be out there this Tuesday with a new race strategy, could be an interesting race....

Apparently this 'giant' is some racer from europe. It seems that every time i ride to Nyack i meet some euro guy who's 6'-2" and can output some crazy wattage. I think we're starting to be invaded:)

No; you just need to pace him long enough. Learning Italian or French may help with this.

As an aside, on the usual downhill bombfest, while I was letting my Aksiums roll at 30+ mph, there ws this dude who wasn't going terribly fast, but was spinning at an insanely high cadence. It was a bit funny watching him churn it at 160 rpm, and then do a slow sprint at that same cadence.

He's the guy that probably wins races, unlike me who gets laughed out by them :-D

Apparently this 'giant' is some racer from europe. It seems that every time i ride to Nyack i meet some euro guy who's 6'-2" and can output some crazy wattage. I think we're starting to be invaded:)


6-2 is one thing- this guy has got to be over 6-5- possibly 6-6- that's not an exaggeration.




As an aside, on the usual downhill bombfest, while I was letting my Aksiums roll at 30+ mph, there ws this dude who wasn't going terribly fast, but was spinning at an insanely high cadence. It was a bit funny watching him churn it at 160 rpm, and then do a slow sprint at that same cadence.

He's the guy that probably wins races, unlike me who gets laughed out by them :-D

he was at the last cadence series race as well- but he was probably spinning at 220 rpm's- 160 is an improvement. at the last cadence series race, when i first saw him, i thought it was a joke. he was spinning so fast it was making his body bob up and down. whatever works...


4th place ben? great!!! see you next week, although i'm still deciding if i'd rather do the CRCA race instead at CP. i've officially retired my "vintage" steel lemond from racing (though it will still be doing my commuting) as i finished up a new build today. i gave the wobblenaught system a try as well and got fitted by mike sherry @ performance labs. it seems rather high as he raised my seat a good inch. we'll see how it goes.



:thumb:

Apparently this 'giant' is some racer from europe. It seems that every time i ride to Nyack i meet some euro guy who's 6'-2" and can output some crazy wattage. I think we're starting to be invaded:)

We've been getting a guy who fits that description on Nyack every few weeks. He has a bike with aero bars. He goes to the front and puts down 500+ watts for like 90 minutes and everybody's behind him going 'who IS this guy?'. He doesn't burn the whole ride off his wheel or anything, but he raises the ticket prices in the cheap seats considerably, and he's up there with his nose in the wind 90% of the time. Amazing. Maybe it's the same dude. And it's not like the Nyack boys are slow or anything.

Oh well. You're all faster than Pcad. But as long as I'm still there you're not that friggin fast you Road Nazi Scum.

I was thinking that I might get out to Floyd Bennett, but I am not so sure anymore. I am studying for the bar exam and the evening, weekday race time throws a wrench in my schedule. Also, it isn't exactly the shortest ride out there and I (and everyone else) am perpetually behind on studying.

I was fitted by Mike Sherry. He did not change much, but it was still worth it. The seat position may take a moment to get used to, but a higher seat is optimal (until you start have to reach for the pedals). With the higher saddle, be very careful if you change saddles to always ensure that the saddle-pedal distance stays constant or else your upper calves/lower hamstrings will get seriously abused. The only thing I have changed since the fitting was flipping the stem.

Anyone know if the Cat 5 winner was working together with the dude behind him, or just doing those laps on his own? There is some aero advantage to having a close drafter, but if he was doing those times alone then Dr. WJO better look out.

I don't think WJO has anything to worry about unless George Hincapie shows up.

ben- he didn't change much from my set-up as well. he was kind of surprised that i got a lot of things "correct", he asked if i had set up my cleats myself as they were spot on and he didn't touch them at all. i had a previous fitting done, but with a different bike (my commute/race) and i transferred settings over from that, went by feel, and guessed at the stem length, which i happened to get right. the seat does feel awfully high with the wobblenaught set-up.