Prospect Park racing
 

first time racing, and actually riding in prospect this sunday. where's the start at, and how big is that little hill?

racing the 5's, maybe i'll win.

its only a mile circuit, you wont miss the start area if you jsut ride around the park. Its a slow and long "hill" called a big ring hill

wheres the best place to park?

tough to say, i usually ride over from manhattan.

incorrect. again.

the circuit is 3.35 miles. the hill is probably around 4-5% for less than half a mile. race parking is in the woolman rink parking lot. the start line is right around there, you should see it.

**** you Botto (again), damn num lock was off. Should have said 4 mile.

brilliant excuse, numbnuts.

Botto for BF President.

thanks. i needed a good friday afternoon laugh.

sgrundy got it right.

Be aware that the road narrows (with the right lane merging into the left) at the bottom downhill on the backside (~0.5 mile from the finish). You may find it safer to stay to the left there. Generally though the road is very wide and you should have plenty of room to move up on the hill or backside late in race. Wish I could do this event but I've been off the bike for a week with a bug. Have fun and good luck.

I started racing last year. Plan on winning! But, in case you don't....

1) It's always faster than you ever expected.
2) The first 10 minutes is the hardest so DON'T lose the pack in the first 10 min. They may slow down at some point!
3) If you're at the back...When you lose the wheel in front don't think that you'll get it back on the next (you name it here) hill, turn, straight, etc. Kill yourself to get back on. Don't worry about "pacing yourself" to the finish when trying to get back on the wheel in front. Just get there.
4) If you are dropped make sure you are not in the way if you are being lapped. Stay to the outside and don't take a line from outside-to-inside on turns. I don't think that will be an issue on the length course your on.
5) The pain never decreases over time...it's your final position in the race that decreases....until your #1 then you are upgraded and start back at 45th. You will always push yourself.

Just a couple of insights I learned in the last 16 months.

Don't exaggerate. It can't be over 3.34 miles. And that 'hill' may hit 4%, but only for the last 200 meters. The average grade is less. Not much of a hill. Yes you can park at the rink.

But not when the circus is in town.

http://www.frontrowking.com/images/ringling_bros.jpg

not with the 5's. my last race, in central park, we were going up the harlem hill at a girls pace. seriously. the 5's are really ****ty climbers. so much so, that when i just started going my own tempo, i got a 10 second or so gap on the field.

but yeah, +1 for what you said about getting back on a wheel after getting gapped.

^^

The pace up the hill will be faster than you think. Trust me there a few guys there who can really rain the pain on that small hill. The 5 field in prospect this year has been one the fastest in a while, so don't be surprised if it become a hammerfest.

I've been racing as a 5 there all year, best advice I can give is to BECAREFUL ON THE DOWNHILL. It gets pretty squirlly especially at the end of the race.

Pcad, you racing the masters race?

Probably. My team has called upon me. Our man Juan P. has visions of winning that race (and he has the snot to do so). Plus it's 13 laps or about 50 miles, and I do like the attrition factor (there's some of that) when it's longer than 10 laps. I would really like to be there and try to help the team. I actually tend to feel stronger in the last 10 miles. We'll see how it goes Sunday. If I can answer that friggin 3:40AM wake up bell. The bars are still open in NY when I get up for those races.

That's just wrong.

Sounds like one of those statements must be wrong.

I'm not sure about this, but I think I completed something like 60 laps of PP this season in races, which is 200 miles on that course. I really do like racing there, and I don't know why.

^^
I hear ya, it's a fun course. Despite the crashfest that is cat 5. Thankfully I will be racing it as a 4 next season.

Good luck Pablo, make sure to give us a race report

I was in all these races in NY City between March and August, and the only crash I witnessed in the 35+ in 11 races was when some idiot T-boned the jogger in the sprint late in the year in Prospect. Other than that, very safe, only one particular race (that featured a huge 80+ man field) was even remotely squirrelly. But the Cat 4/5 races did often have crashes.

But the 35+ can have crashes. Generally it does tend to be exponentially safer, less stupid riding, much more experience and sanity. And that's why I've been racing in the 35+ ever since I could, because it has always been that way. But it is faster than Cat 5 or 4 races most of the time. The guys driving the 35+ train tend to be talented Cat 2 caliber racers. Like my team mate Gary (wins a lot of 35+ races) who @ age 41 was ranked #1 in the (rather populous) state of NJ criterium rankings, he just upgraded to Cat 2.

Those fast guys in the 35+ are on another level from me, but they don't crash me into the weeds either.

Seriously, the Prospect Park hill is about 1/3 the pain of the Central Park hill.

Three miles. 1/3 of it is downhill, the other third is a flat, and the other third is a small-ish climb.

That's not exactly my perception and I've raced both frequently. It can get gnarly in PP if they hit that hill and they really hammer it in the big ring the whole way. I don't glance at my speedo on those laps, but I'd be surprised if they pace drops too far below 20 mph when they're really slamming it. The Central Park hill is too steep for them to really do that on, and in some ways that's an off-setting factor. The hard part about Central Park is when somebody throws down at the top of the hill when you're already gassed. And the strong guys will attack there. That's nasty.

Listen, if somebody's going to put down the watts on an upgrade in a race, it's going to hurt regardless.

This will be my first time RACING in Prospect. This is not my first race.

I think the PP hill is harder because there are a wider variety of guys that can hammer it. Harlem hill is steep enough that many won't go hard unless forced to do so. I will not be racing. I wouldn't be of much help to anyone anyway.