shovelhd

Nice job rideaz!!

globecanvas

mattm and rideaz, outstanding work!

mattm

nice job!! sounds like a helluva race.

globecanvas

Harlem Crit, cat 3. 15th or so of 70.


This race was fast and ridiculously crashy. There had been some talk beforehand about how changes in the traffic patterns on the course would narrow the corners, but I think it ended up having the opposite effect. On every corner, they removed the plastic traffic dividers and rounded off the corners way up into the pedestrian area. The course was a big roundy square, 100% non-technical (except for the potholes and debris).

There were many crashes. I got shoved into the barriers and clipped a pedal into the barrier foot, causing my rear wheel to bounce sideways and causing a crash behind me. I also clipped a pedal twice in the turns, so now I know what that's like at 27 mph. There was a full on yard sale crash at turn 1 on two consecutive laps.

With 4 to go, a move went that had a guy from the biggest team there (the same team that dominated the 3s at Bethel this year). I figured it had a chance so I bridged, but in retrospect I shouldn't have, because there was no way to block a field this big and aggro. I burned a lot of gas and of course the break got caught very quickly.

I obviously didn't have a prayer in a field sprint, and also I felt like I was living on borrowed time, so on the last lap I went hard on the back stretch and led the field through turns 3 and 4, mostly just to get in front of any mayhem. It was fun to lead the field with 100m to go, but I never really had a chance, especially after bridge just a few laps earlier.

I was signed up for the 2/3 field as well, but I skipped it. I was just relieved to finish the first race with all of my blood on the inside.

Also I think I was the oldest racer there by about 10 years. [correction, not even close]

It was an exciting and fun experience but I don't really feel like I need to do that race again.

gsteinb

You're 67?

gsteinb

Harlem 3/4 winner. He's 57.


Yehudah Perlowitz photo

globecanvas

Wow seriously? Stating the obvious, that guy has a monster sprint.

gsteinb

1980 and 1984 Olympian

mattm

that kit tho.

globecanvas

He passed me so fast that my soul died a little bit.

This photo sums up the race pretty much (credit Yehuda Perlowitz):

shovelhd

That is not shovelhd.

beatlebee 

hey I know that move.

Ygduf

how is he doing a 3/4 race?

globecanvas

I guess he's happy as a 3. Looking at his results he seems to either win or roll in at the back. It seems like he would have hundreds of upgrade points, but apparently not enough in any year for a mandatory upgrade.

Ygduf

that's a lot of wins as a 3.

mattm

my app calculated roughly 196 points, not accounting for mixed fields. jeez.

but I think people have to complain for mandatory upgrades to kick in.. hint hint.

jsutkeepspining

Tour de Burg-I raced bad and i felt bad, but i made 70 bucks so at least i could buy dinner.

globecanvas

Maybe if I finished 4th I would complain, but not for 18th place.

I think there was some previous discussion of this gentleman with two first names and how he games the system to avoid upgrading.

shovelhd

This is very common in the Northeast.

Gramercy

I thought someone from Wafels and Dinges team went off the front towards the end? Or are you talking about a different team? I saw avg speed at almost 27mph for the race, which seems really fast for a 4 corner tight crit with no big straights. 27mph seems too fast to take corners, as Globe said he clipped his pedal. Maybe they could have made the course even wider or limited the field somewhat?

gsteinb

meh. he's 57. Why should he race as a two. If guys can't beat him they're going to get their heads handed to them anyway. He can't sprint in a 1,2,3 field.

mattm

not bad.

globecanvas

I don't think rider safety is a priority in this particular course design. The only way it could be faster is if the streets were paved with actual street, or if it were a velodrome.

Having said that, it couldn't really be less safe, so maybe it would be an improvement to sharpen the corners. The new surface in the turns is this sort of glued-on texture is rough and loose. Imagine poorly manufactured 20 grit sandpaper. Here are some responsible parties trying to figure out how they could possibly make it less awful.

shovelhd

Because he's taking away upgrade points from riders that actually want to be Cat2's? It's racing at the appropriate level, not gaming the system to sandbag.

mattm

that, and it's just lame to compete against those weaker than you on purpose just to feel good.