Big Apple Bicycle Classic- Cat. 4 (written by Pat)

Another weekend of racing at Prospect Park brought another 9 laps of swerving riders, potholes, and a sketchy sprint finish.  Joe and I headed into NYC at just after 5 a.m. again for the Big Apple Bicycle Classic which is part of the NYC Cycling Series.  The fields filled up very quickly, and luckily the race director from Kissena held me a number so I could race.  Joe got to join the top guys in the P-1-2-3 field and as he will write soon, he had a very painful experience!  The Cat. 4 race started out pretty standard for a Prospect Park race.  Pretty solid speeds the first few laps kept it from bunching up too much through the sketchy pothole filled sections on the last mile of the loop.  I didn't contest the first prime because I was way too far back in the pack still trying to move up from starting at the back of the field. ( I almost missed the start of the race again this week because Joe and I once again had our patented last minute arrival)

When the 2nd prime came around, a large group of about 15 guys formed about 10 seconds up the road.  It looked dangerous so I bridged up to it and knew we could make something stick.  I immediately got to the front and drilled it, and when I turned around I saw only one Kissena guy decided to go with me.  We got a huge gap on the field and started getting a little too tactical with the sprint(50 bucks is big for me right now!).  I sat on Kissena's wheel for as long as possible as he was going about 15 mph not wanting to put out too much energy.  Just as I was about to sprint by him about 50 meters from the line, a NYVelocity rider flew by us to take his 2nd prime of the day.

The rest of the race was very uneventful until the last half mile.  I was sitting about 5th wheel when we went through the pothole section of the course.  As the field was jockeying for position, the rider next to me must've hit wheels and fell right into me.  I somehow swerved to my left and avoided falling, but the crash sounded real nasty behind me.   I quickly moved up to about 3rd wheel and followed the NYvelocity rider who had won both primes.  I started my sprint a bit too late and wound up getting 3rd, missing 2nd by about half a wheel length.  My sprint felt great, I still have to learn when to start it though.  Hopefully this 3rd place will give me enough points to upgrade to Cat. 3!  Hopefully everyone involved in the crash is ok and will be back racing in Prospect soon enough.

PJ

2 Races + 50 mile recovery = Saddle Sore!

Saddle sore is one of the most simplistic but often occurring cycling discomforts I have to deal with.  Perhaps my saddle is to wide, seam is in the wrong spot on my bibs, or a bit of both but saddle sore is a pain in the ass both literally and figuratively.  I managed to score me a solid bout of saddle sore this past weekend (4/31-5/1) as I spent 100 miles in the saddle on Sat. between two solid race efforts and a 50 mile charity ride.  Anyone out there know of a good chamois cream to recommend?

Saturday (4/31) consisted of a 6:30 am Cat 4 race in Prospect Park followed by a Time Trial up High Point Mt. in NJ at 10:15.  In the first race, which was round two of the Lucarelli and Castaldi Cup, I was the race leader and was granted a yellow jersey to wear during the race.  It was a beautiful morning and 110 riders lined up for our Cat 4 circuit race, which consisted of 9 laps of the 3.4 mile loop of Prospect Park.  Mixed amongst the laps would be 4 sprint points, two for the green jersey and two for the King of the Mountain race.  The race was fairly typical of a Prospect Park race as Kissena, Siggy’s, and United all had strong representation which kept the pace high and assured that no breaks would stick.  We also had our buddies from Speedwell present to help control any breaks and work with.  Both Pat and myself decided previous to racing to sit in until the sprint points as I was leading the Green jersey race and Pat and I were sitting 2,3 in the KOM race.   I contested sprint point one and jumped early only to be outleaned by a Kissena rider.  I decided to sit in and not contest number two as I already had enough points to assure my lead next week.  The KOM  points were interesting as myself, Pat, and Joe M from Kissena went top 3 on both.  The order was flopped as Joe M took the first and Pat took the second with my placing third and second after trying to lead Pat out.  Pat currently sits in second, one point behind the leader.  Each time over the hill, the three of us opened a gap but bc of the TT later that day we decided to sit up and wait for the sprint to conserve energy.  Fast forward to sprint lap and I found myself sitting 15^th wheel with 1k to go… perfect positioning on the left side of the road which always opens up for a great line to the finish.  600m to go, the riders up front hit the brakes and I am swamped on all sides and end up 40^th wheel and have to sprint like mad for 7^th place.  I was closing fast but found myself boxed and with no-where to go as the road was full!  I was closing fast but ran out of room… lesson learned today.  

The High Point Hill Climb is contested from the Port Jervis side of the mountain.  It is a 5.4 mile race against the clock up to the highest point in the state of NJ (hence the mountain’s crafty name).  The hill averages around 5% but kicks up to 15% at some points while also having some flat sections in the middle where the Big Ring comes in handy.  I was secretly hoping to chase the fastest overall time, but would have been happy to win the Cat 4 race.  I knew I would be fatigued after the mornings 30+ mile race and hoped to ride conservatively early on and hammer home the second half.  I started in the middle of the field at 10:14 am with Pat starting 30 seconds later.  I figured the top three would be between myself, Pat, and our teammate Paul who is a strong climber as well.  The hill starts with 3.75-4 miles on Rt 23 South, heading uphill towards the monument.  I attacked the early climb harder than I would have liked, but was setting a very fast pace the opening 2 miles.  The opening miles are a gradual uphill of around 6-7% followed by a flat section of a half mile which precedes another 7% mile long section.  The opening miles were clicking by fast, and I kept my cadence at around 85-90 while focusing on picking up as many previous starters as possible.   I managed to get up to 30 mph on the flat section 3 miles in but really could feel the power leaving my legs as they filled up with lactic on the next uphill section.  The last 1.5 miles were a blur as my HR was high, my legs were shot, and I was just hanging on.  I surely was to aggressive early on, as the steepest pitches in the last 1k just about pinned my HR while leaving me gasping.  I crossed the line, exhausted, with a time of 21:26 good for the win in the Cat 4/5 race with Paul taking second and Pat third.   My time held up for 4^th overall on the day.  I look forward to riding the climb again in the fall, on a day when I am fresh and ready to attack early on as I think I can challenge the 20:30 mark. 

Pat and I ended out day with a HILLY 50 mile ride in north jersey as part of the police unity tour.  We were joined by a retired police officer, Kelly, who completed his first 50 miler ever in preparation for his ride down to DC this coming week.  It was a great recovery ride but late in the ride I was attacked by my nemesis, saddle sore!  We took the hills nice and slow and spun the lactic out of the legs… first 100 mile day on the bike!  A great day of preparation for Killington and my last race as a Cat 4, as I have since upgraded to 3!

 I spent the following day channeling the former runner in myself by acting as a pacer for the Long Branch ½ marathon, as my store was a sponsor of the event.  I was able to pace a group of 10 to a finish time of 1:30 for an avg pace of 6:53 and a week’s worth of sore quads are sure to ensue as it was my first running steps in over a month.  Compression to the rescue!