Race Report & Saturday AM Ride

Did the Friday Night race last night and, for the first time, I left after work from the office. I left the office at 3:00PM, caught the 3:34PM train to Wantagh, which arrived right at 4:30PM. My car was at the station all packed with bike, clothes, bottles, etc. Drove out to the race and got there at about 5:35PM, time enough to change into cycling clothes, register, and do 3 or 4 warm-up laps. I didn't have to burn a vacation day but it is a haul to get there from NYC.

As before, I did the "B" race. All groups were bigger than last week. I was disappointed in my result which was somewhere down in the pack. I made a few short attacks but the group was very strong this week. I was badly placed in the field when the sprint started so I was not a factor at all.

This morning I showed up to do the Brands ride. Some regulars from the shop were missing. I rode sweep up to the LIE then split off on my own to do West Hills, both ways. Gold Coast Century is coming up next week and there will be no shortage of hills on that one. Here is my GPS track from last year's ride (6300 ft of elevation gain). EB's tomorrow!

Kreb Race Results from 7/22/2007

Race results!

EB Paceline

Snapshot by an SBRA rider who passed us in the other direction.

The Trifecta!

Third riding day in a row as I joined the Early Birds in Manorville for the North route. Large group worked well together. I think we only lost about 5 guys on the final haul up Rt. 51 and Route 111. Pyzahl was kind enough to post photos and ride stats once again. One scary moment when a big old woodchuck (or groundhog?) decided to run straight through our 25 mph paceline! Rider three places in front of me ran over him but did not go down (lucky for all of us behind him or we would have been toast!). Woodchuck disappeared on the other side of the road.

Here are some of PyZahl's photos from the rest stop in Cutchogue, including me trying to work out a piece of Clif bar from between my teeth!

<>

Kreb Friday Night Race & Saturday Brands Ride

The first Kreb Friday Night race of the summer was held last night at Southampton College in Riverhead. I raced with the Cat. 4/5 "B" group. We had about 25 riders line up for the "B" group, about the same for the "A" group. There was a strong headwind on the back half of the course which affected the tactics for the race. Several breaks tried to get away but the choice was either on the front straightaway, which is downhill and the back straightaway which was into the headwind. Guys with aspirations for the sprint finish didn't want to work into the wind and that basically killed any breakaway attempts.

My big contribution was taking a solo flyer on the last lap on an uphill section at the end of the downhill straightaway. The pace slowed WAY down so I drilled it up the hill. No one chased and I got a big gap right away. I powered into the headwind and maintained a good gap until the final uphill when the sprinters started to wind it up. I was still in front at the top of the hill but by that time the tank was on EMPTY and I was quickly swallowed up by the sprint about 100 yards from the finish. Missed it by THAT much! The race was just 100 yards too short!

Got up early for the Brands ride this morning with the intention of making it an easy recovery ride. It started out that way and I was riding sweep with Jamie. At the turnaround point we decided to split into a fast group and a slower group as some of the Brands guys needed to get back to the shop. Nice pace going back and some good pacelining.

Probably do the Early Birds tomorrow. Was thinking of the ESG Time Trial Qualifier but I think I'd rather do 50 fast miles in the nice weather. Report to follow.

Hammering EB South

Fast ride with a large group and great weather today at the Early Birds. We went south. Here are Pyzahl's ride stats at his blog along with some photos.

Saturday, I rode with Jamie at the Brands ride. It was good to do that ride again (it must have been over a year since the last time

ESG Qualifier Results

Results are here for the 2007 ESG Road Race Qualifier for the Long Island region.
Only top 10 places shown. Needless to say, my name does not appear!

ESG Qualifier, First Race This Season

Been away from the blog for a while, but I have been doing the weekend ride thing for the past few weekends. Missed one nice Saturday due to work but I have been able to get two rides per weekend for the past three weeks. All have been solo rides on the usual Round Swamp Rd. - LIE - West Hills - Round Swamp Rd. loop, except for one ride with Joel from the Brand's group and todays ride, the ESG Qualifier for Long Island.

ESG is Empire State Games, the NY State Championships. The course was at Suffolk Community College in Riverhead, 25 laps, counter-clockwise. It worked out to about 43 miles. I figured there would be no time to eat during the race so I had two breakfasts, bowl of oatmeal at home and a PB&J in the car on the way there. Arrived at the college about 7:55am. Filled out the forms for registration, pinned on my number (152) and had time to take 4 or 5 warmup laps before the start.

There was a big field of riders from all over LI, at least 70-80, I would estimate. Lots of Kreb and East End riders. The race was fast but not the killer pace I was expecting. There were a few break attempts but I don't think any group got more than 30 seconds. I stayed in the pack most of the time. Actually it was pretty nice to be in the fast moving pack. My bike computer shows a maximum speed of 35 mph. I would gues we must have averaged at least 25 mph for the race. It ended in a sprint. Not sure where I finished but it was nowhere near the front, so I guess I don't have to worry about competing at the ESG's.

Anyway, it was fun to get back to racing finally and I'm satisfied to have been able to stay with the group that, for the most part, has been racing all spring. Hopefully the Friday night races (same course) will be starting up soon.

After the race I was able to see the finish line camera video as the USCF official tried to pick out the rider numbers but I didn't see mine. Hopefully they will post the results somewhere.