A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Thankfully no rain for today's race and the roads were bone dry. Everything started out innocuously enough; easy roll off the start, so within a couple miles I thought I'd take a dig on a descent managed to stay away for a little while but I was hoping to be joined in my breakaway efforts but it was not to be. My legs certainly needed some rest after the dig and I sat in the pack getting pulled along, taking a pull every now and again. Finally the group's constant surging and slacking (wholly unable to maintain a constant speed), constantly braking, constantly jumping out of the saddle to hold a wheel, drove me insane and while some little guy was holding a ridiculously low pace I shot off the front, again hoping to be joined by a small group but yet again was all alone; this time I managed to stay away even longer, but I knew that with half the race left I wouldn't be able to stay away on my own for the whole time. Despite sitting up and soft pedaling it still took the peloton half a lap to catch up with me. After another couple of miles, two of the strongest riders (one of them has won twice this year, came second today and is an Ironman just bike racing to improve his cycling splits) attacked and I jumped--at first alone, but eventually joined by three others-- to try and cover but they were too strong. Got sweeped up by the peloton and we eventually caught the other two (both were on S-works Venges wearing black kit, if you're curious to find them in the pics). Relatively uneventful after that besides the poor form surging, until the finale when I got caught, yet again, too many wheels back to seriously factor in the finish and I think I ended up 12th. All photos labeled "Team SixCycle" are obviously from "Team SixCycle"while all other photos are from SKN Photography. Check out the FB links for the full galleries, pictures below are only of my group.

Ronde van Nieuw Amsterdam

Racing is never easy. It's always tons of fun but some days are better than others. Today was one of the hardest races I've done. Only 17ºC/65ºF (cold for here) with soaked roads showing Flemish mirrors (rain stopped no more than an hour before the start and started again about 2/3 of the way into the race),  I had to dress as close to my Flemish finest as I could for the race, and it ended with some lovely Flemish tan lines from riding in a group all morning. All in all it was like being right back in Northern Europe. (Quick history lesson, New York City was first settled as "New Amsterdam," thus the title, by the Dutch, the linguistic forefathers of the Flemish.) The cold was compounded by a very consistently high pace caused by constant breakaway attempts and constant reel ins. I was lucky enough to be on the front to work in both for most of the time. I was drained after the first couple laps and had to sit back and get pulled along for a little bit. By the time I started hitting the front again, the carnage began. Close to the end, a rider went down on the first curve of the descent (The "S" curve on the top right of the map). He was fine teammates were helping him out and marshals were slowing us for the sector to get us through safely. On the final lap we pass by the same rider, still down, only now being attended by the ambulance; we're funneled down into barely half a lane, I'm pushed towards the middle of the pack in the funnel. As soon as the first seven pass the ambulance, they attack hard (really jerky move in my opinion, it's not like we were racing for the rainbow jersey) one guy almost hits the ambulance as he goes down since he can't cope with the increased pace on the descent. At the bottom, halfway through the final turn two guys go down hard. The nastiest crash I have ever seen by light years; they're supposed to be ok (according to the club, but they definitely needed to go to the hospital just from what I saw). I hit the brakes and just made it around but I lost my rhythm for chasing the break and another guy who I had been collaborating with on and off for the race--there's a picture of us alone--just sat up and didn't bother chasing, they were too far up. We talked to the finish line, not caring about our placing, just thankful we managed to keep the rubber side down and the hairy side up. The most mentally taxing and stressful race I've been in, I now have a window into why the PROs say the early season races are the hardest on the mind: everyone is trying to be on the front in lousy conditions--at least we have enough road to deal with this. I've only posted photos from my group, there are more posted to the following facebook page. All Photos courtesy of SKN Photography (save for the one of my Flemish tan). https://www.facebook.com/SKNPhoto



Finish Line Video: