Recapping a busy and at times very wet weekend of racing split evenly between Manhattan (Central Park) and Brooklyn (Prospect Park)

CRCA Club Race Report: a rainy morning and schedule conflicts with both Quabbin (where Scuds scored a top ten in the Elite field) and Philly (where Tim finished fifth) meant a small field for the next leg in the CRCA Club Series in Central Park. 

Bad weather and small fields are typically my favorite style of racing but things took a turn for the sour when I front flatted on the way to the race. No big deal, I wisely brought two spares - with a borrowed pump from the CRCA trailer and quick tire change I lined up alongside Roger, Corey and Daghan for seven laps of racing.

But then, passing through Engineers Gate on the first lap I notice my rear tire is soft - not good. By the time we hit 98th street, less than two miles into the race, it's clearly going flat. Muttering curse words under my breath I pulled over to use my second spare tube. Which is when I realized my CO2 inflater was broken. Swell, a stroll through the park in cycling cleats it is...

Thankfully back at Engineers Gate a marshal had a Co2 inflator that I could borrow, allowing me to cut short my unintended stroll through the park. But for better or worse my day of racing was done either way - less than two miles after it started - so I headed home on the bike... ...only to front flat again and have to walk the final few blocks. 

In conclusion: triple flatting sucks. But I suppose on the bright side I flatted early enough to avoid seven laps through horse shit alley.

Lucarelli and Castaldi Prospect Park Series Report: following Saturday's tire change practice I decided that I couldn't miss Sunday's Prospect Park race. With another painfully early alarm I headed across the Manhattan bridge Sunday morning for what wound up being a pretty straightforward affair: a big break got away midway through and while I was racing solo at that point I didn't want the race to turn into a group ride for the pack so I chased hard.

Things eventually came back together for a field sprint where I was too far back to do anything but roll across the line in 20th - not a great result but at least I didn't triple flat.

On impulse after the race I decided to head across the GWB to grab a bacon, egg and cheese from the Piermont Filling Station. Unfortunately I didn't really do the math on how far Piermont is from Prospect Park and ran out of both food and water on the way. I persevered and after a quick visit to bonktown reached the Filling Station, where I consumed every calorie in sight before heading home - finishing up with 100+ miles of riding before noon.