TWTW: Racing, Racing and More Racing
Everything is a bit backwards on the TBD Journal this week as we had non-stop weekend of racing and riding that led us to kick the week off with our Harlem Criterium gallery rather than our usual TWTW. Now that we're playing a bit of catch-up, a look back at The Week That Was in New York City:
The Week That Was (TWTW)
As usual the weekend really kicked off with Thursday night racing at the Rockleigh Crit. We already covered the evening on the Journal but in short it was hot and fast. There were a few breakaways but the pace remained consistently high, insuring the field would go into the final laps together. Unfortunately I flatted while sitting in the first couple of wheels and rolled across the line DFL. But it is hard to complain with 70ish miles under blue skies on a Thursday evening in New York City (Rockleigh Crit Results).
Saturday brought a significant change in pace as most of the squad headed to Stewart Forest State Park for the accurately named "Poison Ivy Mousetrap" mountain bike race - there was lots of poison ivy everywhere though thus far the team appears to have successfully avoided any contact with it. As for the actual race it was a great day in the woods featuring burgers and hot dogs, tons of ice cream and a whole swath of results for TBD including Ted taking yet another win. We'll have more images from the whole day on the Journal soon but a special thank you to Sean from MTBNJ for coaxing us out to the race and Van Dessel for lending us some awesome demo bikes to race (Stewart Poison Ivy Mousetrap Results).
While most of the team spent Saturday in the woods, Clark stuck to skinny tires and put his newfound #dadwatts to work in Prospect Park where he snagged 3rd place in the field sprint, giving him enough points for his upgrade (Lucarelli & Castaldi Cup results).
Sunday was a more regular affair for most of the squad with a (very) early morning in Central Park for the latest CRCA Club Series race. Similar to Rockleigh a few days prior the pace was consistently high and there was a moment when it looked like the entire field might split under the pressure but somehow things stayed together until the final miles when a few riders snuck up the road. In the field sprint that followed Colin held on for 7th, taking 10th place overall. After the race we snacked on coffee and bagels courtesy of CRCA before heading to the 9W Market for a second breakfast - we'll have a full photo gallery later this week but as always a huge thank you to the volunteers who make races like this happen (CRCA Club Series Results).
While some of the squad closed out the weekend cheering on racers at the Harlem Criterium, Steve was busy criterium racing in PA. It turned out to be a memorable affair as he went off the front solo and was eventually joined by two others before lapping the field. Unfortunately his tire imploded on the last lap but with some quick thinking Steve jogged across the line to secure his podium finish. Unfortunately the women's race was also memorable but for all of the wrong reasons. More on that front soon on the Journal...
Parting Shot
With the World Cup partially consuming our team slack we have also been exploring all sorts of odd global sports. The latest:
Cycle ball is the weirdest sport you've probably never heard of pic.twitter.com/mcYF0aL7TV
— Mashable (@mashable) June 16, 2018
A New York City based cyclist and sometimes photographer. Part adventure rider, part crit racer, and fully obsessed with an English bulldog named Winifred.
Instagram: @photorhetoric
E-mail: matthew@tobedetermined.cc
