Back To Central Park Racing
Believe it or not, we are ¼ of the way through the CRCA season with the 3rd of 12 races completed this past Saturday. While temperatures were still in the 40’s the sun and lack of wind made for a pleasant first weekend of Spring. Below Hannah gives her race recap from the Women’s Open Field.
The Race to the Race
As CRCA veterans know, race prep starts race eve. I made my way through the checklist of charging lights, electronic shifters, packing spare clothes, prepping sad oatmeal and pour-over coffee that I would refrigerate only to microwave less than seven hours later. The prep paid off, as I was out the door by 5:20am without a hitch. I’m generally a nervous nelly (full stop also appropriate here) about commuting in the city. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get to Central Park. I rode a wave of green lights up 1st Ave and got to take the relatively new bike tunnel at 40th, all of which got me to the race in record time and reminded me that the early AM commute to the race is not so bad (especially when you have friends to chat with along the way).
I synced up with Rod and Simon who were racing as well before we rolled on over to the start line at Cat’s Paw.
The Race
This was my second race of the year and one my first races in the CRCA Women’s Open Field. I was racing without teammates today, so my focus was to get comfortable drafting in the peloton and work on my positioning on Harlem Hill given the W91st finish. Our first time through the W91st finish was a sprint lap, so the race was immediately spicy with racers trying to get a break going after the sprint. We had a sizable field with enough motivated chasers so things came back together although the repeated efforts definitely sapped legs a bit for the finish.
On the second to last lap, W.0 Racing timed out a series of attacks to have someone get away on Cat’s Paw which looked to work perfectly…except the field was neutralized just as the last attack was getting away (womp womp, but good for me). Last lap there was another attack on Cat’s Paw that got some solid distance that I went with. I couldn’t bridge all the way to the break and let myself dangle in the wind for a little too long and mistimed my acceleration to rejoin the group.
During this break there was an off leash poodle that started chasing the moto and was having the time of its life (the poodle found its owner quickly and was able to get off course unharmed!). I was bummed to miss the sprint finish but happy to get a great day out and try some new things in the peloton.
Vibes
I think everyone was in a great mood because of the relatively pleasant weather given the series of cold races we’ve had in late February and March. I enjoyed the post-race chit chat while waiting for podiums and caught up with a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while.
The CRCA Race Series has a long break and will be back on May 10th. If you are looking to scratch the Central Park racing itch in April, make sure to check out the Mengoni Grand Prix on April 19th.
