One vital component of any vibrant bike racing community is race directors who are crazy enough to spend their time chasing new venues and creating new events. It can be a thankless task full of financial risks and minimal rewards. In New York City we’re fortunate that Alex Kochatau has spent the past few years doing just that - creating new races and working hard to find new (and former) locations to host races that wouldn’t otherwise exist without his efforts.

One such venue is Randall’s Island. Long home to NYC’s cyclocross practices, Alex managed to carve out a criterium course on the narrow roads facing the East River just adjacent an abandoned driving range. It is such a tight course that fields are limited to just forty riders. But it is also a unique venue unlike any other race course in New York City, just minutes from Midtown Manhattan with beautiful views across the East River to Manhattan.

The other notable thing about the venue? With its location on the East River, it is very, very exposed. And so this past weekend, with blue skies but surprisingly gusty winds, the racing was some of the hardest that we have experienced in New York City in some time. Sure our early season form probably played a role - this was the season opener for much of our racers in attendance and I know that I definitely wasn’t prepared for it. But the path along the river also featured an utterly brutal head/cross wind and with small field sizes, there was absolutely nowhere at all to hide.

As a result, fields were prone to shattering on the very first lap. And things only got more fragmented from there. Even groups of three riders were rare and in the Elite Men’s field the vast majority of the finishing groups were either solo or at most with two riders - the victor took the win via a two-up sprint. It was a truly challenging day of racing and there were moments in the race when, as we were getting bashed by headwinds, we questioned what exactly we were doing flogging ourselves in such an early season race.

But at the same time, it was also a special treat having a perfect day (perhaps wind aside) for bike racing at what is without a doubt one of the most fun and challenging venues in New York City. And it was also great getting back out to see familiar faces at the races for one of the first times this year. A huge kudos to Alex K for making these races happen, and fingers crossed these events only continue to grow over time. If you haven’t ventured to Randall’s to take it all in, you’re definitely missing out. But there is still time: the third and final race in the Series is this coming weekend.