Felt so good to be back at Prospect Park, one of our favorite local races. Ari competed in the Cat 3/4 and Max raced with our Star Track teammate Viv in the Cat 5 field.
Max’s Cat 5 Race
My race had 5 laps for a total of about 27 km. On the first two laps, Viv and I were just hanging in the draft. Then, on the third lap there was a breakaway that formed on the hill with about 5 riders off the front. I decided not to chase because I thought the break wouldn’t last. Then on the next lap on the same section, there was an attempt to close the breakaway and I joined the chase and we caught up. On the last lap, lots of people were fighting for positions and it got a little dangerous. People were slamming on their brakes and bumping each other. This made it very hard to move up. Right before the last hill I found a way to get closer to the front, getting ready to sprint. During the sprint finish, however, things got worse – more bumps and more swerves made it even harder to get past riders. I still managed to get 14th out of about 29 riders (not counting the three that got disqualified and four that did not finish), two spots after my teammate Viv.
My GoPro recording of the race is on YouTube. The worst of the shoulder bumping I saw occurred at the 41:55 mark, right next to Viv and in front of me, just 10 seconds before the finish. Not sure what these guys were fighting for, they came in 13th and 17th, with no podium and no upgrade points in sight.
Ari’s Cat 3/4 Race
I was also super excited to be back at Prospect Park, in particular for a Lucarelli & Castaldi series event as they have a Cat 3/4 field which has more laps, nine for a total of about 50 km.
This time I did an extra long warm-up. I went 10 km, 2 laps of the course rather than the usual 1 lap. This gave me that extra punch in the early laps of the race. Longer warm-ups from now on!
The race was very fast with an average speed of 42.2 km/h per my Strava and fairly aggressive as people were shooting gaps and moving around a lot. My positioning throughout the race was good but I got boxed in leading into the final hill of the race. I should have moved up earlier in the race as most tried to make their moves on the final lap. Overall, I came in 29th out of 68 and the recording of my race is on YouTube as well.
After our racing, we just hung out and talked to others. The above picture shows us with Richard Wolf from Foundation Cycling and Philip Castaldi. Richard is a huge supporter of Star Track and the Youth Cycling Network. Philip and his partner Tom Lucarelli sponsor most of the races in the New York City area – so grateful to have you!
