This was our first time at the Trooper David Brinkerhoff Memorial Race in Coxsackie, NY. We were super impressed with how well the race was organized. There were tons of staff members at registration and each field had at least one lead and one follow car. Also, they allowed juniors to race for free which is awesome. Not to mention, the 19 km course was very fun and technical. We wanted to challenge ourselves and Max participated in the 60 km Cat 4/5 and Ari did the 80 km Cat 3/4 race. And just so you know, the picture was taken just after Ari’s race – that’s why he’s not looking all that good at the time.
Ari’s Cat 3/4 Race
My race was very challenging. Narrow roads, size of the field, and wind all played a factor, especially when averaging 39.1 km/h per my Strava. However, I feel pretty comfortable riding in big fields on smaller roads as that is what I usually do at the local park races. The biggest aspect that made this race difficult was the wind – it significantly affected me as I was the lightest rider in the field and my racing wheels are 40 mm deep. I would lose positions in the crosswind sections of the course, one of which led into the sprint finish. Despite these challenges, I managed to keep up with the front group for the entire race with the exception of perhaps the final kilometer. I placed 52nd out of 61 riders who finished (there were two DNFs), just 18 seconds behind the winner. Overall, I am very happy with that result.
In terms of things I could have done better. Remember from our blog about the Garden State Stage Race where I mentioned that I got the start time wrong for the road race? Well, this time, we had the start time right, but not the location (for which my dad takes partial blame). We oriented ourselves looking at the Strava route that was published on BikeReg, but the actual starting area was close to where we parked (and we are sure this is somewhere published). Anyway, we made it on time to the race, and I even managed to sneak in for a front row spot. Unfortunately, my dad passed the wrong information to our friend Billy but he made it to the start too – sorry Billy!
Second, I forgot my bike computer. The prior night I went through my checklist and put my bike computer in its proper case, but the case never made it into my bike bag and I ended up recording my ride via my phone which worked ok, but not great in that the sensors frequently dropped out. Generally we are pretty well organized for races, but this has been a bad streak and we are determined to break it!
Max’s Cat 4/5 Race
I never raced in so much wind, not even at Floyd Bennett Field. Not to mention my current weight is just 37.5 kg, so there isn’t much that is keeping me on the ground. Also, my front wheel is about 40mm deep and it’s definitely not loving much wind.
As for the race, for the first half of the first lap, the field was staying at a rather moderate pace and there were just a few attacks. But, at the second half of the first lap (when we entered the bumpy turn right before a steep hill) an attack formed a big brakeaway. I thought it was a good idea to chase it down using most of my energy to catch it, but once I did, I was gassed. When another attack took place on the following hill, I could no longer keep up and got dropped from the breakaway. However, I was with a group of people and we kept riding pretty hard. But, when we were about 2km into the second lap, I just didn’t have any energy left and ended up riding solo. I was fighting hard in the crosswinds trying to keep my bike straight. Once I hit the tailwind section of the course, I felt like I was flying. But, when I finished the second lap, I was really tired and didn’t feel like dealing another lap with the wind and called it a day.
In hindsight, I should have chosen a less deep front wheel for this race. And, chasing the first brakeway was perhaps not a great idea as I just burned too many matches. So, this race was a great learning experience.
