gsteinb

This isn't very complicated

with the exception of the giro du cello (3 stage race, and part of the GS cup for certain categories) and the NJ Devil (elite state RR) the only road races in the state are south of the pine barrens. They run a number of races through the year (including a spring series, and the masters states which occur this weekend) on dead flat roads with 4 or 5 turns per 15 mile lap. There are a wide range of road course ("road" & circuit) that were formerly used for the state RR or otherwise, but due to the vagaries of NE cycling the courses are no longer viable or there aren't people willing to step up and promote them.

RIP

ringoes
colts neck
rocky hill
corner house
tour of long hill
hills of somerset
tour of high bridge

meh. I can't name any others right now, but they're gone. :/

TheKillerPenguin

gsteinb

I can also say from experience that the limited number of people promoting races in NJ do not take kindly to phrases such as

'they should'

The NJ facebook forum will regularly go ablaze over such things.

Generally the kindest response you'll get is "how many races are you promoting right now?"

globecanvas

The Cielo RR is pleasant enough but I wouldn't call it "rolling." My buddy calls it Jersey Johnny Cake, which isn't quite fair as I think the Cielo course is nicer (if nothing else there's less traffic, plus it's less likely to snow).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to doing the stage race in July. It will be my 3rd TT ever.

I think it would be funny if TR's East Coast Tour 2016 included the NYS RR, Battenkill, Masters Nationals, and also Augusta and Bob Rodale Park. He should print up black T-shirts with the schedule on the back and SOLD OUT across each event.

gsteinb

I was thinking of doing the giro, but we need a weekend to visit my wife's dad, and with a crit on saturday and sunday in PA I can race on both legs of the drive.

Harlan

We will be at Cielo, secured my brother's house in NJ for that weekend. Third TT ever as well. We are getting a TT bike.

gsteinb

I wish they didn't change the TT. It suited me better. The old one was in Stokes and it was a windy climby affair, better suited to a road bike. With a straight up TT bike race it points the GC to a more usual cast of characters, though it is an omnium.

If I did it I'd probably skip the TT and just register for the other two stages.

globecanvas

I really like that it's a points stage race. 2nd place on GC in the masters last year was 12th after the TT, over 3 minutes back, and he could have won if he had a teammate to sit on Roger in the RR. I wouldn't bother doing it against these guys if GC was based on total time.

carpediemracing 

Heh.

I've asked people at my races if they "do it like that" at their race when they question why I don't do this or that. In the last 5 or 6 years I got a lot of support from the regular racers (i.e. most of them). I remember one person asked me in a very loud and pointed manner why I didn't do such and such. About 10 racers piped up and basically told the person to stuff it.

One guy (actually it was two guys) asked me something. I think my expression made them realize really quickly what they'd just done because, get this, they promoted races. So they apologized, back pedaled furiously, and told me that it was a great race. Question had to do with re-using the bib numbers, which I stopped doing because people would jump in races. Which, in terms of the overall scheme of things, I didn't care about, but in terms of liability it was huge because having non-registered racers in a race would void my insurance for the day.

Back before pros could race with amateurs, I had a pro roll up. He had money, he wanted to race. I told him I couldn't let him race because he was a pro, and we couldn't let pros race. He started getting mad but then he calmed down a bit. "I know it's not your decision so I'm sorry about making a fuss" or something like that. He rolled away. I think he'd ridden from his house. I really wish I could have let him race. Later I think he did race when USCF and USPRO merged. He was also a promoter and I think that helped with his attitude. I later worked for him, for a week stage race and once for a one day (both times the race organization asked me to work for them). I turned down a few more races because I couldn't make them fit in my schedule.

shovelhd

No. This is the last year as a USAC race. Next years version is already up on BikeReg. It's a pirate race, in April I think.

If you are a Master thinking about KSR and you haven't registered yet, do it right now. I suspect some fields are going to disappear.

gsteinb

I did push back on them a little for changing somerville from a 45+ to 50+. They wrote out 2/3 of their podium for the last few years.

carpediemracing 

You know, I'll make some very careful observations or ask a very careful question. If I am saying something to a promoter it's a huge, huge deal to me. I can't remember the last time I said anything but I remember some stuff that just made me cringe.

One recent one was where the race registration seemed unusually disorganized. It wasn't a first year race so I was a bit disappointed. I was there with plenty of time etc so it didn't matter. Later I learned that the guy they hired to do registration never showed up. They had no idea how to do it, I think one of the officials had to help walk them through it, and basically the early part of the day was a big cluster.

tetonrider

haha...i'm trying to figure out if i could do augusta the day after killington...but i'd have to drive down from VT, race, pack up my bike, and then drive to buffalo for a morning flight. that's probably a bit much, even for me . but if there is a group ride or race on tuesday somewhere sorta between VT and buffalo....

i drove by stokes the other day and had flashbacks to a 6th-grade overnight trip we did there. i never knew where it was and hadn't thought of that name/place in several decades.

so, it's a stage race, not an omnium, but based on points and not time? i.e., you have to complete each stage to move onto the next one?

i normally see points w/r/t omniums; i prefer the stage race format to omnium, but i've never raced a stage race with points. that changes the dynamic, i'd think.

last year was the last year of battenkill as a USAC race. this year they are using some USAC categories (i.e. if you have a license with the right # printed on it, you can enter). i believe next year they are doing away with that part of things and going GF only.
what? i checked the reg page to see when the deadline is (it's next wednesday). i noticed reg in some fields was light -- particularly the masters fields. wonder if that is fence-sitters (weather?) or folks going to nationals.

i need to clear a few obstacles before i register--it's a steep fee and, well, you just never know if you'll have some sort of mishap along the way. since i'm on the road, my options to fix something if i go down in a crash are more limited.

i kind of wanted to get through battenkill and the masters nationals RRs before plunking down my money. by then there should be a pretty solid forecast, too.

i'm leaning more toward the masters vs the p12 field just because of my ridiculous travel schedule.

do you have inside info? that would be a serious bummer if i'm here for the race and they don't run fields they said they would. i understand combining (don't like it but understand it), but....

tetonrider

let's do it! driving north for battenkill mid-day!

tetonrider

maybe by design?

maybe #s 4 & 5 are psyched/had more influence??

tetonrider

that's a road race?

there are soon many cool roads that i saw when driving from BUF to NJ.... of course, you can't close 'em for races, but it's nice to imagine a world where we could race any of them.

the riding around rochester & the NYS champ RR was really cool--and GREAT roads. (i think some people said they were just "OK"--they're fantastic!)

shovelhd

All Masters fields cancelled for KSR16.

Harlan

Low registration? Looking now it's just the 4/5 33+ (if you can call that masters). If they nix that, the 4/5 field will be enormous.

shovelhd

No, that's not Masters, it's Cat4/5 age bracketed. No issue there with 45 pre reg.

I havent spoken to Gary so I don't know the reason, but reg was way down most likely due to Masters Nats. KSR has traditionally had huge Masters participation.

grolby

So my team has been working away on getting a new crit off the ground, and now it's officially happening! Greenfield, Mass. June 19th. Opening New England Crit Week, since Keith Berger got moved this year. Hope to see some of you there. https://www.bikereg.com/greenfield

gsteinb

good luck with it.

when's Berger?

TheKillerPenguin

I like that the clinic prize list is "Knowledge and Skillz"

rankin116

I'll be in the NE then, but at a wedding that day. I am planning on racing at least one of the Fitchburg crits if I can make my to Boston. Good luck with the race, hope you can get it established with the town.

grolby

Thanks. July, I think?

Ha, we knew that was a good idea!

bostongarden

Really?!?!?! Wow!!!