Bethel Spring Series

Cat 4 Podium

1. Lorenzo Serra (Pawling Cycle & Sport)
2. Stephen Kang (CRCA / Breakaway Couriers)
3. Ken Reilly (Tarmac Cycling / Iron Bridge Consulting)

Cat 4 Team – Pawling Cycle & Sport

Women’s podium:

1. Raquel Miller (Farm Team Elite Women’s Cycling Team)
2. Amanda Braverman (Stage-1 / Fusion Think)
3. Carol-Lynn Mills (CRCA / Houlihan Lokey)

Women’s Team: Stage 1 / Fusion Think

Masters 45+ Podium

1. Gary Steinberg (Brauer / Mick Management)
2. Glenn Babikian (Signature Cycles / Rockstar Games)
3. Matthew Doran (Brauer / Mick Management)

Masters Team: Brauer / Mick Management

Cat 3-4 Podium

1. Stefan Singer (CRCA / FGX Racing)
2. Ian Whaley (Bethel Cycle Sport Club)
3. Laurence Merling (CLR Racing)

Cat 3-4 Team: CRCA / FGX Racing

Pro-1-2-3 Podium

1. Eneas Freyre (Target Training)
2. Anthony Alessio (International Christian Cycling Club)
3. Ross Baldwin (Watchung Wheelmen)

Pro-1-2-3 Team: Target Training

Congratulations to everyone for racing a great Series!

The final race of the 2013 Outdoor Sports Center Bethel Spring Series will take place this weekend. I want to go over some of the key points of the day so that people know what to expect.

1. Cat 5 Clinic – it will cover some more advanced topics (like actual race tactics), fluency topics (track stand, pick things up off the ground), and then for any newcomers or racers that want to review we’ll have a bump/paceline bit of work. If anyone wants to cover something in particular please let me know. You can post a comment here and ask that it not be made public, that’s fine.

2. Podium/Individual GC. For all races except Cat 5s there will be a podium presentation immediately after each race finishes. Since we have to calculate the GC the podium pictures may cause minor delays. There’s a buffer built into the schedule so we should be okay overall. However, for those in the overall hunt, please keep the podium presentation in mind.

3. For the last week there will be an extra place for points towards the overall GC. A win will be 10 points, instead of 7. There will be points awarded for 2nd through 7th as well, the normal 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 spread. If two racers are tied on points then the last points earned determine the order.

For example if there are two riders that scored 2 and 5 points in two race, they would both have 7 points total. However the racer that scored the 5 points in the second race would be in front of the racer that scored 2 points in the second race.

There are cash prizes for individual GC plus trophies.

4. Team GC - the top 3 riders overall from each team gets counted. This is not like the pros where the top 3 each stage get counted. For the Bethel Spring Series it’s the top 3 overall from each team.

If a rider switches teams or joins a team in the middle of the Series the points the rider earns while on the team count towards the team overall. This prevents teams from “buying” points by snatching up unattached riders who have racked up points (which has happened in the past).

There is only one trophy for each race – winner takes all. There is no other prize. Please have your team ready in team kits for a picture on the podium. Team bike and other sponsored items welcome at the podium as well.

5. The Raffle! We will hold a raffle after the Cat 3-4 race finishes so that means about 2 PM, perhaps just after that. The raffle will take place on the side area of the building, out of the main driveway path. Racers will have been getting a ticket for each race they entered in the last three weeks of the Series – the more you race the more chances you have. We will draw tickets, announcing the prize for the next ticket drawn.

IMPORTANT: You must be present to win!

The grand prize is a CAAD10 Frameset in your size. The runner up prize is a CycleOps Fluid Trainer. There will be other prizes as well but those are the two main ones.

I hope everyone has gotten in some good solid racing during the Series. See you Sunday!

We are giving away another CAAD10 frameset!

This prize is brought to you by Cannondale and Outdoor Sports Center.

We’ll have one to show but the winner gets to specify the size. The last two winners happened to want the same size frame as the show frame so they just took that one so I hope we can continue that trend. And, no, I don’t know what size the show frame is this year.

In order to spice things up this year racers get one entry for each race they enter in the April races of the Bethel Spring Series. That means the Criterium de Bethel (April 7), Circuit Francis J Clarke (April 14), and the Zwiedzanie Bethel (April 21). If you do two races a week then you’ll get six entries.

The drawing will take place after the Cat 3-4 race on April 21, so about 2:15 PM.

Here’s the catch. We can’t be chasing people down so you have to be present to win. If you know you’re not going to be present you can give your ticket/s to someone else, that’s fine.

We will be giving away other prizes too, whatever we can gather. There are rumors of some pretty nifty prizes but I don’t want to steal the thunder of the CAAD10 frameset so I won’t mention them now.

So the key points:

One raffle ticket for each race entry in the April races of the Bethel Spring Series!

Drawing is after the Cat 3-4 race on April 21!

Winners must be present!

You can give your tickets to someone that will be present!

This is a picture of the 2012 frameset. We’ll have a new one for this year.

Please remember that there is no race Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013.

This is a picture from early today but the races are on. Course is dry and has been coarsely swept. It’s a bit chilly as usual but temps should be in the 40s by mid day. The normal Bethel wind is here today.

 Approx 6:05 AM

Course is dry, a bit dusty, but fine. Races are on! Come on down!

Everyone’s been wondering what it looks like for Sunday. I wanted to post this picture to give everyone an idea of what it looks like. Right now it looks like it’ll be okay but I will post tomorrow.

Picture taken at 8:51 PM Saturday night. Snowing lightly, nothing sticking to the road at this point, sticking to the ground.

For immediate updates you can check Twitter @carpediemracing (go to https://twitter.com/carpediemracing). I’ll post here as well but it will take a bit longer as I have to compose a post and then upload it. I can’t do that from my phone but I can post a Tweet from my phone.

Also I will be updating my voicemail. Right now there’s no message on my phone but I will change it and announce the weather etc. The phone is area code two zero three then 820 6132.

Thanks everyone.

Stretch before the hill.

The right side of the hill.

Races are on. The slight bit of snow that was on the road has been cleared off. The course is a bit sandy but we hope to have it cleared in time for the races.

This week we really need help with marshals – if you can marshal a race please let us know and we’ll comp you a race. No special skills needed.

See you Sunday morning!

I’ve gotten some calls about the prospects of having the race on Sunday. Although I’m not at the course now (Saturday morning 9:00 AM) I think that it should be okay.

The pictures below come from the camera of one of the Cat 5 instructors Rick. They show that although the storm put down a lot of snow the course itself appears to have escaped relatively unscathed.

I’ll be heading down as early as possible to check out the course, do some snow moving, possibly some sand blowing, and look into putting down some ice melt (for the overnight – I expect it to freeze tonight). Although initially I thought I would arrive closer to 3:30 PM it seems that it might be closer to 2 PM due to an unexpected break from the Missus’s work schedule.

The worst of it – the place where we put the officials’ tent.

Turn One has a new, slightly wider line. The pointy stuff will be gone for Sunday. There will probably be a new wider line though.

Backstretch, near the flag pole. This needs to be cleared – it’ll be much of the work I do today.

The finishing hill. Yes, there’s sand, but that’s it. The sides are okay.

Thanks Rick for taking the pictures!

Amrita will be sponsoring the Bethel Spring Series with their gluten-free vegan bars. I have bars meant for the Cat 5s and the Women so if you didn’t get one on March 3rd please see me and get your free bar.

Going forward we’ll be giving bars out to different races so you won’t miss out.