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!

There are three main parts to the last clinic of the Bethel Spring Series.

First, for anyone that wants to review etc, I’ll be glad to go over whatever you want, both in chalk talk and on the bike. This will happen after the main stuff, the two sections below.

For the main part I’ll go over some tactical stuff. Real basics. Bike racing revolves around drafting. Once you break the draft or the draft becomes ineffective then your fitness comes into play. If you’re fit/strong then you need to make efforts that neutralize the effects of the draft or take place in situations where there’s no drafting possible. Basically it all revolves around using wind and terrain to tire your opponents.

1. Climbs and tailwinds reduce drafting effectiveness. These are the times to attack. If you are attacking then commit. Once you have a gap then throttle back and hold a high, hard tempo. The idea is to make it last more than a lap or whatever.
2. Crosswinds are ideal for attacking. Get to the downward side of the road (if the wind is from the right then get to the left side) and just drill it. If you’re strong you’ll look back and see the field disintegrate before your eyes.
3. Headwinds reduce motivation. It’s a terrible time to attack but a great time to solidify a lead. Don’t ease but make sure you leave enough in the tank so you can push on the other parts of the course.
4. Once in a break you need to level out your effort. Don’t go too hard on the hill. Maintain pressure on the flats.
5. Attack when the front is not cohesive. If the front is fragmented, has gaps everywhere, little groups here and there, it’s a great time to attack.
6. You should be able to close a 10 second gap on your own. It’ll be hard but possible. When launching a counter attack it’s the same as an attack. Use the wind, terrain, and commit.
7. Make your efforts count – have a goal in mind when you push. Attacking just for the sake of it probably won’t be productive. Of course your goal may be to attack just for the sake of it. I know I’ve done that. It’s fun as long as I can recover. It’s cost me a chance at a place also.
8. If you’re climbing the hill at a certain speed you’re using a certain amount of energy. It doesn’t matter if you’re spinning like mad or moshing a 53×11 – you’re putting down the same power. It may feel better to push but it’s easier to recover from a spinning type effort (aerobic) rather than a pushing type effort (muscular).

Finally for the fluency stuff I’ll go over some foundation level skills. These are things you can do on any easy ride, while you wait in a parking lot for the group, stuff like that. I went over a few things before – looking over your shoulder, riding one handed, initiating a turn. I’ll cover what I can but I want to include the following.

1. Throwing the bike (at the line)
2. Picking things up off the ground
3. Wiping tires while riding
4. Trackstands
5. Aero tucks

As always please feel free to comment (and if you want to make the comment private please say so).

Ride safe and have a great season!

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!

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.

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.