TWTW: Farewell Road, We Hardly Knew Ye
Last week's TWTW may have been the last to hit the interwebs during the summer but we did have one final weekend of skinny tire racing on tap for Labor Day weekend. The team's excursion to Gateway Cup was struck down due to illness but the team still ventured far and wide for the long weekend with a bit of racing, a fair amount of riding in multiple states, and a whole plethora of off-the-bike related activities. So with that said here is The Week That Was in and around NYC...
The Week That Was (TWTW) On the Bike
The highlight of the weekend was definitely Erwin and Colin racing the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont. The biggest and baddest stage race on the East Coast, GMSR presented some fast and furious competition and a bit of bad luck for the TBD boys at various points though they still came home raving about the experience. We'll save the full story from the race for a proper journal entry in the coming days. (Green Mountain Stage Race Results)
Photo by one of our favorite New England photographers, Angelica Dixon (on Facebook)
In the opposite direction of Vermont, Steve kicked off TBD's cyclocross season at the now-UCI level Go Cross in Roanoke, Viriginia. We haven't heard a full accounting of the weekend quite yet but we know that Steve started his season off right with podiums on both Saturday and Sunday. In addition all of the commentary about the race - which offered free registration for women - was positive, which has us excited for the cyclocross season that looms ahead on the race calendar.
More locally: after a long, and from the perspective of this CRCA Board member, exhausting year of racing the CRCA Club Series in Central Park officially came to a conclusion this past weekend with Saturday's Lucarelli & Castaldi CRCA Club Series Race #12 (technically Race #13 if you include the Lou Maltese Club Championships). Given the holiday weekend and the plethora of on-and-off the bike conflicts turnout was light, including from the marshal volunteers that are required for the races to happen, but ultimately another fast and fun day of racing was had in Central Park. A big thank you to all of the volunteers and staff that ensured CRCA survived its 120th year in existence. We'll have one final CRCA focused race report on the journal tomorrow. (CRCA Club Series Results)
Outside of the races (and lots of weddings and other Labor Day weekend obligations) there was of course our usual Wednesday night NYC Cyclocross Practice in NYC. These little weekday gatherings on Randall's Island remain one of our favorite elements of the city's cycling community with a riders from a plethora of teams and with a variety of experience levels coming together for a few hours in the big city. A few of our images from that evening that you may have already seen via our Instagram:
While most of the team was on the road for the weekend for those stranglers left behind there was of course the usual team cruise over 9W for some steady endurance miles on and exceedingly pleasant morning in New York City.
The Week That Was On the TBD Journal
TBD Race Calendar: September 2018 (Aug 31, 2018) - another month has come and gone which means it was time to check back in on the TBD Race Calendar that is rapidly shifting to cyclocross mode.
CaliMD Dispatch: Bike Commuting in Los Angeles (aka no, I'm not crazy) (Aug 30, 2018) - CityMD Women's Racing has had enough racers relocate to California that there is now a CaliMD chapter where Barb Blakely checked in from to detail her experience commuting by bike in NYC.
The CRCA Board Needs You (Aug 29, 2018) - the Century Road Club Association is vital to the New York cycling community and the Club is about to undergo a major leadership transition.
TWTW: The Summer That Was (Aug 28, 2018) - Cullen kicked off the week with a special TWTW that focused on The Summer That Was and some of our favorite Journal entries from the year thus far.
Reading, Links and Random Facts
This photograph of a cyclist enduring a 'coal rolling' (Fox News) made the rounds last week but if you really want a bleak glimpse of the underlying anger and hatred that has come to the surface of American society read the Facebook comments. Warning: it may make you question humanity's future.
The Silence After the Hit-and-Run (New York Times) in that same vein of depressing transportation related issues the New York Times tackles the questionable NYPD response to traffic injuries in NYC, some of the very issues we touched on in Everyday Terror.
The Cult and Superstition of Vehicular Homicide (The Stranger) closing out the somewhat depressing trifecta of transit-related reading this article from The Stranger touches on the state of driving and dying in the United States: "How did this happen? How did our culture get here? Why are such deaths not considered of immediate and great importance? If a plane crashes, lots of data is collected from the site. The incident is carefully examined and reviewed by a number of organizations. If flaws are found, they are registered and, if possible, corrected within a short time. Almost immediately after 9/11, we began pulling off our belts and emptying our pockets and taking off our shoes and raising our arms at airports. Flying (which one should do as little as possible for environmental reasons), as a consequence, is very safe. Why is this not the case with cars, the dominant and most dangerous mode of transportation in the US?"
Brad Huff calling it a career: The retirement Q&A (Velonews) Brad has long been one of our favorite riders in the domestic peloton and with his retirement after this past weekend's Gateway Cup this Velonews Q&A is well worth a read.
How The Race Was Won – Vuelta a España 2018 – Stage 9 (Cyclocosm) it can be a bit tough mustering excitement for the third grand tour of the year just as road season is winding down in New York City and our focus is increasingly shifting to cyclocross. But with Ben King winning two stages of this year's Vuelta there is plenty to be excited about, particularly if you have him on your Velogames team (I'm looking at you Clark).
Parting Shots
We're not sure what exactly is going on here but who doesn't like a bunch of cute puppies?
Sir, please place all the pupperinos in the tray. pic.twitter.com/7TXqfy1Lae
— Good doggos (@DoggoDating) August 31, 2018
A New York City based cyclist and sometimes photographer. Part adventure rider, part crit racer, and fully obsessed with an English bulldog named Winifred.
Instagram: @photorhetoric
E-mail: matthew@tobedetermined.cc
