A Brooklyn Sunday in Polka Dots
I came into cycling as a pure sprinter. For whatever reason, I was pretty good at it, at least by novice bike racing standards. But as I moved up in the sport and sprint speeds got ever faster, I found myself increasingly transitioning to a lead out specialist.
Sure, nothing beats standing on a podium (from what I can remember - it’s been a few years). But I love the tactical decisions that come into play with a field sprint lead out. And I love the experience of completely emptying the tank for a teammate and rolling across the line DFL, eager to find out what happened in the sprint.
Which brings us to a chilly Sunday morning in Brooklyn, where Rogier was wearing a fancy polka dot kit that may or may not have been two sizes two small. Though, perhaps it’s not surprising that the race director didn’t plan to have a racer who needs 2XL kit to be wearing a KOM jersey?
Regardless, we were going into the race to support his continued pursuit of polka dots and then depending how the race played out, we’d give it a go in any field sprint. We had a nice crew in attendance with Eric, Elbert, Lucia, Rod and Alex in our field, and Alvaro racing solo in his field.
After a very early morning ride down to Brooklyn and the usual number pinning and porto-john rankings on TBD Instagram, we rolled off the start line. Thankfully Barb ventured out with a camera to document some of the racing action:
Though as a race photographer, she was susceptible to distraction thanks to Sophie, one of TBD’s beloved furry friends:
But back to the racing - the race played out in a pretty straightforward fashion. The riders in contention for the sprinter’s jersey fought it out for the points on offer there. And we were able to support Rogier with some lead out efforts to capture maximum points for both of the KOM sprints, including the second one that was effectively uncontested. There were various break attempts throughout the race, but nothing ever really got rolling in a way that suggested an outcome other than a field sprint finish.
For that finish, it was a messy and crowded lead-in throughout the entire last lap. With a bit of argy-bargy it was tough to get organized, and our lead-out train was split to pieces on the final climb. We did our best to get Rogier in position for the sprint, but in the end were limited to 7th (Rogier) and 9th (Alex) on the day. Though any disappointment was off set by Rogier further increasing his lead in the (still too small for him) KOM jersey competition.
With racing concluded, we proceeded to the most important part of any race morning: the team visit to one of our local coffee shops to debrief on the race and catch-up with teammates who slept in. Which honestly remains one of my favorite aspects of bike racing - spending time with these great pals are a big reason why I’m still racing bikes:
Prospect Park Race Gallery by Barb
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
