CRCA Orchard Beach Predictions

There's still time to sign up for the CRCA Orchard Beach Crit via Bikereg, but we've compiled the Road Results predictions along with our own thoughts here. As the biggest race CRCA has hosted in over five years we're excited to see how all of the action plays out.

Elite Men’s Championship

Last year it was Zach Koop out sprinting Neil Bezdek for the victory at the Orchard Beach crit but the Road-Results.com race predictor doesn’t give much credit to the defending champion who slots in at just 13th in this year’s expected results. Instead the win is predicted to go Stalin Quiterio Cuello who is coming off a recent win at the Spring Series, albeit it one with just 11 other finishers. That said this is going to be one of the toughest CRCA Open Race fields in recent memory - including Rodrigo Echeverri Conde, winner out of a stacked field at the 2013 CRCA Dave Jordan Central Park Classic, and Evan Murphy who is returning from Speedweek and will be leading a big Foundation team that includes Bezdek, Alejandro Guzman, Abraham Soler and Dan Chabanov. Perhaps this big Foundation squad was sufficient to scare off the Weather Channel Team who, despite their recent impressive form, is nowhere to be see in the Orchard Beach registration list. There are plenty of “underdogs” to choose from on the Road-Results.com rankings, but we’re going to go with Stephan Hoffman who has been on fearsome form as of late, but still slots in at just 11th in the expected results. We’re equally intrigued by 2012 Orchard Beach Crit champion Greg Olsen who is racing once again - he often needs a certain type of race to get the win, but has a good shot at taking home his second Orchard Beach title. Whoever comes out as the victor, with this stacked of a field it should be an exciting race to watch.

Men’s 2/3

Similar to Grant’s Tomb the Men’s 2/3 is once again one of the most popular fields of the day with the race predictor pointing to the CRCA President himself, Jayson Jacobs, as the victor on Sunday (no bias in the results at all!). Though with his best finish in 2014 a tenth place at the Tour of Battenkill (according to the Road-Results.com race predictor at least) it remains to be seen whether his crit form can deliver him the win following a more marginal 27th place finish at the CRCA Grant’s Tomb Crit. Expected second place finisher Roger Montes hasn’t raced much this year but did finish on the podium at the Rahway River Park Crit and so is as viable of a winner as anyone. Other expected top finishers include big Willie Payton and Roger Parmelee though our underdog pick is going to Robert Lattanzi who spends most of his days as a worker on a very strong Lupus team but we think might find a chance to shine on Sunday.

Men’s 3/4

The Men’s 3/4 field currently stands as the largest of the day with 91 racers registered. Out of this big peloton the Road-Results.com race predictor judges Samuel Frias as the likely victor which makes sense given Orchard Beach is a race that he is familiar with - having finished 9th in last year’s masters field. The predicted podium is rounded out by Higinio Rodrguez who enjoyed recent success at Bethel with a third place podium finish and Eutimio Quintero who finished 5th in last year’s Master’s field. For a likely crowd favorite, we’re going to go with non-other than Eben Weiss aka Bike Snob who is predicted to finish fourth in what the Road-Results.com race predictor judges to be his first race since the 2011 Tour of the Battenkill.

Men’s 4

Another large field featuring lots of CRCA racers, the supercomputers predict that Jacek Boral will outpace the M4 field to take home the win ahead of Kyle Herlihy and Julian Banks. A bit further down the list Colin Tanner is coming off a solo win at the Bethel Spring Series and is expected to finish 8th. For our underdog pick for the win however we’re going with two races - Mark Steffan who scored a 13th place in the M5 field at Grant’s Tomb and Richard Bravo who we think has more in the tank than his 70th place finish at Battenkill shows.

Elite Women's Championship

In last year's race a break led to a win by Laura Summers - although the defending champ is racing again this year, the Road-Results predictor has Lauren Dagostino on top. Interesting choice but my money would be on BrittLee Bowman or Aimee Layton, whom are predicted to come in second and third, respectively. With Kristin Lotito making a comeback this year, it's possible she could make things very interesting as well. Needless to say it is a stacked field and should be a lot of fun to watch.

Women's 3/4

The race predictor has Masha Schneider of Zenberry coming out on top, which is interesting - she had a good couple of races at Orchard Beach last year, and certainly races enough to throw down some tactics. That said, Jen Nordhem, predicted in second, is an excellent strategist and also did well here last year. Rounding out the predicted podium is Victoria Brumfield, who has been sprinting well. If this race ends in a break it wouldn't be surprising to see Masha or Jen on top, but in a field sprint Victoria could certainly pull it off.

Women's 4

Isabelle Cote and Victoria Gochenour are both looking for their last few points before taking their chances on submitting upgrades, so their predicted finishes as second and third shouldn't be too controversial. The supercomputer has Marissa Acosta, a non-CRCA racer, on top, so we'll see how that goes for her! Hopefully neither of them will be as dumb as the author of this article, who rode off course in this race last year, but somehow got enough points to leave the 4's behind.

Minutes of the April 8, 2014 CRCA Board Meeting

CRCA Board Meeting-MinutesDate: April 9, 2014, 7:15 pm Location: 115 W. 18th Street, NY, NY (office of Josh Sakofsky)

In attendance: Jayson Jacobs (president), Ken Edwards, Joe Grgic, Roger Parmelee, Josh Sakofsky, Ann Marie Miller, Robert Duncker, Liz Marcello, Ashley Doane, Barb Blakley, David Carr and guest Stephen Chang.

AGENDA

1) Website overall (Joe and Ken) – Joe Grgic circulated mock-ups of preliminary web-design for discussion. Appreciation was expressed to him for his work on this. He needs sketches from board members of what functionality would be helpful to each of their jobs asap.

After the web-design is done, the board will revisit hosting and related issues.

The following motion was made by Josh Sakofsky and passed by the board:

Racing skills sessions from this point forward will not be required of new members of CRCA who are cat. 3 or above. Skills sessions are still recommended for all new members. Starting in the 2015 season, all new members will be required to do the two marshaling sessions per year required of members more generally. [Thus this will revoke skills sessions counting as one of the two marshaling dates for new members for those racers who join CRCA  after 2014.]

2) Paris-Roubaix viewing party (Liz) - BXL Sunday, April 13 BXL(125 West 43rd Street) at 5pm

Discussed technical issues for insuring that we have viewing. Ashley will bring back-up file of race. Liz will follow up on whether BXL has functional internet link and take care of having computer to provide projection. Ken to purchase race via nbcsports.com

3) Instagram (Barb Blakley)– after a slowish start, this is underway and expanding

4) Bear Mountain – It was resolved to add a Masters field. Details will follow.

5) Bear Mountain Promotion –

Roger is working with various options for significant name sponsorship Ann Marie Miller proposed Bear Mountain recon ride to reintroduce racers to the course Joe will update crca.net page on race Barb Blakley will try to work with club members (Ace McDade and Jim Boyd mentioned as some possibilities) on brief webstory about history of Bear Mountain race

6) Composite teams – Barb Blakley will work on advance organizing for 2015

7) Marshaling –

Josh will work to arrange marshals to monitor people riding on paths in Rambles, riding in reverse (DQ for both), and provide extra instruction for marshals. Question discussed of online quiz or the like to help with marshal orientation.

(to be discussed at Thursday meeting of board members with Central Park officials)

8) Laptop for club races – Present laptop is outdated and has bad battery. Jayson will follow up with Ken on purchase of newer laptop.

9) New member recruitment – Moved and passed to offer on the spot membership joining opportunity at Orchard (by hand) as trial to see if it is effective means of recruitment. Initial membership cost to be offered - $55

10) Junior Development – To be discussed further, ideally through having Ariel at next meeting to clarify budget, what they need, etc.

11) Sponsorships update – Roger Parmelee updated the board on discussions with various potential sponsors

General Follow-up

Jayson – club email (post-meeting with CPC officials) r.e. plans on enforcing rules on riding in reverse and in Rambles and on BXL Paris-Roubaix viewing party

Ashley – email to team managers r.e. plans on enforcing rules, BXL Paris-Roubaix party, and updated roster (for directors to view roster and suspended members)

Postponed for email or later meetings:

Grants Tomb recap and future of race (Liz will email David about issues)

Further discussion of policy r.e. club member riding behavior outside park

Club Archives - John Tomlinsen’s work on the CRCA archives - Budget for scanning photos (estimate $540) and storage for 10 bankers boxes (Museum? NY Public Library, the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Historical Society, and possibly Brooklyn College which holds a collection of material about boxing in New York City)

Battenkill Race Report from Cecilia Davis-Hayes

After this past weekend's stellar results from many of our racers, we asked for a race report from Cecilia Davis-Hayes of CRCA/Stan's No Tubes p/b enduranceWerx. See below for the story of how she procured her big bottle of chocolate milk:

My first Battenkill experience was a total thrill ride. I'd heard rumors of the sketchy dirt sections, gorgeous views of Meetinghouse Road, the covered bridges, and the tough competition, but I certainly had to see it to believe it. It's like nothing else!

The women's Pro/1/2 race started out tamely enough as we cruised along smooth paved roads and I admired the scenery- rolling hay fields and cows, with the occasional snow path hanging on for dear life. Then at mile 6, we hit the first dirt section and polite ladies turned in to swarming hornets as we all chased for the front, dodging pot holes, mushy sections and fallen riders who had not been able to avoid them. From here on out there was rarely a dull moment between dirt sections, punchy climbs and attacks. Some awesome efforts by my teammate BrittLee Bowman, who ended up winning the field sprint to take 4th. On some of the dirt sections the only rideable portions were the two parallel tire tracks, so we were forced into double file, praying that the girl 6 inches in front of your wheel didn't make any sudden movements.

The real action started after the second feed zone at about mile 42 when we hit the steepest climb of the day, Herrington Hill, followed by a brief plateau and a few more punch climbs. my plan was the stick to a Colvita rider's wheel since she was the strongest climber in the bunch, who sure enough, lead us into the climb. After a few minutes I looked back and only two of us had been able to stick it and we had quite a gap. Though pulling through was about the last thing I felt able to do, I gave a brief pull (still on rutty dirt) to show I was committed to the break. The third rider (Giles, from the military team) did likewise.

Screaming fans, including our hosts in Cambridge, owners of the Rice Mansion, and my dad and sister greeted us on the picturesque slopes of Meetinghouse road. The descent and flats that followed were the worst dirt sections of the course. I got caught a few times in deep sand and nearly tipped over but was more than pleased to be riding Stan's NoTubes wheels and Hutchinson Intensive tubeless tires to give me the extra confidence to make it through. We got a moto report that we only had 25 seconds on the field so we kept pushing. At one point on a long downhill section I must have been taking turns with a vengeance because I gapped them by 100m. I was loving the thrill ride. Totally in my element. I decided to wait up because we still had 10miles to go but I do wonder if making a solo break attempt to the end could have worked...but I suspect the two of them would have been stronger.

With 1k to go I pull off the front and take third wheel behind Giles, the bigger stronger girl of the two and Colvita leads in the final 90 degree turn leading into the 200m straightaway. Out of the turn, Giles (with me sucking her wheel) blows by Colvita as we're racing to the line. I knew I had to come around her if I wanted the win, but the question was when? 120m to go? 100m? I had no idea. Clearly I waited too long because when I finally did I gained on her steadily to the line but didn't have enough time to overtake. I came in 2nd by a wheel length. Very pleased with the result though!