Harlem by the numbers
“Harlem is so easy”. “Wow, that was hard”. Two equally valid points
of view on how the 2013 Harlem Skyscraper Crit went. These two
seemingly divergent sets of analysis can only be true when one party
is lying (or out of shape) or if one is racing on one of the New York
Metro areas famous wide open downhill vortex crits. One thing that we
don’t normally do here is talk about numbers. But numbers tell this
story unlike anything else truly can. Equipped with a fancy new SRAM
Red Quarq, here is my hour long race by the numbers:
244 watts – The amount of power needed to sit in and hold position in
the back half of the field. Overall, I had 2 20 minute periods in
this race at 244w. Inside those, 2 6 minute efforts at 230 and 234
respectively. Easy, right?
322 watts – The amount of power needed to maintain a position in the
top 10-15 riders for the last 8 minutes of the race, with a 700-900
watt jump every 30 seconds which really translates to 8-10 secnod
bursts of 600 watts. Sounds harder, right?
423 watts – The three minute power need to get away from the field
followed by 3 minutes at 370 in a failed attempt to stay away. So,
there is that.
An easy race to survive. A hard race to win.
Ben’s #LOCALKNOWLEDGE only adds 1.5 hours to any trip to NJ
Melina’s mom is rad, and makes great burgers. Said burgers are not best, however, wrapped in tin foil and submerged in ice water.
The only thing that can kill robot shifting is #stupidNJracers.
Always tighten your seat post clamp. #nofreelap
NJ officials don’t actually believe that one deserves a free lap if a racer crashes. They say “no”, and then confirm 10 laps later that they were indeed wrong. Again #nofreelap.
Day old mac & cheese is best eaten with a water bottle cap.
Gabe Lloyd’s (@gabelloyd) calves are still ridiculously good looking
Ryan Fleming (@ryanpflem) is totally willing to cross 4 lanes of NY traffic in 500m for a milkshake
Hills of Somerset County is quite possibly the best road race of the year
Max Korus (@Max_Korus) is really good at finding Air Attacks in the wild, and also at soloing rolling road races at 27 mph for like 30 miles (look it up).
Amos Brumble (@Brumblebikes), though suffering from an acute and severe strain of “old”, showed all of us how it’s done with a stellar win at Bound Brook. Chapeau.
In the absence of a big win, though with deference to Landon’s 12th place finish in the road race on Sunday, we’re highlighting the general mood and feel of the Green Mountain State over Memorial Day weekend in what turned out to be a monsoon-like collection of storms and some chilly temperatures.
Thanks to Janel Vadnais for use of the photos here. See her stuff over HERE.
