Notice the Mets hat? Well the Mets got smacked by the Yankees worse than I got smacked by the pavement in Harlem. What can you do?

Harlem Crit

First, let me say, f*@k bike thieves! So I left my 8 year old Trek 2300 locked up outside my job the other day (Union Square area) for an hour (locked up with a cable and master lock) and when I came back, it was gone. I'm so pissed - at myself for not getting a big ass lock and chain, but mostly at the motherf*@ker that jacked me. That's some b*llsh*t.
I've been on some real adventures on that bike, about 4 half ironman races and one full ironman race. It's hard man, it's hard. You just can't have anything in this city. Well, at least there's the old trusty Bianchi. It's as good a neighborhood bike as any.
So races didn't go so hot this past weekend. On Saturday, the CRCA race went ok. I think I finished 12th or in that neighborhood. Not too shabby for my first official Cat 4 race, but still nothing to write home about (this ain't home). Other teams worked well, Ave A Razorfish, DKNY and Setanta. I think we can be good this season (NYVelocity that is), but we definitely need some work and a few guys to upgrade. I felt good coming into cat hill on the last lap and moved up a bunch of places, but it's important to get good positioning well before that climb because there are plenty of decent sprinters and it's almost impossible to get around people at the end. They combined the B and C fields as a result of one of the pace car guy's "sleeping in" on Saturday. No worries, there's always next week.
The Harlem Crit on Sunday, that's where things went downhill. Although I went uptown at 10am, I still almost didn't get into the race. It's always better to register online well before the race. So in addition to registration issues, I got a flat, forgot my extra tubes, man I'm all messed up. Maybe all this is an omen, but I never listen. So after I finally got registered, fixed my flat and spent about 20 minutes re-warming up, I got to the start line. The first few laps are always brutal, but if you've warmed up correctly, you quickly adjust to the pace, which I did. Lot's of back and forth. Not many attacks off the front, although a few guys did try to get away. It's still a 4/5 race, so tactics are not so much the issue, guys are just trying to hang on. To make a long story short, by lap 16, I started to move toward the front with Christophe J and Steve O. Dev from SouthAfrica.net is always a nice big draft, so I tried to sit on his wheel. Things got hairy on lap 18. Some guy turned his wheel into another guy's wheel on the straight away and went down, we were all packed in there real tight, so that just started the chain reaction. Dev went down, Christophe went down and so did yours truly. By the time I collected myself, put my chain back on and checked my bike, checked my body, it was too late to catch the field, so that was that. Bike was ok, but I was banged up, bad scrapes on my left elbow, fat lip and sore back. Maybe next year
With that said, it's a great event. Lots of local racers, lots of spectators and lots of community support. I love that Mt. Morris Park section of Harlem. The brownstowns are hot and the people genuinely friendly. Feels like a real community within a community. I wouldn't be opposed to living there.
More links to Team NY Velocity Pics at Harlem Crit http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamvmoore/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reggie_rasch/
Also check out www.velocitynation.com