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Ken Harris donned the Union Jack jersey for the first time and totally dominated the final Spring Series 3/4 race in Central Park on Sunday. With a Gulla-like disregard for traditional SS tactics of sitting in and waiting for the sprint Ken rode in all the breaks, rode solo for a lap or two, rode in another break (get lonely or something Ken ?) and then convincingly sprinted for the win - making it 5 wins out of 7 races this season for “the other” Big Man.

Until they both get enough points to upgrade (surely not long in coming) this one-two punch of Ken and Alex in Cat 4 races is potent to say the least.

In the field for Visit-Britain were Craig Upton (me) and Mike Henson (complete with Tan)… This was the first outting for myself, and nice one for Mike to see how he felt in the usual East Coast crowd. After a mere 2 kms of racing a split of 15 riders rolled very gently off the front. Looking at the group and seeing only 4 people working, and the rest coasting I made the decision that it was going nowhere and its early days. And what do you know … the course turned out to be downhill and headwind the entire loop… the group stayed away being caught as we all crossed the line.
Both Mike and I felt comfortable throughout the race and are happy with our current condition.” It was nice to be able to ride in the front and still have gas left in the tank” said Mike afterwards…. “On top of that I know I have more condition coming.”

Monson/Palmer Sunday april 24th-25th … David Delvecchio in his first weekend out of town has shown what a steady winter of training can produce. 15th on Monson and a very impressive 5th at Palmer the following day. After riding the course myself later in the afternoon it became even more obvious to me how impressive David’s fine 5th place was… the final kilometer was a steady up-hill drag.
Watch out for david in future events, these results are off base training… there is much more in the tank

Well I’ve been beaten. Congratulations to Lee Sasson for his fine victory… giving up life as a lawyer and moving to Arizona has definitely kick started his season into high gear. Beware though… the valuable data I collected by using my power-tap training wheel means that I now have the critical information required to kick some butt next time round… I’ll be looking for the new Central Park record.

“With Central Park not obliging any favors or wins on Saturday for either the VisitBritain A or B Squad - Prospect Park at least proved a happier hunting ground for Roger Freidman. In the Cat 3/4 field 10 lap Points event Roger initiated an early break of 8 riders that was shed to 4 by the final lap. A nippy jump 300 meters out brought Roger across the finish line first and when the final points were tallied 2nd place overall and some handy upgrade points.”

VisitBritain got a small amount of redemption for their poor showing the previous day when Anthony “Ricky” Lowe picked up a strong 2nd place in the Cat 3/4 Spring Series over 4 laps of Central Park. This being Ricky’s only 4th race ever up Cats Paw it appears hes finally getting the hang of the hill and an eye for the right line - a few wins should be just around the corner.

The VisitBritain B Team picked the  first B Team Challenge event to turn in  by far their worst performance of 2004 to date. A pre-race plan of getting 2 riders in every break was executed well with John Kuhn, Ted Neu and VB debutantes Roger Freidman and Andrew Cohen in particular looking strong and working hard. But inevitably in these short Central Park events the field was all together on the last lap, and VisitBritain somewhat lost their way in the last 2k and failed to figure in the final shake-up. Perenial Master winners and CP sprinters Rolando Ocampo and Christophe Wilkes finished 1st and 2nd with an 8th place for Ricky Lowe the best VisitBritain showing. All in all a very poor start to the B Team Challenge but with targeted races Jiminy Peak and Harriman coming up the team are looking to lift spirits with a podium position or two.

Meanwhile in Prospect Park rumour has it that Alex Gulla finally picked up some UCI upgrade points with a strong win in the Cat 4 race.

Yet another impressive perfomance from Alex takes the win in the CRCA Team Cup Race this morning, scoring valuable points for the teams 3-peat attempt.
In a wet soggy race the with only 5 riders the teams objective was to besure we had members in the break. No chasing for VB. The plan worked great Alex did the work of ten men making sure everyone got tired of trying to breakaway. Then as predicted the decisive break went away containing 10 riders, including Alex and Craig. On the last lap with the break watching Craig’s every move Alex produced an excellent attack to ride in for a Solo win… Craig picked up 4th in the sprint.

John “Family Man” Kuhn, defied sleepless nights and endless diaper changes to score a nice 2nd place in the CRCA B Points Race. Over 7 laps John got into a nice breakaway with welcome guest Basil Moots (overflow from the A field) and the pair stayed away for the next 3 laps picking up valuable points every lap. Basil powered away solo on the last lap and John was caught around Tavern by what was left of the pack after a torrid days racing in the cold and wet. With  the aim of securing John’s second spot overall Justin Reid took the final pack sprint for 2nd on the line and 6th overall. A good team performance to back-up the A squad’s impressive start to the Team Cup.

After a short but exciting Fischer Mountaintop Hill Climb, CISS takes a day off in preparation for the final weekend of the series. Andrew Johnson continued his dominance today beating Ivan Babikov by a toe in a photo finish to the 3km Fischer Mountaintop Hill Climb up Blue Ridge Road. (more…)