Kissena Cycling Club

Picture by Andrew Kozak

A report by Rashad Guerra

So Sunday's race worked out for us. It was very cold and the race started 10 minutes late. I was shaking uncontrollably on the line. Most of the first lap was "talk to the guy next to you" pace. Around Columbus circle guys started to attack...

I followed a few wheels with not much separation from the field. The first time up Cat’s Paw there was about 5-6 guys off the front with about a 5-10 second gap. I followed a Sid’s guy up the road unaware that no one was on my wheel. We were about 20 meters from connecting to the group when everyone sat up.

I knew that this was the perfect time to go. I was a little behind the first group, had a good gap on the field and I did no work in getting to the break as I was on someone’s wheel. You can’t ask for anything better if you like to break. I jump at the exact same time as Gavi who was in the front group. It was perfect, again I found myself in a position to make the gap bigger and had to do no work.

We put it! in the curb to clean our wheels and fell into rotation. Two other guys joined us and by the end of the east side straight away the break was off clean. Four other guys bridged us at Harlem and I knew that the race was over. I knew that I had to watch out for Gavi and Igor the most. I spent the rest of the race making sure that I did enough work to help the break but as little work as possible. My plan was to jump at Harlem on the last lap and solo in but Igor was thinking the same. We tried but got no separation. The whole west side of the last lap was cat and mouse. It is like chess. If you attack and get caught you have bad position and will lose the sprint. It can take up to a 1K to get good position back. At one point we were going 12 miles an hour. I thought that we might get caught but no one was flinching.

With about 500 meters to go I found myself in perfect position. I was on Igor’s wheel and he had a leadout man. I was all smiles. I knew that the win was not in the bag but I knew that I had a great chance. The best line to take on a Cat’s Paw sprint is left. It is a longer line but it is not as steep allowing you to get on top of the gear and gain speed on anyone to your right. Apparently Igor has the sprint dialed in. He pushed me to the curb on the right forcing me to take the wrong line. I thought that I lost the race right there. I came around Marti, his lead out man, on the right and within about 5 kicks I knew that I had it.

It was a sweet win and it is great start of the season for Kissena. Thanks to the boys there was alot of blocking in the group and it paid off in the end.