It had been a while since Max and I had raced together, but now that Max upgraded to Cat 3, we were super excited to be in the same field at the Verge Series #1 Cat 2/3 Prospect Park road race, along with other friends such as Bennett, Devin, Justin, and Viv.
As usual, my goal was to join a breakaway. I even brought my skinsuit to get an extra boost. Max’s goal was to stay tucked in and then send it toward the front on the last lap.
Breakaway Attempts All Race
The race started off with many breakaway attempts. There were constantly a few riders off the front, and I tried to join most of them. At one point, I was with a group of about 20 riders in a small break, but we never got much separation from the field. I am still amazed that this one got brought back because it had riders from all the major teams, but we were simply not coordinated enough.
In the last two laps, four riders individually snuck away, and they eventually formed the winning breakaway.
Field Sprint
With four riders off the front, the field was fighting for 5th place. With 1km to go, I found myself in poor position on the right side of the road. As I tried to move up, I saw Max flying by on the left side, with Justin on his wheel for a leadout.
Max made it all the way to the front with about 400m to go, and Justin took off to win the field sprint. Max then blew up, got passed by a bunch of riders, but still managed to finish 21st in his first Cat 2/3 race.
I found an opening and finished 4th in the field sprint and 8th out of 88 overall.
A Really Great Day
This was a really great day for both of us. I got my best Prospect Park field sprint result and finally broke my curse of getting boxed in and not finding good lines. And for Max, this was a hell of a Cat 2/3 debut.
Afterward, Max and I hung out with our Star Track teammates and other friends for a while. Then Ian and I rode home along the Belt Parkway to get some Z2 miles in.
