Dave Jordan Central Park Classic
Thanks to the CRCA there is a full schedule of races in Central Park, with the Dave Jordan Central Park Classic as the pinnacle of all of those events. From the community getting together to remember Dave, to the post race coffee and bagels to the thousands of dollars raised for the Century Road Club Development Foundation, it's a very special day on the bike.
As for the actual racing the squad was a bit light due to schedule conflicts so we rolled just three deep in the Elite Men's race. Scuds was as aggressive as always, looking for opportunities to get off the front but with 100 riders and several squads eying a field sprint nothing dangerous managed to sneak away.
This left Tom and me to set up for the field sprint. As captured on video below it was a hectic finale. We hovered near the front of the pack down the West Side of the Park, taking wind to maintain room to move and cautious to come to the front too early since it was just the two of us.
Into horseshit alley things got a bit squirrely with some DQ's awarded for rec lane violations and angry words exchanged somewhere off to our right. Despite this the field shifted nicely and we were able to establish strong positioning for the descent into the boat house.
Unfortunately shortly after Tom came around me there was a touch of wheels and Tom was quickly sideways, tumbling through the air. I quickly pulled off the gas and slowed to circle round and check on him. Despite a lot of blood thankfully he was in one piece.
It certainly wasn't the finish we were hoping for but while Tom headed home to bandage his wounds the rest of the squad headed to Tavern on the Green with some friends (#unitedcolorsofCRCA) to grab some coffee and recount the day's action.
Dave Jordan Central Park Classic Results: http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?year=2016&id=1826
A New York City based cyclist and sometimes photographer. Part adventure rider, part crit racer, and fully obsessed with an English bulldog named Winifred.
Instagram: @photorhetoric
E-mail: matthew@tobedetermined.cc
