Capital Regions Road Race: The Most Fun I’ve had on a Bike in Forever

Cap Regions is one of those races that has been on the calendar for a long time for me but I unfortunately had not been able to get to. I was out of town in 2017 and I was injured in 2018. Thankfully, the race organizers allowed me to transfer my registration from last year to this year, and there was no way I was going to miss it. This race ended up being my favorite race of the year, and perhaps my favorite race so far all time. It’s not because I won it (I didn’t) or because I had a big crew of teammates (it was only me). Cap Regions is a challenging race. It’s on a beautiful course with good roads, and it has a tricky finish that got the best of me. What made this race for me was the field, though. 

Yep, the field meaning the peloton. I raced Cap Regions the 3/4 field with friends from Kruiscx, King Kong, and 5th Floor. We’re all NYC teams, and if you’ve ever raced in NYC you know that people here love to take racing way too seriously. It’s kind of a characteristic of NYC racing, from Cat 5s to the elites. Everyone is trying to be a badass, and everyone thinks they’re the most-perfect bike handler of all time. It’s amateur bike racing but no, we got some guys here that take it as a personal insult to lose, or finagle their way for more upgrade points. We got some teams here that are infamous for douchebaggery even amongst pedestrians in Central Park. Don’t you dare get in their way on a training ride. All in pursuit of glory in a niche-sport that no one outside of our world cares about. 

Anyway, back to Cap Regions. Cap Regions attracts some very good cycling talent. Aside from the few NYC crew, there were a bunch of New England and Collegiate racers. These guys are good at bikes. I’ve raced with Zach Weimer a bunch of times already and he’s certainly beaten me many more times than I’ve beat him, including dropping me like a sack on App Gap at GMSR Stage 3 2018. I knew a few others by Road Results and their kits, it was set to be a tough race. These guys though? They were cracking jokes at the start line. They were cracking jokes in the neutral roll out, during the race, you name it. They poked fun at each other, at the NYC teams, everyone. 

““Who’s fast here? Hey you, in the green, are you fast?””

““Why does it say To Be Determined on your butt?””

““So your team is called 5th Floor cause of a parking lot? Cool” ”

We we were going up one of the steeper gradients, while we’re all huffing and puffing and one of them turns to me and says “Hey man, I think this would be easier in my little ring.” There was also someone who knew TBD near the finish and rooted for me every time the field went through. I don’t know who it was, but whoever you are: that was cool. 

I have to say, this was such a huge relief from all the stuck up attitudes we get in the NYC racing scene. We all have this thing that we love doing in common, let’s have fun doing it together. This is the kind of experience that makes me genuinely like bike racing. We’re all in this to have fun, and race hard – and race hard we did. 

Trusty Garneau A1 Photo by Alvaro Soltero

The jokes didn’t come at the expense of a hard race because after 2 laps of going at a good pace, the knob got turned up to 11. John Beardsley from NYCC had taken a solo flyer, followed by another breakaway that included Rockstar Games. Once we caught them, we absolutely hammered Cap Region’s notorious climb. The field shred to pieces, and I was luckily able to hang onto the front group. We got our breakaway going with a nice rotation and were able to stick it to the line. With about 45 minutes left though, I realized I was out of water. It was hot out, and that cost me dearly. Stupidly, I also forgot how long the race actually was and I still thought we had 4 miles to go when we really just had 2k. The rest of the guys in the breakaway let me pull them, and then laughed at me. 

Cap Region’s finish line is tucked away behind trees around a left-hand corner. The last 200m are not a straight line, and I found it very hard to judge. I was on the verge of getting a cramp and played it cautiously, as the rest of the break surged and I was caught sleeping. The yellow line rule was in effect in the finish line (which I would highly recommend doing away with please!), and I didn’t want to risk a DQ for being too eager. I came in 5th, and had an absolutely awesome time.