Grant’s Tomb Crit is one of the only “real” street criteriums raced in New York City. It’s the gem of NYC racing scene and it never disappoints. In the first GT Summer edition (it has historically been in early March), we had a scorcher of a day with some excellent racing.

All photos throughout by Daghan Perker
(please tag @dperker and @tobedetermined.cc if shared on social.)

Early in the day Diane opened the racing with two top ten finishes while doubling up races. While in the afternoon Leah won the 2/3/Masters field to become the New York State Category 2 Criterium Champion, while Lucia won the State Championship in her Masters Category.

Separately, Ben, Alvaro, and crew raced the M2/3 field at 2:30pm, where they faced an average temperature of 109.4ºF during the race and some quick improvisations to a plan that did not pan out as intended given difficult race conditions. This is their race report.

Ben DNF’s but tries his best

There came a point at Bear Mountain back in May, when I genuinely entertained the prospect of wetting myself to feel some degree of warmth, however fleeting. Between the driving rain and the real feel of 0 Cº, it was the coldest I had ever been on the bike.

I found myself vacationing in that memory during Saturday’s 40-degree race.

The ice sock I had crammed down my race suit was gone within three laps and so all I could do was douse myself in piping hot Skratch mix and hope for a breeze. And yet, summer Grant’s Tomb was one of the most fun races of the year so far.

My role was simple: stay close to the front and cover any moves to set up Alvaro for the sprint. I spent the initial 15-20 minutes trying to drive the pace and discourage any attacks, before moving back into the field for a rest. It was around then that Greg Hruby from Rockstar made a move up the road and got a 23 second gap on the field.

Hearing the call from Al to get back on the front, I moved back up and started chasing. I managed to take seven or eight seconds out of the deficit but wasn’t able to do any more and so, pretty much toasted, I fell back. After a few laps on the back, I truly started to overheat and I saw myself out of the race after about 45 minutes. I was disappointed that I couldn’t do more to help Alvaro, but that’s bike racing. Besides, he was still able to deliver a result!

Alvaro takes 8th overall, 2nd in Cat 2 NY State Crit Championship

I was really looking forward to this race. After a DNF at the NYS road championships at Bear Mountain in May, I wanted to have a good showing. I came to this race knowing that I could do well, but that the competition wouldn’t make it easy. So we hashed out a plan to work and have Corey Williams and I as the options for the win. After setting up Scott Rettino for several wins at FBF, and Alex Malkin for a podium at CRCA earlier this season, we were confident in our team execution. So, we decided to ride the clean lines and keep it near the front for the first half of the race and then make sure to shut down any dangerous moves that Corey and I that we weren’t in. Unfortunately, the heat and Rockstar’s Greg Hruby’s plans spiced things up sooner in the race than we anticipated.

Greg attacked solo about 20 minutes in and I didn’t see it go. I think most of us didn’t, and many in the field thought it was too early. Before we knew it, he had a meaningful gap. So we called up Ben Brown to the chase, who brought the break down about 15 seconds by himself. That effort took a huge toll on Ben and by the time he was done, a lot of racers had already DNF’d, including several TBD teammates. After a few laps trying to help bring it down myself, I tried to get a chase move going. No one followed for half a lap, until Kristopher Judd from Automatic came up to get a chase going. He had too much momentum on me and I couldn’t get to him, which ended up costing me a top placed finish. Kristopher’s move, along with several strong guys like Edison Marulanda, eventually caught Greg and took the top 5 spots.

With about 15 minutes to go, I knew I had missed it, and I wasn’t about to tow the field and get a pack finish. So I surfed wheels until I suddenly heard the bell lap. I almost missed it! I was way too far back at the start of the last lap but worked my way up to the top 10 by the final stretch. I made the mistake of moving up the middle instead of from the sides, and had to wait for the two guys sprinting in front of me to open up a bit to sneak through. I got 3rd in the field sprint after two guys flung by the sidelines, but due to NYS Championship rules, that put me at 2nd in the Cat 2 State Champs.

I was surprised to get called to the podium, and had already changed out of my kit. I’ll happily take my NYS Crit Champs silver medal though, especially as it’s my first podium this year. That’s two top 10s in a row as a Cat 2 for me, and that’s how confidence is built. So I am DETERMINED (pun intended) to get that consistency up and step on some more stairs.