Racing - Thoughts

So next weekend is Memorial Day weekend. In the past it's meant a long drive down to Somerville, NJ, for the classic Tour of Somerville Crit. It's also meant a shorter drive to Hartford for the now defunct Hartford Crit.

This year, as a 2, my choices get kind of limited.

It'd be interesting to do Somerville as a 2 but it's a short race, 20 miles, and the course is already over a mile long. I figure the race will run about 17 laps at 1.2 miles (2 km) per lap. It's a Cat 2 only race, a rarity in racing. I figure it'll be insanely fast.

The course is almost flat, with a slightly rising main straight and a slightly descending back one. I think I should be able to tailgun effectively, but I have no idea how I'll fair near the front.

A glance at the registration list revealed only a few familiar names. I'd be venturing into unknown territory as far as pace goes, but last year, in slightly better shape, I stayed near the front of the Cat 3 race for most of the race. I feel like it'd be a super hard race but perhaps one within mortal limits.

It's a $40 race, with a $25 day of race penalty.

In addition to the short race, it puts us in the middle of Memorial Day traffic on the drive back. It can be difficult navigating through the whole NYC area to get back to the northern bit of CT.

Sunday, though, is a race in Bound Brook, NJ, a race so close to Somerville that we drove there by accident, then drove over to Somerville for the race.

Bound Brook is longer, 40 miles, and has a little dogleg right-left (or left-right) on the backstretch. It costs less, allows a less expensive day-of-race registration ($33 plus $5 penalty).

The drawback (or, depending on the viewpoint, the appeal)?

It's a P12 race, and a glance at the registered racers shows that Team Type 1 has pre-registered a bunch of guys.

In other words it'll be an insanely fast insanely fast race. I have no idea if I can hang with such a race - at Las Vegas, racing against some of those kind of guys, I got shelled pretty quickly. But that race had a lot of turns, tons of jumps, and very little soft-pedaling.

The weather forecasts right now call for rain for both those days. If it rains... well, I may not race. I have nothing at stake, nothing really to gain, and a lot to lose if I hit the deck.

So, do I gamble on the weather and pre-register? If so, which one?

And if not, what is Somerville worth to me, versus Bound Brook?

Questions, questions.

I have to decide in the next day since pre-reg closes in two days.