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Justin’s Columbia/Rutgers and Philly Reports

This is my first season racing with the cycling team, and I have been assiduously following the team’s training plan since November so I was really excited to get my first race weekend in.

 

The first weekend was a circuit race on Saturday hosted by Columbia, and a Sunday criterium on Rutgers’ campus. The second weekend was at Philadelphia with a TTT and circuit race on Saturday and a criterium on Sunday at Temple University.

Columbia Circuit Race: [1/39] Strava File

The circuit race was a relatively flat 3.7 mile loop around Rockland Lake. The weather was cold and raining and the forecast for the rest of the day was the same. Luckily there was a large sheltered area outside where we could set up our trainers and keep dry. Before the race started I overheard racers from other teams talking about how there would be no chance for a break to get away on this course and that it would be ridiculous to try it. About 40mins before the race I hopped on a trainer to get warmed up. The temperature was in the mid 30s, so I had shoe covers, arm warmers and knee warmers, and long fingered gloves which turned out to be perfect since at no point in the race was I cold.

When my category (Men’s C) was called to the start line, I went to the front so I could get a good starting position. With no teammates in the race, my strategy was to stay at the front in the top 7 wheels. The race started out slow, where I could easily be in Z2 while drafting. When we hit the first little hill someone tried to attack, I knew that with the hill being only 50ft I shouldn’t kill myself to try and follow him. I kept my pace constant and a few minutes later the pack caught the rider on the flat. There is a small uphill again before a downhill that leads to a flat finishing straight (similar to the Hascom sprint). The rest of the race was similar as people would attack and then get reeled in no time, the only panic for me was that my sunglasses got covered in dirt at one point and I had to take them off and stuff them in my jersey. It was annoying having backspray and dirt coming into my eyes for the rest of the race but at least I could see. Doing this pushed me 15 riders back in the field but I was able use Coach Nicole’s lessons for moving in a pack to get back up to the front in half a lap.

 

On the final lap the pace picked up quite a bit, and there was lots of jockeying for position. I wanted to be at the front coming into the first hill so I could hop on the wheel of riders who would be going hard up it. Sure enough 2 lines formed going up the hill and I hopped on the one that seemed to be going faster. Coming into the little uphill I was second wheel, and around the last corner to the downhill I was first wheel. At this moment I thought I made a huge mistake as surely someone was on my wheel. I heard a crash of bikes behind me, so I decided to do what I did a couple weekends back with Nic Tham on Hascom where I lead out and decided to crush it hoping the rider behind me would have trouble hanging on. 200 m before the finish line I looked back and I had 2 bike length lead, so I put my head down and started sprinting hoping I wouldn’t see a someone coming up my left in the last few meters. As I crossed the line I won my first race!!!

 

 

Rutgers Crit: [DNF] Strava File

This crit was also flat and had only 3 corners that were really wide. The race organizers did a great job patching up all the potholes. I liked my chances in this race and was feeling good after yesterday’s finish. Talking with Andrea and Jeff before I had 3 goals: 1) finish without crashing, 2) win a prime and 3) win the race. I was able to check off 2) and half of 1). Again I started near the front, and the speed was much faster from the get go compared to the day before. I didn’t do as good of a job as I was leading the race for most of the first few laps, but I enjoyed being able to pick my line into the corners. On the first prime lap, I drifted to 5th wheel so that I could watch what everyone else was doing. Going into the straight before the final corner I was 2nd wheel but decided to go hard so that I could be first coming into the final corner. It was about 300m from the turn to the finish line, so I knew it was going to be a longer sprint. I won easily but other riders behind me were confused as to why we were sprinting so I explained to them the concept of intermediate sprints for points which also allowed me to recover a bit. On the second prime lap, I was second wheel coming into the final corner but this is where things didn’t go well. The rider infront of me seemed to sit up and went way to the outside around it. I was slightly to his outside coming into the corner, which I now realize was a mistake as I forced off into the dirt. I thought I could continue and try to catch back up but my tire was ripped off the rim and flatted. Since there was 9 laps to go, the official said I couldn’t get another wheel and free lap. Talking to the rider who was infront of me after the race, he was very apologetic as he said his foot came unclipped from his pedal and also DNF later on in the race when it happened again.

The rest of the day was loads of fun being able to cheer on everyone else on our team who was racing. By the time Anne was going around in the Women’s A race, I had almost lost my cheering voice.

Philly TTT: [1/8] Strava File

Driving down the Friday before, there was a pretty nasty snow storm in the Northeast so we were all hoping the races on Saturday wouldn’t be canceled. The race crew did a great job and the races went as planned. The TTT course was 13 miles and had a few 180 degree turns. Since a few of the Men’s A riders did not arrive until early morning, the teams were switched and I was with Christian and Daniel in Men’s C.

We were rotating as planned for the first 5mins, then near the first turn around Daniel dropped off, so Christian and I had to stick together for the remainder of the course. Christian did a great job, he pulled when I was really tired up front, and we finished 1 minute ahead of the next fastest team. We were also only 0.5mph slower than the Men’s A team from MIT!

Below is a video from the first 6 miles of the course. Sorry about the water droplets on the lens!

Philly Circuit Race: [38/63] Strava File

 

Since the TTT races started a bit late, we had less than an hour after we finished to get ready for the road race. It was a really nice course with a couple hills to break up the field. Philip was racing with us, and I knew he had a good chance at winning if he was able to keep up with the main group. I was dumb and decided to pull the field from the start for the first 5mins, my legs still felt good from the TTT but after the pull I could feel them starting to burn with my heart rate not recovering as it should. The field stuck together for the first two laps, judging how my legs felt climbing the hills I realized today wouldn’t be my day. On the third lap, after the descent to the flat straight along the river, I saw Philip near the rear of the field. I came by and told him to hop on and pulled him to the front, I looked back and saw that the field was now strung out in a single line and was starting to break up. Here I decided to push the pace and hope that Philip would be first coming into the next hill. At this point we were doing ~29mph. As we came to the 180 degree turn to a hill I pulled off and watched as the broken up pack went up the hill. I joined a bunch of other guys who were struggling up the climb and formed a pick-up pace line on the last lap. Philip ended up finishing 6th and took home some points for our team. 

  

Philly Crit: [8/49] Strava File

This race was the most fun I’ve had riding my bike because the Men’s C worked really well as a team to win it. We had two strategies going into it: either Christian and I go for the final sprint in a bunch with a leadout from Philip, or Philip breaks off and tries to go solo for the victory. The course was almost a perfect square with a nasty headwind in the penultimate straightaway. I tried to stick near the front half for the first few laps, and when the bell rang for the first prime I made my way closer to the front. Being hit by a car just before the race started, while pre-riding, I wanted to use the prime to see how I was feeling. On the gusty straight I came to the front to take the final corner first, there was a rider to my left also contesting the sprint. I put down the hammer and was able to get first for the sprint. Philip got second, and as I looked back the rest of the field was a good 30-40 yards behind the both of us. I was dead from the sprint and wanted to recover so shouted “Go Philip go!!” as this was a great chance for him to break off and being the beast he is, he could probably win off the front even with 25mins left. I was swallowed up by the field and saw Philip ahead with a 15s lead. As we came around again, I heard Ethan and Tom shouting at me and Christian to get to the front and block for Philip. This is where the fun for me started: I would lead the pack into a corner but not take it aggressively letting the seconds tick up on Philip’s lead. Every few minutes someone would drive to the front trying to pick up the pace, so I would hop on their wheel. A few times I would let the rider go by himself, and they would look back and see they were in no man’s land and drop back to the pack. Christian also helped out with blocking and won some points in the primes. came second With around 3 laps to go someone shouted that Philip had a one minute lead. I continued to lead the pack but knew that Philip would win. It actually took a lot of energy to be out on the front blocking, and found myself a bit zapped for the final sprint. I was able to pass 2-3 guys infront of me on the sprint to get 8th.

This was super fun and was great to cheer on the rest of the team after! I thoroughly enjoyed both weekends, and the time spent traveling, eating, and laughing with the whole team 🙂