(All future race reports will be 500 words or less in length.)
This weekend brought sunshine, warm temperatures, a lack of rain, and the first weekend of glorious ECCC bicycle racing! Rutgers hosted an Individual Time Trial on Saturday morning and a circuit race on Sunday afternoon. Princeton hosted a criterium on campus Saturday afternoon. Team MIT drove five hours each way for these races – but UVM drove even longer, and McGill longer still (though they had a motor coach).
In short: I won the Men’s B ITT and Crit, but my performance on Sunday was sub-par.
Time trials are my specialty. They’re so simple: just hop on the bike, hammer, and wait. Considering that this was a “no aero” time trial, I spent an awfully long time obsessing about aerodynamic details. The Fuji Aloha CF2 aero frame and Zipp 404 tubulars were perfect for the race. I removed the bike’s bottle cages, taped over the bottle holes, and donned my skinsuit and shoe covers. My 5:45.23 time over the 2.8 mile course with two corners was enough to win the Men’s B category and set a new course record. Unfortunately, it was a fast day, and three of the Men’s A riders were faster. My victory photo shows that my position could have been way better. I look like I’m on a training ride. Geez. I averaged about 460W, or 5.6 W/kg. Not a personal best.
I didn’t think I was any good at criteriums until I won this one. The pack was taking the wide turns slower than I could alone. (Tubulars corner like they’re on rails.) When I saw two UVM guys off the front and not getting any closer, I knew it was time to start working. I won three of the four prime sprints, and took the win by half a wheel. I set some new power records here, too. A sincere thank you UVM for working with me. You have some impressively strong guys.
I wasn’t feeling all that great for Sunday’s circuit race. Road conditions forced a reverse running of the course, turning a long uphill finish into a long downhill into the wind every lap. I soloed off the front for most of the race, before being caught by a UVM-led pack and being spit out the back. I had no punch left for the pack sprint, not that I had any to begin with – time trial specialist.
There was a jersey for the omnium (omnicide?) winner in each category. I would have won if it was based on time as advertised, but the organizer gave it to the points leader due to lack of timing data.
7 upgrade points to Cat 3/Men’s A earned. 13 to go. My goal is to go to Nationals, so I need to race hard to get there.
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