Mens A

Womens A

What a weekend!!!!

Janet (on Muffy), myself (on stealth) and Pam (on the red barron) set out for our first ever as a team TTT on the windy as hell, yet don't forget to enjoy the beautiful scenery, race early Saturday morning. Despite Amy's puking in the first 3/4 mile, Pam's off roading on the first turn, and Muffy's gears not working well, we finished FIRST, 40 seconds ahead of our nearest competition!

Off to the road race.... the weekend was picture perfect, except for the first 2 hours of our road race where it decided to rain. Eating horse and cow poop off of the road with other various forms of dirt and grime caked to our faces such that vision was an issue, made this race an interesting one. Amy tried to break, and then when the only chaser was a girl with a broken spoke she thought better of it. Plus that killer hill was going to suck... we did manage to talk the officials into cutting down our race by a lap due to the rain, so we had 4 wet, cold, muddy laps to do before the wretched climb.

The pack pretty much stayed together. Pam reminded us all to take in the sights once the rain did stop. We flew down the switch-backed down hills and calmly went up the rollers. No one was going to break. It was going to be left to the hill to decide the race. Janet unfortunately due to lack of vision went down and in trying to help the women who went down with her, missed ever catching onto the pack again. Pam stayed up front with Amy. We hit the hill. Amy hears Pam yell her first "what the ^&$^%#" followed by a "Go Kerdok" and that was it. If it wasn't for all the HUCA fans along the way, we all would have walked I'm sure. Instead, Amy pulled through for a second place finish, Pam a 9th, and Janet a 14th! Not too shabby!

Sunday... after Saturday we were all pretty beat. Muffy had officially died. Michelle graciously loaned Janet her fast orange bike which immediately brought a smile to Janet's face. Amy felt ill. We all got a good spot at the start. Pam took off and hit the turn first. We all rode together for the most part. Pam listened to Amy's pre-race chat well and led her out for the first prime. Amy took 3rd. Amy didn't feel well and told Pam and Janet to carry on w/o her...Amy finally puked and then felt better.... although now a tad dehydrated. ON Prime #2, Pam did an off road trick to land smack in front of Amy for the perfect lead out. Amy took first. Similarly, on primes 3 and 4, Pam again led Amy out for first, but this time took 4th for herself both times, and Janet got on the last one for a second place finish.

Dartmouth was desperately trying to make a move. Amy kept trying to cover it. Then on the last lap, Kate Stang took off with a few other people flailing all over the narrow course (where were they all race?) and Amy, Janet, and Pam got stuck in not so good positions... in fact Amy was practically last going into the final turn. Pam got smacked hard by a flailing biker's handlebars... but Janet caught a good wheel and rode to a 7th place finish. Amy sprinted up the hill for 8th nudging Pam (who took
9th) by perhaps a wheel width.

Not a bad turnout for Pam's first weekend in A's, and Janet's second! Way to go! One last weekend to go!!!!

Amy

Mens B

Hello armchair racers,

The men's A/B contingent for the weekend consisted of:
Men's B: Brendan, Dan, Mads
Men's A: Chris, Jay

We were out in Burlington with HUCA on Sat, and well, all elsewhere on Sunday. Chris and Jay can write a race report for their circuit race later in weekend, but I'll report here on the UVM RR and TTT.

Brendan, Dan, and Mads convinced Jamie to ride along for the TTT on Saturday morning. It was windy, but pretty darn flat. After two weeks off the bike, Dan discovered that training really does make a difference and decided he needed short pulls about a quarter of the way in. It also turns out 10 minutes on the trainer was not enough warm-up for any of us. Jamie helped by towing little Dan downwind. Brendan, as usual, stepped up big time, as we were convinced that Mads' offroad escapades indicated may still have been hungover from his all-night partying in Denmark. Luckily, the big Dane's crafty bike-handling skills and the team's forward momentum kept him upright, narrowly averting time-trial disaster. In the end, we were happy with our teamwork, and at ease with our 5th place finish.

Dead legs and stratospheric resting heart rates indicated the afternoon might be a tough one for Mads and Dan. Unlike the women's "A", the men's "B" decided that 5 hypothermic laps would be better than 4. The attacks came early and the pack seem content to let most go, prefering to reel them later. The wind made it tough to get away for more than a little while, so nothing got too far away. HUCA was relegated mostly to hangin'
on the pack. Brendan was the last man still hangin' as the pack came into the hill, where he jockeyed position a few times, ultimately coming in 7th. Mads and Dan struggled home to raucous cheers from all the fans.
Thanks folks.

Men's A featured the weekly Mike Barton show, where he broke with two other guys somewhere in the middle of the race. He was first up the hill.
Many A racers decided they had literally eaten enough crap in this race and bailed early, leading all finishers to score points. Jay finished respectably in the mid-teens, looking stylish as ever.

That's all folks,

--Dan

Womens B

So, I've been lax in my race report writing duties. Luckily Ramses e-mail yesterday about hot men in speedo's started my, um, creative juices flowing. But then they dried up and I postponed the e-mail and am finishing it up now.

First of all, Women's B this weekend rocked out with only two of us - Robin and I. Robin will henceforth be called Freulein Maria for her love of climbing every mountain. I have no nickname as of yet and do not feel it is appropriate to bestowe one on oneself, so I'll just call myself Onyx because it sounds cool for now. Black spandex of mystery . . .

TTT
Ahhh, the course I have dreamed about all my life. Flat. Blissfully so. In the distance, hills loomed, threatening to be THE hill we would have to climb later in the day. People shuddered and pointed, "Is that Mt.
Philo?" But ahead, nothing but a flat open road with one hell of a headwind, the perfect for Miss "pound it out hard on the flat road, wind or no wind, catch my wheel and feel the superior airpocket I generate with my massive draft" shell. Robin "Safety First" and I warmed up on the somewhat hillier roads leading to the time trial course, smelling the sweet smell of the country Michelle has never been immersed in for extended period of time. I silently collected my thoughts and reflected on the effort I would be putting while inhaling manure while F. Maria gleefully chatted along, happy and perky since she had risen early to make her extra-strong coffee that morning. We get to the start and before I know, we are off. It all happened so quickly . . . heading out was slow and steady fighting the wind and then once we made the 180 it was easy sailing right on home. A little while later, Robin walked over and casually announced, "We won." Since she wasn't shouting with joy, it took me a while to register that WE'D WON!! By a whole MINUTE no less. Sweet victory was ours!

Road Race
Since I didn't see Robin after the start, I will write her report for her and if I am off, she can contradict me later.

F. Maria
Hills! Hills! Everywhere hills!!! YAY!!!!! This is so much easier than triathlons. I am the woman of steel! Drafting is legal?! Hahaha - these pansy cyclists have no idea who they are up against. We can all have fun and not stress. I stayed with the front pack the whole time, working hard but having fun. Teamwork rocks. And then, like a happy present for my hard work on those icky flats and downhills came Mt. Philo! Just like the Colorado hills I climb all summer. I geared up and dusted the competition, loving each turn of the crankarm. Only 100K to go? Shucks. Maybe I will just have to ride down and bound up again.

Michelle
Someone needs to tell UVM that their map LIED. Moderately hilly my butt.
I could be home right now sleeping . . . no, I could be in a villa in Italy right now on the Mediterranean, in a white sarong, while numerous men oiled and topless all named Rico feed me grapes and fan me while in the distance children frolic as the sun sets over the still waters . . .
what? who am I kidding? I couldn't be in a villa right now so I might as well start peddling. Focus Michelle. So, as I usually do, I started off dead last. I must have the underdog complex imbred from being offspring of Brooklyn Dodgers fans because I always start off last and use various stragglers to muscle my way to the middle. I passed some stick-thin girl on a downhill early in the course and then saw my favorite BU girls and easily used them for a bit and then dropped them on another downhill.
Thank goodness - what goes up must come down! Finally, I get on with two Yale girls who I've worked with on other road races. We happily took turns pulling. I did more than my fair share actually of pulling - I didn't want to go the road alone and overcompensated by pulling more than my fair share to make sure they wouldn't leave me on a hill. I even got a compliment from a Yalie, "Hot doggy, Harvard, you take pulls longer than Snoop Dogg! Gangstah" Ok, she didn't say that, but something more Yalelike "I can't believe how long you can pull at the front, Harvard." We manage to get to the end of the wretched course, I was thankful it was cut short one lap, and women's A was there to greet me! I was so excited to see them that I stayed on my bike until I was sure I was out of sight so as not to disappoint them. Remember what I said about what goes up must come down?
Not so . . . Mt. Philo just went up and up and up . . . About 10 pedals into the wall of walls I knew I was in trouble. I prayed a granny gear would magically appear on my bike. . . I prayed I could teleport . . . I prayed I would not start falling backwards. I pedaled until I got scared that I wouldn't be able to clip out and would fall. I then gracefully clipped out, got off and nearly fell to the ground. I thought walking would be amazingly easier, but no, it was still hard. Every single straggler I passed started coming and passing me. Remember little skinny girl? She came happily bopping up the hill. I swore I heard her whistling.
At some point, the Men's C and D pack passed me. I kid you not, the body odor as the pack wafted by nearly knocked me over. I saw many a strong man stagger and fall . . . At some point, I saw a HUCA jersey bounding up the hill, looking good. It was Jaws who mistook the hill from hell for the feed zone and shouted, "Michelle, can I have your gatoraid?" He was working way harder than I was at that point and I handed over my fluid and electrolytes. I even stopped to pick up his disgarded water bottle as a nice hiking break. At various points, I gave a half-hearted attempt to get back on my bike. I got pissed at some man who tried to take my picture. I gave him the nastiest look I could muster when I noticed him. He got his revenge by having already snapped a classy photo - see

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=mgy44&gallery_id=59552&image_id=22

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words . . . my face shows how much I enjoyed that hill. The two Yalies were also snapped walking. Then, at the very end, some BU or BC girl tried to outrun me to the finish. I beat her.
I was so looking forward to the downhil until I got scared that I would fall off the cliff and I didn't want to wear out my new breakpads. I nervously tried not to accelerate out of control and gleefully made it to the bottom intact.

Crit
I managed to get an amazing position at the start - right in the middle and in front. Robin did not do the crit so I alone was representing the Crimson. I stodd ready to attack and various people shouted from the sides. I heard from the distance a voice shout - "Drop the H-Bomb!" and by God I was ready to . . . three, two, one - and we're off! And I'm off . .
. the back that is. I have this intense fear of falling and break hard every single turn. The first corner and I was done for. Luckily there was that long straightaway. Every lap around I would gain on people. I probably could have kept up with the pace of the main pack except for around the corners. Every lap around, I had various cheerleaders and the DJ was playing some excellent Hip Hop to keep me motivated. I ended up with two girls and we took turns keepin' it real. I finished one place out of points range but determined to learn some cornering skills.

Now, that was the actual factual information . . . stay tuned for the behind the scenes look at UVM race weekend once Michelle needs some procrastination time.

Mich

Mens C

Hello Huca-ites, this is the Men's C road report. As always, 'C' is for Crash, and there were crashes, but our Men's C heroes, Slingshot Jamie Wong, Alex Turnbull the Magnificent Planet, and myself, Paul Novosad, rarely used nickname unrepeatable on the family-oriented Huca list, stayed mostly clear of the damage. Saturday morning was the team time trial, a straight shot down a windy stretch of classic Vermont scenery, cows and llamas as far as the eye can see. Riders were encouraged to pick up the pace by a tremendous headwind, carrying the sweet odor of recently placed all-natural fertilizer. With Turnbull somewhere in traffic, and myself feeling lazy, we sent Jamie up to strengthen the Men's B time trial team, where he confirmed for us, that yes, the B-Men do go extremely fast, and helped them to a 5th place finish. I was getting a little bit cold watching, so I went for a practice ride up Mount Philo to prepare myself for the afternoon. The road race began in the afternoon in typically C fashion, with riders in the middle of the pack slamming on brakes at the bottom of long descents, attacking across the yellow line in the first five miles, swerving unexpectedly, and delivering the usual calls of "slowing" "turning" "yellow line" and "shut up!" As usual, the pack slowly shrunk as riders were shelled off the back a few at a time. But every time I started to drift back with the same in mind, I heard Jamie shout something up to me. I couldn't tell what he was saying, it just sounded like "blah blah blah, Paul". "blah blah blah Paul." I tried to say something back at some point but my lungs had no extra air to give. With Jamie's encouragement and some critical downhill pulls on the third lap, I made it to the beginning of the Mount Philo climb with the peloton. At last, I thought, the hill climb, my time to shine. So I stood up out of my saddle and started to push. and nothing happened. As my cadence dropped to about 35, I watched Jamie and the pack move up out of sight, and I concentrated on keeping the legs turning. I finally got off to walk at the steepest section of the hill, where I quickly caught three or four riders due to the strategic advantage of my mountain bike shoes. I got back on my bike and passed one more walker before finishing in 28th, Jamie seven spots ahead me in 21st. Sunday's crit began at 7:00 AM. It was a fun, fast course with only one tight corner, a narrow chicane across a road that changed surfaces four times, with patches of mud and potholes scattered throughout, and a final uphill straightaway being the only place to reposition. Jamie and I started near the back of a pack of about 35, small for the C's. Jamie ran the race according to his usual strategy, effectively controlling the pack from the rear seat. I was a few riders back from him, feeling tired but in the race, when the Middlebury rider ahead of me took the fast corner too tight and fell, bouncing twice on his head and once on his side. I went around him on the sidewalk, losing precious ground on the pack. I tried to sprint back in, but didn't have the legs for it, and rode by myself until I got pulled. Meanwhile, Jamie continued to control the race from his office at the back, and moved up to the front spot with two laps to go. Burned a little bit from leading the entire second-to-last lap, he didn't have his full guns for the sprint, but still finished in a respectable place. The Slingshot has come of age, folks, and he's in his element. Jamie Wong is the rider to watch at Easterns, and you heard it from me first. (there was a rumor going around that he was too tired to make it to the ECCC - why not send him a quick email encouraging him to make it to one more weekend?) Thanks Huca, it was a fantastic weekend in the sun and rain. Next week we're taking the ECCC! Paul (the other one) go on, I would simply look ahead to the pace car and console myself with the fact that it was moving so slowly that once my legs refused to rotate I could always swallow my pride and get off my bike and start jogging next to the group. By the time we summited the last peak (yes, the imagery is supposed to get you to think Everest, Kilamanjaro, or even just Washington) we had nine folks remaining. Being well-trained HUCA-ites, we promptly organized a pace line, dropped two people, and had a solid group of seven for the remainder of the lap. (Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, Penn State, UNH, and two of us from Harvard.) Definitely a highlight of the day, we all worked together remarkably well and were able to enjoy the ride around the backside of the shimmering lake in the brilliant sunshine. Life was almost bucolic, until a harrowing ride down the dangerous hill jolted the field back to reality. With Waterman's appropriate cries of "safety first" in our ears, we gripped our brakes for dear life. Suddenly the red SUV in front of us (potentially the pace car) stops short, a girl departs the vehicle from the passenger seat as the field descends upon the stopped car, everyone screaming and trying not to brake too suddenly for fear of catastrophe. The girl casually turns to walk away from the car, then reaches back inside to get her backpack! At this point bikes are veering left and right to avoid collision with the car or with braking competitiors. The lead rider flew ride up past the car, and then the driver of the SUV finally responded to the absurd chaos he had created and hit the gas, accelerating essentially with the entire field right alongside him. Making sure all seven riders were still intact and alive, we turned the corner, and realized that as bad as the uphill was the first time, it was even harder the second time especially after the intensely cramped and tense downhill. Kiely, realizing that she was simply not going to stick with the group, took one more intense push to try to catch the escaping wheel in front of her and brilliantly lost her chain. While it was back on quickly, she started again and immediately threw up that excellent pre-race meal of M&M's. Lots and lots of m&m's-Ed claims that it was because they were the colorless kind. Regretting that particular nutrition decision, Kiely resigned herself to the fate of a dropped rider, and rode the remainder of the course alone while Waterman continued onward with the leaders. Her second lap was consequently a bit slower, a bit more introspective, and occasionally frustrating as she tried to figure out where motivation came from to ride hard when there are absolutely no competitors around you. She amused herself by planning fantasy picnics on the side of the course in the sunshine with the stale cashews, soggy animals crackers, and cliff bars (the contents of my pockets) and super-sweet gatorade and water (the contents of my waterbottles). I (ooh, sorry, I guess I'm switching to first person narration b/c it is easier than third person) also played a game where I would pedal really hard on the uphills to catch a struggling men's UVM rider in front of me in hopes of having someone to talk to, only to then lose him miserably going downhill because somewhere in my limited race knowledge I remembered someone saying you couldn't draft off entrants in other fields… the uphill that he finally let me get near him however I found out that he had been without water since the first few miles having lost his water bottle, so I gave him mine… guess it was his loss he didn't wait for me earlier. J McKinley, Capasso, and Kiely strongly finished out their journeys for Harvard, ending up in 22nd, 21st , and 7th places respectively. Waterman lost the lead pack only at the end, and came in a minute and a half later in 5th. Awesome job! 1430:Waterman and Kiely go on a cool down ride. For some reason Kiely thinks that she can just ride around this lake and miraculously end up back at the parking lot. Unfortunately that is not the case, and while Super-Triathlete-Waterman was fine with the 6 mile cool down that involved a few more "fun little hills", I-Couldn't-Do-an-Ironman-If-My-Life-Depended-On-It-Kiely was not quite in the same shape, and not pleased when 7/8 of the way around the lake it became apparent that the only logical way back to the parking lot was retracing their route. uphill. 1500-1700: Cheering on the next platoon of riders consisted on intense bursts of HUCA pride followed by long stretches of laying in the grass getting back massages. Good times. 1825: Phenomenal pasta dinner enjoyed on floor of hotel room watching bad television. More good times. DAY 2 0645: the girls room woke up energized and enthusiastic to race. In fact, the first words out of A-teamer Jenna "I left my pedals in the hotel" Shoemaker were "I SO do not want to get on my bike today." This sentiment was most loudly echoed by Pam"I threw up m&ms yesterday" Kiely, who for some reason felt like a cement mixer had run over her legs the day before. 0900: (mmm, in case you couldn't tell before, I'm really making up times now. So much for military precision, but this sounds about right) Kiely is alone on her trainer, unable to even complete a full 30 second interval to warm up for the crit. Contemplating feigning some type of injury, Kiely consults her support crew (Jaws) for advice on getting out of having to race. (tendonitis I hear is a good one) 1000: Criterium starts. Very nice course, one nice short hill, and apparently the rest of the women's B field is feeling about as terrible as Harvard's lone B rider. However, Kiely gets her second wind after realizing 1) that no one is trying to go fast and 2) the view of the Hudson River from this backstretch is SWEET. She ends up having a blast thanks to the very loud contingent of Harvard men and A women yelling for her every lap. For some reason at the end a very nice girl from UNH decided to give her a perfect leadout, and she crossed the finish line before someone else crossed it for the first time ever. After a fun jaunt around the West Point campus where Kiely (joining the A-team warm-up ride as part of her cooldown) almost took out A-team superstar Kerdok when she forgot to turn right, the lone B rider decided to retire her spikes (oops, wrong sport I mean shoes/booties/cleats) and eat lots and lots of pasta. (McKinley, while not racing Sunday, rejoined the group in time to bring an incredible Easter lunch from her mother.) Waterman and Capasso were truly missed. All in all this was quite a challenging weekend yet an awesome adventure for the Harvard B women. Both days we were blessed with beautiful courses, excellent weather (well, Saturday) and incredible teammates cheering and supporting before/during/and after our races. It was also great to have Coach Sassler along for the ride. Thanks everyone! And of course a special shout out to Johan and his crazy guitar skills… looking forward to some tunes this weekend in the VT hills. On Fri, 16 Apr 2004, Michelle Capasso wrote: > Women's B - from the back of the pack > > Since I'm fighting a bout of insomnia right now, most likely due to my > nervousness of doing the actual B-TTTs this weekend without the option > of being dropped - I'll help Pam out a bit with the B-Recap since she > was off the in the front doing swell and I was hauling my a*s up > numerous hills, silently hoping that John would miraculously appear > from a magical fog, bedecked all in gold lame to push me up the hill > before disppearing again into the air. Why the gold lame, I'm not > sure, but I feel like most gaurdian angels often dress in gold lame or > pristene white and white would just get dirty during a road race. But > yes, the TTT. Well, I got off to a smashing start trying to warm up on > my trainer. We've determined that I am biologically incapable of > pushing hard until I warm up for about two hours. I planned on setting > up a trainer in the lobby of the hotel and spinning at the crack of > dawn, but I waited until we got to the gravel pit slash parking lot at > Army. I kicked it into high gear and felt my bike slowly but steadily > fall to the left, where a second trainer gouged itself into my left > thigh, leaving quite a bruise. A few seconds of intense pain followed. > Ed ran over asking if I was okay, which I knew I was - nothing was > broken except the pain was blinding and I couldn't speak. I think I > tried to give a thumbs up of sorts. Back on the trainer a few minutes > later with enough adrenaline pumping through my veins to lift a > tracker off a baby, I couldn't really get up the nerve to spin much. > My thigh was cramping but I promptly ignored the pain and heading off > to the TTT. Pam, Robin, Sophia and I shot out of the start like mad - > which means I quickly got dropped on the first hill. Robin and Pam > though managed to fight it out for a second place - impressive since > there were only two of them. I managed to hit 46 on the downhill where > I ran out of gears and almost caught up to the Harvard women until > another hill sent me off the back again. The 180 turns were cake after > the hours of practice we spent going round and round two water bottles. I finished the loop and started bracing for the roadrace. > > I would love to tell you all about Robin and Pam's kick-ass > performance on the roadrace but after breaking for dear life on the > downhill from hell, I got toasted on that never-ending uphill. > Toasted. I pondered whether I could run up it faster. I swore if I hit > 3mph, I would get off and run with my bike. Luckily it never got that > bad. I tried to work with a girl - I think from BC or BU - but she > wasn't having it. Luckily her speed on the flats was about the same as > her speed on the hill so I passed her once the hill had been climbed > and resisted the urge to look back, point and go "ha ha!" At some > point on a flat I caught up with Sophia who stuck to my wheel for a > bit. We both caught up with Mr. Men's D Weymouth. He seemed to be > working exactly like me - he's also a pretty big rider and could > hammer on the flats and die on the hills and since we were both nowhere near points contention I asked him to work with me. Yeah, no. Fine. I left him too. > Unfortunately, on a downhill somewhere I left Sophia. I was sure she > would somehow appear like she usually does on the uphill when I slow > down and she stays steady but unfortunately I did not see her again. > In fact, after that I didn't see ANYONE again. NO ONE. Not one > straggler. I usually find other stragglers at some point but there was > no one. Chris Akana in the truck was a great cheerleader. However, he > also disappeared on the second lap. On the hill, the pacecar was > inches from my wheel and I was so afraid they were going to pull me > that I hammered like I've never hammered on a hill before. It was > ridiculously commical because here I am pushing with all my might > MAYBE going 10mph frantically trying to escape a car also maybe going > 10mph. It must have looked like slow-mo. Raaawwwrrrr. The rest of the > race, I slowed down. I knew I had the energy to finish but I was tired > from the wind so I took in the sights. At the feed zone, I threw my > warm gloves away because my hands were prof

Mens D

So,

Let's say you were blindfolded, drugged, and tossed in the back of a car, only to awake on your bike at the start line of some bike race. How would you know where you were? Well, if it was this weekend, you'd know because the billy goats from UVM put an uphill finish on every f^%(*^n race!

For the time trial, the grade wasn't so bad. Unfortunately, I'd broken yet another spoke nipple on my rear wheel, so I swapped in a team wheel. As a piece of advice to future wheel swappers, make sure that if you have a 9 you don't swap in an 8. Argggh. We started out with Superman, Foo', Post, and me, driving hard into a beast headwind. Pulls were pretty even at the start, and Superman bought us some time by killing himself on the front into the wind, falling off the group right before the 180. We took the turn textbook (Sassler style) and began to enjoy the wind, now at our backs. We'd been going about 18 mph on the way out, and now we juiced it up to 33 or so back in. We adjusted the pulls as needed to keep everyone working hard, and hit the finish line all together, and all ready to yuke onto the shoulder. Good teamwork and good riding brought Crimson to 2nd place.

Post and Tick-Tock helped me fix my wheel (with some parts scavenged from Muffy) and Post gave my bike an 'expert' truing. Now in top racing form, the squad headed over to the road race line. Superman had to work on a paper / flirt with some girls, so he sat out the race. The neutral start led us into a steep downhill and a few miles of "eau de manure" country roads. Right off people were attempting breaks. A short break was caught early, but on a second roller a UNH/Dartmouth break formed, which the front of the pack kept about 200 yds off the front, catching the pair on the second lap. Now another UNH guy was off the front, and we gave him the same treatment. But UNH got their act together, and sent three guys to block. Getting frustrated with all this nonsense, I went up with a UVM and Columbia dude to the front to push the pace. Coming around the sharp third corner, we found that we had made a slight break on the pack. Dragging a UNHer with us, we put on the hammer and caught the UNH leader. I wanted to press our advantage, so I fired it up, only to hear one of the UNH guys say "Guys, we should let the pack catch us, we don't want to be wasted for the hill". At which point UVM dude and I disseminated the benefits of making breaks, especially before monster climbs where all the hill climbers from the pack are going to toast you. Seeing the light, everyone took hard pulls to open the gap. Meanwhile, Post and Foo' organized the Columbia and UNH guys on the peloton to put on a killer block, allowing only two chasers past. It was a great feeling to be out of sight of the pack, and have the race vehicle come by with ever increasing lead times. Kudo's to Zach and Stew! We hit Mt. Philo and climbed bravely. I'm a tad heavy, and got passed by two of the chasers, only passing one of my break group -- he spontaneously fell off his bike a mere 20m from the finish. Post beat out everyone else in the peloton up the hill, using his rippling back and arm muscles to crank a wicked 39/23 gear ratio (I was using a triple). Foo's legs cramped right before the mountain, slowing him down a bit and leaving him in 31st place. Post had 8th and I had 6th out of 58 starters.

Well, it was going to be tough to match Saturday's awesomeness at the crit. With Post and Foo' back down in Beantown, Superman and I lined up on the uphill start. We started in the last third, so the beginning of the race was a lot of work to move up. The second turn was sharp and reverse banked. Everyone took it wide, allowing me to make up a lot of ground going on the inside. I made it up at the front right at the bell for the first prime. I was way too tired from my recent effort and Saturday's exertion to go for it, so I sat in till the next bell. I shot of the front for the lap, getting past right before the line to take a 2nd. Back in my favorite spot at fourth wheel, I sat comfortably until the final lap. I couldn't make anything stick, so I was in fourth coming around the final turn, when the anxious Yale rider at third position sprinted in the turn, crashing himself out and splitting the pack. Now I was third in a little finish break. We all put on the gas. I made it to the finish line passed by a lightning-fast UNHer who had bridged up; I took 4th place. Johan fought fiercely and raced well, but drifted off and got pulled with 2 laps to go. 42 started.

Well, another successful yet exhausting weekend. See you all at the championships!

Peace and love,
jaws