This weekend took Columbia Cycling up the mighty Hudson to Army’s race weekend which consisted of a 54 mile road race on Saturday and a 2.9 mile uphill ITT and 45 min crit on Sunday.  The men’s B’s were looking particularly strong having added Nat Herz in addition to myself, Ben, Joseph, and Tim.  Unfortunately we were missing our road captain/coach/inspirational father figure Jim Yang due to some escapades last weekend at Shippensburg (see Jim’s race report).  At any rate we were going to have a few options to play over the course of the weekend.

Road Race

Saturday started off nicely with a [relatively] late call time of 7:00 AM meaning I got to sleep in until 5:40 AM.  After wrenching myself out of bed, consuming as much food as possible, packing my bag, I rolled out of my building and off to collect the new and vastly improved [read: functioning] Van 35.  From there I headed down to Fairway to collect the trailer and the rest of the team.  At this point I transitioned into my role as captain of the “party” van which included Joseph, Anna, and Isabelle.  Needless to say there was much rocking out, gossiping and general tomfoolery during our incredibly smooth trip.  Just shy of an hour after we left we reached Lake Welch in Harriman State park and the staging area of the road race.  We reconnected with the other van and numerous personal vehicles that had been driven up for the race.

As the B’s were going off in the second (and final) wave, I busied myself with checking on riders in the first race, cheering, and [mostly] stuffing my face with goodies.  Thank you Anna for the chocolate covered peanut butter covered pretzels.  They were amazing!  Next up was deciding how many layers to wear in the race.  The variable cloud cover during this time was most unhelpful to my obsessive fashion tendencies – but eventually I decided on just arm warmers (as well as my kit!).  This lead into my warm up which was split between the trainer and spinning around the parking area.  After a quick pit stop I made it over to staging just in time to miss instructions – and pretty soon after we were off!

The race began with a neutralized descent which culminated with a pretty intense 180 degree turn into the day’s main climb.  After taking off half of my brake pads descending behind the pace car the field managed to make it through the turn and the race began proper.  The field began the climb at an easy pace – content to let a Penn State and DYC rider slip free in the first few meters.  Our pre-race plan had been to help get Ben into an early break but it was still too early to play our cards.  I concentrated on climbing near the front of the field without taking any turns on the front.  Ben, Tim, Nat, Joseph and I were never that far apart during this section.  Eventually we picked up the Penn State rider, leaving a solo leader.  In the last quarter of the climb, Tim took a pull that took him clear of the field – and seeing that he had a gap he kept riding.  Pretty soon a few more riders bridged up to him and a group of around seven formed behind the leader.  At this point I was content to let the break gain a little time.  Tim was our excuse to ride easy and block a bit.  Coming off the climb and onto the day’s first flat section Andy of UVM decided to bridge up to the leaders.  Knowing that he is one of the strongest riders in the field I jumped out of the main group in an attempt to bridge with him.  I wanted to give some support to Tim in what was an increasingly formidable breakaway.  Unfortunately, the peleton wasn’t interested in letting any more riders make it across and they reeled me back in.  I returned to sitting in the main field and drifted back to mid-pack to have my first snacks of the day.

Next up was the second significant climb of the race, which lead into the finish.  This was the section that would favor Ben’s [massive] strength and sure enough he hit the front and began to bridge to the breakaway.  Once the Admiral began rolling he was impossible to stop.  He dragged a Dartmouth rider along with him and pretty soon was up to the breakaway.  I began working my way up the main field, thanks in no small part to a tow by Joseph.  I set myself up in the first 15 positions going through the finish line and in preparation for the descent.  I managed not to crash going through the hairpin turn (despite the best efforts of riders in front of me) and hit the start of the main climb in good positioning.  Again, the field wasn’t overly concerned with chasing the breakaway and so I resumed my position in the first few riders.

Things were tranquil until halfway up when Forrest (UVM) surged clear of the main field.  Knowing that he posed significant danger, I jumped clear of the field and bridged to his wheel.  We quickly dropped a rider that had gone clear with him, and began trading pulls to get across to the breakaway.  At this time the peleton accelerated while individual riders were surging in an effort to catch us.  While we were gaining on the breakaway I was concerned that we would also cause the main field to catch the breakaway thereby neutralizing my effort (and Ben’s and Tim’s).  Just before the end of the climb and RPI rider got clear of the main field and joined us just before we all caught the breakaway.  I immediately drifted to the front to help organize the breakaway (now totaling 10 riders, three of them Columbia!).  After some initial confusion we got the group going in a rotating pace line and increased our pace.  This, combined with some clever blocking by Nat in the main field saw our gap increase dramatically.  By the time we hit the next climb I could feel that this was the break of the day.

For the next lap everyone traded pulls and group cohesion was very high.  I made sure to take in blocks and gels when I could.  Near the end of the third lap Wilson (NYU) put in a good dig to try and escape but he was quickly reeled in as everyone recognized he was much too dangerous to let slip.  Around this time we also picked up the solo leader – putting 11 riders in the lead group.  We spent the next lap right up until the last climb working well together.  At this point I began to have cramping in my quads.  As we hit the last climb the acceleration proved too much and I went out the back.  I kept my pace as high as possible and could see the gap shrink as the main field let up – but more attacks flew and I was unable to bridge back in the final kilometers.  Tim and I ended up finishing right off the back of the main field allowing us to miss a devastating crash due to a lapped rider.  Unfortunately, Forrest was taken out which is a shame as he is obviously going very well right now.  Upon finishing I learned that Ben had picked up third place!  Great result for the team, though I was disappointed not to be there to help him at the finish.

Next up was cooling down and packing up for our return to NYC.  All in all it was a great day for CU cycling with top performances in all categories.

Time Trial

Sunday started with a significantly earlier call time (5:30 AM) which meant I was out of bed by 4:32 AM (though not necessarily awake).  I went through my pre-race routine, picked up the van, the team, and we were off for West Point proper.  The Columbia caravan made it past the checkpoints without incident and navigated our way to the [very] crowded parking area.  Once settled I spent an inordinate amount of time waiting for the facilities before being able to get kitted back at the trailer.

Temperatures were pleasantly warm for 8 AM in the morning.  This meant my warm-up was decent if a bit short.  My goal going into the time trial was to get a top ten result.  Even though I haven’t been doing anything near a significant amount of climbing, my legs felt good and I knew I could finish with the best riders in the field.  Joseph and Ben rolled down to the start area slightly ahead of Tim and me (Nat opted to skip this day).  The closer it got to starting the more nervous I became.  I could hardly concentrate on the pre-race instructions given by the nicest USAC official ever.  Pretty soon I was off!  I concentrated on going steady for the first section.  I knew from experience that it would be easy to blow myself up early on this course.  About a quarter of the way into the time trial I consciously increased my pace and was duly rewarded with seeing the gap between me and my 20 second man begin to fall.  I concentrated on steadily reeling Harry Chen (Bucknell) in.  About halfway through the time trial I succeeded in passing him, and a little bit further up the road was my 40 second man (a rider from RIT).  I continued to push my pedals in a strong but steady fashion, slowly reducing the gap.  With a quarter of the course to go, I passed the RIT rider and began to dig deep for the finish.  I finished strongly – maxed out both aerobically and muscularly – and knew I probably succeeded in nabbing a top-ten.  After recovering at the top, I descended with Tim who finished a minute or two after I did.

Back at the van I concentrated on cooling down and getting my energy up for the crit [read: stuffing my face].  I even managed a short nap after our team strategy session.  Sometime during the early crits, ITT results were posted.  I secured 5^th place and Ben grabbed 9^th (out of 33 starters) giving Columbia two in the top-ten!  Joseph and Tim rode tempo in an effort to conserve for the crit.

Crit

Our team strategy for the crit was to protect Joseph (or possibly myself) for a sprint finish and place Tim in an early break if possible.  Our thinking was this course was not favorable to a breakaway gong all the way to the line.  However, sometimes a race doesn’t go according to plan…  I was hanging out near/at the back for the first five laps or so.  I observed an early breakaway attempt get brought back pretty easily.  At this point my main concern was moving up to the front of the pack in order to help Ben control the field.  I started moving up on the backside during a lull in the pace.  On the way Joseph jumped on my wheel and I eventually delivered him the front of the race.  Upon reaching the front of the pack I surged ahead so I would be able to lead through turn 3 (instead of being boxed in on the inside).  I suppose my acceleration was a little too much for the field and as I came through the turn I looked back and discovered I had a gap.  At this point I decided to commit and make the field spend some energy reeling me back in.  I thought I would be away for one or maybe two laps before being caught – turns out I was wrong.

I spent the first three laps riding solo.  The back side of the course was very windy, making it difficult to maintain my speed.  I just had to put my head down and ride.  During this time I had about 10 – 15 seconds on the main field thanks to a major block party being thrown by Ben and Joseph.  I learned later that there was also a pretty significant effort that formed a chase group between the main field and me.  From this group Harry Chen (Bucknell) eventually bridged up to me.  I let him sit for a lap before we started exchanging turns at the front.  After spending time solo, I concentrated on letting Harry pull in the windy sections while I took the calmer (albeit hillier) portion of the course.  We stabilized the gap around 15 – 20 seconds during this time.  I also was attentive to prime laps and snapped them up as they came (my reward for starting the break).  Eventually a super strong DYC rider joined us and proved some much needed legs for the windy section.  At this point my legs were screaming, and I had to resort to some Jens Voigt-isms to hold the wheel in front of me.  The gap started falling at this point reaching about 10 seconds before the DYC rider took turn 3 too aggressively and ran himself off the road.  Harry and I were pretty cooked and with about 5 laps to go we were swallowed up on the back of the course.

The breakaway. [Photo courtesy of Jan Valerie Polk]

I reintegrated into the main pack and drifted to the back.  My legs were pretty cooked from the weekend of racing and the breakaway I had just finished.  I was content to surf the back.  Ben put in some good efforts at the front but was eventually swarmed by other riders.  In the finale I sat up after the last corner and coasted though the finish avoiding some of the chaos that goes along with a big bunch sprint.  I have to put in congratulations to my break companion Harry who still finished  4^th in the field sprint.

All things considered it was a great weekend for me personally, and for the team as a whole.  The USMA definitely knows how to put on a great weekend – and it was my favorite so far this year.  I’m looking forwarded to Brown/RISD’s races this coming weekend.