Philly. Wow, this one sure was interesting. I think we were all a bit focused on the weather in the days leading up to the weekend, and everyone was hoping the Weather.com guys had botched it (as usual) and the sun would be shining all weekend long. The forecast called for showers on Saturday and thunderstorms Sunday, and while having to deal with inclement weather is one of the factors that make bike racing such a bad ass sport in the first place, I think it's pretty much settled that racing in the sunshine is at least slightly more enjoyable than racing while drinking a steady stream of water and road grit off of the wheel in front of you.
Regardless, after meeting at 808 Comm., loading up our crap, hitting the road, and hitting up Amici's in Union, NJ:
The D guys were the first to go off, and the roads were still a bit wet from that night. BU's seven D men started out strong. Real strong. And they had a game plan which had been hatched over semi-edible pasta at Amici's the night before.
However, that game plan was derailed forever when, by all accounts, someone decided to pull their brakes hard while traveling rapidly in a straight line along the river, resulting in a large pile-up of some 30 riders. Needless to say we were surprised when, out of our seven starters, only two managed to avoid disaster and come through the first lap with the main group.
We were even more surprised when those remaining two managed to find the tarmac with their faces on the second lap. Our D men straggled in with a multitude of other victims just behind what remained of the tattered main field, bruised and scraped and in some cases, via broom wagon due to busted bikes.
Too bad, 'cuz BU was ready to bring the hurt. Notwithstanding the carnage, Parker pulled out a 22nd place finish, Preston was in 24th, and most of our other guys toughed it out and crossed the line to be placed in the middle of the field. The best laid plans of mice and men...
Women's B was next, and Kim was the lone BU representative in that group.
Unfortunately the curse of the mighty Schuylkill claimed yet another BU rider, as Kim was hammering solo to catch back up to the field and overcooked a turn, coming away with a tacoed rear wheel. Bummer.
Crashes are ordinarily pretty damned rare for our peeps, so by this point BU was started to feel as though the Philly Phlyer had something against us. We said our goodbyes to Robert as he rolled off to join the Intro field, and kept our fingers crossed.
Despite the curse, Robert hammered through the hilly terrain and worked closely with some of his competitors to finish 8th out of 18, bringing BU its first crash-free ride of the day. Sweet!
Kaybles then partook in the C race. The XL combined C field took the course a lot faster than the previous fields, but had drier roads to deal with and were obviously a bit more comfortable on two wheels, as they didn't seem to have any major mishaps.
Kyle stuck with the huge pack on these narrow roads, and finished up in 36th out of 71(!) starters.
Finally it was time for the A field to head out, and I think we all suspected a break would stay away on this course. In fact, we were pretty much determined to make it so. On lap 2, a promising break formed off the front which contained UVM, Penn State, Columbia and Army riders, along with hammers Nick Benette and Josh Lipka. I decided to jump in and try my luck, but alas it was not to be and the field pulled us back a lap later. On the next lap a similar break reappeared, and this time Natan snuck his way in. This one stuck and stayed away, and Natan finished up in 10th place.
I, meanwhile, hung out in the field and did very little work, and ended my race in 24th.
Oh well, the day was over and we went back to Chez Brulee for an impromptu bike repair session necessitated by the day's copious amount of crashing, followed by an awesome dinner of spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread and chicken.
Sunday was supposed to be heavy rain and thunderstorms, and when we woke up it was spitting a steady drizzle outside. We ate more bagels and headed out for the TTT, which turned out to be pretty wet and cold. The D guys went out first and came back with 21st place, then we went out and pulled off a 10th place finish to pick up a couple of points. The C guys finished up in 11th. Here is a picture:
The weather stayed crappy for most of the crits so I don't have a ton of photos. Kim finished in 14th place and grabbed a few points. In the D field, Cass finished 6th in a bunch sprint, Preston was 18th, and the rest of our guys were scattered throughout the pack.
Kyle also had a solid pack finish in the C field, and made some pretty amazing faces in the process.
Meanwhile, Robert had his best finish yet in the Intro field, sticking with the bunch the whole time and hammering into 5th place, and in the A crit Chris took off in an ill-fated break while Natan and I did some blocking. The break was inevitably pulled back on this pancake-flat course, and all three of us finished just outside of points.
Lots of fun and carnage this weekend, and next week is Army!
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