Somewhat Tardy Columbia/Stevens Race Report

I'm sitting in class, so obviously it's time to bang out another entry in my chronically neglected series of race reports. My only other alternative is to pay attention to the lecture, and I just can't allow that to happen. So, without further ado:

Last weekend BU's red and white army traveled to the New York Metro area for some hot racing fun, courtesy of Columbia University and Stevens Institute of Technology. We had a big crew, rolling 18-deep, which in itself is a testament to the awesomeness of this year's squad. Saturday was the Columbia Grant's Tomb Criterium, and Sunday was Stevens' insane-o hill repeat crit.

The Columbia crit is an ECCC institution, and an awesome one at that. Just like last year's crit (and like I'm sure 07's crit would have been had it not been snowed out), the racing was fast and fun, including three sides of a New York City block and a fast, sweeping left turn around Grant's Tomb that makes one feel like a Moto GP racer (of course substituting skin-tight, bright red leather for skin-tight, bright red Lycra). After waking up FAR too early so that we could watch the early USCF races (thanks Natan...) it was time to chamois up and destroy. For the Columbia/Stevens weekend, BU's D squad consisted of Parker, James, Josh, and Craig. Everybody raced well, Josh killed it and came in 9th, and Craig proved that he is indeed silly strong by stomping his way to second place in a bunch sprint:


Next, it was time for the Intro guys and gals to dominate the rest of the conference in the very competitive Third Annual Water Bottle Drill Showdown:


After brushing up on their handling skills, the Intro peeps headed out onto the course for some very fast racing. Katrina had a great ride and finished 13th, and Robert and James took 24th and 25th in their field, respectively. These guys are looking stronger and stronger each weekend, and we're stoked to see how things unfold in Delaware this weekend.


In the B field, BU's strongwomen put in a very solid performance, with Anna cranking out an 8th place finish and Kim coming in in 23rd position. Both of these gals look very, very comfortable with the Bs, and again, we're expecting big things for the UDel weekend.

Our C guys are looking good too. Ben: 20th. Matt: 31st. Kyle and Tom: Looking awesome. Now, more photos.


Sweet.

In As, Natan, Chris, and I had an awesome race. After watching a break go off pretty much from the gun, we settled into a nice rhythm and enjoyed the course. In a skittish field that started the long, windswept, uphill sprint waaay too early, Natan finished 24th and I came in 16th for my first points of the season (whew), and Chris chose a bad line and wound up behind a car parked on the roadside.


And that's it. The rest of the team went off to Natan's parents' place for some Guitar Hero, and I went out to dinner with my family visiting from CA. I defy you not to smile at my niece, who is objectively the cutest child ever:


The next day we got up early and, nursing styrofoam cups of coffee which had inexplicably been packed into paper bags, drove to Hoboken. Urban Dictionary defines the term "sketchy" as "creepy, iffy, fairly unsafe, [having] an air of uncertainty, not kosher, and just generally some[thing] that you don't want to be associated with (or really do want to be associated with, depending on who you are...)." This definition - which is actually more like a string of synonyms than a definitition but let's not quibble - is adequate and does a great job describing the Stevens criterium. (Interestingly, Urban Dictionary also defines "sketchy" as someone that has "taken too much speed and has become untrustworthy and unpredictable," a definition that is equally applicable to the Stevens crit.)

This crazy course consisted of one steep-ass, bepotholed climb, followed by a number of speed bumbs which, when taken at race pace, tended to fling one's rear wheel skyward, followed by a steep-ass descent into a hard right turn, followed by a hard right turn back into the jagged and undulating concrete of the steep-ass climb once again. It was sketchy, painful, and honestly pretty damned fun. Every field absolutely shattered within three laps, and the short course meant that tons and tons of racers were lapped and pulled. BU had a bunch of flats, a crash, and some success.

In the D field, Craig was definitely on pace to finish well when he flatted with a few laps to go. Without the benefit of a free lap he ended up in 15th, but had an awesome ride nonetheless. Our intro guys brought out the big guns for Stevens, with Dave finishing 13th and Rob in 19th, and flying solo in the women's intro field, Katrina finished an awesome 5th.


In the C race, Kyle flatted and then promptly crashed out due to a kicker ramp that was apparently built into the turn at the bottom of the big descent, Tom finished 17th, and Ben was 9th. In As, Chris was promptly laid out by someone's bike on lap 2, I spent most of the day in a chase group (Lipka is very fast) and finished 6th, and Natan was out of sight until 2 to go, when he miraculously reappeared and glided into 8th place.


Overall, it was an awesome weekend. Awesome, that is, until the drive home when Kyle decided to use a lubricated condom to hold his deteriorating bandages to his road rash:


Ew.