Super-Late Rutgers Racing Roundup...Yee-Haw?

First, all sarcasm, wit, and funny stuff aside, big thanks to the Rutgers and Princeton crews for putting on an awesome opening weekend! Some seriously great racing went down and I think I speak for the whole of BU Cycling (if not the entire ECCC) when I say thanks for a ridiculously fun bicycling extravaganza.

This weekend was basically awesome. On Friday the team met at our usual spot to load up the vans. In attendance were about 12 of BU's finest, 14 bikes (don't ask), 1 bunny, and 1 snowboard. Here we are trying desperately to attach an excruciatingly simple bike rack to the trunk of our clown-themed cyclovan:


Believe it or not, we eventually figured it out and were then able to enter these clown vans and drive them straight to Princeton, except for Kyle's clown van, which at his behest drove most of the way to Albany before making a bee-line straight for Princeton. Here is Kyle after his van tour, consuming mass quantities at our new favorite Jersey hole-in-the-wall Italian place:


After our joyous reunion - well, joyous for everyone but Kyle, who was obviously busy crying into his spaghetti and red sauce - we headed straight over to Kehvon's house, which was to serve as our base of operations for the weekend. No more eight-people-to-a-hotel-room style lodging for BU! No sir, at Kehvon's parents' place we had room to walk, lie down, and even shower individually. This was quite an improvement from previous years, and things were certainly looking up.

The next day we woke up pre-ass crack of dawn, and drove out to the Thrilla' on the Riva' for some hot ITT action. (Incidentally, I think the ECCC calendar could benefit from some more ITTs.) We arrived, warmed up, and kicked ass. Our intro squads did an awesome job with special props going to the women, who took the win:


The intro men also TT'ed their hearts out and did a great job. Our resident sandbagger Matt Griswold absolutely destroyed the D field, easily winning the event, and the C men finished up in the middle of their field. In the A field, Chair and I also finished in the middle of our bunch, but Natan had apparently been drinking rocket fuel the night before and powered his way to a 15th place finish:


It was a very productive prologue for BU, but the real goodness was still to come at the Princeton crit. Whether it was born out of a love for power climbs, a hatred of flat crits, or just plain old sadism, the Nicks (and other names) of Princeton created an awesome course for us to suffer through. The course instantly reminded me of one of these things:


The beginning of the course was dominated by a wall of a climb, followed by a mellow descent that featured three right hand turns, and a flat section at the bottom with another right turn leading back up into the stratosphere.

Once again, our Intro women did a great job, and all enjoyed solid pack finishes. Anna finished sixth, and along with her result from the ITT, that put her in line to pick up the weekend omnium (and the gloriously ugly jersey that went along with it). Matt finished second in the D field, giving him a very good shot at the omnium, Craig took 12th, and Ian had a strong pack finish. Kyle and Ben finished in the top 20 in the C field behind a very strong UPenn breakaway, and in the A field, Chris and I again finished in the middle of the very quick main group. Natan, unfortunately, was sidelined halfway through with some gnarly muscle cramps.


In the circuit, Anna again dominated the Intro field (and will be upgrading to B next weekend or face severe verbal abuse), and Kim took third. Anna's results were enough to bring her the omnium and aforementioned hideous jersey of glory. Matt also went on to take second in the D field, taking the weekend omnium as well, and Craig unleashed his monster sprint and came up with 7th place.


In the C field, Kyle blasted his way to 5th place, and Ben finished a very respectable 11th. Again, in the A field, Chris and I had mid-pack finishes, while Natan came up with some points in 17th place. (I'm starting to notice a pattern here...)

All in all, it was one hell of a lot of fun and we're all looking forward to Columbia this weekend. Rutgers/Princeton was a confidence booster in a lot of ways, and - speaking only for myself here - pointed out that there is clearly room for improvement in the future. Pack finishes are well and good, but I want me some of them tasty points! Bring it on, ECCC.