This Saturday, the Rutgers University Cycling Team competed in Farmington, CT at the Chainbiter 8.0 cyclocross race. We spent the night in the area, hosted by Ted Chalker's generous relatives.
Rolling out before dawn, we arrived at the race venue with plenty of time to preride the course and fully appreciate the cruelty of the course designers. Honestly, they could have been much more evil ... there were very few off-camber turns, and most turns were designed to encourage momentum-retention. However, between the multitude of gratuitous hairpins, the plethora of large curbs, and the two rideable-but-only-just sandpits (one of which had a 90 degree turn in the middle!), there was nowhere to hide in this race.
Going into this race, we knew that we had to race intelligently. With Northeast Cyclocross having notoriously large and fast fields (about 110 starters in the B race, and at least 80 in the C's), and with another race as a target the next day, it was necessary to focus our energies on the Collegiate competition.
Our results, posted at bottom, were the result of gut-wrenching work and hard-earned skill. Avoiding crashes, pileups, yard-sales, and other synonyms, we each fought to earn as high a collegiate ranking as possible. Personally, I spent 3 laps trying to outpace a UNH rider, only to find out that he was on some other, non-collegiate team with a similarly-designed jersey.
The most notable performances of the day came from our freshmen, FarmerAndy and Kyle. In his 3rd ever bike race, Andy dealt with pedal problems (which have since been fixed) and throngs of screaming fans to produce a respectable finish in a tough field. Kyle, riding a 'cross bike for only the second time ever in his 1st ever bike race, rode incredibly well, putting out tons of power and riding the volleyball pit like it was pavement, until a mid-race burnout forced him to cruise in (no more giving blood the day before a race, okay?). Also worthy of mention are Ted, who finally got himself to stop smiling and start hurting, and Jay's van, which carried 7 bikes, 2 spare wheels, 4 racers, and an elf.
Overall, Rutgers took 1st in the D1 ECCC competition, despite having no female racers. This is a testament not only to the depth of our team, but also to the fitness and dedication of each of our racers.
Results:
Charlie Florek
-64th B, 4th B-collegiate
Don Yungher
-66th B, 5th B-collegiate
Jay Nossen
-77th B, 6th B-collegiate
Blake Bedoya
-35th C, 7th C-collegiate
Ted Chalker
-53rd C, 10th C-collegiate
Andy Glaser
-57th C, 11th C-collegiate
Kyle Carroll
-72nd C, 13th C-collegiate
Overall: Rutgers takes 1st ECCC-D1, extends lead!
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