The past two weekends, the Rutger's Intro Men riders have taken to the field and left their mark. After learning how to properly corner, ride in a pack, and the dynamics of racing, the UDel road race was the time for us to shine and put our handy skills to work. We previously learned at Columbia the importance of starting in the lead pack and getting a good start early on. As I quickly jumped to the front, I found myself leading into a long hill, and doing most of the work, which was probably not the best tactic at the start of a race. As I realized I wouldn't be able to conquer the hill alone, I quickly fell behind my teammate Doug, and working together we got past the hill. For the rest of the race, Doug and I worked together like brothers, staying in the lead pack for the rest of the race.
As we rounded the last corner, and the anxiety of the last sprint started taking grip, I took to the lead starting the sprint, knowing that Doug was behind me. Two weeks ago Doug and I had practiced doing lead-outs with the team, and now was the time to bring it to the next level. Racing to the front, Doug caught on and the final field sprint began. The only problem now was sustaining the sprint for over 600m! Starting too early, I quickly pulled off letting Doug take the lead. As he flew by me, I saw that right behind him, feeding off our lead-out, was BU rider. As I yelled "Go Doug, Go Doug, Go Doug!", he though that I had caught behind again for the last 100m, and pulled off for me to take the lead, but instead gave BU the last push to victory. Although the Rutger's men didn't pull off the big win, 2nd and 3rd would have to suffice for this week, and a very valuable lesson of using clear communication was learned.
On our 3 1/2 hour ride home, Doug and I spoke nonstop about our dream bikes, racing tactics, and the next weekend. We decided that it was time to leave the intro men behind and move up to a new world. So long intros, and D Men, here we come!
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