Rutgers Cycling Jerseys, T-Shirts, and Hooded Sweatshirts Now Available

At long last, Rutgers Cycling is happy to announce that we have a full size run of 2008-09 Rutgers Cycling jerseys, T-shirts, and hooded sweatshirts in stock and ready to ship.

The are all available for immediate order right here:

Purchase Rutgers Cycling Jerseys





Our cycling jerseys are custom made for us by Verge Sport. These are the same jerseys worn by members of the Rutgers University Cycling Team.

New this year is the Rutgers Cycling casual line featuring hooded sweatshirts, t-shirts, and (coming soon!) embroidered polo shirts. T-shirts and hoodies are a 50/50 blend custom screened for Rutgers Cycling by American Youth Enterprises based in Cape May, NJ.

Rutgers Superprestige Report, 22 Oct

Today marked the grand return of the Rutgers Superprestige competition to the cyclocross practices on Livingston field. With the sun rapidly setting, we opted to do one 6-lap interval - this made scorekeeping easy, even if the ride itself was not.

In recognition of the growing size and wide range of fitness levels of the team, the organizers of Rutgers Superprestige have opted to give out two prizes each week. As with years past, the Bumblebee jersey (despite its less-than-impressive name) will be given to the fastest Rutgers rider. New this year is the Day-Glo jersey, the luminence of which represents the inner strength of its owner... in other words, the Day-Glo jersey goes to the rider who shows the most heart.

Today's Bumblebee jersey goes to Patrick Bradley, who put his Elite-level experience to use and rode away from the pack.

Far more importantly (no offense, Pat), the Day-Glo jersey was awarded to Cristian Adams. On a course that is notoriously fast, built more for a road bike than for its trail-worthy cousins, Cristian rode a MTB through the entire session. Never complaining, and spending most of the windy ride in no-man's land, Cristian rode like a champ and impressed the judges. He even dismounted and cleared the barriers at speed, a feat of which most MTBers dare only dream.

Honorable mentions for the Day-Glo jersey go to Amy Cutler, who attended her first 'cross practice today, and Eric Rundstrom, who destroyed a tubular tire before we even started riding.

See you next week on Livingston!

Rutgers Cycling Jerseys Now in Stock

We're pleased to announce that the 2008-09 Rutgers Cycling Jerseys are now in stock and ready to ship.

To order, please visit our order page on Bikereg.

In addition to cycling clothing, in a few weeks we'll be adding a full line of Rutgers Cycling casual clothing including t shirts, hooded sweatshirts and winter hats.

Rutgers Cycling Announces New and Returning Sponsors

Once again, Rutgers Cycling is proud to announce its new and returning sponsors for 2008-2009.

New sponsor this year is Berkeley Heights and Beyond, specialists in New Jersey real estate.

Returning for 2008-09 and increasing their commitment to Rutgers Cycling is Maul Electric, Inc., your choice for commercial electrical services.

Also returning for its third year as shop sponsor is Efinger Sporting Goods. Located in Bound Brook, NJ, Efinger Sporting Goods is your source for professional-level bicycles and repairs in additional to a vast selection of outdoor sporting good and apparel.

Rutgers Cycling will once again be donning Rudy Project sunglasses and helmets.

Cycle-Smart is once again the coaching sponsor of Rutgers Cycling.

Rutgers riders will be riding Specialized bikes to victory.

Ritchey Components will once again take care of Rutgers Cycling's component needs.

For its 5th straight year, Verge Sport will be the official clothing provider for Rutgers Cycling.

The ever-genrous Schwartz Family is once again sponsoring Rutgers Cycling.

National Collegiate Track Cycling Championships (Very late report)

So this is long overdue, but right after I went to nationals I got caught up in a whirlwind of exams and applications, but here is how it went.

Me and my dad headed out of BWI EARLY Wednesday morning on our way to Colorado Springs, during our connecting flight in Atlanta I met two other guys on their way to nationals, one guy from a small college in South Carolina and one guy from Georgetown who I raced with earlier this summer. When we all got to Denver safe and sound and went our seperate ways for the hour drive to Colo Springs. When we got there, we found our hotel room, which, thanks to my girlfriend's dad's Marriott points, was so nice I almost didn't want to race. We went to the track and tried to sign in. I learned a great lesson hear, for all cycling nationals you need a proof of enrollment from you registrar. Luckily I had the wonderful Linda Yost, RU Rec Sports Director, on my side. She faxed me the forms and I was good to go registration wise.

I forgot to mention that my bike took a different route to nationals. It went with my buddy Will Fissel from the Univ. of Delaware, who was staying with me and my dad in return for the bike transport. Unfortunately will was running late and didn't get in until 1am in the morning. So after about 5 hours of sleep will and I both got up and went to the track. After getting our bikes together we had about 5 minutes on the track before the women's 2K went off. So we did a few laps and spent the rest of our time waiting for our event, the 3K, on our rollers. After about two hours, it was finally my turn to go. Will was nice enough to let me use his Zipp disc wheel, which is now my disc wheel!! I got up and after the first two laps that 6,000 ft difference in elevation kicked in and my lungs started to scream, but I held on for a time of 3:57.644. This being my first 3K I don't know if it was an improvement, but it landed me 53rd out of 80+ guys.

Gearing up for the 3K, check out my disc wheel

Friday was suppose to be my 1K time trail, but the morning session got rained out so it was postponed to Saturday morning. The days wasn't a complete wash, I got a good workout on the track and David Espinoza from Penn State won his first national championship in the match sprints that night.

One of the only 60 supposed days of rain in Colorado each year

Saturday was crazy, we got to the track and got ready for the one kilometer time trial, better known as the kill-a-meter. This is tough because it is like the 400m in track, it is not a short spring, but it is not a long distance event, it is everything you have for a little over a minute. My first lap of the kilo went smooth and the other two were a blur of pain and more pain. I finished in the middle of the group with a 1:12 and change, 4 seconds faster than my previous best. David Espinoza continued his dominance by winning the kilo in a new collegiate record 1:05 (he is fast).

Start of my Kilo

Next up was the qualifier for the points race. I was in the second heat of 30, the top 15 from each heat advanced to the final. The first heat went off and was relatively mild, my buddy Will picked up 4 points to move to the final. The second heat however, apparently these guys thought it was the final because they were going hard. After a few points sprints, a group of 6 guys went off the front and soaked up the points. They eventually lapped us with about 6 laps to go. By the final sprint I didn't have any points and thought it was now or never. I jumped off the front and was caught by three guys at the line. After we finished the results were posted, I missed the final by open place in the final sprint, half an inch! Needless to say I was pretty mad. After I had time to cool off, I watched the rest of the racing with dad and family from Colorado, including my Dad's cousin SSnake (that is not a type-o his name is spelled S-S-N-A-K-E). The U18 national champ in points race, Nik Reinert, from U of Pitt and a TTown regular won the points race. He is a really nice kid and an incredible racer.

Me on the rail before the points race (w/ over 30 guys!)

All in all a good trip and I am pretty happy with my results. I just hope Rutgers can keep sending guys out to Nationals until we are track phenoms!

Me and my dad outside of the Velodrome

Me and my dad's cousin SSNAKE

Rutgers Kicks Off Cross Season at Bear Creek

Though the collegiate cyclocross season is more than a month away, Rutgers Cycling got a jump on the season at the 2nd day of Bear Creek Cyclocross in Macungie, PA this weekend.

In the collegiate men's race, Rutgers swept the podium, going 1,2,3. 2007 ECCC B men's champion AngryMark came off the disabled list and stormed off the line on a wisely chosen single speed cyclocross bike with the Kassassin and Charlie T. (aka C$) in close attendance. With two laps to go, the Kassassin faded in the heat and technical conditions. AngryMark took the win with time to zip up his skinsuit. Kassassin took a convincing 2nd and Charlie rode an amazing 1st cyclocross race to finish 3rd.

Charlie, Mark, and Rich at the start (photo: Dennis Smith)

Donning a Rutgers kit for the first time this weekend was first year Patrick. No stranger to cyclocross, Patrick took on a small, but talented Elite Men's field. In stiflingly hot conditions, Patrick took an early learn that looked insurmountable. The heat, however, took its toll and Patrick had to step off the gas. Andrew Crooks from Hampton Velo bridged up to Patrick and then attacked to take the lead. Crooks would go on to win, but Patrick rode an excellent 60 minute race to take second.

Rutgers is in action again next weekend at the MAC season opener, Nitany Lion Cross (Fogelsville, PA) and Charm City Cross (Baltimore, MD)

New Jersey State Track Championship

After a long summer of track racing, I headed down to TTown for the Regional/NJ Track Cycling Championships (One event, NJ Track Champs taken by the best results from people from NJ). Mike Jenks, Andy Singson, and myself were registered for the 4K TTT and the Olympic Sprint. In the individual events Mike was doing the Elite 4K, Andy was doing the 40+ 1K and 3K, and I was scheduled for the 1K, 4K, Scratch Race, and Points Race.

We started with the 1K, I was first up. My first track event with aero bars, it was a little shaky, but I finished in 1:17:22. Andy bested me with a really smooth ride for 1:17:00 (giving him a bronze in the state). After a bit of a wait, Andy was up for the 3K. Andy was on the track against a really good track trialist (they ran two at a time), but Andy held his own with an awesome ride for silver in the state. Next up was the 4K. Jenks and I ended up racing together. I thought I was doing fairly well, but when Jenks past me with a little less than half the race to go, I felt like I was standing. Lucky for me Jenks is just that fast, Jenks got 2^nd in the region and 1^st in the state, and 30sec later I got 3^rd in the state.

My attempt at a 4K (college student = no carbon wheels)

Next up were the team events. With the help from Tom from Verge, we headed out for the 4K TTT. Jenks and Tom took full lap pulls, with me and Andy taking half-lap pulls. We stayed together and rode a smooth race, coming apart a little at the end because we couldn’t hold back Jenk’s speed. We ended up 4^th in the region and 1^st in the state. Next up was the team sprint (1K with each member leading one lap) with Andy, myself, and Jenks. Andy had an excellent start and got us up to a blistering pace. After Andy pulled off, I didn’t think, I just wanted to spin as fast as possible. I pulled off and Jenks did his thing (went fast, went REALLY FAST). We ended up with our best time yet 1:12 (which got us 2^nd in the region and 1^st in the state).

After a long day, there was one more race, the 20 lap scratch race. After just getting my Cat 3 I was eligible for this race. This race was kind of intimidating for me, most of the guys I was racing with had either coached me or I had watched race the Friday night pro races. The race was fast, really, really fast. I held my own, bridging a couple of gap and taking a few laps off the front. I finished in the back of the pack, but I was the only one of the few guys from New Jersey to actually finish, so I got about 10^th in the region and 1^st in the state.

So a successful day at the track for hermrutgers (10+ medals). The Points race the next day . . . ugh. I waited around for 5 hours watching sprints to have them cancel the race b/c all but 3 guys left.

So the state championship went well and gave me some good confidence going into the next two weekends of collegiate weekends before nationals.

Here is a pic of the hardware (State Medals: 3 gold, 1 bronze Regional Medals: 1 silver)

Rubber Side Up - Neshaminy Race Report

photo by Don

This Sunday was the Neshaminy MTB race, part of the Mid Atlantic Super Series. It was also my birthday! Jay and I drove down to Langhorne, PA, for the latest installment in our amicable rivalry.

photo by Todd Strauss
This report will be short, because there isn't much to tell. Neither of us felt particularly fast, and neither of us started particularly well. Jay was in 4th or 5th wheel going into the woods, and I'd moved from 15th up to 6th. I passed him at the end of the 2-mile "prologue" lap, and some dudes with geared bikes were able to get past him when we crossed a field, so he was a few riders behind me going into a relatively simple log obstacle.

photo by Todd Strauss
The guy in front of Jay bobbled. One thing led to another. Jay landed on his shoulder and leg and head.

About an hour later, I was by myself in the middle of nowhere, on totally smooth trail. Somehow, while setting up for a corner, I went over the handlebars. It will never make sense to me. They don't call me "the Ninja" for nothing, though, and I rolled as I hit the ground...

...and then my bottom bracket hit me in the face.

I ran over my own face. Didn't think that was possible, did ya?

photo by Todd Strauss



Jay and I finished the race about 1 minute apart, placed 11th and 13th (at least according to the official results). Bloodied and bruised, we were just glad it had ended.

photo by Jay

Next up for Jay is the 24 Hours of Allamuchy, teamed up with Captain Chaz and other friends. Next up for me is a return to road racing, sweet sweet road racing.

2007-2008 Team Photo

We're once again proud to present the 2007-2008 Rutgers University Cycling team.

(left to right: Tom, Anthony, Matt, Diane, Aaron, Chris, Mark, Christian, Don, Charlie, Andy (advisor), Joe, Rich, Andy, Will, Rob, and Charlie)

We look forward to a successful summer road season and another amazing cyclocross season in Fall 2008! Thank you all for your continued support.

Tour of Somerville Race Report

I made my return to racing from my hip injury at Monday's Tour of Somerville. I was joined by the ever-fast ProfessorAndy and Craig from the Hermes for a cat 3 criterium slug-fest with 135 of our best friends. It's always a great idea to choose the biggest race of the calendar for your first race of the season.

The race started well enough as I managed to sneak myself into the third row. Andy was a little farther back and Craig even farther. At the whistle, the chaos began. Much jostling, bumping, and missed clip-ins ensued.

I've never done Somerville. Did I mention that?

A few laps in, and I remembered what criterium racing felt like - ouchy.

A few laps more and they announce a $200 prime. The mad dash for cash results in a huge crash at the finish line. It goes down right in front of me, and by a miracle I stay upright and get through the crash and chase back to the field.

Another lap in and another crash goes down in front of me. Again, I keep it upright and get into the field.

With 3 to go, Andy rolls by me and tells me "my bus has arrived." Andy delivers me in great position at the front for the last two laps, but my lack of fitness is evident as I can't hold it and get shuffled back to mid-pack.

On the bell lap, I sat way too far back to have any shot at the finish, but I had a good idea of how the finish would play out: the left would open then close down, then the right would open up. I came out out of the last turn in maybe 70th wheel.

I went left. I went right. The field opened up. I found myself in the top 15 and in the midst of the chaos that is the Tour of Somerville field sprint.

I'm told I had a few near misses in the finish. I kept it upright but decided not to go full bore and risk crashing on my still-injured hip. I rolled in for 26th place just 6 places out of the money.

All told it was a pretty good day of racing on a beautiful Memorial Day. A big thank you to everyone who came out to support us!

-Mark

Granogue Report

This past Saturday, Jay, Charlie, and I raced in Delaware at the beautiful Granogue estate. Between the fall 'cross race and the spring MTB race, this is one of my favorite venues of all. The weather was cooperative, the ground was mostly-dry, and we were ready for combat.

I should probably mention that Jay and I have an ongoing rivalry that is simultaneously amicable and fierce. Every ride so far this year has been sharpened by the impending race season, every climb was an unspoken yardstick. We even pushed each other to first ad second in a spontaneous karaoke-night limbo contest! Whether we'd find ourselves riding in 1st or 21st, we would be racing each other.

Charlie, with an upcoming wedding and a mid-day race start, wisely pulled out of the 3-lap Expert race after difficulties on the second 7-mile lap. No need to get sick before the big day!
CaptainChaz crushes the road climb at the end of lap 1
Jay and I started well in the Sport Singlespeed race, hitting the singletrack in 2nd and 3rd wheel - exactly where we wanted to be. Our field worked its way through slower traffic from other Sport fields, and I yielded a spot to another racer. By the end of the first big double-track climb, though, I was riding in first!

Then I went kaboom, crashing hard on a slippery descent. I immediately lost 2 spots, and another two singlespeeders passed me as I rode over-cautiously for the next few minutes. I finally got back in my rhythm and raced hard for the ensuing 45 minutes, but I couldn't catch the leaders, who rode superbly to a fantastic finish.

I was pretty spent on the last climb, the sort of spent where I stare at my front wheel and nearly ride off the road. I was hurting bad enough to entertain the thought of walking up the steepest section... until I heard a spectator say "oh, it's a Rutgers jersey! GO RUTGERS!", a cheer that was taken up by a bunch of the spectators. It's amazing how a simple cheer can buoy a tired rider to the top of a climb, and how widespread pride in Rutgers has become.

Awesomest of all has to be Jay's performance on the day. He rode to a strong 10th, which is made all the more impressive by the fact that he executed a hard-fought pass on the final climb... immediately after taking a PBR-feed at the bottom of the hill!

Next is Neshaminy. Last year, it was the first race where I successfully beat Jay, although his flat tire and the helmet-cracking crash it caused made the result a controversial one. This year, the racing will be even more intense, and hopefully our rivalry will continue pushing us toward the podium!

H2H#1 - Wawayanda:FarmerAndy's report

Even though I love the collegiate road series and I love racing and hanging out with my teammates on the road, I was pretty amped for the first mountain bike race of the season.
Rolling out in the morning it was foggy. So foggy that we almost missed the turn into beautiful Wawayanda (say that 3 times fast) state park.
Luckily, when the spot class race started at 10:30 the fog had cleared and the sun was starting to come out. I tore though the first few miles of the course sitting in second wheel where there was not too much technical stuff and my fitness from the road season definately came in handy. Once the rock gardens started I slowed down a bit and ran a lot of stuff. I made it though the first lap feeling pretty good and really amazed that I did not flat though some of the technical sections. The second lap went pretty much like the first lap, except it hurt more...still I finished at about an hour thirty min, which was good enough for 4th in the 19-29 sport class. I'm pumped for the rest of the season!

Shout-outs to Jim, Kat from Bard, and James from Effingers/Colavita for tearin' it up in the expert race and to Olivia for taking sweet pictures and cheering!

H2H#1 - Wawayanda: CaptainChaz's report

Today, FarmerAndy and I headed up, with Olivia, to Wawayanda State Park for the first race of the USAcycling MTB series, and oddly enough, the regional championship. I needed to place well in this race to qualify for MTB nationals at MtSnow later this Summer.

The course was balanced, yet completely unbalanced. There were ~3.5 miles of fast smooth trails (almost completely contiguous), then ~3 miles of rocky, technical trails with some impassable sections. So, you spend the first half of a lap reaching for all the power you have and making yourself a bit delirious, then, you try to finesse your way through the rock gardens and technical climbs.

I took the hole-shot and lined things out, for there was a single-file bridge over ~40 meters of flooded trail about a half-mile into the course, and I wasn't interested in throwin' 'bows and risking a mechanical on the first lap.

Feeling pretty good yesterday and this morning, I kept the pace up, but soon realized that I was overcooking my legs, for there were no technical sections in that first 3.5 miles to let the legs recover, unlike most places I ride. After going backwards for a few miles, I got back into rhythm and regained a number of places on lap 2, especially where it got technical. I was able to clean a number of climbs that other riders were having trouble with, and I was quicker down the descents and over the rocks. On lap 3, I got in a bit of trouble, as my legs were starting to fade in the long power section. By the end of it, I could feel some previously distanced riders about ten seconds back. Digging really deep, I put everything that I could into holding them off, but they were closing on me even through the technical sections! Some delirious bobbles in the rocks held me from opening the gap back up, and I was sure that at least one of them was going to catch me. He was only ONE meter from me before the final climb before the descent to the finish line. I remembered the sport singlespeed victory that I took on the last climb at Granogue two years ago, upshifted, and cranked out the last climb out of the saddle. My opponent was not able to chase, and I blazed down the final descent to a second place finish in the expert 19-29 category.

Special thanks go to Olivia, who kept me well fed with moral support and sport drink.
You can see here, can't you? She's the one holding the bottle. Oh, and she also saw a bear today!

Special thanks also goes to Efinger Sporting Goods, who built a really tough rear wheel for me (thanks Dustin), provided a last minute bearing adjustment (thanks Chris), and had a high-end tire in stock (thanks MarcC) for the back of my bike to help me over the climbs and rocks that most couldn't seem to manage.

Last, but not least, thanks to FarmerAndy, for allowing me to drench his helmet in sweat. The temperature increased dramatically from 11am to 12pm, and Andy had removed the bug net from his helmet, replacing it with the other pads and increasing ventilation. My helmet was still in cold-weather mode, and I would likely have gone deeper into delirium on the course if not for the good Farmer.

After seeing Andy's performance (more on that from him later), and looking forward to the performance of other team mates, I expect this mountain bike season to be pretty great for the Rutgers University Cycling Team!


PS - I was asked if I was on the road team after the awards ceremony. A rider wanted to congratulate you guys on some recent performances in the region. RutgersCycling is becoming a force to be reckoned with!

Rutgers Victory at Rahway River Criterium!

Race report courtesy of Chris:

"Here is the Rahway Report (please excuse type-o's, I am pretty tired)

A solid RU team (David, Charlie T, Alex, Rich, Andy, Eric, and myself) headed out EARLY this morning (races started at 7!) for some awesome crit action at our old stomping grounds, Rahway River Park. Eric represented well in the cat 5 and got his first taste of USCF racing, with a little training, this guy is going to be awesome! The rest of us geared up for the Cat 4 race, which turned out to be the highlight of the day. One of the biggest teams in the field, besides Base Camp, we felt like if we worked together we had a chance of at a good showing. The race started off with the Red Train hammering the pace. Rich, Dave, Charlie and Andy put in efforts that can only be described as Pure Power, and Alex was so aggressive on the front that he was countering his own attacks! With 6 laps to go, the field was coming up on Alex after he rocketed off the front, and I countered and got a 50 yd gap with a guy from Base Camp. After towing him around for a lap I asked him to pull and he said, "No, I can't!". After a little encouragement, I got him on the front for about 30 sec, attacked, and dropped him. When the RU boys realized it was just me out front, the punched in and went to work. Everyone did their part, Dave, Alex, and Andy blocked to perfection (it may have hurt DK's powertap readings, but he took one for the team and tamed the beasts that are his legs). In absence of the Prez, Rich (the VP) took control of the pack and made sure nothing came close. Charlie . . . well Charlie attacked with one lap to go (he is just too strong to let his power tamed by pack), but he definitely did his part to keep the pack back. With three laps to go, the gap shrunk to 10 sec, but I knew my boys were working hard, so I found my second wind and gave it everything I had. I streched the gap to 30 seconds and came to the line with the notorious, the glorious LOOK . . . ZIP . . . BALLIN'! I turned around and saw that one of the hardest working guys in the pack, the Kasassian, somehow had enough legs to sprint for 3rd! After the race it was congratulations all around for the RU team, the entire pack thought we ran a beautiful race. 30 minutes later Dave, Alex, Rich, and myself decided that collegiate riders cannot do only one race a day and headed out for the 3/4 race, where we all showed that we had the fitness to hang with the 3's. Rich had the best placing, I think around 15th. All and all, it was a good day for the RU squad, and it showed that we are ready to rock NH next weekend at the ECCC CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!!

Your Prez,
Chris"

Beanpot Weekend - FroJoe's Race Report

From our awesome first-year racer Joe:

"Well, the mens D1 road race went a little like this:

Being the lone Rutgers rider in the Mens D, I wont lie, I felt the butterflies.
After the gun went off, or realistically the yelling of "GO" echoed through the air
i was pretty much shuffled towards the back of the pack, and around 400 meters
in someone hit the brakes hard and about 5 or 6 riders went down.
I remember one guy getting his neck ran over as i moved over to avoid the pile up.
I quickly got those bad images out of my head and figured to avoid more
crashes i had to move the front. Even though it was the first lap i decided
to see who had guts and attacked on the hills and had a small break,
but was quickly caught and I moved back into the pack. After the first lap
things picked up on the straight and and i thought since things were speeding up
i better attack on the hills if i wanted a chance to win. So i moved to the front and lead the
race and attacked on the hills again, this time breaking the field as
only four riders went with me. Since i had no clue what to do and thinking
like a runner i just kept pounding and had a nice break and was alone for awhile.
I was adventually caught towards the end of down hills. I clearly didn't have weight or momentum
on my side. As we closed in on the finish line i kept with the pack only beating a
UVM rider on the sprint and the rest beat me but i picked up 5th place out of 50 i believe.

FROJOE"

March Photos

With some of our most active and most successful racers being a bit taciturn these days, the blog has been mighty quiet. Here are some photos from the past few weeks of racing. Stay tuned for more writeups!


















Photos are by Tom Moroney and Will Cukierski. More photos are available on the Rutgers Cycling webpage.

Princeton Circuit, Men's B

Well, that was intense. I finally have a computer on my race bike, and the numbers don't lie. something like 25 mph average, close to 30 into the headwind when the racing heated up... I have no idea how fast we were in the tailwind, because I was too busy trying to keep my heart from bursting through my throat. It was hurty.

The Rutgers men worked well together the whole time. Chris and Rich never strayed more than 10 people from the front, and they were active in chasing the dangerous breaks. Alex and I took turns attacking and counter-attacking for a while, even working together in a group of 6ish for the 30 seconds before we got caught. Rich, who had been blocking for us in a display of extraordinary teamwork and patience, took a few stabs at breaking away himself. The pack stayed together.


Going into the last few corners, I was on Chris' wheel. Rich was somewhere ahead of us, and I have no idea where Alex was. I tried to stay with Chris, but that man knows how to move through a field in the last kilometer, and before I knew it he'd put himself in great position. Typical Chris.

Alex finished 29th, Rich got 12th, and I eked out my first top-20 of the season in 20th place. Chris got 3rd, but he's 1st in our hearts.