Rutgers Cycling in Rutgers Magazine!

If you haven't already seen it, pick up a copy of the Spring 2009 Rutgers Magazine for a wonderful story on Rutgers Cycling.

The story features club president and (as of May 2009) Rutgers alumnus Chris and newcomers to the team Karina and Molly.

Granogue Race Report ... in Interview form!

video courtesy of cyclingdirt.org

Rutgers Cycling Caps Now Available!

At long last, Rutgers Cycling is pleased to make available official, team-issue Rutgers Cycling caps.

Made for us by Pace Sportswear, these are the classic four-panel cotton cycling caps. These caps are perfect for wearing under your helmet for a classics-style ride or just spectating.

The cap features the Rutgers Block R on the front, "Rutgers" on the back. On the bill, the underside says "Rutgers" and the topside features the classic Scarlet Knight head.

Purchase Rutgers Cycling Caps

Buy one now, you are certain to look cooler than AngryMark...

Rutgers Takes 1st Off-Road Win of 2009!

Riding to victory aboard a Specialized Stumpjumper 29er!

While my skinny-tired teammates tackled The Cherry Blossom RR, The Rahway River Criterium, and even the Dartmouth Collegiate Weekend, I headed to Coatesville, PA to compete in the Hibernia Mountain Bike Duathlon.

I'd never done a duathlon, and I'm not much of a runner, so I enlisted some help. It turns out my girlfriend and fellow endurance athlete, Jenna, is a bit of a runner, so I recruited her to be the runner for our relay duathlon team. Hibernia would serve as a warm-up to the half-marathon she is doing in Central Park this weekend.

We arrived bright and early and set up shop. Neither of us had any idea what was going on. I puzzled over what to do with the single number they gave to us at registration.

Fortunately, a kind soul explained that the number goes on the runner in the relay. More importantly, he explained that the number goes on the front.

That's just weird.

The race consisted of a 2.38 mile trail run, a 10.5 mile mountain bike, and a 2.38 mile trail run.

We didn't really know how the transition was going to work or even how long it would take either of of us complete each given leg, but we figured we would figure it out.

Indeed, we did.

Jenna came in 20th off the run. We made an incredibly fast transition and I rode through seven riders within the first 1/2 mile to settle into 13th overall. It had been since my victory at Bear Creek in September that I'd last felt good enough to race, and I rode conservatively and steady. I could see three riders ahead of me, but I elected to keep them in my sight, but not push too hard to catch them.

On the first lap, I rode a 25 minute split. My goal was to knock the bike out in less than an hour. So far so good. Three quarters of the way through the second lap, I caught two of the guys in front of me on a single track climb. I saw the third guy, now sitting in 10th, but we could only match each other's pace.

I came screaming into the transition area yelling "gooooooo!" I rode another 25 minute lap. Excellent. Jenna took off, now in 11th place. She put in one of the most amazing runs ever to finish the second run in 18:49. She got passed by two of the guys whom I had passed on the bike.

Our total time was 1:28 for the race. We handily won both the co-ed relay competition and the relay competition by over five minutes.

Me, post-race, victory cheer. Also, the new Rutgers Cycling Caps (soon to be available)

The Rutgers Off-Road Team is back in action on two wheels only at its first mountain bike race on Sunday, May 3. The team will be dividing between the first H2H Series race in Waywayanda State Park in NJ and Mid-Atlantic Super Series Race #2 in New Castle, DE.

Philly Phlyer Phinishes

My trusty camcorder and I were in Philadelphia this weekend, at the finish line of both Men's A races.

Pat B solo'ed in on Saturday, holding off the charging chase group by scant meters to take a heroic 2nd place. Then on Sunday, Will C led him out, resulting in 4th for Pat and 6th for Will.



C-Money was very excited.

Eric's Philly Phyler Men's D Report

The team assembled in Fairmount park for another stellar race in the city of brotherly love. A mild but rainy TTT was ahead of us. Nick A and I were readying ourselves for the TTT and then Christian also wanted to partake. Awesome! Our team was 3 again. We embarked on the journey into the fog and gingerly made our way down the hills to the racing tarmac. Filed in TTT position we take our scheduled pulls and begin to work like a team. After the first turn around the pace got blistering and we tugged on without the support of Nick. He had a couple great pulls in him but TTT are intimidating to say the least. Christian put in some awesome efforts and worked to carry the rest of the pace. We managed to have some fun along the way by celebrating with fellow racers the joys of cycling and giving advice to a flock of geese that wandered into the road. Our last efforts up the hill were epic to say the least. We coached each other up the hill and crossed the line in perfect fashion. I wish there was a picture it was teamwork at its finest. Next time we can work on our speed but it was clearly a fun time. 18th place we took with an average just nipping 21mph. Great effort. I look forward to more TTT's with the team.

The stage was set to have a fun crit. Unlike the previous couple weeks, the crit was a real crit. 3/4 turns, flat, fast and fun. Mine and Nick's third row start wasn't the best but there was plenty of moving to be done throughout the pack and the course was very accepting of this. The pack stayed together for a while as separations were made. I continued to relax through the race and basically gap any breaks in the pack just so I didn't have to bridge up later on. This proved to work out really well as I made my way to the front (yes first wheel) with 3 to go. I know the winner of field sprint crits rarely come off the front so I took my pull and retreated to 4th/5th wheel and waited for my move. Last lap came and so did an attack after turn 1, I was reluctant to attack which proved to be my demise. I let them go and I sprinted the final straight to catch some more victims to finish off with 7th place. My first placing in the points but disappointing because of my poor late race tactics. Nick finished up his D race with a 50th place finish, I have no doubts he will be contesting the front of the pack in no time. Great weekend had by all, yea Philly!

Blue Hens RR - Men's Intro - The Importance of Communication

If there is to be a first race report for the Men's Intro RR, this past weekend at UDel deserves the honor. 

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!

Wear Rudy Project

Our go-fast guy in the Men's B races, the venerable DK, was in perfect position with 300m to go. CaptainChaz was leading him out, and they were rocketing towards success. Charlie already wrote about the ensuing crash, and I can only echo his disappointment and frustration.

Having started the lead out, I was behind the melee, which gave me a front-row seat to the horrific tumble. I was sure that DK would be carted off in an ambulance... imagine my delight when he turned out to have suffered nothing worse than some road rash!

His head had hit the ground with a violent impact. Here, in his own words, is DK's description of the butcher's bill:

Blue Hens RR - Mens B - so close, yet so far from cycling glory

At Columbia, we learned that one needs to start fighting for position quite early in the B field, especially with UVM's huge team. This week, we were prepared for the challenge. Each of us knew our role: Don would patrol the front and try to get into any promising breaks, when the efforts got harder, I'd join Don near the front to make any selections, and DK would be our man for the sprint.

After 47 miles of scenic, rolling, not-too-difficult spring riding, it was clear that there would be a sprint finish. Don did an amazing job working hard in the last 4 miles so that we'd have good position going into the last two right hand corners, and he got me and Dave up to speed as the sprint wound up. UVM was going up the right side, and space was opening to the left. I jumped to a Millersville wheel there, and the pace kept creeping up. Part of the UVM lead out was decelerating into our lane, Millersville slowed. Feeling the raging pack behind me, I knew I had to keep accelerating around the right of Millersville. The yellow line and disqualification awaited to the left and slowing promised a giant pile up. Dave's wheel grazed mine and - CRAP - CRAP - CRAP!!! I kept it going to the line as the only hope for RU and got to the line in 3rd.


(Photo: Velocity Results)

It should have felt sweet to get such a result in this field, but my job was to launch DK to the finish, not fight for the line from 400m out. His explosiveness could possibly have carried him the 4 bike lengths ahead of me to the win. So, we were left with frustration, shame, yet thanksgiving. The frustration of being denied the chance of challenging UVM with our three man team, the shame of being involved in the nucleation of a crash, yet being thankful that DK was alright and we'll be able to fight for the finish line another day.

I couldn't stop replaying that finish in my head on Saturday. I don't want to pass blame (you clearly see my involvement above), but to help keep us safer in the finishing straights, can we have our lead-out men pull off towards the gutter, keeping as much power on as possible 'till the line, and can we please have two lanes for the sprint?