Clemson University Race Report

Race Report – Clemson University Race Weekend
Saturday 3/7/09
We brought three racers to Clemson for the weekend; myself, Joe, and Clinton. The forecast looked amazing, and our expectations were high for good racing. The weather and the race lived up to expectations
First off was me and the 30+ strong A field. We had a 60 mile road race in front of us, and with Cumberland, Clemson, Brevard, Furman and Georgia all bringing big teams and big names, it was sure to be a fast and aggressive race. The course has 3 or 4 ½-mile climbs, almost always preceded by sharp turns, and a combined rise of 350 meters per lap. The hills provided the necessary pain, but did little to shake up the field, as the following descents and flats allowed the peleton to easily regroup. We took the first lap neutral, more or less, as everyone wanted to survey the course. Once lap 2 started, so did the attacks. A breakaway of 3 got up the road, and a few other rides attempted to bridge. I raced pretty dumb, and was never in position to join or bridge to a break. At one point I was in good position to jump up to an attempted break that was about 5 seconds up the road and composed of a few teams not in the primary break. I hoped that I could bridge up and ride away with them. Unfortunately the pack decided to catch my wheel and I ended up dragging them to the chase group, and in the process, trashed my legs. It would take a full lap of sitting in to feel comfortable again. Other than that failed move, the race was quite uneventful. I did run over a water bottle though…On the last lap, rolling towards the sharp right before the 300meter final stretch, I found myself in bad sprint position, again. I sprinted hard to break the top 20 (maybe top 15), but essentially took yet another field finish.
I never did get a full report from Joe or Clinton, except that the pack essentially remained together the entire C race. Coming around the final corner, a Georgia Tech rider decided to pass 6 rows by crossing the yellow line. He won the race after an impressive sprint, but was disqualified. Joe, meanwhile, continues his C Category Dominance by adding a 2nd place finish to his resume. Clinton, hung onto the main field, finishing comfortably with them.
After a jaunt down to Firehouse Subs for lunch, we headed back to the race site for our first ever Team Time Trial. The outlook for the race was never fantastic. Since I am an A racer, the team is required to race as an A TTT team. That put us at odds with Furman and Florida, both with top 5 National TTT Teams. Despite the odds, we wanted to do the race. We practiced the discipline, we wanted to at least do one. The course is not fantastic for a TTT, however at only 7.5 miles, it was quite short. We started out fairly well, kept to our planned rotations. The speed was quick, particularly on the flats. As we hit a hill though, Clinton dropped a chain and was unable to shift it back onto the chain ring. We rode easy while he reattached it, hopped on and sprinted up the hill after us. At least a minute and a half, poof, gone. It happens. We got back into a good rhythm, and before we were even ready for it, the race was over. We succeeded in not getting passed by a competitor, kept the tires down, and finished together.
Sunday 3/8/09
The “crit” was very reminiscent of my days at Indiana training for and racing in the Little 500. It was on a 1/2 – mile paved racetrack, with light banking. Joe and I did a little too much socializing the night before, and certainly were not as rested or prepared to race as we should have been. And speaking of which, thanks to Sam Barr (Alabama), I will never enter a moon bounce again. Moving on, Joe and Clinton started their race while I was still sleeping off the previous evenings’ sins in the car. I woke up about mid race, staggered out to the laughs of Stuart and officials, and immediately noticed something was up. The C field was quite small, and a lot of riders were in the pit getting new wheels and having their bikes checked. Looking at the field, I saw Joe, but not Clinton. As an equally groggy Sam found me at the line, we discovered a crash had occurred. We trekked to the other end of the course, passing a bloody Georgia Tech rider on the way, to find Clinton and his poor bicycle. Clinton had touched wheels and gone down, taking 9 or 10 other riders with him. The crash occurred on the backstretch, where the wind was strongly a tailwind. At 25 mph, Clinton got a taste of asphalt. Welcome to bicycle racing, Clinton, you are now an official member. Joe continued to hang on in the pack, which increased in size a bit once healthy riders got repaired and put back in the race. Joe stuck it out in the race to finish top 10 again in the sprint. He had no legs for the sprint, and I wasn’t sure I had legs to even start.
The A field was quite big, with a lot of big engines looking to take a win. Sam and I were looking to survive. While the speed was blistering, averaging about 25 mph each lap (30-35 on the back stretch), we found our legs and sat in. I was suffering, and like Saturday, was a complete failure at moving up in the pack. I spent most of my time on the back as a result. About ½ of the way through the race, 3 riders got off the front and started pulling away. At one point they had over half a lap on us, and we just let them hang there. A couple guys tried to get chase groups up to it, and the pack always caught them, and the breakaway continued to move up. Eventually Clemson and Furman decided to chase the break down. And for 5 laps we hammered so hard the entire field went single file. Once we caught them the pace eased a bit, but still, without fail every lap people would attack into the wind on the font stretch, and almost always get caught on the back stretch. There was some sort of acceleration or attack every lap. With 3 to go the pace started to ramp up, and again, I didn’t position well, or at all. Coming out of the last corner I was sitting around 20th place. I sprinted before the corner ended, caught and passed a whole bunch of people. Apparently I also gave Sam a lead out, which he used to nip me at the line. Legs shaking, I finished and was ready to leave and eat.

So, 2 more top 10’s for the team, Joe has enough races and results to cat up to Cat 4/B. This weekend marked our 5th weekend, we are now past the halfway point. The big races are coming. Georgia Tech, Georgia, Auburn, Lees McRae, and Brevard are up now, and the competition will be strong at every race. Keep checking back, the next few weeks will be mission critical for the team.