Virginia Tech Wins ACCC Title

Conference Championships 4/19-20

Day 1

ACCC Road Race Championships

Coming into the road race championships, the team's plan was to have Steven (2nd overall) shadow Navy's Ryan McFeely (1st overall), while Bryan tried all he could to advance his 3rd overall spot. This kind of omnium makes for interesting racing.

Flash forward to 2 laps to go, a break of 4 gets up the road with my teammate John Zaccone. I was near the front and was able to jump onto Georgetown's Sean Barrie's wheel who towed me all the way to the break. Another group of 2 bridges right behind us, followed by Bryan, who ended up dropping Wake Forest's Eric Fonville (and fellow VT alumnus) on the way.

VT now had 3 in the break of 8. Bryan attacked off the front and John countered in the final 3 Km. The break completely shut down.

John soloed for the win. Bryan took 3rd in the bunch sprint while I forgot where the finish was and ended up last in the bunch for 8th, awhoops.


ACCC Team Time Trial Championships - 45 Km in the rain

Unfortunately, I was not apart of the TTT team. My teammates complained that they never could get a draft off me while I'm in my TT position, so I gladly obliged to not race.


Eoin getting molested by Owen


The team takes 2nd place for the TTT, trailing Navy by 1 minute. Perhaps with aero equipment, the team may have won.


Good job guys, work together! You hear these same words of motivation whether you're in the breakaway or tailing off the back with other dropped riders.


ACCC Championships Banquet

There was an ice sculpture, a slide show, and an awards ceremony. Lots of food was eaten and good times were had by all.



Day 2

ACCC Criterium Championships

Before a big race, Owen likes to get dressed on the bike.

Because of Bryan's 3rd place the day before, Steven got bumped to third place in the overall. Now Bryan was 2nd, trailing to Navy's Ryan McFeely by 5 1/2 points. We had to get Steven as many points as possible through primes and good placings for the finish, while Bryan simply had to come in front of Ryan at the finish for VT to go 1-2 in the overall.

The criterium was really fast and really hard. I had super legs because of not doing the TTT the day before.

I was Steven's man for all of the 6 primes (ouch!). I covered alot of attacks and got into some breaks of my own. We rode a super aggressive race and Virginia Tech dominated with 7 riders in the race.

In the last 3 laps, NC State's Matt Howe attacked as we were organizing for the field sprint. He got a good gap. The leadout train was set for Steven and Bryan with Eoin McDonnell, myself, and Owen Nielsen taking charge. I pulled the last lap and pulled off before the last turn. Although we didn't catch Matt, Steven got 2nd and Bryan came in behind him. It was perfect textbook Fassa Bortolo lead out techniques. I am pleased with how well we raced considering the depth of the field and speed of the race.


ACCC Championships Awards Ceremony

Tim recieved the individual title for the Men's B category, and a really big trophy.

Steven got the overall individual title, a jersey, a really big trophy, and a photo with an old woman's grandson.

We are the champions, my friend.


Overall Results
I narrowly squeaked into the top 5 for the overall (1 point difference, schwing!) I will be looking forward to applying this good form when I return to race with the JBCA this summer.

Cool pic. April 13, 2008 - WVU Men's A Road Race finish

beans 'n rice

My last post had begun to come to fruition when I was eating dinner about 2 weeks ago. Since then, I have failed to complete it. Let me blast you to the past for a quick recap...

Virginia Tech 4/5-4/6

I was so happy to be ready to go for the home race! After all of the trudgery of Presidential duties to the team, the race was actually happening. I was in charge of the volunteers but a BIG thanks to the VP Reid Beloni for making this whole thing happen for all of us.


A knarly course at that. I got into the break after two laps in. It was rockin'. B Mac bridged halfway through that lap. Now it was Bryan, Steven, and myself in the break. The 7 of us put 7 minutes into the peloton. OUCH! I think the peloton shattered and lots abandoned but a group of about 5 finished?


Cool beans picture. I had "promoter's legs" the whole race and never had the power. Bryan won and Steven came in right behind him. As for me...a respectable result. 7th.


Smiling because I will be drinking Chinese bubble tea later that night.


Day 2
Enter Mountain Lake. Interestingly, it is where Dirty Dancing was filmed. This day was filled with pain. I ended up covering an attack at the base and the legs wouldn't go the rest of the way. I ended up 1:18 seconds behind Bryan and placed 5th.


My man B Mac and Cheese with one of the most epic wins on record. Steven took 3rd. It was super foggy at the top.



West Virginia University 4/12-13
This is the New River Gorge Bridge. It is the 2nd highest bridge in the world at 867ft! My brother Matt whitewater rafted under this back in the day with Venture Crew.



This is really funny because B Mac found this scratch and win lotto ticket on the bathroom floor of a truck stop. I didn't pick it up because it had hepatitis on it.


Day 1
This was perhaps one of the strangest days on a time trial bike for me. Due to only having ridden once that week (Wednesday for 4.5 hrs) and having had no openers, I was absolute garbage. Third from last and something like 4 minutes down on the winning time. How did I still end up beating people? Aye carumba! I guess it didn't help that I was stuck in the 53x15 the whole time. Reality check: Make sure your bike is functioning properly.


Day 2
Sunday was a breath of fresh air. I gladly got 2nd behind my teammate, Steven Gordon (bike racer)after getting into the break of 4 during the 2nd lap. The climbs were tough but I was feeling probably the best other than Ryan McFeely from Navy, as I was pacing Steven up the climbs and over the crests. The ending was somewhat anti-climatic. Ryan is really strong but needs to work on his tactical sense. The sprint was won with whomever jumped first. Steven went and I followed. The ride of the day award however goes to Owen Nielsen for getting into the break of 3, 1 mile in, then finishing 5th. Please note that it was extremely messy that day. I think it sleeted on us going up the 1st climb on the 2nd lap.

"Sponsor Me." My cycling cap needs another paper clip.

The long and windy road

ASU - 7th, 1st, 20thish
The last two weekends the racing turned up, literally. Last weekend, we raced at App State Univ in Boone, NC. Sat was a 54 mile RR with a 3 mi climb each lap. We did 6 laps. The first lap B-King lit it up and shattered the field. I was able to hold wheels and crest with a group of 3 other guys just behind the lead group. I wasn't feeling spectalcular considering the 5 min warmup and the climb hitting us within 5 min of the race. We rolled it pretty good, dropping a rider, then picking up Scott Jackson from LMC/DLP about 1 lap later. We ended up almost getting caught the last lap so I pulled with Scott up the hill really hard. We came into the finish 7 and 8. Props to Scott for letting get some conference points, as he was out of conference from the SEC...Always a class act! Ben racked in the win and B-Mac took 4th. Schwing.

At 4pm the TTT was set for 1 lap on the RR course. My team and I put in the fastest time by 40 seconds. Booyakashawigwam.

The next day was the crit in a mall parking lot. It was hard. It was fast. I did some work and got Bryan into the break. He did well and finished 1st after 25 laps off the front. I might have gotten 20 something. Shattered? Yes. No good legs? Maybe. Able to drive hard? Always.

JMU - 3rd
Yesterday was the uphill TT at Reddish Knob outside Harrisonburg, VA; the road was 6 miles flattish/rolling, 6 miles straight up a mountain. I put in a good effort and got 3rd. My man Ryan McFeely, from Navy, scorched it and put 2 min. into me...in season for him? Yes. 2nd place was 15 sec faster than me (I think I was 49:08). I had a sweet skid into my start time and barely made it by 5 sec. Unfortunately I was in the 53x11 after warming up and it took some time to realize this before shifting and getting up to speed. The course didn't seem impossible, and I think I may have given the only woman on our team a push! Foul? Yes and extremely not allowed while sporting. Nonetheless a pleasing result.

Today...err UVA - 2nd
60 mi course during Jeff Cup race: We started at 9am in the snow...basically. I was really warm, I had some super hot flaming sports balm on...everything?I put some on my legs and arms and down where I should'nt have (on accident!). I was hurting and wanting to get into the weather and race. Luckily I had a rain jacket b/c the roll-out soaked everyone. I ended up ditching my rain slick 3 laps in right before my man Reid was getting towed in after a stupendous breakaway effort with a NAVY compadre. We rode hard and I "attacked" on the first hill of the 5th lap. It shattered guys then the attacks began to fly. I ended up rolling off the front with a UNC rider and a UMD rider. We rolled it pretty good. I was bonking by the middle of the last lap and got dropped with 800m to go. Bummer? Yes. 2nd place was nice though because my parents were able to see me race today and fun was had by all. (Back to back podiums? Fun also.)

Good Sensations

Most of the time when I say that I am feeling good before a race, I am feeling 'just okay'. On Friday after being asked how I felt about the weekend, I responded by saying that I had 'good sensations' in the legs. My friend laughed and that was that. It wasn't until my pre-race warmup that I unlocked the secret to going fast again. In Belgium, we use a pre-sports bronzing oil called Quoleum. I applied some before my warmup and then I made sure to apply a little extra after the leg warmers came off. I'm not sure what is in this stuff, but all the amateur Belgian riders love it.Typically, riders will show up to the start line with their legs dripping with this stuff. I'm certainly intimidated whenever I come across these kinds of Top Sporters because they can drive it really hard.

This past weekend I did in fact have good legs. We travelled to College Park, MD to race the University of Maryland Criterium (1hr + 2 laps). The race started at 12:10pm and we were off. The race was pretty controlled from the gun. My teammate Owen Nielsen laid down the hammer for 2 laps before drifting back only for my other teammate Reid Beloni to take over and pull full-bore for another 2 laps. We decided that since we only had 4 guys in the race, we would need at least 2 in every break away. Words are words and sometimes the pre-race plan rarely comes to fruition during the race, so what happened next was really incredible.

I was sitting 4th wheel when an ASU rider attacked. My teammate John Zaccone got onto his wheel and I followed with Matt Howe from NC State. The ASU rider blew up (I think?) and John was left out front with myself and Matt trailing by 20 m. I looked behind and saw the gap was growing. I immediately got in front of Matt and laid down the throttle; 53x12 in the tail wind. Whooosh! We blazed past John and dove into the corner. John got on our wheels and VT had 2 guys in the break. I was super happy. The field shut down for a couple laps thereafter and we rolled it pretty hard.
The gap grew to over a minute, I thought we were going to lap the field. I was doing the pulls up the hill and down the back stretch, pulling for about 3/5 per lap. The break was working well together and Reid and Owen were doing a superb job covering attacks behind us. With 8 to go I attacked just as Matt was finishing his pull. It was a good attack up the hill and I got 30 m immediately. I was pulled in two laps later and sort of got dropped from the break after Matt accelerated past me. Luckily John was sitting on not working until I was able to get back on. With 4 laps to go, John did the same exact attack and stayed away the rest of the race. Kudos to John. Here is a video of the finish:


The jokers on the right are getting lapped while you can see Matt and I sprinting for 2nd. Virginia Tech ended up 1, 3, 4, and 12? Owen took the field sprint. All in all a very strong race for the team.

Sometimes it works out that the first attack doesn't always stick and the second will. It is just a matter of chance. The scenario that played out in the race was practically picture perfect, textbook tactics. This was the first race this season where I had been given the opportunity to really show how well I can go. I hope to have many more opportunities like this for the season. Thanks for reading.

Out,

-E

bok racin'

This past weekend the Virginia Tech Cycling Team went to race bicycles down in Raleigh, NC for its season opener at NC State University. The Men's A race was 75 miles long, so from the gun nothing exciting was really happening. After a long yawn session, I settled in and took in the sweet 50 degree Saturday morning air. I got to talking with one of my teammates from Cycling Center , a certain Scott Jackson, about being top sporter and wearing leg warmers while racing when some jokers from App Army began to attack.

After a flurry of riders going up the road, a breakaway from 5 got about 2 min on the field, near the end of the first lap. I signaled to Matt Howe from NC State that I was going to bridge and we attacked together. We put in a strong effort for 20 minutes but then we were chased down and we got back in the bunch. Strangely I noticed that my own team brought me back. I did some thinking and realized what was going on. The VT train lined up all 8 guys (Owen Nielsen, Ben King, John Zaccone, Steven Gordon, Eoin McDonnell, Bryan McVey, Reid Beloni, and myself) on the front and began to drive hard to reel in the break. After coming back from trying to bridge, I was motioned to be the gatekeeper for the pace line and made sure that no teams got in the mix to interrupt the rotation. We were really nailing it. Eoin's dad was in the wheel truck and had said that we were putting the whole field into the gutter and popping riders off the back. Eoin's dad timed the second lap at 41 minutes, while the rest of the laps averaged 46 minutes. Way to go team!

Eventually we caught the breakaway and the attacks began to fly, again as is expected. Being somewhat "fresh" from sitting behind the pain train I decided to attack with the seperation that was going on. Steven and I got into a move with like 6 other riders. We were going pretty well but then I began to hurt. Ben and Jeff Buckles bridged and I went backwards. I got into a chase group with some other riders but really couldn't put in any power. I felt kind of empty.

I ended up flatting going on the way back to the peloton. BONUS: I got to watch the finish! The break at the end was 6 riders with about 2 minutes on the field. Congrats to Steven for pinning down the win and for Ben following for 2nd. We also cleaned up the field sprint for 7th (Owen) and 8th (Reid). Our Women's A riders went 2nd (Lesley Golenor) and 5th (Sarah Hanson). Not a bad show of force for the first race of the season.

That night the team had some rockin' burritos from the Armadillo Grill.

Note: Although the burritos can be extremely good, do not be fooled by the free chips that fail to come with your meal.

The next day was a 60 minute crit on the NC State Centennial Campus. I got to speak with a number of the good 'ol boys before the race; famous creator of the Doody Bar,Chris Judy (DLP Pro), and C-Do, Craig Dodson (Team Nature's Path Pro/Am). As we lined up, I noticed we were missing 3 of our riders. Steevo had gone out for a training ride with Reid and Ben and had gotten lost on the way (Our newly appointed Officer of Integrated Cultural Experiences, Reid, did however manage to find Lilly's Pizza Restaurant, a really good joint that we stopped at on the way home).

Anyways, we had to race with 3 less Hokies and ended up having to change the race plan on the start line. The plan was to contain moves, then lead Owen out for a 5th consecutive win on the course, but it was now impossible to do with because of the depth in the field and the lack of numbers on our part.

It was criterium shannigans as usual. Attacks were flying off left and right. I stayed near the front and reeled in a few moves with Owen. I also picked up a points prime, BLING! Towards the end of the race I was on Jeff Buckles' wheel (VCU) and he began attacking the hell out of the field. I stayed on his wheel even though it hurt like hell. A group ended up countering at the end of his flurry with 10 laps to go. B Mac got into the winning move with Ryan McFeely (USNA) and some other guys. Towards 5 to go I attacked and along came Shawn Kane (NCSU) and a LMC rider. We were going pretty well. I was feeling good and conserving in case the field came charging, but was working well also. Bryan ended up getting 3rd, with Ryan (USNA) winning. They finished about 30 seconds off the front of the field with my chase group 15 seconds behind. I think I may have gotten 9th or something.

Definitely a better day for the legs than Saturday. Maybe it was the coffee that morning, interestingly enough brewed from a beheamoth such as one like this (but not necessarily)
Owen ended up taking the field sprint for 10th. 3 in the top 10, was not bad. Oh yeah and I noticed that at the end of the race, I was bleeding like a stuck pig. I must have popped a blood vessel in my nose. It was either from yelling my arse off in the breakaway or it was from putting out 800 watts/minute trying to stay on Buckle's wheel. Judges ruling?



out,

-E