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Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon Race Weekend
March 22/23, 2008
Saturday morning we 6,
Temple's B-money, Chazzle dazzle, and T-Rex, and UPenn's Uncle Roscoe,
L-train, and. "the Hilbert" awoke to sounds of Queen's "Bicycle Race"
and the scents of too many boys in one hotel room. We managed to roll
out in reasonable time and hit up the local Duncan Donuts, which I
suggest as a new pre-race ritual.
We heard in the winds
before the race that the map truly did not do the course justice, that
the triple tribulation the banger could put you through would make you
change places with Hercules in a heartbeat. Twelve trials? Forget
about it. This was like twelve straight minutes of agony each lap.
In men's D's, Hilbert,
strengthened more than than ever by a loaner pair of toe clips, turned
in a rock solid top 20 performance. Get that kid even a low-end road
bike and a set of clipless and it won't be long before the lad's
jumping rope right before winning races. Drexel's Ryan Shank, a man
built like a crit rider if ever there was, still managed to turn in a
very respectable 15th (or so) place showing in this hilly road race.
And, despite getting lost, and stopping thinking the race was over when
in fact it was not, Drexel's Andy also had a solid performance. We'll
work on his mental game later.
Men's C's was the
division most of the rest of us Philly coalition road in. There were
four, Lenny, and new upgrades Charlie, Brent, and Ross. This was the
first race of the year for all the C's, except the three new C's, who
were lucky enough to have ridden in the Philly D race before the roads
flooded. Lenny has been considering upgrading, but needed to see if he
could hold his own against his lighter, better looking companions in
C's on a hilly course. Well, set your worries aside, folks, because
Lenny took home an impressive 3rd place finish, while outweighing the
two folks that beat him by thirty pounds. And speaking of being
outweighed by thirty pounds, guess who pulled off the most historic
upset in recent memory, amongst riders who have moved, as Ross so aptly
put it, from crappy to mediocre in a mere manner of months. That's
right, Charlie Zamastil, all 137 bony pounds of him, held Lenny's wheel
through the final decent, and motored around him in the flat, in what I
must say was both indicative of incredible sprinting strength in so
dainty a rider, but he also looked so elegant while doing it. But also
make fun of him for doing a breakaway timed just so that he'd be
leading the pack by 50 metres as he passed all the crowd, then sitting
up immediately to rejoin the pack, once the crowd was out of sight.
We'll work on his ego later. Oh, he didn't win either. He got second,
to some Boston College kid that refused, absolutely refused, to lead
the pack, even for a minute at a slow pace. The only people that did
were Ross, Lenny, Charlie (far too much, in fact), and two guys from
Penn State and one from Bucknel. Everyone else, jerks.
Lest we forget, Ross had
his own breakaway, five miles in, and he was so strong that the pack
took probably 4 miles to catch him, but unfortunately, catch him they
did. But Ross still had plenty of strength in those thighs (and,
perhaps, magical sideburns?) and held with the breakaway lead group of
about 15 guys for the entire race, finishing in the middle of that pack
on the sprint for 8th place.
Brent also looked strong
out there, but a spot of bad luck found him behind a slow wheel on a
climb, and once he looked around, the pack was gone. Rather than
turning in, as lesser men would do, Brent time trialed, riding on an
essential solo breakaway from the chase group, occasionally passing a
few Midwesterners who showed up and couldn't keep with the lead pack.
This time-trial-esque effort was good enough for a top-20 finish. Caleb
rode hard, but the sprinting specialist wasn't built to take these kind
of hills, and had to drop out after a few of the climbs.
In men's B's, you could
say there was another case of the strongest riders doing the lion's
share of the work, breaking up the pack and pushing the pace, and being
nipped at the last second by lesser, lazier (smarter?) riders (and
people, really), as Ross/Lenny/Charlie did. That would be an
understatement. Tyler Bauer, a.k.a. T-Wrecks, the beast from the east,
led the descent, then the sprint, for as far as the spectator at the
line could see, which turned out to be over a quarter of a mile. A
rookie's mistake, I'm afraid, but wow was it impressive. No one could
get around his wheel-he was that freakin' fast. Well, at leat until the
final 10 meters, when one guy managed to pass him, but if you consider
how much stronger Tyler had to be riding that whole time, that he even
held on for second makes the other guy's victory a Pyrrhic one. But
Tyler will be less likely to make that mistake again, you can count on
that.
The other Philly B, Wes,
was in the lead pack along with Tyler when charging up a climb, some
jerk darted to the outside and slammed his wheel, knocking it severely
off-true, rubbing the break, and the justifiably pissed off Wes had to
withdraw. But he got to go back home and be consoled by a delicious
Easter dinner with his lovely family, two dogs, and smokin' hot
girlfriend, so I think we know the real winner here was.
Our lone woman, Katie,
unfortunately got locked out of a parking garage and missed day one of
racing, but she would be back. I fretted this, because it made me one
step closer to doing a points race in a pink tutu. Ask me if you want
the full story.
Afterwards, thanks to
Ross' pitiable navigating skills the night before, we knew exactly
where we were going. Cici's and their all you can eat pizza, pasta,
and salad bar. Suffice to say when we got back to the hotel, Brent had
to call the front desk for a plumbing snake. No joke, cici's was that
spectacular.
That night we did nothing
that was not wise at all. And amongst a 9 guys with absolutely no
delicious vanilla espresso porter from a local microbrew in their
systems, references to anatomical parts were sparse, if present at all,
even when watching Blades of Glory and boxing. And the room smelled
like flowers.
Anywho, Sunday will
unfortunately only have info about the C race, and that's all we saw.
We had to leave early so Charlie could get to a funeral. The crit was
in a gorgeous location, crossing the Warhol & Clemente rivers right at
the confluence of the three rivers. What on paper looked flat in fact
was more challenging, as the crown of the bridge provided for a few
opportunities for breakaways. It was one of the coolest, fastest crits
we'll do. Closed roads, wide turns hence no speed loss, and the most
picturesque one to date. Just ask Ross, who really enjoyed the first
three laps, but one of those crazy Midwesterners caused a terrible
crash, taking him right out, but allowing him to demonstrate the
gymnastic abilities of his high-flying, somersaulting bicycle. Bad
luck also struck Lenny, who got caught up behind the crash, led the
charge to catch Charlie and his breakaway group of five, and the pack
reformed. For all his work, what does Lenny get? A flat a few laps
later, sending him off to the pits for a mad-wheel change. He rejoined
again, and still finished with the lead pack. Brent led the charge of
the peloton on the final sprint, capturing sixth place plus at least 1
prime point. Prime points were just out of Charlie's reach, as he came
in 5th place for all three, just out of the points each time. But for
staying on the front, he didn't get yoyo-ed around like the rest of
pack, rode solid and smart, and finished two bike lengths back of the
front three consisting of a Buknell rider and two very strong Penn
State dudes. He may have won, but the results guys didn't accept his
offer of thirty pieces of silver to tackle the guys out in front of him
on the final sprint. Mad props to Penn State C's, wherever they are.
Solid, strong guys not afraid to do a little work, just like the Philly
folk.
It was one heckuva
weekend, and you may be seeing some more upgrades in the near future.
ECCC, say hello to the emerging powerhouse cycling city called
Philadelphia.
Charlie
Temple University
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