Philly Phlyer 2010

Team Time Trial
We attacked Saturday's Team Time Trial (TTT) strategically from a points-gathering standpoint. We entered Jake Sisson, newly upgraded Brandon, Tim, and Ben Oswald in Men's B; Margaux, Cynthia, and Suzanne in the Women’s C field; Todd, Nick, and Eric in Men's D earning 7th (15:08). 2nd (17:33), and 11th (16:37) respectfully. One of our opportunists missed his/her TTT start and decided she would go for a nice 38 minute run in the sun with her first bike race 3 hours later. I admit to doing something along those lines at Easterns 2 years ago after I noticed my at tire moments before the road race start. The engine wants to be used.

Circuit Race
The circuit race took place on much of the same course as the TTT. Around the park in front of the Please Touch Museum, down to the river, up and down a hill on the far end of the course added to the circuit race, and back along the river and up to the park. We were not the only ones enjoying the weather. Officiated touch football, organized rugby matches, and pickup cricket matches going on in the park; rowers out on the water, runners and cyclists on a bike path there next to.
1 Men's D: Cornell's mass start racing began with our same D racers from the TTT field. Tod got 4th scoring his first points. Nick got 15th and Eric got 19th.
2 Men's C: Tim (first race in 2 yrs), Ben Oswald (first race ever), Kevin (first race on his SL-1), and myself teamed up for some wholesome bike race ourselves. I got to staging late but with a lucky lineup and start I squeezed into the top10 wheels and stayed there for the nearly the entire race. I got 11th (my first road points ever), Kevin flatted from 8th position, repaired it, and received DFL/DNF, Tim 21st, Ben 36th. I threw up a little during the race after I bridged up to the leaders on the final lap. UVM and Penn controlled the race until the final climb, when a Penn State rider soloed off the front to win it.
3 Women’s C: Cynthia, Suzanne, and Margaux toed the line with high expectations. The race saw 3 separate, non-turn-induced crashes- the most maddening and preventable kind. The first required emergency service to revive a rider from Shippensburg neutralizing the race. In another crash, I was severely concerned for my red Cannondale after Cynthia crashed it into the back of a fallen Penn State rider. Suzanne crashed for her first time also. Please do not let me understate the severity of my concern for my bikes well-being. All said, no one, due to any physical or emotional stress, including the bike, expressed any hesitancy in wanting to race again. Due to the crashes, for the first time in her American cycling campaign, Cynthia was one place out of points and did not score. Suzanne got 9th extending her scoring streak to2 races. Margaux got 23rd but we still love her.
4 Women’s Intro: Natalie can now attest to the experience of a Cornell Cycling race weekend and to the quality of the coaching in the ECCC Intro categories. She got to learn how to race and then compete in her first race with guidance from ECCC big names. She finished in 19th and with a smile.
5 Men's B: Jake Sisson DNFed for a reason which would be better left to the imagination. Brandon finished 31st in his first B race which he said was slower than expected. This is from Penn State's 2008 Men's D Road Race:

7 729 Brandon Sullivan Lehigh st
8 716 Adam Francis Yale 6:019 79
9 Jonathan Marshall Shippensburg 6:11
10 893 Jeffrey Roshko Cornell 6:31
11 724 William Blakeley Dartmouth st
12 898 Michael Desmarais UVM 6:41
13 865 Ethan Suttner Cornell st

Brandon beat #12 in Men's B, but #9 is now in Men's A. We want #10 to come race and #13 to keep improving.
6 Mens A: We all watched Jake B's first race of the year, Steve's last Philly Phlyer, and Wacek's long awaited comeback in the final race of the day. In the end, our team's strength came up short of shining through due to either lack course elevation or years spent doing more learning than racing. 46th, 44th, and 39th.

Criterium
The crit was at and fast with six 90 degree turns. It was technical enough to cause crashes in the lower categories. This is where the crit look place:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Summary of the Chaos:
Tod got 5th showcasing an incredible improvement a mere 2 weeks since his first race at Rutgers. Cynthia collected two 1st places and one 3rd place prime and took 2nd overall. I crashed in turn 1 of the 12th lap, but took a free lap and still finished in the top half- my first road crash/rash. Tim scored his first points. Kevin nearly laid his new SL-1 down behind me, but decided he was not in the mood for a free lap. Brandon tested his back against the pavement when someone went down in front of him on turn 4. Jake S kept his chase group of 4 alive by pulling in every picture taken of him. Wacek's legs remained photogenic through to their pack finish. Tod and our favorite Dutch cyclist represented our sponsors well with their breakaway success while the rest of us fought it out in the heavy traffic.

Ethan.

Lamest blog ever to blog?

So our team blog is like the lamest blog ever and it is a blog. So ideally race reports would go up, but no one is taking charge. SO here is my idea, weekly updates on the blog of ride recaps. Anyone object? With that said here is the ride recap:

Ethan and I headed out along fall creek this morning. The weather was fantastic, gloveless, sunny, light wind. Just a ride that makes you love riding your bike. The ride was fairly uneventful. Ethan tried a pro move: the kind that you don't see on TV and would not want to. A dog put some excitement in our legs as we sprinted away. Ethan also managed to catch me in my little ring before the Sap Sucker Woods Ithaca town line road.

With that said, good luck this weekend and next weekend, Cynthia it is time for you to get the W, and shame the rest of the team.

Sean