Lalevic, Darco writes:
| ...Kopena took 3rd or 4th today (it was close and I didn't check the
| results) in a SPRINT, in a CRIT! (one guy was off the front)
| Way to go, dude! It was awesome.


     Thanks Darco. We'll have to see how it goes in future races---that hill leading into the downsweep to the line definitely worked in my favor. They gave me fourth. As we crossed the line I looked down and saw that the one PSU guy had me by a little less that half a wheel and that's what the picture shows. It should be pretty cool when John posts it. Here's how the numbers for the weekend went:

      2k5/03/26 Bucknell Campus Criterium
          Men's B (39 starters)
               14th Joe Kopena
          Men's C (38 starters)
               17th Chris Hair
          Men's D (45 starters)
               37th Steve Bronstein


      2k5/03/27 Lehigh Mountaintop Criterium
          Men's B (49 starters)
               4th Joe Kopena (3 sprint points)
          Men's C (35 starters)
               6th Justin Kline
          Men's D (40 starters)
               37th Steve Bronstein
               dnf Mike Ondik (38th)

     I think we all had a good weekend, though Mike maybe had too much shrimp this week. Justin looked pretty strong, but maybe should have attacked earlier on the last lap. Steve and Chris are both looking pretty strong, just gotta work on some hills. We also really lucked out on weather, the expected frigid Saturday downpour did not happen. Jake Peters and Megan Ondik (as well as Beth) also showed up to cheer us on. Notably, Joe Peters did not make an appearance. He has been cast off the list of alumni in favor of his much more Drexel-loyal, PSU-attending brother.

     UPenn also had a pretty good weekend, modulus Darco's hip bothering him on climbs. Adrian took 3rd in Sunday's crit, Andrew did pretty well in the A race, and Johan finished a place or two ahead of me (I think) on Saturday, and 9th or 10th today.

     Yesterday was pretty tough, but I think we all held in there pretty well. The course had a whole lot of corners, was pretty narrow with high curbs, and every corner led into a hill.

     Today was the traditional Lehigh crit. For those that haven't been, it works like this: from the line you fly down the fast, curving S. You swing a sweeping right hander that goes right into a sharp 90deg that dumps you out on a sharp climb kind of like the one from Sweetbriar to Memorial Hall. Up top you make this long sweeping flat stretch, then repeat. If the speed section dumping you into the sharp corners, killing momentum before the hill isn't enough, throw in that the road's got cracks and bumps all over, high curbs, the climb has a speed bump in the middle of it, and every 50 feet there's a sewer grate covered over with plywood. It's pretty hot. Sketchy as hell, but a rockin' course.

     For a lot of the day I was thinking about the first time the Iceman and I went there. We were expecting a nice, flat crit, only to roll up and be confronted by this big climb right in the middle of the course. I still remember the stream of epithets coming out of the big guy :) Plus, there was that stupid fake hawk shrieking every couple minutes to keep birds and squirrels away. It has fortunately since been removed. Of course, it's worth mentioning that this is the team race transit record of 17 u-turns was achieved, mostly in trying to get from there down to a UVM race in Lancaster.

     My race was pretty interesting in a number of tactical ways. Sprinting's not my forte and never will be. Most importantly, it takes me a long while to rev up. What that means is that it's best for me if: a) there's an uphill finish or the finale is a long drag race for some other reason, rather than a bunch sprint. b) the pace is kept high all race, thinning things out for the end.

     Realizing that, I think I have to burn some amount of energy to drive the selection, I need to help a bit to keep the pace high and burn guys off. So, in addition to leading a bit here and there, on the 2nd prime I jumped pretty hard from the hill. I figured I'd take some points, and maybe some guys would break.

     The jump actually worked really well, only 1 PSU guy could really respond and he promptly sat on my wheel to the line and took the prime. We sat up then, and Johan and a Lehigh guy joined us. We were way far out but I figured it was worth trying, so I tried to get that group moving for a bit. A lap in, it was pretty clear we were going to get caught. PSU (Ben Miller, actually) and I dropped back. I tried to call back Johan but he couldn't hear or wasn't listening and they kept going. While we drifted back into the group, a UVM Law guy attacked. I didn't really notice, I was trying to swim back into the group, so I'm not to blame.

     Turns out, UVM quickly got to Johan and Lehigh, then kept booking. Several laps later Johan's group was caught and nobody realized the UVM guy was gone. When we crossed the line, we thought we were fighting for first. Somehow none of us thought to ask why we hadn't seen the pace car in a while.

     Anyway, after that I pretty much just sat there. Coming into the last climb I was pretty far back and I thought I was screwed. At that point it's sort of interesting, I could have taken off and tried to book up the hill. But, I think then I would have burned a lot of energy, got to the front, and had to sit there or face the wind. As it was, I did what was probably the smart thing as I didn't have the legs to jump like the prime. I just spun up the hill, did my thing, and slowly crept up the line. Going into the top portion as it levelled out I was pretty well placed, 6th in line with some space on the field.

     At that point we were moving pretty good, with 2 Army, 2 PSU, 1 MIT (the B point leader), and me. Army and PSU started picking it up so I had to come around MIT coming into the final broad corner. The other PSU rider started really leading out Ben, but they went left around the 2 Army riders and I was comitted to the right. I had to cut pretty tight inside to get by Army, and came out just behind PSU going into the last 100 meters. At that point, they had just did a really nice job with their leadout and I couldn't quite catch them. Another foot to the line and I would have had third. A little further and maybe 2nd, but they did such a nice job that I couldn't grudge them the places. Plus, I was stoked and bewildered to be in the sprint :)

     Keep in mind, we thought we were gunning for 1st. The PSU guys started celebrating when they crossed the line, only to find out 10 minutes later when we came back that the UVM guy had been away the whole time.

     So, yeah, lots of interesting tactics. My jump worked out well, got me some points and did thin the field slightly. UVM's jump worked even better. We were talking about it later, and he was spot on when he said he figured everyone was spent from that so if he jumped he could probably get out of side and maybe me safe. PSU's leadout was rock solid, and my approach to the last lap was probably the right thing to do. All in all, I'm pretty happy but I can't wait for another shot next weekend.

     --
- joe kopena
greetings, starfighter.