Ladies and gentlemen, this weekend featured four (or three if you were wussy) races replete with rain, sleet, snow, and sub 40 temperatures. Namely, everything you've come to expect of the collegiate season. Here's how it played out:

     TTT
     Men's B (8 starters)
          7th Justin, Erik, Joe (timing error for this team)

      Men's D (10 starters)
          10th Doug, Mike, Steve, Brian (chain)

     Circuit Race
      Men's B (51 starters)
          12th Erik da Silva
          17th Joe Kopena

      Men's C (46 starters)
          13th Justin Kline

     Men's D (58 starters)
          26th Doug Markgraf (crashed as well)
          37th Brian Muka
          45th Mike Ondik
          dnf Steve Bronstein (in his own, now classic words: "Nothing
               about being out there felt right...")


                Steve Place was also in this race, and definitely finished somewhere around Muka, but was not placed for some reason. We couldn't find an official in time to explain why.

     ITT
      Men's B (48 starters)
          13th Joe Kopena (8:00:94)


      Men's C (34 starters)
          11th Justin Kline (8:08:38)
          22nd Chris Hair (8:39:32)


      Men's D (46 starters)
          34th Mike Ondik (10:13:58)


     Crit
      Men's B (44 starters)
          8th Joe Kopena (3 sprint pts)
          10th Erik da Silva (1 sprint pt)


      Men's C (35 starters)
          5th Justin Kline
          21st Chris Hair


      Men's D (45 starters)
          16th Brian Muka
          dnf Steve Bronstein (pulled)
          dnf Doug Markgraf (pulled)
          dnf Steve Place (pulled)
          dnf Mike Ondik (in his words, not enjoying himself)


     That is a whole lot of races and results...

     The TTT was probably the most disappointing. Erik, Justin, and I showed up to the line late. Turns out that nearly every team did, but was given a later slot to start over. When we showed up, the officials waved us through, the clock around counting down. I can see where mistakes were made on both sides: we should have stopped and argued rather than taking off, but they definitely seemed to want us to go. I assumed (not having seen any other launches), that they were sticking to time and we would not get a later slot so we had to go. It cost us 1:15 to 1:30 in straight time, and we were very lax throughout the whole thing because of it (as well as not warming up at all). Without the docked time (the officials said we were 1:30 late at the line) we would have done very well in the B and even the A race. I'd be more upset, but Bunny's been taking up the slack in the angst department over this and there wasn't much we could do afterward anyway. Maybe next week.

     Did I say it rained all weekend? It did. I don't think the temp ever broke 40 and it drizzled all day on Saturday. Not the worst I've ever been out in, but not pleasant. Racing wasn't bad, but standing around was miserable.

     The circuit race was very narrow, rough, and had a couple sharp corners. There were spots were between the yellow line and the serious potholes on the right there was about 5 feet of space. Throw in 50 guys trying to squeeze through that and you've got a fairly static race, were it was just hard to move around in. Add on the demotivating rain and you've got Erik and I coming into the last half lap not super-energized and not really positioning ourselves well for the end, which shows in the results. I think Justin had a similar race, hanging in there well but not having the energy to run the end well (I think jumping too early and not enough in his case).

     Macho points for the weekend go to Justin and Doug for both being in crashes but sticking in there (crit and circuit race, respectively). "I'm so tough I'm stupid!" points go to Muka for going for a jog after the crit on Sunday. As for everyone else (and Muka): hills. You gotta love 'em, they're unavoidable in the collegiate season.

     Did I mention that it snowed a lot on Sunday and even hailed for a while in the B race? ...

     Stebes gets a lot of credit for coming out to his first weekend and largely fairing pretty well. He was looking good, just needs to get some more miles under him. New Steve also gets a lot of credit for looking pretty good in his third week of racing. Chris loses all credit for the weekend for not showing up Saturday night ("I'm at a bar, what do you mean where am I?") and ditching us on the way to the crit ("What do you mean you're looking for me? I followed the UMass van...").

     Muka put in a great looking race in the crit. It wasn't the same course as previous year's Bellefonte crit, but was almost exactly the same (though not quite as hard) and totally rocked (it was faster and smoother). It features two climbs (but seriously guys, the one's pretty shallow, and the other you could coast up off the downhill), and four sharp corners that spread the C and D fields pretty widely. Brian hung in there long enough to stick solidly into the second pack once the race broke into two main groups with all the stragglers caught and pulled. I think if he'd made the initial selection he definitely would have been able to hang in there in the first group, so it's maybe just a question for him of making it through the first couple miles (hills) until the pace settles down a bit). Later in the race that group was moving as fast as the lead and Brian looked good, so we'll see how the flatter, more technical crits go (he looks pretty sharp in some of the corners and I think has speed).

     Justin came out of Saturday's race pretty well, and even pulled together the guts to do all four races (mmm, who didn't, let's see... mmm, e-bunny???). It was pretty sad actually, before the crit he was hobbling around in his spandex and winter cap with a jacket slung over his shoulders, looking like some very strange homeless guy. Still, tall tales of sore knees to the side, he did really well given how bad he looked beforehand, and despite having to get back up from a crash early in the race.

     Erik and I had a blast in the crit. It was fast, it was pretty smooth, and we were all over the place chasing stuff down and heading up the road. That last maybe wasn't so smart, but that was mostly an Erik thing. At one point I was actually sitting there thinking "What the hell is he doing? He's riding like I would---stupid!" as he drifted up the road, clearly without any sort of real plan. At another point, as he took off, I was sitting there screaming "BUNNY! BUUUUNNNY!!!" from the middle of the pack. It didn't bring him back, but it did get me a lot of strange looks. I think if we can organize a bit and plan a little better, it could be good. At the end I think we were just not quite placed highly enough, should have kicked it a little harder from the bell to come up the group rather than waiting through the second corner. Next week.

     As a closing point, I want to say that this has not been a good year for bike handling. A number of teams have not been doing much for improving their riding reputations, though a couple are very strong. For some it's not really a question of not having skills, but more making questionable decisions---cutting people off in corners early in the race for no real gain, throwing water bottles from the middle of the group, etc. I don't think we're included on that list, but let's keep it that way. Also, it is worth pointing out that there are some teams on completely the other side. Erik and I have both been talking about the UPenn guys in our races---they're strong, they do more than their share of the work, they ride with guts, and they ride clean. Hopefully we can work with Johan and Matt a bit in the coming races.

     Anyway, I am still at PSU and about to leave Irving's Coffeshop (we spent a lot of time here last year, at the similarly cold but not as rainy PSU races) and head over to my meeting. I'll catch you guys later in the week (probably at the Drives).