ASU/LMC Race Weekend
April 8-9, 2006
written by Cliff Smoot

The eight hour drive from Baltimore to Boone, NC was just as tough as we expected it to be. Our team of three cars got strung out pretty badly, with 2-3 hour gaps in between each one, and our whole team hadn’t arrived at our hotel until about 2 A.M.

This weekend, Appalachian State University and Lees-McRae College were hosting three races. Although these schools lay a mere 20 minutes from each other, ASU is in the Atlantic conference, while LMC is in the Southern conference. So then, these teams joined forces and decided to host a combined conference weekend. Since this would make the fields twice as large, the fields were thus scored twice as deep (and similarly, twice as many points for first place). However, the turnout from either conference wasn’t too great, so in many cases, to finish a race was enough to score points for your team. With a decent-sized crew of ten well-trained racers, we had a big advantage over much of our competition. To our dismay though, we learned that Lees-McRae in fact has a cycling program equal to that of any varsity sport, with huge school funding and scholarships offered for recruiting cyclists. To make matters worse, LMC is also one of the small “division 2” schools just like JHU, so our team spent the weekend chasing them down and at the same time in awe of their organization. At the very least though, the JHU team jersey design easily beat theirs.

Team Time Trial
On Saturday morning, Appalachian State University presented the Southern and Atlantic collegiate cycling conferences with its team time trial course. Of course, since some teams were too lazy or too small, not everyone fielded a team. A mere 10 miles total (down and back), this was sure to be a fast course. As the photos show, the road was indeed gritty and wet this morning, and thus your reward for holding close to your teammate’s wheel was a face full of mud.

Here’s how our teams finished.

Men’s A – Toby, Nathan, Cliff – 7th Place, 24:29
Men’s B – Bolster, Termite, Smitty, Cohee – 5th Place, 25:59
Women’s A – Lauren, Pmok, Katie – 2nd Place, 29:18

Criterium
Saturday afternoon was LMC’s criterium, which ran through downtown Banner Elk, NC. About half of the course’s length was uphill (with a nasty jam just before the finish), and about half was downhill. Of course, as time goes, that meant about ¼ of the race was flying downhill, while ¾ was spent hammering back up. The roads were wet, but newly paved, so conditions were somewhat balanced. The worst part of the course was the fast, left hand turn into a half-closed lane, where oxygen-deprived daydreams made it clear to many of us that skidding out there would only result in getting run over by opposing vehicle traffic. Still, despite everyone’s best efforts, there was minimal crashing during all of the races.

The Men’s C race was first, and JHU’s team was ready. Bolster (aka “Old Pete,” aka “forty-year-old pirate”) stayed at the front nearly the whole race, basically controlling the pace, while Termite hung around the middle third and Smitty brought up the rear. This was a very good day for dear old Bolster, who not only snagged 4th in a prime, but finished with an impressive 8th place. Termite finished right behind at 11th, and Smitty with it for 24th. All of them scored points for the team!

The Women’s B race went next, with Pmok and Lauren repping for the Blue Jays. Pmok set a blistering pace for the group, and scored in all of the primes, including one with first place. She finished fourth, with teammate Lauren right on her wheel for a formidable 5th

Men’s Bs started and finished the race at a breakneck speed, with Lees-McRae ripping apart the field from the very beginning. Myself and Cohee were working in a chase group of about eight people, when the ref pulled us from the race and put us out of our pain (we were about to be lapped). We both were scored 23rd place. All in all, 18 of the 36 Mens B riders were pulled, so us two didn’t feel that bad about not finishing. Better legs for the next day’s race, if nothing else.

The Men’s A race started and finished not too differently from the Men’s B race, even if some 5-10 mph faster. Toby couldn’t manage the suicidal downhill speeds, so lost some time there and fell off the pack, eventually to be pulled by the ref. Nathan, alone, hung tough in the main pack and sucked wheel for the race (a very fast wheel nonetheless). After this hour of countless breaks and surges initiated by LMC and Navy, Nathan finished up at 18th place.

Men’s A
Nathan – 18th
Toby – DNF

Men’s B
Cliff – 23/dnf
Cohee – 23/dnf

Men’s C
Bolster – 8th; 4th in a prime
terMite – 11th
Smitty – 24th

Women’s A
Katie Ross – 8th

Women’s B
Pmok – 4th; 1st, 2nd, 3rd in primes
Lauren – 5th; 3rd in a prime

Road Race
Sunday was a beautiful day for racing, even if the course wasn’t the most enjoyable. Hosted by LMC, this race was a mere 10 mile loop, but with a total of 1,500 ft of climbing. Of this season’s collegiate races, this was the most climbing we were ever to do in a race. Luckily, we had all spent time training on the very same roads and terrain during our spring break training camp, so we had some decisive advantages over the rest of the field (at least those not from ASU or LMC, at least). The course began with a fairly easy 2 mile climb, followed by a winding, technical descent that lasted about five minutes, followed by about 20 minutes worth of steep and not-so-steep climbing, then a rolling descent back to the finish line in Banner Elk. *Special shout-out to Smitty, who was too sick to race, but still spent the day feeding us all and generally taking care of the team.*

The Men’s A field faced six laps of this course, and started the race with a nasty attack from LMC. The field chased for long and hard, dropping many and making all suffer. While Toby worked his hardest, he could not hang onto the field and ended up working with another rider until out-sprinting him at the finish, gaining 27th place. Nathan faced a somewhat greater challenge, specifically, the fact that he broadsided a dog at the top of a climb on his fifth lap and took a tumble over his handlebars. This dog had somehow stayed out of the way for all the other cyclists who were passing by that day, but decided that Nathan needed to be taught a lesson. The dog’s status is not known, but it is likely that Nathan’s front wheel served it well. In his typical caveman fashion, Nathan spent the rest of the fifth lap chasing down the field, and indeed caught back up by the final lap. Even as tired as he was, he stuck with it and gave an all-out effort to earn 8th place.

The Men’s B field went five minutes later, with four delightful laps to complete. The field stayed together all the way until the first descent (about 10 minutes into the race), when the field got strung out into single file. From the beginning of the climbing, the lead group of about 15 set a hard pace and watched as countless riders, including myself and Cohee, fell off and formed (or failed to form) chase groups. Funny how friendly and cooperative people can be when they are suffering together. After Saturday’s whipping, it was nice to pass many LMC riders and see them pull out of this race. Cohee essentially time trialed the final 3.5 laps, finishing at 27th place, while I worked with his brother (at William and Mary), Mark, as well as some riders from ASU and Western Carolina. On the final lap, I was able to drop these guys and pass a few more, and finish up at a satisfying 18th place.

The Women’s A field followed, with four laps to do as well. Just as we expected, this race too turned largely into a matter of attrition, and many riders in this field ended up in small groups or all alone. Katie dug deep and pushed her bike fast and hard up each and every climb, passing many riders (i.e. LMC), and finishing the race in 5th place, gaining a smooth 79 points for the team.

The Men’s C went off next, with two laps of fun and fury. Following the cue from LMC’s Men’s A team, VTech launched a break from the starting line too, which in fact stuck for this race. Our two racers in this field, Bolster and terMite, were both out in full force. With the field mainly sticking together (and our riders right in it), the race mostly came down to who could destroy the final climbing sections, as well as the final few hundred meters. Bolster again showed us youngins what he is made of, and finished at an incredible 6th place. Although it may have been more of a struggle for terMite to tackle these hills, he finished right behind Bolster at 13th place.

Women’s B went off last, with a total of 2 laps. Not unlike the Men’s B field, this field shattered on the very first climb, but Lauren and Pmok hung tough in the front group of six. After the next longer, tougher series of climbs though, the field really fell apart, and the rest of the race turned into an individual time trial. Our racers took on this challenge with smiles on their faces, and finished the race with two great results – Pmok in 5th place and Lauren in 4th.

Men’s A
Nathan –8th
Toby – 27th

Men’s B
Cliff – 18
Cohee – 27th

Men’s C
Bolster – 6th
terMite – 13th
Women’s A
Katie Ross – 5th

Women’s B
Pmok – 5th
Lauren – 4th