For the "quick and dirty" summary of these races, please see the bottom of the report...

Cool audio/slideshow about the race produced by UPenn's newsletter: http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/audioSlideshows/2/index.html

Finally having thawed out from the William and Mary race weekend two weekends ago, the ACCC conference got back to action. With last weekend's races hosted by the Naval Academy cancelled, the stories of their fabled courses will have to wait until next year.

After the success of 06's joint-conference weekend in Boone, NC, there was a push to do another weekend where the stakes would be twice as great with two times the number of racers. This Spring, the call came from our biking neighbors to the north. The place: Philadelphia, PA. The main event: Atlantic Coast Cycling Conference versus the Eastern Coast Cycling Conference. It was a battle on par with all of the other great fights that started in Philly: the Revolutionary War, Rocky Balboa saving America from Communism in Rocky II, Geno's cheesesteaks versus Mike's cheesesteaks, etc. Now, the Philly Phlyer can be added to that list.

Though Philly was the location of the event, the consortium of schools from the ECCC wanted an ACCC team to come on board and help organize the race. Cliff fearlessly responded to this email, and the Hopkins Team represented the entire ACCC as one of the co-promoters of the Philly Phlyer. The race was billed as the largest collegiate cycling event, EVER, and it truly lived up to the advertising. All three racing disciplines (road race, time trial, and criterium) were represented. New Intro to Racing categories were added for the weekend, and the fields were so large that the Men's C and D races were divided into separate Division I and Division II events. All of the events shared the same start and finish area within Memorial Park in downtown Philly. The roads were also entirely closed to traffic, which was a real treat or all of the riders. No one had to worry about any unexpected vehicles trying to join the race pack.* Special thanks... to all those who volunteered at the race, you're why the weekend went off without a hitch. Also, the whole team would like to thank those wonderful hosts who provided us with such great accommodations: thanks to David Smith for making us feel at home, and thanks to the Smoots, who provided housing as well as a great team dinner. It takes a lot to put up with smelly cyclists, but we appreciate it so much. A big thanks to Joe' s for lending a tent, to John Scott from LSV for lending us his TT wheelset, and to Carma' s Café for the tons of tasty sesame noodles. It was also great to see so many parents stop by to watch the races; we hope to see you all at many more races this season!!

CIRCUIT RACE:
On Saturday, all of the teams got to sleep in a little later since the first race didn't go off until 10 a.m. The course for the circuit race was a 6 mile loop which started and finished at the memorial arch within the park. After doing a quick tour past Memorial Hall, riders made a quick and curving descent down to West River Dr, located right on the Schullykill River. Once there, it was flat and fast for 2 miles until making a 180-degree left turn up to a small series of hills. After completing the first of these "lollipop" maneuvers, riders went screaming back downhill to the river again. This was followed for about a mile until another quick turn up a hill. Riders then completed a second "lollipop" before turning to the finish line and repeating the whole thing.

Highlights:
In Men's C, Jake (38th) and John (25th) finished solidly with the pack. Smitty was loving his race until getting crashed out during the first lap and then having to pull out.

Allie started the Women's B race as the solo JHU racer, though joined by JHU alumnus, Pmok (who later went on to win it!). After wiping out at the 180 uphill hairpin, Allie got herself back together and chased down other riders who had fallen off the back of the pack, but was unable to catch back onto the pack and soloed in for a 24th place.

Bolster and Cliff represented JHU in the Men's B race for three laps. Highlights include Cliff's flyer off the front of the pack at the end of the first lap for the crowds waiting at the start/finish. *

In the Men's A field, Nathan finished with an incredible 9th place; Bloomer, our up and coming star, finished 38th, with Toby soon behind him at 49th.

Our solo Women's A rider, Katie R, hung in strong for her 24 miles of racing and finished 25 th place, earning the team a smooth 19 points.

TEAM TIME TRIAL:
This course was a quick, 9 mile, mostly flat loop that mostly overlapped the road race. The course begins with a quick descent down from Memorial hall towards a turnaround at the famous Philadelphia Art Museum, followed by a long flat section along the Schulkyl river, then another turnaround and a quick jam back up to memorial hall.

Highlights:
The Men's C squad, starting with a mere 3 riders, did really well. Jake, Smitty, and Steve worked it right and finished 7th place at 22:04, a truly excellent result for their first TTT together.

The Men's B squad featured Bolster and two of our Men's C riders, John and James, that cat'd up to complete the squad. They had a good start and set into a good tempo together. Unfortunately, James wiped out on one of the corners but to make up for this, Bolster put in a double shift working hard to pull the group to the finish.

The Men's A squad, consisting of Bloomer, Cliff, Nathan and Toby, admittedly had some problems: Nathan's late arrival (forced his teammates to start without him), Cliff's missed clip (and his .5 mile chase after his teammates), and the squad's final corner mishap (took it too wide, crossed the line and got relegated by the officials). These problems though, which will be easily ironed out for the next TTT of the season, were counterbalanced by Toby's Oxford-caliber timetrial technique, as he helped pull the squad along to finish a competitive time of 20:24, which would've placed them 11th if not for the relegation.

The Women's A squad, Katie F, Katie R, and Allie, set out for the first TTT of the season. They worked a good tempo together and communicated well, finishing solidly with all three riders in a time of 26:36 capturing 12th place. *

CRITERIUM:
The course for the criterium was a truly flat, 0.7 mile loop, with four wide 90-degree right turns in front of Memorial Hall. With use of the whole road and large field limits, the races were fast, large, and exciting to watch. In addition to a hard tempo, a strong headwind added to the mix to make this simple course a tricky race.

Highlights:
In Men's C, John snuck away with prime #3 and had a solid pack finish for 40th with Steve just behind him for 43 rd. Cliff hung in the middle of the pack for the Men's B race and finished 62nd in a field of almost 100 riders. Allie, James, Sid, and Gou all got their first criteriums behind them - each battled in their respective packs. Finally, the Men's A race was last and the most exciting race to watch. Hanging in with the pack's grueling pace, Nathan exerted himself in the bunch sprint taking 9th place on the line, with Bloomer finishing soon behind him in the pack for 30th.

Results Summary:
All in all, this was a tough weekend for the team and offered us a lot of "teachable moments." We had some technical problems, some mechanical issues, and some really tired legs by the end of the weekend. Most importantly, we learned a ton about racing in huge packs during this weekend and also got a good taste of the 3-race "omnium" weekend (the next one being Wake Forest, March 31/April 1). As we continue on with more race weekends and intense interval training during the weekdays, JHU riders will be gaining power and speed as we approach our end-of-season peak. Hang on tight.

Circuit Race
Men's D, field of 55: Sid (45), Gou (43)
Men's C (div.2), field of 72: John (25), Jake (38), James (50), Steve (57), Smitty (dnf)
Men's B, field of 104: Cliff (38), Bolster (80)
Men's A, field of 87: Nathan (9), Toby (dnf), Bloomer (38)
Women's B, field of 27: Allie (24)
Women's A, field of 31: Katie R (25) *

Team Time Trial
Men's D, Sid & Gou: (24:34, 11th place)
Men's C, Jake, Smitty, & Steve: (22:04, 7th place)
Men's B, Bolster, James, & John: (22:58, 18th place)
Men's A, Cliff, Bloomer, Nathan, Toby: (20:24, relegated)
Women's A, Katie R, Katie F, & Allie: (26:36, 12th place)

Criterium
Men's D, field of 48: Sid (dnf), Gou (41)
Men's C, field of 66: John (40, prime #3), Jake (dnf), James (dnf), Steve (43), Smitty (dnf)
Men's B, field of 93: Cliff (62), Bolster (dnf)
Men's A, field of 81: Nathan (8), Toby (49), Bloomer (30)
Women's B, field of 29: Allie (27)