Princeton Circuit Race

Princeton, NH - Once again it was a damp start, though unfortunately it remained so. The circuit race was - well a little dull...basically around Princeton's baseball stadium and its car park. However, at least the course was fast courtesy of some nice smooth tarmac and we didn't have to deal with pot holes this time!!

Once again first up for MIT was Hannah in the women's C race. This time her strategy was to stay and experiment working in the pack before making a definitive breakaway on the final lap to complete a second win. Wow what a first race weekend Hannah!!!

Men's D was quite a spectacle to watch. It was Nader's first circuit race as well as first crash and what a crash it was too...having seen the crash in Men's D on Saturday and barely his plan was to stay at the front of the pack. He did so, along with Singerman and Chaleff who were also going strong. However, coming out of the last turn into the finishing straight, just as everyone was getting out of their saddles for the final sprint, a Dartmouth racer swung his bike into Nader's...it was quite traumatic to watch - seing our rider who was in the top 5 lying motionless on the floor. Nearby spectators ran to help and eventually Nader hobbled to his feet and wheeled his bike over the finishing line. He still came 45th out of 52 as well!!

We had a large MIT contingent in the Men's C consisting of Chewie, Tony, Tim, Loomis and Zach. This was a tight race, ending in a hair-raising pack sprint finish. Chewie and Tony worked well together holding a solid positions at the front of the pack scoring for MIT and finishing 6th and 7th respectively.

As for Women's B; Zuska and Katie were unable to implement their tactical plan (sorry trade secret) though nonetheless worked well together in the pack finishing 9th and 11th respectively. The Women's B stayed as a pack for the entire race - with just a few stragglers. They started steadily at first though the pace soon picked up towards the end lap and this time the pair were able to practice their sprinting skills to fly past the finishing line.

With half of our team back at MIT, Issao was our only representative in the Men's B. Things started well, though about half way through the race, at the beginning to the finishing straight he went down as a result of someone flatting in-front. Nonetheless, he battled on, and managed to pick up two other stragglers to work together to finish the course.

Meanwhile, off the race course there was plenty of excitement too, including a topless dance show by a bored racer on top of the BU van, some rather interesting - and unintentional - classical race music booming out of the speakers from one of the organizers ipod and some interesting chalk road artwork by UVM who initiated, but didn't even pay $2 - or did they?? - towards the "one dollar a lap competition" for the A riders. This added particular excitement to the final two races with several (often repeated) sprint performances by particular riders.

Yuri, our sole Women's A rider finished a fantastic 4th and earned a couple of dollars towards our gas bill for the journey home. Nice one Yuri! Sear's put in an equally formidable performance tactfully positioning himself in the pack and working his way steadily up, lap by lap gaining ground and preparing himself for the final sprint that earned him 6th place.

Overall - some solid and impressive performances from MIT this weekend, putting us 2nd in the ECCC rankings... this space!