by: Nick Bennette

Racing began Friday with the TTT, and thanks to Graham's last minute save, our whole team was kitted out in full aero garb. Despite having only two really strong guys, Princeton had a phenomenal team effort, and we rode to the line only having dropped our 4th man about a mile before the finish. We sat in the hot seat for about a minute, until getting displaced by Western Washington and had to settle for second at 13 seconds back. I had a good ride, and it was nice to be able to put out a 25 minute torture interval that stacked up well against the collegiate field.

Saturday's road race was a joke, with the last-minute addition of a mile of gravel acting to randomly pull contenders out of the mix. Our other rider flatted the second time through the minefield, only to be passed by the support vehicle, the driver yelling that he was OUT OF WHEELS. Only half the field finished and it was an EASY race. My seat post slipped mid way, and a super-unprofessional fix lead to the whole process taking about three minutes. The 25 minute time trial that followed didn't go as well as the one the day before.... and taught me that I need to be more authoritative in mechanical requests and mindful of time gaps when dropping back for s*** like that.

Needles to say, the whole NCCA was out for blood on Sunday. I worked my way into a strong break on the technical, 8-turn course, though the absence of one strong team (dartmouth) brought it all back together. I think it made an example of the slim chances of any break, as nothing went off for the final 30 minutes. As I had learned last year, the course is too technical to save a sprint for the finishing straight, and I gunned it about 800 meters from the line (with 4 turns still to go), though it was about 100m after the would-be race winner (and apparent Kilo specialist on the track) launched the winning solo flyer. Though it was tough to have had the legs, the luck, and to have been so close, a good result nonetheless, and further affirmation for me that a hard mid-race effort (in this case a 15-minute, in-the-red break) actually helps my finishing speed.

Check out the story and photos on cyclingnews if you like - and keep an eye out for that handsome devil in black and orange (#213) in the DII field.

All-in-all, not a bad weekend. Looking forward to sharing some good stories of the particulars, and to taking names on my home turf at Somerville.

~Nick

Pictures and a short synopsis are on cyclingnews.com as well.