Depauw Men's D performance

On Saturday, the organizers decided the D field was too large and inexperienced to race all three laps, so they dedicated the first lap (8mi.) to pace-line practice. Once the practice was over we started our 16 mile road race at a ferocious ~25mph pace which disintegrated the field. Chris was unable to match the accelerations and smartly decided to tempo ride the course. I elbowed my way to the front 10 and found myself competing with riders who looked much more comfortable than myself. Bernard was in and out of the top 20 several times but eventually settled on a pace that suited him. After the first lap, Chris stopped for a few minutes to chat with Aspen and then proceeded to turn out an extremely fast lap where he was able to overtake many of the riders that were dumped from the main field. I naively thought I would be able to keep up the field even with the slowed second lap pace. I eventually found Ben who had steadily moved up the field. He told he was feeling good as he passed me and I soon fell off the back. Ben was unable to sprint out for the victory but finished amongst the leaders. Bernard, Chris, and myself all finished solo in good spirits and eager for Sunday's crit as redemption for the troubles the hills gave us.

Sunday was the Crit and we had plenty of time to warm up and get comfortable with the sharp turns (and large pothole in the middle of turn three). We started off fast again, with Ben and I falling off the main pack after three laps. Our "chase 1" group was relatively organized as we picked up an IU, SLU, and DePaul rider to assist in our efforts of overtaking the leading 20. We lost Ben somewhere along the way and our group at one point was weakened to only myself and the SLU rider being ~800m behind the leading pack. Toward the end of the race my chase group was picking off the remnants of the main field and we were able to reacquire our fire power, which sadly was so powerful that they pushed me right off the back. With two laps to go I rode on the tail of Ben's three man chase for a few turns and ended by getting out sprinted by a lapped Michigan St. rider who was riding a vintage steel bike that squeaked like hell. Either way, Ben finished a place ahead of me. Both of us made top 20, much improved from the previous day. Bernard was right behind Ben and I the entire day but unable to find friends who were willing to make the gap with him. Chris powered through the day, working with others when they were present and going solo when they slowed him down. Both days were fun and we gained lots of experience. (other D guys feel free to elaborate on my outline as I had a biased point of view)

Thanks to all of those who cheered us on!!!!