l'Enfer Du Nord

Final collegiate bike races of the season... :( But it was awesome that the races were hosted at Dartmouth. The weekend started with a TTT (I wasn't going to do it, but I was needed to complete a team). It was hard, by far the most difficult TTT I had done (up the hills on Rt. 10 at River Road and Chieftain Hill for those from the Hanover area). So after that my legs were pretty shot. Later in the day we had a crit right on campus - we had frat brothers cheering for Dartmouth riders off their porches! For the weekend I moved up a category to race the harder road race course. So needless to say my mediocre crit abilities were even more mediocre in men's C. I did alright considering I was pretty tired already from the TTT and racing up a category.

Sunday was quite an epic road race. It was the longest circuit in ECCC history, going up two very formidable climbs, a total of 51 miles. I was feeling pretty good until the first hill came up, then I dropped like a rock to near the back of the pack... My legs were pretty dead from the last two races. But the following downhill was some of the most fun I had had on a bike to that point. I got in a paceline and we were able to make up a ton of time on the main pack, catching them by the bottom of the next climb. Since the receiver part of my computer broke off last weekend in my crash I didn't know how fast our paceline was going, but I heard someone say over 50 mph (sorry Mom if I'm scaring you, I wasn't in mortal danger). However, pushing hard in the downhill makes it difficult to keep with the pack in the next uphill... so I dropped off again. The great thing about bike races and my bad leg strength and good cardio strength is that I can be pushing as hard as my legs can go, but be able to hold a conversation with someone else. My trip up the final long, very long, hill was quite entertaining - I caught a few people, met some new people, had some chats, it was fun! Then the next downhill was even more fun than the first. I wasn't able to keep my place since I didn't push as hard as I should have over the top of the hill, but it was long and twisting and I was alone so I didn't feel bad using the whole road. It was sooooo much fun, it even made up for the horrible climb that preceded it. After the downhill I met up with a group of people and we pacelined really hard for the rest of the 15 or 20 miles left (again no bike computer). Sadly I saw the finish line ahead but didn't really comprehend it, so I finished last of my group... I finished exactly 8 minutes out of the lead, so pretty good, not great, but not a poor showing by any means.

After the weekend was over, with our great performances by Men's A riders, as well as everyone else, Dartmouth won the Eastern Championship!!! First time in a long time, that has happened apparently. If you'd like to look at results go to http://www.velocityresults.net/results/ and you can find finish line photos of the winners and results for all year.

And there's also Bike and Build stuff! I have fell far behind with all this racing recognizing people who have supported this wonderful cause. So here goes a long list! First there's my Mom, thanks Mom! Also a big thank you to my Uncle Bob and Aunt Karen for their generous donation. Thanks to the McMahons and the McCambridges as well as Petter and Janet Jahnsen. Jane Burri and Peter Sapin, and Gordon and Linda Wetzel also deserve thanks, and finally, last and certainly not least, Larry and Mary Lou Pratt!

phew lots of names! That means we can help more and more people! With everything that Bike and Build has received, everyone has donated $6542! That is AWESOME! So I guess I'll have to set a new goal... In the month and a half I'd like to try to get another $1000 to bring my total to $7500 before the start of the trip on June 18th! Only 50 more days!

Thanks everyone, and happy biking