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Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012
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Duke Cycling wins the ACCC Division 2 Road Title for the second year in a row!!!
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
The final ACCC race weekend report of the 2012 road season is a pleasure to send out. With the advent of the 9th Street Derby and Duke’s season long domination of the ACCC, this year has been the most successful to date for Duke Cycling. The team’s results at conference championships this weekend were icing on the cake. Most notably, Duke Cycling brought home the ACCC D2 Road Championship title for the 2nd year in a row!
Matt and Baard at the ASU Conference Championship Road Race. Photo credit, Marcos Lazzarotto
Listed below are the cold, hard results of Blue Devil Domination from conference championships this weekend:
* Matt Rinehart, Matt Howe, and Baard went 1-2-3 for the overall D2 men’s A’s individual rider standings (1-3-4 for combined D1/D2 standings).
* Matt Rinehart won the overall (D1 and D2) men’s road title for the season, outsprinting Reid Beloni from Appalachian State to win the field sprint in the Sunday crit. Matt Rinehart also took 5th place on Saturday in the conference championship road race for men’s A’s.
* Matt Howe took home a huge win in the conference championship crit on Sunday after outsprinting his breakaway companions on the finishing stretch. He also placed 3rd in the conference championship road race and 2nd in overall D2 season standings behind Matt Rinehart.
* Baard Haagen was an invaluable resource in the men’s A’s crit, controlling the front of the race and enabling Matt Rinehart to outsprint Reid Beloni (from App. State) for the overall season title. Baard finished 3rd in division 2 overall standings, and 4th in the combined D1/D2 standings.
* Kaleb Naegeli, Matt Howe, Baard Haagen, and Matt Rinehart won the conference championship men’s A’s team time trial by over 20 seconds. The men’s A time trial team (which also includes Gael Hagan) is looking forward to collegiate nationals where they hope to bring home the stars and stripes.
* Gina Turrini won the women’s B’s overall season standings and placed 2nd in the conference championship women’s B’s road race
* Clare Fisher won the women’s C’s overall title for the season and placed 2nd in the women’s C’s conference championship crit.
* Becky Woodruff placed 2nd in division 2 women’s A’s
Kevin McDonnell, Dan Haughton, and Ben Ramsey placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for the overall division 2 men’s points standings.
* Colin Walmsley took 3rd place in the men’s D’s conference championship road race.
* Jonathan Crimins took 3rd place in the men’s C’s conference championship road race.
The fact that we had success in both low and high categories this year, in both men’s and women’s fields, is indicative of the depth that the Duke Cycling team has gained over the course of the season. A true cycling program is beginning to develop here at Duke, and it is a joy to be part of it. Being a conference powerhouse makes it all the better! This season’s success is in no small part due to excellent guidance from the team coach, Rusty Miller. A special shout out is also in order to those of you who have helped support us financially and who volunteered at the Duke home race – we wouldn’t have had this incredible year without your help.
This was a treat of a weekend for Duke Cycling, and I’m extremely proud of our team for cleaning house. The men’s and women’s A’s are looking forward to collegiate nationals in Ogden, Utah in two weeks where we’ll be rubbing shoulders with some of the fastest collegiate and professional cyclists in the United States.
GO DUKE!
–Jeff Reid
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WVU Race Weekend
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
The race team traveled to Clarksbug, West Virginia this weekend with a diverse hit squad of 6 — half women and half men, half grads and half undergrads. In the crit on Saturday Becky Woodruff raced her first ever women’s A’s event with a mixed field of women’s A’s and men’s B’s. This is a huge step up from women’s B’s, and she performed admirably. Kevin McDonnell, Gina Turrini, and Clare Fisher also all placed top 5 in their crits on Saturday.
At the road race on Sunday, Kevin McDonnell took home the win after out-sprinting a select group of 6 that arrived at the finish over 3 minutes ahead of the next best finisher. Clare Fisher also won the women’s C’s race, and Gina Turrini was 3rd in an extremely talented women’s B’s field. Becky Woodruff was 5th in her first ever Women’s A’s road race (again — the women’s A’s were mixed with the men’s B’s), and she even beat a guy from Navy! Kurtis Gruters was riding strong in the men’s B’s field but had a misfortunate flat tire toward the end of the race.
Other Results:
Kaleb Naegeli went down to race at Clemson this weekend, and achieved an impressive 6th place finish in the road race after bridging up to the break-away late in the race. This is especially impressive considering that Clemson, Mars-Hill, and Lees McCrae all had teams of 10 in the race. Matt Howe competed in the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium on Saturday night and finished in the top third of a field that was almost entirely composed of professional cyclists.
Riding this week
Enjoy the great weather this week! And be sure to hit up the listserve if you want to ride.
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Navy Race Recap
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
This week the cycling team headed to the Naval Academy, and continued their domination.
Saturday opened with a short 5km prologue-style Individual Time Trial in Prince William Forest Park south of Washington, DC. In Men’s D’s, Dan Haughton took home the win (following it up with wins in the road race *and* criterium for a impressive clean sweep in Men’s D’s). In order to avoid crushing too many souls, Dan will now be upgrading to C’s to race with Jonathan Crimins and Scott Valentine. In the Men’s A ITT, Matt Rinehart and Baard both did well with top 5 finishes.
Matt Rinehart sprinting to the win in the Men's A Crit
After the conclusion of the time trial, the Men’s A riders were the first off the line for the road race. The 7.4 mile course through Prince William Forest Park provided a great environment for racing with sections of flat and rolling terrain and a substantial hill that crested 200m from the finish line. Riders from Duke, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech were particularly aggressive in attempts to form a breakaway; in the end, nothing with sufficient chemistry to stay away formed, and the field approached the finish as one. A nasty crash near the back of the peloton with five miles to go claimed riders from most of the teams, including Matt Howe (our best climber), who went down hard. Near the top of the final climb, Baard Haugen threw the first major attack, but Guillaume Deschamps (NC State) grabbed his wheel and managed to barely come around our strong man at the finish. Unfortunately, Matt Rinehart’s race was curtailed shortly after the crash due to a broken shifter. Matt describes the finish this way:
We got rolling again [after the crash], and with maybe 2-3 km to go, I put in a solid dig and ratcheted up the pace to ~30-32mph, trying to cause as many gaps & separations as possible. Baard was right on my wheel, although the field didn’t break up as much as I was hoping. We sped down a hill toward the base of the final climb, and I managed to stay about 5th or 6th, with Kaleb and Baard sitting in the top 3. Baard took off on the first slope, and I stomped as hard as I could to maintain contact. No good — the rest of the field pulled away and I was left to slowly grind up the hill. Baard got nipped at the line by Guillaume from NCSU, and ultimately took 2nd. Somewhat frustrating when we had a strong chance of several top 5 finishes up until 3 miles to go.
Any of Scott Valentine’s fellow competitors who saw him show up Saturday on a brand new Cervelo (instead of his vintage steel Raleigh), were undoubtedly feeling a little more nervous than usual before the start of the Men’s C race. And sure enough, with some help by Jonathan Crimins, Valentine got the win after digging deep in the final 100m of the hill top finish. Also sporting brand new carbon (a Colnago!), Becky Woodruff finished 3rd in the Women’s B’s field for the road race, working hard to catch back up to a rider from VCU and a rider from Navy who had attacked and gapped the field just before the start of the last lap. In Men’s B’s, Kurtis Gruters finished 3rd for the prologue style ITT. Jonathan Crimins also had a top 5 finish in the ITT in men’s C’s. Colin Walmsley and Kevin McDonnell both did very well in Men’s D’s, with Colin taking 2nd and Kevin taking 5th.
Sunday’s criterium on the Navy campus has been a classic part of the ACCC race calendar for years, and it lived up to its billing again this year. The 0.7 mile loop is a gorgeous course with a long, flat sweeping right bend on the water with a headwind shifting to a crosswind, and featuring two turns – one of which is a hairpin 180-degree turn on a descent a mere 200 meters from the finish. An attack by Andy Kohl (Navy) midway through the Men’s A race drew some urgency from the chasing peloton, which split under the pressure of the chase and the hard accelerations necessary to navigate the technical corners. Matt Rinehart drilled the pace to create the split, and Kaleb strategically held back given that he knew Matt had a great chance out of that diminished group. And sure enough, Matt was able to pull out the win, jumping off the wheel of Guillaume Deschamps, who had tried to attack but failed to get away, coming out of the final turn to claim the victory. Another awesome win for Matt, and one in which strategy played a key role, as Matt describes this way:
In theory, the sprint would require coming down the hill into the hairpin turn no further back than 2nd or 3rd. Because riders pretty much had to go through the turn single file, there was a large advantage to being in the top couple riders through. Each lap, I noted that I could open a decent gap out of the turn simply by accelerating faster than anyone else. So, I ideally wanted to be sitting 2nd wheel down the hill and immediately open up the sprint in hopes that the initial gap would be enough to carry me through the 200m sprint.
In Men’s D’s, Colin Walmsley finished 2nd and Kevin McDonnell 3rd.
After this weekend, Matt Rinehart and Baard are on track to go 1-2 in men’s A’s for the season, Matt Howe is set to finish 4th or 3rd in men’s A’s, Scott Valentine is on pace to win men’s C’s, and Kevin McDonnell and Ben Ramsey are on track to go 1-2 in men’s D’s. Gina Turrini is also sitting pretty at 5th place in Women’s B’s for the season. Note that these are overall standings, and that we have some very dedicated cyclists on our team. Go Duke!
Rides this week
The weather this week will be warm and sunny yet again! Hit up the list serve if you want a group to roll out with.
The weekly hammer ride rolls out from Towerview at 5p.m. on Wednesday. If you are interested in crushing souls the come on out! This ride will make you faster, or your money back guaranteed.
Duke CAPS (Flanders Spoiler Alert!!!)
If you are experiencing emotional turmoil due to the state of Fabian Cancellara’s collarbone after Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, you may want to consider scheduling an appointment with the folks over at Duke CAPS (Counseling And Psychological Services). Suffice it to say, Cancellara’s collarbone break is no April Fool’s Joke.
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Virginia Tech Race Weekend Dominated by Duke
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
This weekend, the racing team headed up to Virginia Tech with 16 racers + Coach Rusty, one of the largest travel crews ever in Duke Cycling Program history. Rain, hail, and utter domination by Duke were the themes of the weekend.
Saturday’s course was a nice, rural loop that ran along the valley on either side of a ridge, and each lap had a decent sized climb in the middle. The Men’s A race started in the rain, but weather was nice when the As finished. Thirty or more riders started; only twenty would finish, including Baard Haugen, who took the win by over 30 seconds after attacking his breakaway companions on the fast downhill before the finish. Tactics as well as strength played a role in Baard’s win. Baard described things this way:
About 3 miles after the start Justin Crawford from VT attacked and Guillaume Deschamps from NCSU, Todd Whitescarver from App and myself went away with him. Since all the big teams were represented, it was pretty obvious that we would stay away if we worked decently together. I also knew I could rely on the rest of the Duke team to slow down the peloton as much as possible. Without knowing the time gap back to the group, we pushed relatively hard all the way, with Justin and myself doing the bulk of the work. On the 3rd lap Guillaume punctured on the top of the climb and the rest of us kept going. I attacked on the descent on the fourth lap with about 7 miles to go. I decided to attack on the descent for three reasons: 1) I knew from the previous laps that that was where I was the strongest relatively speaking. 2) If I had attacked on the climb, the two other guys would be free to chase me down independently, without considering drafting too much. On the descent they would have to worry about dragging each other across the gap. 3) It’s less predictable than attacking on the climb or waiting for the sprint. I got 60-70 meters pretty quickly and it stayed that way for a couple of minutes. After that, the gap grew quickly until they were out of sight and I started to relax a little.
Matt Rinehart won the field sprint for 4th place after a gutsy performance, and Matt Howe finished a strong 6th.
Baard leading the break in the Virginia Tech Road Race (Christopher Evans Brown photo)
The women’s C road race was pure poetry, with 5 total riders, all of whom were either from UNC or Duke. Placing 1-2, Duke’s Clare Fisher and Hilary Henry made clear who was boss, forcing the three UNC riders to make due with the leftovers. And Gina Turrini had a strong 3rd place finish in the Women’s B race. Clare writes,
Hilary and I took off with the Women’s B and C pack in the pouring rain. The two of us fought to be the last C riders holding onto the pack, and managed to leave all of the other C’s behind early in the race. I ended up passing Hilary early in the hills and rode most of the course alone, but a couples miles from the finish she caught up with me and the two of us pulled one another in for an awesome 1-2 finish! Riding the hills alone was painful, but it was awesome to know that the reason we were alone was because we had dropped all the other riders in the race! It was such a great feeling to roll across the finish line knowing that we secured the first two places for Duke, especially when the riders behind us were from UNC. Let’s just say… it wasn’t a good weekend for UNC sports teams. Gina pulled off an impressive third place finish by breaking away from the pack with another rider towards the beginning of the second lap, on the steepest hills, and holding them off until the end.
In Men’s C’s, Scott Valentine took 2nd in a strong field after out-sprinting all but one of his breakaway companions at the line, and Ben Ramsey had a top 10 performance in the Men’s D’s road race. Scott writes,
The deciding factor was the climb. [On the second lap,] I was concentrating on staying in the top ten riders and not letting any breaks form without me. It was not until about 3/4 of the way through the climb that I realized that 5 other guys and I had formed a break. Starting the descent, two App State riders, one American, one West Virginia, one VT, and I had about 30 seconds on the chase group, which was being led by Jonathan [Crimins]. The six of us started a pace line down the hill, letting the two App State guys do the majority of the work. Coming into the final 200 meters, App State was leading, followed by VT, then me. We all were out of our saddles going into the final curve, trying to not let our bikes fish-tail too much. I sat on VT’s wheel as we passed the guy from App and was in a strong second with 50 meters to go, but I was not able to get around him at the finish.
On Sunday, Duke dominated the crit, with Matt Rinehart and Matt Howe finishing 1-2 respectively, and with Duke riders either policing the front or taking turns trying moves the entire race that forced the other teams, particularly ASU and VT, to respond. Both Matt Howe and Baard had long forays off the front of the main field. Toward the end with maybe 5-10 laps to go, Baard went solo and stayed away for a couple laps while the field chased. When he was almost caught, the field sat up and he rocketed off the front again. After Baard got reeled in with maybe 2-3 laps to go, things stayed together briefly. With 1 lap to go, things heated up, and Matt Howe describes the finish this way:
I attacked coming through the start/finish line with 1 lap to go. I thought I had a gap and looked back on the downhill portion of the course and saw [Justin Crawford from VT] so I assumed the field was right there. As it turns out it was only Matt [Rinehart] with the VT rider. As they went by me they opened up a small gap on me going into the downhill turn. Matt went through first no problem, [but] the VT rider overshot the turn and went into the parking lot. So his race was over. Keep in mind it was raining, so the roads were pretty slick. I went through the turn after the VT rider and stayed on course. I looked back and saw that we still had a gap on the field so I hit it to try to hold them off. Matt and I then punched it up the hill and finished 1,2 in the race.
Baard finished 6th, and Kaleb Naegeli 7th, finishing ahead of a couple of App State’s strong men. The A’s team also won every prime lap except for one, where they got 2nd, and had 11 top 4 prime placings. With this result, the Duke Men’s A team scored the largest point total of any Men’s A race this season. The cohesiveness of the Duke Men’s A’s squad was the reason why these results happened.
Ben Ramsey also had a gutsy top 10 finish in the extra large Men’s D’s field after crashing early due to INSANE AMOUNTS OF SPEED and UTTER LACK OF FEAR. Gina Turrini once again fought through a really fast paced Women’s B race to get third place. There are some really talented women racing Bs, and Gina does an awesome job to get those top finishes. Hilary Henry had another awesome performance. She completely dominated the Women’s C race for a first place finish, and between Hilary and Clare Fisher, Duke won all of the primes for the WC crit.
The turnout for these races, and the results we achieved are something to be very proud of! GO DUKE!
Duke to host 2013 Atlantic Coast Cycling Conference Championships
That’s right — next year our home race will also be the conference championships for the ACCC. This means a later race date (April 20th and 21st), which means better weather and more spectators (!!!). It is never too early to start talking up the 9th Street Derby and the legendary Ferrari pace car. For pictures of this year’s race check out the Duke Cycling website. Thanks again for everyone who volunteered for the home race this year — we wouldn’t be hosting conference championships next year without your overwhelming support at the race this year.
Sunday Social Ride
With the race team travelling most weekends during the spring, that also means that most of the leadership for the club is out of town. If anyone is interested in leading Sunday social rides on the weekends, shoot me an e-mail (jeffreydreid@gmail.com). Even if you just want to lead a ride for one week only, that’s totally fine. Just let me know! Typically the Sunday social ride is a no drop ride out to Maple View farms, where Ice cream and chocolate milk is had by all. The total route is about 35 miles from Duke and back. This is a great opportunity to meet some interesting folks who also ride bikes, and to get in some “healthy” ice cream runs.
Racing at Navy
If you are not on the racing team but are interested at trying your hand at a race, the Navy race this upcoming weekend is a great first. The terrain is relatively flat, the crit is on the Naval Academy campus, and the race is extremely well organized (it’s run by the freaking Navy!). Shoot me an e-mail if you’re interested.
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William & Mary Race Report
Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
Kevin really helped me out. The field was already pretty split up after about half of the race. I guess you could say that Kevin gave me a lead out and then I sprinted for a little, and maintained a gap of about half of a [lap] for the second half of the race. There were tons of crashes due to the original course (which only the Men’s D’s actually raced for their whole race) having us weave inward around a parking lot curb island right before turning left.
Kaleb Naegeli in the break in the Men's A Road Race at W&M (Photo by John Macchione III)
The course was adjusted slightly after the Men’s D race, but unfortunately crashes (by one estimate there were 28 on the day) would be a continued theme of the morning and would cause heartbreak for later Duke riders, including Gina Turrini in the women’s B’s field, Jeff Reid (who was off the front at the time with the eventual race winner) in Men’s B’s, and the Men’s A team. Matt Rinehart described the Men’s A Crit as a “strong man’s race” that broke up from the get-go, much like a mountain bike or cyclocross race. After an early solo break that was reeled in, Matt went off the front a second time with about 20 laps to go and built up a sizeable gap. Teammates Baard Haugen and Matt Howe were there in the chase group, and with Coach Rusty on the sidelines, they taught the field a lesson in race tactics. They used the the technical course to full advantage, with Baard sprinting ahead of the pack every time the group approached the tight series of turns that was the cause of so much confusion all morning, and immediately decelerating to ridiculously slow speeds that must have had opposing racers cursing under their breath as Matt sped on ahead. Unfortunately, with 6 laps to go and victory all but certain, Matt slid out on a turn and dislodged a tire from his wheel. Free laps had expired, so he had to just hop on a bike and ride in to the finish, settling for a disappointing 9th. Adding to the team’s frustrations, the lap counters got confused at the end of the race, and so Baard and Matt crossed the line toward the back of the seven man front group just as they were positioning themselves to contest what they thought would be the final sprint.
In the Individual Time Trial (ITT) later that afternoon, Matt made up for some lost glory with an impressive effort that saw him overtake not one but two riders who started before him. Riding without aero bars, Matt still was able to average an amazing 24.88mph over the 10 mile course, and results later showed that he came in 1st place, beating the NC State rider who finished second place by 6-7 seconds. Baard and Matt Howe also turned in impressive performances, taking 3rd and 4th, respectively. And in the Men’s D ITT, Kevin McDonnell had a top 5 finish after a final hard surge up KOA hill.
On Sunday we had extremely good results in the RR. Jonathan Crimins finished in the top 10 in Men’s C’s, and Ben Ramsey and Gina Turrini also got top 10 finishes in Men’s D’s and Women’s B’s, respectively. In Men’s A’s Matt Rinehart, Baard, and Matt Howe took 1st, 2nd, and 4th. The Men’s A group was combined with the Pro/1/2/3 race, for a combined 80+ person field on narrow, winding, no-shoulder roads, and the results were, as one rider put it, “mayhem.” Kaleb Naegeli got into the early breakaway with a group of pro/1/2 guys and only one other collegiate rider from Virginia Tech. Kaleb’s heroic effort allowed the rest of the A’s squad to get a free ride for the rest of the day, allowing them fresh legs for the finish up KOA hill, which Matt Rinehart describes this way:
With about 3-5 miles to go I surfed my way across wheels as far up as I could. Turning onto the last road with ~1.8 miles to the finish, I was still maybe 10-15th of the chase field and the gap was quickly vanishing. The race was really sketchy, with us almost getting hit by cars, the yellow-line rule being non-existent with no yellow line, and I carefully picked my way around riders from the 10-20 person break as they dropped through the field. Speeds ramped up, and we tore downhill toward a flat along a lake before the final double-kick hill. I hopped up to maybe 10th wheel and, coming across the flat, dropped into my little ring in anticipation of a spinny uphill sprint. About 20-40m from the distinct first uphill, I managed to pick a line and move up to maybe 7th or so. As soon as the first kick leveled out, I stood up and accelerated as hard as I could. I almost got boxed in on the right side but roared like a crazy person and the guy who was coming across gave me a little room. A couple of Pro/1/2′s came around me and I passed a couple as well, so I probably crossed the line ~7th in the overall field, and 1st in the ACCC field. Baard and M. Howe were close behind for 2nd and 4th. All of us were set up to cover wheels and not spend energy all day by Kaleb making the big break. Otherwise, we would’ve spent even more energy and probably not had the legs to kick it up that last climb. My clocked average was ~26.5 for the ~73 mile race. Fast.
Matt Howe and Matt Rinehart on KOM Hill at W&M (Photo by John Macchione III)
Great job, team, and a big shout out to everyone who came and raced this weekend!!
This week will be pretty rainy until Friday, so be sure to remain visible on the road if you go out to ride. Hit up the list serve if you want to get a group together for a ride!
If you’re interested in racing at VT this weekend, contact Matt Howe (mkhowe2@gmail.com) and he’ll let you know what you need to do.
Milan San Remo was the first classics race of this season, and the finish is certainly worth watching. This classics season the results for all of the big races will be posted on this website (see left), so just check the website out if you’re looking to see the final results of the races. Don’t worry, no spoilers will be on the website when you get there!
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