2009 Road Results

In the 2009 road season, Duke University Cycling Club raced in 10 races, competing in the Men’s A-D categories and the Women’s B & C categories.  We amassed 686 points, a respectable increase from the 134 points scored in the 2008 road season.  Most importantly, we had several races with >10 racers present, and had a fantastic time kicking butt as a team.  Racing bikes is FUN!

A young DUCC team opened up the season with a strong showing in the Men’s D road race at NC State.  With little prior race experience, we braved the cold and wet conditions to place 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 12th, 17th, and 18th in a field of 40 racers.  Furthermore, we managed to control the front end of the pack and gain valuable experience with peloton & team tactics.  In the second NCSU race just weeks later, we proved that Duke Cycling is on the rise.  Building on the momentum of an early 7-man breakaway (with 3 Duke riders!) we launched attacks in the men’s D race with several miles to go.  We had great overall success at NCSU2, taking 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, and 12th in the D race (along with 16th in Men’s B).

Armed with a traveling team of 11 racers and a full camera crew, DUCC traveled to the remote mountains of Virgina to compete at the VT road race and team time trial (TTT).  With 1 racer in the women’s C race and 10 racers in the Men’s D race, we persevered over mountains to another victorious day.  Led by Allison Herren and Rob Ferris with wins in women’s C and men’s D (respectively), we also took 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 16th, 19th, 25th, and 29th in men’s D.  Then, something really special happened.  Our men’s TTT crews took 1st and 3rd in the D TTT.  One of our teams, despite showing up over a minute late for our start time, still posted the 7th fastest time of the day — had we started on time, our time would have rivaled the time of the men’s B winning team. At this point, it was time to begin conquering ACC Cycling on more levels.

At the ASU road race, we continued our ascent with 1st, 3rd, 7th, 10th, and 11th in the men’s D race.  Three of our racers made the jump to the men’s C race, and wasted no time dominating the race — we took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the Cs.  We were literally climbing mountains that day.  Our women’s team also took 5th in the women’s B road race.  We went on to take 3rd, 4th, and 5th in the men’s C individual time trial (ITT), and 3rd, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 15th in the men’s D ITT.

In the season finale, Wake Forest road championships, we placed 14th in the men’s A race; 14th and 20th in the men’s C; 1st, 4th, 8th, 10th, and 20th in men’s D; and 7th in women’s B.  We also DOMINATED the men’s team time trials (TTTs), but somehow those results have disappeared from the world wide web.  So we don’t have proof of how awesome our racers are.  But mark our words, we plan on taking it to the next level this next year — we’ve had a taste of how great it is to succeed as a team, and we’re hungry for more!

Season Recap (by the numbers):

13 Total Racers

7 First-Place Finishes

35 Top-10 Finishes

Full Results (courtesy of ACC Cycling):

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