Snake Alley, Melon City and Quad Cities

Hey all,

There were some pretty fun races this past weekend. Saturday was Snake Alley. I loved being able to cheer Hannah and Emma on, and chill with Joshie and Billy before my race. A few hours later I got by butt severely kicked in the 1/2/3 field. Wow, those girls are really freakin' fast. I lost track of how many times I got lapped, but as compensation, I had by far the best cheering section thanks to Hans, who recruited the 20 or so drunken guys sitting at the top of the alley. 

OK, side note- we spent the night at this incredible hotel called the EconoLodge. With the word 'Econo' in the name, I thought we would be lucky if the rooms had beds, so you can imagine how shocked I was when I found that the hotel not only had a pool and waterfall, (that's right, a waterfall), they also served hot breakfast out of a rock beneath stained glass windows out of some Arthurian legend. My new favorite hotel. 

Melon City was fun and fast. I raced in the 4s because my license was still pending, and technically I shouldn't have raced with the pros at Snake Alley. There was a break early on, I stayed with the front group for the whole race, but didn't have the energy in my legs for the final sprint. I ended up 6th, which was good enough for 30 bucks. Afterwards, the Hans and I broke into a beautiful swimming pool and got yelled at by the manager. Ah well, it was worth it. Cheered Bill on, and then headed to our Super 8.

I raced 4s again at Quad Cities. I don't know what I was thinking throughout the race. I raced really dumb, and kept expending loads of energy that didn't get me anywhere. Less than stellar race performance that left me 10th. Good enough for 20 bucks. 

Fun weekend, and a good way to get excited about racing this summer with GS Boulder. 

Axie

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend was fun series of crits over Memorial Day. We started with the infamous Snake Alley. My personal goal was just to finish without getting pulled and I can happily say I finished my goal. The cobblestone alley hill was pretty intense, hills aren't my specialty, but it was fun coming around each time and hearing everyone cheering. The whole day was a huge party, the spectators made it all the better. It was fun watching Axie race in the 3s. We had some fast girls in both fields all weekend long, so I have a lot of riding to do this summer if I plan to cat up before I come back.



Each race had this sweet pace car that flew up Snake Alley once in the beginning. I asked the driver if I could ride with him for the beginning of the Pro, 1, 2 race and he let me. It was pretty sweet. Unfortunately it started raining so the later races were pretty slick and a lot of people were sliding out as they raced up the tight corners.

The Quad Cities was kind of a boring crit. By the end of Sunday, I felt like I had signed up for a weekend of hill repeats. It was a sunny day and lots of people were around. We got to meet a future NU rider. One of the juniors riding for ISCorp will be coming to Northwestern next year and will hopefully ride for us too. Melon City was a fast crit with some fast girls and some sketchy girls. A break went off the front right away and stayed away for the whole time. It was a good look at some competition I'll have this summer and next year. Overall, it wasa a great weekend, I wish some more NU's could have gotten out there as this is my last weekend racing in the Midwest until September but I cannot wait until next year.

first post

hello reader

this is the new northwestern cycling team blog. it's off to a little bit of a late start, as the collegiate racing season is already over. to quickly recap the season that was- it kicked ass, everyone had fun, and we ended up 7th overall in the MWCCC- good times.

so from now on, hopefully this blog will serve to keep friends of NU cycling in touch with the happenings of its riders. this past memorial day weekend, joshie, axie, emma, and hannah (the hans) and I drove out to iowa for 3 days of racing, including the snake alley criterium. fun was had by all. i will let the others recap their races, but emma and hannah lit up the W4s while axie enjoyed her short time against the pros in the snake alley race, and then kicking butt in the w4s for the rest of the weekend. joshie showed some cat3s how to corner in the rain at quad cities, and did well in the field sprint. as for me, i struggled but had some fun. i unclipped the 1st time up the wet snake alley, so that was my race and i was pulled in 40th~ position. melon city crit was hard and i finished in the pack. quad cities was fun and the rain held off for us. i tried unsuccessfully to try to follow adam bergman, and then crashed out with 5 to go, but it was fortunately not severe.

so there you go. this upcoming weekend is dillo day, so most of the nu cyclists will probably be enjoying themselves on campus, but in two weeks time is the ABD winfield weekend where NU will hopefully again have a good showing. we'll let you know about it.

- will