This past weekend, 10 eager racers travelled to Raleigh, NC for the first race weekend of the season at NC State. As we rolled into the parking lot, the WVU warm-up mix blaring from each car, it was still a touch on the chilly side with overcast skies and annoying gusts of wind. As race-time approached, the temperatures warmed up to a tolerable degree, the clouds held their moisture, but the winds decided to stay for the rest of the day.

First off the line for the collegiate races were the Women’s B & C categories followed closely by the Men’s D. Being my first road race, I was a bit nervous about riding in the group, but we soon settled in and everything was fine. I did have one very surreal experience as we were cruising down the road. No one was saying anything to each other and the only sounds were the whirl of tires on asphalt and the clicking of gears. Apparently it is usually quite chatty in the Women’s fields, but for those few minutes, it was nothing but the sound of 30 bikes rolling down the road. Close to the end of my first lap, where I was out pedaling by myself, I was passed by the main group of the Men’s D where WVU’s Chris M. was holding his own with the other teams. We exchanged some encouraging words along the lines of “Woo WVU!” and the group pedaled away. The rest of my race was spent either alone or working with one girl from another school. I finished three laps, not seeing another rider on the last, and made it through my first race with all my fingers and toes intact. I was told that there had been a pile-up in the Women’s race at some point, but I was lucky enough to miss it. In the end, I placed 6 out of 13.

As mentioned, Chris M. was able to hang with the pack through the Men’s D race and finished in 8th place. Both Cameron and Justin were able to close the gap on several of the ladies and kept all of their fingers and toes as well. Cameron was able to obtain his goal of not coming in last and Justin came in with high spirits of having a great first race.

We all met up back at the cars to change into some warmer clothes and power through some food before heading to the course to cheer on the Men’s A racers. By this time in the day, the sun had started to peep through a little, but the wind had picked up significantly. For the first four or six laps of the race both Brian and Kyle were able to stay with the pack. Shortly after finishing the fourth lap, Brian wasn’t able to maintain the crushing pace the other teams were setting and fell off the back. Kyle was able to stay with them and finished a very respectable 8th in his first A race.

Finally came the Men’s C race. We had four racers (Chad, Chas, Dave, and Jeff) representing the team, and all were stoked for a great race. We cheered as they all came through with the pack on the first lap and settled in to wait for the second. To our dismay, we soon saw Jeff walking his bike back down the hill towards us. His chain had slipped which caused him to slow down and had ended with another racer running him down from behind. Though he managed to avoid serious bodily harm, his bike wasn’t so lucky. I think the final tally was: a broken handle bar, shredded cable housing, a bent chain ring, a shredded tire, wheels knocked out of true, a bent tube valve, a dented and cracked helmet, and a scuff on his new shoes. His bike looked like he had taken a much more serious spill. The other three guys made it through the rest of the race unscathed. Chas placed 19th, Chad came in 27th, and Dave 30th.

Sunday dawned with significantly colder temperatures and the same winds as the day before. Some of us had already decided that it wasn’t worth facing the freezing temps and decided to stay huddled in our big coats all day. However, we still had a dedicated group that decided to go for it. Chas and Dave suited up for the C race and Chris and Cameron (clad in Duct Tape wind-proofing) rode out for the D race. Though the C race seemed to be more spread out than the day before, Dave was able to earn 19th and Chas finished in 25th. Chris once again stayed with the pack the whole race and was barely beaten in the final sprint to come in 2nd. Cameron once again hit his goal of not being last and got 20th.

The only other race we had riders in that day was the Men’s A race. Though both guys seemed to be dreading the beating they were once again about to put on their bodies trying to hold with the pack, both DeCann and Kyle put the effort in to start the race. At some point, DeCann decided it wasn’t worth the crushing and pulled out. Kyle hung with the pack for a few laps once again but ended up getting a flat tire. Neither seemed all that upset to be done for the day and took a few laps of the course for the fun of it.

All in all it turned out to be a fun weekend. Spirits stayed high even with a few adverse conditions and there were many laughs (as always). For some it was an eye opener, for others, it was what they expected, and for a select few, it was a chance to upgrade some parts. Way to go everyone for having a great introductory weekend!