Race recaps:  Rutgers ITT, Crit, Circuit (March 5-6, 2005)
Yale’s cycling team put on a good show for the paparazzi who came out 
in force this weekend.  New riders put in great races throughout the 
weekend, while all our returning riders catted up at least one category 
(special congrats to Hains, Tebbe, and Jon Tan who went straight from 
Ds to Bs).


The first race was a 4.5 mi ITT: a 3 mi out-and-back loop that doubled 
back onto a .75 mi out-and-back loop into the finish.  The racing 
kicked off with our superstrong Men’s B crew, represented by Jon Tan 
(EPH ’05), the double-force of Steve Neri (EPH ’06) and Steve Kriss 
(YC ’07), Matt Tebbe (SOM ’05), and rarely-seen-outside talent Bryan 
Hains.  Steve K and Jon BOTH passed the hapless Hahvahd rider in front 
of them and posted times of 10:33.43 and 10:46.01 for 17th and 27th 
places, respectively.  Matt Tebbe, after ditching his 140g FSA K-Force 
Lite carbon seat/blade, posted the top Yale time and place of 
10:29.05/13th in the Men’s B field.  Meanwhile, cheered on by his hot 
girlfriend Avis, Bryan posted 10:46.71 (29th) and Steve Neri put on a 
superb game face for a solid 10:35.26 (21st).  Then, secret weapon 
Michele Flagge (Med ’05) utterly demolished the Women’s A field with a 
second place finish (11:05.65), barely behind race veteran Amy Wallace 
of Dartmouth.  Our A-Men duo of Adam Winck and Eric Diamond styled the 
new skinsuits and crushed the trembling A-field with almost identical 
times of 10:04.96 (Adam) and 10:04.99 (Eric) for 15th and 16th places.


Later that day in the Saturday crit, Yale showed depth in every cat.  
The four-corner course featured a pitted road along the back stretch 
and a sixty-degree corner at the bottom of a mild incline that led past 
the crowd and to the finish line at the top.  Race virgins Connor 
Telles (Med ’06) and Rich DiBlasi (YC ’08) started up the funfest in 
the Men’s D race.  The two maintained position in the front of the D 
pack for the entire race, bunny-hopped crashes along the way, and 
sprinted for strong 11th (Connor) and 12th (Rich) places overall out of 
a 34-man field.  Next, the fearsome foursome of Peter Chiu (YC ’07), 
Jorge Galvez (Med ’06), Kenneth Freije (YC ’05), and David Kappa 
(YC ’08) manhandled the Men C field (63 starters).  David rode in the 
front for the first four laps until an unfortunate crash in the back 
stretch delayed him.  However, he persevered and a few laps later, 
caught back up to the pack.  Midrace, Pete got caught behind a crash 
and spent the rest of the race chasing; Kenneth and Jorge also put in 
good efforts.  Final places: Dave 19, Kenneth 27, Pete 37, Jorge 38.  
Then, Rachel Berkowitz (YC ’07) and Kim Yee (YC ’05) dominated the 
Women’s B race.  In her first collegiate race ever, Rachel pulled the 
head pack for approximately 85% of the race, and later mused, “If the 
race had ended one lap earlier, I definitely would have won.”  So 
true.  Teammate Kim, recovering from a nasty bout of food poisoning on 
Friday, also rode with the front pack.  Both were boxed out of top-
places in the final pack sprint, but passed enough women for 14th (Kim) 
and 17th (Rachel) place finishes in the 40-woman field.  The Men’s B 
race featured seven of Yale’s hottest riders: Jon Tan, the Steves, 
Tebbe, Hains, Zach Dennett (YC ’06), and Ryan Quadri (GRD ’07).  Jon, 
the Steves, Hains, Zach, and Ryan pushed the pace, but after his 
phenomenal morning ITT, Tebbe was unable to finish.  In the middle of 
the race, an unfortunate brake problem halted Steve Neri, who pulled 
over to fix his bike, then gamely hopped back in the race and chased 
the pack.  Steve Kriss showed that even former-lightweight crewbies can 
muscle their way around the pack—during the entire race he dropped no 
lower than fifth wheel.  Bryan Hains put on his game face during lap 
seven as he sped up the hill in perfect photo-op position: second wheel 
with the entire pack dangling behind him.  The results of the fast 
final sprint: Steve K 11, Zach 15, Hains 31, Tan 33, Ryan 42.  Michele 
Flagge continued to dominate the A Women.  She quickly learned how to 
handle the acute-angle corner, and surged past the field on the 
uphill.  In fact, Michele was simply too strong for the race: after the 
final sprint and during the warm-down lap, she pulled up next to the 
pacecar-driver and asked: “So when’s the last lap?” while passing the 
entire exhausted field.  Still, she posted a respectable 17th place.  
In the final race of the day, Adam and Eric improved on their ITT 
standings.  Both rode smart races in the pack, and positioned 
themselves well during the last few laps.  In the thrilling final 
sprint, Eric accelerated uphill to 7th with Adam close behind in 18th.


The day’s festivities ended with an impromptu crit in the sporting 
goods section of the local WalMart, and consumption of an ovenful of 
bread, pasta, and wine.


Sunday’s circuit race was another good day for the Yale riders.  The 6-
corner, 2mi loop started at the top of a climb, passed the parking lot 
on along a windy back straightaway, and turned a few times until the 
right hand corner at the bottom of the uphill.  D Men Rich and Connor 
again dominated their 3-lap race, and Rich mixed it up in the final 
uphill sprint for a super 3rd place finish and Connor close behind in 
12th.  During the C race, the motorcycle pacemen plotted against 
frontmen Kenneth and Peter, and misled the first fifteen riders down a 
deserted service road.  The two fought off the would-be bike thieves 
and attempted to chase down the pack.  Unfortunately, Kenneth’s bad 
luck continued, and he got a flat on the second lap, which ended his 
race.  Jorge also showed great spirit despite chasing for most of the 
race, and had a triumphant finish.  In the middle of the six-lap race, 
Pete found out firsthand just how much a certain crimson-clad team 
sucks.  Pete, a UNH rider, and two H------ riders had a successful 
break attempt that, to everyone’s shock, was then reeled in by a 
crimson-clad crew.  Apparently none of their four coaches told them NOT 
TO chase down their own teammates.  Peter was later thwarted in the 
final pack sprint by a sketchy crimson train who cut him off on the 
left side.  David Kappa, meanwhile, maintained good position in the 
front pack the entire time, and made up for Saturday’s race with his 
strong final sprint and fourth place finish.  Final results: David 4, 
Peter 32.  In the B Women’s race, Rachel was crashed out and spent the 
rest of the race chasing the front pack.  Kim, with food in her stomach 
for the first time in 48 hours, raced aggressively.  At the bottom of 
the hill on lap 2, she attacked the pack, and accelerated up the inside 
of the road.  Within seconds, she was pushing the pace at the front of 
the pack.  Unfortunately, none of the other women could respond to her 
attack, so she sat up at the top of the hill and rode with the pack 
along the windy back stretch.  On the third lap, she repeated the move 
again.  This time, the motorcycle cameraman was ready, and captured her 
second break on film.  Again, the women didn’t respond.  When she 
attacked again on the fourth lap, the pacecar driver simply laughed as 
she shot off the front and up the hill.  Again, no one responded.  By 
the sixth and final lap, Kim was exhausted and rode out the pack sprint 
with Rachel, whose valiant efforts had gotten her back into the race.  
The Men’s B race was equally thrilling.  From the start, other riders 
marked the Yale men, who pushed the pace throughout the race.  Indeed, 
an anonymous Rutgers rider mistook Bryan for Lance, and pushed him off 
the road and into the dirt section along the uphill.  Bryan’s mad 
handling skills kept him upright as he cyclocrossed his road machine 
through the snow, but sadly, by the time he reconnected with the 
pavement, the pack had passed.  The rear motorcycle offered to pace him 
back up, but despite Bryan’s hard work, the B pack sped off into the 
sunset.  Steve Neri’s new bike also suffered a casualty: during the 
final sprint some doofus jammed his pedal in Steve-O’s wheel and bent a 
spoke.  Steve kept the rubber to the road and still finished.  Postrace 
Jon Tan suggested Steve become the official endorser of Ksyrium 
wheels.  The rest of Yale’s B Men powered through the final sprint.  
Results: Steve N 10, Ryan 27, Steve K 29, Zach 35, Tan 43.  Michele and 
Cat Sterling (GRD ’05) then intimidated the Women’s A pack with their 
superpowers.  Cat rode in front for most of their 9-lap race, and 
pushed the pace to such speeds that she dropped at least seven women.  
Michele also rode up front, and this time, had half a dozen teammates 
holler “Last lap Flagge!” at the start of the bell lap.  Both came 
flying through the sprint in good form: 9 (Michele) and 14 
(Catherine).  The A Men had another smart race, but were unfortunately 
thwarted by sketchy riders in the end.  In lap seven of eleven, Adam 
Winck was divinely inspired to chase the three-man breakaway, and 
roared through the start/finish well ahead of the main pack.  The 
paparazzi ate it up.  For the second half of the race, Eric and Adam 
sat near the front of the pack, and were well-positioned for the final 
sprint.  But the other ECCC teams conspired against the two, and Adam’s 
textbook lead-out was halted by some sketchy rider who forced him into 
the curb.  Still, he determinedly finished.  Eric was less lucky: the 
rider behind him hit his back wheel and pushed him into the curb with 
such force that his front ZIPP wheel snapped entirely in half.  Despite 
the heartbreaking end to that race, our A Men’s teamwork and strength 
was obvious throughout.  Overall, the Yale riders gained valuable 
experience in this first weekend, and bonded over X-Box, sofa beds, and 
40s (refers to temperature, not volume).  Anticipate more thrills in 
the upcoming race weekends as we learn to work as a team and race to 
our full potential (the results simply don't reflect how close all the 
races actually were).


Weekend quotes:
"Hell no I wasn't going to let some guy wearing jeans pass me in the 
race!" ­ Jon Tan
"Bryan was running around the hallway with nothing but his helmet on." ­
 various teammates