Whitman Wins DII Nationals!

		Wednesday, 13 May 09 - 09:36 AM (GMT -08:00) By Duncan McGovern in Racing

The Nationals team is bringing home the gold, stars and bars in a big way!

The first event of the weekend was the road race, a brutal 5 climbs on the way out to a 10 mile loop, 2 laps for the women and 4 for the men before another 3 climbs on the way home. DII women were the first race off and faced fierce 20+ mph winds as well as the hills. The field splintered quickly with our own multi-time nationals podium-er Kendi setting the pace. Although some of our ladies were gapped off of the brutal pace, they chased back on by the time the now decimated field entered the circuits, giving us 4 girls in the lead group! On the way out, the field broke up even more, with Kendi riding strong at the front and Emily making the split down to the flat finish. Kendi took 6th in the bunch, while unfortunately Emily was crashed out on the final corner... She jumped back up and rode in for 13, Mia rolled in shortly afterward for 15th and Roxy just after that for 21st.

The DII mens' race started later that afternoon, with the gun sounding at 2:30 pm. Despite a windy, nervous start, the pack quickly got up to full speed in climbing up the north side of the dam. With some sections at 12-14%, the pace was quite high for the next hour of tailwind racing. Littman stayed in the lead group of 18 riders as Duncan, Colin and Ben chased on, finding the group on the last climb prior to the Masonville laps (except for Ben who had to drop out after the thin air induced an asthma problem). With WWU's Ben Rathkamp off in the early four man group, our boys chilled in the main pack of now 35, waiting for the final three climbs to the stadium. The break away broke apart on the fourth and last lap of Masonville as the day's winner, Nick Frey took off, leaving 7 other break-mates shattered. Meanwhile, the peloton closed in on the finish, dropping riders like flies over the first and second climb back to Fort Collins. On the 'Maniac' climb, Duncan attacked HARD, breaking the dreams of the group, and soloed in for 9th, seconds ahead of the chasing field and seconds behind remnants of the break. Colin and Nick sprinted to impressive 15th and 17th places, respectively.

The next day was the criterium- 60 minutes for the women and 75 for the men on a 'technical' 8-corner course. The women were once again first up, and they THREW DOWN! Kendi took numerous primes, and Whitman totally controlled the race and left no doubt about who the strongest team out there was. All the ladies were active off the front of the race, with Mia giving Kendi the "perfect leadout:" hear her tell the story here. Roxy stormed in on Kendi's heels for a superb 6th place in her first-ever nationals, with Mia coming in mid-pack after the devastating leadout. Unfortunately Emily was taken out AGAIN- two crashes in two days! Luckily, she's doing fine and it'll take a lot more than some road rash to put a damper on the weekend.

The men's team was active throughout the race, with Colin and Nick spending lots of time at or off the front, collecting a few primes on the way. Notables moves included a serious move by Littman, and a late-race flyer by Colin who stayed away for several laps solo and was caught halfway through the last lap. As Colin was caught, Nick stormed to the front and threw down a leadout for designated sprinter Ben. Ben lit it up for second in the bunch sprint, just nipped at the line. Fellow NWCCC'er Phil Elsasser took the win for Western out of a two man break, so it was a satisfying podium for the conference. Nick held on for 17th and Duncan came in top 25 to build to the already impressive team omnium lead.

The awards banquet was on Saturday night which recognized the races that had already run as well as the mens and womens individual omnium champions. Kendi ended up second in the omnium and has scored a trip to the Nature Valley Gran Prix to ride for the Ryan Women's Collegiate team. After the pasta, everyone turned to the team time trial. With an almost 100 point lead in the omnium standings, the team knew that all they had to do was ride a solid TTT to cement their positions in the overall.

The team was greeted with rain and temperatures in the high 30's at the 5:30 wakeup after two days of sun and warmth. Driving to the course for the 8 am start didn't offer much improvement, and the men began warming up under the tent, bundling up and trying to find long-fingered gloves to borrow. We were off second with 2 minute gaps between teams on a flat and rolling 18 mile course. The first section had some crosswinds and rolling climbs before a nasty right-hander into a screaming 5 mile tailwind section. Halfway down the second leg, less than halfway through the race, we caught and passed the leading team, ripping along at 35 mph! Another crosswind section, then the final 5.5 miles into a headwind and rolling uphill to the finish. Deep in the pain cave, the team held it together with Ben putting in some monster pulls. We really left it all on the road and averaged over 28 mph! We were stoked to end up 3rd, just 19 seconds behind winner Furman University.

As the boys huddled in the van trying to warm up after their race, the girls were warming up on the trainers for their race. Some nervous tension was in the air as we realized with 15 seconds before the start that Kendi's front wheel had a slow leak...yet when they appeared across the line 18 miles later, it was all smiles as they crushed the competition with a 60 second victory over team omnium competitors MIT. It was a maximal effort by all four girls, working evenly to take Whitman back on top, now with four national women's team time trial titles in five years!

We would like to thank all of our supporters this year, but especially Alan Schmitz and Alan Adams who kindly donated sets of disc wheels for the Nationals team time trial. Rudy Project has helped us a lot this year and a big shout out goes to Rob Richardson, without whom the men's team would not have been able to rock out in style with Sportsmasks. Orbea again helped us this year build the foundations of our team, without whom we would not have over fifteen new riders sitting in the wings, bidding for their spot on the 2010 Nats squad. Rol Wheels, a new sponsor, helped take Roxy through her first Nats top ten in the criterium, riding their super sick SL Race wheels. David Tupper, Walla Walla Valley Local and badass physical therapist not only helped keep the team on their bicycles through the winter but donated his time as our Nationals chaperone and leg masseur, that guy knows his stuff! And the team was super stoked to have Glenn Silver return with us to Nationals, (note every time Glenn comes, we win!!!) Zac Strode, Whittie alumni '08 and badass racer himself, also helped manage the team this past weekend and flew down on his own accord! Without Zac, well, we don't want to think about what it would have been without him, the guy simply rocks! Thank you to all of you who opened up your houses to the team and allowed your kitchens to be temporarily madhouses. Last but certainly not least a big thank you to ALLEGRO CYCLERY for thier continual support of the team and help with everything from fitting and then fixing our bikes to chaperoning (thanks Justin!) to running one of our favorite events of the year, the Tour of Walla Walla.

In other important news, the remaining team riders participated in Mary Ann Duffy's Berney Elementary school bike safety rodeo. The riders helped the local kids learn bike safety tips and handling tricks to help them enjoy their bicycles and safely make it to school! Thanks again to Rachel Patterson and Andy Erickson for organizing that event!

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