Going into our first race weekend at Rutgers and Princeton we had no idea what to expect, we knew we had been training hard, but with an inexperienced team we did not know how we would stack up to the competition. Despite the pressure the whole team stepped up and everyone performed great over the whole weekend.
Saturday morning we rolled up looking great in our brand new kits. After a little confusion with registration we got everything in order and began our warm up. Our first racers off were Charlie '12 and Stephen '10. Both put in great rides and practically fell of their bikes at the finish. The rest of the team also rode great and the the highlights were Stephen finishing 8th in the Mens D race and Drew '11 finishing 5th in the Mens Intro race.
That afternoon was when the real fun began. The Criterium at Princeton was a short 1km course with a short steep hill. First to go were the D men, with Charlie and Stephen both getting a front row starting position. At the gun Charlie took off like a rocket quickly gaining 50 meters on the field. By the end of the first lap he had established a solid 5 man breakway with Stephen sitting pretty in the front of the main group. Unfortunately on the third lap the rider in front of Charlie crashed in a corner and took him down. Charlie was able to continue for two more laps before pulling out of the race. He had a large scrape on his right hip, but is fine now. Having Charlie out of the race was unfortunate, but we still had Stephen right up at the front of the main group. In the final sprint Stephen was right there and came home in 3rd place! It was the first podium for the F&M cycling team.
In the Mens Intro race Drew got a front row starting position with Dan, Adric and Winston right behind. Unfortunately,at the beginning of the race, Winston crashed when his seat broke, something I have never seem before, but he is fine. From the start Drew and Dan worked together, at one point they were one two on the front of the field. It was perfect teamwork, something not often seen in such a young team. The teamwork paid off in the final sprint with Drew coming home a solid 3rd place adding yet another podium placing to our first day of racing.
Samantha, our lone Women's racer, had a great start to her Women's intro race and finished a solid 16th in her first ever mass start race.
Sunday was a Circuit race back at Rutgers. We had Drew, Dan and Adric racing the Mens intro race and Sam racing the Womens intro race. We finished off the weekend strong with Drew finishing 7th in the Mens intro.
Everyone had a great time and we are very excited to do it again. Thanks again to everyone who has supported and believed in us!
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