This past weekend the team made the seven hour trek up to Raleigh, NC for the Rogue State RR and Criterium race weekend. This race weekend is a dual conference event, hosted in the ACCCC with riders from the SECCC attending for conference points. Being so far away and taking place during midterms, we took a smaller squad of seven riders to the event:
- Juan Barraza (Road Vice President), Men’s C
- Jake Smith, Men’s B
- Carlos Fernandez, Men’s B
- John Beckner, Men’s B
- John Graves (Treasurer), Men’s B
- Miriam Blaine, Women’s C
- Jake Holt (Secretary), Men’s A
The road race featured gusty cross winds and mild climbs, with an 11 mile circuit culminating with a gradual climb to the finish line. Juan Barraza, fresh off of a collapsed lung from the Swamp Classic, stayed with the peloton for a pack finish in the collegiate men’s C field. Miriam Blaine had an unfortunate start to her race, with a crash taking her out of contention on the first lap of the collegiate women’s C. Despite breaking a shift lever in half and ripping four spokes from her wheel, Miriam patched herself and her bike back up and continued to ride over the weekend. In the collegiate men’s B race, our breakaway rider Carlos Fernandez held the field off solo for two full laps, giving the sprinters John Beckner and Jake Smith a free ride until he was caught with one lap to go. Poor positioning kept us from getting the W, but Jake Smith took 3rd and John Beckner took 4th. John Graves rolled in with the peloton for a pack finish. In the collegiate men’s A race, Jake Holt bridged to a solo move on the second lap and worked with what would eventually become a seven man breakaway. Despite attacking the break repeatedly and dwindling it down to six, Jake Holt was unable to break clear and rolled in to a 6th place in the sprint.
The criterium featured a gradual climb with a swooping decent and some sketchy pavement. Miriam Blaine and Juan Barraza held their own in their fields and took pack finishes. In the collegiate men’s B, Jake Smith stayed on the pointy end, bridging to breaks, responding to moves, and attacking on the last lap to go solo for the W! In the collegiate men’s A race, Jake Holt was dropped on the first lap, but managed to jump back in the group when they lapped him and stayed with the peloton for the rest of the race.
It was a great weekend and we’re stoked to have brought back our first win of the season!
Georgia Tech Cycling 