Race Faces

First order of business, Rutgers Review:

Amazing. Hot. Glorious. The end. If you were there you know what I mean. We had a great, large, and powerful group of BU cyclists there to put it all out on the tarmac. I was very proud that we were able to bring two of these bad-boys back to Boston.

Anna and Matt wrangled up these sexy jerseys over the weekend for BU Cycling. Awesome.

Now to the main order of blog business: Race Faces.

Race Faces are like Game Faces tailored to the sport of cycling. Different people have different Race Faces, and usually ones tailored to different types of racing. In general, there are different face for peloton riding, time trailing, and sprinting, and these faces carry over from race to race. Win Faces are not included in Race Faces due to the face that you have to win and they tend to change from win to win.

Bottom line: don’t force your Race Faces, let them come to you. Eventually, you’ll discover what your natural faces are and you will learn to love them. Flipping through pictures from races is the best way to discover what your faces are.

For example, after evaluation of photos from multiple races, here are my faces:

My Time Trail: A personalized version of the Collin Murphy “Ram-Jet” is what I’ve come to find for my TT face. Whatever your TT face ends up being, by the time you cross the finish line you should have no muscle control over your face and there should be slobber everywhere. Just remember to wipe it away when you stroll past the cute Bucknell girls.

My Peloton: Simple. Keep it natural and just allow for uninterrupted airflow. This will probably end up being your most unimpressive face. Don’t worry though, your TT or Sprint face will more than likely make up for it.

My Sprint: If it isn’t mean looking then it’s just a bad sprint face. To have a real sprint face you really have to be putting your all into the sprint, and if you’re not it’s evident of your face. If you don’t feel like you’re going to vomit right after the sprint, you didn’t work hard enough. Work harder and your true sprint face will emerge on its own.

Find your Face. Win the Race. Go.