Following our 2004 victory in the Men’s D Bean Pot team time trial, Tom Arnold, Sam Mapp, Ricky Silver and I all line up at the start of 2005 edition, not only racing in a higher category (C), but also with another year of training and experience under our wheels. That experience helped us pedal our way across a rough, poorly-marked course to a second place result, a minute shy of winner University of Vermont.
Hours later, but still exhilarated by our result in the time trial, five riders; the time-trial team and Adam Cohen, lined up at the start of the Grafton Hills road race. Sitting just behind the C men, in the D field was Jeffery Narva. Riders got a chance to survey the opening miles of the course as we rolled out under a neutral start for the first miles of the race, but the heat was on as soon as the neutral flag was pulled into the pace car.
Tom caught a tough break at the top of the course’s first major decent, when a racer in front of him clipped a traffic cone and went down, taking Tom out with him. The ensuing pile-up left Tom buried in a mound of bicycles and racers, but other than a few scratches, he was somehow unharmed. Once extricated, he got back on his bike, but was already several minutes down on the field and withdrew after only one of three 13 mile laps.
The pace of the C field was brutal on the race course, and it was not long before Ricky, Adam, and I were all shelled off and left to complete the race working with other riders who were similarly dropped. On this course, it was a feat just to reach the finish line. But, even on the difficult course, Sam rose to occasion and staying at the front of the field for the whole race, until he dropped his chain just miles from the finish, and was forced to settle for 34th place.
In the D race, Jeff’s first road race, he easily stayed with his field, riding toward the front of the group and hanging with them on even the most punishing climbs. Despite racing hard all day, Jeff was edged out in the sprint for the line and finished 9th out of 99 riders, perhaps the largest field that the ECCC has ever seen.
Hours later Dave Brown and Anna Drackulich lined up for the men’s and women’s A races. The pace in both fields was quick, especially in the 72-mile men’s A race, which included, for the first time, Penn State University’s Bobby Lea, joining the collegiate circuit after representing the United States in the World Championships for Track Cycling. Lea, who is also the national champion in the individual pursuit, pushed the pace in the men’s A race, in which he finished fifth, two spots ahead of Mike Chauner from Bucknell University. Dave raced well in as the men careened around the race course, but after a number of riders went down at the beginning of lap 3 he was stuck behind a pile of bikes and bodies. The pack’s relentless pace made it impossible for Dave to get back into the group, but he kept riding and eventually finished 39th, in a race that saw a full third of the starters drop out before finishing.
The women’s A race was equally punishing, but the field stayed largely together, during the 58-mile race. When a small group broke away from the field, Anna was able to get into the move, and stayed with it for the race’s final miles, riding up the finishing hill to wind up third overall, behind a rider from Army and one from Holly Cross College.
The next day saw the team competing in the famed and much-feared Tuft’s University Criterium. Jeff was joined by Stephen Bolotin in the D II men’s D race. After hanging in for several punishing laps on the brutal course, Stephen pulled from contention and placed 24th. Jeff rode solo to finish 9th, just seconds behind the winners.
Following the conclusion of the D race, the men’s C team took the course, and rode to great success in the highly competitive field of 50 riders. After failing to make the jump up to the lead group, Sam and Tom fought to stay in contention, and eventually finished side-by-side, in 17th and 18th, after riding a grueling race around the harrowing course. Ricky, Adam and I were all pulled from contention much earlier in the race, with Ricky suffering from cramped legs, Adam from a crash he sustained in one of the course’s brutal turns, and I from a severe case of crit-o-phobia.
Later in the afternoon, Anna and the women’s A field took the course. Anna rode a competitive race, staying in the lead group for the whole race, but missed out on the winning move when Amy Wallace from Dartmouth broke away and rode to a solo victory which saw her lap the field. The rest of the race came down to a field sprint, which saw Anna take third, to finish fourth overall.
Finally, Dave started the men’s A race. After seeing Kyle Lobisser from Bucknell crash out on the fourth lap, he promptly pulled himself from the race, much to the team’s collective relief. Bobby Lea eventually went on to win the race which saw only half the starters finish, but shortly after Dave pulled out, Chauner also saw the pavement, as well as a rider from Wentworth, who was evacuated to the hospital via ambulance. Although it’s always disappointing to miss out on an exciting finish, we were all happy to survive the day, and make it to race the next weekend at the Army Spring Classic.

The Army Puts on a Show

The Army weekend began at New York’s Harriman State Park. But before we ever got to the parking lot, Jeff’s bike decided that it was sick of life on the roof of a car and attempted to jump off of Adam’s. Thankfully restrained from landing on the highway, Jeff’s outer chain ring was bent significantly inward, and his fork’s left leg was cracked. Adam’s car got a nice set of tooth marks in the roof, but on the whole the incident could have been much worse, and with a little super-glue and a monkey wrench, the bike was ready for the road race later in the day. The first race of the weekend was the team trial. Racing the on a course that felt like it went uphill in both directions, and also featured a headwind in both directions, Ricky, Sam, Tom and I raced hard against the clock, and despite a slight mishap at the course’s turn-around when Sam slipped in some gravel and fell over, we still managed to finish 4th overall, behind UNH, Penn State and Harvard University.
Our excitement was briefly interrupted when a helicopter landed in the parking lot and loaded a cyclist who had been struck by a car while warming up for the TTT. Although the rider destroyed the car’s windshield, and suffered a lot of road rash, we later learned that he is alright, though the experience was still incredibly jarring, and put a dampener on the whole day.
But with spirits dampened or not, the race had to go on, so the men’s C team, Ricky, Tom, Sam, Adam and I, joined by Jeff who was moving up the ranks from C to D for the first time, lined up at the start. Sitting just behind us was Stephen in the men’s D field. Both started out neutral, with a pace car rolling us down the course’s steep decent, before we were unleashed to clamor up Harriman Park’s Bear Mountain. Although Ricky, Adam, and I were all dropped by the pack’s relentless pace in the first of two laps, our team mates rode a strong race. Sam managed to get great positioning for the field sprint in to the line, and ended up 4th, just behind a group of three riders that had snuck off the front. Jeff sprinted in to 13th place, and Tom wound up 17th. Ricky and I wound up finishing about ten minutes behind the pack, after riding the second lap with riders from MIT and Boston College who had similarly been dropped. We wound up 41st and 44th respectively. Adam coasted in 49th.
Stephen was also dropped from his hard-charging men’s D field, which actually passed Ricky and I at an astounding pace, but finished 29th, only four minutes behind the field, but lucky to finish after a rider in his field had a tire explode while ripping down the course’s decent at speeds greater than 40 miles an hour. The rider, from Boston College, was the second rider of the day to be evacuated by helicopter, and it was not immediately clear weather or not he would survive the night. It was not until this Tuesday that we received word that he is doing much better. Though he is still in the hospital his team reports that “it will certainly be a long road to recovery, but it looks like he is improving.” The rider, Nikhil Chugani, would have died on the scene had he not been wearing a helmet.
And with that image fresh in their mind, Dave and Anna lined up among their respective fields for the Men’s and Women’s A races, which started later that afternoon Both riders were ready for what would surely be a grueling day of climbing hills at absurd speeds. Though both fields stayed largely together throughout the 42 mile women’s race and the 56 mile men’s race, Dave was dropped on the second lap, when the pace became too much for him on the hills.
Anna fared much better, and stayed with the front of the field as it began to shell of riders. When the group came in for a field sprint Anna was boxed in, and forced to scrap for third place, behind Wallace, and a rider from McGill University, in Quebec. Though finishing third, Anna was able to receive the points for second place, since McGill is not in our conference, the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference. And thus concluded a grueling, but successful day of racing for Skidmore Cycling.
Sunday morning saw the team sleep in until 6 a.m., before piling into the cars to drive to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. For the weekend’s crit, Army had set up a fast kilometer-long course that circled their football field. The course featured two 90-degree turns, one 270-degree turn, and a pair of S-curves on a steep decent. The coolest part of this course, which was undoubtedly the most fun of any crit course we have raced on this season, was the entire thing was visible from the start/ finish line. This feature, combined with a freight train track that ran parallel to the back-stretch also made it one of the most visually interesting courses of the circuit. The quality of the course only made sweeter our results from the day.
Racing against stiff competition in the Division II men’s D field, Stephen stayed with the lead group when it shed about half the field, and was able to attack up the finishing hill to place third, behind two riders from West Point. In addition to being Stephen’s best result, the race was an exciting way to start the day. Stephen had set the bar high for the rest of the team.
With the goal of backing up our strong showing in the D race, the six C racers, Adam, Ricky, Jeff, Sam, Tom and I all toed the line ready to ride a competitive race. A half hour and innumerable laps later, Sam matched Stephens’ third place, despite being forced to avoid a rider from Dartmouth who went down right in front of him just yards from the finish. Tom finished 10th, Jeff 17th, Adam 37th. I crossed in 42nd, just ahead of Ricky in 44th. But remarkably and for the first time this season, the entire C team finished the race with the lead group, and within second of each other. Our fitness and experience is showing itself more and more at each race, and we are excited about the prospect of controlling the races at the next two weekends, Dartmouth/ UVM and UNH.
Later in the afternoon, Dave lined up for the start of the Men’s A race. In a race that never saw a break last more than a lap, Dave chose to conserve his energy at the back of the field for the majority of the race, before charging up to the front to ride an aggressive second half. With attacks coming almost every lap, Dave figured that he went with about half of them. At one point, Dave was off the front, chasing riders up the road as a freight train passed the racecourse. Visible from the start line, Dave in his green and yellow uniform, was riding faster than the mighty train, being pulled by 4 locomotives. It was an incredible sight. As the race zoomed into its final laps, Dave was in a good position for the field sprint, and finished 20th after riding an exciting race.
When Anna lined up for the final race of the day, we all watched eager to see the excitement of the fast-paced women’s race. It was with bitter disappointment that we watched Anna pull over to the side of the road not even half way through the race. Her rear skewer, which holds the rear wheel in place, had come loose. Race officials refused to grant her a free lap, even though a part of her bicycle had failed, and she was forced to abandon the race. And so, on a slightly sad note to an otherwise great day of racing, we all piled into the cars for the trek back to school.
On the whole, it was two weekends of ups and down for Skidmore Cycling, but that’s the sport. We are excited for the last two races of the season, in which we hope to prove that we are not just another small D II team, but one that can consistently post solid results. And with races like Bean Pot and Army under our belt, we’re well on our way.
Don’t forget to check out exciting photos of all the action on our website, www.skidmorecycling.com. For some reason, a weird, furry beast kept harassing the team all weekend, and makes numerous appearances on the website.

Andrew Bernstein
VP Communications Skidmore Cycling