The team had a solid weekend all together.  There were 3 events... the Crit, the TTT, and the road race.  The Crit was in Bellefonte PA, about 15 miles from Penn States central campus.  The course was a 4 corner rectangle on around a city block approx 1km long.  The morning started off with rain for the Men’s C event which was a 35 minute race.  Skidmore had 5 riders in the C field (the c field had about 65 riders).  The rain made the race extra dangerous as the tires get little traction on the wet road, especially when the rides are taking the 90 degree corners at 30+mph.  In the C race Skidmore had 2 men finish (Thad Vickery '09 and Travis Roe-Raymond '08) in the lead pack, both finishing in the top 20.  The next rider on the Course was Jeff Narva '08.  Skidmore's other 2 riders Ricky Silver '07 and Mike Elmo '09 worked hard in the beginning but were caught behind a crash and were unable to finish.

Next Scott Cole '09 raced in the Men’s B race which was 45 minutes long.  The rain stopped, however the race went from the gun and Scott was caught in the 2nd half of the pack and had to retire before the race's finish.

The last Criterium race of the Day was the men’s A race, featuring an hour of racing.  The field was approx 60 riders and the pace went from the gun.  The race held an average of 26.5 mph and the riders raced around the course about 45 times.  With 19 laps to go Skidmore Rider Dave Brown moved up to the front of the field and attacked away from the pack on the back stretch.  Within 2 laps he and a rider from the University of New Hampshire had a gap of 10 seconds on the field.  Within a few laps the 2 man break was joined by 3 other riders who 'bridged' up from the pack to make the break 5 riders strong.  For the remainder of the race this 5 man break held of the 60 man field and finished around 15 seconds ahead of it.  Dave took 3rd overall in the race.

The following morning the team raced in the road race, which was a 5 mile course that had a finish up a climb to a winery.  The men’s C race was 35 miles long featuring the same Skidmore c riders from the day before.  Again Thad and Travis were Skidmore's top finishers finishing in the top 30.  The other riders fought hard, and attempted to start breakaways, but the relentless climbs left their legs with little left in them and they were unable to finish with the lead pack.

Scott Cole and Sam Mapp '07 raced in the 45 mile men’s B race.  On the second lap Mapp attacked and was able to win  a 'prime' (intermediate sprint), however the effort left him exhausted and he was unable to rejoin the main field once he was caught.  Scott rode hard for the rest of the race, and charged up the final climb to finish in the top 15.

Dave raced the A race in the final event.  The race was 60 miles long and finished atop a climb.  With 20 miles to go a break of 10 riders got away, however Dave missed the break and was unable to 'bridge' the gap.  Dave stayed with the field and finished in the top 20 overall at the end of the day.

Fun Facts:
- the team drove 12 hours round trip to the race.
- the team consumed 96 slices of pizza for dinner in 2 nights.
- the team ate 35 sandwiches.

Check out photos from the weekend here:

http://hudson2.skidmore.edu/studentorgs/cycling/penn_state_web/index.htm

In other news the Skidmore Cycling Team will be featured in the 'Saratoga Today' newspaper this Friday.  Also, Skidmore Cycling entered one of its race photos into the weekly national photo contest sponsored by Velonews.com.  To see the photo click here:

http://velonews.com/galleries/contest35a/Post%20Race%20Contemplation%20-%20by%20Dave%20Brown.html

We will continue to keep you updated with our progress, and thanks again for the support!