Skidmore Cycling Works Hard Over Spring Break

During what is a restful week for most Skidmore students, the Skidmore Cycling Team competed in two race weekends, one in Philadelphia on March 11 and 12, and the other in New York City and northern New Jersey on March 18 and 19.

The first weekend was sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, and featured a circuit race, criterium and the first team time trial of the season. With the team on spring break, each weekend was raced by only a portion of the team. Dave, Ricky, Sam, Thad, Travis, Michael Elmo (henceforth to be known as Elmo), and Scott raced in Philly.

The action started with a team time trial, in which Skidmore entered our men’s A team, of Ricky, Dave, Sam and Thad. Despite mechanical problems with the brand new Serotta aero bikes and little time spent preparing for the difficulties of team time trialing, the team was able to place 11th in the event, with a time of 21 minutes and 15 seconds on the 8.4 mile course.

Later in the day men’s C racers Scott, Travis, Elmo, Ricky and Thad lined up for the circuit race, contested on a 6 miles circuit in Fairmont Park. Enjoying the best weather the team had seen yet this season, the five boys in yellow lined up among 89 starters for the 18 mile race.

After 50 minutes of racing, Scott was Skidmore’s top finisher, crossing the line in 17th place. Travis beat out several chasers to finish 23rd. Elmo was just behind Travis in 31st, with Ricky coming in a slightly behind the lead group in 60th. Thad was having one of his best races of the season, riding in a break-away with about 5 other riders on the second of three laps when he suffered a flat tire and was forced to withdraw from the race.

In the men’s B event Sam lined up to race 18 miles. The quick pace shattered the field and when the dust settled Sam crossed the line in 35th of 54 starters, a solid results in a tough race.

In the day’s final event Dave lined up among 45 starters to contest the 30 mile, 5-lap, men’s A event. The A field stayed together for the most part, and only came apart in the last moments of the race. Dave sprinted to finish 17th, scoring 5 points, ending a great day of racing in the city of brotherly love.

Saturday’s blue skies had turned gray as the team prepared for Sunday’s event, a 1-kilometer criterium on Philly’s Lemon Hill. The hill is a feature in June’s USPRO Championship race, the most important single day of racing in the United States, and the event that decides which American professional rider will wear the national champion’s jersey for the following year. Last year Chris Wherry (Toyota-United Professional Cycling Team) put in a winning attack on Lemon Hill and ended his day wearing the stars-and-stripes jersey. On Sunday, seven Skidmore cyclists contested a race of only slightly lesser magnitude on those very same roads.

As Travis, Ricky, Thad, Elmo and Scott lined up to race the skies unleashed a storm of biblical proportions. Undeterred by the rain, and some unsafe conditions on the course, including a flood in one of the turns, the team raced hard for 30 minutes. At the finish Thad was Skidmore’s first rider across the line in 18th of 73 starters. Scott was hot on his heels in 22nd. Ricky crashed in the rain while riding just ahead of Travis. Looking to avoid crashing for the second weekend in a row, Travis pulled a Lance Armstrong-esque move and rode across a rain-soaked lawn, but unfortunately the pack had already moved up the road. Ricky and Travis were both forced to withdraw. Stuck behind the crash, Elmo also dropped out. With conditions deteriorating, and having already suffered one crash, Skidmore decided to call it a day, pack up and head home for a week of well-deserved rest and training.

The following weekend saw Dave, Ricky, Thad, Elmo, Sam, Travis and I gathering in New York City – to which winter was making a late visit – to contest two events, Columbia University’s Grant’s Tomb Criterium and the Princeton Orange Criterium in Sussex County, NJ.

The action started from the gun with the men’s A race. After several failed attempts by various riders to sneak away from the field, a break eventually formed with four riders including two from Princeton, and one each from U Penn and the University of Vermont. That break would stay clear of the field on the moderately technical, 6-turn race course in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights. Dave rode a calm and safe race, choosing to conserve his strength for the end. He finished 11th out of 46 starters.

In the men’s B event, Sam rode an aggressive race, asserting himself at the front of his pack. He looked to be in prime position to contest the sprint, and we were surprised and concerned not to see him as his race ended. It turned out that he had suffered a flat tire on the last lap, and was understandably disappointed.

Shortly after the end of Sam’s race, Travis, Ricky, Thad, Elmo and I lined up for our men’s C event. 86 starters toed the line for the weekend’s largest event. The pace was furious right from the gun, and the field was quickly shattered by the relentless accelerations out of the of the course’s 6 corners and up the two inclines. Ricky was the first victim of the packs’ nervous riding. When a rider in front of him got a flat he lost contact with the group and was unable to rejoin the field, and later dropped out. Riders continued to crack under the pressure of the high speeds, and Elmo was Skidmore’s next casualty, falling off of the pace and withdrawing. Then I was brought down when two riders in front of me crashed, and I piled into them. I immediately jumped up and put my chain back on, but the hard-charging pack was already out of sight. With my front wheel damaged and no spares in the pit I was Skidmore’s third racer to withdraw.

Travis was our top rider on Saturday, staying with the lead group after all of his team mates had either been dropped or had withdrawn. He finished 29th, just behind the lead group. Thad coasted across the line just behind in 35th, happy to still be in one piece. Of the 86 racers who started, only 39 finished, making Grant’s Tomb a race of attrition, and Travis and Thad’s rides on Saturday was a true testament to their skill and fitness.

The next day saw us at the Sussex County Fair Grounds in Augusta, NJ, for the freezing cold Princeton Criterium. Always poorly attended, we all looked forward to smaller fields at Princeton’s annual race, and as cold as it was, we all knew that it couldn’t be nearly as bad as it had been in 2005, when we had raced in a freezing rain at 32 degrees. The weather, however, did not disappoint, and snow flurries came and went throughout the day.

The men’s C team lined up with only 53 starters for the 40-minute race around a 1.5 mile circuit. The speed was faster than it had been at Columbia, but on the mostly flat course with only a couple difficult turns, the race felt much easier, and the pace more manageable. The moderately sized pack stayed tightly together for the majority of the race. Elmo and I both tried to break away at various points, but with a strong headwind, neither of were able to make a move stick.

Coming into the final sprint Ricky and I were both far out of position, toward the back of the pack but managed to work our way up the side to finish 26th and 28th respectively. Elmo and Travis were in the right positions and both put in strong finishing sprints. Elmo finished 11th and scored his first 2 points. After riding a very strong race, Travis was right behind him and finished 13th. Thad had been directly behind crash, and was forced to deflect a bicycle in the process of crashing that nearly hit him in the face. Out of position after avoiding that crash, Thad withdrew, choosing to save himself for another day.

In the men’s B race, Sam lined up among only 36 starters in a race that earned the distinction of being the snowiest of the day. Trying his hand at a break for the first time in B, Sam grabbed 4th place in a sprint to score 2 points, and raced hard for the entire event, eventually finishing 20th.

Dave had a lot to live up to in the men’s A event, having taken second in this event in 2005. He didn’t disappoint us. On the first lap we saw Dave on a solo break with a significant lead over the field. He got caught, but continued to race hard for the whole event. Eventually a four-rider break formed. The four riders would go on to finish well ahead of the field. Bucknell’s Mike Chauner took the field sprint for 5th, and Dave made a strong showing, finishing 8th, in addition to having scored sprint points during the race.

After three weekends of hard racing we will be taking the next weekend off, choosing not to drive to the Bucknell/ Lehigh weekend in central Pennsylvania to stay in Saratoga for training. We will resume racing on April 1 and 2 at the Penn State race weekend in State College, PA. As always please visit www.skidmorecycling.com to see photos of all the action.

Happy Riding!
Andrew Bernstein
VP For Communications
Skidmore Cycling