The first collegiate race of this academic year saw four Skidmore riders competing against many other schools at the quiet Brialee Campgrounds in Ashford CT. An unusual event in the collegiate circuit; the 8-hour enduro pits teams of three or four riders and soloists against each other in a competition to determine which team or individual can complete the most laps of the 6-mile course in the allotted eight hours. The collegiate race, organized by the University of Connecticut, was run concurrently with the NORBA Churn ‘n’ Burn 24-hour enduro, organized by Genesis Sports.

Thomas Arnold ’07, Andrew Bernstein ’07, Dante Petri ’08, and Jeffery Narva ’08 awoke at 6 in the morning on Saturday, Sept. 10, and drove 3 hours to reach the secluded race course. Once we arrived we all got registered and affixed numbers to our handlebars. We also received a team “baton,” really just a small piece of PVC pipe with our team number, 84, stamped on it.

The race opened with a Le Mans style start. Bikes were put in racks just behind the start line, and riders had to run a lap of the staging area before being allowed to pick up their bikes and start riding.

Leading out for Skidmore was Jeff Narva. Forced to suck down dirt and dust as he first ran, then rode amid a huge pack of collegiate racers and the tail end of the NORBA event which had started 5 minutes earlier, Narva raced hard across the technical course studded with rock gardens, roots, narrow bridges, stream beds, berms and other obstacles. His first lap split time was just over 30 minutes, and he continued to ride hard for two more laps before passing the baton off to Dante.

Dante took off at an impressive rate and whipped through his first three laps. In our only calamity of the whole race, he missed a turn on his fourth lap, as forced to forfeit the lap as he handed off the baton to Tom. Tom tore through his first lap. Despite riding a borrowed trail bike, Tom was able to post Skidmore’s fastest split of the day of 19 minutes.

But Dante was still pumped full of adrenaline from his early withdrawal from the course. After Tom came into the start/ finish after his first lap he handed the baton back off to Dante, who finished his four-lap ride before handing the baton back to Tom.

Tom tore through three more laps, putting us into fourth place in the team competition before handing me that baton. Not a mountain biker, neither Tom nor Dante had high expectation for my ride, and neither, for that matter, did I. We were all surprised when I posted my first split at TK, much, much faster than I had even dared dream. Riding on adrenaline and momentum I cruised through another two laps, stopping with only 4 minutes remaining on the 8-hour clock. Although I could have started a fourth lap, with dusk settling onto the woods and with out any lights, I decided to call it a day.

In the end, we finished up 4th in the team competition, behind winners UVM, runners up UCONN, and bronze-medalists University of Delaware. After a brief awards ceremony we packed up the car and drove back to Skidmore arriving home around 11:30. A long day in the saddle for sure, but well worth the trip.

Be sure to check out photos at www.skidmorecycling.com. Our next race is on Sept. 24 at Auscutney Vermont, we have spaces available, so please let us know if you want to race.

Keep the rubber side down!
Andrew Bernstein
VP Communications
Skidmore Cycling