On the weekend of April 15 and 16 Skidmore Cycling traveled to Burlington, VT, to compete in the University of Vermont’s Chris Castro Memorial Race Weekend. Skidmore posted strong results in the criterium, team time trial and road race.

Result Highlights:
-Skidmore finished the weekend with 78 points, 14th out of 27 teams.
-Racing in the men’s C category, Jeff Narva scored his best result of this season, finishing 10th in the 33 mile road race. Travis Roe-Raymond finished 24th and Ricky Silver 34th.
-In the men’s B category Scott Cole posted his best result of the season, finishing the 52 mile road race 11th. Andrew Bernstein finished 17th.
-In the men’s A category road race Dave Brown finished 16th after racing 62 miles.
-In the men’s C criterium Thad Vickery finished 12th and Jeff Narva finished 21st.
-In the men’s B criterium Scott Cole finished 14th and won sprint points. Sam Mapp finished 24th.

Fun Facts:
-All eight members of Skidmore Cycling were graciously accommodated by freshman Emily Reindel’s family at their home in Williston, VT for the weekend. Emily’s parents were so excited to have eight young men staying in their home that they prepared a 25-pound lasagna for us, woke up at 6 in the morning to make us a pancake and waffle breakfast and even made us Easter Baskets!
-The Reindel’s keep chickens at their home, which lay eggs every day. Some of the chickens, which are all different species, lay blue and green eggs, perfect for Easter!
-Emily and her friend Jenna Levy traveled with the team to Vermont and came to watch us race in the crit and road race.
-The views from the top of Mt. Philo are breathtaking.
-UVM fielded a team of 11 riders for the men’s D road race. 40 riders started the race, giving UVM a full quarter of the field. There’s nothing like domination by sheer numbers!

Full Report:
Racing started Saturday morning with a team time trial, contested on Shelburne Point, along the coast of Lake Champlain. The 8.5 mile course featured a long decent on the out-bound leg, before racers turned 180 degrees and continued up hill and into a headwind. Skidmore fielded two teams for the timed event for the first time this season. Contesting the men’s A event were Dave, Sam, Ricky and Thad. The A team raced well and finished 9th, with a time of 20”30’16, scoring 31 points. The men’s B event was contested by Scott, Andrew and Travis. Despite starting with only three racers, instead of the usual four, we were still able to work well together and finished 6th, with a time of 20”50’96, to score 24 points.

After cooling down and hanging out for a couple hours we all got ready to contest UVM’s idea of a criterium. The race was contested on a 2.5 mile circuit, and featured a long climb, followed by a right-turn into a downhill, and two more right turns before getting back to the bottom of the climb. There were sprints almost every lap to the finish line half-way up the climb, so the strongest riders would accelerate up the climb, dropping riders almost every lap.

Ricky, Travis, Thad, and Narva raced the men’s C event. The pace was furious from the gun, and Travis and Ricky, exhausted from their efforts in the TTT abandoned the race after several laps. Thad held on to finished 12th, while Narva finished 21st.

The men’s B event went similarly for Skidmore. Scott, Sam and Andrew started. Andrew abandoned after riding 2 laps, his legs exhausted after the TTT. Scott took an intermediary sprint, and was riding in the front group until a gap opened that he was unable to close. He was the first rider to finishe behind the lead group, and took 14th. Sam took 24th after riding a strong race.

Dave lined up with some really strong riders at the start of the men’s A event. Like many of his team mates, Dave was still feeling his efforts in the TTT, and after racing hard he too abandoned, opting to save his legs for what would surely be a punishing day on Mt. Philo the next day.

Racing on Sunday started with the men’s C road race. Contrary to what the race flier claimed, the course was anything but flat, and featured huge hills and wind-swept flats, all of which racers would traverse as many as 6 times before taking a 1.5 mile trip up Mt. Philo on a narrow road with steep pitches that exceed 23% grade.

In the men’s C event Thad, Travis, Ricky and Narva all looked calm, cool, and collected as the pack rolled around the 10-mile circuit. The field entered Mt. Philo state park as a whole unit and began to creep its way up Philo. Thad was the 5th rider to cross the line, but to his bitter disappointment, he was later disqualified for crossing a yellow line during the race, and in doing so violated a race regulation. Narva, easily turning over his 30-tooth granny gear, was able to float his way up Philo to finish 10th. Travis rode a fast pace up the climb and finished 24th. Ricky kept up with the pack, even after racing 33 miles, and finished 34th.

Later in the day, inspired by our team mate’s performance, Sam, Dave, Scott and Andrew warmed up for the A and B events. In the men’s B event, Sam, Scott and Andrew road a solid race. After riding 5 laps Andrew and Scott were both with the first group to reach Mt. Philo. Cheered on by our team mates on the lower part of the climb, we both road past riders creeping – and even walking – up the climb. Along the way to the top we past numerous spectators, all of whom cheered and urged us on. We even saw one person playing an accordion. Scott finished 11th and Andrew finished 17th. After riding solid opening laps Sam was forced to retire.

In the A event Dave rode an aggressive race, and spent a significant portion in a 5-rider break-away, which was only caught in the closing miles of the race. Inspired by his season-long successes, Dave surged up Mt. Philo and finished 16th to end a memorable day of racing.

Hundred of miles to the south-west, Anna was racing at the Mercyhurst College’s “Tour d’Hurst.” Anna posted strong results, finishing 3rd in the crit, 2nd in the road race and 7th in the Individual Time Trial.

Check www.skidmorecycling.com for photos later in the week. Racing continues next weekend at the Army Cycling Classic at West Point, NY, and then with the Eastern Championships at Cornell the following weekend.  


Andrew Bernstein '07
VP Communications
Skidmore Cycling
a2bernst@skidmore.edu
917.414.8424