Here’s what ECCC director Joe Kopena had to say about it:
If you dared think Men’s C races were not infused with tactics, strategy, teamwork, and drama, you would be wrong, my friends, as the video clearly documents! More seriously, Joe has tagged the whole video with running commentary of what’s going on as he makes his way to a 2nd place finish (and edited the race down to a watchable 12 minutes). I think it’s a great video to pass on to newer riders as he makes a lot of good observations and really covers what he’s thinking about throughout the race. Great stuff.
Worth reading! Joe is one of MIT’s new road racers who’s going to take the ECCC by storm. (You can see his photos on his Flickr page.) From an unpromising start to the day, Joe goes on to annihilate the D field:
Having done cyclocross but never having raced on the road, I went into the weekend feeling super strong but nervous. I have been obsessed with tactics during the past few months, but worried about the fact that I haven’t had much chance to practice them. I felt strong enough to race in the Cs, but Spencer asked for volunteers to do the D races, giving me a good excuse to give in to my doubts.
The ITT on Saturday was a blur. I arrived before any of the other MIT cars, it was still dark, and I had no clue where registration was. Continue reading →
The MIT cycling team traveled to Rutgers this weekend for the first ECCC race of the collegiate road racing season. Having won the event last year, the team knew it would be an uphill battle this year, as none of the men’s A or women’s A riders were in attendance. Additionally, Spencer Shaber, the men’s captain and the sole men’s B rider in attendance, had injured his Achilles and could only compete (very carefully) in the individual time trial. The team of mostly rookies, aided by a few seasoned veterans, was able to capture the Division II omnium, and place second overall in the conference, just behind Penn State University. This feat obviously bodes well for the continued success of the MIT Cycling Team.
The Rutgers weekend consisted of three events, the traditional individual time trial (ITT) and criterium on Saturday, and the first ever points race contested in the ECCC road season on Sunday. The MIT team showed that they trained hard through this year’s incredibly snowy winter by taking three first places in the ITT: Katie Quinn in women’s B, Christina Birch in women’s C, and Adam Bry in men’s C. The excitement of the weekend really began, though, when Katie Quinn joined A rider Anna McLoon from Harvard to lap the field in the women’s A/B criterium. Thus, in her first ever B race, Quinn not only won her race, but beat all but one of the A riders. Christina Birch and Joseph Near also brought home victories in the women’s C and men’s D criterium, respectively. In the points race on Sunday, Quinn, Birch, and Near did a repeat of Saturday, each taking home the gold again. Quinn and McLoon lapped the field again, but this time Quinn initiated the winning break, leaving McLoon to bridge up, knowing that Quinn had the legs to win if McLoon let her get away.
Next weekend, the MIT team travels to NYC for the Columbia Grant’s Tomb criterium and a new road race hosted by Stevens.
Since I joined the cycling team less than a month ago, most of you probably don’t know me. However, I still jumped (literally) at the opportunity to tell you all about the fabulous training trip we had in Tucson during IAP! I am very new to cycling, and before the trip I was not planning on racing much in the coming season. While the rest of the team were following Coach Nicole’s fall training plan of riding Zone 2! Zone 2! Zone 2!, I mostly rode my bike as a means of getting from A to B. However, despite my lack of training in the fall, after riding with the team for only a week during truing camp, I could not be more excited about the upcoming season
According to Katie, the current women’s road captain, the rides we went on during the trip were “Not that far”, “Not that fast”, and “Not that hard”. Haha! These rides were the farthest, fastest, and hardest rides I’ve ever done. And although this trip was one of the most physically challenging experiences I have encountered, I have absolutely no regrets about going on the trip! Below are a few reasons why this year’s Team Training Trip was the best trip I have ever been on:
1. THE TEAM: As you all know, everyone on the cycling team is awesome! After going on a few rides with the team in Boston I quickly picked this up. The rides at training camp are vey similar, but instead of running off to lab after the ride, in Tucson we had time to hang out with the team for the rest of the day. You really get to know your teammates, and this is just as valuable as the training experience you get on the trip.
2. THE TRAINING: As I mentioned above, I had never trained this hard before in my life. The rides on the trip were not only the most difficult rides of my life, they were also the most enjoyable. This is not only because I was in a place where the weather and views were fantastic, but rather (like everyone else there) I came on this trip to ride. So I rode, and I rode, and I rode! The best part is: for one week, you don’t feel guilty about having your life revolve around your bike! 🙂 My biggest worry was holding the others on the team back, since I lacked the base training they got during the fall. However, this was never an issue. I stuck with them for as much of the rides as I could, but everyone is always free to ride at their own pace and cut the ride a little shorter if need be. Everyone is at a different level of fitness, and you gauge the trip to meet your training needs. Everyone understands and respects this (did I mention the team is awesome?) But don’t worry! – the team is still there to push you harder than you ever thought you could go! Even after a week of hard training, the last few rides were some of my best!
Triumphant Engineers at training camp
3. THE TRIP: We all know how much better it is to bike in nice weather. Unfortunately this time of year, Boston has little to offer. Although the sole purpose of this trip was to bike, it was so much more than that! I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation, or any cooler friends to spend it with! I know, I know! I’m preaching to the choir. You alumni already understand the joy that comes from cycling and how amazing the MIT Cycling Team is. Still, I hope this report reminds you of the awesome times you had on the MIT Cycling team, and makes sure you don’t forget how incredible this team really is!
Full report to follow. In the meantime here’s Spencer’s race report:
Following the Dartmouth race weekend, I would like to recognize a huge
number of people who helped me and my bike get to and succeed in my
races (all these just from one weekend!):
* Chris Carper, Sam Hickey, and Ian Rousseau for pushing me in the TTT
to experience my “pain cave” more than ever before
* Isaac Bleicher, for running to me when I crashed in the crit,
pointing out that I had a flat tire, and running my bike ahead of me
toward the pit
* Matt Talpe, to whom Isaac handed off my bike, and who fetched a
10-speed wheel from
* Zach LaBry
* Katie Quinn, who stood by me at the pit and reminded me to relax and
rest during my free lap
* Chewie, for giving me a push by the feed zone in the road race to
ensure I caught back on with the pack, taking care of the bike van,
and teaching me a few tricks for front derailleur adjustment
* Matt Blackburn, who let me use a brand new GP4000S that he had
brought (I busted my tire in the crit), and for providing music and
navigation as my co-pilot
* Nick Loomis, for two stellar bottle handoffs (despite his perception
of the nastiness of lime Accelerade) and taking care of the bike van
* David Singerman, for letting me use the file on his Swiss Army knife
to clean up the new dents/scrapes on my rim to avoid shredding a new
tire and my brake pads
* The people who I left off this list because there were two many
helpful acts to remember or who helped me without making themselves
known
* All of the officers and captains for their behind-the-scenes work
* Just about everyone on the team, for cheering at strategic spots on
the courses and being excited about bicycle racing
I missed the Saturday races this weekend, but I can comment on Sunday’s circuit race. The team’s results were excellent. Sam and Spencer were second and third in the Men’s C, Laura and Martha went on an attack with a Navy girl, which completely wrecked the Women’s A/B race. I’m not sure there was much left of a “pack”, but if there was, they certainly lapped it (I believe they had a lead of eight minutes at the end, and the lap times were about eleven minutes). Our Men’s D riders had some solid top tens. Continue reading →
I had an amazing weekend of racing at Philly. Sadly, due to my knee injury, my training has been delayed about a month and I had to skip the first two weeks of racing; I was both excited and anxious coming into the Philly weekend because I can finally start racing, but I wasn’t sure how fit I was. Continue reading →
UPDATED: John Frey has posted updated season overall standings after the Philly weekend. MIT maintains its lead in the season, with UPenn closing quickly and UVM hanging around in 3rd.
From Zach Attack:
I would like to congratulate everyone there, but I would also like to make a special point to congratulate the best performances of the weekend (in my opinion):
* Zach Ybarra taking off solo in the Men’s D crit with just over a lap to go, and finishing in style, well ahead of the field.
* Martha who lived up to the “Super Fast” title printed on the front of her new sprint leader’s jersey in the crit. UPDATED TO ADD: Martha has taken the series lead from Anna McLoon, and now holds both the sprint leader’s and series leader’s jerseys (“Super Fast” + “Series Leader” = “Super Leader”).
* Glenn Ferreira in the TTT. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone dig quite that deep in a time trial.
* Yuri, who was too polite to sprint around Martha at the end of the crit.
* John Rhoden who refused to quit in the Men’s A crit.
