We are the (Omnium) Champions!

What a season! MIT Cycling capped off a relentless cyclocross campaign this fall with a team omnium victory.

Racing to Victory

The team poured their all into every race, and this year’s unusually dry conditions let racers take corners faster than ever and boldly leap barriers with no fear.

Women’s road captain Tatem came roaring onto the cross scene this year, snagging seven (!!) podium finishes. Her participation in a whopping 16 races (including 4 two-race weekends!) also earned her the individual Women’s B omnium spot. Newcomer Joy snatched 2nd in the omnium with her strong racing in the latter half of the season. Seamus rounded out MIT’s dominance with a win in the Men’s C omnium.

Brooke and Bianca dove headfirst into their first cyclocross race at our season finale at Shedd Park, fearlessly tackling the course on their heavier gravel bikes with very little CX practice beforehand. In fact, the women and non-binary members of MIT cycling finally outnumbered the men this season. What better way to show off team spirit than with an (accidental) off-camber team time trial?

Also captured is the finishing order in reverse: shortly after this photo, Jody crashed and rode the remainder of the race with handlebars bent at a 15-degree angle. Meanwhile, Joy and Chen engaged in a spirited battle until Joy overtook Chen with 1 lap remaining. Chen proceeded to fail to remount after running up the steps and somehow ended up on the other side of the tape. From Chen: “Always remember to practice CX basics, kids!”

One Last Hurrah

We were joined mid-season by former member Andrea, who took a week-long break from studies in Norway to race one last time with MIT Cycling. She was met with one of the toughest courses of the season at Keene Pumpkin Cross, featuring beachfront sand dunes and a root-studded run up into single-track mountain bike trails.

Also making their final hurrahs were former captains Nick and Hannah. After an impressive tenure as cyclocross captain over the past 3 years, Nick capped off his MIT Cycling career with a thrilling sprint for 5th place at Keene in addition to three more top-10 finishes in the highly competitive Men’s Elite field.

The team will sorely miss Nick’s leadership, whether it be hosting skills practices, leading team pre-rides, or planning minute-by-minute logistics. We will also miss Cami’s presence as volunteer cross team manager, dedication to cheering at every race as seriously as the racers were racing, and even joining for a few races of their own this year!

Nick and Cami will continue racing with West Hill Shop, and we hope to see them both next year in their new kit!

For former team mom Hannah, Tree House CX was her final race as a member of MIT. “It was great to race with so many MIT women after spending the last few years working to build up the women’s community in the team,” she writes. “Congrats to Tatem, for beating me like everyone except her knew she would, and to Joy and Yanyang for having a fun race. And thank you to Jody for chasing me down so I didn’t stop pedaling. I can’t wait to continue cheering everyone on from the sidelines next season!”

Seamus completed his third and final CX season for MIT (although he is looking forward to racing road in the spring!). Despite a few ups and downs throughout the seasons, his persistence won him the season Men’s C Omnium this year and inched him closer to a coveted Cat 3 upgrade. His season highlight was finishing 12th and 10th in crowded fields at his “home” race weekend in Northampton.

Fresh Faces, Big Dreams

With Nick, Seamus, and Hannah graduating, new talents will be taking the reins on the cyclocross team in the coming years.

Max joined the team after leading the mountain biking season, proving that his bike handling and speed were top notch, even without suspension or big downhills! From Max: “It was my first season racing cx and I had a blast! It’s very fun to be able to race two completely different courses in a weekend and get to see such a wide variety of conditions.” Thanks to his camera, we were also treated to professional-level photos this season!

Recruited by Max, initially for mountain bike racing, was Joy. While she first joined CX this year as a way to get outside on the weekends, with Nick, Cami, and Tatem’s mentorship, she went on to compete in a whopping total of 8 races and joined Tatem on the Individual Omnium podium! “I started off with just trying something new, but after finding an amazing community and realizing I could actually do well, really pushed myself and am so proud of my accomplishment and season this year!”

Also joining Max and Joy for his first season was fellow mountain bike co-captain Tim, who took his mountain bike for a spin on the treehouse course after an injury left him out of summer racing. The newcomers list was rounded out by Alex, whose quote summarizes the essence of the sport: “Racing cyclocross for the first time as part of the MIT team was a memorable experience! The team was very welcoming, and the experienced riders shared helpful tips that made a big difference. Even though I had a small crash, I had a lot of fun and felt supported throughout the race. The mix of challenge and encouragement made it a day to remember!” Alex regaled the team with tales of attending CX races back home in Belgium after the muddy travails of Secret Squirrel.

Community in the Chaos

While the podiums and prizes are sweet, the true highlight of this season was the bond we built as a team. Cyclocross is as much about pushing limits as it is about cheering on your teammates from the tape line, helping with bike repairs, and sharing stories at the end of a long race day.

As we celebrate our team omnium triumph, we’re already dreaming of new challenges, bigger goals, and more team bonding in the coming road season ahead. See you all at the next race!

Cycling Safety, Road, Tips

Cycling Safety!

December 2, 2024 Aaron Vliet

Road Safety

Bike defensively! (Assume the worst of everyone around you until disproven: that pedestrian will jump into the bike lane without looking, that car will turn without signaling…)
Watch out for cars turning right (especially if you are going straight through the intersection)
Watch for cars turning left from oncoming traffic. These are often the most dangerous because they are the least likely to see you in the bike lane and often turn fast to shoot a gap
Avoid being directly behind or alongside cars, especially trucks. This is their blind spot and the most dangerous place to be. Since they can brake faster than you, you might run into the back of them, or they could turn into you since they can’t see you
Wear a helmet, use lights/reflectors at night, wear hi-vis clothing
Stay alert in bike lanes with parked cars between you and traffic. Pedestrians will forget that there is a bike lane and jump out from between cars or out of cars. Generally stay as far away from the car side as you can. The intersections in these types of bike lanes can be dangerous. You are hidden by the parked cars, so you and the turning cars have less time to react. Go slow into the intersections.
If in a bike lane between parked cars and traffic, stay on the side with traffic. Counter-intuitive, but much safer. The cars are coming up behind you and see you. They are unlikely to hit you. Meanwhile, people opening doors from their car into the bike lane or walking out between two parked cars don’t see you and aren’t looking for you. This is much more dangerous.
- If a car has lights on, give it an extra wide berth because the odds that someone is getting in or out are high
- side note: advocate for safer infrastructure – https://www.cambridgebikesafety.org/
Give trucks extra space when they are turning because they often end up in the bike lane and even over the sidewalks during a sharp turn
Make sure your brakes work well and try braking as hard as you can at different speeds (and when it is wet) so you get a feel for your stopping distance
Look for eye contact with drivers. Don’t assume they see you until you have locked eyes with them
Watch out for intersections on quiet roads. The odds of encountering anyone are low, but that means cars often roll quickly through stops since they assume no one is around
Look ahead and behind you often. You’ll have a feeling for what’s ahead and the traffic behind you. That way you can comfortably and safely avoid situations by taking early evasive action
- If you have trouble looking behind you, try taking your left hand and grabbing the back of your seat. This allows your chest to turn with you as you do a check over your shoulder
Get comfortable taking the full road when necessary. If it’s a tight road and you’d feel unsafe with a car passing you, ride in the middle so they won’t. Make sure to look that it is safe to take the full road and signal that you are moving laterally. You generally have the right to do this, hence all of the “bicycles may use full lane” signs. However, if there is a wider section, pull over to let them pass so you don’t anger the drivers
Delivery trucks will be in the bike lanes. If you are looking ahead, you will see them with plenty of time to signal and just take the full road and go around them
Same with regular cars (Ubers, DoorDash, etc). They will pull over into the bike lane or just randomly stop in the street. Go around them with caution and give their doors a wide berth. People will almost always be jumping out of these cars, often without looking because they are stressed
If you know an intersection well, go on the pedestrian light when you can (watch for cars running red lights, they almost always do). It is often safest to cross an intersection before the cars do.
Rightfilter stopped traffic when safe to do so. You are allowed to ride on the right of stopped cars at an intersection and it is safer for you to be visible at the front of the line of cars then next to them in their blind spots. However, be aware that the light may turn and they might start moving at any time. Additionally, there isn’t always space, so you may have to find a spot in line. When you do, you can take the full lane to safely cross the intersection
Give blind driveways a berth. Cars backing out really have no hope of seeing you.
In fact, give all blind turns a wide berth, be they on the bike path or cars turning into your road at a sharp angle etc. If you always assume there is someone coming around that corner at you, then you will never be unpleasantly surprised
Pass on the left
Signal your intentions (e.g. left arm out if merging into left lane or turning left)
When making a left turn in an intersection with a left turn lane, either use the left turn lane (taking the lane fully) or do a two part left turn, where you continue straight to the opposite corner and wait for the light to turn for perpendicular traffic. Sometimes there is a dedicated space for bikes to sit by the corner to make this sort of turn.
Don’t brake hard with only the front brakes – unless you want to do a cartwheel 😉
Be careful of slinging a bag on one shoulder or putting bags on your handlebars – they could slid into/get caught in your front spokes (a backpack, cross-body bag, or panniers are better alternatives)
As much as you can, avoid deep potholes and sharp edges. But if you are in traffic, hold your line and ride the pothole rather than swerving into traffic.
Stand up out of the saddle when riding over rough road or potholes and use your arms and legs as shock absorbers
When going around a corner, keep your outside foot down (don’t pedal through sharp corners)
As much as you can, avoid biking through broken glass and nails

Bike Maintenance

How often should you clean and lubricate your chain? While there’s no one right answer, some suggest every 150 mi or once a month
Check your brakes: brakes wear away over time. If you notice reduced braking power and the brake pads look thin it may be time to replace them (if the brakes don’t look thin try cleaning your rims or increasing the tension in the brake cable)

Race Reports, Track

MIT Cycling takes on Northeast Velodrome

July 22, 2024 trios

On this bright and sunny day the MIT crew headed out to Londonderry New Hampshire to check out the Northeast Velodrome to learn what it is like to ride on a track. When we arrived, Mark and his volunteers, Wolf and Jed got us set up on the bikes quickly. We all got to match black and red bikes which match our MIT kits (how cute), except Tatem who is a traitor and wore a Minnesota kit for some reason?? Her excuse was that “her MIT kits were dirty” but that’s lame, tell her to do laundry.

Mason getting ready to be fitted on the track bike

Michael checking out the narrow handlebars

While we were getting set up, Mason and Tatem overheard Michael exclaim “These handlebars are so narrow! How wide are they?” and next thing you know Mark whipped out the tape measure while Michael was still in disbelief. Rumor has it that Michael is still learning what it means to be “aero”.

After getting set up on the bikes, we all sat down and received a pre-ride talk from Wolf to learn about the mechanics of a track bike as well as track etiquette and the meanings behind the lines on the track.

There weren’t quite enough seats for the lecture but that’s alright because clearly Mason and Felix did not mind.

After the lecture we got to hop on the bikes and learn how to get comfortable riding the fixed gear. To be honest, it was quite frightening at first to ride a bike with no brakes and getting used to the fact that your legs must move at all times and there is no coasting, but we managed to get the hang of it rather quickly. We even did some fun drills which included bumping into and hugging a buddy.

Once we got comfortable riding the bikes and doing drills we got into the fun action of racing. We split up into two groups and ran through a full omnium of scratch, tempo, elimination, and points. We think Berk may have had the most fun of us all and may have a calling for track racing? To be determined.

Overall, we had a very fun day on the track and hope to return. We also would like to challenge other ECCC teams to try the track and have an ECCC omnium day??? That would be a blast, y’all better get on it!

And of course the day ended with a gatorade stop on the way back and of course Hannah and Mason are enthusiastically twinning, well maybe just Hannah, but I think Mason just needs some more electrolytes.

This post would not be complete without another big THANK YOU to Mark and everyone who supported our clinic. We learned so much and could not have had a better set of instructors. Your care and excitement were obvious and we loved being brought into the fold of going fast and turning left. Can’t wait to come back!

Nationals, Race Reports, Road

Albuquerque Road Nationals 2024

June 7, 2024 Hannah

What do you get when you combine a rose, bud, and thorn? Apparently Albuquerque, New Mexico for the 2024 Collegiate Road National Championships. Who knew?

Eight members of the road team traveled down south to go up in elevation, competing in four national events over three days – the team time trial, individual time trial, road race, and criterium. Let this blog serve as proof that we figured out how to breathe without oxygen, and let’s walk through what our week of races looked like! Of course, since we’re in Albuquerque, and because it’s Seamus’ favorite activity, each day will be presented in rose/bud/thorn fashion. Don’t know what that is? You’ll figure it out (no one ever explained it to me so idk either).

Team and Individual Time Trial day

Rose

Hannah, Melissa, Chen, and Bianca (left to right on the start) set off for the team time trial to the sweet sounds of the commentator trying to recruit us for jobs. Apparently Los Alamos, NM has the highest number of PhDs per capita or something, little did they know that none of our riders have a degree yet. Regardless, they had a blast in their first team time trial and finished 7th in the nation and Melissa finished the individual time trial with a top 10!

During the individual time trials, Hannah and Mason zoomed every rider into Lee Lopez’s thesis defense, continuing our time honored tradition of embarrassing one another when they’re hyper-focused on becoming a doctor. (We have only found his masters thesis online so far but will update this once the doctoral thesis is up too). Rumor (heard here first) has it Los Alamos is in his future.

Bud

On the men’s team, Derek (pictured here in a totally legal aero position), Felix, Seamus, and Mason spent most of the warmup worried that Seamus wasn’t feeling that great and then spent the second half of the race worried about him dropping the other three. A faster time than last year was a great result, and with three of the four returning for next year we’re looking forward to the future. Inspired by the marginal gains acquired by the TT helmets and skinsuits (both new experiences for some of the team!), the whole team is looking forward to a future of aero gains. Gains are gains.

Thorn

After the races the real adventure began, as the team headed to the Petroglyph National Monument so that Seamus could stamp his national parks Passport. A rather thorny adventure awaited us, with lots of sharp scrub greeting the hikers. The worst part of the day was definitely Derek and Melissa going an extra walk at Petroglyph and lording it over everyone else at dinner. After dinner, it turned out the shower’s hot water wasn’t working. Since the nearby volcanoes weren’t very appealing (editorial comment: what volcanoes? Clearly this post is not being written by a geologist), team mom and most senior mechanical engineer Hannah disassembled and reassembled the shower to make hot water!

Road Race Day

Rose

Only Mason and Hannah competed in the road race, which was more or less a forgettable experience for Mason. Hannah, on the other hand, won her small group’s sprint and was probably top-5 among the sea-level folks. Meanwhile… the rest of the team was on the essential duty of shuttling around the two of them, handing up bottles and food, and huddling around Hannah at the end of her race to keep her warm. This was hard work, and required at least three trips to Sprouts (Melissa’s favorite place on earth), beans, cuties (the citrus, not Derek) a few extra USAC water bottles, and more than one trip down the musical highway to the tune of “America the Beautiful.”

Bud

Dinner this evening was, well, challenging. We’re still waiting on the cornbread to finish cooking… In the interim, everyone has now made it their goal to match Hannah’s t-shirt choice without her knowing, as Mason managed to accomplish at least once on this trip.

In addition to this admirable goal, some, more, intrepid (?) members of the team proposed the aero-enhancing camelbak skinsuit as a startup idea. Their slogan? Hydraero 3000! Or maybe Watersuit! Bianca is workshopping still but regardless, catch us on Shark Tank next week!

Thorn

The team really needed dinner that night, since most of the riders ended up doing longer rides than Hannah or Mason between shepherding us around the course and concluding their rides with a big climb up Sandia Peak (which gets above 10k feet at the top). This was particularly accentuated by the fake truce Seamus tried to make with Felix near the top, as the two of them slowly ramped up the pace on the way up the climb. Melissa, Bianca, and Chen followed at a more reasonable pace and it became almost everyone’s biggest climb ever! Opinions differed on how enjoyable the descent was: Melissa tore down like a slalom ski champ, Chen honed their apexing skills thanks to WTC cornering day, Bianca got in her arm day pulling brakes.

Derek, although he didn’t race or do the big climb and only eventually got cornbread, was still left out to dry. Hannah went to “””lay down””” in his bed to get away from the hullabaloo and woke up there the next morning, Derek banished to the couch and woken up at 5am by the rest of the team. Her only excuse? Sorry, it was very comfortable! (editorial comment: Hannah had also set a best 20 minute power during the road race… at 7,200’… tiredness was justified.)

Criterium Day

Rose

The crit was a hard day out for everyone with the only rose-worthy race mention being Hannah winning her second mini sprint of the weekend (albeit for 12th overall/top 5 of the sea-level schools after crashing earlier in the race but a sprint win is still a win!). Jealous of the Sandia Crest outing by the group the day before, Derek motivated Mason and Hannah to go peak bagging in the afternoon. We missed out on the glorious sun and instead were treated to 30+mph wind gusts and temperatures on the top to match the remaining winter snow. Despite the cold, the views were still stunning and the group photo ended up way cuter than expected!

Bud

With the rotation of the Nationals venue every two years, it might actually be at sea level next year! #bringontheoxygen!

Thorn

For the second year in a row, the Rio Grande Celtic Festival was happening inside the crit course throughout the race (to be clear, this is not the thorn, keep reading). This led to a constant soundtrack of bagpipes throughout the day and to some stellar intermingling between the cycling fans and the Celtic fans. A thorn for some was a rose for others when Hannah quickly abandoned Mason to explain to someone’s grandma how bikes haven’t changed much in 70 years. Mason had just been pulled from his crit, was not amused, and Hannah, of course, documented the occasion with glee from afar.

Travel Day

Rose

Half the team headed back on Sunday morning, leaving Derek, Hannah, and Mason to fend for themselves at the criterium. It’s hard to find a rose on a travel day, but Seamus convincing all four of his NUMTOTs to take public transport home, bike bags and all, was by far the highlight.

Bud

One way to travel, and that we’re looking forward to seeing more of in the future, is Dartmouth’s chosen method. Helmets in the airport (easily identifiable), paceline walking at all times (drafting is important at 2.5mph), and extra compact use of porta-potties (don’t ask) are all admirable travel methods we expect to see more of from them at the next ECCC race. Teams from other conferences at nationals did not understand but Dartmouth, we see you and appreciate you.

Thorn

Unfortunately, travel day 1 ended up hanging out in the great city of Houston for six extra hours on Sunday. Bianca chose to pass the time alternating between her newly acquired USAC water bottle and napping, while Felix returned to the working world. Seamus, Melissa, and Chen were nowhere to be found (probably joyriding on the airport tram if we were to guess though).

Final Thoughts

Rose

Overall, nationals was a huge success. MIT was one of 5 Club teams to send both full men and women’s teams and have racers in every event of the weekend. We had fun, we challenged ourselves, and we looked pro while doing it with nail polish to match our kit. What more could you ask for? (editorial comment: the Gatorade Guy is what more. Mason’s favorite volunteer from last year was back again this year, enthusiastically forcing ice cold hydration on us at every turn. We needed him, and he delivered. Thank you, Gatorade Guy.)

Thorn

Marking the end of the season is bittersweet as friends graduate and we wait a whole year to do this all again. On the bright side, the best riding months in Boston are just arriving and some might say #crossiscoming or maybe even track season?!

(Fancy) photos credit: Craig Huffman Photography

Text primarily by Mason

Race Reports, Road

2024 Easterns

June 1, 2024 Aaron Vliet

2024 UVM Race – Easterns!

Things started off slow in beautiful Vermont. Some cleats were forgotten at the hotel, some shifters needed adjusting, some porta potty lines were long. All signs of just another classic race weekend. Did we warm up? Who’s to say…

ITT Highlights

Max got last place in the ITT but first place in the bike mechanic competition. In just under 39 minutes, he was able to 1) start the ITT 2) return to the start line to fix his front derailleur and 3) finish the ITT. We don’t think anyone else could have completed the repair as quickly as he did.

UPDATE: We managed to convince the one and only Alan Atwood to give Max the time from his second go at the ITT, netting him a respectable midpack finish. Maybe Alan’s gone soft in retirement…

Michael got 2nd place in the men’s C/D ITT rocking the sweet TT helmet. He only had access to the big gear in the front, but we think that made him faster.

Michael, Alex, Felix, and Bianca all looking pro during the ITT.

Michael went full Roglič Monte Lussari for the mountain TT, while his fellow men’s C/D riders opted out of the extraterrestrial look…

Melissa and Chen put in strong efforts in the ITT, getting 4th and 5th respectively.

Max, Seamus, Felix, and Bianca hung around at the top of Mt. Philo for some scenic photos. Disc brakes got hot and ears popped on the way down.

RR Highlights

Melissa and Chen rode in a peloton of ten or so riders throughout the women’s C/D race, after two smaller breakaways took off early on. This pack worked together and had great energy. At one point, a UVM rider even commented on the mountains in the distance and there was some oohing and ahhing in the group. Chen and Melissa, along with two Army riders, pulled the group for a good chunk of the time. Chen made the mistake of pulling through the final windy sections with less than five miles to go, leaving very little gas in the tank for the final sprint. Melissa, the smarter one of the two, had a strong sprint to the finish.

Chen and Melissa upping the pace in the women’s C/D field

Bianca, Melisa, Vinh, and Chen practiced feeding Seamus during the road race. While waiting at the feed zone, Chen was hit by a USAC P/1/2 rider’s bottle flying at 50 mph and ended up with a bruise on their forearm that did not go away for a week (cycling is a dangerous sport!). On the third try, Seamus was able to hold on to the bottle, but he forgot to make space in his bottle cage, so the effort was in vain. We should practice holding bottles with our teeth. Bianca is glad she got shoulder surgery last summer to withstand the impact of the bottle pass. We are feeling ready for feeding at nationals next week!

Felix gracefully parted the peloton like the Red Sea when his chain snapped. A friendly stranger donated a spare chain link so he could wander around Vermont. Seamus pushed through crosswind chaos in the last lap to finish 7th.

Vinh took the feed zone seriously, even post-race

Chen practicing feeding technique (under Coach Berk’s step-by-step instructions during Nationals pre-race meeting), moments before being hit by an almost-full flying water bottle

Women’s C/D racers on the start line

CRIT highlights

Max “aero be damned” Katz-Christy channeled his MTB bike handling skills into grabbing third place in his first crit (men’s Intro), bringing home MIT’s best result on the day. Indefatigable, he then went on to take some cool pictures and video of the rest of the team’s races (see below).

Melissa got 4th in the women’s C/D Criterium after realizing on the final sprint that she did not in fact know how to sprint. Melissa later joined the women’s Intro race with Chen and friend of the team Tatum Brown from Yale, turning this race into a fun TTT and cornering practice. This podium may not reflect who crossed the finish line first in the intro crit, but we’re all friends, so who cares?

Seamus notched his highest power for the men’s B/C race off the start line in true cyclocross fashion—the holeshot was essential for the extremely technical sequence of downhill corners on the first half of the course. From there it was simply a “keep the rubber side down” kind of race: always an achievement in its own right.

Sun’s out tongue’s out

Michael and Alex were not impressed with the ability of the 50+ rider men’s C/D field to navigate the corner sequence and got caught behind splits. The course was so short that they weren’t given much of an opportunity to chase back on before the officials began pulling riders. Nevertheless, they both got some valuable experience with cornering and handling in the pack.

Day 2 squad prom photo

Easterns also means double omnium points! After some frantic and flawed tabulations, the ECCC team announced that we got third place as a team in both the championship weekend and season omnium standings! In the individual standings, Seamus won the men’s B field this season (“podium” picture notwithstanding)!

Michael’s second place in the ITT was recognized by getting to stand atop a metaphorical representation of Mt. Philo

We found out later that Seamus had actually earned first place, but then he wouldn’t have gotten to stand in the shame bucket 🙂

Alex’s Belgian instincts kicked in as he zipped up his jersey for the sponsors

To recap the weekend (and as an assignment for his documentary-making class), Max made this really cool video!

MISC

Photo credits: Max Katz-Christy, Tatum Brown, Felix Knollmann, Nolan Rogers, Bianca Champenois

Race Reports, Road

2024 Garden State Stage Race!

May 23, 2024 trios

We kicked off our first day of GSSR with team time trials! The boys (Derek, Mason, and Seamus) went out first, sporting their fancy Imperial Trooper helmets. It was a wet and wonderful TTT, with Seamus dropping just before the top of the climb and Derek accidentally selecting the blindfold setting on his Remco helmet visor. They couldn’t quite keep up with the New England Devo kids 😬 but snagged possibly 3rd place (out of 3 teams, 😉). One theme of the weekend was unknown/incorrect race results.

Tatem and Hannah followed, with Hannah insisting on a coffee ride pace to save energy for the road race later. Tatem struggled with the slow pace and later quipped, “I now know what it feels like to be a dog on a leash.” They placed 2nd! (Out of two teams… but who needs to know that detail?)

Hannah and Tatem going on their coffee ride

Next up, the road race! Tatem kicked off the Women’s C/D race and finished 4th, stoked by the result on the hilly course. Seamus got a flat tire 15 minutes before his race but, with lightning speed, fixed it just in time to start. He placed 4th in the Men’s B/C race and, of course, we got a notorious photo of him sticking his tongue out at the photographer.

Seamus showing off his tongue as per usual

Derek and Mason raced in the Men’s A field. One rode at a coffee pace enjoying the beautiful New Jersey (I know, right?) scenery, while the other decided the race wasn’t worth the struggle. Ask them for details!

Tatem couldn’t miss the opportunity to BeReal iykyk

Hannah had a fun photo op at the start of the Women’s A/B race but planned for a short ride due to feeling under the weather. She achieved that goal, but not in the way she intended, possibly overcooking a corner (who let her cook??).

The evening ended with us eating Indian-Mexican fusion for dinner, the boys convincing Tatem that shaving legs makes you more aero, and Tatem receiving the “most aggressive rider” jersey for the weekend (which was actually Hannah’s jacket).

Most aggressive rider of the weekend. You know the drill.

Sunday morning, we headed to Rutgers for the criterium race. The course had one technical corner, which was mostly technical because of the giant potholes on the racing line.

Seamus kicked off the Men’s B/C race, with an audience from the intro clinic watching to learn crit racing technique. Confusion surrounding the breakaway catching the peloton on the last lap ended up netting him 5th place, despite more ineptitude with the results.

Tatem’s goal in the Women’s C/D race was not to get dropped immediately, and she succeeded, aided by Seamus’s sideline yelling. She even stuck her tongue out at the photographer in true Seamus fashion, finishing 4th.

Tatem learned a thing or two from Seamus

Lastly, Derek and Mason in the Men’s A race placed 6th and 10th respectively. Mason even got a sick start line photo, now his Strava profile pic.

We wrapped things up with a long drive back to Cambridge, stopping for dinner at Five Guys, and finally taking a team photo while Tatem wrote a logistics email for next weekend’s race. #Candid

Race photo credits: Luis Bastardo

Photos, Road, Training

Fall training camp 2023 – wring out your socks edition

November 13, 2023 mgoss

We’ve heard that the New England apple picking businesses are suffering this fall thanks to a remarkable pattern of rainy weekends. So too were the poor souls of MIT cycling who failed to consult the Farmer’s Almanac and settled on the weekend of October 21-22 for fall training camp. Or maybe not so poor. Just wet. Despite the dire forecast, we fielded a huge crowd of old and new faces (enough to fill a second Airbnb) and made our annual pilgrimage to the leaf-peeping territory of western Massachusetts.

When Mt. Greylock is calling, we must go. The medium- and fast-paced elected a route around and up and over the cloud-shrouded massif, with many folks making their first trip to the top of Massachusetts.

On the medium ride, the crew kept in high spirits along the beautifully paved Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, with Andrew providing some excellent steady-cam footage. Even Gohar, contrary to his all-black-everything outfit and bike, was cracking grins. The mountain climb brought the challenging side of the ride, but kept us warm as we ascended into the clouds, climbing through misty roads lined with waterfalls and colored trees.

The summit lodge provided a much-needed lunch for some and a much-needed gallon of boiling water for others (Melissa). All things that go up must come down. For some like Andrea, this meant gleefully bombing down the road, despite the slippery surface. Others found the descent more exciting. To quote Vinh: “Tip-toeing down the mountain soaking wet and brakes squeaking was more painful than missing a pset deadline! And as if not enough, my rear brake decided to say “auf wiedersehen”, leaving my cold wet southeast asian ass rolling down bared before nature’s will.”

greylock group — Vinh survived the decent and had to document the success

The FTC veterans were shown just how soft they have become by the spirit of the newcombers like Jody who toughed this whole thing out in shorts. While not the longest ride, the damp chills and elevation left everyone convinced it was plenty for the day, but that didn’t prevent us from taking a short cider donut stop (via car… no one wanted to put wet bike shoes back on).

greylock leaves — Nothing beats the leaves of western mass

The faster group nominally planned an extra loop after Greylock, but the rain ensured this was cut short. Ex-president Lee encountered a recurring issue of glasses fogging and bailed only a few miles in. On the “flatter” shorter ride, Chen, Varsha, David, and Robert tackled a remarkable >3k feet of climbing in only 34 miles. Perhaps a bit more challenging than expected but hey, there were crepes!

Part way between Cambridge and Pittsfield, yet another group cut FTC short by one day to race the Ghosts cyclocross race hosted by UMass. More on that in a future post but needless to say, it was an absolute mud fest. Tatem and Nili embraced the true spirit of cross for both of their first cx races, Hannah couldn’t come up with a time she had ever raced in worse conditions, and Berk was monotone with brown mud by the end of his race. Everyone had a great time, but by the end of the day all four were very ready to join FTC for some ‘cleaner’ road riding on Sunday.

Tatem’s first cross race! (and Hannah in BikeReg Share Coffee kit)

Coach Berk finished in the money, and the mud

The houses split for dinner, but the crowds reconvened to take in the words of our wise old coach Berk, who shared his hot tips for Building Your Glutes In Just 5 Minutes A Day With This ONE Trick They Don’t Want You To Know! A birthday celebration for Tatem capped off the night.

On Sunday, the groups heading towards Williamstown were lied to by the weather gods and were rained on yet again. Luckily, a well-placed coffee shop let us dry out (i.e. wring out our socks in the parking lot), and provided much needed lattes and temporary relief before we turned into icicles again soon after!

While several groups settled into their own paces, everyone managed the full circumnavigation of Mt. Greylock, with a few tackling the optional Petersburg Pass to sneak into New York. Hannah, Matthew and Berk chose this as a way to avoid immediately becoming icicles again, while Chen and Varsha embraced the season and were Chilled to the bone but with smiles for miles

Meanwhile, the fast bois Nic, Lee, Felix, William ventured out on a century, knocking off a classic tri-state route and even dabbling in a little light gravel. Along the way, they had the pleasure of picking up a couple Williams College friends as Felix rolled through his old haunts. As rated by Felix: “FTC as it ought to be.”

A bit of gravel on the tri state century

The three musketeers who made the daunting decision to bike all the way back to Boston managed to avoid the rain and had an “11/10 perfect ride” for the start of their day. The cracks started to form later in the day, with Aaron bailing halfway through (and spending some quality time with Hannah’s parents) and with Derek and Mason being utterly and entirely cracked by the Harvard general store. Even the pumpkin bread couldn’t bring them back to life.

And despair (and a slow leaking tube) at 35 miles left

It may not have been the beautifully dry fall training camp that everyone was dreaming of, but it sure was a lot of fun!

Contributions and photos from Jody M, Gohar I, Matthew G, Hannah V, Vinh T, Chen L

Mountain, Race Reports

Mountain bike racing returns for 2023!

November 6, 2023 mgoss

I (Matthew) may have forgotten to write up a season recap for 2022, but now we’re back again for 2023! MIT cycling returned to the slopes this fall, with a couple of adventurous weekends of racing in western MA full of new faces, shredding, bonfires, and a bit of mud.

Our first weekend led us to an old favorite: Holiday Brook Farm in Dalton, MA. The XC course is an ECCC classic, with lovely winding trails through the woods, and a small drop in the first hundred yards that never fails to cause total chaos in the Men’s C field. Our team for the weekend consisted of relative old-timers Matthew and Josephine, newcomers Max, Amine, Omar, and Tim, and new-to-MTB-racing-but-old-timer-with-respect-to-MIT-cycling Nick.

After rolling in after dark (and after Amine, Omar, and Matthew’s memorable first trip to Olive Garden), the team awoke from their tents to a glorious morning, and in an extremely unusual turn of events, decided to actually pre-ride the course. Nick showed that cyclocross prowess translates well to MTB, taking the win with Max not too far behind. All the other Men’s Cs conquered the course successfully, rolling through the finish line smiling. Josephine suffered the unlucky fate of an early puncture and got to take a more relaxing morning. The afternoon was enjoyed sessioning and spectating the dual-slalom course, and griping about bracket and timing errors. It’s not bike racing unless you have something to make excuses about. Proper ‘murican pub food and bonfire spectating sent us to bed with sweet dreams.

Max learned to do this stuff on a blue bike

Sunday featured some solid short-track XC racing, with Nick and Max taking W’s. After some relaxing suntanning and a cup-noodle lunch, the team packed up and headed home. One solid weekend down.

Nick leaving everyone in the dust as always

For our second weekend of racing, we returned to Western MA to check out a new race course at Thunder Mountain in Charlemont. Though the week was wet leading up to the event and rain loomed in the forecast, a fresh crop of new mountain bikers turned up. First-time mountain bike racers included Maaya, Andrew, Varsha, Melissa, Gabriel, and Julius, while Matthew, Tim, Max, and Felix returned for more time on dirt. This was the largest group that MIT has taken to a mountain bike race in at least the last four years!

Rain, rain go away, come again some other day that isn’t right before a mountain bike race. After a damp night of camping the team arose, expecting a relaxed bike ride down the hill and across the river to Thunder Mountain. We were surprised to see so many teams piling into cars for a distance that should take less than ten minutes on a bike… until we saw the bridge closed sign. A four-mile detour finally got us to the foot of the mountain, only a few minutes before the race was supposed to start from the top of the slope. Luckily ECCC does not run on time and we made it just fine.

Now I had promised some of the first-time riders that the ECCC race courses are generally rideable, even if you’ve never ridden a mountain bike before, but this was a new course and I couldn’t be sure. At the start line we received a dire message: “Sooo I rode the course, and it’s pretty techy… and everything is super wet and slippery which makes it harder. Also, there’s half a mile of bog.” To add to this, the course was 30% longer than it was supposed to be, and featured multiple opportunities to get lost. Needless to say, it was not the easiest introduction to mountain biking. Still everyone toughed it out through the mud, with a few folks smartly withdrawing after an hour-long lap. Kudos to Melissa, who was the only first-timer to complete both laps, and style points to Andrew who put his full MIT spandex kit through the mud!

Post-race, the day turned around as the weather cleared, with the team spending the rest of the afternoon hitting the flow trails. I had a lot of fun seeing Varsha and Maaya build confidence throughout the afternoon, and seeing the grin on Gabriel’s face after our first lap. Tim and I had some good runs on techy stuff, though Tim managed to bend his second brake lever of the season. A great bonfire hangout with some clutch late-night grilling supplies from Julius capped off the day.

The sun came out for day two, and remarkably there was no mud to be found on the short track course. What was to be found: a tricky tight turn fifty feet after the start involving a sharp dip to avoid a rock garden, and a challenging uphill rock roll that made this perhaps the most technically challenging ECCC short track course I’ve ridden. Great for new mountain bikers…

While the race went off well for some, with an exciting sprint finish between Felix and Max to take first and second respectively in the B field, it also carried hazards, with Gabriel taking an unfortunate crash. The team rallied to field two mixed relay teams; we may have come in second-to-last and last, but I’m sure we had the most fun.

While most folks headed home after the short track races, Felix, Max, and friend-of-the-team Emily hung around to ride a couple of the enduro trails, which featured gorgeous views across the valley. It was a memorable weekend for sure.

Thanks to all those who came out to the races this fall, and thanks as always for the hard work from the folks at ECCC who made it possible. We’ll be back next year.

– Matthew Goss

MIT Cycling MTB Captain

Photo credits: Team members Max KC, Matthew G, and Andrew D.

Race Reports, Road

Championships and champions

May 8, 2023 Hannah

Closing out the blogs for this road season with a few notes and photos from the ECCC Championships at Dartmouth two weeks ago. For updates on 2023 Road Nationals, check out our instagram.

When Derek and I (Hannah) were planning for this road season, we budgeted for an average 8 people joining per race. We didn’t know who the 8 would be, but we were being optimistic! By just halfway through the season we had entirely blown the budget: 12 racers at URI, 18 at our home race, 9 at UVM and 17 at Easterns. For 14 of the folks joining, it was their first season road racing with the team (and for 10, their first time road racing at all). I am in awe of the enthusiasm and momentum we were able to build throughout this season, and how much fun we all had along the way. There were Life Hacks by Bianca, passionate discussions about the best pop tart flavors, hype playlists, and chaotic lunch runs mid race-days.

Thank you to all the parents, siblings, friends and partners who showed up along the way to cheer us on, volunteer, and provide snacks. “Go MIT” is one of my favorite things to hear when I’m out racing because I know that the person cheering came out for someone else, but is still showing up to support us all as a team. And thanks also to our team sponsors (Thoughtforms and Exponent) for their generosity that allowed Derek and I to horribly miscalculate our team size, but still be able to support every person who wanted to join this year.

In these blogs it is easy to list off placements and stats, but these are only a small part of every weekend we spend together as a team. In case it wasn’t clear, I am the resident “team mom” (what I get for returning to a PhD after working for a bit, I guess). I’ll fully embrace that now to close by saying how proud I am of every single racer who came out this season. I admire everyone who talked to me about being nervous before their race, and came away at the end with a huge smile, because regardless of where you finished, you gave it your all and enjoyed the process. I applaud everyone who tried a new category, improved their placement, or simply showed up when sleep/work/life wasn’t in your favor. Well done conquering brutal courses, bad weather, early mornings, and tough competition.

I can’t wait to do this with you all again next year!

– Team mom (and women’s road captain) Hannah

Gwin, Bianca, Kira and Hannah rocking the first Women’s TTT team of the season! 3rd place brought us all home a medal.

Nick’s opinion of conditions during his time spent riding the breakaway in the Men’s BC race.

William, Alessandro, and Felix controlling the race while Nick was up the road.

Hannah embracing the spirit of gravel (pocket bib snacks work well when your hands are numb) and Guillaume tagging along as a cheerleader.

The newest trend in facials, brought to you by the wet, gravel-filled “road” race, modeled by William.

Gwin, looking totally pro in her first ever crit!

Kira, also looking pro in her first ever crit!

Men’s A crit squad supported Lee to a 2nd place on the day.

Hannah – Women’s AB ECCC Season Omnium leader

William – Men’s BC ECCC Season Omnium leader (after starting in the Cs and upgrading mid season!)

Results and stats really don’t matter but here they are anyways. The team did pretty well at Eastern’s!

Photo credits: our very own Aaron V. and Williams College alum Peter Burghardt

Photos, Race Reports, Road

Catamount Classic – Mid season mayhem

April 25, 2023 Hannah

After the fourth weekend of the season the team is still delivering great results and good times, but sanity is waning. This post was co-written by Bianca, Mason, and Hannah on the rainy car ride home from the race. Enjoy!

The team made our way up to Burlington, VT this weekend for the Catamount Cycling Classic hosted by UVM. We made it into 3rd in the weekend and overall omnium this weekend with Westpoint choosing to go “Beat Navy” (from a quick look at the results, they seemed to have mostly failed at the goal).

The Airbnb that Mason picked for us this weekend aligned well with Hannah’s dream home (creepy doll in the closet included). Hannah wants to clarify that creepy dolls, peeling wallpaper and doors that don’t close are not part of her dream home, but the absolutely ADORABLE farmhouse in rural Vermont, next to a pond, minutes to Lake Champlain, with peepers at night, for less than the cost of her current two bedroom apartment in Cambridge is dream home material.

Saturday was the standard team time trial followed by the Mt. Philo Road Race. William, Lee, Mason, and Guillaume put in a great time trial performance (3rd on the day) in preparation for nationals. They also avoided the fate of an opponent they passed mid-ride whose insides were turned out on the side of the road (unclear if it was food poisoning or try hard…). Bianca did a great job spinning her flag as a marshal in front of beautiful Mt. Philo state park and Hannah marshaled in front of the cutest covered bridge in all of Vermont.

Zak completed his first ever race weekend (woo!). During the road race, he spent the first two laps off the front with another rider. Unfortunately, they got caught before the line, and the final hill grew a little too tall. Great start to a promising career. We can’t wait to see what he does next weekend.

Adam came back from a 6 year racing retirement! He did a team time trial with Andrew during which he forgot to remove his tool bag from his seat post. He also failed to correctly install his chain the night before. He was just dusting off the cobwebs in preparation for next weekend. His water bottle hand off skills are still impeccable.

William crushed it again with a third place in the road race after making the 3-man break away.

Guillaume put on a valiant effort despite getting COVID at the first race weekend of the year. He completed four strong laps of the road race before deciding that his lungs needed a break from coughing. Smart decision, save it for L’Enfer du Nord.

Hannah took the W during the women’s A/B road race, but the victory was not as sweet as the maple creemee she had after the race.

On Sunday, we had the return (after about a decade hiatus) of the UVM ‘on campus crit’ course (unfortunately raced in the pouring rain and described as cyclocross practice given the potholes).

Hannah’s carbon rim rim brakes were of no use during the rainy critérium. She would have been better off taking them off to save a couple of grams. For the first three laps, she forgot how to ride her bike. At lap three, Mason shouted “use your drops” (Bianca asked “what does that mean?”). Hannah gave a thumbs up and made it back to the front of the pack. Clearly, she likes road racing much more than cyclocross.

Adam “the fair weather cyclist” toughed it out in his race only to be pulled part way through. Luckily, by this point in the weekend his saddle bag was off and his chain was on.

Andrew was accused of sandbagging during the intro crit race. What the marshals didn’t know is that Andrew slept through the team vote that would decide which field he would race with. The team decided for him that he would do the intro race so that we could all sleep in. Bianca appreciated having him in the intro race because he cheered her on all three times that he lapped her (the women’s intro field was so small that they combined it with the men’s). On lap one, Andrew saw his life flash before his eyes when someone fell in the chicane. On lap two, it happened again. By lap three, he was safe and sound in front of everyone.

Bianca achieved her weekend goal of riding in the drops and drafting, which does in fact help with going fast (yay fluid dynamics!). She only had one rock hit her glasses and one bug stuck in her helmet during the C/D road race. It was only after the race that she realized one of her spokes was broken causing her back wheel to be extremely out of true. She thought she wouldn’t be able to participate in the crit, but she was lucky to get a loaner bike from Sam (Thanks UVM!). At that point, she only had a few minutes to get ready before the start of the race, but her jersey and cleats AND phone were locked up in Hannah’s car! A lot of running around and confused phone calls later, she used her free lap and jumped into the race. Not even a loose seat post nor a fully unzipped jersey could slow her down. Brute squad wins again!

The crit was so muddy that Mason was still finding dirt inside his ear at Five Guys. He used a fry to q-tip it out. The adhesive hot hands that he stuck to his toes were not enough to keep from shivering for hours after the race. The worst moment of Mason’s race was when he was isolated between the two main groups and was suddenly faced with a flock of seagulls during one of the course’s more challenging turns. He took a leap of faith and kept up his 30mph descent. The birds flew away in fear. Apparently Mason is more intimidating than Bauke Mollema.

Lee threw away any hope at an omnium win because he didn’t want to get wet at the crit. There is nothing more to say here.

Glossary of words that Bianca learned this weekend

KOM/QOM

Shelled

Chase back

Bridging

Thanks to @UVMcycling for the nicer photos in this post. Bianca and Hannah were the photographers for the more chaotic shots. We’re ready to have Aaron and Maxwell back next weekend to actually curate our team image.

2024 Cyclocross Season Recap

We are the (Omnium) Champions!

Cycling Safety!

Road Safety

Bike Maintenance

MIT Cycling takes on Northeast Velodrome

Albuquerque Road Nationals 2024

Team and Individual Time Trial day

Road Race Day

Criterium Day

Travel Day

Final Thoughts

2024 Easterns

2024 Garden State Stage Race!

Fall training camp 2023 – wring out your socks edition

Mountain bike racing returns for 2023!

Championships and champions

Catamount Classic – Mid season mayhem

To glory in the wind tunnel and beyond