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