At the end of the ECCC 2026 racing season, MIT cycling sent its largest contingent of the year to the Catamount Cycling Classic hosted by University of Vermont.
The attendees included Emily, our noble logistics officer who was wrapping up a successful spring racing campaign; Paul, our unofficial support team lead; Lorenzo, our men’s road captain fearlessly returning from knee rehab; Sparrow, ready to wattsmax the finale to his first racing season; Matteo and Ryan, our resident hooligans and fast bois; Noah, our team photographer and gravel evangelist; and finally me (Jody), our cyclocross co-captain. After 2 years of training with the team, I was finally attending my first ECCC racing weekend thanks to overcoming my fear of racing on pavement and kicking my habit of running Spring marathons.
Our first day of racing started with a brutally steep climb up Mount Philo for the Individual Time Trial. Having heard about this legendary climb from past racers, I had prepared by doing weekly Eastern Ave repeats over the past month. In a last-minute bargain for extra watts, I also swapped out my aluminum 650b stock wheels to the carbon team wheels. I had never done any training with them, but looked forward to the mental boost of a lighter wheelset.
After shooing off the men’s 4/5 racers Sparrow and Noah, I found myself at the start line, heart pounding and staring at the concrete wall ahead of me. I got off to a slow and wobbly start, finding my rhythm after the first few turns. A few short minutes in however, my legs felt unusually weak and something was up with my gearing. Why couldn’t I downshift? Climbing had never felt this hard before. I struggled to stay upright and finally made it to the top, feeling a mix of relief and despair.
When I got back to the team cars, it hit me. My last minute wheel swap from 650b to 700c had changed my apparent gear ratio. With my 165mm cranks and wobbly legs, it was a miracle I had made it up at all. I sheepishly debriefed with Sparrow, who had also made it up the steepest Philo sections, only to accidentally dismount his bike early due to a mistaken finish line. Meanwhile, Noah had floated up the hill with his sub-1:1 gear ratio, making us regret not taking our gravel bikes too.
After some solid ITT performances by the remaining team members and some wheelies by Ryan, it was time for the road race. I felt substantially better and was eager to climb up the rankings this time (pun intended) in my first-ever road race. Things got off to a hot start, and I clawed my way into the lead group. Despite being warned by Emily about the prevailing women’s tactic of attacking mid-conversation, I was caught off guard when Middlebury riders bolted up a hill in the midst of a debate on Trader Joe’s gummy flavors. Before I knew it, they were gone and I was left with one other rider to finish out the second half of the race.
Following our race, Sparrow hopped into his car to volunteer as a follow car for the men’s 3/4 race, where he tried to help Lorenzo avoid being dropped. Noah and I watched from the sidelines and snapped photos, marveling at the pacelines, fast cornering, and beautiful Vermont scenery.
The team finished off the day with a hearty Mexican dinner and Vermont creemees for extra recovery calories. The next day, Lorenzo, Noah, Sparrow and I headed to UVM campus early for the 4/5 men’s and women’s races. I trailed the boys during the pre-ride laps, gingerly leaning into the corners and praying I would stay rubber side down in the race.
Following warmup, Sparrow and Noah immediately jumped into the men’s 4/5 race, where they were serenaded by a full brass and percussion band. Both of them put up impressive sprint performances, with Sparrow staying out of trouble until his impressive display of watts rewarded him with a top-5 finish.
The adrenaline of the men’s race had given me a newfound confidence for my race, and I lined up in the front row. The whistle blew, and I easily kept up with the front group, barely noticing the corners. When a rider made an attack with 3 laps to go, it slowly dawned on me that this was my only chance to try for first place glory. Buoyed by Lorenzo’s yells of ‘you can go faster!’, I pulled away from the peloton and chased until the finishing straightaway, where I resigned myself to second – until I spotted the first place rider ahead. I surged forward in a final effort, missing the win by half a bike length.
While I couldn’t finish the job, Emily tried for redemption in the women’s 1/2/3 race. After leading the race and taking a couple Prime lap points, the entire team watched as she outsprinted two other women to snatch second place in a photo finish. Lorenzo decided to skip his men’s 3/4 race due to his knee, joining Sparrow as a star spectator (‘give them hell, Emily!’) and selfie-taker.
The men’s 1/2/3 race wrapped up the day. Matteo and Ryan’s race ended early after getting stuck behind a crash, but that didn’t stop our team photographer from getting some quality action shots.
With the racing finished, all that was left to do was wait for the awards ceremony. Although we were sunburned, tired, and running almost entirely on post-race adrenaline, the wait was worth it: Emily capped off an impressive weekend with a third-place medal in the road race, second place in the criterium, and a second place in the ECCC omnium, while I was proud to come away with fourth in the hill climb, fifth in the road race, and second in the criterium. To top it off, I was awarded the team’s Most Aggressive Rider jersey, a longstanding MIT Cycling tradition that rewards attacking riders with the privilege of wearing a bright red jersey featuring an intimidating angry face.
Overall, the weekend was one of the most rewarding racing experiences I’ve had. While I’ve raced plenty of running races, cyclocross events, and even gravel, this was my first time being at the very front of a race, chasing down a breakaway and realizing that a win might actually be possible. It’s a thrill I won’t forget anytime soon.
Whether or not I end up racing ECCC again next year, I’m grateful I finally took the leap. Between the climbs, the crits, the wheel swaps, the creemees, and the people who made the weekend memorable, Catamount was an unforgettable way to close out the spring season.
