We had a great turnout for ECCC week 8, the Army Spring Classic — by my count, over the weekend we had 16 Columbia cyclists race: Lucie in Women’s A, Dylan, Nathan, and Syd in Men’s A; Anastasia and Anna in Women’s B; Joseph, Michael C., Nat, Tim, and I were in Men’s B; Isabelle in Women’s C; and Dan, Michael M., Matt, and Vincent in Men’s D. That might be the most of any race weekend this season. I’d like to give a special shout-out to Nat, with whom I’ve ridden many times — and I always have fun — but never raced. He summed things up like this: “I forgot how much fun racing is!” I’m fairly certain he was smiling uncontrollably throughout, despite the fact that his bike sounded like an octogenarian’s knees.

I’m going to write a detailed race report in a separate post (and we have quite a few already) but in short, Columbia had some great results in the Harriman Road Race. The course was tough, with lots of climbing on each circuit, but it’s hard to find a course anywhere on the east coast with more beautiful scenery — not that we were really paying it much attention during the race, but you know, it was there in case you wanted to look at it. Dylan continued his streak of winning field sprints in Men’s A road races, though nobody told him there was a rider up the road and he celebrated his “win.” This is the only photo I could find:

On the spectrum of victory salutes, Dylan’s was pretty subdued and we all agreed it was an acceptable level of celebration for winning the sprint for 2nd in an A race.

We also had strong races on Sunday at the uphill Stoney Lonesome ITT and at the afternoon crit. Matt strung together a weekend of top-10 finishes, Michael C. spent most of the Men’s B race in a break (which was probably better than being in the peloton, given the terrible lines people were taking through the turns), and Dan pulled off the near-impossible feat of getting the same place in each of the weekend’s three events. We also got to meet Mark, Michael M.’s son. He plays hockey and baseball now, but maybe (hopefully) the cycling seed has been planted… When we weren’t racing we were:

– Cheering for Columbia

– Getting our legs ripped off by the Space Legs

– Practicing our track stands on bikes that are way too big for us

 

Lastly, a summary of our results for the weekend:

Harriman Road Race:

Women’s C: Isabelle Cote, 4th
Women’s B: Anna Janas, 5th; Anastasia Yanchilina, DNF (disintegrated brake pads)
Women’s A: Lucie Vagnerova, 8th
Men’s D: Matthew Sherman, 6th; Vincent Crossley, 10th; Dan Marasco, 17th; Michael McGuire, 25th
Men’s B: Ben Reddy, 3rd; Michael Carroll, 11th; Tim Schaffer, 12th; Nat Herz, DNP (neutralized due to crash in lead group at finish line); Joseph Lee, DNF
Men’s A: Dylan Lowe, 2nd; Nathan Dugan, P&P; Sydney Charles, DNF (flatted out)

——————

Hill Climb Time Trial:

Women’s B: Anastasia Yanchilina, 8th; Anna Janas, 10th
Men’s D: Matthew Sherman, 7th; Dan Marasco, 17th; Michael McGuire, does not do hill climbs
Men’s B: Michael Carroll, 5th; Ben Reddy, 9th; Joseph Lee, 31st; Tim Schaffer, 32nd
Men’s A: Nathan Dugan, 16th

——————

Shea Stadium Criterium:

Women’s C: Isabelle Cote, 6th
Women’s B: Anastasia Yanchilina, 9th (new brake pads); Anna Janas, 12th
Men’s D: Matthew Sherman, 4th; Dan Marasco, 17th; Michael McGuire, 18th; Vincent Crossley, 20th
Men’s B: Ben Reddy, 13th; Tim Schaffer, 25th; Michael Carroll, 34th (in a two-man break for a LONG time); Joseph Lee, DNF
Men’s A: Dylan Lowe, 5th; Nathan Dugan, P&P

Next up, RISD/Brown.