The Bowdoin Cycling Team had a successful spring season this year, participating in three race weekends with the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) as well as several local races.

The season kicked off over spring break, with a chilly road race hosted by UConn in Mansfield, CT. The next day, a cold and windy Sunday morning, the criterium took place on the Stafford Springs motor speedway. Margaret Conley ’18 placed 5^th in the women’s C road race and 7^th in the criterium. (For collegiate racing, racers are organized into letter categories, with the most advanced riders in A and beginner riders in E. Higher categories race longer distances, and riders can move between categories as they gain experience.)

The next weekend, the team participated in a CBB ride with members of the Bates and Colby cycling teams, going for a nice ride in the Lewiston area with beautiful views. That Sunday, two intrepid cyclists braved the cold early morning temperatures to ride in the Scarborough criterium, a local race that takes place just south of Portland. Daniel Strodel ’20 placed 32^nd in the men’s race and Margaret Conley ’18 placed 4^th in the women’s race.

Although the weather forecast was discouraging, four racers headed up to Dartmouth the weekend of April 14^th for the aptly titled L’Enfer du Nord race. After a wet individual time trial on Saturday morning, Daniel Strodel ’20 and Sam Roussel ’21 raced in the men’s D criterium on an exciting course down frat row, with an 11^th place finish for Daniel. Margaret Conley ’18 was poised for a top finish in her race before being involved in a crash during the final sprint, but thankfully suffered no serious injuries. Andrew Moore ’21 had a great race in men’s E, placing 4^th. The road race for Sunday was cancelled due to forecasts of freezing rain.

Finally, Margaret, Sam, and Andrew headed to western Massachusetts for the ECCC Championships race the weekend of April 21^st. They completed a challenging road race on Saturday, climbing over 3000 feet in just 30 miles, including steep grades and a dirt section. Margaret stuck with a small breakaway group to place 3^rd in women’s C. Sam placed 36^th in the men’s D race, and Andrew placed 3^rd in men’s E. The beautiful weather continued for the criterium on Sunday, which took place along the Connecticut River in Turners Falls, MA. Sam placed 26^th in men’s D after a valiant effort. Margaret placed 2^nd in the women’s C field, and Andrew placed first in his field. It was a great weekend overall, with several podium finishes earning major points for the team and the first (and last) warm weather of the season!

Thanks to Bowdoin Safety and Security, who generously donated two used road bikes to the club over the winter, we were able to provide a bike for a new racer this spring. We are excited to keep growing the team to include both beginners and experienced riders. And we didn’t stop there – several team members competed in the Polar Bear Triathlon on May 5^th!

In our second race of the season, Bowdoin Cycling competed at the Easterns Championship this past weekend, April 22-23. Hosted by Brown University and RISD, the races took place in Scituate and Charlestown, RI. The weekend started off cold and wet on Saturday with a road race around the Scituate reservoir. The course included a few sections of dirt road and a covered bridge. Conditions deteriorated quickly when it started raining, leaving both our riders and our bikes dirty and wet. Alexander Truitt ’19 finished strong in 5^th in Men’s D, and Margaret Conley ’18 battled through to place 8^th in Women’s C. Boyang Zhang placed 44^th in Men’s D after a difficult first lap.

Sunday was a major improvement in weather, with sunny skies and relatively warm temperatures. We raced on a course designed for bicycles in Ninigret Park, RI, a flat loop with lots of corners and a good tail wind on one side plus a challenging head wind on the finish stretch. Alexander placed 12^th in the Men’s D criterium in a large group sprint to the finish. Boyang started strong but suffered a flat in the middle of the race, unfortunately putting him out of the running. Margaret placed 4^th in Women’s C, also earning points in a prime lap. This was a great weekend for the Cycling Team, and Alexander placed 4^th in the overall standings for Men’s D. Though our season this spring was shortened by bad weather, we had a great time and we were proud to represent Bowdoin in the ECCC (Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference).

After a difficult start to the season, with our April 1-2 race cancelled due to a snow storm, the Cycling Team had a great first race the weekend of April 15-16. We drove to West Point, NY for the Army Spring Classic, hosted by USMA. Saturday was the road race, with great weather and a beautiful course including a long climb, views of mountains and lakes, and several roundabouts. Alexander Truitt ’19 made an exciting first place finish in Men’s D in a 28 mile race, earning major points for the team, while Boyang Zhang ’17, also in Men’s D, finished strong in 58^th. Margaret Conley ’18 raced in Women’s C and placed 9^th in a 4   2 mile race.

On Sunday, we raced in a technical but fun criterium at Shea Stadium on the USMA campus, with great views of the Hudson River. Adding to the excitement were a few trains passing by on tracks that ran right alongside the course. In Men’s D, Alexander again placed 1^st after a finish-line sprint, and also earned points in a prime lap, while Boyang finished 32^nd. Margaret came in 9^th in the Women’s C race. Overall, the weekend was a strong start to the season.

Women’s C rounding the corner in the Army criterium.

Turners Falls criterium: the Connecticut River.

Margaret Conley ’18 cresting the hill in the Turners Falls criterium.

The Cycling Club had a great 2016 season. We traveled to three races last spring, including L’Enfer du Nord (hosted by Dartmouth and UVM), the Army Spring Classic (hosted by USMA), and the ECCC Championships (hosted by UMass Amherst and MIT). We started the season in early April with a chilly hill climb and criterium on Dartmouth’s campus, followed by a beautiful road race in Burlington, VT, with views of Lake Champlain. The next weekend, Army hosted a tough road race in Harriman State Park, NY, where we tackled long climbs and saw many lakes, as well as a criterium around Shea Stadium, where riders were occasionally passed by a train on nearby tracks. We ended the season with a memorable road race featuring difficult climbs (4,000 feet of climbing in 40 miles for the C category!), exciting descents, and some challenging dirt roads in Western Mass, followed by beautiful weather and a steep hill for an exciting criterium in Turners Falls alongside the Connecticut River. After competing in individual time trials, road races, and criteriums, Bowdoin had several top 10 finishes in the women’s C category, making points for the team, and we hope to have more top finishes and increase our presence in races this coming spring.

The cycling team had a big weekend at Yale with the most riders in a collegiate race (6 total) and the most ECCC points scored in at least the last 5 years if not ever! Saturday consisted of a mostly uphill time trial up East Rock in New Haven. The weather turned for the worse about halfway through and it rained hard straight until the last few laps of the final race of the day. The best results for Bowdoin in this event that is hard to train for around Brunswick was from Yas with a 6th place in the women’s B Race. Saturday afternoon was a short crit like circuit race that ended with a finishing spur that climbed East Rock again. It was cold as balls and a little bit slippery but we all made it through all right with the exception of Yas’s rear wheel. Notable results came from morgan with a top 20 in the Men’s A race and Duncan and Luke finishing 14th in the Men’s D and Men’s C races respectively. Saturday night for the Bowdoin Cycling team consisted of eating about 1/2 a large pizza apiece at Modern Pizza in New Haven (its really good and somewhat famous) and then passing out around 8:30. Sunday, fortunately, had sunny skies but it was still brisk and windy for the criterium. The Men’s D race was the highlight of the weekend for Bowdoin, with Nick, Duncan and JB taking 4th, 5th and 7th respectively in some exciting team tactics and good timing. All told it was a sweet weekend with some good racing!

PS- honorable mention to Luke who has a date with a hot West Point female cyclist for next weekend.

Morgan, Luke, Lukes Brother and I went down and represented Bowdoin Cycling at the Scarborough Training Crit on Sunday. Besides taking 4 of 8 primes, Morgan with the A race stage win and me with 4th place in the B race we also made it on to youtube,