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 5th in Men’s D, and Margaret Conley ’18 battled through to place 8th in Women’s C. Boyang Zhang placed 44th 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 12th 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 4th in Women’s C, also earning points in a prime lap. This was a great weekend for the Cycling Team, and Alexander placed 4th 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).