--- Forwarded message from "DeFrancis, Christopher" ---
>From: "DeFrancis, Christopher"
>To: "'Amy.L.Wallace@Dartmouth.EDU'"
>Subject: RE: dartmouth cycling
>Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 11:41:55 -0400
Hi Amy,
I'm glad you e-mailed. Here's a little description of what things were like in the old days (I am an '89). You should feel free to rewrite, edit, etc. When I was at Dartmouth, the "cycling team" was really loose assortment of licensed bike racers (some cat 2s, some cat 3s, a few cat4s, mostly guys). The cycling club, one of the DOC clubs, got a little money each year that we used for gas to get to races. We used the ski teams vans (a bunch of us were nordic skiers) to get to races, piling bikes up in the ski boxes. During my sophomore summer a group of us got a little more organized and convinced Omer & Bob's to sponsor us (they picked up race entry fees and gave us gear at cost). We had jerseys made by a local guy who rode with Sunapee that had "Omer & Bob's" plastered all over them (and Dartmouth across the chest and back). I think I only had two, so I washed them a lot in order to train in the valley in them every day.
I'm sure I am leaving people out, but I recall riding and racing mostly with the following group: Karl Goetze ('88), Phil Schumm ('88), Steve Hochman ('88), Pat Geirsch ('89), Deanna Emberley (spelling?) ('89), Matthew Weatherly-White ('87 or '88), David Goran ('88), Dawn Farmer ('88). Chris Bailey, who was an '89 but took a little extra time to graduate, left Dartmouth to ride as a pro. I don't remember the details, but I think he rode in Europe, and in the U.S. with Coors Light and then with Crest (the toothpaste). We trained along the same routes I'm sure you use. Easy rides of varying distances up and down Routes 5 and 10 (aren't the first three bridges approximately 10, 20, and 30 miles up the river?); climbing on Sharon Hill (multiple times for a great climbing workout); long rides heading from Sharon up to Tunbridge). Moosilauke and back was about the longest training ride I can remember (at 100 miles). One summer we motor paced up and down Route 10 using Pat's old Subaru hatchback with the hatch open and Phil driving. That was insane! We were regulars at the Claremont points race every Tuesday night (I think) and at the Thursday night time trial which went from the parking lot of an old restaurant about three miles up Route 5 (I forget the name) to the motorcycle dealer in Thetford, and back. I think it was a twelve mile time trial.
In terms of races, we rode in very few college races (Williams and WPI come to mind), and pretty much stuck with the New England USCF season. We headed down to New Jersey once for some big crit; I can't remember the name. There was a criterium in Concord, NH, that we did every year. It was one of the few races where we really rode as a team. Pat had gotten off the front with another rider and developed a pretty good gap. Phil and I spent the rest of the race riding at the front of the pack, gently braking before corners, easing up on the slight incline out of the first turn, and chasing down would-be attackers. The race announcer (who announced just about every race I every entered) noticed the teamwork and began commenting on it for the rest of the race. Pat eventually won in a sprint with his fellow leader. We split up the prize money and bought a lot of beer. Pat was quite a rider. He went from cat 4 (there was no cat 5 then) to cat 2 in one season, and at the 1988 Maine/NH district road race (held on graduation day for the class of '88), he finished second or third to make it to nationals (which was also olympic trials that year). I finished in seventh at that race, two places away from qualifying. I those years there was also a wonderful stage race in Killington at that time. The prologue was an 8 mile time trial up the access road to the base lodge, with road races through the mountains there (with lots of climbing) and a crit in Rutland. My personal claims to fame included a second place finish at the prologue at Killington as a cat 3, and a third place finish overall, and a win (my only one) as a cat 4 at a points race held in Salem, Mass. (It figures that the only race I every won, I didn't get to cross the line with my hands up. I knew I had won before the final sprint from the announcement of point totals and didn't sprint the final to avoid a crash).
Well, I'm sure that's a lot more than you wanted to know. Nostalgia got the better of me. It was a delight to see you and the other Dartmouth riders in Noho on Friday. You should think about organizing an alumni ride (taking it easy on us, of course) around the reunion times each year. I would even volunteer to help organize something next year, which will be my fifteenth.
Best regards,
Chris
Christopher A. DeFrancis
Counsel
MassMutual Financial Group
413.226.1058
fax 413.226.2058
cdefrancis@massmutual.com