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Team History
Earliest History (race pictures)Courtesy of Dan Dimancescu '64 (Here) are a number of photos of a Dartmouth-hosted race in 1963 that ran north along the Conn Rvr then up Thetford Hill from Union Village covered bridge down to Thetford, up to Orford then back down on the NH side. The final sprint against Princeton's John Allis (rt) and Oscar Swan (middle) was won be me on left. Some of the teams included in the Dartmouth race were; Dartmouth, Princeton, Williams, University of Connecticut, one more (?). Also - my compliments to all of you for the great races you are running. I hope it's still as fun as it was in 60's though quite makeshift in our time - no spare wheels little money for travel, jerseys, etc). Click on the links for full sized images.  A race at Princeton: They may have won the weekend, but Dimancescu won the race. Early History at a GlanceCourtesy of Michael Roy '80 (mlroy@hsdwdc.co) First Five years: 6 team championships; 5 individual champions
Birth (or Rebirth) of Dartmouth Cycling Team Here's how the team was formed: I was a member of class of 1980. My freshman trip to Moosilauke in August 1976 was one of the first freshmen bike trips. Chris Harris '80 was on my trip. We were both interested in racing, but were pretty green-- no experience at all in USCF events, just "citizens" races. One of our trip leaders, whose name I forget, was a Cat 1. One thing led to another and we had a team in the spring of 1977. Officially, the team was a part of the bicycling club which in turn was part of Cabins and Trails. As far as we knew then, Dartmouth had not had a cycling team prior to that. We were very fortunate to have at Dartmouth a national class cyclist, Tom Officer '74. Tom had returned to Dartmouth after taking extensive time off to pursue competitive cycling in U.S. and Europe, and was one of the top U.S. amateurs of his era, twice finishing second in the US championship road race (1974 and 1975), and having raced in the major amateur races in Europe, including two world championship races on U.S. team. Tom was very encouraging to even the most novice cyclists on the team, and was our de facto team leader/captain/coach. 1977 Ivy Champs The 1977 Eastern/Ivy championship race was hosted by U Penn. We entered the race having done just 2-3 other races, if I recall correctly. Tom Officer lost the sprint to a rider from West Point to finish second in the A race (his only "loss" in a college event). I don't recall the rider's name, but he was one of the top amateur U.S. riders for a time after that. Chris Harris and I finished in the bunch in the B race. 1978 - Repeat as Ivy Champs  In 1978, the Ivy championship was hosted by Yale, and we again won the Ivy championship. We didn't ride the separate Eastern Championship race. Tom Officer won the Ivy A race, his final college race. Here's a photo of the team hoisting the Ivy Cup after the race: Front row (left to right): Chris Bryan '79; Dave Kahler '81; Dave May '80. Back: Alfie Alvarez '79 (our #1 fan); Doug Bangs '80; Mike Roy '80; Chris Harris '80; Tom Officer '74; Mark Smith, (Tuck/Thayer '78); _____________ (Tuck/Thayer '78); Dale Rodgers, fencing coach; Ben Crocker, '79; Elliot Scott, '80; and (barely visible) Doug Arions '79. One memorable thing about the '78 race was the dinner the night before, when the parents of Chris Bryan put the entire team up at their house in New Canaan, CT, and served a feast of garlic spaghetti and chicken. Every time I eat garlic spaghetti I think of that dinner. 1979 - Dartmouth Hosts Eastern/Ivy Championship Race; Second in East; Ivy Threepeat The championship race was at Dartmouth in 1979. It began and ended in front of College Hall. Chris Bryan, who did not compete after '78, did a bang-up job organizing the race. (Chris's father, who had prepared our pre-race dinner in 1978, traveled to Dartmouth to do it again.) The course was a 19-mile loop north along the river, back around across the hills through Etna, then down into the eastern side of Hanover, into the center of town and up to the Green. Three of our four A riders had graduated, including Tom Officer, but we finished better than ever -- first in the Ivy League, and second in the Eastern Colleges, only one point behind the winner. Dave May and I were on the A team and were the team co-captains. The other A riders were Doug Bangs '80 and Tim Kelley '79, both nordic skiers. Doug was the first finisher for Dartmouth, winning the Ivy League title. Dave and I finished with a small group -- I think I captured 13th place -- with Tim Kelley ahead of us. Dave and I used some team tactics, trying to beat out the strongest rider in our chase group for the 12th place spot, to no avail. (The race was so close that had either of us gotten that spot, the team would have won the Eastern title.) There was a big bunch sprint for the B race, and it took some time to sort out the placings, which left some teams grumbling. Jesse Pelton '80 had a high finish in the B race, as did Chris Harris.  April 1980 Dartmouth Alumni Magazine cover showing the 1979 Championship race at Dartmouth. Doug Bangs '80 is in the chase group (in green jersey with DOC patch) on his way to winning the Ivy Championship. 1980 - We Capture Eastern and Ivy Titles In 1980 the title race was at Princeton. The A team was the same, except that I moved to the B team because we had a freshman, Gray Mercer (a downhill skier), who was just plain better than me. I crashed and didn't finish the B race, but it didn't matter to the team's great outcome. Dave May won the Ivy League title, and Dartmouth won not just the Ivy title but the Eastern title as well, for the first time. 1981 - Ivy Fivepeat Cycling was a club sport with loose rules for eligibility, and from 1979-1981 we had a top female rider who attended Dartmouth as a transfer student every spring and she pretty much cleaned up in every race. Her name was Betsy Frazier. I don't recall whether she won a championship before 1981, but in that year, having graduated, I got to see Betsy win the women's race with a long solo breakaway as I drove the lead car (Doug Bangs' VW beetle) for the race. The race was at Dartmouth, began and ended on the Green, and each 10-mile lap went up Balch Hill (5X - A race; 3X - B race; 2 X - women's race). Dave May (who served as race director), Doug Bangs and Gray Mercer rode again in the 1981 race. Doug was way off form and way off the back. I can't remember how Dave did, but he didn't repeat top honors as in 1980. Other riders in 1981 included Ed Biddle, Tim Costello, Stuart Craig, Dan Gilman, Peter Goebels, Dave Kahler, Jeff Lamb, Brett LeCompte, Don Skantze (another nordic skier), Doug Thayer, Mike Vitiek, Carlotta Brelsford, and Viva Hadigg. The race in May 1981 was the last time I saw Doug Bangs. Sadly, Doug died in 1984 in a fishing accident in Alaska. Miscellany Our bikes were made of steel; our clothing, wool. Toe clips and straps held our feet to the pedals, and we were limited to 12 speed, non-indexed downtube shifters. Training rides began at a set time in front of College Hall daily, usually at 2:00 p.m. (On occasion we barely made the close of Thayer Dining Hall at 7.) Most rides were 2-4 hours long. We mostly rode north on 10, then crossed the river at some point, and then either rode south on 5 or rode further west and then south on other roads (e.g., through Fairlee, Strafford, South Royalton, Sharon, etc.). Other routes included the "Mount Cube" route (north to Orford, then east and south over and around Mount Cube, then south to Canaan). My personal favorite rides were those around South Royalton, especially over Mount Chelsea, or around Lake Fairlee, because these routes were scenic and hilly. Training rides included lots of pace lines (I remember that these were killers, and that if it rained we pretty much just got in a rotating pace line and went as fast as possible to get it over with), and sprints at certain road signs (e.g., Orford town line). We sometimes had over 15 people riding together. One race I remember fondly was a cyclocross race that was hosted by Tom Officer on his farm after he'd graduated, so probably fall 1978. (He kept in touch and trained with us throughout my time at Dartmouth.) Tom obtained USCF sanctioning for this race, the "Tour de Manure," an apt title. It wasn't a college race, though it was a mostly Dartmouth affair. It was the most fun race I ever entered, probably for the uniqueness of it (the only race where I had to dismount and climb over a stone wall, and in fact the only cyclocross race I had ever seen). This was back before mountain bikes were invented. All of my former teammates whom I am in contact with still ride, though few race. One who has returned to racing in masters races is Tom Officer, who is also a team sponsor of the Richard Sachs Team. http://www.richardsachs.com/articles/cybc0405press.html (Interestingly, if you look closely at Doug Bangs' bike in the Alumni Magazine cover shown above you'll see it's a Richard Sachs. I think he might have bought it from Tom.) Tim Kelley does some mountain bike races, though he primarily does nordic ski races, such as the Susitna 100 race in Alaska. http://www.fasterskier.com/training.php?id=917 Some of us are now bicycle commuters. Here's my article from the Daily Peloton website about how I went from "cyclist" to bike commuter: http://www.dailypeloton.com/michaelroy.asp . These days my favorite rides are on my Green Gear Family Tandem with my eight-year old son. Chris Harris also commutes, and he also cheered the Dartmouth cycling team on in the spring 2004 race in Medford/Sommerville, Mass. More Recent Team History The 2003 Squad poses on the Green with the Coveted Ivy Cup.  A rowdy Cycling team clusters around the coveted Ivy Cup (with other assorted trophies in background) while Todd attempts to lure passing insects into his mouth. (back row, l to r: Linden, Brayton Osgood '03, Dave Morse '03, Mike Barton Th '04, Tim Clement '05, Kristina Eaton '04, Todd Yezefski '04, Cosmo Catalano ' 04; foreground: Amy Wallace '04 and Steve Weller '05. |
