Dartmouth Cycling Wiki | Races / Army 2007

Eric Schildge’s Race Report

Saturday, April 14th:

This weekend the Dartmouth Cycling Team braved the ominous forecast and headed down to West Point, NY for the Army Spring Classic.

Much to our delight, we noticed that our plush accommodations at the Days Inn in Newburgh, NY came with a 20% discount at the 24 hour diner down the hill. Before bed, some of the team trekked down to the diner to fill up on some delicious waffles, omelets and milkshakes.

The next morning was cold, clear and windy. Dartmouth put together four strong teams for the TTT, and made the most out of the two laps of the hilly course. Highlights of the morning were the Men’s and Women’s A Teams, resplendent in their new Rudy Project Time Trial Helmets, finishing 2nd and 4th, respectively.

Next up was the Road Race. The temperature warmed up throughout the day, but the wind continued to blow across the parking lot as the team warmed up. The course, one of the most renowned in the country, was a challenging fourteen mile loop through Harriman State Park. The race started with a long fast descent where racers reached speeds in excess of 50 mph. At the bottom of the hill was a sharp 180 degree turn that led into the major climb. From there the course climbs for about 3 miles, and then rolls through the park, looping back around to a gradual climb up to a fast, downhill sprint finish.

Dartmouth had substantial representation in many of the fields, and everyone raced well. Sally Smith and Laura Nielson scored some valuable points in the women’s B field, while Darrel Hoy and Paul Salipante made their presence known in the Men’s Bs. Lauren Gifford hung tough in the women’s intro field, even without Coach Todd’s presence to spurn her up the climbs. Aaron Swenson, Mike Gleeson and Eric Kaufman raced valiantly in the men’s D field, while Newman gave his all in the 80 rider men’s C field. In the Women’s A field, Jen showed her fitness in a grueling race, finishing a strong fourth; powering away from some of the strongest women in the ECCC.

Forty-two racers lined up for the Men’s A race, and by the time we hit the first climb, Nick Frey was at the front setting a steady tempo. As the race ground on, riders were steadily dropped. Rudy put in an early attack with Bucknell’s, Michael Chauner, and they managed to stay away from the top of the climb to the base of the finishing stretch. After Rudy was caught, we tried our hand in an attack on the second lap that featured some of the strongest riders in the field. That move was not to be, as it was steadily reeled in with the help of BU’s Colin Murphy, at the front of the pack. Not to be deterred Rudy and I hung near the front, and when the pace picked up again on the third climb, the field was shattered, and Rudy and I found ourselves in a group of ten. That’s the way it would stay for most of the rest of the race. On the second to last lap, Rudy slipped off the back of the group, but held on to his place to finish tenth at the line.

When the nine of us reached the finishing climb Dan Cassidy and Peter Horn launched a flurry of attacks in an attempt to escape before the downhill sprint. By the time we came into the final kilometer, it was all together. That was when Ben Showman (USMA) launched a surprise attack up the right side that nearly caught the field by surprise. The sprint was on, and in the end, it was Nick Frey who caught Showman by inches, followed closely by Michael Chauner for 3rd and me for 4th.

All in all a successful day; we were glad to have favorable weather because the next day’s forecast looked threatening, indeed.

Sunday race report by Lauren Gifford

Army, Sunday West Point, NY

With weather reports for Sunday all predicting snow, rain and high winds, half the team left for home Saturday with a crew of five masochists and one coach staying behind to race the ITT hill climb and crit on Sunday. The rain wasn’t too bad at the bottom of the hill climb for the five starters and four finishers (a mechanical prevented Erik T. Newman from riding more than 20 feet past the start). The 2.9 mile hill climb was pretty steep, with points reaching a 12 percent grade. Mens D riders Aaron Swenson and Eric Kaufman powered to the top placing 17th and 30th, respectively. The two faced the real pain, however, on the decent as they were pelted with hale and tossed around in high winds. Rudy Awerbuch came in 4th place in the Mens A field with a time of 10:56, just 41 seconds behind the first place finisher, and scored 57 points. With a time twice that of Rudy’s, Women’s C rider Lauren Gifford also finished 4th in her field (out of 6), scoring 15 points. For their excellent effort (and Lauren’s fear of riding down a huge hill in the rain), Coach Todd and a congenial Erik T. Newman were waiting at the top with a warm car to give Lauren and Rudy a ride down. Sorry D Men…

Later in the day the weather for the crit was what could be described as “really bad.” Still, Newman and Lauren raced their crits with Newman, Mens C, riding strong, with an odd sort-of attack at four laps to go, and finishing in 18th place. Lauren came in last in her crit after dropping her chain and falling to the back of the non-existent pack, citing “safety reasons.” Because of the small turn out, Lauren still scored 8 points for Dartmouth. Notably, at the conclusion of their races, both Newman and Lauren were almost crying from the pain of their freezing hands.

The ride home was treacherous but thanks to Aaron, his wife Tina, daughter Kate and cute dog, all the bikes, trainers and bags made it home safely in the back of the U-Haul. Thanks Aaron!

Aside from the less than ideal weather, the West Point campus is really beautiful and the crit was right on the Hudson River, which was spectacular. Finally, a few lessons learned from Sunday’s races: Someone should always bring at least one umbrella, Eric Kaufman may have already peaked as a cyclist, and, finally, if you leave trash in the back of Lauren’s car you will get a stern, yet serious, e-mail from Rudy.