First Race of 2014: ECCC at Bard and RPI

On the start line of the Bard Campus Crit

South Carolina is starting to feel like a long time ago.  The couple of weeks following the training camp included a lot of sleep and a lot of school work, which caused a significant break from the bike.  Not that it wasn't needed, it's left me eager to get back to work now that the early season racing calendar is in full swing.

First up was McGill Cycling's 2014 debut in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC).  For those unfamiliar with the ECCC, it's one of the eleven regional conferences that make up USA Cycling Collegiate, and they are friendly enough to open their races to schools north of the boarder.  These races are the highlight of McGill Cycling's year, and the first one took place at Bard University and RPI, both in the upstate New York region.

After classes on Friday evening, the seven McGill racers met up with their gear in hand and, after a quick game of bike packing Tetris in the back of Phil's Rav4, took off for the US .  These weekends always involve early mornings as all the lower categories have their races before the A group in the afternoons.  I don't mind hanging around the race course though; it's fun to watch your teammates race, take in the festive atmosphere and chat with racers from other schools.  Sometimes we even make friends.

Saturday was a criterium, a type of bike race that features many laps around a short loop and usually only lasts around an hour.  It's spectator friendly, and Bard had a great course.

I didn't have a set plan going into the race, but I started in the front row and felt eager to race aggressively.  After some attacks on the first few laps left the field strung out but gave me no separation, I was able to make it into the day's breakaway by using a smart tactic by Northeastern University team to my advantage.  They sent one of their riders up the road into the headwind while their two others sat at the front of the bunch to block and cover bridging attempts.  Before anyone was too organized I jumped away into the wind with one RPI rider on my wheel and we rode across to the lone escapee.  After some hard riding the pack finally gave up its chase and we were joined by two more riders (one MIT, one Queens) and I knew the winning break was established.

Leading the breakaway over a small hill on course

It was great to be racing again (I might actually have been enjoying myself a bit too much) and our group of five rolled around the course fast enough that we actually ended up lapping the field.  While I was feeling pretty confident in my chances before regrouping with the pack, once we were all together my breakaway companions got a chance to recover some snap in their legs and things began to get more complicated.  Attacks started to fly and with only two laps to go I missed out on the winning move.  Three riders from the earlier break got away in a group that included fresher legs from the main pack and I was left to roll in twelve seconds behind and take fourth place.  I really want to win an ECCC race before graduating this spring, and don't have a lot of races left to do it.  I might look back on this criterium as a missed opportunity, but being my first race of the year the important things were that I had fun, assessed my fitness, and got back in the swing of things.

The following day we were supposed to be treated to an awesome road race loop but the event had to be cancelled as there was too much ice on course.  Instead RPI organized an individual time trial on some clear roads to replace the road race.

I wasn't expecting to do a time trail that afternoon, and thus didn't have some of the gear I would normally have, but time trails are something I want to keep improving this season, so I welcomed this race as an early season opportunity to get back in the time trialing mindset.  I rode a solid effort over the 11 mile course, but had a tough time sustaining my effort in the second half of the race as the pain built up in the legs.  I ended up taking sixth place knowing that I had more in the tank but struggled mentally to maintain the intensity.  My next race will be a time trial at MIT, and my number one goal will be to push myself further into the red zone get a 100% effort out of my body.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

And for those that want to receive email notifications whenever I publish a new post, I've added a sign up option on the right hand side of this page.

Starting the Season off in South Carolina

High point of the week: the top of Blue Ridge Parkway, NC

Now that I've gotten several nights of solid sleep under my belt, I've fully recovered from McGill Cycling's recent training camp in South Carolina and decided to start this blog by sharing a bit about the week.  Over the past few years this camp has provided me with some of my best cycling experiences, and this recent trip was no different. It was my third year participating in the training camp, and my second year organising it.  In total we were nineteen riders, fourteen being McGill Cyclists, the others special guests.  I was really happy that two of my Nova Scotian teammates from last season, Tyler D’Arcy and Mitchell MacDonald, were able to make the trip with us.  

In an effort to keep these posts on the shorter side so they’re quick and easy to read, I’ll share some of the trip's highlights.  Firstly, our accommodations were spectacular.  We had a giant lake house with picturesque views, a large kitchen and living spaces, and comfortable beds which were much appreciated during a hard week of riding.  On a whole the weather was a bit on the colder side compared to previous years, but on our first few days we were greeted with temperatures in the 20°C range and plenty of riders took the chance to start developing some early season tan lines.  This was by far the fittest and fastest group McGill Cycling has taken down to South Carolina over the past few years, and it lead to some lively rides featuring plenty of racing to the tops of hills and the occasional town sign sprint (lead outs powered by Mitchell MacDonald).  My favourite rides include both days we tackled the famous Caesar’s Head climb and descended the backside into North Carolina for some riding on small scenic roads.  And of course there was the absolutely epic ride we did through the Smokey Mountains. It totalled 170km and just over 4000m of climbing, a new record for me!  Check out the ride details here: http://app.strava.com/activities/119066222

However, the best part of the trip might not even be the riding.  Being able to spend a large chunk of time with my friends and teammates is something I really appreciate, and it strengthens us as a group as we get ready for the racing and riding season.  Sometime I'll write more about the McGill Cycling team, everything it's done for me, and the amazing people that compose it, but for now I'll just say that I'm really happy that I was able to give back by planning a successful camp for everyone to enjoy during their spring breaks.

All in all it was a great vacation away from school, and a perfect week of training to give my fitness a boost before we kick off the 2014 racing season.  As mentioned in the blog description, this should be a big season for me (more info to come!) and I'll be sharing race reports, training tales and various other content so those who are interested can follow along.

For now I'm going to continue to keep trying to juggle training for elite level cycling with weekend race trips and the workload that comes with the final semester of a McGill Mechanical Engineering degree.   Speaking of which, I think I've got some homework to get back to.  Thanks for reading!

Group ride ending just before sunset in South Carolina