The team drove down to New Haven, CT for Yale's Lux et Velocitas. Yale has been known to put on a good race weekend and the team was excited to get some more racing in the legs in preparation for our own home race weekend at L'Enfer du Nord this Saturday. We had a huge crew out for the weekend, with many people racing their bikes for the first time. If you haven't gotten the chance to introduce someone to bike racing I suggest you try it! Chris McMillan, Laurie King, and Noam Rosenthal all had a tremendously successful first weekends with the team!
For early spring season racing, it's hard to ask for a better weekend. Saturday's ITT was a four-mile grunt uphill with about 500 feet of climbing to the top of East Rock Park. It hurt a lot. But it's definitely the good kind of hurt when you feel like the form is starting to come around.
The afternoon circuit race was to follow, which amounted to a brutally fun combination of climbing and descending. The course was very technical, and included some tight corners on the flat and climbing sections, along with some wicked fun switchbacks and pro-feeling descents on the backside of East Rock Park. Hard race.
And boy did the results come in. When Will Boylston caught me (gaining 45 seconds on me in the time trial) I knew he had a good shot at the win and he came away with it in Men's B. Carsten Hansen also came away with an ITT win in Men's D. Ellen and Rosalie both brought strong 5th and 2nd place to the women's B field. Strong finishes all around the team with a lot of points scored. The circuit race brought some strong finishes, with Carsten doubling up with a long solo breakaway on the last lap to win in Men's D. Will Boylston was noted in Men's B for driving the peloton up the climbs and sitting in to save energy throughout. At the end of an hour and a half of racing, he saw a lone MIT rider who had been sitting solo off of the front for three laps. Slamming the chain all the way down the cassette, Will began the fiercest sprint he could muster and bore down on the unsuspecting MIT racer. With a surprise come-from-behind attack, Will took an exciting win in Men's B right at the finish line, securing the team's second "King of the Mountains" jersey for the weekend. The Men's C contingent would have performed better were it not for a miscommunication concerning the lap cards for the finish.
After a good night at our trusty Econolodge, we woke up again for the criterium racing on Sunday. The course was pretty flat with a lot of broken pavement. The corners could be scary at times, but a lot of our racers persevered. Daniel Holmdahl, after a day frustrated by mechanicals and strategic mistakes, came out with a vengeance and crushed Men's C to win solo off of the front. Other great results included a 4th place for Ben Grass in a super fast Men's A Crit, and Chris McMillan winning his first ever race in Men's Intro! Way to go!
We're back in Hanover, enjoying the weather and training up a storm. This weekend we host hundreds for L'Enfer du Nord. Come to Hanover and cheer us on, and race your bike!
ride bikes fast
Results
Ben Grass - 15th - MA ITT
Will Boylston - 1st - MB ITT
Rosalie Lipfert - 2nd - WB ITT
Ellen Anderson - 5th - WB ITT
Carsten Hansen - 1st - MD ITT
Chris McMillan - 2nd - MI ITT
Noam Rosenthal - 4th - WI ITT
Ben Grass - 4th - MA Crit
Rosalie Lipfert - 10th - WB Crit
Daniel Holmdahl - 1st - MC Crit
Nick Wimer - 4th - MC Crit
Trevor Nibbi - 7th - MC Crit
Chris McMillan - 1st - MI Crit
Will Boylston - 1st - MB RR
Carsten Hansen - 1st - MD RR
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