Mid-season Update

Quite a bit has transpired since the last entry was made about proper preparations for a successful ECCC weekend. Here's a rundown:

The first weekend at Rutgers marked the opening of another ECCC road season. Despite a weather forecast that called for doom and gloom, 31 racers from Happy Valley suited up, loaded up, and descended upon central New Jersey with a ferocity unparalleled by any other team in the ECCC that weekend. When the spray settled and the points were totaled on Sunday after a very wet Men's A points race at Thompson Park in Jamesburg, NJ, Penn State Cycling stood atop the ECCC team omnium scoreboard with 209 points to second place MIT's 172.



Weekend number two was intended to be a split weekend, with Columbia University in New York City hosting a race in Manhattan on Saturday, and Stevens Institute of Technology hosting a road race on the Jersey side of the Delaware Water Gap on Sunday. Unfortunately, mother nature felt like throwing a big wrench into the plans for the weekend, with multiple inches of rain falling on the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania on Thursday and Friday.

While the weather cleared by late on Friday, the significant amounts of rainfall had led to a partial inundation of the Stevens road race course, which ran parallel to and was level with the Delaware River at certain points. Thus, it was announced at midnight on Friday that Stevens had no choice but to cancel what would have been an otherwise spectacular road race through the beautiful scenery of the Delaware Water Gap.


The deluge from the heavens was not enough to shut down the show for Columbia University's Grant's Tomb criterium event in Manhattan, where there was plenty of sunny weather and dry pavement to be found. Strong performances from Wyatt Stoup (2nd in Men's A), Lauren Shirock (2nd Women's A), Jessica Kutz (5th Women's A & multiple prime points), Kevin McGuire (Men's B), Jonathan Cochrane (solo breakway in Men's C), and the rest of the Penn State squad solidified yet another team omnium victory over MIT.

Weekend number three, at least for as long as I have been racing in the ECCC, has traditionally been occupied by the Philly Phlyer, and this year was no different. While the weather was neither wet nor warm as it has been in years past, it was reasonable and definitely prime for an awesome day of racing. Saturday began with the first TTT of the season; nearly every TTT team that Penn State fielded managed at least a 4th place finish or better that morning.


Immediately following the TTT was the infamous Schuylkill Scrambler circuit race. As usual, the strong headwinds on the river flat section served to shatter the legs of many that day, those who were able to conserve their power and work the wind to their advantage were the ones who came out on top that day. In Men's A, Wyatt Stoup took 2nd and the field sprint; Lauren Shirock and Jessica Kutz worked together to nail down 3rd and 4th place in the Women's A race; Jonathan Cochrane lit a full book of matches on the Men's B field sprint and came away with second place; Adam Capatch brought home a 3rd place in Men's C, and Matt LaMonte snagged 6th in Men's D.



The Sunday morning light revealed a new beast known as the Temple Campus Crit: a fast and unforgiving course characterized by its potholes, trolley tracks, and the occasional rogue urbanite stumbling off the curb in front of the peloton. On first impression, it made many yearn for the smooth and safe pavement of last year's Naval Yard Crit. However, aforementioned hazards aside, it still proved to be a fast and fun course that favored those with superior handling skills, flat out power, and impeccable luck.



The various teams of the ECCC had to wait with bated breath to hear about the weekend results due to an upset in the scoring of the Men's A circuit race: UPenn racer Robin Carpenter was not actually a UPenn racer, but was discovered to be a student from Swarthmore instead. When the final results were released, it was determined that Penn State had come out on top once more, beating out MIT for the third straight weekend in a row, this time by 14 points. According to professional ECCC racer and Penn State grad, Ryan Smolko, that was a groundbreaking feat. Following a quick perusal through results dating back to 1999, he proclaimed that, "Penn State had never won three consecutive weekends, until now."

The release of results to the public also revealed something else: Wyatt Stoup happened to be in contention for the yellow jersey of the ECCC.


And that brings us to ECCC weekend number four at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who managed to jump through numerous political hoops in order to host their first race: The Tour de Troy.

Given that Penn State Cycling had brought home the big 'W' for three weekends in a row, the team set out on Friday afternoon in search of a fourth team omnium victory and the yellow jersey. Nearly two-dozen racers headed north into the Empire State. The forecast appeared brutal: clear, but cold and windy. In actuality, the race conditions proved to be downright abysmal, with temperatures dropping into the teens overnight and never cresting 34°F by midday. Wind chills were in the teens, and snowfall from the week before had left sand and gravel on much of the road surface; winds kicked the sand and dust into the eyes of numerous racers. Balaclavas, ski suits, and wind-blocking gloves were commonplace, and absolutely necessary in order to maintain mobility and stay warm throughout the race.

However, the arctic conditions were not enough to slow the blue and white steamroller from State College down. In the ITT, Wyatt Stoup (3rd Men's A), Joe Halo (2nd Men's C), Matt LaMonte (2nd Men's D) put in solid efforts that resulted in solid finishes.

The circuit race that followed the early morning ITT kicked it up a couple notches, with distances set much higher than the rest of the races in the season thus far. The entire loop was 7.5 miles long with very little shelter from the wind and enough climbing to test the legs of those crazy enough to compete; Men's A would do 7 laps, Men's B 6 laps, Men's C 5 laps, and Men's D would do 3 laps.



Wyatt Stoup, in an effort to snatch the yellow jersey, put forth a valiant effort in the circuit race, finishing 5th in the Men's A event. According to ECCC director Joe Kopena, last minute registrants managed to blow up the Men's C field to a total of 83 racers, which would normally result in a split field of C1 and C2. Unfortunately, it was deemed to be too late for a last-minute field-split as no extra pace cars could be found, and all 83 racers were released on course at once. This resulted in a large mass of inexperienced cannon fodder that was unable to negotiate small rollers successfully, popping many frustrated racers off the back of the pack as the field yo-yoed around the course. Men's C racer Adam Capatch still managed to make the most of the situation; he battled through the field and dropped the hammer on the final climb for a solo breakway that netted him a 1st place finish. In Men's D, Ian Bensco & Matt LaMonte finished in 5th and 6th, with Matt Drury in 8th.


The next day brought slightly better conditions for some, but not for all. The temperature at the start of Sunday's events was a balmy 20°F, which was enough to make one's hands go painfully numb by the end of a race. However, the winds had died down overnight and would not return until later in the afternoon, much to the dismay of those who had been tortured by the dust it kicked up the day before. Also, the course was beautiful, with wide streets and relatively smooth pavement. What had been predicted to be a technical course that would result in crashes ended up being a brutally fast one that tested the staying power of many racers.

In Men's D, Matt LaMonte led out teammate Ian Bensco to a 2nd place finish, Charlie Spanjers snagged 3rd in Men's C following the prime efforts of Andy Godish, and Mariano Garay put forth his best efforts in a messy Men's B race but was waylaid later by ongoing issues with sand in his eyes from the wind that plagued both Saturday and Sunday.



The Men's A race turned out to be the show of the day. Early on, Penn State racer Kevin McGuire jumped off the front for a solo breakway that strung out the field and prompted a sequence of breakaways that popped off regularly throughout the race. In the closing minutes, Robert Burnett from F&M managed to hang onto a solo break for several laps, however, he barely held off a hard-charging Kevin McGuire for the overall win. Not long after the first three crossed the line, the field rounded the last bend and laid eyes on the finish. At the head of the wave was the dynamic Penn State Frenchman, Arnaud Borner, with teammate and yellow-jersey contender Wyatt Stoup in tow. In an impressive display of baby-stomping power, Arnaud dropped the hammer and launched off the front, leaving the rest of the pack in his wake. At the line, Borner was edged out of the field sprint victory by a 'sketchy' racer from Queens, but still managed to hang to a 5th place finish, with Stoup 2 spots behind in 7th, and remaining Penn State A-racer Rodney Santiago in 12th.


Unfortunately, the efforts of the team were not enough to keep the winning streak afloat without any female racers to help bolster the scores of the men; a number of unfortunate events and illnesses kept many of the female contenders from Penn State home for the weekend.

While the team omnium win streak may have ended, the glory has not vacated the team; the collective efforts of Wyatt Stoup, Rodney Santiago, Kevin McGuire, and Arnaud Borner have helped push Wyatt into first place in the individual racer standings. Thus, the yellow ECCC jersey has returned home to Penn State for the first time in many years.

Photos by Zachary Repp - zacharyrepp.com

Confessions of a Downtube Shifter

March 21st, 2009. The day seemed innocuous enough, with the sun rising in the east, clear skies, and temperatures that were slowly making their way from downright cold to fairly tolerable. There I was, perched atop my steel-framed steed on the line of the Philly Phlyer D1 Circuit Race with 50 other D1 racers from the ECCC, wondering to myself, "What the hell am I doing here?"

I had plenty of reason for that thought. At that moment, I had never participated in a road race, much less a large group road ride. I was a mountain biker. Road riding? What a foreign concept. My bike, a 1990 Schwinn Traveler, was a rescued relic from the garage that I had dragged back to State College with me that semester in hopes of giving it a new lease on life. The lugged steel frame was an antique in comparison to the modern carbon and hydroformed aluminum frames on the bikes of other racers in the ECCC, but it was a complete road bike. Aside from a tuneup, new tires, and bartape, it was 97% the bike it was when it rolled out of the showroom in 1990, downtube shifters and all.


So, there I was on the line at the Philly Phlyer. On a bike nearly as old as I was, and I had not gotten much of a chance to warm up. Oh boy.

Less than a mile later, I was taken out of contention. A strong headwind coming off of the Schuylkill caused the pack to bunch up at the front, and with the combination of tight quarters and a low level of average experience, it didn't take much for good ol' Murphy to rear his head and wreak havoc. In this case, a rider from Columbia discovered that his training wheels had fallen off between the starting line and now, which caused him to subsequently lose his balance and careen into fellow Penn State rider, Steven Derkits. Gravity took the wheel from there, throwing bikes, bodies, bottles, and egos into a tumultuous heap that lay directly in my path.

Given that I had rather unintelligently positioned myself smack in the middle of the pack with riders on all sides, I was left with no choice but to clamp down hard on the binders and try to navigate around the mess ahead of me. The laws of physics were not on my side that morning; I locked up both wheels on the damp tarmac and slid uncontrollably into the mess of bodies and bikes.

As I picked both myself and my bike up, I found that I was in fine physical shape, but the bike was missing a several spokes from the front wheel, the bottle cage was tweaked, and the rear derailleur hanger had been bent out of alignment. I thought I was finished. However, after further inspection, I discovered that my tires still had air in them, and my wheels still spun, so I found my bottle, slapped it back in the cage, and jumped back on the saddle to finish the race I had begun. I managed to finish the race without getting lapped, not too bad.

While I came away from the circuit race with a few missing spokes and a bruised ego, I had gotten a good enough taste of road racing that fueled the desire to come back for more. After all, this was only the first day...

Sunday was the day of the criterium. The air was thick with an impervious foggy mist that managed to penetrate every last dry fiber of clothing on your body. It laid on the road only to be drawn back up through the contact patch of every 700x23 tire and flung into the eyes and mouths of many racers, including myself. Pedaller Bike Shop in Lansdale had managed to replace the missing spokes from my front wheel and true things back into shape. I had a bike again! My father had crammed a canopy into the back seat of his thousand dollar jalopy and brought it down for the team to huddle under between races. It was there, in the middle of the mist that race stories from the previous day were shared and nutella was eaten while the trainers hummed happily away.

Again, there I was, poised and as ready as I could be with 20 minutes of high-intensity suffering ahead.

And with the blow of a whistle from Joe Kopena, we were off. Immediately, there was road spray everywhere, covering my glasses to the point that I could barely see anything ahead of me. I slid my glasses down on my nose a hair to create a slit between them and my helmet so that I could still see, but keep most of the spray out of my eyes. 20 minutes, right? Alright.

Before long, the pack split into two groups. Riders from Penn State were scattered throughout the field. I made an attempt at bridging the gap with one or two other riders, but we were largely unsuccessful in doing so. It was probably for the best that we gave up, as a couple riders lost traction and slid out in the very next corner, causing a small pileup. At this point, I decided that I would play things a little safer and just try to finish the race with all my spokes intact, especially considering the miserable and treacherous conditions. Besides, I found that I was pretty blown up from my bridging attempt; it wasn't worth expending what little energy I had left at only the halfway point in the race. So, I decided to sit on a wheel or two until I got a little energy back in my expended legs.

While I never really did gain any of my strength back, I managed to hang on through the end of the race. I never gave up. When I rolled over the finish in a breathless sprint, I was soaked to the bone and my legs were killing me, but I also finished upright with my skin and spokes intact. I consider that a victory in it's own right.

I don't intend to frighten potential racers anticipating their very own entry into the madness that is the ECCC road circuit. Crashes happen and bikes break; Murphy happens. I'm not about to sugarcoat it for you and tell you it's all trophies and smiles. I'd rather tell the truth. However, these weekends are much, much more than just the sum of racing, suffering, and potentially miserable weather.

More than likely, you will walk away from an ECCC race weekend with a huge grin plastered on your face. You don't need to buy a fancy bike with all the gizmos and gadgets, either. Go ahead and dig out that old 80s road frame and give it a tuneup and new tires. It's all about throwing your inhibitions to the wind for a weekend and cramming yourself into a car with 4 bikes on the roof and people you may not know, jamming out to Russian techno, getting your bike fixed by Vanya, and crushing souls with Biopace and downtube shifters. You learn to bring your own supply of toilet paper, or make very good friends with someone who has a stash. You find out who exactly Coach Young is. You discover the merits of Black Mo', locate the pain cave, and learn about the mystical powers of Moshannon spring water. You get to watch Steve Derkits fall off of Rollers while wearing Kanye shades, hang out with a very dynamic Frenchman, and cheer on your fellow teammates in blue and white.

You have the chance to race for the best damn team in the ECCC this year. There's no thinking twice. Do it!

Top 10 Reasons to be Excited for the 2010 ECCC Road Season

It's hard to believe, but the 2010 ECCC road season opener at Rutger's University is only four weeks away! To help get everyone amped up for what is sure to be an awesomely stellar season, I've decided to count down what I feel are the top ten reasons to be excited for this year's collegiate road season.

10. Team Time Trials: Hammering at full throttle in a race against the clock with three of your best friends is definitely one of the highlights of every racer's weekend. Unfortunately, there's no hiding the sad truth that many cat 3, 4, and 5 racers rarely get to experience the thrill of competing in a team time trial. Luckily, collegiate racing gives everyone an equal opportunity to drop their weakest teammates from a pace line.

9. Great Race Schedule: With the exception of Yale and Dartmouth, all of the races are within a 5 hour drive from Penn State. This should definitely save some gas money and will undoubtedly encourage more racers to compete at each race weekend.

8. Idris Fiery Ginger Beer: This doesn't really have anything to do with cycling, but I have to admit that coming up with ten items to write about was a bit more difficult than expected. So to fill the number 8 spot, here's a picture of some Idris Fiery Ginger Beer that I found at Wegman's this morning:

This refreshing beverage is made in the United Kingdom and can be found in the international isle of your local grocery store. And before Club Sports sends me an angry email, I should note that it is non-alcoholic.

7. Vanya's MPV: Aw yeah. You know it had to make an appearance on this list at some point. Coming in at the lucky number 7 spot is Vanya's sweet whip.

6. The Bikes: Last year saw some pretty sweet rides in the ECCC. Both Vanya and Zack were rocking down tube shifters on their steel framed bikes, Arnaud had a sweet new Madone, and for at least part of the season, Keith got to race on a very durable Token. To up the ante for 2010, Drew is going to be sporting a beautiful Bianchi 928, C-Rodg is going to have a sweet Jamis to crank out the watts on, and Wyatt decided to hop aboard the CAAD9 bandwagon.

5. Spectacular Crashes and Carnage: If there's one thing that's inevitable about bike racing, it's the crashes. Many crashes result in very painful injuries and spectacular bike damage. Fortunately there's usually a camera around to capture the carnage on film. Let's hope for some epic photos in 2010, but with fewer injuries. Please race safely, everyone!

4. Matt Gross's Sprinting: He eats primes for breakfast and has the uncanny ability to position himself perfectly for an amazing field sprint in nearly every crit. While he may not be able to climb like Rasmussen, Matt's sprinting is certainly a thing of beauty.

3. Our Talented Women: Screaming into the third spot on this list is our amazing group of women. This year we're expecting to have 4 women representing us in A's (up from 2 last year), as well as several new racers competing in the B and C categories. Most significant of all, Penn State will once again be able to have a full four-person women's time trial team. Good luck in 2010, ladies!

2. Penn State's Return to ECCC Dominance: 2009 was a disappointing year for Penn State Cycling. We only won one weekend, and had very limited success at TTTs. This year, however, we are fully capable of returning as a dominant threat to UVM in the ECCC: we are able to attend every race weekend, we have one of the largest teams of women racers in the conference, and we're expecting to have talented cyclists representing every men's category from A to D.

1. RYAN SMOLKO: Lots of wattage here. There's no debating the #1 spot: Daddy is back. 2010 will mark the triumphant return of Ryan Smolko to collegiate racing. While he's trading in the blue and white of Penn State for the maroon and gold of Kutztown, his attendance at every race will definitely make 2010 a season to remember.