All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately, that includes the spring road season. Fed up with L’Enfer du nord and sub-40-degree race weekends, a small but mighty group of DCT members headed down to what we shall dub Le Paradis du sud (Shippensburg, PA) for our final race weekend of the season, ECCC Champs. Logistics went about as smoothly as they ever do for us, and after the powers that be (Enterprise) did not have a single car for us, we were begging in all the group chats possible for someone to let a bunch of cyclists borrow a car to drive to PA for the weekend. Tate, the hero of the hour, came through at the last minute. On Friday afternoon, after a quick stop at AutoZone to replace the battery of the ’05 RAV4, we were on the road towards warmer temps and sunnier weather.
The trip down was mostly smooth, barring our eternal nemesis, an attempted quick food stop. The trailer crew, ahead for once due to the battery stop, got to bask in the sun while waiting for the others to arrive. After a precise strike at Hannaford, we lost our momentum in the quagmire of Chipotle lines, a closed Moe’s, and the glacial eternity of Panera. Wells, unimpressed by the absence of vegan options at Panera, constructed a double-decker PB&B (peanut butter and bean) sandwich with a sprinkling of nooch, the fuel of champions.
Pure skepticism from Jack until the nooch was added
Despite our arrival in the wee hours of Saturday morning, come 6:45 the next day, everyone was out at breakfast to fuel up before racing. After a quick tube replacement for Carlos as the teams were being called, our men’s A, B, and C TTT teams lined up. Starting as promptly as the ECCC ever does, the TTT teams headed off around the course. Of course, the ECCC is as famous for its communication as it is for its punctuality, and marshals directed the majority of the Men’s A and B teams the wrong direction toward an unprotected intersection. Fortunately, nobody was T-boned and everyone made it back safely, but it was to our team’s detriment that they decided to keep the times, so we finished last in both categories. The issue was corrected before Nathan and Genghe, our Men’s C team, rolled out, and they crushed their TT, finishing 3rd out of 7 teams in their category.
After some vital clarification with the race marshals, it was time for the road race on a beautiful rolling course that featured the infamous Horsekiller Hill. Nathan, despite dropping his chain once, stayed upright for a solid finish in the Men’s C field. Genghe went out off the front of the Men’s Intro race and won it by close to 2 minutes! In the meantime, the rest of the team took advantage of the sunshine for some much-needed photosynthesis after the sleep deficit from the night before.
Before too long, the Men’s A, Men’s B, and Women’s A/B races were off. Wells won the Men’s A race [*gasp*] after outsprinting the rest of his group. Jake enjoyed a nice spin in the sunshine and finished to get us those sweet, sweet double points. On the Men’s B side, Nolan and Carlos finished solidly in 5th and 6th, respectively, while Yung Billium would have been with them if not for a tragic flat in the final lap. Truckman Raif put in some hard efforts early in the race (just as hard as he works to get us sponsorships), got dropped, and pulled out a massive effort at the end to fly past the guy who had been in front of him. Ella, the lone Women’s B rider of the weekend, hung with the Women’s field for 2 laps before getting dropped on Horsekiller and enjoying a nice spin for the final 1.5 laps.
Sponsor King Raif showing off the Skratch
Hungry after a long day of racing, the team invaded Ship territory and acquired plenty of pizza and pasta at Big Richards, prompting quotes from Ship students including “Are you all in high school?” and “Wow, y’all look mad as hell”. Clearly, 9 post-race cyclists fit right in among the students throwing a football across the road and playing pong on the front lawns. We did, however, pull out the Ivy Cup for a parting celebration before we had to hand it over to Alan for a full 4 hours on Sunday.
After a luxurious departure time of 8:50 am, the DCT showed up on Sunday ready to take on the crit. As Weatherman Wells predicted a monsoon, the team geared up and prepared for the deluge. Nathan had luck on his side for the day, narrowly avoiding 2 crashes and finishing solidly in 6th place. Genghe, in characteristic form for the weekend, went off the front with one other and absolutely smashed for the dub.
The rain began to fall as the Men’s B/Ella race approached. Two try-hards were off the front of the Men’s B race for nearly the entire time, while our boys sat in the group and finished with Will 4th, Raif 6th, Carlos 9th, and Nolan 16th. Ella, who was started with the Men’s B and left to their own devices, got to work for a couple laps, rack up the 1st point and all sprint points and then get out of the rain. Happily, Wells does not have a future as a meteorologist and the rain started to lighten up as his race got underway. He put in a solid effort, winning all primes but didn’t quite have the last sprint in him, finishing 4th.
As it was the last weekend of the season, there was an award ceremony after all the races. Several DCT members made it onto the podium stairs, with supreme leader Wells and Adam, M.D. 1st and 3rd in Men’s A, Truckman Raif 2nd in Men’s B, and lone wolf Ella 1st in Women’s B. Beyond that, Yung Will was 7th in Men’s B, Carlito was 10th in Men’s B, and Nathan was 7th in Men’s C.
Thanks to huge efforts from everyone throughout the season, we also won the overall omnium by a 237-point margin! I guess UVM should’ve made the trek down to PA … We also recuperated the Ivy Cup from Alan, which has since regained its hallowed location on the bowed kitchen counter of the Rock.
The most important competition of the season, however, occurred after the award ceremony. Our star team of Yung Billium, Carlos “Paul Revere” Ohler, Nathan, and Truckman Raif each scarfed down their sleeve of Peeps with blinding precision, striking fear in the hearts (and the throats) of their enemies and emerging victorious. We regained the Peep-Off title, the Rock got its fruit bowl (the Ivy Cup) back, and all is right again with the world.
That’s all for the ECCC road season! Stay tuned for more DCT shenanigans coming up soon.
