Despite the long year of Covid restrictions and a lack of collegiate racing, DCT team members got out for some cool adventures on their bikes. Fresh (vegan) meat arrived last fall in the form of new 24’s itching to get training after many of them had just bought bikes at the beginning of the pandemic (pre-bike shortage). After a few group rides and a team dinner or two, these young-uns on campus began training on their own, while many off-campus veteran DCT riders stayed connected virtually. By the end of 21F, there were rumors flying around of Tuck Drive Everesting attempts and century rides around Occom pond that spawned from the 10 mile Covid travel restriction. While there was no MTB or CX seasons and many student riders were not allowed on campus, those who were in the area got in some very solid training and ensured that the freshmen KOM hunters didn’t steal all of their crowns.
The winter, as usual, consisted of sweating on a stationary bike trainer with the fan at full blast drawing in the 30 degree air from outside. Without access to the Alumni Gym for spin sessions, most members suffered alone in the sorrow of indoor training, saved only by the occasional zoom group ride.
As spring rolled around and the dreadful cold wore off, things started to ramp back up again. Unfortunately, there were still no ECCC races, but some of the local training criteriums were back up and running. Freshman Wells and Raif got down to the Wells Ave crit run by New England Devo to get some race experience. Wells ended up with the victory in the cat 3-4 race and Raif got his first taste of crit racing ever. Later in the Spring the NHMS series run by the Sunapee team started at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The team finally got a little organized and a group consisting of Wells Willett ’24, Raif Olson ’24, Carlos Garcia ’24, London Warburton ’23, Will Hileman ’22, and Kieran Ahern ’21 all made the short journey down to Loudon, NH for the first race. No major result, but Raif went for some sprint points on lap 3 before getting dropped by the field and Wells held on to the leaders until the end. Rumor has it that Wells is still sucking the wheels of the other riders in the break. The team made it to a couple more NHMS races before finals.
Though the members of the DCT went their separate ways for the summertime, that did not stop them from representing the Big Green in their cycling endeavors. Wells continued with his impressive cat 3-4 performances winning the 2021 Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic and the 2021 Cabin Challenge and taking 3rd in NY Capital Region Road Race, also competing in many other North Eastern races. Kieran and London raced the Concord crit along with alumni Jack Greene ’20. The other upperclassmen, while often too busy with other undertakings to race got in some solid training and fun groups rides (looking at you Sophomore summer squad). Meanwhile the rest of the freshman were training all summer for a 56 mile time trial that happened to be sandwiched between two other endurance sports, and in mid-August Ben Levesque ’24, Evelyn Hatem ’24, Katie Walther ’24, Raif Olson ’24, London Warburton ’23, Vaishnavi Katragadda ’24, and Wells Willett ’24 all completed the Timberman Half-Ironman in Laconia, New Hampshire.
Not everything is about racing though, and the DCT team members took the word adventure to heart. Sebastian Logue ’22 did a 3-week long bikepacking trip across the Pacific Northwest, Raif Olson rode from the aforementioned Half-Ironman to southern Massachusetts and back to Dartmouth for the start of school over 8 days, and Ben Levesque embarked on an ambitious ride from Biddeford, Maine to campus and back in two days, which required some route modifications. Will Hileman ’22, on the other hand, worked as a trail angel in Utah building mountain bike trails in the alpine for 16 days this summer and then was rewarded with getting to ride the fresh trails after they were finished.
As summer comes to a close and the exciting prospect of in-person activities and more people on campus is within reach, the team has reset after a long hiatus and is poised to spin their legs into a new year of riding, racing, and adventure. Under the new-ish shared leadership of Kieran Ahern ’21(+1), Sebastian Logue ’22, and Will Hileman ’22, the cycling team has many group rides and cafè stops planned ahead as well as working with the club sports office to make sure we can compete in the ECCC mountain bike and cyclocross seasons this fall.
Our race schedule is pending as we work through some covid restriction stuff, but will be available soon! If you want updates from the greater cycling community of Dartmouth, join our Listserv by following these instructions:
To subscribe to the Listserv, send an email to listserv@dartmouth.edu with the message contents: SUB CYCLING ‘Your Name’
If you want to join the team, just show up to a group ride! Group ride schedule will be posted soon, or join our GroupMe for more spontaneous rides and team updates!