Another term is here and there is still snow on the ground in Hanover. Fortunately for the DCT, we got to escape the frigid north with its endless midterms for the more pleasant, easy life of North
Carolina. This spring break the team migrated to the shadow of Mt. Mitchell to ride bikes, eat a lot of food, and practice their hobby-horsing.
As is typical, the team departed south on the final day of finals and returned right before classes began again. Tuesday morning, the teams rented truck rolled up in front of the Cube pulling the beloved DCT trailer. We loaded the bikes in and all piled into the truck and a rented minivan, ready to spend the next 8 hours sitting.
The team spent the night in Allentown, Pennsylvania and the original plan was to ride at 6:30 the next morning, but for some reason no one actually ended up riding. Instead we ate breakfast and got back in the cars to continue our journey.
We stopped in Blacksburg, Virginia to stretch our legs and get a short ride in with a few Virginia Tech riders. They lead us on a route that began with a 1500 foot descent, then up a gravel climb and finishing with a rainstorm, quite an adventure for a bunch of biking bambi’s.
Before finishing our long journey, we stopped in Burnsville, North Carolina for some shopping. We purchased a truckload of groceries to make it through the first few days.
Finally after 16 hours of driving we arrived at Albert’s lodge and Kieran even managed to give us a master-class on trailer backing, fulfilling the legacy of Ethan “Cloutmaster 4000” Call.
Over the next 9 days the team rode 50-100 miles a day, mostly as one to two big groups.
The first full day we rode together riding as one large group along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway with the classic café stop at the top of the “snake.”
The next day we ventured down the notorious “devil’s whip” road, a 3.5 mile downhill with tight switchbacks and 1300 ft of elevation drop and road back up the “snake” for another café stop.
Day three lead the whole team up the great Mt. Mitchell for the first time in over 5 years. Half the group decided that 5000 ft in 40 miles wasn’t enough climbing so they decided to ride down the whip and up the whip before continuing on to the top of Mitchell. The summit was a relatively warm 40 degrees and sunny, which was a welcome end to a long day of climbing.
After a hard few days, most of the team took a recovery day either riding for only an hour or just completely taking a well-deserved day off… except Wells and Kieran(oooof). Recovery consisted of getting more groceries (bread, ice cream, bananas, and tofu):
cutting Wells’ hair:
and being general menaces in the grocery store:
The next day, everyone was feeling well-rested and decided that it was the nicest day for a century ride. Many had never done a 100 mile ride on the road, but were up for the challenge. Someone (*cough cough* Seb) made a route the included a 4 mile gravel climb in the middle of the ride and 9200 ft of elevation, which proved to be a test of grit and skill. Luckily it was made up for by the quintessential Waffle House pitstop.
The more experienced group took on a slightly longer route of 130 miles with 12000 ft of elevation. As you can see below, some were hurting more than others:
See Raif in Oreo mode and Seb in “I’m too thicc for climbing” mode
Ella felt that their 100 miles with the less experienced group wasn’t enough… sooo they did down and up the whip AGAIN! Outdoing the long group by an extra 500 ft with the same millage! What a beast!
The next day required a more chill day of cornering drills, bump drills, and some sprinting. Both of which greatly improved the team’s skills and preparedness for a season of crit racing.
The second to last full day, we made our pilgrimage to Asheville for some coffee, hobby-horsing, BBQ, and flair shopping.
Tradition of coffee at the Double-Decker
Flair buying adventure
The final full day, some of us were burnt to a toast and didn’t feel the need to do a big ride… but Wells, Theory, Carlos, Will, Nolan, Ella, Alex, and Spencer felt they needed an extra 85 miles! Spencer, being the absolute unit that he is and having missed the century day, rode up the parkway and back for an extra 15 solo miles.
Then it was time to head back to the cold and the grind of school, but not before a quick race or two! The team stopped and raced in Lancaster, PA at the McCaskey Ave criterium with the major results being Wells getting second in the Men’s 1,2,3 field, Carlos in 3rd, and Nolan in 5th in the Men’s 4/5’s.
Unfortunately, most people were feeling very good after a long 10 days of riding to race a second day, so only a group of 6 stayed for the second day of racing. They raced the Shake ‘n Brake criterium in Frankford, NJ with the major result being Ella Goetze placing 6th in the Women’s field.
All in all, 2022 Spring break was a huge success! Everyone on the team, got fitter, faster, and more confident, and we had a blast doing so! The DCT would like to thank Albert’s Lodge for hosting us for as long as the team can remember, Stages Cycling for providing us with bike computers so that no one got lost and we all got to record our rides, Specialized for providing us with helmets and tires to go fast, and Skratch Labs to go in our bottles while we were on our massive rides!