Recent UMBRC News!

UMBRC Wraps Up Another ECCC Road Season

UMBRC Prepares for the 2007 Fall Mountain Bike Season 

Another long summer is nearing its end which can mean only one thing: The Eastern Collegiate Mountain Bike Season is back! 

Featuring six weekends of racing, the ECCC mtn bike season promises to be another exciting and challenging endeavor for all. Opening weekend kicks it off in Bethelehem, PA with the Lehigh Mountaintop Weekend featuring the usual ECCC events: Cross Country, Short Track Cross Country, Dual Slalom, and Downhill. Check out the race flyer here.[Link}

For a complete ECCC MTB Racing schedule, check out the ECCC website, or just click the Schedule tab.

ORCHARD ASSAULT MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE

Check out results at [link]

Pics and more info coming soon...

ECCC Conference Championships at Vassar College 4/28-4/29

After another disappointing road race cancellation, the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Championships at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY promised to be a great weekend of racing. The road race on Saturday featured a 30 mile loop with 3100 feet of climbing. In the 92 mile Men's A road race, Matt Brewster conquered 9000 feet of climbing and finished strong to close out a successful season of racing. In the Men's B field, Damien Callahan put in a great effort placing 8th in the 65 mile race. In his first collegiate race for Umass, Rob Hyldahl finished strong in a 100 rider Men's C field placing 14th after a final field sprint for the win. Brendon Jones finally was able to keep from flatting and melting a tire and he too finished strong in the Men's D race.

With the Men's D criterium going off at 7 AM on Sunday morning, Brendon tried to close out a strong weekend of racing but unfortunately flatted again and was not able to finish. Matt Brewster, after completing the 92 mile road race and nursing some aches and pains, opted not to race around a circle for an hour and 15 minutes and returned to Umass.

UMBRC President's Alex Duggan and Jeff Elie went along with the UMBRC Van to attend the ECCC annual mountain bike meeting while skipping the road races altogether to keep focus on the Root 66 mountain bike race in Farmington, CT. Unfortunately for Alex and Jeff, Joe Kopena, mountain bike planner conference director guy, was injured in the Men's B road race by a motorcycle and the meeting was delayed until Sunday. Jeff and Alex were wicked pissed about going to Vassar for nothing but got a free hotel stay and got to ride their mountain bikes around the road race, which must have pissed off all the roadies.

Non-Collegiate Mountain Bike Race (Farmington, CT)

While the UMBRC couldn't muster up enough riders to make any serious presence in the ECCC Conference Championships at Vassar, they did make their presence known in Farmington, CT at the Fat Tire Classic NORBA mountain bike race. In the Expert 19-29 category Alex Duggan and Alex Czulak represented Umass well placing 3rd and 19th respectively. After an impressive 6 minute win over second place at the first Root 66 mountain bike race, Alex battled hard for second finishing behind by only a wheel. Alex was okay with 3rd since the winner cut the course a couple times and boxed him out of a few turns. Besides, the course was less mountain bike style and more road bike style. Alex still remains the overall leader in the series and hopes for a few more top 3 results in the Expert field so he can upgrade to Semi-Pro by the Summer.

In the Men's sport 19-29 category, Jeff Elie picked up his first win and now leads the Root 66 series overall. In a post race interview, he attributed the win to the non-technicality of the course, "the easy shit." He plans for a few more top results so he too can upgrade. Mark Slater, in his first mtb race of the season, also raced hard and finished strong in the middle of the pack. UMass alum Peter Van Lieu rocked the retro Umass kit and finished 6th.

UNH Races Cancelled

UNH was forced to cancel races scheduled for this weekend due to dangerous road conditions. Not a plus in this already weather damaged season. Below is an email from ECCC Conference Director Mark Abramson.

Hey all -

Despite the best laid plans, the UNH weekend is canceled.  Their road
race course was damaged beyond salvage due to the torrential rains that
washed out a large section of road.  While it has been temporarily
repaired with lots of gravel, UNH and the officials determined it was
not suitable for a bike race.

There was a lot of last-minute shuffling to see if they could line up
another road course or piggyback on another event and still use the crit
on Sunday.  The UNH team and Ryan Kelly in particular did a ton of
legwork to see if they could pull things off given the last-minute
destruction, so they deserve a tip of the hat.  Long story short, the
logistics just couldn't work out.  The entire weekend is a no-go.  Ryan
will be handling refunds for those that pre-registered.

Perhaps the most painful part is that the weather is looking perfect for
the weekend.  See you all at Easterns.

Mark

Army Spring Classic 4/13 - 4/14

More info on the sick road race and the scuba crit coming soon.

UVM Weekend 4/7 - 4/8

Saturday featured a campus criterium race on the UVM campus in burlington. Transportation coordinator, Anthony Maressa, came through for the team, reserving the worst hotel in UMBRC history. The reviews speak for themselves. Here are some choice selections:

1. "Staying in the hotel was worse than camping."

2. "This Super 8 got downgraded to a Super 7!!! It was discusting! Our first room had a broken window, and another window that was left open and the safety bar was broken."

3. "This was the worst motel experience in my 52 years."

4. "Keep away!!!"

5. "This place was terrible and the surroundings were only outdone by the terrible service. I had to chnage my room three times to get a reasonable non-smoking room."

These are ACTUAL REVIEWS from NON-UMBRC'ers! No Joke, check it out at www.googlemaps.com

On the plus side, racers had fun at the crit despite the cold temperatures. Check out Chris Kessler in this finish camera photo in 7th place in the Men's B criterium:

Overnight, snow came down putting a damper on the Sunday events. The road race was cancelled due to the road conditions. All members were very disappointed because of the sweet climb up Mt. Philo that ends the RR course with a 28% Grade!!!

Non-Collegiate Mountain Bike Race (Middlebury, CT)

UMBRC President's Jeff Elie and Alex Duggan decided to skip the cold weather and crit racing in vermont for a mountain bike race in Middlebury, CT. The Hop Brook Dam Mtn. Race, put on by the Root 66 Race Series promoters, offered a non-technical, fast course that was a lot of fun. A little mud, a couple rocks, some sharp pointy sticks; what else would we want?

Jeff finished 3rd in the Sport race behind a former BU racer and Collegiate Criterium National Champion (2002). He was stoked to put in a solid result in his first NORBA race ever, and to have some fun in the woods. Here's a sweet picture of Elie from the Hop Brook Dam, taken by future UMBRC members Jeff Cronin and/or Jenna Alexander:

Alex Duggan sand-bagged pretty hard and won the Expert XC race by 5:50 over second place. Those long training rides in the cold seem to have paid off for him, and he is hoping to upgrade to semi-pro in the next couple of weeks. Check it:

Boston Beanpot Race Weekend 3/31-4/1

The Boston Beanpot Cycling Classic is one of the largest collegiate races in the country. The Road Race was held Saturday, begining in Grafton, MA, on a beautiful 12 mile course featuring one sweet steep climb and rolling terrain in general.

In the Men's D race Matt Tenure, Alex Czulak and Anthony Maressa put on the hurt until Alex Czulak "flew into the woods," obviously at no fault of his own. A solo break stayed away till the end of the race, but in the field sprint Matt Tenure took second place with teammate Anthony a foot behind in third place.

The Men's C event went well for UMass as well. Jeff Elie and Jon Nable went hard and finished strong; Jeff in 12th and Jon in 18th. Check out the finish camera image below.

In the B's Alex Duggan, Chris Kessler, and Damien (Beanpot/Army) Callahan sat at the front and put the hammer down. They strung out the field and put on the hurt. In the third lap Damien hit a hole (obviously put there by the UVM racers gasping for air behind him the previous lap) and flatted both wheels. Alex and Chris stayed at the front for the last lap, and in 3rd and 5th positions at the top of the climb. They stayed in the field for what came down to a fast field sprint at the finish.

In the A's Matt Brewster Held his own and put in a solid effort. At the start line, the officials announced that his race would be lengthened by a lap to 80 MILES!!!! He finished strong, and with absouletely nothing left at the end of the day.

Bucknell Race Weekend 3/24-3/25

Chris Kessler put out a solid effort in the 45 mile Men's B road race finishing tenth on Saturday. It was a rolling 10 mile circuit with a couple decent sized climbs to put the hurt on the weaker riders. Chris pulled through with an excellent finish for UMass, but unfortunately his nemesis (Weston Wheeler of UVM) was not in attendance this weekend.

On sunday, Chris put in another solid effort in the lightning fast Men's B Crit. Set up a lot like the Tuft's crit, it featured six 90 degree corners and took a powerful rider to come out on top. Chris, with the support of his "friend," Ivana Bike-a-lot, was able to finish in 11th place.

There’s Never A Reason For Early Season Blues – By Alex Duggan

This winter I trained more than any year yet, and I am getting more and more excited about racing as the form starts coming around. I finished base training in February, and did 4 weeks of moderate intervals to transition into harder riding. I started racing the very next week, beginning with the Rutgers Collegiate Race Weekend. Jumping immediately into racing, I knew I was not anywhere near in shape but decided to go have some fun with my friends none the less.
            The Rutgers weekend featured 3 events; a Time Trial, a criterium and a circuit race. The weather started out beautiful for the 2.5 mile TT, with a high around 55. The course was dead flat and had surprisingly little wind; not my type of course exactly, even when I am in decent shape. It was supposed to be 4 miles, but was shortened due to a large amount of water and small game on the course. No joke. I got a solid warm-up and went into the race not expecting any great results because this was literally my second ride in months raising my heart rate to above 170 bpm. I got in a great hard interval and I beat my x-girlfriend by 3 seconds.
            Saturday afternoon the clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped, and it looked like rain. The rain didn’t come thankfully, and I started the crit with the similar aspirations to the TT. I wanted a good hard training ride, and to just keep the rubber side down. The first mass-start collegiate road race is always known for its nervous riders and large number of crashes. With two laps to go I was moving up on the outside with my teammate Chris Kessler, when the two of us were taken out by a crash coming out of the second corner. I hit the ground pretty hard, wrecked a wheel, and was pretty shaken up for the next hour or so. Chris managed to make it out unscathed, but his front wheel was even worse than mine.
            For Sunday’s Circuit race, my legs felt okay but I was nervous about crashing. It was my third day of hard training this year, and I felt like it. I didn’t have the power yet to match the accelerations coming out of the corners and finished low in the standings. On the bright side, I had fun and got some serious hard training.
            The next weekend, at the Philadelphia Flyer, I could feel a big change in my abilities already. In Saturday’s Circuit race I had no trouble on the climbs at all. The flat sections I still had trouble putting down as much power, but at least I felt good on the climbs. With no teammate in this race I sat in the field waiting for the last lap. I got caught behind a crash at the bottom of the first climb, and had to work a little bit to get back on the field and move up towards the front. In the climb towards the finish I felt good, but got boxed out on the outside with nowhere to go. I put in a solid sprint to finish in the top third. It was overall a very fun weekend, and some really good training. Thanks to Joe Kopena, Drexel and everyone involved in putting on the races that weekend; we all had a great time.
            Now I am looking forward to the Beanpot Collegiate Race weekend, coupled with the mountain bike time trial in Charlestown, RI. It should be an interesting weekend when you consider how many races I am trying to cram into this one weekend. Hope to see you there.

Columbia/Princeton races CANCELLED :(

Due to weather concerns, the Columbia and Princeton race weekends were cancelled. And with good reason; the storm, beginning friday afternoon and continuing late into the night, dumped over a foot of snow on most of the ECCC. The courses would have been unsafe if not totally un-rideable, and forget friday night travel. We're hoping for better weather and more fun next week at the Bucknell Cycling Classic. Stay tuned.

Philadelphia Weekend 3/10-3/11

Drexel followed up with an awesome race weekend. The circuit course is an amazing 6 mile loop on some of the same roads ridden in the USPRO Championships. Pretty Sweet!

The crit was a dead-flat, 4 corner pain fest; but we like that right?!?

Check out the results at www.eccc-info.com

UMass Pictures at [Philly Pictures]

Rutgers Kicks Off the ECCC Road Season

The weekend opened with a prologue style TT on an out and back course. Matt Brewster took 13th in the Men's A field with an astonishing time of 6:11.96. Chris Kessler Took 7th in the Men's B field with a time of 6:24.59.

In the criterium, most of the UMass team was taken out in a crash in the second to last lap; Matt Brewster put in a solid effort in the Men's A, however, putting in a couple hard attacks, before getting caught behind a crash in the last lap. He held it together for a solid pack finish for his first mass-start men's A event. John Nable pulled out a great finish for his first road race ever, at 8th place in the Men's C. He was looking strong, and is geared up for more racing!

The circuit race faired slightly better, with no injuries to the UMass Riders. John put in another impressive finish, hanging with the pack for a field sprint in the Men's C. Chris Kessler Finished high in a field sprint in the Men's B category, and Matt Brewster held onto the field in an extremely fast Men's A race. Alex and Jeff just whined the whole time, wishing it was a mountain bike race.

For full results check out www.eccc-info.com.

UMBRC Gets Ready For Road Season

UMBRC Hosting Spring Mountain Bike Race

It has been about five years since the UMBRC has hosted a race right on the UMASS campus. Come down on Saturday May 5th, 2007 for the Orchard Assault Mountain Bike Race! Official Flyer Here

2006 UMass Bike Racing End of Year Report

Open this article to read a review of our fall mountain bike season. A few of our riders were at collegiate mtb and at cyclo-cross nationals this year!

2006 MTB Mid-Season Report (UMASS #1)

The UMass MTB squad is sweeping the ECCC. Read about our exploits on the trails and slopes: [OPEN]