Columbia and Rutgers: ECCC Race Weekend #1

This weekend was the first in Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) race series. Nine Bulldogs drove early Saturday morning to Rockland Lake where Columbia University held their race.

Yale's first racers off were the Matt and Rodolpho in their first Men's D race: They braved the rain and worked with the pack to pull 5th and 8th place respectively.

Matt and Rodolpho doing swimmingly well in Men's D 

Next off Lexi, Oscar, Alex, and Andrew attended the intro clinic before rolling off in the rain for their first ever mass start road races. Despite the rain and a Andrew sliding out in his race, everyone said they had a blast, learned a lot and are excited to race in the D field next weekend.

The intro gang. Ready to be D's

I went off in the Women's C/D field combined field, it was slowly paced, extremely wet race. Primarily to stay warm I attacked on the final hill climb the final lap, then when it came to the end of my race I felt great and won my D race and placed second overall in the C/D field.

Molly (Me) Taking the C/D field very seriously....

Micheal rode with the Men's C field and after making many attacks throughout his race was caught behind a bad wheel and went down. Fortunately, Mike and the other riders were alright and Mike was back on his bike and finished right behind the main pack (a very impressive feat).

Travis raced with the in the Women's A field while the rest of Yale's racers went off volunteer and cheer on the course. Travis stayed with the pack and managed to stay warm in the rain.

Travis on the Front of the Women's A Field

Volunteering with Mike Grome

Sunday was the criterium, where Yale had an AMAZING showing! Our intro racers Lexi and Oscar, WON both their races after their intro clinic. Matt and Rodolpho got 2nd and 4th in Men's D race and both won many prime laps. I upgraded to Women's C and got 3rd overall and got 2nd in every prime lap. Mike was having pedal problems in his race and smartly withdrew for safety reasons. Travis stayed with the pack until the finish and placed in two of the race's four prime laps against some fast women.

Oscar. One of Our Intro Winners

By the end of the weekend Yale had racked up a huge number of points as a team and nearly every Yale rider upgraded from intro to D or from D to C, if they weren't already in that category. It was a such a fun and successful weekend to start the race ECCC race season.