On the finish of the ECCC 2026 racing season, MIT biking despatched its largest contingent of the yr to the Catamount Biking Traditional hosted by College of Vermont.
The attendees included Emily, our noble logistics officer who was wrapping up a profitable spring racing marketing campaign; Paul, our unofficial help crew lead; Lorenzo, our males’s highway captain fearlessly coming back from knee rehab; Sparrow, able to wattsmax the finale to his first racing season; Matteo and Ryan, our resident hooligans and quick bois; Noah, our crew photographer and gravel evangelist; and eventually me (Jody), our cyclocross co-captain. After 2 years of coaching with the crew, I used to be lastly attending my first ECCC racing weekend because of overcoming my concern of racing on pavement and kicking my behavior of working Spring marathons.
Our first day of racing began with a brutally steep climb up Mount Philo for the Particular person Time Trial. Having heard about this legendary climb from previous racers, I had ready by doing weekly Japanese Ave repeats over the previous month. In a last-minute cut price for additional watts, I additionally swapped out my aluminum 650b inventory wheels to the carbon crew wheels. I had by no means finished any coaching with them, however appeared ahead to the psychological enhance of a lighter wheelset.
After shooing off the boys’s 4/5 racers Sparrow and Noah, I discovered myself in the beginning line, coronary heart pounding and staring on the concrete wall forward of me. I received off to a gradual and wobbly begin, discovering my rhythm after the primary few turns. Just a few quick minutes in nonetheless, my legs felt unusually weak and one thing was up with my gearing. Why couldn’t I downshift? Climbing had by no means felt this difficult earlier than. I struggled to remain upright and eventually made it to the highest, feeling a mixture of aid and despair.
Once I received again to the crew vehicles, it hit me. My final minute wheel swap from 650b to 700c had modified my obvious gear ratio. With my 165mm cranks and wobbly legs, it was a miracle I had made it up in any respect. I sheepishly debriefed with Sparrow, who had additionally made it up the steepest Philo sections, solely to unintentionally dismount his bike early as a consequence of a mistaken end line. In the meantime, Noah had floated up the hill together with his sub-1:1 gear ratio, making us remorse not taking our gravel bikes too.
After some strong ITT performances by the remaining crew members and a few wheelies by Ryan, it was time for the highway race. I felt considerably higher and was desperate to climb up the rankings this time (pun meant) in my first-ever highway race. Issues received off to a sizzling begin, and I clawed my means into the lead group. Regardless of being warned by Emily in regards to the prevailing ladies’s tactic of attacking mid-conversation, I used to be caught off guard when Middlebury riders bolted up a hill within the midst of a debate on Dealer Joe’s gummy flavors. Earlier than I knew it, they have been gone and I used to be left with one different rider to complete out the second half of the race.
Following our race, Sparrow hopped into his automobile to volunteer as a observe automobile for the boys’s 3/4 race, the place he tried to assist Lorenzo keep away from being dropped. Noah and I watched from the sidelines and snapped pictures, marveling on the pacelines, quick cornering, and exquisite Vermont surroundings.
The crew completed off the day with a hearty Mexican dinner and Vermont creemees for additional restoration energy. The subsequent day, Lorenzo, Noah, Sparrow and I headed to UVM campus early for the 4/5 males’s and ladies’s races. I trailed the boys throughout the pre-ride laps, gingerly leaning into the corners and praying I might keep rubber aspect down within the race.
Following warmup, Sparrow and Noah instantly jumped into the boys’s 4/5 race, the place they have been serenaded by a full brass and percussion band. Each of them put up spectacular dash performances, with Sparrow staying out of hassle till his spectacular show of watts rewarded him with a top-5 end.
The adrenaline of the boys’s race had given me a newfound confidence for my race, and I lined up within the entrance row. The whistle blew, and I simply saved up with the entrance group, barely noticing the corners. When a rider made an assault with 3 laps to go, it slowly dawned on me that this was my solely probability to attempt for first place glory. Buoyed by Lorenzo’s yells of ‘you may go quicker!’, I pulled away from the peloton and chased till the ending straightaway, the place I resigned myself to second – till I noticed the primary place rider forward. I surged ahead in a last effort, lacking the win by half a motorcycle size.
Whereas I couldn’t end the job, Emily tried for redemption within the ladies’s 1/2/3 race. After main the race and taking a pair Prime lap factors, the whole crew watched as she outsprinted two different ladies to grab second place in a photograph end. Lorenzo determined to skip his males’s 3/4 race as a consequence of his knee, becoming a member of Sparrow as a star spectator (‘give them hell, Emily!’) and selfie-taker.
The boys’s 1/2/3 race wrapped up the day. Matteo and Ryan’s race ended early after getting caught behind a crash, however that didn’t cease our crew photographer from getting some high quality motion photographs.
With the racing completed, all that was left to do was anticipate the awards ceremony. Though we have been sunburned, drained, and working nearly completely on post-race adrenaline, the wait was value it: Emily capped off a powerful weekend with a third-place medal within the highway race, second place within the criterium, and a second place within the ECCC omnium, whereas I used to be proud to return away with fourth within the hill climb, fifth within the highway race, and second within the criterium. To prime it off, I used to be awarded the crew’s Most Aggressive Rider jersey, a longstanding MIT Biking custom that rewards attacking riders with the privilege of sporting a vibrant pink jersey that includes an intimidating offended face.
Total, the weekend was one of the vital rewarding racing experiences I’ve had. Whereas I’ve raced loads of working races, cyclocross occasions, and even gravel, this was my first time being on the very entrance of a race, chasing down a breakaway and realizing {that a} win would possibly really be doable. It’s a thrill I received’t neglect anytime quickly.
Whether or not or not I find yourself racing ECCC once more subsequent yr, I’m grateful I lastly took the leap. Between the climbs, the crits, the wheel swaps, the creemees, and the individuals who made the weekend memorable, Catamount was an unforgettable solution to shut out the spring season.
