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North West Cow Bells UpdateJuly 2008 Jumping back to racing in early June, Whitman’s Andy Erickson and Colin Gibson have been throwing down the watts all over the greater Seattle area.
Beginning on the 7th with the Ballard Criterium, the guys grabbed their tarmac burning machines and laid rubber. Somehow while it was raining all over Seattle, Ballard was spared until mid-way through the Men's Pro/1/2 race which was great because the course featured two sections of brick that only went from sketch to way sketch once the rain hit. Having just upgraded to Cat 4 and not having raced since conference, Andy caboosed the Pain Train for almost the whole race. “The pace was really fast and while we started with almost 70 riders, only 44 finished. If the 4's weren't so bad at cornering I don't think I would have stayed on, I got dropped multiple times only to catch back up in the corners.”
In the Men's 3's race, Colin and the rest of Hagens-Berman animated the race, sending rider after rider off the front. Colin spent a lot of time on the front and off the front, and saved enough energy to finish 14th in the bunch sprint. At one point the announcer actually said "Colin Gibson is all that is Man!"
Whitman College Alumni and Legend, Sammy J was also at this race. “He generally had good position all race and attacked off the front several times. At this point it had begun to lightly rain and the two brick sections were starting to get slick resulting in more than in a few crashes. On the last lap there was a crash on the back stretch and while Sam didn't go down, he was behind it, effectively ending his race, so he was pretty angry.”
Colin and Andy have also been venturing out to the track, and after a few learning sessions they’ve got some race experience under their belts. “So, me and Andy ‘ManCandy’ Erickson just got done taking a velodrome class, and now we're flexing our legs and getting angry, preparing to "dig." They always shout that!”
Colin reports the track racing scene is awesome and the officials are really stoked on having collegiate riders out, even offering uncanny amounts of assistance to make it to nationals if more riders can find their way to the track. And with both of the guys working on their Category 3 upgrades this summer, we all hope they’ll been able to compete at Collegiate Track Nationals in Colorado in late September.
Kendi took off for Track Nationals last year and after sweeping up the D2 Omnium, she put Whitman College in 4th in the Team Omnium, oh wait… Kendi was the team!! So more track riders at Whitman can only be a good thing.
Don’t miss the pain train! I mean track train, contact Colin or Andy for details about track racing now!! Here are some link to local track venues.
Alpenrose (Portland)
http://www.obra.org/track/index.html Marymoor (Seattle)
Now deep into July, the boys are still trucking along. Colin has been preparing for the Washington State Individual Time Trial championships on July 27th in Tenino. Equipped with McGovern’s time trial frame, Colin has built up one beast of a machine and is looking forward to rippin’ up the 40 kilometers in less than 60 minutes, if not better depending on the piste. He warmed up last week with a 47 km time trial (where do you find these wicked races?) and went 2nd!!!! Only falling short of the 2004 US National Time Trial Bronze Medalist! Good Luck Colin! Andy ‘ManCandy’ Erickson (cause he is so jacked!) raced this past Saturday at Derby Days in Seattle. Andy made it clear how “sketch-tastic” the race was in his last email, here’s a link!
http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/2008/pages/94AD1792dd.htm Hope everyone is loving their summer and we all look forward to some epic rides in wine country this fall. Whitman College Cycling
Note: Word File for easier viewing: North West Cow Bells Update
New England Blazing Saddles UpdateJuly 2008
As the many Whittie cyclists head out from Walla Walla for the summer, some returned home to New England, a hotbed of cycling talent. Sophomore Tim Bak and junior Duncan McGovern teamed up for a few races in the early season- in his first cat 4 race, Tim scored an excellent victory in the Hartford crit, smoking the field even after coming around the final corner in "about 20th." Awesome job, Tim! Duncan finished the p/1/2 race riding for his summer team NorEast, while still recovering from sickness that knocked him out for the collegiate season.
The next race on the calendar was the Lake Auburn Road pro/1/2/3 race, which meant that Tim, newly upgraded to a cat 3, could race against the strongmen of New England. While the pace was high in the 80 mile race (27mph avg), Tim hung in and threw down an amazing sprint for a top 15, while Duncan finished in the pack as well. With one weekend left for Tim before heading out to the cape for the summer and hanging up the bike, a tough weekend lay ahead with two hilly road races. On Saturday, Duncan spent the last 20 miles in a breakaway off the front of the p/1/2/3 field in the Cyclonauts RR, unfortunately the break was caught on the final climb less than a kilometer from the finish, but Tim was able to score 10th place in the uphill sprint. The next day was the brutal Housatonic Hills RR, where Tim and Duncan both paid for previous days efforts and headed home exhausted.
Other highlights have included another close call in a breakaway for Duncan, who spent 30 miles off the front in the road race at Fitchburg, but once again was caught in the final kilometer on the finishing climb to the top of Wachusett ski area. One day it will work out... and there’s plenty of racing left to be done this summer!
Fort Collins, Colorado for Collegiate Road NationalsMay 2008 Whitman Cycling’s first trip to Colorado for Collegiate Nationals proved successful. Our Women’s team once again brought home the goods while our Men’s team of new riders grabbed some valuable experience.
Outfitted with our team trailer and rockin’ out in a Whitman College Suburban, we shuttled our National hopes on Wednesday May 7th through the many small highway towns of Idaho and Wyoming. Breaking up the 16 hour drive, we stopped for lunch to enjoy a tail wind assisted recovery ride. Wow, it was windy! Like 30 mph! By the end of the night we had arrived in Fort Collins to find our rooms were on the top floor, which means we got free food! Awesome!! The following day we headed off to open up our legs and pre-ride the team time trial course. After a bit of hard effort everyone’s lung adjusted to the thinner air, and removed any doubts that travel had interfered with our preparation. Perfect conditions, sunshine and low winds greeted the riders on Friday morning. Outfitted with our Blackwolf endorsed Zipp time trial wheels, the Whitman women’s team burned rubber right out of the start. Devon Spika put in a strong effort on her first visit to the National time trial team as veterans Kendi Thomas and Mia Huth threw down the power. But in finishing just 1 second off the podium, Kendi got fired up for the tough road race on Saturday. Saturday’s road race was daunting to say the least. With three huge climbs right off the line the riders made their way to some flatter terrain for a few circuits before making their way back to the finish, only to be met with the backside of the original climbs! Kendi separated herself and four others in the initial climb and with the closing miles giving way to constant attacks, she powered her way through to an amazing second place! Undoubtedly the best finish of her season to that point, Kendi took her rightful place on the podium. Devon soloed for 45 minutes in the closing stages to move up the first chase group, securing an excellent 11th place finish. Mia dug deep and finished in a confusing finish in the group from 12th-18th (all were scored evenly because they weren’t allowed to sprint it out as the start/finish line was already full of the 140 man D1 field. On the Men’s side, Zac Strode put in a great effort for his first visit to collegiate nationals and secured a spot in the 2nd peloton, finishing 47th. Colin Gibson also locked himself in the pain cave to finish a long day in the saddle 56th. Ben Chaddock, the sprinter of the team, got popped off the back after the third climb and hoped to do a stronger race in the criterium. With the team spirits high, Sunday morning brought the big finale of the weekend. Watching the huge D1 fields round the course really got the atmosphere started and Whitman came out charging. Kendi took a slough of intermediate sprints, with Mia attacking hard in the last five laps to string out the field. Kendi, brought home by some Belgium flag spirit, unleashed her National Track Champion sprint for second place! Mia and Devon finished off the weekend strong after some great work at the front of the field at 25th and 29th respectively.
In the Men’s race Colin and Ben both made it through the high paced race to the last lap. After a twelve man breakaway formed it was all about the bunch sprint. Colin’s hard work through out the 75 minute race finished prematurely as he was crashed out in the first corner of the final lap. In addition, even though Ben held perfect position through the last corner, a broken chain cost him the chance for the bunch win with 100 meters to go. With all the events complete, Kendi tied on points for the D2 Omnium, but since her competitor won the road race, Kendi took the silver. She mentioned she’s looking forward to lining up with some of her collegiate competitors at the much anticipated Nature Valley stage race in June. The team finished 6th in the team omnium, only four points behind Yale University, making the extreme bad luck of the Men’s team all the more challenging to handle. However, we have now all returned from Fort Collins with tons of experience, not to mention some awesome results and are definitely looking forward to next year as a range of racers will be rejoining the team after time abroad, illness as well as a few rising stars that we are anxious to throw in the mix. Thanks so much for all your support through out the spring season, and a special thank you to Rebecca Jensen who, on a moments notice, became our team chaperone this year and all of our success would not have been made possible without her generous donation of time, patience and awesome attitude. Thanks RJ!
Whitman College Cycling Team
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