Wednesday, May 7, 2008

RAD Mountain Bike Ride

Erika, Cory, Nat, Morgan, Isac, Luke and I went on a totally rad mountain bike ride. We found some deep mud over on the North Side of Pleasant hill. then we crossed over pleasant hill and rode the Crystal Springs Farm trails over to the Brunswick highschool. We showed off at the highschool for a while but didn't pick up any girls. Then we cut over to merepoint road on some trails that i didn't really know where they went. We walked/ attempted to ride a 1/8th track over to the commons and came back to campus by way of the gully trail. Nat and morgan had a brief shower (aka waterfight) at the outing club while the rest of us cleaned the mud off of our bikes with the hose.
Morgans tire was going flat and he took a bite out of my finger trying to pump it up and Corry had a great endo into the sand but other than that a great ride.

RAD- Nick

Monday, May 5, 2008

L.L. Bean Time Tial- Nick's account

It was hard for me to get out of bed at 5:30 on Sunday morning because it was poring rain and 40 degree weather outside. I had raced the day before in the Polar Bear Triathlon the day before so as kind of a fair weather rider I had already had my fill of riding in the rain for one weekend. We ended up driving down to Freeport because the ride down and back would have been miserable in the nasty weather. After registration when I went to pedal my bike around I wasn't sure if I was warming up or just getting cold. Anyhow race time rolled around and it started off with a 6-8 mile slog North on Route 1 from Brunswick to Freeport. Most of this time I was wondering what I was doing out of bed at that point and when Luke who started 30 seconds behind me would roll past me and spray some more water in my face. After turning onto Woodside Rd. and seeing Maresa volunteering at the Pleasant Hill intersection I was feeling a little more excited about the race and started putting the hammer down. It was a little tricky without aero bars but i tried to stay low for most of the race. I think there are some sweet pictures of us bombing down the road that the photographer got but I haven't found them yet. Anyhow I made it through the hilly section on Flying Point Road near Wolfsneck with quite a bit of pain and thought I had a fast flat cruise back to Freeport on Foreside Road. When I rounded the corner that Bruce Macleod was volunteering at my legs were very disappointed to see another unexpected hill. Its not actually much of a hill but at this point in the race I had to drop it down into the low gears and tough it out once again. Finally i got to the finishing straight and was excited to see that I held Luke off but that he was close to me in the results. I certainly didn't have the fastest time of the day (Morgan was up there) but I did a pretty good job of winning brunch once we made it back to campus around 11:00. Looking back on the event it was a good time and many thanks to L.L. Bean for the free race and to Bruce and Maresa for volunteering in the rain.
The view from the bike- well not actually but you get the idea at least.

Full results at http://live-timing.com/race2.php?r=8893&u=0
Have your own story from the weekend? Let us know at bowdoincycling@gmail.com and we'll post it.

Polar Bear Triathlon

Congratulations to all the cycling club members who did the Polar Bear Triathlon. We had some rainy weather making the bike a little tougher but still some great results. Barry Logan and Forrest Horton were the first two Bowdoin Men while Katherine Creswell and Maresa Nielson were the first two Bowdoin Women.

Check out full results at:
http://live-timing.com/race2.php?r=8892
Bennett rounding the final turn

Maresa looking good on the bike

Sunday, May 4, 2008

4-28 Morgan Returned

note the cool, California hair cut. RAD

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

ECCCCCC

Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Championship Con Carne (that means with meat)

Nat and I went to a RAD bike race in New Hampshire which was also the last race of the eastern collegiate road biking season. The course was epic with a 1000 ft climb and then a 50+mph descent followed by a ridiculous 5 mile 1600 ft climb over the shoulder of Mt. Moosilauke. The last 20 miles were fast and flat. I was in the C race and lost contact with the lead group on the climbs but found some other stragglers to ride it in across the flats. Nat was in the B race and finished right behind the break kicking some ass in the field sprint. He also earned the only collegiate points for Bowdoin this year and we think for the last few years at least.

Nat's ass headed for the line in the field sprint.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Saturday Morning Ride and Scarborough Critting

Nat and I traveled down to the Saturday Morning ride out of Portland for the first time this year. Its a fast flat loop that the group averages around 25mph on. In nice weather there are up to 50 people on the ride. Nat and I had a good day and made it back safely but unfortunately there was a crash at mile 3 in a section of bad pavement and a few guys we know went down and got pretty seriously hurt.

On Sunday Nat, Oliver and honorary cycling team member Brendan went to the Scarborough crit. Oliver and I faired pretty well in the B ride, staying with the pack, trying for a few breaks and ended up not getting beaten by any girls or the fat guy. Nat had a good one in the A race winning a sprint for a dozen eggs and also working to help out Brendan. Brendan had a great ride in a breakaway for 3/4 of the race before regrouping with the pack with a few laps to go. Even though he had been in the break and was working a lot more than everyone else he still took the stage win with the help from some teammates.
-Nick
Nat working at the front
Brendan with the stage win
Oliver cooling down

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Bean Pot/ Turtle Pond Update

Good work to Sarah and Maresa for going down to the Boston Beanpot road race on Saturday. They had two best ever Bowdoin women's cycling results (this is the first race that Bowdoin women have ever done but that just makes it more badass). Maresa took 31st and Sarah took 40th in the womens B field. Most importantly they said they had a great time and that other teams were happy and impressed to see Bowdoin women on the circuit for the first time.

Nat, Bennett and Brendan (not officially part of the club because he doesn't go to school here but might as well be a member) went to the Turtle Pond Circuit Race in NH on Sunday. Brendan rode into 24th in the pro/1/2/3 mens race and I'm sure helped out some of his Mechanical Services/ Cycle Mania teammates. Bennett took 4th in the the CAT 5 race on what i hear was a big break. He'll be a CAT 4 in no time if he keeps up riding like this. Perhaps the most exciting news of the day was Nat taking 4th in the 64 deep CAT 4 field, passing everyone in the field on the last hill except the 3 guys that broke away. From now on Nat will be racing in the CAT 3 because this finish was enough to give him an upgrade.
Good work all!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Best Riding Weather Yet



64 degrees and sunny when we left to go riding today. Definitely the best weather yet this season. We had a big crowd and started off with 9 riders. We toured down to Wolfs Neck but decided it was still to muddy for the dirt roads. I took some pictures on the ride and will try and figure out how to post them soon.

A few people are racing at the Beanpot on Saturday this weekend and a few are going to the Turtle Pond race on Sunday.

-Nick

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Welcome

Welcome to the newly created Bowdoin Cylcing blog.

In the future look here for, pictures, news, results, events, a calendar, and ideas for local rides.

Remember:
cycling is rad