Thursday, April 20, 2017

2017 Road Series: Army Spring Classic (4/15-4/16)

The Bison charged east this weekend for the Army Spring Classic in West Point, NY. The race sure lived up to the “spring” in its name, with impeccably warm weather both days, cresting to temperatures near 80 degrees on Sunday afternoon. Nine Bucknell cyclists took on the Harriman Road Race and eight the Shea Stadium Criterium for two days of excellent racing.
Hawk driving out of corner two in the Shea Stadium Crit


Results - Harriman TTT & Road Race


Men's B TTT: Matt, Andrew, Eli, & Steve
The team arrived in Harriman State Park early Saturday morning, early enough to pass small herds of deer and flocks of turkey on their way through Bear Mountain. Two TTT teams tried their hand at the 7-mile downhill-out and uphill-back course: a Men’s B squad consisting of sophomore and team president Eli Bravo, senior Steven Robare, first-year Matt McGauley, and first-year Andrew Schlicht, and a Men’s C squad consisting of senior Ward Prescott, first-year Andrew Hawk, and first-year Adam Workineh. The Men’s B team took 6th and 19 points for Bucknell, and the Men’s C took 9th. Full results for the TTT can be found HERE.

But there was no rest for the weary in West Point, and immediately after the TTT’s were all wrapped up, Andrew Hawk and Adam Workineh took to the road race course with the Men’s D (28 miles) field. The 14-mile course consisted of two large climbs, with a high-speed descent before the first climb and a windy flat section before the second, and countless superb views of lakes and creeks and beautiful scenery. This was the first day of racing for Bucknell for Adam, who did excellent work in both the TTT and the Road Race!
Eli going in for the Burger Feed, held by Papa K

The next flight of fields to hit the course included the Men’s C and Women’s C, both taking three laps of the course for a total of 42 miles. Ward Prescott, Steven Robare, Andrew Schlicht and Matt McGauley raced the Men’s C, while senior Ellie Perry raced the Women’s C. Matt had a bit of a breakout race, dipping his toes into the top half of the 70+ man field. Ellie snapped up 12 points for the Bison with a 5th place finish. In the last flight of fields for the day, senior Alex Breakstone tackled a grueling 70 miles with the Men’s A field, and Eli Bravo, returning to racing after a collarbone injury, kicked off his second season with the Bison with 56 miles with the Men’s B field. To celebrate, Eli took a feed of a hamburger along with a bottle for his fourth lap (see right). Full race results can be found HERE.

Results - Shea Stadium Criterium


Adam crushing his first-ever crit!
A delayed start in the morning due to cars parked on course meant each field got warmer weather than they anticipated on this classic clockwise criterium course, where the technical and fast corners made the best lines a hot commodity. The Men’s D pair of Andrew Hawk and Adam Workineh charged onto course first. Hawk in particular was looking very strong, fighting in the bunch until a crash in front of him ended his race prematurely, and Adam did great work in his first-ever criterium. To follow was the Men’s C squad of Ward Prescott, Steven Robare, Andrew Schlicht, and Matt McGauley. Schlicht powered a chase group to have the best finish in the squad for the day.

In the Women’s C crit, Ellie Perry finished 7th in a large bunch sprint to earn 6 points for the Bison. Last but certainly not least was Alex Breakstone in the Men’s A field, who did excellent work in the pack, chasing down a few attempted breakaways and never far from the front. In another massive bunch sprint, Alex took 18th out of 43, earning 3 points for Bucknell. Full race results can be found HERE.

Other News

Senior Cake! Not pictured, gluten-free cupcakes for Ellie

The team made their first visit this weekend to Village Pizza, which many alumni will recognize as a long-standing traditional dinner stop on the way to any race northeast of Lewisburg. But the stuffed buffalo chicken and bbq sicilian pizzas were most certainly topped by a wonderful catered dinner Saturday night, thanks to the Breakstones and Bravos, featuring a beautiful cake decorated with the new Bucknell Cycling logo, the names of the four seniors (Alex, Ward, Steven, and Ellie), and “thanks for the ride!”, which only Ellie would admit made her tear up a little. This weekend also saw the Perry family cheering on the Bison for the first time this year, and we thank them for their support! As always, Papa K took excellent care of the nine bikes that went on the road this weekend, was a superb grill-master, and kept the team relaxed with well-curated jazz music from the hauling van stereo.

The team is also excited to share that senior Alex Breakstone and sophomore Evelyn Korbich have made the provisional list for Nationals qualification!
Alex in the pack at the Shea Stadium Criterium
The Herd is on to it’s final race for the season next weekend: ECCC Championships, hosted by RISD in Providence, Rhode Island, where double-points are up for grabs!


2 comments:

  1. Congratulations to all the winners and to all the participants who did their best in the race. I'm just new into cycling but I find it relaxing in a way, it is my way of dozing off the stress.

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