The second race in the ECCC series: The Nittany Classic, took place over the previous weekend. In many ways, the racing conditions were much more pleasant than that of Philly Phlyer. Our racers spent less time on the day before driving, temperature stayed above 9°C for both racing days, and moisture on the road was confined to the very beginning of the Team Time Trial (TTT). At the same time, both the TTT Trial and the Road Race (RR) took among in the beautiful forest of Black Moshannon State Park. Our racers must have been inspired by the serene environment, as multiple fantastic results were obtained!
Team Time Trial
The team time trial began at 8am on Saturday with a gentle climb up a slope in the Black Moshannon State Park, and took the racers along a rolling course. With less sketchy U-turns than at the Philly Phyler, raw power output was the name of the game. In the end, the UTRR racers secured an 11th place for men’s A team, a 3rd place for men’s D team, and once again, an incredible 1st place from our women’s D team! Thanks Donna, Tessa, and Roxana for carrying the UTRR team in the overall rankings!
Road Race
2 hours after the TTT, this year’s Nittany Classic RR began and featured the fearsome Black Moshannon Mountain climb: an 8km climb with an average gradient of ~6%, and that’s after 2 shorter (~1.5km) climbs at the same 6%! The Cat. B racers will have to tackle the route twice, while the Cat A. racers will have to go through this loop 3 times, ouch! All the racers grinded up the climbs with clinched teeth, but the UTRR race team achieved some amazing placements, despite the lack of any real climbs in Toronto. Marc was able to obtain a 6th place in Men’s Cat. A race. David just missed the podium, coming in at a 4th place in men’s Cat. D race. And every single one of our women’s D racers achieved a top 10 finish, with Donna at 2nd, Roxana at 5th, and Tessa at 8th! Special mention has to go to Boris, who crashed around halfway through the race, acquired multiple painful rashes all over his body, and still had the strength to finish at 15th place out of 45 racers in the men’s Cat. D race, hope you get better soon Boris!
Criterium
The Sunday’s Criterium took place in the city streets of State College, PA. This course was mainly flat, but featured several tight turns that surely put the racer’s bike handling skills to the test. The pace was lifted up immediately after the start, and thankfully no UTRR members were involved in any crashes. Finishing the race turned out to be a huge accomplishment, as a huge amount of racers were dropped, pulled, and place across all categories of racing. In the end, Marc achieved an 18th place among Cat. A racers, David finished at 12th place in the Cat D. racers, but the best results once again went to our women’s Cat. D team. Roxana finished 5th after leading the pack for several laps, and taking the first sprint in the process. At the same time, Tessa was able to finish two places down at 7th place, finishing first amongst her group. Thanks for carrying the UTRR Race Team again!
Overall
Thanks to the amazing results from our racers throughout the last two races, the UTRR race team is currently at 10th overall among 33 Universities and Colleges across Eastern North America. 7 of our racers contributed points to this ranking, and the MVPs have to be the women’s Cat. D team. The teamwork of Donna, Roxana, and Tessa resulted in points for the UTRR race team in every single event from the past 2 races. Amazing job!