ECCC Week 1: Rutgers

The 2012 Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference road season kicked off with yet another edition of the Frozen Toed Season Opener, hosted by Rutgers. The forecast leading up to the weekend was bleak for the first race of the year, but our club still sent a total of 5 riders this year. As in years past, the first event of the season was a fast 2.2 mile individual time trial on an out-and-back course in Somerset, NJ early Saturday morning. Marten, Brandon K., and Perry all participated in the wet ITT, with Brandon just missing out on points in B's.

The much anticipated and surprisingly long road race was next up for the club in the afternoon. ECCC races typically increase in length and difficulty as the season progresses, yet the Rutgers planned a 13 mile course with 944 ft of climbing each lap. The A field would race 5 laps, B's would do 4, C: 3, D: 2, and Intro would do 1. This meant that the second longest race of the year, after Easterns at UNH, would be during the opening weekend. The combination of plenty of mileage and climbing would prove to be a good test of everyone's early season form.

Marten at the start of the A road race

Dave was the first Lehigh rider out on the course in the D2 field, followed by Perry in Intro. Both had to contend with roads that were still slick in their first collegiate road races, adding another challenge to the day. Dave finished very well, in 14th place out of 49 and edging out a couple of Army riders with the same time.

The A and B races went off a little bit later than scheduled, at around 1:30. Fortunately, and reminiscent of the last two road races of the 2011 season, the sun broke through the clouds and started to warm both fields as they waited in the muddy and puddle covered staging area. The rest of the day was great for racing, with temperatures in the mid 50s and a good tailwind on the final 4 mile stretch. Marten had a great showing in his first race in A's, but caught an unlucky break with a flat on the 5th and final lap.

In the B race, Brandon and Eric avoided a sudden crash in the middle of the peloton towards the end of lap 1 that sent riders either off the road or scurrying to catch back on to the front of the pack. With a bold attack by an MIT rider on the climb on lap 3, the field began to blow up with everyone fighting to hang on. Eric was dropped, but Brandon stayed with a whittled pack of 19 for the remaining 2 laps. With the MIT rider winning by over 2 minutes (and eventually sweeping all three B events on the weekend), the remaining pack entered the final 4 mile stretch to the finish in a race for 2nd. In the group sprint, Brandon finished 5th to claim 6th place in a field that started with 52 riders, earning the only points for the team this weekend. Eric rolled in later for 30th.

Marten and Perry were the lone Lehigh Cycling racers participating in Sunday's crit. Marten finished 27th of 59 in A, capping a good overall performance on the weekend for the club's first A rider in 2 years.

Next up on the schedule is Grant's Tomb Criterium hosted by Columbia and the Stevens road race, which looks like it it not get flooded out like last year's course. Week 3 in Philadelphia should see a great turnout from the club, with everyone back from spring break and a familiar race venue for many.