Northeastern University Cycling

Welcome to the Northeastern University Cycling Team Webpage! Your source for bike racing and riding in the Northeastern community. Please drop us a line or come to our meetings Monday nights at 8:00pm in 104 West Village G

Last Meeting of the Year! (4/23)

Another semester has come to pass, but the NU cycling monday meeting tradition lives on…at least until tomorrow. Be sure to come out for road captain elections and news on the last races of the 2012 road season. For those of you staying in the Boston area, make sure you keep in touch to keep rides going throughout the summer!

Don’t forget that we will be meeting in a temporary new room in 333 Curry Student Center! 8pm

Road Captain Nominations Tonight! 4/12

 

With road season coming down to its last few weeks, it now becomes time to pass the torch to our new road captain! Tonight we will be holding nominations for next season’s road captain. Please try to make it out and have your opinion heard. Elections will be in two weeks on Monday the 23rd.

Also, tonight we will be touching on our tuesday mountain ride series, our kingdom trails trip, and a potential parts swap our last meeting of the year.

See you all tonight! 104 West Village G, 8pm

Race Recap: Yale Lux Et Velocitas 4/7-8

First, all roadies interested in racing this coming weekend need to be at the meeting tonight or email me asap. asmhopwood@gmail.com

This weekend the road team raced at Yale in New Haven, CT

Saturday: I always have to start by talking about the weather and this weekend, it was gorgeous. The mornings were both a little cold but find a spot in the sun and you started to strip down and develop those kit tans.

Yale’s circuit is the same every year, a 300′ climb up East Rock and a harrowing switchback descent into a windy and wide flat. Its very tough and very fun. Some part of the circuit matches every rider’s strength. The morning TT focuses completely on the climb while the circuit race is multiple loops of the hill, descent, and flat. The whole team had a grand ole time with only one epic crash. Dom went down in the descent, got some pretty intense road rash and bone bruising. Like a boss, he got back on his bike, caught back on and came in 18th.

We grilled in the parking lot and were the last to leave. Great day.

Sunday: Easter! We had an easter egg hunt in the van (short but sweet) and then headed to East Rock Park for another day of racing. Yale’s crit is flat out but very windy with a couple of very sketchy roads. Its a playground for technically skilled racers. None of the NU riders went down in the morning’s collegiate races. Every year the collegiate races are followed by a series of USAC races and a lot of the college riders double up. Some Green Line Velo guys came down to race with Dom and Mike. GLV was started by Northeastern Alum (Keith Cardoza and Kyle Butler) and NU riders feed into it after graduation. Another fun day. We hit a ton of easter traffic on the way home but Nick Varamo’s lewd sense of humor and Mike’s bowel problems kept the ride interesting.

Top Scorers:

ITT -

Dom Caiazzo – 20th men A

Brian Coate – 13th men B

RR -

Mike Farrar – 13th men A

Dom Caiazzo – 18th men A

Ashley Hopwood – 9th women A

Bo Lan – 5th men Intro

Crit -

Ashley Hopwood – 7th women A

Bo Lan – 4th men Intro

Brian Coate – 9th USAC 3/4

 

Next weekend: Army Spring Classic in West Point, NY

Penn State Nittany Classic Race Recap 3/31-4/1

First, all roadies interested in racing this coming weekend need to be at the meeting tonight or email me asap. asmhopwood@gmail.com

This weekend the road team raced in State College, PA.

Saturday: The road race was held on Black Moshannon Mountain. This course is known in the ECCC as one of the hardest all season. It featured a 20 mile loop with 4000 feet of climbing. Almost all the climbing is focused in one 5-mile mountain. Most categories did one loop while the A’s and B’s did two. The weather was cold but rain held off at a steady mist throughout the race. Thankfully, the amazing descents weren’t too dangerous. We all finished and then curled up into a little ball to die. It was awesome.

The grill came in handy when we made dinner in the parking lot of the hotel. It is officially named “Bear.” Get it? Bear Grill? Haha

Sunday: The crit turned 6 corners in Penn State’s frat row. It has a reputation for speed and tests every racers technical skills. The rain held off until the last few minutes of the men’s A race so our only battle was with our legs and the asphalt. After Black Mo, we were all in some pain but our entire team stayed upright and we had another fantastic day of racing.

Top Scorers:

RR -

Ashley Hopwood – 8th women A

Brian Coate – 6th men B

Nick Espo – 4th men D

Eric Luke – 7th men D

Crit -

Ashley Hopwood – 6th women A

Eric Luke – 5th men D, 3rd and 2nd in primes

Nick Espo – 7th men D, 4th in prime

 

Next weekend: Yale Lux Et Velocitas in New Haven, CT

What’s That? It’s Monday Again?

Hey Y’all! Just a friendly reminder about our meeting tonight.

Recaps about this past weekends race. News about this upcoming weekend. Don’t forget about the next installment of our Tuesday ride series! More on that tonight. Also have some important news about team donations so if you want the team to make some money please try to make it out.

Same time, same place. 8pm 104 West Village G

Jersey Devil Race Recap 3/24-25

First, all roadies interested in racing this coming weekend need to be at the meeting tonight or email me asap. asmhopwood@gmail.com

This weekend the road team raced in Jersey near Princeton.

Saturday: Jersey Devil’s circuit race is held near the Johnson & Johnson headquarters in Skillman, NJ. The roads are amazing and the setting is pretty gorgeous too. Its a short 4.4 mile loop with 300′ of climbing. Sound pretty simple but the climbing is all focused in one big hill. This weekend, as usual, the hill served to string out every field and destroy souls. It was awesome! We were rewarded with a great sweeping descent and comfortable flat, though. Our team had a few great placings and a crash-free day. Yay!

Sunday: The day started early with an all-uphill ITT. We only had a couple of riders brave enough to get up and race a tough fricken ITT. Then it was on to the crit at Sussex County Fairgrounds. The course was long for a crit, 1.5 miles, but featured some great corners, wide turns, gradual downhills, and a quick kicker before the finish line sprint. There were only a few crashes but the fields acted very oddly with most staying grupo compacto. Mike and I were talking later about how great it is to see how everyone has improved so much already in the last 4 weeks. Also, my dad flew in from CA for the weekend and he and our family friend brought an RV and grille to the race. It solidified the concept that warm food in your belly makes for a much better race. We’re going to work on getting a team grille for races.

Top Scorers:

Circuit -

Dom Caiazzo – 18th men A

Ashley Hopwood – 8th women A

Brian Coate – 9th men C

Nick Espo – 9th men D

Alex Sousa – 5th men Intro (first race!!)

Hayley Evans – 8th women Intro (also first race!!)

ITT -

Brian Coate – 9th men C

Crit -

Dom Caiazzo – 3rd in first sprint, men A

Ashley Hopwood – 14th women A

Eric Panicucci – 17th men C

Alex Sousa – 3rd men Intro

Hayley Evans – 5th women Intro

 

Next weekend: Penn State Nittany Cycling Classic

Meeting Tonight 3/19

Hey Everybody! Make sure you get your carb-loading in before you go riding in this AMAZING WEATHER! At the meeting tonight we will cover last weekends race as well as what is to come next weekend in Jersey. Also, dont forget we have part two of our Tuesday night ride series at Harold Parker tomorrow. More to come on that tonight. 104 West Village G – 8pm

Hope to see you all outside today.

Scotty

Philly Phlyer Race Recap 3/17-18

First, all roadies interested in racing this coming weekend need to be at the meeting tonight or email me asap. asmhopwood@gmail.com

This weekend the road team raced in Philly at Drexel and Temple.

Saturday: It is officially Spring! The circuit race was held in the usual Fairmount Park right out in front of the “Please Touch” Museum. The course is beautiful with long descents, short, fun climbs, and flats that run along the river. It challenges all types of riders. We all had a great day laying in the sun and racing. I crashed again but I was the only one! Eric Luke and Nick Esposito raced for the first time and loved it. They stepped up and competed in the morning Team Time Trial and ended up getting 5th. Also, Brian continued his streak of awesomeness and got 8th in C’s. We celebrated St. Patrick’s day in Ryan Conroy’s sweet basement under the haze of complete exhaustion.

Sunday: It was a little colder in the morning with some cloud cover but its was still incredibly nice out. The crit course was in the center of Philly in the center of Temple’s campus. While the roads were pretty sketchy, it was a great environment to race in. Lisa went down in one of the really tough corners but got up and walked away like a champ. Eric channelled the inner bike messenger and won his first intro race. Brian killed it yet again in D’s and Espo got 7th in his first crit ever. We ended the awesome day with some amazing Philly cheesesteaks. YUM.

Top Scorers:

Circuit -

Booey Hottenstein – 9th men A

Mike Farrar – 17th men A

Brian Coate – 8th men C

Crit -

Ashley Hopwood – 8th women A

Brian Coate – 6th men C

Nick Esposito – 7th men D, 4th in first sprint

Eric Luke – 1st men Intro

 

Next weekend: Princeton’s Jersey Devil