2005 ECCC MTB season report

2005 saw Williams racers compete in the ECCC mountain series for the first time in at least a few years. The season commenced at the UConn Enduro race, which originally was slated to be a 12-hour race but was (fortunately?) reduced to an 8-hour painfest. The course was fast, flat, and not very technical, and featured side attractions of intense horseshoe playing and the octogenarian RV-camping lifestyle. Kate Scheider finished third (out of four...shhhh) in the Women's A solo race after getting lazy and sore enough to quit halfway into the race. The rising threat of a riot in the horseshoe pit made this decision an easy one.

The next race we felt like driving to was the Dartmouth XC/ST at Mt. Ascutney, held in conjunction with the Vermont 50. The only reason we did this race was the sweet-ass picnic that the organizers of the VT50 put out. Hopefully there was enough food and Harpoon (root)beer left for those sorry ultrarunners who took 10 hours to finish their race. Chris Ellis-Ferrara finished 5th in the Men's C/D race, even though he had raced in a Williams cross-country race the previous day. Ansel Bubel also rocked it for his first race ever, finishing 18th. Kate Scheider spent the 3 laps battling for 3rd place with Katie Ammons from Dartmouth and Jennifer Strasser from UConn, while trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid being obstructed by her friends that were racing the 50. She finished 4th after being blocked on the final descent by those stupid ultrarunners and Pittsfield's own Mark Gamache. All three Williams racers skipped the short track because we were f-ing tired of ski hill grass and had gorged ourselves on the wonderful VT50 picnic.

The third and last race weekend of the season that saw purple cow spandex at the starting line was the UMass/RPI weekend. Thanks to a 20-year flood, Saturday's race at the lovely Holiday Farm in Dalton, MA, was on streams rather than trails. An epic level of water coursed the rocky trails of Holiday Farm, but that didn't stop Williams racers from dominating. Scotty McClelland burned up the Men's D field in his first race for Williams, finishing 1st, despite slipping off his flat pedals numerous times. Ben Grass finished 5th in the same race, making another promising debut for Williams Cycling. Ben and Scotty both demonstrated that you don't need working brakes to dominate a race. By the time the Women's A race began at 2:30, the course was an absolute mess, and the rain was falling even harder. Kate Scheider was in 3rd until her fork filled with water and completely failed on the final three mile descent. However, she was thankful for her experience riding a full rigid, as well as having those wonderful ceramic rims. Kate ended up finishing 5th and then fell asleep shivering in the back of her station wagon. Sunday's hillclimb at Jiminy Peak was not the best run race ever, but we won't air that bitchfest here, since everyone knows how hard it it to put on a race. Michael Fairhurst made his mountain biking debut and did "okay" on (i.e. won) the ride/run up the slopes of Jiminy Peak. Kate missed her start and then fell down and quit 45 seconds into the race, retreating to the safety of her station wagon. Michael and Kate both gave the big old special finger to MTB hillclimbs and went and rode the Silver Street trails next to the resort.

Thanks to everyone who came to the home race this year, and let's race even more next year! Mountain is waaaaaaaay cooler than road.