Despite several mates jumping ship in the days leading up to the races, Admiral
Ethan Schrum kept his vessel on course to the Boston area for the MIT XPot race
weekend as Penn Cycling's lone representative. Fueled by an amazing and huge
plate of gnocchi sorrento enjoyed with his friends in Boston's North End on
Thursday night, the Admiral arose Saturday morning and headed way out west of
the city to the shadows of Mt. Wachusett, primed for some serious hill climbing
action in the road race. After surveying the course, the Admiral determined that
the finishing stretch was quite possibly the lowest quality pavement ever
covered by an ECCC race (at least in recent years). The course was a 9 mile
loop, with the climb rising 300 feet from mile 3 to 4, advertised as having
ramps over 10%. As the pack approached the climb, they saw the Mt. Wachusset
ski area next door, still covered with snow despite the 80 degree temps. When
the pack reached the climb for the first time, they realized that the Yale and
MIT flyer writers must have gotten switched. Whereas Yale promised steep grades
that didn't actually exist, MIT rather under-reported their own grades, as the
riders realized when they saw a Manayunk Wall rising in front of them with 18%
grades. The Admiral and his friends in the lead pack dropped just under half
the field on the first climb. On the second lap, the Admiral held on, despite
feeling weak, as the pack shed a few more riders. The third time around,
however, saw a historic moment - for the first time, a hill broke the Admiral
in a race, reducing him to 5 mph rubble on the steepest part. A lead pack of 12
got away, and the Admiral formed a chase group with UNH and BU riders that had
met similar fates. As they entered the last mile and final small climb, the
Admiral began to pull away from the chase group, only to have his chain fall
off! This mishap allowed the UNH and BU guys to finish ahead of him, though the
BU guy acknowledged after the finish, "You had us." After the race, the Admiral
heard both D and C riders admitting to walking their bikes up the hill during
the race. Now that is crazy.

Sunday's crit included, unbelievably, the same disastrous stretch of pavement
that the road race finished on. With a 9% downhill shortly before the finish, the Admiral
figured he had little chance to place well so decided to go for the first
prime. This was a bad idea, very bad, as the attack sapped his energy and left
him straggling in the middle of the field to a 24th place finish.

On a final note, UVM's Derek Harnden approached the Admiral on Sunday morning
and asked if his teammates had shown up for the second day. Derek seemed
disappointed about the ease of competition in B's without the Quaker
contingent, and he said, "Certainly they'll be at Penn State . . . ?"


Road Race - Men's D1 - Ethan Schrum, 15th of 43 starters
Criterium - Men's D1 - Ethan Schrum, 24th of 37 starters