With the end of the season came the long haul out to Penn State but the Wildcats arrived with a full complement of racers and eagerness to boot. In the team time trial UNH picked up wins in the Women's C and Men's C categories and had strong showings in Men's and Women's A. The afternoon brought more action as the Black Mo' road race kicked off. With a 5 mile climb that never seems to end, many racers found themselves suffering. A few UNH riders found themselves in the pain cave at the front of the race including Men's D rider Travis Mattison pulling out the win, Men's C riders Conor Madison and Josh Feltner finishing second and third with Devon Jasinski and Etham Pfenninger finishing sixth and eighth, Women's C rider Emma Collins coming in seventh. After the races the Wildcats got some much needed rest before the criterium on Sunday. Historically, UNH has done tremendously well on this course and they did not fail to deliver. Travis Mattison once again took home the win in Men's D with a solo victory with Sheldon Hurst coming in third. Conor Madison took second again in a field sprint that saw him miss the victory by mere inches. Tycho Trump, our adopted Dutch rider, also pulled off a solo victory in the Men's Intro on bike equipped with only the latest and greatest in shifting technology, downtube shifters. Emma Collins once again proved strong as she finished third in a race that shattered with a main group forming early on and staying away the entire race. Next up was Women's A where Molly Bulger and Erin Spaulding finished tenth and sixteenth respectively representing the wildcats with a combination of style and ease, better known at steez. Finally, to wrap up the ECCC season, was the Men's A crit. Although rain threatened at times the flood gates stayed closed and the crashes were kept to minimum. Taylor Smith rocketed to a fifth place while James Kennedy finished thirteenth to close out the season.

UNH placed eighth in the Eastern Conference and third among D1 schools this past weekend at the MIT race. UNH Men's D squad had three wins this weekend with Devon Jasinski winning both the Men's D Road Race and Criterium and Jack Micozzi winning the Men's D Individual Time Trial.

After five weeks of racing, UNH is sitting in 8th place overall in the conference and 4th among Division 1 schools. UNH travels to Shippensburg, PA next weekend for their next race.

Weekend Results: ITT, Criterium, TTT, Road Race
Week 5 Standings

(Picture left to right: Robbie King, Jeremy Roscoe, Bridgette Beagan, Travis Mattison, James Kennedy, Tim Duggan, Ben Kramer, Ryan Zielinski, Sarah Geromini, John Aniskovich and Ted King)

In early October, a group of UNH cyclists traveled to Straham, NH to help set up for the Krempels King of the Road Challenge. It is a charity ride benefitting the Krempels Center which helps those who are in need of care after traumatic brain injuries. We were honored to give our services to this event that helps provide for such a noble cause.

The day was busy with preparation and breakdown, but the Wildcats enjoyed the free food, free t-shirt and the company of a few pro cyclists! Our thanks go out to everyone involved for making it a successful event and especially to Arlon Chaffee for giving us the opportunity to volunteer for this great event.

(Pictured left to right: Luke Robichaud, Emma Collins, Hunter Resek, Erin Spaulding and James Kennedy)

On October 5th members of the UNH Cycling Team made their way to Oyster River Middle School to help put on a "bike rodeo" for the school's fifth graders. Activities included bike safety checks, an obstable course, bike maintenance and a "rules of the road" ride where kids could properly use the signals and safety lessons they had learned. UNH Cycling team members helped facilitate the running of the obstacle course and the "rules of the road" ride and had a blast doing it. Special thanks to Oyster River Middle School and Holly Malasky for putting on the event and involving our team in the community. Thanks also go out to Luke Robichaud, Erin Spaulding, Emma Collins and Hunter Resek for volunteering their time to help out. I was also very happy to help and give back to our community in a cycling related way. Getting people interested in bikes and bike racing is what we do and it felt good to show the kids what bike riding is all about.