This past weekend the UW Cycling mountain bike squad traveled to Houghton, Michigan for the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference (MWCCC) race hosted by Michigan Tech. The race venue included the world famous Copper Harbor Trail system and some amazing local trails just off campus. The perfect weather the week before made for the absolute finest conditions on the trails.
Three of UW's finest riders made the trip: Sam Dries, Alex ‘Skip' Meyer, and Joe Maloney.
The first event on Saturday was the Cross Country race. XC is a test of endurance with races ranging from eight to 24 miles across all types of terrain. In the Men's C event, Dries led from start to finish after an amazing start on his single-speed, fully rigid bike.
Maloney also had good luck winning the Men's A event after he and Meyer started the race going first and second into the woods. Meyer suffered a mechanical incident after the two had been leading for the first half of lap one of three. He limped in for a solid sixth place finish.
Sunday's short track race was held near the campus on some local trails. Short track is a condensed version of cross country. It is held over similar terrain, but the racing is high intensity as the race is only 25 minutes long at the most. The laps are only about a mile long, so spectating is a lot of fun as racers put everything on the line. Once again, Dries dominated the Men's C event leading from start to finish winning by a healthy margin of 30 seconds.
In the Men's A race, Meyer and Maloney went second and third into the forest setting up a perfect one-two punch. Meyer suffered some more bad luck when he knee jabbed a tree (the tree was okay) in the first lap, making it a two man race between Maloney and a Ripon College rider, Eric Smith. Smith also suffered a crash with two laps to go allowing Maloney to take the win.
The weekend turned out incredibly well, with two riders going two for two for a total of four wins on the weekend. The team will be traveling to Purdue University next weekend to once again represent the Badgers and bring back more glory.
For more information head over to uwcycling.org.
