With three race weekends down and five to go in the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference schedule the Colorado State University Rams Cycling Team has a commanding lead in the conference title race. At the University of Colorado’s Criterium on Sunday, the CSU
Rams showed once again why they are the force to be reckoned with in the RMCCC with commanding performances coming from every category.

After mixed results at the University of Northern Colorado Criterium on Saturday, the Rams showed up at CU Boulder with one goal in mind: redemption. In the Men’s C race, Adam Wisseman, Nico Enjalbert, and David Boerner put in a series of strong solo attacks, but each was brought back by a charging peloton. In the end John Peterson was the first to take
victory for the Rams, capitalizing on the collapse of a daring last-lap effort by teammate John Welsh to take the win in a field sprint.

“I was pleased to see the team re-group and bring out their A-game on Sunday,” said CSU Rams Coach and Gemini Training Systems owner Ainslie MacEachran. “They all rode text book races at CU Boulder.”

The Men’s B race ended just as well for the Rams. Garrison Schulte, coming off an impressive 2nd place on Saturday, stomped the field sprint to win by over a bike length. Sunday was Schulte’s second win of the season, taking his first on the technical Denver University criterium course.

“Just like at DU, the whole team rode extremely well today,” Schulte said. “I couldn’t have done it without all the work they put in. They kept it fast and didn’t let any breaks get away the whole race.”

The CSU Rams have become notorious for their domination of the Women’s A field, and Sunday was no exception. With the pack still together at 15 minutes to go, Tirrel Grovenstein put in a vicious attack and quickly pulled away from the field, extending her lead to over 25
seconds. Grovenstein held on until the end, taking an impressive solo victory. After going 1-2 the day before, teammates Carol Hutton and Amanda Miller were happy to sit in the pack behind Grovenstein and wait for the field sprint, where they grabbed 2nd and 4th.

The Men’s A race was fast and furious as always, with a breakaway including CSU’s Chris “Fuzzy” Hall getting off the front 20 minutes in. With the rest of the Rams controlling the main field behind, Hall took matters into his own hands and brought the team a big win with a
powerful kick to the line. Teammates Dan Lionberg and Caley Fretz went 1-2 in the bunch sprint, giving the Rams 1st, 5th, and 6th on the day.

“I was really impressed with everyone today, in every category. They all learned lessons from Saturday and the experience showed” said CSU Rams President T.G. Taylor. “Our Men’s A’s did especially well considering we were missing many of our top riders. After winning every race we entered this weekend, we’re confident that CSU is the team to beat this year in the RMCCC, and at Nationals as well.”

CSU Rams Cycling would like to thank its sponsors Peloton Cycles, Specialized, Gemini Training Systems, Orchards Athletic Club, Dohn Construction, Verve, First Endurance, and the CSU Bookstore for their fantastic support. On March 29 and 30 the Rams will be traveling to Mesa State College for a road race, team time trial, and criterium. Stay tuned to see what we’ll light up next!