Top Jumbo cyclists succeed despite crash

Sophomore Olivia Jaras and senior Matt Dysart in the B and D divisions, respectively, were the top individual Jumbo performers despite enduring potentially race-ending crashes at different points on the track.

Jaras placed ninth out of 42 racers, and earned the team 11 points. This was despite a crash that occurred at the second turn of the race that had been a tricky spot all day for the competitors.

"Two Harvard girls in front of me crashed, and I flew over them into the hay bales [set up along the track]," Jaras said. "I had to chase because I was past my eighth lap. My goal was to finish in the top fifteen, which I did, but I would have done better if I hadn't crashed."

Dysart, who was riding with freshman teammate Abe Gissen, ended up earning a tenth place finish, which was not high enough to score points. However, he did score one point in a prime, one of several bell sprint laps where racers have the chance to score points based on their positions after the lap. Gissen also had a strong showing coming in 14th.

Gissen and Dysart used each other in the race in order to draft off one another, a common technique in cycling where one rider stays less than two feet off of another rider's back wheel in order to cut wind resistance.

"It saves around 40 percent of your energy," Gissen said. "Loners have to do a lot more work."

The teammates' goal was to get up early in the pack, which they did successfully, keeping up with two other racers who had broken away. After that point, endurance becomes a factor in what Dysart characterized as "18 laps of adrenaline, fear, blood, and courage."

"You want try to stay in front of the main pack, but you need to save some for the sprint at the end," Dysart said. "I was at the front, but unfortunately I flattened at the end and [came in] tenth."

For Dysart, the blood was literal, as he sustained minor injuries in a crash that occurred early in the race after locking wheels with a rider in front of him. The rider behind him then rolled over him, injuring his thumb. Despite the injuries, Dysart was able to hop back on his bike and rejoin the race in the same position in the pack.