Notre Dame Cycling members Douglas Ansel and Jose Lugo traveled to Mt Morris, WI, to
\nparticipate in the last Midwest Conference mountain bike races in the 2011 season. The races were\u00a0hosted by Ripon College at the Nordic Mountain ski resort located an hour and a half north of\u00a0Madison.\u00a0Ansel and Lugo lined up for the Cross Country races Sunday morning, which featured the largest\u00a0and strongest fields of the entire season.<\/p>\n
The course for the weekend was the most challenging course on the conference\u00a0race schedule this year. Held on a 4.5 mile lap that has been used for the national level Subaru Cup\u00a0professional race, the course featured numerous steep, challenging climbs followed by twisty and\u00a0technical descents littered with countless rocks of every size.<\/p>\n
In the Men’s B race, Douglas Ansel\u00a0worked his way into 4th position at the end of his first of three laps and continued to pick off riders\u00a0in front of him, gaining time on both the climbs and the rough descents. Near the end of the major\u00a0climb on the last lap he caught and passed the leader and pulled out a winning margin of over 20\u00a0seconds by the end of the race. On a course where bike handling skills were just as important as\u00a0power, Jose Lugo used his technical abilities to outpace other racers and finish 15th in the Men’s C
\nfield.<\/p>\n
With this weekend, ND Cycling has notched its first victory of their 2011-2012 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Notre Dame Cycling members Douglas Ansel and Jose Lugo traveled to Mt Morris, WI, to participate in the last Midwest Conference mountain bike races in the 2011 season. The races were\u00a0hosted by Ripon College at the Nordic Mountain ski resort located an hour and a half north of\u00a0Madison.\u00a0Ansel and Lugo lined up for the Cross … <\/p>\n