Ride Reports and News

Name: Donna Wilson

Pronouns: she/her

Age: 57

Town: Easthampton

NCC Member Since: 2017

Donna: The History

Where are you from? How did you first get into cycling?

I’m from northern Virginia. My first cycling experience was, like a lot of folks, getting a bike when I was a kid and riding around for fun. I’ve had bikes off and on for many years, sometimes for commuting to work or for fun riding on bike paths. I didn’t get serious about cycling training and racing until 2020.

Why did you join NCC? 

It was a good way to find out about cycling activities and routes.

What type of riding do you do? What got you hooked on hill climbs?

With the harsh weather we have around here for a good part of the year, and my time constraints due to work, I do a majority of my riding in Zwift on my Wahoo cycling trainer haha. When I can ride outdoors I’m usually doing a solo workout on a course/hill that I know well or on a fun longer ride with my husband Chris Armen (who is also a member of NCC). 

Chris introduced me to hillclimb races when we were first dating during the early days of the pandemic and I was immediately hooked. One day he told me that he was going to go ride up Wachusett Mountain as part of a BUMPS virtual race (no in-person races at that time) and I said I wanted to do it too. I had no clue about riding steep (to me at the time) hills so I rode my not very light Giant Defy with totally inappropriate gearing. I had to stop and walk at least 6 times over the short 3 mile course, it took forever! Instead of hating it I was completely committed to being able to actually ride the whole thing someday. This failure-as-motivation scenario repeated itself when I first did Mt Greylock and a number of other hillclimbs. I eventually got physically stronger and was able to get better gearing and lighter bikes and conquer all of the hills without stopping.

Tell us about BUMPS! How did you get involved, and what is NCC’s role in the series?

BUMPS is short for Bike Up Mountains Points Series. It is a yearly series of 9 cycling hill climb events that runs from May-October in locations around the Northeast. Each race is pretty unique with different formats and levels of difficulty. You earn points for each race based on your time in relation to others of your sex and we rank folks within age groups. It is really great to be able to test yourself year over year. There have been years where I’ve gotten very few points for races but I can still enjoy the challenge, the beautiful locations and can measure personal improvement.

NCC puts on the Mt Greylock Hillclimb Time Trial race every year in September and this race is part of BUMPS. Chris and I along with fellow NCC members Chris Laplante and Andy MacDonald are co-directors.

What is your most meaningful cycling accomplishment?

I think helping to save BUMPS from going out of existence. The person who was managing the series until 2021 unfortunately fell very ill shortly after I started doing the races and I, along with another race organizer, stepped in to try and keep the series going. I loved the series and hoped people still wanted to take part. For several years I’ve spent many hours promoting events, answering questions, doing write-ups and wrangling data. I’m very pleased that last year we had another person step in to help organize and he has taken things to a whole new level and I’ve been able to take a step back.

Donna’s Favorites

What’s your favorite place to ride? 

All around Tucson, AZ in their beautiful winter! Chris and I stay there for 2-3 weeks every February and it is so awesome for riding: the Loop, Mt Lemmon, Saguaro East…

Around western MA: riding up the south side of Mt Greylock

Donna Off the Bike

What do you do when not on your bike?

I am a biostatistician and I work in the Office of Research at Baystate Health.

What do you do for fun (besides riding your bike)? 

Spend time with Chris and our dog Sunday, running, bowling, hiking, eating good food.

What cycling goals do you have for this year? 

Currently I have 4 BUMPS races scheduled: High Point, Crank the Kanc, Whiteface and Mt Washington.

What’s on your cycling bucket list? 

Riding some of the iconic mountainous areas outside of the US, mostly in France

How can people connect with you? 

Donna Wilson on Strava

BUMPS:

https://bumpshillclimb.com/

https://bumpshillclimb.substack.com/

Name: Lilah Engebretson

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 13

Town: Florence, Mass.

NCC Member Since: 2017 

Lilah: The History

Where are you from? 

I am from Florence, Mass.

What is your first memory of riding a bike? 

My first memory of riding a bike is probably bikepacking with my dad and another dad and his daughter on the Airline Trail in CT. 

How did you first get involved with NCC? 

I first got involved with NCC by doing the Look Park Junior Cyclocross summer and spring programs. During the late stages of COVID I started riding with the Trail Blasters rec rides and I liked it so much that I joined the Trail Blasters cyclocross team and then New England Youth Cycling’s River Valley Riot team.  

What type of riding do you do? 

I like to mountain bike year round as long as the trails are open, and then I mainly do cyclocross in the fall/winter. I road ride for most of my training and long endurance rides as I train for my cyclocross and mountain bike seasons. I also enjoy riding downhill as I did the Devo program at Thunder Mountain. 

What is your favorite part of training and racing with the Trail Blasters and River Valley Riot? 

My favorite part of training with the NCC Trail Blasters race team and River Valley Riot is probably all the friends and amazing memories that I've made with both these teams. I also love that even if I have a bad day at school, practice will almost always make my day better. By the time I get home from practice you usually can't tell if I had a good or bad day at school.   

What is something you have learned? 

The most important thing I have learned on a bike is how to connect with nature in ways a lot of people don't, for example finding places where no one is or just riding to be in the woods and not for training purposes. Something else I've learned from just biking is spatial awareness and bike/body control.  These two skills combined have given me confidence on my bike.   

Lilah’s Favorites

What’s your favorite place to ride?

My favorite place to ride is the Kingdom Trails in East Burke, VT because it has a mix of challenging, tech, flow and a lot of other variety. My favorite trail there is Black Bear because it is a flowy down hill trail that is fast with big berms, jumps and some tech.  

Favorite ride snack & mid-ride stop spot

My favorite ride snack is Haribo sour gummy bears and my favorite place to stop for a mid-ride snack is any place with a good view and no mosquitoes.

Favorite piece of cycling gear?

I have three favorite pieces of cycling gear, the first is my wahoo bike computer because I love looking at the numbers while I’m on my rides and after my ride because it helps me understand what I'm doing on the bike and how I can push myself to be better. My second thing is my 2025 Cycle-Smart Northampton Cyclocross winners/leaders jersey because it has always been a dream of mine to win that race since I’ve gone to that race for so many years. So for me winning that jersey this year showed how far I'd come from watching the races to winning the Cat ⅘ women's race.  My third favorite piece of cycling gear is my new Cannondale Scalpel 2  mountain bike because it is a bike that fits me well and I feel so confident and comfortable on this bike.      

What is your favorite NCC group ride or event?

My favorite NCC event is either the Trail Blasters rec mountain bike rides or the Look Park Junior Cyclocross program. These are two events that I have grown up riding and I have learned a lot of my skills in these two programs. 

What’s your favorite movie?

My favorite movie is Home Alone (the first one) because it is a tradition in my family to watch that movie at least once (we usually end up watching it more than once) during the Christmas season. 

Lilah Off the Bike

What do you do when not on your bike? 

When I'm not on the bike I'm usually at school or volunteering to help with junior programs through NCC.

What do you do for fun (besides ride your bike)?

Besides cycling I love downhill skiing and have grown up doing it my entire life and in the winter my family is always chasing the snow and skiing whenever and wherever we can.

What is your favorite spot in the River Valley? 

My favorite spot in the River Valley is probably on a dirt road somewhere where no one is or in the woods mountain biking. Off my bike is also probably in the woods on a hike.  

What’s next for Lilah? 

What are your goals for the mountain bike season? 

My goals for this MTB season are: 

1. Have better endurance on long rides and races, 

2. Find the balance between pushing myself hard and not blowing up in races, 

3. Have races that I'm happy with 

What’s on your cycling bucket list? 

My cycling bucket list includes long rides in beautiful places like the 40-mile Slate Valley Epic race, which I will do as a relay this year and hope to complete the whole thing in the future. I also would like to race collegiate MTB in college, to hopefully race pro MTB and to travel to really cool places with my bike, like Norway and British Columbia.

What are your hopes for NCC's youth programming? 

My hopes for the NCC youth programs are getting more girls involved in the sport because when I started MTB with the trail blasters I was one of the only girls on the rides (that number has changed since then). In the future I want to try and get more girls into the NCC youth programs. 

We've fallen into a bit of a pattern with the weather over the past few weeks -- chilly (or freezing) conditions for the time trials, and pretty decent nights for the hillclimbs. Tonight's Chesterfield climb definitely fell into the "pretty decent" category, with temps in the lower 60s and a little bit of sun here and there, along with maybe a bit of a tailwind out of the south and east.

The favorable conditions brought out a dozen or so riders to the start, including a couple of new recruits. Andy and I encountered Martin on our ride over to the start, and convinced him to give the race a try (despite the fact that he was heading home at the end of his own ride). Meanwhile, Charles brought along co-worker Brian, sporting an awesome-looking vintage street bike, with flat bars and flat pedals. Andy also had an equipment handicap -- with his road bike in the shop, he dusted off his gravel bike, rubbing brakes and all, and still turned in a pretty decent time.

Ryan rode away from the field at the start en-route to an easy win (and a PR). Sam and Shawn also turned in PRs, as did Patrick (who rode earlier in the day).

Full results for the season are available here. 

Next week we'll be racing the short time trial in Hatfield -- hopefully we will break the weather pattern and get a decent night. Hope to see you there!

We kicked off our first beginner mountain bike skills clinic this weekend at Nonotuck Park. We had a strong group of eight riders ranging in experience from brand new to many years of riding looking to hone their fundamentals.

Coach Justin Eichenlaub generously volunteered his time to lead the session. The group started by working through a quick warmup before moving into some drills in the open field to gain comfort getting on and off the bike, riding in the “ready” position, and cornering with proper hip movement and bike-body separation.

From there, we moved over to some steeper terrain to practice climbing and descending position, along with braking control on loose, downhill sections. It was great to see everyone progressing and getting more comfortable as the session went on.

We wrapped things up with a relaxed group trail ride before heading out for the day.

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped make it a fun and welcoming session. And a big thank you again to Justin for leading the clinic. Entry fees from the event will go toward supporting racing committee programs and team tent space this season. Don’t worry if you missed out this time! Justin is considering hosting additional skills clinics in the near future. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you are interested!

The day was looking pretty grim this morning, with temperatures below freezing, but things warmed up a bit as the day went on, and by the time we went out at 5:30 PM, we had fairly tolerable conditions, with some sunshine and temperatures in the upper 40s. A slightly pared-down crew of five showed up in Deerfield for the race, with Madeline arriving a few minutes late and riding solo. We had a moderate breeze from the southwest, enough to notice, but I don't think it had too much of an effect in either direction.

Tim and Shawn treated us to a somewhat preposterous story at the start regarding cows on the UMass South Deerfield farm with plexiglass observation ports to observe their internals. I'm still not sure whether or not they were making this up; I couldn't find any evidence online to substantiate this, but I did slow down a bit as I rode by to peer at the cows a little more closely.

Shawn went out right in front of me, and we were locked in a back-and-forth battle the whole way -- I would close down the gap on the ascents, and he would open it back up on the flats. I emptied the tank on the final stretch to sneak in a couple of seconds in front of him. Andy rode at dawn this morning and turned in a good time despite the freezing cold, chapeau!


Full season series results available here.

Next week we'll be riding the Chesterfield Hillclimb up Route 143 from Williamsburg center, come out and join us!

I'll be out of town for this coming Monday Morning C ride from Keyes street, so will not post anything. 

If anyone is interested in leading it, 'post it, and they will come'.

Better late than never. 

The first Monday Morning C ride of 2026 left from Keyes street in Florence on Monday, April 13. The weather was beautiful, mid 60s -70 before it got  hot later in the week! 

We started with 5 ( Bill L, Tim, Kent, Pamela and myself) and went to 6 when we were joined by Kathy N on Mountain Road in Haydenville on route to  the Montague Book Mill. 

We enjoyed a very fast pace headed north helped by a brisk tail wind.  After a break at the Book Mill, we 'faced the music' of that same - (now) head wind, and much slower pace heading back to Florence.  Using Amherst street, Silver street, then North and South plain roads, we were able to cut the worse of rt 47 S down to ~5 miles. Tim pulling helped out alot!

Good time had by all. 

The weather gods dealt us a perfect hand tonight, with temperatures feeling more like July than April, the storms holding off until just a bit later in the evening, and even perhaps a bit of a tailwind.

David is off gallivanting across Europe, so the scorekeeping duties fell to me. There were ten of us at the start, including newcomer Owen, who lives right at the top of the hill. Ryan took off at the gun and built a 20m lead before we even turned the corner onto Shutesbury Rd, and I never saw him again after that. Andy and I hung together for a while before he dropped me, and for me it was a solo slog the rest of the way, brightened by Owen's family, who were gathered in his driveway with cheers and cowbells, providing some much-appreciated support.

Ryan took the win easily with a blistering time of 14:55, maintaining his lead in the hillclimb series, and moving into striking distance of the overall lead. Madeline finished a few seconds ahead of Melissa to maintain her series lead on the women's side.

Next week we'll head back across the river for the Deerfield TT, hope to see you there!

Full series results here.

Conditions tonight for the long time trial were such that I was looking for any reason to cancel it. A few snow flurries - no. Temperatures hovering around the upper 30's - no. Swarms of locust - never materialized. Possibility of a haboob (is this a new word for you Melissa?) - almost. A nuclear holocaust - maybe soon. What astonished me, however, is how many people showed up - 10!!

I had a few bike issues at the start so ended up going out last. By the time that my 70 year old rapidly aging body finished up, half the participants had taken off to get home before hypothermia kicked in. No blame here!

No PRs (anyone surprised?) but Andy said that he clocked a PW! Charles M spanked us all and his average power was 300 watts. I can only dream of hitting a number like that!

Here are today's results:

1. Charles Mathers; Time: 46:40; 23.66 mph; 10 points

2. Shawn Lakota; Time: 48:15; 22.88 mph; 9 points

3. Frank Sleegers; Time: 48:51; 22.6 mph; 8 points

4. Sam Veggeberg; Time: 49:45; 22.19 mph; 7 points

5. Jonathan O'Keeffe; Time: 50:16; 21.96 mph; 6 points

6. Andy MacDonald; Time: 52:00; 21.23 mph; 5 points

7. Madeline Nagy; Time: 54:24; 20.29 mph; 4 points

8. David Goodwin; Time: 55:51; 19.77 mph; 3 points

9. Tim Pitkin; Time: 56:50; 19.43 mph; 2 points

10. Charles Bohl; Time: 58:39; 18.82 mph; 1 points

I'm away for the next 2 months on a cycling, eating, drinking, swimming and cavorting vacation with Suzanne. I will leave the time keeping and reporting in the capable hands of Mr. O'Keeffe. Send your times to him because if you send them to me, I may only be speaking French and Italian so may not understand what you say.

Next week is the Shutesbury hillclimb. Have fun and I'll be thinking of you all.

Maybe it's just me but this is one really hard hillclimb. We had a great turnout today of 15 riders. I think the mostly dry (and seriously potholed) road and temps hovering around 70 brought a lot of folks out.

This is a first in all of my years doing this - we had a mom and toddler come out from a nearby house and the kid cheered us on as we started the race. Very nice (said in a Borat voice)!

Ryan scorched us all and his teammate Garret was about 30 seconds behind for second. Ryan set a PR by 16 seconds and Shawn by 7 seconds. The results don't show this but Nick's time was artificially high as he was encouraging and supporting his teammate Jake. That's how I beat Nick so don't read too much into this.

It was great to have Dan participate after many years of absense, especially on his stunning new Cervelo. Very nice (again, think Borat)!

Melissa was MIA as she's nursing a sore knee. I'm sure we can all relate to that! Get better soon, you beast!

Here are today's results (Frank, Tim and Donna did their climbs earlier and Charles finished a few minutes behind as he just missed the start):

1. Ryan Davis; Time: 23:44; 16.94 mph; 15 points

2. Garret Theberg; Time: 24:15; 16.58 mph; 14 points

3. Patrick Sullivan; Time: 24:50; 16.19 mph; 13 points

4. Dan Coady; Time: 28:50; 13.94 mph; 12 points

5. Jonathan O'Keeffe; Time: 29:32; 13.61 mph; 11 points

6. Madeline Nagy; Time: 30:33; 13.16 mph; 10 points

7. Shawn Lakota; Time: 30:38; 13.12 mph; 9 points

8. David Goodwin; Time: 31:20; 12.83 mph; 8 points

9. Jake Poirier; Time: 32:16; 12.46 mph; 7 points

10. Nick Davis; Time: 32:17; 12.45 mph; 6 points

11. Charles Bohl; Time: 33:21; 12.05 mph; 5 points

12. Frank Sleegers; Time: 34:00; 11.82 mph; 4 points

13. Joe Lellman; Time: 35:25; 11.35 mph; 3 points

14. Tim Pitkin; Time: 35:46; 11.24 mph; 2 points

15. Donna Wilson; Time: 38:42; 10.39 mph; 1 points

Next week is the dreaded (at least to me) long time trial.