Dartmouth Cycling Team

MEET THE DCT

Today: Club Fair on the Green 3-5pm

Monday & Tuesday: Info Meeting 8pm ECSC 008

⚠️Meet the DCT Execs!⚠️

Wells "Watts"* Willett (he/him) '24 returns for a glorious 5th year as our esteemed emeritus-prezzo Now-Amorphous-Advisory-Consultant Figure👨‍💼💼™️!

He enjoys many of the wheel-mounted disciplines, especially road racing part-time for NYC traffic-weaving pros 😎, most recently in the and , in addition to his collegiate duties🥰 thwomping** the A field(s) -- with 2 Collegiate Natty Champ Jerseys to his name🇺🇸🥳

We are excited to have him back another year as he pursues a Master of Engineering degree between rides!

Thanks, Wells! See you tonight?

*unofficially. has been known to do fewer watts on the front than those in his "draft"
**technical term, see supplement

⚠️MEET THE DCT EXECS!!⚠️

For your Cyclocross and Road Coordination wants and needs, check out Nolan Holmes (he/him) '25 (pictured above).
Nolan grew up cyclocrossing, nordic skiing, and soccering down in Brattleboro, VT.

You can often spot him on his yellow "fixie" campus bike (ask him ab his custom fender) commuting rather circuitously to and fro Thayer. Nolan also works in the Dartmouth Bike Shop where he is one of our Top Tinkerers💯🧑‍🔧

Thanks for all you have done for the team! See you in a week 👀🚴‍♂️

⚠️MEET THE DCT EXECS!!⚠️

Next up, meet our vice president, Bond Almand (he/him) ‘26. Bond hails from Maryville, Tennessee, where he got his start racing mountain bikes and trail running.
These days, you can find Bond making his way south from Alaska, where he is attempting to break the world record for the fastest unsupported cycle of the Pan-American highway. You can follow his progress at bondalmand.com!

Thank you for all your hard work and good luck, Bond!

⚠️MEET THE DCT EXECS!!⚠️

First up, meet Amélie (she/her) ‘25, our illustrious leader and president. Amélie hails from Boise, where she got her love for all things outdoors (and she can teach you how to pronounce Boise like a local). When she’s not riding 200 miles through driving rain, catch her hiking, trail running, and skiing!

Thank you for all your dedication and leadership, Amélie!

Senior Spotlight: Wells and Raif! Congrats on graduating lads. Lucky for us these boys will both be back next year for graduate school at Thayer! The DCT would not exist as we know it today without the dedication of Wells and Raif; Wells almost single-handedly ran this team for a season and Raif is an ever faithful diligent hard worker who always puts the needs of his teammates above his own. We love you guys and are so excited y’all sticking around for another year! Raif and Wells are both graduating with BAs in engineering and will both be coming back to earn their BE and MEng in computer engineering and mechanical engineering respectively. Smart lads! Cheers to another year 🥂 🌲

Senior Spotlight: Congrats Colin Braun, thank you for a fantastic four years! Colin is taking his energy engineering degree to Burlington where he will be working as an energy efficiency engineer. As an avid racer and exec for the DCT, Colin has excelled on the bike with impressive results in GMSR and collegiate nationals this year. We are sad to see you go, but excited to see where life (and your bike) will take you!

Grrrrr finals season 🐻

The DCT is staying active as the school year comes to a close. Our ‘27s are closing out their first year in Hanover with some strong rides! Good luck on finals and happy LDOC!

Don’t worry, he (usually) doesn’t bite…

Wishing good luck as he races for in the Tour of Ireland this week! Representing the Big Green 🌲 in the Land of the Green ☘️

Get your game face on .verma it’s time to go racing.

We are super excited to be sending 4 riders to collegiate nationals this weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico! Good luck boys!

The DCT is back to its winning ways! This past weekend we traveled down to New Jersey for the for an action packed weekend of racing. Congrats to all of our racers who showed out including some victories from and !

The second post in our historical series captures the Dartmouth cycling scene in the 1890s and the first decade of the 1900s. Cycling had quickly evolved from a simple means of transport to one of the world’s favorite pastimes. Racing ovals were built across the Northeast. The safety cycle (invented in the 1880s but popularized in the 1890s) replaced the penny farthing and revolutionized cycling. The new bikes closely resemble modern fixed-gear bikes. For the first time bikes were safe and accessible to men, women, and children. Cycling races were one of the few athletic events women were allowed to compete in (although not at Dartmouth, as the school remained all-male until 1972). In 1896 Susan B. Anthony stated, “I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” Bikes became wildly popular leading to the “American cycle craze of the 1890s” The wheel rims of bikes in the 1890s were made of wood, and the introduction of pneumatic safety tires replaced the solid rubber tires, offering a smoother ride. Chain drives with gears allowed for more efficient pedaling (although gears were not adopted on racing bikes for another 40+ years) and brakes were introduced for the first time. Many bikes also came with acetylene gas lanterns adding to the overall safety of riding. Throughout this period cycling remained a favored means of transportation in America with over 2 million bikes sold annually in the late 1890s compared to only 4,000 cars assembled in 1897. Indeed bikes began popping up across Dartmouth’s campus. Big cycling races would commonly draw crowds of 10,000+ spectators, more than college football or professional baseball games.
See comments for the rest of the history and image descriptions.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped us reach our fundraising goal of over $10k!!! Look at how happy the DCT is now! We couldn’t function without the generosity of our supporters. We cannot thank you enough. Now get ready for an amazing season!

We need your help! The DCT is less than $500 away from our fundraising goal for the 2024 season. If we meet our goal by February 26th we will become eligible for the Dartmouth Club Sports prize money pool. These funds will help fuel an exciting new year of racing and riding! Head over to the link in our bio to contribute. Any amount helps! Thanks for all of the support so far!

The Dartmouth Club Sports Challenge Fundraiser starts TODAY (2/12) at 12:00pm (noon) EST!!! This is our biggest fundraiser of the year; it would mean a lot if you could support the DCT at the link in our bio and on our story. Donations are matched on a first come first serve basis, so head over to the link at noon and get those donations in! This year the Dartmouth Cycling team has set the ambitious goal to cover the combined distance of the 3 grand tours (The Tour de France ~2,116 miles, Giro d’Italia ~ 2,143 miles, & Vuelta a España ~1,960 miles) as a team for a total distance of 6,219 miles or ~ 10,000km. Your donations help us continue to function as a team and helps foster a strong cycling community here in Hanover. Thank you everyone for your support!

Although the current Dartmouth Cycling Team was founded in 1961, there is a rich history of Dartmouth students riding bikes for centuries. Over the next several months in a series of posts we are going to explore the history of bikes at Dartmouth through Dartmouth Library’s photographic and written archives.

This post highlights the first known evidence of cycling at Dartmouth in the 1880s. Although scant written records exist, we know from a date scrawled on the back of photograph 2 that Dartmouth had a thriving cycling club as early as 1880. Although no photographic evidence of a club exists before 1880, a cycling community likely existed in some capacity before 1880. Importantly, the first bicycle race in America took place on May 24th, 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts, submitting that Dartmouth’s club was likely one of the first in the United States following the 1887 founding of the original US club: The Boston Bike Club (source: Boston Post, 1887). The penny-farthing (invented in 1871) was the dominant bike of this time period until the safety bicycle was introduced in 1884. The penny-farthing was front wheel driven, severely limiting the speed and safety of the machine, hence the adoption of the safety bicycle. Archives indicate that the penny-farthing was the only bike ridden by the cycling club in the 1880s until the safety bicycle emerged on campus in the mid-1890s. Photo 4 reveals the team was at least 17 members strong in 1885. By 1885 there were over 100 cycling clubs in the Northeast and races were held in Boston, New York, Chicago, and various other cities across the eastern US.

1. The Dartmouth Cycling Club in 1888

2. The earliest known photograph of a bike at Dartmouth, an unknown man poses with his penny-farthing in 1880

3. Two Dartmouth students proudly display their penny-farthings in front of Rollins Chapel

4. The Dartmouth Club in uniform in 1885

5. Man poses with penny-farthing (exact date unknown, likely early 1880s)

6. The team poses in uniform in 1888

7. The Club in 1888 (see photo 8 for depictions)

8. List of individuals depicted in photo 7

Waiting for the snow to melt so we can ride outside again like… ⌚️

A massive thanks to our 2023 title sponsor, Florence Healthcare! The continued support from Florence’s co-founder and CEO powers the DCT forward all year. We look forward to continuing our partnership next year! We can’t thank Florence Healthcare enough! Cheers to 2024!

A huge thank you to for sponsoring Big Green Cycling for the 2023 season! Stages has supplied the DCT with power meters, heart rate monitors, and cycling computers giving us the ability to train smarter and harder. Stages has truly enhanced the team’s training and racing strategies by giving us access to equipment that elevates our performance. Thanks for an awesome year Stages!

A huge thank you to for hooking the DCT up with eye ware this 2023 season! Goodr sunglasses maintain high performance standards without sacrificing style, making them a team favorite. From the sunny days of summer to the overcast winter rides and even the rainy days of spring, has us covered! Thanks for an incredible 2023 season Goodr!

As 2023 draws to a close we would like to take a moment to thank our amazing 2023 sponsors. Up first, ! Untapped kept us fueled throughout the year. From our easiest training rides to our most intense races and workouts, Untapped’s maple syrups, maple hydration mixes, and maple stroopwafles provide the nutrition we need to perform at the highest level. Thanks Untapped for an amazing 2023 season!

We want to thank .goetze for a great 4 1/2 years with the DCT. Ella graduated with a double major in Neuroscience and French! We appreciate everything you have done for this team, your impact has been influential on the growth of the Dartmouth cycling community. Best of luck post-graduation. We know you’ll do great things, but we will miss you!

Can you imagine a world without bikes? Now that is scary…

Another excuse to dress up and ride bikes? That’s just a regular Tuesday for the cycling team. Happy Halloween! Come join us on a ride as we enjoy the last couple of weeks of fall riding

Riding fast and looking good? Looks like Wells has that *covered* thanks to !

As the cold temps set in DCT is just as active as ever. We are gearing up for a winter of hard work, building the foundation for some epic spring rides! Come join us at any of our practices five days a week.