First Meeting of the Semester reminder.

Hello from James Braswell, the West Virginia University Cycling Club Media and Cyclocross Season Coordinator. I just wanted to give the blog a fresh update and remind everyone of the first meeting of the year. The first meeting will be held today, Wednesday the 25th of August in the Laurel Room of the Mountainlair Student Union at 8:00pm. Please see the information desk if you need directions to the the room. The meeting will cover information about the club and race team as well as the upcoming mountain bike racing season. We look forward to seeing plenty of fresh faces as well as returning members of the team. Club team officers will be available after the meeting to answer any questions you may have. So, lets have a great first meeting and a great mountain bike season.

James

Ending a season, Closing a chapter

The 2010 conference championship weekend hosted by the Virgina Tech Hookies marked the end of the ACCC season, but it also marked the end of my 4 years as collegiate cyclist. This weekend definitely marks as a highlight for my career not only for outcomes but for a great time.

Leaving around 5pm on Fri, the wind was tremendous for the entire drive there. With a motorcycle, 3 bikes and also some vitamin water, it was struggle but we arrived at our destination, staying with a graduate hookie, my spot on the couch was rather comfortable.

Waking early on saturday we headed to the race, bundled up and hoping to not blow away (this was probally the earliest we have ever made it to a race). Everyone got ready, and mingled with the other riders. Some of our riders also rode around the little girls bike that was brought around.

Soon the men's A and Men's B races were off. The men's B rolled out smoothly but unfortunately there was an early crash about 5 miles sending an UMD rider to the hospital. The men's B went over the first climb as a group only dropping a select few. Over the long shallow climbs to follow the pace dropped, and I saw an opportunity to attack and jumped. After getting away from the group I hit a huge head wind and was very happy to see a Duke ride bridge to me, know I head two of my teamates and now his teammates helping to block. We were out of sight of the peleton quickly and never looked back. We negotiate the intermediates giving him the sprint and me and the KOM. On the final lap, unfortunately he rode off from me on the hill, and we both soloed into the finish. After waiting for awhile at the finish line, I was very excited to see teammate Brad taking the 3rd place finish with a small group right behind him.

Next, the second wave of races went off, and our Boys in D came around looking strong going to the finish line.

The past part of the day involved the Team Time Trial. James B, Duncan O, Brad D., and myself lined up for the men's B send off. James got us out on a great start making sure to keep all of us intact. After James got us started he pulled off and left it up to the other 3 of us. With little talking but plenty of grunts, moans, yelps, and in duncan's case whimpering/crying we sat at and above our thresholds for the next 16.5 miles of rollers, hills, and high wind, clocking a time in the 40 minute mark. Brad was the strong hold, leading us over the hills, and making sure to give us the strength the push forward, I was to give duncan a helping hand over the climbs, and set the pace on the rollers, and duncan gave us the tempo and lead the descents. Duncan, has spent over the long shallow climbs as Brad escorted and I made sure to lend a hand to carry, after my long solo ride earlier in the day, I felt the pain in the last mile and turned myself inside out to not let my team down, and the result was well worth the pain, as we won by a mere 5 seconds.

A great dinner and some celebration was at hand after the day followed by another night of sleep on the couch. My sleep was interrupted by James sleep walking in the middle of the night. We got to sleep in a bit and then headed to the crit.

Our riders in the morning looked good. And enjoyed the course. Our next riders where in the Men's B, where Brad covered all the attacks and duncan held in the front nicely. I tried a flyer which failed. The final lap was intense as the start finish was on a brutal climb each lap. Duncan and brad sprinted for 5 and 6 respectively and I took 11th. Brad was able to pick up two primes, I took 1 and Duncan took a 4th place prime also.

This was a great weekend, and I couldn't have asked for a better closer to my collegiate racing career.

James M. Schulte

Reflections on Putting on a Collegiate Race Weekend

Government officials say they’re “here to serve the people”, but most are in it for the money. Celebrities say they’re “here for our entertainment”, but they too, are mostly in it for the money. You see, I believe that in the modern era, there are very few of us who do things for the simple reason of giving back, for the sake of even calling philanthropy an art. As a first time Road Race coordinator, I approached my job with the aforementioned idea. I had a blank canvas, with the problem being no paint to fill it with.

Thankfully though, I had been assigned help – or perhaps I had been assigned as her help, since Janel Bedard was the brute force behind all of the race preparations. My experience was partly vicarious because of Janel’s determination for putting on a successful event. That’s not to say I wasn’t resolute in my pursuit of achievement; just that my inexperience left me slightly too bewildered to care as much.

Determination is a remedy for obstacles, but it doesn’t prevent them from occurring. Janel and I had our fair share. From conflicting ideologies with superiors, to funding, to road conditions, we faced our ration. There is a lot more that goes into a race than one might think. You have to deal with a bureaucracy, and their seemingly endless amounts of paperwork and red tape. You have to be considerate of rider safety, and still have a fun and challenging race. And finally you have to ensure that the local residences are informed and respected.

All of these hurdles were effortlessly jumped, thanks to the City of Clarksburg. From my perspective, they came out of left field and gave a homeless team a place to stay. What I mean by this is that in years prior our Road Races were in different locales, and they moved like vagabonds from one place to the next. Clarksburg not only gave us a place to come back to, but they were a tremendous help and were eager to support Cycling as a part of their community.

It goes without saying that any early skepticism I had was cured once I witnessed how tenacious a force Janel and Clarksburg were – and they were supplemented by the rest of our team, all of whom wanted to see just as awesome an event. It may have taken a few months, but the colors on the canvas I mentioned began to appear in all their vibrancy; stemming from a common source: the desire to make sure everyone had a fun weekend of racing.

There is a unique sense of satisfaction in receiving praise for effort; a sensation I experienced after seeing the last Men’s A rider cross the finish line, and Pfeiffer’s Coach congratulating me on a successful race. I knew in that moment that his pat on the back was felt by more than just me – I was just one of many in a supporting cast of individuals with a similar love: Cycling. And if anything, our labors proved what an accomplishment a Home Race weekend is. Maybe people should take note, and realize that good service comes from common a passion to better your life as well as the lives of those around you. In my eyes, philanthropy is a dying art of kindness, but it is alive and well within our club.

-Elliott Iannello

Great Results @ VCU

Sunshine in Doswell, VA. helped to further an excellent weekend of bike racing. While riders had some hesitation about the weekend of racing after seeing a flyer for two parking lot crits 7 individuals; Brock Denis, Brad Dodson, Duncan Oliver, Ryan McGovern, Todd Latocha, James Braswell, and (Jimmy) James Schulte let Friday evening around 5pm.

The first stop on the trip aside from a quick pitstop off the side of the road, was at The Dodson Family Residence for an AMAZING MEAL. A salad, what seemed like a bottomless bowl of pasta, and of course to finish it off chocolate cake. With our stomachs full we headed to Richmond to find our hotel.

While standing outside waiting to get our rooms the team felt a little out-of-place and uneasy, but once securely locked into our rooms everyone settled down for some sleep.

Saturday arrived and we headed out early towards Kings Dominion, and after going past it arrived at the oparking lot crit location. While it was cold enough for us to put on hoodies and arm and leg warmers in the morning, the later events required only the minimum. The course was nice and wide, with three turns on a side road and then the parking lot section was greatly lined with cones and caution tape, that no one had issues with over the weekend. Saturday we rode the course clockwise. Our D riders did way too much work in the front of the peleton and heard the more expeirenced riders screaming at them each lap to sit up and do less work. The later races, Jimmy and Duncan hoped to help Brad in the B field but with a bad hub and a flat tire, neither proved to be of much use.

The real excitement of Saturday was the Men's A race. Walker Owen of NC State ended up in a solo breakaway in the first few laps of the race. With less than 10 laps to go, Greg Leach from American Univeristy and Brock Denis from WVU attempted to close the gap. With under 5 to go and the gap almost closed Brock yelled to Greg, G-Star I don't have anything left. The two continued to work and caught the solo break. The 3 of them brought it down to the wire just escaping the main field. Brock took the sprint and the Win, with Owen and Greg just behind.

Day two (sunday) we rode counter-clockwise and a new configuration was created with the cones. Our D riders learned their lessons from our constant heckling and responded great in the peleton. Todd worked to block as Ryan got into a break, but neither were too tired to sprint at the end as they both rode a smart race. Duncan, Brad, and Jimmy all took some form of PRIME points in the Men's B race, and with 5 to go Duncan put Brad on his rear wheel and Jimmy lined up to help protect to set up the initial lead out. Brad with some inpatients and inexperience, jumped very early and left the other two riders rather confused. Duncan took 9th and Brad 11th, Jimmy was just a few wheels back in the rest of the sprint. For the Men's A's Brock had exhausted himself on the prior day and was very please to take a top 15th and survive the day.

We all enjoyed showing off our earned tanlines on the way home and were also pleased to make in at a decent hour of about 10pm. A GREAT WEEKEND!!

W&M Race Weekend: Part 1

William & Mary Race Weekend

The Commute

After discussion at the meeting on Wednesday, the team planned to meet at the Coliseum at 4:00pm on Friday to load up and get underway. 4:30 sharp was to be the departure time. As usual, the team was running a few minutes behind. Blame the traffic--which is terrible on Friday in Morgantown anyway--or the plethora of other excuses presented (mostly from myself and Jimmy for arriving 15 minutes late), none of it made a difference. Past a few jokes, no one complained. Everyone was excited about the prospect of a warm weekend of racing on clean country roads

6 hours. That is roughly the amount of time it takes to travel from Morgantown, WV to Williamsburg, VA. (+ or - 30 minutes, depending on the driver) 6 hours is a lot of time. Almost agonizingly so. In Ryan’s truck, Broski and Ryan McGovern reportedly killed time by delving into discussions on all things manly, which undoubtedly prompted some interesting input from Brad Dodson and Brian DeCann. Elliott Ianello and myself were strategically placed together in my SUV so we could talk incessantly without bothering anyone. Sequoya, who was along for the ride this weekend to learn about bicycle racing, played impartial referee and mediated our bickering. That left Ryan and Jimmy together in Jimmy’s truck.

Around 7:30 pm, some wise soul made the decision to stop our group so we could all eat dinner at Boston Market in Frederick, Maryland. The food was amazing. So much so that the rest of the trip to Williamsburg was a forgettable blur. Broski showed off his unique ability to simultaneously contort his fingers and face/mouth into entertaining gestures. Other than that, intercar shenanigans were surprisingly kept to minimum.

Accommodations

The hotel was a place to sleep. Lets leave it at that. Truth be told, American University and a few of the other teams were jealous at how much money we saved.

Racing

The WVU student newspaper, the Daily Anthenaeum, published an article about our weekend:

Cycling races at William & Mary, heads to NYC Friday

Additional Details

While the DA pointed out the high points of the weekend, there were several other interesting occurrences.

Accident-prone Elliott somehow managed to rip his rear derailleur off his bike mid race. This gives him the unique honor of being the only person on our team to have three non-destroyed road bike frames in currently un-raceable condition.

Brian Decann was robbed of a top 10 finish in men’s D because of an accident at the 1000m mark before the end of the race. He raced really well and just hit a stroke of bad luck. He’s got the battle scars to prove he fought to the finish though.

Ryan Post, who helped officiate the races, brought his road bike with him for the weekend to ride around with us after our races were over. While loading his bike into the truck in Morgantown, Dr. Brock Von D , our resident bike surgeon, noticed Ryan had a greater than positive 10% rise in his stem, his handlebars dropped low enough to make a track racer giddy, brake cables tight enough to strum, and two shifter hoods at distinctively different heights (by a good 2 inches at least). Yes, a retro Euro cyclist silently died somewhere. Even by relatively relaxed WV standards, his bike looked like the velo-equivalent of a Saturday morning hangover. By the end of the weekend, however, his bike was back to acceptable condition.

More details to come . .. .

Wake Forest race weekend

Quick summary by Brandon Crawford:

Everyone did well this weekend. Everyone finished their races. No one
got pulled. Many racers DNFed in each race, but WVU did not have a
single one. None of our guys/gal were harmed irreparably. Lessons in
humility were learned by everyone. It is going to be one fast, fun
year of racing.

The 3.75km ITT was brutal. Much gasping for air occurred. Many muscles
were made sore. It started with a decent hill climb, which at speed
felt like having your legs ripped apart. False flats and a slightly
downhill finish followed. Temperature outside: really COLD.

The road race was a bit warmer, with a 10 mile loop course that seemed
innocent enough during warmup laps but proved to be a substantial
challenge at race/near race pace. Broski brought it home during a
dramatic, reportedly highly frustrating Men's A race with a solid pack
finish. For more details on the frustration of the race, ask broski.The mens C race had the largest field I have ever seen.
Easily 60 riders. Brad Dodson proved that he has major rookie of the
year potential, pulling a solid top group finish in the mens C race.
Emily showed that squats and only squats are an effective way to train
for road racing, as she held solid in the Womens A and brought home a
4th place finish. Everyone else performed their best and finished
strong, while learning a lot.

On sunday, the Crit was a fast loop around a WFU parking lot. The
front side was slightly (1-2%) up hill, while the backside was
slightly (1-2%) downhill. This combination of up and down led to most
of the interesting action being on the uphill, more challenging side
near the spectators, making the races fun to watch. Mens A's were
going so fast it was almost unbelievable. B's and C's were cooking it
between 20-25 mph average. Men's D's reportedly held a few mph below
20 for most of the race. Exact placings are TBD. The course was dirty,
cold in the morning, warm in the afternoon, and great for racing.

Heading to NCSU

Three of us left Motown at 3:30 Friday for the opening race weekend at NCSU, 2 were racing, I was officiating. I was a little apprehensive because my weather info was telling me Saturday AM snow in Raleigh, either way I was committed. Brock forced me to believe that his Weather Underground forecast of 48degrees was correct and we'd be racing. I can't see how anyone can tell the weather from underground.

Once we got out of Morgantown, the roads were all plowed, but quite a bit of snow along the roads. This was the case through Virginia as well, but almost as soon as we got into North Carolina the snow disappeared-great omen! Then about 20min later, the bicycle race haters from above began raining on our parade in a solid form. Within 30min there was an inch accumulating on the grass, and starting to stick to the roads.

About 30min from our destination, calls started ringing in with talk about delaying the Saturday start to 10AM. We started seeing evidence of how bad the NC driver's ed program is, with quite a few cars with brand new body work. When we got into Raleigh there was over an inch of snow on the road and 3" everywhere else. No way we're racing tomorrow...

While waiting at a light 2miles from where we were staying, 2 girls in an SUV pulled alongside, gave us a look and rolled down the window. I rolled ours down and the ladies told us to follow them. Brock went nuts, and demanded I follow. We followed them into the parking lot of Fosters, past a Jeep Wrangler that was sliding off the road onto the sidewalk. They asked where we were from, which we replied WV, and they replied "Oh, so you don't know what you're getting into". I don't know if the referred to partying, or driving in the snow...it came from a blonde, so I doubt it was very deep either way. We told them we'd be back after we dropped off our gear. The night had begun!

We got to Dylan and Whit's place, some NCSU guys who were putting us up. They were amazed at our game, before we'd even stopped driving. I assured them it was either my face or my moto that got their attention.

After unpacking, Whit suggested some Bowling at an old skool alley a block away, then maybe hitting up the club. It was already midnight, but we headed to the alley for a round of "throwing rocks" as Whit called it. $6 for game and shoe rental, not bad, though we had to score it ourselves.

Brock and Whit put down 2 buckets of beer at the club, and were getting quite antsy to get to the bar, so around 1:30 we headed out. Brock was immediately verbally assaulted outside the bar by some hideous fat chick who was smoking. She may not have been that ugly, but with the cancer stick in hand, we had no interest. Brock ignored her, as she was merely an obstacle between him and his goal, deeper drunkenness.

The bar closed about 30min later; a Yeager bomb, pitcher of Pabst, and can of some beer consumed.

We left the bar with 3 girls, and Dylan attempted to do doughnuts in his rental truck, but only managed to toss everyone in the backseat like a salad. Brian tried to sneak a kiss on one of the girls while flying around, but instead just headbutted her. Got back, one of girl left to walk home, and the other two stayed.

We were all feeling hungry so headed to Jimmy Johns around 2:30. Brock ordered a "Manguantuion" combo, totaled $13. Rest of us were more reasonable, and headed back.

Brock downed the meal, while we were all amazed at how it could be so expensive, while the rest of us chatted about random things. The conversation evolved to the "meaning of life" as Whit had a 5min documentary project and that was his topic. 2 hours later, Whit got tired of being insulted by the girls, Brock was asleep, and the girls left.

While getting ready to tuck the tattoo in, Whit noticed that Brock was still wearing his shoes. We thought for a minute, and then the electric trimmers came out to help tame his 'stache. Mission accomplished.

Finally in bed around 4:30AM. Got a call that the Saturday race was canceled around 6AM.