What is the cycling team? We’re a random assortment of Undergrads, Graduate and professional students. What keeps the team together is the goal of racing successfully on the road every spring.

Mountain bike and cyclocross racing are also well organized collegiate sports that we dabble in. If they are your primary interest, we can help you organize and find funding through club sports.

The road racing season begins in March, and lasts until about the first week of May. We race in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference, which includes all schools in New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. All participating schools are welcome to attend each race, and races usually involve 150-400 riders, divided into 6 categories based on experience and ability. Every racer contributes to his or her team’s standing. The "Team feel" of collegiate racing is unlike any other kind of bike racing.

Collegiate categories are self seeding. If you’re familiar with USCF racing, here’s the recommended correlation between collegiate categories and USCF racing categories, and a brief translation:

But alas, this may mean nothing to you. Don’t worry about it. The most important thing you need is to really enjoy riding your bike. At this point in the year, we just want to ride as much as is enjoyable, getting in the base of endurance that we’ll need for later on.

Here’s the basic structure of the school year, school work optional:

Sept., Oct., Nov.: Ride as much as is palatable while the weather is still good. Build endurance and get comfortable on relatively long rides.

Nov: Start to make a serious plan for achieving speed and fitness by March.

Nov., Dec., Jan.: Diversify the training a bit to keep it interesting and get out of the cold when necessary. Start to up the intensity on occasion and work on specific weaknesses.

Jan., Feb.: Start to get fast. Really fast.

March, April: RACE.

Bike: Ideally, you want a bike you can race on, but it’s not necessary for the first couple of months, after which we’ll can order new Cannondales. More on that later.

In a bike you’ll need only a few things: 1) Reliability. You’ll need to be able to carry anything you need to fix it, so it should require only minor and infrequent adjustment. 2) Comfort: If it’s uncomfortable to ride, there’s something wrong. Your teammates should be able to help you adjust it so that it fits reasonably well. 3) Reasonably efficient-- No need to be riding an aerodynamic superbike, but you’ll need to drop the handlebars a bit if you’ve got a "campus cruiser" type bike, or a "mountain bike" that wasn’t built for racing. You’ll need about ten-speeds. Toeclips or clipless pedals are essential, as the motion you need to become extremely efficient at involves pushing and pulling at the pedal. If you’re feeling sluggish, try filling your tires to the recommended pressure- you’ll be amazed. You should also have a pair of comfy padded bike shorts. You can get them at the local bike shops, or mail order them (a good deal if you’re getting several items.) You’ll quickly learn to appreciate these. If you’re bike isn’t up to snuff, talk to Ed about it. We might be able to do a little modification or find a bike for you to borrow.

Safety: You’ll be sent home if you don’t have a helmet. No exceptions. Know when the sun sets, and don’t get caught out after dark without reflectors or a blinky-light. You will have problems with drivers. Especially in the city they’re awful, but you’ll be OK if you just follow the rules of the road. It’s really that simple. Most accidents happen when a rider can’t resist the urge to pedal through a stop sign or usurp the right of way. If you stay to the side of the road, you probably won’t get honked at.

Miscellaneous: It’s a bad idea to ride alone without the following items: 1) The ability to change a tire. Don’t leave home without it. 2) A spare tube (obviously) 2) Tire levers, unless you’re a real pro at changing tires. 3) A pump (of course) 4) A few basic tools (allen wrenches and screwdrivers) 5) ID, a little cash.

What if I can’t make it to practice? There is no practice, in the sense of a field sport. If you really want to race and think you can train alone and race successfully, I’ll see you in March. On the other hand, we’ll try to schedule a general workout structure such that we see each other often, have fun, and learn from more experienced riders. In the fall, there will be regular training rides: most will be slow enough for everyone, some faster, some with the only goal being to get so someplace scenic. When we do more indoor workouts in the winter, we’ll have regular "roller nights" where we use indoor trainers. In the spring, we’ll divide into smaller groups, so there will be more flexibility in scheduling.

What if I can’t keep up? We’ll start slow. For the first few months, we won’t drop anyone. After that, we’ll be familiar with each other’s abilities, and just won’t attempt anything challenging with riders of very disparate abilities. Doing a really hard ride with teammates is advanced technique that you won’t have to do for a while. You’ll also quickly learn about the draft. Part of what makes bike racing interesting is that two riders can be going the same speed and be doing very different levels of effort. You’ll learn how to easily stay with someone who’s a bit stronger than you are.

What kind of bike do I need to race, and where do I get it? You’ll need a raceable bike by next semester if you’re planning on racing. It’s a well kept secret, but a century of "bicycle technology" has essentially just added a lot of gears and cut 5 pounds off the bike. You may be able to get by with something less new and flashy than the latest models from Cannondale, with whom we have a sponsorship deal. A new bike is pricey, but not unreasonable if you know where to look. While the upper limit on bike prices is almost too obscene to mention at this time, a good used racing bike might be had for $300- $400. The Cannondales we order start at about $600 (our price) but I usually recommend something in the $700-$800 range, which should be very fast and last you a long, long time. If you know you want to race but cost is a problem (which is very understandable), we can start looking around for deals on a used bike immediately- it’ll be easier if you speak up now.

How fast do I need to be to race? A good question, but not answerable. In a pack, you’ll always be much faster than on your own. A flat racecourse might give average speeds of 10mph faster than a hilly one. The key is not how hard you can push the pedals, but how fast you recover from a hard effort and go at it again. Fitness for a bike race is harder to quantify than for running, rowing, swimming, etc. because you spend some of the time trying to do as little work as possible, and some time doing much more work than you can sustain. You will, however, have to put in a good number of hours on the bike, and as you do that, your teammates will get a good idea of how you’ll do in a category. There will be no shortage of advise on what skills you can build, and what metabolic systems to train and how. Finally, there’s no pressure. Start in a lower racing category and move up when you start winning.

Where do I ride? There’s a "maps" section on the website, and we’ll explore a lot of routes in the coming weeks so you get an idea of where to go. Feel free to show up for a ride and ask to see a route you haven’t seen before. We’ll soon start some Saturday rides to nice local destinations.

Do I have to compete to get involved? No. Everyone is welcome to ride with the team. Especially in the fall when we're just building "base miles."

Does cycling cause impotence? No.