VIRGINIA TECH CYCLING ROAD SEASON, WVU WEEKEND

111

Issue #5

Road Season, April 12-13 Recap

Neil Singh RECAPS FROM OUR COLLEGIATE ROAD SEASON (SO FAR!) RECAPS, SPONSORS, HOW TO DONATE!

Virginia Tech Cycling

Mountaineer Classic Criterium

This weekend the team traveled to the wild, wonderful state of West Virginia to compete in the RR and criterium hosted by WVU. We left from Blacksburg Friday afternoon and carried on a on a long-standing team tradition by stopping to eat at Pies & Pints. After carb loading with more pizza than we thought was possible to eat, we got back in the vans for another hour of driving. Tired and full, we pulled up to the hotel for some quality sleep before the next days races. WVU decided to shake things up, and instead of the normal order of races, we would first be racing the criteriums on Saturday, with the road race being held on Sunday meant everyone was super fresh and the races were extra exciting! The four corner, downtown crit was the perfect setting for some great races. Brian Doyle once again crushed the competition in the Mens D race and came in th 7 , even though he had no help from his teammate, TJ Kenny, who had just upgraded to the next category. After upgrading to Mens Cs, TJ Kenny raced his first Mens C crit this weekend and. According to him, it was a great experience! Basically, the first couple laps I tried to do some pulling, then I fell back towards the back of the field and pulled Dylan back and sat on his wheel for the rest of the race, towards the end of the race I started testing lines- on the bell lap Dylan attacked early and on the back straight I attacked, and into the third corner I attacked again and in the field sprint came in fourth place. As the sun came out and dissipated the heavy fog, Mens B toed the line for their race. Gavin Kline tried some risky tactics and once again, they paid off: Richard and I broke on the first lap and we hit it pretty hard quickly established a large gap, by 10 laps to go we were in sight of the field but decided to not catch the field to play it safe so we, for the last 7 laps we party paced it and called a truce until a lap to go, on the uphill section I attacked but couldnt shake him from my wheel and in the downhill sprint he beat me to the line After helping Gavin get away from the field, teammates Kyle Johnson and Quinn Giroux rd th came 3 and 4 in the field sprint, and Wyatt th Lowdermilk took 10 after putting in some great pulls. The Womens C race was intense, teammates Julianna Butler and Taylor Everson worked together for their 30 minute race, Juliana nd came in 2 while Taylor came sprinting in for th 4 place. The flat, fast crit played to our Mens A teams strengths. Taylor Pearman and a Duke rider hit it right from the gun, putting in a huge effort to lap the field. The rest of the race, Taylors teammates helped set him up for a sprint finish Will Massey led Taylor out to the win! Although spent from helping rd Taylor win, Will grabbed a fantastic 3 place finish for himself, and Jacob Aber came in th 10 place! After the Mens A race was finished, the team stuck around to watch perhaps the best race of the day the Kids Race! We watched the future of cycling (kids up to 10) battle it out around 2 laps of the course. There were a few near misses and some swerving around corners by the kids on strider bikes but the champion crossed the line in style and basked in the glory of winning this most coveted race! Its always a great day when we can race bikes as collegiate cyclists and also watch a new generation of folks get hooked on the sport we love so much!

VIRGINIA TECH CYCLING ROAD SEASON, WVU | Issue #5

2
fantastic 5 place finish. The last race of the weekend was once again the Mens A race. The pack stayed mostly together for the first few laps, until our resident climber, Sean Gardner, took off. He put a gap on the field an was able to hold the lead until the end, finishing first! Taylor rd Pearman finished 3 and teammate Will th Massey was close behind in 7 . What a great weekend! We have had a solid season of racing so far and are ready to rest up over Easter weekend before traveling to Annapolis, Maryland, for our Conference Championships hosted by Navy Cycling!
th

Mountaineer Classic Road Race

Although we have raced in West Virginia before, the road race course this year was new to the ACCC, and it looked like a difficult one. Every 12 mile lap included one significant climb and a technical descent, with a fast straight shot into the finish line at the end of each race. Brian Doyle enjoyed the fast descents during th his Mens D race, and came in 8 place. Timothy Kenny may have regretted upgrading after completing an extra lap in the Mens C race, but did extremely well in his first race in the new category. Taylor Everson and Juliana Butler once again worked together during their race and th th finished 4 and 5 after 2 laps. With temperatures soaring into the 80s our Mens B riders prepared to complete 5 laps of the difficult course. The pack stayed together nd for the first lap, however in the 2 lap, a break consisting of two Navy riders formed. Gavin Kline and Quinn Giroux quickly followed and the four riders worked together and were able to keep the pack away for the next few laps. On the last climb, Gavin put in an attack, and used his technical skills from mountain and cyclocross racing to pull further into the lead during the technical rd downhill. Quinn Giroux sprinted to 3 place. VT Rider Kyle Johnson won the field sprint th for an overall 4 place, and Wyatt Lowdermilk was right behind him for a

After a fantastic weekend of racing, rd the team has moved into 3 place in the ACCC right behind Navy (D2) and only 100 points behind ASU (D1)! With only one more weekend of racing left, we have some riders high in the rankings of their individual categories: Mens A Taylor Pearman 1 Mens B Gavin Kline 2
nd th th st

Quinn Giroux 5 Kyle Johnson 8 Mens C TJ Kenney 6

th

Thanks to our sponsors for making race weekends like these possible!

Womens B Rebecca Stimson 5 Womens C Shannon McKenzie 4 Sarah Chase-Walsh 7 Taylor Everson 8
th th th

th

Wish us luck as we head to the ACCC Conference Championships to race the final RR, TTT and criteriums of the ACCC season!

VIRGINIA TECH CYCLING ROAD SEASON, WVU | Issue #5

How to Donate!

Thanks in advance for helping the VT Cycling H Team out. We may only be a club sport here at Virginia Tech, but we take our training and racing seriously. Since we send every dues paying member to every race weekend, costs add up quickly, and we have to look donors like you to help us keep costs low and students racing!

New, Improved VT Cycling Website!

We just recently upgraded our website for the team. Weve added some great new content and information about the team! Read on for an excerpt of one of the sponsors from the website, and take a look at the site for more fun facts about us. East Coasters has gone above and beyond with our team over the past years helping us get our bikes in race shape or getting the team fit and set up with their new Trek Madones! Since East Coasters has come on board as a sponsor the team has had over 15 people who never rode or raced competitively come in, get a bike and hit the trails or road with the team not to mention the many who use East Coasters on a weekly basis for their parts and service! Cycling can be an expensive sport so having sponsors help out the team is one big help that we love! Give them a ring or stop by the shop to see why we are the best prepared team in the conference when it comes to bike support!

So, Every Dollar Counts!

The team spends about $2000 per race weekend; this includes entry fees for our team of about 23 riders, hotels when necessary, cargo and passenger vans, and gas. WHAT DO DONATIONS COVER? A donation of $20 covers a riders entry fee, $200 puts the team in a hotel for the weekend, $350 pays for our vehicles, and $400 covers gas for the weekend. Any amount helps!

Donation Process
Donating money to the team is easy and only takes a few minutes. Donations can be made through our VT Cycling Paypal account.

Rider Profile:
Gavin Kline
Junior, Mechanical Engineering Im a junior in Mechanical Engineering from Lynchburg VA, this is my first year at Tech having transferred from community college. Im primarily a mountain biker but I enjoy interloping in cyclocross and road races, especially cross- which consequently is the only time I will competitively run. In my 20 years of being around, Ive been on two wheels for about 19 of them. Growing up with a father that was the runner up in the Virginia State Mountain Bike Championship series for three years I was exposed to dirty mountain bike culture and great racers and organizers like Chris Scott from an early age. I started racing during middle school in local races, but during a few years in high school I went to the dark side, whitewater kayaking and got pretty good at it. Just before graduating high school I started working at my local bike shop, bought a road bike, joined the local race team and cycling has spiraled out of control since then. Currently Im Cat 1/A in XC Cat 3/A in CX and a 3/B on the road. My favorite race is by far the Shenandoah Mountain 100whats better than 100miles and somewhere around 10 (but hopefully less than 9 hours this year) of fun on the mountain bike in one day? Best experience with VT Cycling has to be racing Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals, and Bryan Lewis pancake s after the XC race. Goals in cycling are currently placing competitively at Mountain Bike and Cyclocross Nationals in the coming years and going for a Pro upgrade in mountain if it presents itsself. Also, the most major goal is to keep racing fun with a light attitude and a high style factor. Other than cycling I enjoy, well, lets put it this way, I have a singletrack mind.

1)

2)

3)

Click the button above to visit the Virginia Tech Cycling Club Donation Page on PayPal Enter a donation amount and other necessary information to make a secure donation to the teams account. Donations will go directly to the team and be used to fund race weekends like the one described in this newsletter!

Any questions can be directed to our President, Oliver Donkervoet, at odonkervoet@gmail.com.

Thank you!
All the members of the Virginia Tech Cycling Team would like to thank you for your donations, any amount helps our team ride, race and have fun on bikes!