Ups and Downs in Philly

Well, it was certainly an interesting weekend for the F&M cycling team. We headed down to Philly with very high expectations. We had been training hard and were very confident of bringing home some great results. 

We kicked off the weekend Saturday with a Circuit Race. Sam got a season best 8th in the Women's Intro race, and Adric placed 13th in the Men's Intro race. 

For the Men's D race we had high expectations, we fielded four riders: Charlie, Dan, Stephen and Drew. We were confident that both Drew and Stephen were capable of good results. Unfortunately our bad luck started with both Charlie and Drew getting caught up in a crash and Dan getting caught up behind the crash. Drew Broke his bike and Charlie landed on the same hip he had crashed on at Princeton, both had to pull out of the race. The one piece of good news is that Stephen avoided incident and was able to sprint it out, coming in second, scoring the best result for the team so far. 

I lined up for the Men's B racing looking for at least another top 10. Unfortunately in the last two miles of the race several riders crashed in front of me causing me to go down as well. Fortunately I was able to land on a pile of people and walked away unharmed. 

Sunday morning started early with a Team Time Trail. We had been practicing hard and it payed off with a solid 10th place out of 25 teams. 

In the afternoon we finished up with a Crit. Adric placed 10th in the Men's Intro race and Sam placed a season best 5th in the Women's Intro race. 

Stephen sprinted well in the Men's D race to score yet another 2nd place for F&M. 

All in all a tough but successful weekend. Congrats to everyone who came out. We will rest next weekend to be ready to take on Yale in two weeks time. 

University of Delaware

The F&M cycling team continued its success last weekend at the University of Delaware. Riding with only half of our team due to spring break, we still managed to make our presence felt in a big way. 

We kicked off the weekend with Dan Rossi racing his first D race ever. Despite an unlucky crash Dan still managed to place 21st. 

Sunday Morning we were up early for the Individual time trial, a rolling 5 mile course that hurt everyones legs. F&M's captain Rob Burnett, coming back from mono, placed a respectable 9th in the Mens B race only 30 seconds off the winning time. 

Sunday afternoon is when F&M really started to shine. Adric Quackenbush put in his best race ever in the Mens intro race to pull of a 12th place. 

In the Men's D race we fielded three racer: Dan Rossi, Drew Mitstifer, and Stephen Thomasch. From the gun Dan flew off the line leading the pack through the first lap with Drew and Stephen right behind. Midway through the race Stephen was dropped with a mechanical problem, but was still able to finish a respectable 16th. When he has his bike working right he will be unstoppable. Despite losing Stephen we were still represented well in the front group with Drew. Coming into the final lap Drew was perfectly place and finished a fantastic 4th in his first D race!

Finally Captain Rob Burnett took on the Men B's in his first mass start race of the season. Despite the overwhelming force of UVM (6 in the top 11) Rob was able to hold onto the front group to finish 10th. 

Overall a very successful weekend at UDel and we plan on even more this coming weekend in Philly where we will field a full team. Stay tuned for updates!

almost 300 miles!

Not much snow, but this winter & spring have been terrible for cold. Despite the chilly temps, I've somehow managed to accumulate mileage I wouldn't have seen till sometime in May. I credit much of the motivation to riding with some speedy students. Its been fun to see the F&M Cycling Club grow and succeed.

Now, at the risk of having some throw-up in their mouths a little, here's a photo of me in the club jersey & shorts. I've never been on a team before, so this is a proud moment!



- Andy Gulati

I want to ride my bicycle

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Thoughts on the start of the year and my Spring Break Training Camp

So the season is off and running and it couldn't be more exciting. When I began putting this team together last semester I never expected things to go this well. Everyone on the team has really stepped up and is excited about racing. In our first race weekend of the year we walked away with two podiums and five top 10 placings. This last weekend we came away with three more top 10's. A big congrats to Dan Rossi who really stepped it up last weekend turning top 20 placings from Princeton/Rutgers into top 10's at Columbia/Stevens. In our first two weekends we have tasted more success than I thought we would experience all season. At the beginning of the season I was hesitant to set expectations too high as I had no idea how our riders would stack up with the rest to the collegiate scene, but now I know we stack up just fine. Now its time for us to step up and start racing to win. I am confident we can walk away from this season with at least one win. 

As for myself, after a great month and a half of training over Christmas break I came back to school feeling better than I ever have. Unfortunately I came down with mono at the end of January and had to take 6 weeks off. Despite the setback I have been training for two weeks now and I am beginning to come around. This last week of training in South Carolina has been particularly good and I am really looking forward to my first race this Sunday in Delaware. I am only racing an Individual time trial and I don't expect too much, but I will definitely be racing my hardest. 

This weekend half of the team will be racing at the University of Delaware. It will be Dan Rossi and Drew Mitstifer's first race in the D category. They should give Stephen Thomasch great help in Sunday afternoon's Criterium. We will also have Adric Quackenbush racing the intro Mens and myself racing the B mens. I expect more strong results from everyone on the team. The 28th and 29th we will be racing in Philly and will have a full team, that is where we really want to put down the hammer. 

Thanks for reading. 

-Rob Burnett

Spring Break!

Happy Spring Break everyone!

I am currently relaxing in South Carolina putting in some good miles in the sun and looking forward to starting my season this weekend. 

Congratulations to both Dan Rossi and Stephen Thomasch who rased last weekend. 

Stephen was 6th in Columbia's crit in the D mens race and Dan was 7th and 9th in Columbia's and Stevens crits respectively in the intro Mens race. 

We will be racing again this weekend at the University of Delaware. Stay tuned for results. 

-Rob Burnett

Columbia and Steven's Crits!

The last week of training has been great. After our first race everyone is pumped to keep up our training and really step it up through the rest of the season. On funny story. Dan Rossi and I were on a training ride on thursday and we noticed a large plane flying low over us, turns out it was Air Force One. I guess Obama wanted to check on our progress. I think he would be impressed. 

The final team standings came out for last weekend and F&M finished an amazing 34th out of 55 teams in our first race ever!

This week is our spring break, so we will only have two cyclists competing for us this weekend: Dan Rossi will race Men's intro both Saturday and Sunday while Stephen Thomasch will race the Men's D race on Saturday only. Good luck to both of them!

-Rob Burnett

Training: personal thoughts

Here's a stream of thought: Since the races this past weekend I feel great. Recognizing my pitfalls and the fact that I simply need to get out there and spin, has helped with training this week. We've been doing laps at a pretty decent pace. The laps, I've realized, are perfect although mundane after about the 4th one. They are so versatile in hills, flats, gradual inclines and corners that I feel like I can get it all in in one day.
There's definitely a new drive in me that just wants to dominate our next race. I did mediocre for what I was expecting...of course I wanted to do better, but how could I have known? Now I know. Now I know what to work for, how the environment feels, and how it is racing with people who just want to get their nose ahead of you. That definitely is motivation in and of itself. Seeing that girl next to me sprinting along side me sends my endorphins up the wall and now I know how to react: sprint. like. hell. Rob was right. Keep me where I am until I can start placing top three. If the plan was to move me up to the next category, I'd quickly loose motivation and drive.

Rutgers/Princeton Full Results

Mens D Time Trial:

8th- Stephen Thomasch '10

53rd- Charlie Salzer '12

Mens Intro Time Trial:

5th- Drew Mitstifer '11

29th- Dan Rossi '12

39th- Winston Bowen '11

41st- Adric Quackenbush '11

Women's Intro Time Trial:

19th- Samantha Schneider '09

Mens D Criterium:

3rd- Stephen Thomasch '10

DNF- Charlie Salzer '12

Mens Intro Criterium:

3rd- Drew Mitstifer '11

19th- Dan Rossi '12

41st- Adric Quackenbush '11

DNF- Winston Bowen '11

Women's Intro Criterium:

16th- Samantha Schneider '09

Mens Intro Circuit Race:

7th- Drew Mitstifer '11

17th- Dan Rossi '12

32nd- Adric Quackenbush '11

Women's Intro Circuit Race:

21st- Samantha Schneider '09

For full results check here: http://www.velocityresults.net/

Rutgers/Princeton Report

The first outing of the F&M cycling team was a massive success! 

Going into our first race weekend at Rutgers and Princeton we had no idea what to expect, we knew we had been training hard, but with an inexperienced team we did not know how we would stack up to the competition. Despite the pressure the whole team stepped up and everyone performed great over the whole weekend. 

Saturday morning we rolled up looking great in our brand new kits. After a little confusion with registration we got everything in order and began our warm up. Our first racers off were Charlie '12 and Stephen '10. Both put in great rides and practically fell of their bikes at the finish. The rest of the team also rode great and the the highlights were Stephen finishing 8th in the Mens D race and Drew '11 finishing 5th in the Mens Intro race. 

That afternoon was when the real fun began. The Criterium at Princeton was a short 1km course with a short steep hill. First to go were the D men, with Charlie and Stephen both getting a front row starting position. At the gun Charlie took off like a rocket quickly gaining 50 meters on the field. By the end of the first lap he had established a solid 5 man breakway with Stephen sitting pretty in the front of the main group. Unfortunately on the third lap the rider in front of Charlie crashed in a corner and took him down. Charlie was able to continue for two more laps before pulling out of the race. He had a large scrape on his right hip, but is fine now. Having Charlie out of the race was unfortunate, but we still had Stephen right up at the front of the main group. In the final sprint Stephen was right there and came home in 3rd place! It was the first podium for the F&M cycling team. 

In the Mens Intro race Drew got a front row starting position with Dan, Adric and Winston right behind. Unfortunately,at the beginning of the race, Winston crashed when his seat broke, something I have never seem before, but he is fine. From the start Drew and Dan worked together, at one point they were one two on the front of the field. It was perfect teamwork, something not often seen in such a young team. The teamwork paid off in the final sprint with Drew coming home a solid 3rd place adding yet another podium placing to our first day of racing. 

Samantha, our lone Women's racer, had a great start to her Women's intro race and finished a solid 16th in her first ever mass start race. 

Sunday was a Circuit race back at Rutgers. We had Drew, Dan and Adric racing the Mens intro race and Sam racing the Womens intro race. We finished off the weekend strong with Drew finishing 7th in the Mens intro. 

Everyone had a great time and we are very excited to do it again. Thanks again to everyone who has supported and believed in us! 

Thanks to everyone who has supported us and believed in us!

Psyched

Luckily the cycling team sprung into existence no later than my senior year at F&M. I’m psyched!

Word of mouth caught my ear just in time for me to ride with Rob, Drew, and Charlie in the Cranksgiving benefit race. This was such an awesome day for me; I met these guys for the first time and now consider them my great friends. Clicking right off the bat, we stuck together through the entire ride. We rode, slid and scrambled through grocery stores trying to purchase the kid-friendly food as fast as possible and get back on the road. Once we reached the finish line…or the local coffee shop, we quickly found out that we placed 2nd, 3rd, 4th males and 1st female! This was definitely a starting point for us…we felt great not only after doing what we love (cycling), but also after contributing to a really great cause.

We initially had a bit of trouble getting everyone together religiously for daily rides, however seeing that temperatures were so cold and work gets in the way this is totally expected. Nonetheless I have complete confidence that more and more teammates will be getting out there for rides now that we have the first races under our belts and spring fever will be rushing through our veins.

We all received our helmets a couple of weeks ago. I felt that this really instilled a bit of confidence in us and allowed us to begin to feel like more of a team. I volunteered to host our first pasta party in my apartment a couple nights prior to racing (it’s important to get those carbs in well before the night prior to a race!!) and I was so unbelievably happy with the turn out. The point of the pasta party was not only carb loading; it was also to get everyone’s mind in the game, and best of all, to receive our racing kits! Chips, salsa, guac, 3 boxes of spaghetti and two jars of sauce kept us content watching TV, chatting about tactics for the weekend and just getting some of our first laughs in.

Now for the races. We spent the night at Adric’s and had our second pasta party. Awake at 6:30 we headed out for Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ to take on our first time trial. We then rushed from Piscataway to Princeton to warm up for the second race of the day…the criterium. The next day we had our final race back at Rutgers where we really had to push through the pain and fatigue from the prior day’s races.

The F&M cycling team has copious amounts of potential and I can’t wait for us all to continue training, get stronger, and place better and better in the races coming up. GO DIPS!

Encounters with the Amish

Here is a story from Laura about one of her training rides here in Lancaster: 

After all the stereotypes I've heard and all the first hand encounters  
I've had with the Amish and Mennonites of Lancaster nothing prepared  
me for what happened on our team training ride one Sunday afternoon.   
Approaching a small group of teen to early twenties guys presumably  
walking back from a morning of church, the guys respectfully  
acknowledged the guys on our team BUT when they came to me I was  
greeted not with a nod but with whistles! Catcalled by the Amish...who  
would have guessed?

-Laura

One more rider for this weekend!

We have one more addition to our roster for the weekend:

Winston Bowen '11 

Again we wish everyone luck for the weekend.  

Rutgers/Princeton less than a week away!

Greetings all of you F&M cycling Fans! Sorry the blog has been so dormant, lots has been going on putting the team together. We all received great new helmets from Rudy Project, and our new Jerseys should be arriving at the end of the week. 

The Rutgers/Princeton Race will consist of three different races over two days. Saturday starts out with a short time trial followed by and Crit in the afternoon. On Sunday we will race a Circuit race in the morning before heading back to F&M

We have a final roster for our first race:

Stephen Thomasch '10

Charlie Salzer '12

Adric Quackenbush '11

Samantha Schneider '09

Drew Mitstifer '11

Dan Rossi '12

Erik Olsen '11

Two of our riders are injured and will be unable to compete this weekend:

Rob Burnett '12 out with mono

Laura Kratz '11 out with knee injury

Check back soon for more updates and picture from the race.

Cheers!