Welcome back!

The Cycling blog has been dormant for a half year. This wasn't due to a lack of activity - far from it! Team members were busy training & racing over the summer, and shared many emails about their experiences & successes. Some of those emails will be reposted here on the blog over the next few days.

Also soon to be posted will be permanent links for new racing apparel. And when the season starts in the Spring, the racing schedule will be posted.

While it may be hard to travel to distant races, please feel free to support Team members whenever & however possible.

Andy Gulati
F&M Cycling Team Adviser

Philly Report: The Wins Keep Coming!

The F&M Cycling Team had another incredibly successful weekend, this time in Philadelphia. The team racked up three more wins along with several podium places!!!

Saturday morning started out with Team Time Trials. In the Men's D2 race the F&M team of Jamie Wolf, Nick Ferra, and Matt Mosca took the win over RIT.

The Men's C team was on a mission after a poor performance one year ago on the same course. The took off strong and passed three teams on their way to a win in the Division 2 category! Only two Division 1 teams could beat them, Penn State and U Penn, two schools much larger than F&M.

Saturday afternoon was a circuit race.

In the Men's D race mechanical issues hampered Matt and Nick, but Jamie was able to stick with the leaders and sprinted to a great 4th place, his best so far this year! Cory and Adric both did will in their first D races, helping out their teammates and setting a hard pace on the front.

The Men's C's did a great team effort, with Dan Rossi setting the pace up the final hill, setting up the rest of team for great finishes. Charlie Salzer sprinted for 2nd with Drew Mitstifer following closely in 6th and Stephen Thomasch in 9th, putting three F&M riders in the points!

In the Women's C race Courtney Gregor avoided some serious crashes to finish 11th.

In the Men's A race Rob Burnett missed a big split and sprinted home in the second group for 22nd place.

Having had a great Saturday the team was determined to have fun and throw down in Sundays Crit. The course was narrow, short and had six 90 degree turns so we knew staying at the front would be important.

In the Men's D race Jamie and Matt made the front group. Jamie was aggressive on the front, winning a prime and eventually sprinting for second place, only being beated by an MIT rider who broke away late in the race. Matt came in right behind in a solid 8th.

The Men's C Crit was totally dominated by F&M. We knew we were the strongest team in the race and we wanted to show everyone how good we were. For the first four laps F&M controlled the front, setting a high pace and staying out of trouble. The first to attach was Dan Rossi, taking a Bucknell rider with him. He stayed away for two laps. Once he was caught Stephen Thomasch took off solo. He quickly got a gap. This sent a panic into the field with riders scrambling to try to chase him down. Charlie and Drew did a great job of blocking and disrupting the chase. Finally after six laps off the front Stephen was caught. Immediately Charlie attacked, taking a Millersville rider with him. After two laps the gap had grown to 15 seconds, thanks in part to some amazing blocking by Stephen and Drew. Soon the Millersville rider could not hang on to Charlie's high pace and was dropped. With Three laps to go Charlie had a 20 second gap and had the race locked up. He rode hard the last three laps to win the race solo by over 20 seconds. Back in the pack, halfway into the final lap Stephen attacked and got a gap. He was able to hold it until the finish for 2nd place. Out of the group Drew was able to out-sprint everyone else, taking third place. F&M SWEPT THE PODIUM!!! It was an amazing display of power and team tactics. All four riders will be upgrading to the B category for next weekends race at Princeton.

In the Women's C race Courtney Gregor rode a solid race to finish 6th.

In the Men's A race Rob Burnett rode another solid race to finish 16th, good enough for points and another step towards qualifying for nationals.

Overalls:

F&M placed 10th out of over 45 schools for the weekend (this includes big D1 schools like UVM and U Penn).

After three weekends of racing F&M is ranked 15th out of over 50 schools (6th amongst division 2 schools)

In the win count (unofficial) F&M is tied for second. UVM has won the most races across all categories so far this year with 8 wins. F&M is tied for second with MIT with 7 wins each!

For full results and finish photos: http://www.velocityresults.net/results/249/eccc-week-3-philly-phyler-philadelphia-pa

F&M is on an amazing roll right now and we intend to keep it up, thank all of you for your support.

NYC Report

What a weekend in NYC!!


We had some great improvements happen over the two day weekend ranging
from the intro class all the way up to A's..


Saturday: The men’s D field took the course around Grants tomb first,including Matt Mosca and Jamie Wolf....Unfortunately Jamie took a small spill around the first 180 degree turn and fell behind the pack. Yet Jamie wasn't done there, he grinded his teeth and pushed himself through the 50mph winds and torrential down pouring to earn himself 15th place. Matt had a great ride, staying in the front of the pack the whole time and looking solid. Mosca took 9th place in the crit. Next came the furious men’s Intro riders, looking to make their way up the rankings into the D’s, even with the hurricane in front of them. Nick Ferra and his thirty year old bike, The Red Hog, and Cornelius Van Galen received 6th and 7th place respectively. The men C racers today had to say the least, a minor ‘brain fart.’ Charlie Salzer and Drew Mitstifer both missed the start of the race, leaving Charlie 45 seconds back from the pack and Drew around the minute mark. Both time trialing for a mere 5 laps, the pack came nowhere in sight. Both riders got the famous whistle, “thanks for racing, your done!” Dan
Rossi was the lone, intelligent rider, who made the start, and showed a solid race. Ending up in 22nd place, Rossi could not wait to get back in the car, and chow down some awesome waffles. Courtney “staring” Gregor had a sweet race! While starting with the pack over the first half of the race, she and a few others got spit out the

women’s C pack. Gregor wasn’t going to let this happen, one lap went around and there was a 15 second gap between her and the front group. Yet the next lap around, she was back in the pack and looking strong. Ending up in 6th place, and earning points, Gregor received the Battle Axe for the day! Rob. Rob Griffiths. Rob Griffiths Burnett! Men’s A field as usual looking quiet green and yellow from the riders up north in Burlington, VT. Robs plan for the day: To tear it up! As he did, following attacks left and right, leading the pack for laps on end, as well as hang on to the back of the pack, and many other things, Robert finished up in 8th place! An epic race to watch, even if it was looking through the steamy glass of Charlie’s car!



Sunday: A beautiful day. Cloudy, scattered rain, thunderstorms, I mean what else could a man/women ask for?! Today is just what F&M needed, and we asked for it. Starting off in the Men’s D, Jamie Wolf took a small spill at the front trying to get his cleats in the pedal, yet of course that doesn’t stop the turf loving rider! Sprinting at then end, Jamie placed 11th, while having a great second weekend. Matt Mosca was also looking good (especially they way he gelled his hair) and place a solid 13th right behind Wolf. Men’s C had a great race today. Dan Rossi was an absolute work horse today, bringing back multiple attacks, all by himself. Rossi was doing an amazing job covering for his other two teammates, Charlie and Drew, making sure both of them were sprinting for the win. The teammates work paid off, sending Charlie into a sprint and winning the circuit in his first C race! Drew was not far behind finishing in at a close 15th place, a great job done for it was his first C race as well. After a day of aggressive riding the day before in the A’s, Rob played the conservative card and rode away with 5 points in 17th place.


F&M Cycling is now tied with UCONN for 18th place in the ECCC!


Rock On!

Victory!

Charlie Salzer wins Men's D race at Rutgers, Drew Mitstifer 3rd after a great leadout.

Race Schedule

There have been some requests so you can find our race schedule here:

http://collegiatecycling.org/eccc/wiki/index.php?n=Calendar.Current

Next race: Grants Tomb Crit in NYC! This Saturday.

shaking off the rust

Rode my first longer miles of the season today. Nothing special or speedy, but definitely more exciting than my 1 mile commute.

I will try to get a few more rides before another outpatient surgery on March 17. Unlike last June when I had to take off the entire month, this surgery should only have my off the saddle for a week or so.

I'm looking forward to the familiar jaunts to the river, or out east through Amish farms. And I'd sure like to find a few new rides.

Glad the team is doing well, and that we do have at least one competing female rider. Looks like everyone returned, stronger than ever! If you post your pictures to Flickr, be sure add the tag "fmcycling" so the Blog slideshow will include your photos.

- Andy

Navy Report

This past Saturday the F&M cycling team kicked off its season with a crit at the Naval Academy in Annapolis MD. We have a more experienced team this year and we have all been training hard so we went into the race with high hopes. We did not disappoint.

Men's D race: We started the race with 9 riders, by far the most ever for this team. The race got off to a good start with Charlie, Dan, Matt, Drew and Jamie all making the front group. Early in the race we had a small mishap, with Matt taking a corner a little too fast and crashing. He was able to get right back up and keep racing, but unfortunately did not make it back to the front group. Dan had a great race, taking the first prime and staying away in a solo breakaway for two laps. As the race came to its last two laps the groups really started to beak up. Coming into the final sprint Dan was second around the last corner and just barely missed the win, finishing a fantastic second. Jamie, in his first race ever finished a great 10th, putting two F&M riders in the top 10. Also a congrats to Hans, Cory and Nick for all finishing their first races.

Men C: Stephen was our only rider in this race. In his first C race ever he rode great, getting stronger every lap and consistently staying at the front of the group. Going into the final turn Stephen was sitting in 5th position and looked to have at least a top 5 locked up. Unfortunately a Navy rider couldn't quite handle himself and crashed right into Stephen, taking them both down. Stephen was able to get right back up and ended up finishing 16th. A good result and hopefully next week with a little more luck it will be even better.

Men B: Rob had a good race and managed to finish 11th in the final sprint.

Women C: Courtney raced well against strong competition to finish 4th in her first race with the team.

For complete results look here: http://acccycling.org/media/NAVYCR.pdf

We are on Twitter!

Check us out: http://twitter.com/fandmcycling

Follow us!

Proof we have been training, even if it is indoors.

Here we go!

Alumni, Sponsors and Friends,

Thank you all for your support of the F&M Cycling Team. We have been training hard for the last six weeks (despite the snow) to be in the best possible shape for our first race. Tomorrow (assuming the weather cooperates) we will be racing in Annapolis MD at the U.S. Naval Academy. The team is looking good and we hope to make you all proud. Keep an eye out for race results, pictures and reports in the coming days. Thank you all again for your support.

Check out our sponsors they have all been amazing!!!