Franklin & Marshall College Cycling Team

Racing To Register

2011-04-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

Check out our new charity partner Racing to Register, founded by F&M alum Tom Kramer '89. Tom and his wife Pam are racing to get people registered for the Bone Marrow registry. There are over 10,000 people currently waiting for a match and every person added to the registry is a chance to save a life. This is a great charity and F&M cycling is looking forward to working with them over the coming years.

http://www.racingtoregister.com/

What the ECCC News Network had to say about Rob's Breakaway at the Tour du Troy:

2011-04-05T08:33:00.001-07:00

Breakaway Success in the Men’s A RR

By Ross Marklein

Nearly 50 Men’s A riders lined up to brave freezing temperatures at RPI’s inaugural circuit race, which provided plenty of excitement in the other categories and definitely did not disappoint in the final race of the day. The race began with a pretty tame pace for the first couple rolling miles and many riders began jockeying for position on the bumpy descent before arriving on the windy backstretch along the river. Here, riders from many schools began attacking and forming somewhat cohesive groups, but nothing substantial formed before arriving at the climb for the first time.

At the bottom, Ross Marklein (UPenn) attacked and was quickly followed by Robert Burnett (F & M) and they quickly distanced themselves from the field and began working together and building a gap for the following 2 laps. Their gap peaked at over a minute, but on the 3rd time up the climb the field came back into sight with a group of 6 chasers closing down on the duo with the rest of the field strung out from the 3rd time up the punishing climb.

The 6 chasers included Max Korus (Penn), Jeff Salvitti (Bucknell), Wyatt Stoup (PSU), Samson McHugh (Pitt), and two unknown Canadians (apologies…) and the break du jour was formed and began gaining significant time on the field. Within a few laps, both friends from the north could not match the rotating pace of the remaining 6, and they faded back to the chasing pack.

While there were several attempts to chase down the break, having 5 of the top 10 ITT finishers helped put significant time into the field and with most of the large teams represented, there was little chance for a concerted effort to bring them back. The break rotated well until the final windy stretch on the river where the rotation was disrupted and several riders looked at each other waiting for a move.

The group arrived at the base of the climb together where Salvitti launched his attacked and was marked by Korus and McHugh. Korus countered further up the climb with McHugh on his wheel, but unfortunately could not hold off the crafty Pitt rider, who swung around and claimed his second victory of the season. Burnett, Stoup, and Marklein rolled in well behind the top three and then everyone would await the field, which would not arrive until 5 minutes later. Brendan Siekman (USMA) and Stuart McManus (Harvard) shot away from the field to claim 7th and 8th, respectively, while the rest of the field arrived 2 minutes later after deciding to just wait for the final climb to decide who earned the remaining points. Overall, a dominant day for Pitt as their riders claimed victories in both the ITT (Nik Reinart) and the RR (Samson McHugh).

Many teams were talking about how much they enjoyed the road race (even in less than desirable conditions) and I for one hope this circuit becomes a staple in future ECCC weekends!

F&M Cycling makes the front page of the Washington Post! (kind of)

2011-03-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

If you click on the link below you will be take to the front page of todays (3/25) Washington Post. In the middle of the bottom of the page you will see a picture of Stephen Thomasch '10, riding in his F&M kit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/todays_paper?dt=2011-03-25&bk=A&pg=1

F&M Cycling is going big time!

What the ECCC New Network had to say about our TTT:

2011-03-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

Team Time Trial

The Men’s A team time trial at the Philly Phlyer was essentially a drag race, in both senses of the word. The course was dead flat for the majority of the 6.2 mile distance, and there was a fierce headwind on the first leg of the out-and-back loop. Teams with full aero setups got at least a little of their money’s worth in this race, although the technical upper circuit may have evened the score a bit.

Franklin and Marshall College came in with a blistering time of 13:34 to win the day by just two seconds. Following them was UPenn in 13:36 and perennial ttt favorite Penn State with a time of 13:48. Franklin and Marshall is an emerging team in the ECCC and winning a TTT is a strong statement that they not only have strong individual riders but that they have dedicated team spirit, coordination and strength in numbers. The Penn State men were clearly riding strong in defense of their current lead in the ECCC season overall.

The only variable in the race of truth besides the riders themselves was a flock of geese that decided to hang out in the middle of the road. There were no incidents reported, but many tense moments were experienced as teams collectively crossed their fingers and hoped the geese would stay put. As it turns out, men in skinsuits going over 30mph are just as scary to geese as hitting a bird is to a cyclist.

Spring Break Race reports

2011-03-23T18:11:00.001-07:00

The team continues to exceed all expectations, placing well in both the NYC and Philly races over spring break.

Columbia's Grants Tomb Criterium: This was the only race of the weekend (Sunday's race was canceled due to course flooding) so we had to make it count. The entire team came out strong with highlights including Drew Mitstifer's 3rd place in the Men's B race and Charlie Salzer's 10th in the Men's A. F&M maintained it's 7th overall ranking in the team standings.

Philly Phlyer Weekend:

Team Time Trial: F&M came out firing on all cylinders and WON THE MEN'S A RACE!!!!!!!! This in the fist A victory for F&M and a huge result for the team. The team consisted of Rob Burnett, Charlie Salzer, Dan Rossi and Eliot Scymanski. We edged out UPenn by 2 seconds to take the win. The rest of the team backed that up with 5th in the Men's B, 4th in the Women's B (in our first women's TTT ever!) and 4th in the Men's D.

Circuit Race: The team kept up its consitent string of top finishes with Charlie Salzer and Drew Mitstifer taking 5th place in the Men's A and Men's B respectively. Our Women came out strong with Courtney Gregor taking 11th in the Women's B and Katherine DeCrostia taking 8th in her first race ever!

Crit: F&M's luck ran out a bit here, with illness, crashes and mechanicals putting a slight damper on the day for some of our riders. Despite that we still managed some solid results with Charlie Salzer and Courtney Gregor taking 13th place in the Men's A and Women's B respectively.

The team placed 5th for the weekend and moved up to 5th overall in the conference!!!

F&M's efforts don't go unnoticed!

2011-03-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

Some writers for the ECCC news network have noticed that F&M is stepping up its game!

Things that Especially Impressed me:

Franklin and Marshall: The Diplomats came out huge, winning the Men’s ITT as a team. While there other racing efforts didn’t bear such sweet fruit, they were a presence in almost every race they were in. The last couple of years it seems like this team has really ratcheted up their efforts.

http://ecccnews.wordpress.com/race-reports/2011-2/week-1-scarlet-scurry/the-nitany-lion-roars-season-overall/

F&M Cycling ranked 7th in the Northeast!

2011-03-10T08:21:00.000-08:00

The Franklin & Marshall Cycling Team came out firing on all cylinders last weekend at the season opener in Rutgers NJ. The team consisted of 12 riders, of which four were representing F&M for the first time.

The weekend started off Saturday morning with a 2 mile time trial to get everyones legs burning. The team posted its best results in history. Highlights were Eliot Scymanski and James Wolf taking 1st and 2nd respectively in the Men's B category. In addition the A men places three in the top 20, with Charlie Salzer leading the way in 5th! This was enough for the Mens team to score more points than any other team in the conference!

Saturday afternoon saw a criterium on the Rutgers Campus. F&M raced well, featuring in many breakaways and constantly visible on the front. Highlights include Drew Mitstifer's 3rd place in the Men's B race and Charlie Salzer's 9th in the Men's A race.

Sunday was the ECCC's first ever points race. While the format was confusing F&M managed to brave the wet weather to score more consistent results. Again the Men's A and B teams did well, with Charlie Salzer taking 4th in the Men's A race and Eliot Scymanski and Jamie Wolf taking 10th and 11th respectively.

All of these results added up to F&M ranking 7th overall in the conference out of over 50 teams! We are currently ranked as the 4th division 2 school and we are sitting 3rd in the National's Qualifiers rankings (top four teams qualify to send an entire team to the National Championships). This was by far F&M cycling's biggest weekend to date and we only plan on getting faster! This weekend we take our talents to NYC to bring home some more results for F&M!

Full results can be found here:

http://velocityresults.net/

F&M Cycling winter training 2011

2011-01-25T18:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

2011-01-15T13:38:00.001-08:00

Greetings Friends, family, sponsors and supporters of the F&M Cycling Team,

Happy New Years! On behalf of the team, I would like to wish all of you the best in the coming year. This year stands to be a big one for F&M Cycling. With almost the entire team returning (Congrats to Stephen Thomasch '10 for graduating and moving on to Georgetown Law) we are expecting big things from the team this spring. We intend to build on our first appearance at the National Championships last spring and turn our momentum into results at the highest levels of collegiate racing. We hope that all of you will follow our progress over the course of the year and continue to support us in our efforts to represent F&M with pride.

You can follow us on our blog, Facebook and twitter at these addresses.

http://fmcycling.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Franklin-Marshall-Cycling-Team/105352332828572

http://twitter.com/fandmcycling

Below I would like to introduce the team, our schedule, and our sponsors for the 2011 season.

F&M Cycling's 2011 roster:

Returning:

Drew Mitstifer '11

Adric Quackenbush '11

Nick Ferra '11

Robert Burnett '12

Dan Rossi '12

Charlie Salzer '12

Eliot Scymanski '12

Matt Mosca '12

Nick Chertavian '12

Jamie Wolf '13

Cory Van Galen '13

Courtney Gregor '13

New Riders:

Katherine DeCrosta '12

Steve Clipman '13

Zhongrong Wang '14

Ryan Mckenna '14

Megan O'Donnell '14

Katie Oxman '14

2011 F&M Cycling racing schedule:

Please feel free to come out and support us at any of these races!

Dates	Race	Location	Events
Mar 5--6	Rutgers Scarlet Scurry	Piscataway, NJ	ITT, Circuit, Crit
Mar 12--13	Columbia Grant's Tomb	New York, NY	Criterium
	Stevens Duck Country	Morristown, NJ	ITT, Circuit
Mar 19--20	Philly Phlyer	Philadelphia, PA	TTT, Circuit, Crit
Mar 26--27	RPI Tour de Troy	Troy, NY	ITT, Circuit, Crit
Apr 2--3	Boston Beanpot	Westminster, MA; Boston, MA	TTT, RR, Crit
Apr 9--10	Yale Lux et Velocitas	New Haven, CT	HC, Circuit, Crit
Apr 16--17	Dartmouth L'Enfer du Nord	Hanover, NH	ITT, Crit
	UNH Live Free or Ride Harder	Strafford, NH	TTT,RR
Apr 23--24	Easterns @ PSU	State College, PA	TTT, RR, Crit

F&M Cycling's 2011 Sponsors:

We have compiled a fantastic group of sponsors for the coming season. If you have the option this year please visit our sponsors and use their products, they have been a huge help to our team and we couldn't do it without them.

Primal Wear: These guys make great clothing and have be designing great looking jerseys for us for the last three seasons. Visit them here:

primalwear.com

Shirk's Bike Shop: Staffed by the friendliest, most knowledgeable staff and best mechanics there is no better bike shop in PA for all of your cycling needs. Visit them here:

http://www.speeddreamsports.com/?page_id=8

Shirk’s Bike Shop

1649 Ligalaw Road

East Earl, PA 17519

717-445-5731

Rudy Project: They make safe and high performance helmets as well as stylish glasses. Visit them here:

e-rudy.com

Green Pedals Ltd.: Located in downtown Lancaster Green Pedals helps you reduce your carbon footprint by selling the best selection of electric bicycles available anywhere. Visit them here:

http://www.greenpedalsltd.com/

And introducing new sponsors for 2011:

GearGrinder: They make stylish, comfortable and environmentally friendly cycling inspired casual clothing. Check them out here:

greargrinder.com

Mercury Wheels: Fast race wheels made in the USA. Check them out here:

http://www.mercurybikes.com/

We hope to make this coming season our most competitive yet. If you would like to learn more about the team, get involved, or make a donation please feel free to respond to this email. Thank you all again for your support and have a great 2011.

Welcome back!

2010-10-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-19T06:14:00.001-07:00

Philly Report: The Wins Keep Coming!

2010-03-24T04:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-17T05:05:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-03-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

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

Race Schedule

2010-03-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-02T08:19:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-02-26T13:29:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

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

Here we go!

2010-02-26T08:28:00.000-08:00

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!!!

You missed it!

2009-10-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

Your's truly finally joined the Club for a ride. Rob, Jamie, Nick and I rode out East, over the rolling Amish country side. It was all I could do to keep up with the young-ins, but I'd like to think I held my own. Of course the head wind on the way home was a bit of challenge.

So good to see promising riders, and so good to hear that the Club is doing well, and has a bright future. I hope to join you all again someday soon!

Andy

The leaves are still green!

2009-09-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Yes the days are shorter, and the temps are cooler, but its still pleasant enough to ride. On the last many rides out East, we've been early enough to see the Amish go to church. Church of course means going to somebody's house. Amish in buggies, push-scooters, by foot and by BIKE. All in their Sunday finest, heading to the host house for that week. The men & boys greet each other through the barn. The women & girls head for the kitchen to drop off their offerings. What a payoff that must be, after a long morning service, to enjoy chicken-pot-pie, buttery corn, and fresh-baked pies!

Posting pictures to the blog

2009-07-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

Your pictures can also appear under "Club Pics." Either send photos to me, or you can upload your shots to your own Flickr account. Be sure to add a the tag "fmcycling" to each photo, so the Club blog can find the pictures in Flickr.

Congratulations Rob!

2009-07-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

Rob and the Cycling Club and currently (re?)featured on the College homepage. To retain the story, I've duplicated the photo and text below.

Cycling Takes Off at F&M

It may be the most unusual reason for applying to Franklin & Marshall College.

Roads.

When Rob Burnett ’12 of Denver, Colo., was thinking about where to go to school, he heard that F&M was located in Lancaster County.

“They must have great riding there,” he said.

Burnett, 19, has been bicycle racing for nearly five years.

“I met five or six kids who had bikes and were looking to be competitive. It went from there,” Burnett said.

Burnett captains the Franklin & Marshall Cycling Club.

He and his fellow riders petitioned the College to recognize the club and got several sponsors, including Rudy Project, which supplies helmets and glasses for the team. Sports-drink manufacturer Accelerade supplies free sports drinks and energy bars. The Lancaster Bike Shop, owned by Joseph Soldner ’76, provides the team with technical support.

The 22-member bicycle racing/riding squad consists primarily of bike enthusiasts who joined to have a good time riding together, Burnett explained.

Six team members, which includes him, are training to race the collegiate circuit this spring.

The team will race in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference including teams from Rutgers, Bucknell and Penn State.

“We definitely have some potential. Everyone seems to be motivated, and we keep each other going,” Burnett said. “Lancaster County not only has good roads, but there is a strong cycling community here.”

The team takes regular training rides, even when the weather turns cold, of between 20 and 30 miles. He said the rides average about 18 mph. After winter break, training will begin to pick up with longer, harder rides, he said.

Soon members will be donning their new team kit, a lycra jersey and shorts combo designed for the team by Primal Wear.

Already the team has made its mark locally. Before Thanskgiving, several team members took part in Cranksgiving, a charity race in York, Pa. They raced from supermarket to supermarket, collecting food items for a local food bank.

Team members took second, third, fourth and fifth place in the race.

Next year Burnett plans to seek official recognition from the Athletics Department. Recognition allows the team to access funding for travel expenses to and from races.

Visit the team Web site for photos and information on joining.

Back in the saddle

2009-07-08T15:38:00.001-07:00

After taking June off for some outpatient surgery, I am back in the saddle!

I hope to salvage the cycling season with some riding locally in July, followed by some trail/road riding in Wellsboro, PA through much of August.

I did hear from a very enthusiastic first-year student, Rachel Wohl, who intends to join the Club in September. You can welcome Rachel at the follow email

rachael.wohl@fandm.edu

Hope you are all enjoying a relaxing summer, and have been able to get in some good, long miles in these unseasonably cool temps (in the Northeast at any rate).

And, if you find yourself near or around Lancaster, please look me up. Maybe we could take a ride!

Andy

Rough Times at the Tour De Ephrata

2009-04-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

So this weekend the team experienced its first non-colligate race. We raced the two day, three stage Tour De Ephrata.

Saturday was a 26 mile circut race on narrow rolling coutry roads. It was the first truly hot day of the year with the tempurature in the high eighties. From the start we had problems. Dan Rossi had his chain snap putting him out of the race. On the first climb of the day Stephen dropped his chain causing him to fall over and Charlie got caught behind. Both were dropped from the main group. Stephen crashed again going through a gravely corner and Charlie was our best finisher in 47th place.

Sunday things got a bit better. In the morning we had the "Pain Mountain" Time trail. The name says it all. Stephen put in a great ride to finish 12th.

Sunday afternoon's crit is things went very well. Both Stephen and Charlie were active in the Crit. Stephen held a good position all race and sprinted for 13th place. Charlie was in a group farther back but won the sprint from his group finishing 30th.

Stephen finished the weekend placed 15th overall out of 75 starters. Not bad considering Saturdays bad luck.

Next weekend is our final team race of the season, the Eastern Championships in State College Pa. We are fired up and ready to bring home some good results.

YALE!

2009-04-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yet another super successful weekend for F&M cycling!

This last weekend we traveled up to Connecticut to race at Yale. Saturday morining started off with a 4.3 mile time trial that finished with a 1.5 mile climb. F&M struggled to place with our best result being at 12th place by Rob Burnett in the Men's B race.

Saturday afternoon the rain came with a vengence dampening our spirits slighty. The Men's D and Intro racers had some bad luck with dropped chains and poor positioning taking them out of contention.

In the Men's B race Rob Burnett broke away from the pack with 3 others with 7 miles left in the race. The four worked well together and never saw the main pack again. Rob finished a fantastic 2nd place for the teams top result so far this year!

In the Sunday morining Criterium the Men's D's stepped up their game. Despite an unfortunate crash of Dan Rossi half way throught the race they were still able to place Charlie Salzer n great position for the sprint. Charlie was able to sprint for third, his best result of the season! Rob was able to light up the Men's B Criterium with two different breakaways lasting four and two laps respectively and winning one prime.

F&M finished the weekend ranked 25th out of 50 teams! Great weekend overall, but we are still chasing that win. We are now hungryer than ever!

This coming weekend we will not be racing and we invite everyone to join us on a group ride Saturday afternoon. We will leave from Buchanan Park at 1pm and ride for around 1 and a half hours. Please RSVP.

Thank you to everyone for your support!

-The F&M Cycling Team

Stephen coming in 2nd in Philly! (and dusting Millersville)

2009-04-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

We are on TV (kinda)

2009-04-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Check out this clip of our collegiate race at Yale. In the last shot with the reporter speaking into the camera I am the blue and white blur over her left shoulder.

Ups and Downs in Philly

2009-03-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-24T11:12:00.001-07:00

------ __o
----_`\<,_
---(_)/ (_)

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

2009-03-20T07:51:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-03-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-09T19:13:00.002-07:00

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

2009-03-09T19:13:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-03-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

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

Psyched

2009-03-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-06T05:04:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-03-03T12:35:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-03-02T21:20:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-02-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the disruption everyone. We have our blog up and running again so check back often for the latest news on the team.

-Rob Burnett

One of my favorite training rides here at home in Denver CO

2009-01-06T06:56:00.000-08:00

Wash Park/ Chatfield/ Deer Creek/ High Grade and back
Find more Bike Rides in Denver, Colorado

2008-12-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays from the F&M Cycling Team!

The response to our article in the newsletter has been great. I will try to respond to everyone asap. In regards to jerseys we will hopefully be placing another order soon. The minimum to place another order is 12 jerseys and right now we are close. If you are interested in buying a jersey please contact me at rburnett@fandm.edu. Thanks.

-Rob Burnett '12

Captain

2008-12-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

This is our custom jersey design for the 2009 season, designed for us by the guys at Primal Wear.

We are currently placing our order, if you are interested in getting the same jersey as the team will wear now is your chance! Because of the nature of the ordering process all orders must come through me. A price list is below:

Jersey: $48

Shorts (matching): $56

Jacket (same design): $100

There are also several other items available. Of you are interested in placing an order please contact me at rburnett@fandm.edu with your name, address, relation to the school, and what you would like. Because this team receives no money from the school we rely on the generosity of friends of F&M for our budget to pay race fees, hotel rooms etc. If you would like to make a donation with your jersey order that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Rob Burnett

Captain

Welcome to the brand new F&M Cycling Team blog!

2008-12-10T07:14:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone,

This is the blog for the newly established F&M Cycling Team. Its taken a lot of work to get the team together but we are finally up and rolling. Be sure to keep checking back in as we will try to keep this updated regularly to fill you in on all of the things happening with the team.

Cheers!

Rob Burnett '12

Captain