Racing To Register

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:

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)

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:

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

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!

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

Things that Especially Impressed me:

1. 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!

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

Happy New Year

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!

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!!!