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!