WVU Cycling Home

04/24/2010 Wrap-Up to Another Great Year

A Year in Review, by Jon Zerbe

It's been a great year in for West Virginia University's cycling team. Fall semester (2009), had a great turnout at the five conference mountain bike races in the disciplines of cross-country, short track, dual slalom, and downhill. WVU won their tenth straight Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference (ACCC) division one championship over Virginia Tech. WVU had the top four men?s riders by overall total points in the conference with Robert Loehr, Balaji Seward, Ian Beckner, and Jonathan Zerbe, respectively. WVU also had the top women's overall points scorer with current Team President ? Emily Moy. With a new officers and new recruits WVU hopes to get their 11th straight ACCC division one title.

WVU sent three of their nine qualifying riders to USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals at Northstar at Tahoe in Truckee, CA with limited funding and mixed results. In Fall 2010, they hope to send riders once again to Tahoe with a returning sport class cross-country national champion Duncan Oliver and a healthy nationally ranked downhiller Jonathan Zerbe.

Spring 2010 road season had a higher than usual turnout for WVU cycling with new recruits including Brad Dodson and Ryan McGovern, who placed 2nd and 4th overall in the ACCC in their respective race categories. Brad Dodson, a graduate student in exercise physiology, had never raced in a road race before this season. Dodson won the B category of WVU's home road race in Clarksburg, WV by riding solo ahead of the group for over 40 miles while his teammates James Schulte and Duncan Oliver kept the group in line (Oliver finishing 2nd). Similar teamwork resulted in James Schulte and Brad Dodson taking 2nd and 3rd respectively at the ACCC conference championships hosted by Virginia Tech. Over the ten race season, WVU had as many as sixteen racers participating with other notable season overall rankings; President Emily Moy 10th in Women's A, Janel Bedard 11th in Women's A, and undergrad Todd Latocha 7th in Men's D. As a team WVU finished fifth out of ten division one teams ? an improvement over previous years which can hopefully give them momentum to compete in future years at the same level as they do in mountain bike season.

Additionally, WVU cycling prides themselves in having a good standing in the community and the university. A large percentage of WVU bike racers are in Masters and Phd programs, as well as law school. They help to put on youth clinics for bicycle riding safety - included during the home race in Clarksburg. WVU cycling also adopted 2 miles of road for litter pick-up on Monongahela Boulevard in Morgantown, WV. WVU Cycling also supports the non-collegiate cycling in the area by helping out at local WVMBA, WVCXS, WVRRS, and Appalachian Bicycle Racing Association series by buying memberships and volunteering at races. The team volunteers their time to do trail work in the area at venues like Big Bear Lake, Coopers Rock State Park, and Wisp mountain resort. Many members take the time to help out many local organizations like Positive Spin bicycle co-op, as well as serving a position on the Morgantown Bicycle Board.

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We recently held our last meeting of the year this past week, but will hit the ground running in the Fall with extensive recruitment efforts and a drive to win our 11th straight Conference title!

Ride on!

04/15/2010 Home Race Weekend Success

http://www.thedaonline.com/sports/cycling-hosts-inaugural-mountaineer-classic-in-clarksburg-1.1340904

Cycling hosts inaugural Mountaineer Classic in Clarksburg
By Ben Gaughan

The Daily Athenaeum

Published: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Updated: Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The West Virginia club cycling team grabbed several top-10 finishes in two races at the inaugural Clarksburg Mountaineer Classic in Clarksburg, W.Va., Saturday and Sunday.

More than 100 racers from schools such as Virginia Tech, North Carolina State University, Naval Academy, University of Virginia, University of Maryland, George Washington University and American University attended the race.

The cycling club also held a bike rodeo Saturday to help teach kids safe bike-riding skills.

"The weekend went really well," said WVU club cycling president Emily Moy. "It was definitely a success. We had a lot of support; a lot of people came out on Saturday and Sunday to watch our races and support us, and that was really exciting." Duncan Oliver, a graduate student in petroleum engineering, and Balaji Seward, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, placed third and fifth, respectively, in the Men?s B category. Janel Bedard, a graduate student, placed third while Moy ended fourth in the Womens A race.

Senior Ryan McGovern placed second, and Todd LaTocha placed fifth in the Men?s D race.

Sunday was the road race at Watters Smith Park near Lost Creek, W.Va., that featured a 12-mile loop around the wooded area with a total distance of 60 miles for Mens A, 48 miles for Mens B and Womens A, 32 miles for Men?s C and Women?s B, and 24 miles for the Mens D grouping.

Bedard placed second in the Womens A while Brad Dodson, a graduate student in physical therapy, won the Men?s B by more than four and a half minutes. Dodson led a 1-2 WVU finish in the race as Oliver finished second. McGovern placed third in Men?s D.

"Brad (Dodson) is incredible," Moy said. "He's new to the team this year and has never raced before, so we?re all blown away by his performance. We?re going to try to help him out, and hopefully he can keep doing this next year.

"He's one of those superstars that starts out as a beginner but upgrades quicker than all the rest of us without even trying."

The team will head to the Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championships this weekend, which will be hosted by Virginia Tech, to wrap up the road season. The team says it's already planning its trip back to Clarksburg next season.

Moy said next year's race will also be open to the public and not just collegiate riders.

"We are extremely grateful for all the support from the community and hope next year will be an even greater success."

03/27/2010 Traffic Safety Courses

The Morgantown Bicycle Board recently created a website called BikeMorgantown.com. The website is brand new, but will have all kinds of information pertaining to cycling in Morgantown. Of current interest is the Traffic Skills 101 course, which is free to WVU Students/Faculty/Staff, $20 for Morgantown Residents and $40 for everyone else. It's a great deal, for a 9 hour course which will teach you how to ride your bike in traffic more safely, and give you more confidence to ride just about any road. The calendar can be seen HERE but basically there are 2 options: 9 1hr sessions each Monday evening, or 1 weekend session offered once a month. Click here for more info There was also a recent article in the DA regarding this course.

03/25/2010 WVU Home Race Weekend in Clarksburg

In just two weeks, WVU Cycling will be hosting the Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference in our home race weekend with a criterium in downtown Clarksburg, WV on Saturday, April 10, and a road race out of Waters Smith Park near Lost Creek, WV on Sunday, April 11. The flyer is posted here. This year it is not open for public racers, but if this year is a success, we hope to expand it.

Clarksburg has been fantastic in supporting us and providing us with a lot of resources in putting this together, and thank you to Janel Bedard and Elliott Iannello, our indefatigable Road Race Coordinators for 2010.


	Mountaineer Mart
	Sports n Spokes
	West Virginia Governors Highway Safety Program

02/04/2010 Leadership Shuffling

Please bear with us for the next couple weeks as we transition into some new leadership. We have elected a new president, first-year law student and women's A mountain bike conference champion, Emily Moy. Sophomore Computer-Science major Elliott Iannello is Vice President. Fastest Fat Kid Duncan Oliver is Secretary/Sponsorship Coordinator. Overly ambitious and hard-working petroleum engineer Brandon Crawford is Treasurer.

All of us are a little bit new at taking leadership positions in the club, so we are trying to learn as we go along.

We're getting ready to prepare for the beginning of road season at North Carolina State University over Feb 13-14 weekend. Also, plans are now underway to put on our collegiate race weekend on April 10 and 11 in Clarksburg, WV.

Ryan has previously been a very active figure in our club prior, but he unfortunately needed to step down for personal reasons. We will try our best to hit the ground running and make sure WVU Cycling stays strong!

02/03/2010 Public Crit Canceled

Due to some planning issues, the public version of the crit for our home race has been canceled. Sorry about the confusion.

01/26/2010 Racing Soon!

The first race of the ACCC Road Season is just over 2 weeks away. It's in Raleigh, North Carolina, but it's doubtful we won't be wearing thermals, especially at 8AM. Luckily, thats probably the worst thing about collegiate racing, so it only gets better from there.

We haven't nailed it down yet, but it looks like our home race this year will be in Clarksburg/Bridgeport, with a public crit in Downtown Clarksburg on April 11. It'll be part of the ABRA Racing series. More info and a flyer when we've confirmed the venue.

10/11/2009 Adopt-a-highway

We finally got our adopt-a-highway signs up on our stretch of road from Sheetz to 8th St on US19 coming into town. It was noticed Saturday while coming back from the 50miler.

10/05/2009 WVU Cycling, a decade, a dynasty?.

Every weekend of this past September for the West Virginia University Cycling team has been spent traveling to other schools in the Atlantic Central Cycling Conference to race mountain bikes. What you probably did not know was that for the last nine consecutive years (since 2000), WVU Cycling has been the Division 1 Conference Mountain Bike Champions against teams like North Carolina State University and Virginia Tech. Few wins come easy, most are hard earned, but as far back as any current member of the team remembers, none of the last nine seasons have ever been this hard fought. WVU has been wheel to wheel with Virginia Tech all season, entering this weekend?s conference championships race knowing they would have to win key victories for their five home races if they wanted a tenth championship.

Saturday?s races were held at Big Bear Lake near Bruceton Mills, WV and consisted of three races in the cross-country discipline: Short Track, Time Trial, and Cross-Country. In Men?s A Short Track, WVU dominated, taking top three with Robert Loehr, Ian Beckner, and Balaji Seward, respectively. In Men?s B WVU?s Brock Dennis sprinted for first while Jacob Brown took third. Emily Moy rode away to first in Women?s A, and Anne Walker second in Women?s B. The Time Trial sent riders off individually in time splits on a short technical course taking riders 11-20 minutes to complete. WVU?s A-squad did not let up, this time placing top four with Robert Loehr, Ian Beckner, Balaji Seward, and Duncan Oliver, respectively. Men?s B was won by course designer Chet-Mun Liew, with Jacob Brown bringing in a steady fourth. New WVU member Andrew Harbert finished fourth in Men?s C. Emily Moy kept the heat on with another win in Women?s A, and Trisha Lewis and Anne Walker went 2-3 in Women?s B. With two down and the longest to go, the cross-country race would have the riders stretch the technical trails of Big Bear out to 22 miles for Men?s A, 18 miles for Men?s B and Women?s A, and 11 miles for Men?s C and Women?s B. Men?s A remained strong, placing second through fifth with Ian Beckner, Robert Loehr, Dave Light, and Balaji Seward, respectively. Another solid Men?s B finish for WVU brought in valuable points with Brock Denis first, Andrew Brautigam second, and Ryan Post fourth. Men?s C took third with Sean Lockard, second with Andrew Harbert and fifth with Chad Lowers. Emily Moy got the hat trick, winning Women?s A with Amber Smith in fourth, while Trisha Lewis placed second in Women?s B once again for the Mountaineers.

At the end of Saturday, the results were calculated and had VT winning the Short Track, and Time Trial. WVU won the XC and had a 5 point lead (1150 to 1145) over VT going into Sunday.

Sunday?s ?gravity? races took place at Wisp Resort in McHenry, MD, first pinning racers head to head in Dual Slalom through a track of dirt jumps and banked berm turns. WVU and VT had to fight for spots among the Division 2 gravity-strong team of Appalachian State University. Jon Zerbe finished seventh in Men?s A, Tyler Alokonis, Jacob Brown, and Sean Lockard finishing fifth through seventh in Men?s B. New member Michael Snyder ripped the jumps and berms for an important second place in Men?s C, once having to run across the finish after getting tangled with a teammate. Emily Moy finished second in Women?s A, with Trisha Lewis and Laura Kelley grabbing third and fourth in Women?s B. The final event is simply known as Downhill, a time trail sending riders in intervals down a fast, rocky course taking about 2-3 minutes. Once again Appalachian State was strong, but this race would end up in WVU?s favor. Jon Zerbe was the fastest Mountaineer on the mountain with a third in Men?s A, with Balaji Seward chasing him in fifth. Chet-Mun Liew and Jake Brown would bring in sixth and seventh in Men?s B, respectively. In Men?s C Chad Lowers and new member Todd Latocha would get WVU fourth and fifth, repectively. Emily Moy would get second in Women?s A. Anne Walker loved the downhill so much she rolled across the line first in Women?s B with Amber Smith in third.

The hard fought season was over just like that, and WVU came out on top of Virginia Tech, squeaking out a win by little more than 5 points. WVU Cycling President Ryan Post finally was able to breathe again; ?VT brought over 30 riders today and most of the season, and for us to win by a margin smaller than one or two places?..whew.? Overall for the season, individual mentions: Robert Loehr placed first in Omnium (Cross-Country and Gravity Combined) ahead of three of his teammates ? Balaji Seward, Ian Beckner, and Jon Zerbe rounding out the top four. Emily Moy also finished the season first in Women?s A Omnium.

West Virginia Cycling hopes to continue its dynasty into next season, remembering that counting to ?10? has never been harder.

WVU is also sending four riders to USA Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in Lake Tahoe, CA Oct. 16^th -18^th : Ian Beckner, Robbie Loehr, Duncan Oliver, and Jon Zerbe. If you would like to help fund them, email: wvucycling@gmail.com.

WVU Cycling is always looking for riders and racers, especially for the upcoming road season. Go to www.wvucycling.com for details on meeting times, upcoming events, and the team forum and blog.

09/28/2009 Conference Championships

We're hosting ACCC MTB Conference Championships this weekend at Big Bear and Wisp. We plan to dominate the weekend and take our 10 consecutive conference title. The flyer can be downloaded HERE