Michigan Cycling Team Season Review

Submitted by tdcarl on

Hey everyone, the board has slowed down a bit now that basketball and the spring game have passed, so I figured I'd give an update regarding one of Michigan's Club Teams that some probably didn't know existed. Also, there was some decent discussion during last year's Tour de France so I know that there are at least a few cycling fans on the board.

Our road race season wrapped up last weekend with the final pair of races at Purdue on Saturday and Notre Dame on Sunday. Our team is a member of the MidWest Collegiate Cycling Conference, which is home to club teams from familiar schools such as MSU, OSU, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Depaul, Butler, and many more small schools. The conference also includes the 3 varsity schools of Marian, Lindenwood, and Lindsey Wilson. Unsurprisingly Marian and Lindenwood are on a whole different level as they can recruit and give scholarships so they dominate the conference.

Scoring for collegiate cycling is a bit different, so I'll give a brief overview. Racers are sorted out into categories from D to A for men and C/B and A for women. The higher the category(with A being the highest) the more team points one gets for finishing well.

Our season began back in February with a weekend at Lindsey Wilson College(Columbia, KY). We've been racing on the weekends since then with races at DePauw University(Greencastle, IN), Marian University(Indianapolis, IN), Michigan State, our home race(!), Purdue, and Notre Dame with a spring break training camp in Georgia squeezed in there too. We were scheduled to go to Wisconsin this weekend, but unfortunately the race was cancelled.

Anyways, the University ot Michigan Cycling Team ended up finishing 8th overall (out of 39 teams that scored points) in the conference. We also finished 7th amongst Division 1 schools, 5th amongst non-varsity schools, and 4th amongst Big Ten schools. A full spreadsheet of the standings can be found HERE

Overall it was a successful season for the team in respect to previous years. We ended up wracking up 3 individual wins, 2 Team Time Trial wins, and several other podium and top 10 finishes. We also had one of our Women's A riders qualify for Collegiate Nationals, but they're on the same weekend as graduation so she won't be attending.

Now its time for our riders to go join their summer teams for some USAC racing before coming back in the fall for mountain bike and cyclocross season.

Buck Killer

April 21st, 2013 at 7:00 PM ^

You guys didn't do too bad. Is there any way you can talk my neighbors out of wearing spandex around town. First, they aren't racing. Second, they are killing car traffic and looking ridiculous. Go Blue!

maizenblue87

April 21st, 2013 at 7:06 PM ^

Cycling was the closest I came to being a college athlete, nearly 30 years ago. I have my faded maize and blue jersey from the UM club tucked away somewhere. I can assure you there was no doping, unless you consider Molson/Labatts contraband.

True Blue in CO

April 21st, 2013 at 7:14 PM ^

wih my 50 year old + legs it is great to hear about the cycling exploits of the young men of Michigan.  Congrats on your season. I wish your cool Michigan Jerseys were available for purchase somewhere because it would be great to counteract the plethora of Ohio Jerseys worn by cyclists around these parts.  I can only find a standard out of date Michigan cycling jersey online.

Drunk Uncle

April 21st, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^

Cool. Thanks for the update. I'm actually still racing at 40 years old. Not as fast as I used to be but I just Cat'd up to 1 in MTB and i race Masters CX. I would also be interested in a jersey if they ever become available. The generic college kits are pretty bad.

Congrats on the season.

tdcarl

April 21st, 2013 at 9:52 PM ^

Thanks for the support!

As far as ordering jerseys goes, the Club Sports Department is quite picky about who we sell our jerseys to due to licensing issues and whatnot, but I'll definitely try to let you guys know next time we do a jersey order. Hopefully we can work out a way to sell them to the public, or at least alumni as everyone wins as a result. You guys get to look awesome and we get a little donation to help our team function as cycling isn't exactly a cheap sport. Our newest kits shown below in both the standard and skinsuit(with leg warmers) variety during the Men's C Team Time Trial at Purdue (1st place) look a million times better than the poor excuse for a jersey that places such as the MDen sell.

 

stephenrjking

April 21st, 2013 at 11:09 PM ^

Thanks for the recap! I wish cycling was a full D-1 sport, but the club system is decently robust and it is totally awesome to see UM cycling jerseys in action. Perfect thread for OT season.

I know Michigan has made nationals before, but that's about all I know. And I know you really, really wouldn't have wanted to race in Wisconsin (not to mention ultra-snowy Minnesota) this last week.

If any cycling fans are reading this and don't know about them, inrng.com is a fantastic pro cycling blog, and the How The Race Was One videos on cyclocosm.com are indispensable. The spring classics have just wrapped up, in splendid fashion at that. Lots of good stuff to review.

nwmustelid

April 22nd, 2013 at 1:47 AM ^

for the report, and thank you very much for flashlighting this nook.

 

As for Lindsey Wilson, the name is funny because of:

linsey-woolsey (noun)

lin·sey–wool·sey
noun,
often attributive

1

a : a formerly used textile of wool and linen b : a coarse sturdy fabric with cotton warp and woolen filling
2
: something incongruously mingled : disordered or nonsensical speech or action <what linsey-woolsey hast thou to speak to us again — Shakespeare>
 
This comes from Merriam Webster 3d ed. They screwed up their web site (to which I actually pay to subscribe) recently, so I can't locate a clear way to credit them.