Texas A&M Cycling Team Endowment
Checking in from Northstar!
The drive was long, but good company made it alright. We left the trailer at home in favor of a 15-passenger van with the back two rows taken out for bikes. We picked up Kyle from t.u. in Ft. Worth and kept on chugging. The only notable points of the drive was the drive down the strip in Vegas, looking for a place with free wi-fi to turn in some homework assignments and being accosted in the McDonald’s parking lot (that’s right, we went to Vegas and stopped at Micky D’s) by a creepy thug who just had ‘one question’, or the drive over the Hoover dam and seeing all the construction that’s going on there.
The rain/snow the resort got a few days ago served only to firm up the course. In fact, the course times now are so much faster than when the course is dusty that they’ve added a lap to all of the races!
SCCCC 2009 MTB Champions!
My, what a crazy weekend! Before I really get into it, a quick recap of this season from my point of view: I kicked it off by giving new meaning to the phrase ‘hand-brake’. My stubbornness and impatience and a cumbersome splint prevented it from healing as quickly as it should, so I attempted racing camp eagle with a splinted pinky. Before actually racing, I had my best (worst?) mtb crash ever at nearly 30mph on the super-D preride, threatening a prolonged finger healing time. So I decided maybe I shouldn’t race that weekend and was Feedzone Man for the team.
SFA Relay and ITT Results
AMCT Tips: Passing Racers on Singletrack
So it’s time for a new season and lots of new riders/racers! A friend of mine asked me the other day how to pass properly on trails during races. Sure it’s hard because Texas mt. bike racing is all narrow windy trails. But don’t let slow poke mcgee prevent you from the glory you deserve. Follow my tips and then you’ll have a good base to expand on. Also, these tips will help you not get a crowbar to the back of the head for being “that guy who wouldn’t let anybody pass.” Of course, if you can just take a crowbar to the back of the head you might as well be capable of jumping into open hotel atriums a la Jason Bourne which means you don’t need any of this advise!
Camp Eagle Race Report
The weekend began early for some who wished to get to camp before sunset, so the early van left at 2 with a later van leaving at 430. The early van got stuck in traffic through Austin, so they decided to stop and get an early dinner at a pizza place and wait out the traffic. Meanwhile, when the early van was paying for their meals, sure enough the late van (with Lee hanging out the passenger window screaming like a girl) passed the early van. 2.5 hrs down in GC already.
We continued the rest of the trip out there with only a slight hiccup along the way which included one of the van’s occupants stashing a stolen object from a gas station on another van. No worries, as this was returned unharmed on the return trip. We arrived to Camp Eagle all together; 6 hrs for the late van, 8.5 hrs for the early van. We set up camp, in an urban sprawl form taking up a seizable amount of space. Temperatures were cool, with a chance of rain all weekend.
First team meeting THIS THURSDAY!
SCCCC Track Conference Report
I’m going to start this email with the end: the Aggies are the 2009 SCCCCCCCC Track Champions! We brought out 12 of the 19 racers on satursay, many of whom had never raced on a velodrome before. Weather was great (even for Houston), and it looked to be an awesome day.
Racing was kicked off with the team sprint–3 man teams, where we all start from a holding position. It’s a 3 lap sprint, where the leader pulls off each successive lap. Our team of myself, hagasita, asnd herc (we called ourselves 2 and a half men) won by 3 seconds at a time of 1:14. I don’t recall the finishes of the other teams (there were so many of us!).
Track Conference – August 22nd
Yes, that is a week before school starts, but you’re going to race anyway! It is a full day of racing with all types of events: time trials, team pursuits, match sprints, mass-start races. You can do them all, or you can pick and choose. Your entry fees will be paid by the team, and you can rent a bike for $5 for the day if you need one.
What, you’ve never ridden a velodrome before? I plan to ask for a short track lesson for those new to velodromes before racing starts, so we can get more racers out. Don’t be scared off. Devin and I raced track for the first time 2 years ago at Matt Hatt’s insistence… you won’t believe how much fun it is!