University of Maryland UMD Collegiate Cycling Team Website

About the University of Maryland Collegiate Cycling Team

The UMD Cycling Team is a recognized sport club at the University of Maryland, College Park. We recieve student group funding through the SGA and also through Campus Recreation Services. Funding is somewhat limited so we try to compensate by doing fundraisers, and working very hard to keep a strong relationship with our sponsors. Our funding goes for programs we run to help grow the sport of cycling and they also help to cover race entry fees, van rentals, hotels, among many other things. In the near future we would like to purchase a set of mid-range bikes in order for people who have never raced before to get on one and come out to the race we put on right on the College Park campus.

UMD Cycling is part of the National Collegiate Cycling Association (NCCA - see below) which is governed by USA Cycling.

We compete in road racing in the spring and mountainbike racing in the fall throughout the Atlantic Coast. We are at an advantage being that there are many schools in the Maryland/Baltimore/DC area who have strong teams, as we dont have to travel to far away race weekends often. You can read more about our upcoming races on the racing section of the site.

About the NCCA

The National Collegiate Cycling Association (NCCA), founded in 1985, is a standing committee of USA Cycling. The National Collegiate Cycling Association (NCCA) administers, develops, promotes and governs collegiate cycling across the country. The continued progress and development of collegiate cycling is the responsibility of the NCCA Management Committee, NCCA staff and the conference directors.

NCCA clubs, or “teams,” are assembled specifically for recreational and competitive bicycle racing at the junior, four-year college and university level. The club is organized under the auspices of a schools recreation, sports or club department, and is governed by NCCA rules and regulations.

Whether it be road, track, cyclo-cross or mountain bike riding, the sport of cycling has experienced a wave of popularity in the U.S. The level of participation in recent years has taken the sport of cycling to new heights. More than one in every three Americans own a bicycle, and it is used as a form of recreational transportation and competition. It is also one of the most common modes of transportation on todays college campuses.

This enthusiasm for bicycle riding by students at the collegiate level was begun in earnest as a result of a partnership between a Yale graduate student and a bicycle dealer in New Haven, Conn. Their efforts were responsible for the introduction of bicycle races and the collegiate cycling club organization concept.

In the early 1960s, the Eastern Intercollegiate Cycling Association was founded as a single spring race which was developed into a racing series. In 1962, West Coast participation flourished after the second annual Western Intercollegiate Cycle Meet took place at UC-Davis, Calif.

In the 1970s, collegiate cycling operated under a committee of the American Bicycle League of America. This informal structure, however, was not able to sufficiently accommodate the expansion and development of the sport at this level. In 1985, the directors of the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Federation and the Western Collegiate Cycling Conference combined efforts to persuade the USCF of the necessity to develop a national collegiate program. As a result, a sub-committee within the USCF organizational framework was founded.

Membership fees were initiated to establish the NCCA budget, enabling USCF staff to take responsibility for the daily maintenance and development of the collegiate cycling program. Responsible for the continued progress and development of collegiate cycling are todays NCCA Committee members, NCCA staff and the 10 conference directors.

It was also at this time that the South Central and the Southwestern Collegiate Conferences were established. A short time later, the Midwest, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, North Central, Southeast and Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conferences were also established.

The first collegiate track national championship was held in the fall of 1987, followed by the road championships in the spring of 1988. Here the tradition of championship competition was begun. Collegiate cycling has sponsored the track championships in the fall and road in the spring ever since. In 1994, the inaugural National Collegiate Mountain Bike Championships were held in Castaic, Calif. 1996 saw the addition of the National Collegiate Cyclo-cross Championships in Seattle, Wash.

In 1991, the NCCA sent riders to Spain to compete in the World University Cycling Championships. In the American collegiate athletes first appearance at these games, the cyclists took home gold medals in the womens pursuit and the mens road race, and a bronze in the points race.

Since this time, the NCCA has continued to broaden its membership base. The NCCA encourages new athletes to get involved in cycling and establish new clubs on collegiate campuses across the nation.

Today, there are approximately 215 NCCA member collegiate cycling clubs with over 2,500 member athletes. Each club belongs to a particular collegiate cycling conference, which is designated on the basis of the schools location.

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