University of Maryland UMD Collegiate Cycling Team Website

The season opener for the 2007 Atlantic Coast Collegiate Cycling Conference was hosted again this year by William and Mary.  The time trial on Saturday had great weather with a high of 52!  It helped for us MD’ers to get out of the colder climate we have been having over the past 2 weeks.

Our team did a fantastic job in the TT - We placed 1-2 in the Men’s A race - Tom Soladay won the Time Trial with a time of 26:50 over the 12.5 mile course, for an average speed of 27.95 mph.  And Adam Fung came in with a second place time of 27:15.  Bruno Neto placed 3rd place in the Men’s B race with a time of 29:29.

The following day was the William and Mary Road Race.  The weather for the day was horrible, the officials postponed the start of the event due to freezing rain.  The conditions were rough so they officails shortened the Men’s A race by 1 lap.  Joey D’Andrea placed 3rd in the Men’s B. 

Photos from the race can be found: here
For full links to the results and race flyer: here

Below is a link to the registration and the flyer for the President’s Crit to be held on the University of Maryland Campus on Sunday, March 18th 2007.  Same course as last year.  Get in your early season racing!!

Flyer:

Link to BikeReg:
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=4271

We are in the final stages of organizing the team for the spring 2007 road season, which will most definitely prove to be one of our strongest yet!!

Racing begins on the 24th of February!  Check out the Racing section of the site for the complete schedule and flyers.

Our crit on campus (Sunday March 18) will be open to both collegiate and USCF racers, we will post the flyer with course map and details with links to registration shortly.  Course will be the same as last year.

The latest USA Cycling newsleter announced the date for collegiate nationals 2007.  The date is set for May 10-13.  As usual this date falls right at the start of University of Maryland’s finals week (May 12-18).

USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships

Lawrence, Kansas – May 10-13

Scheduled for Mother’s Day weekend, collegiate riders will return to the nation’s heartland for the third consecutive year, as the University of Kanas in Lawrence will again host the event. UC-Davis will look to defend its Division I crown, while Whitman College will compete for its third consecutive Division II title.

Just in: The Biggest Collegiate Cycling Event Ever??

Our sister conference up north, the Eastern Coast Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) is interested in hosting a dual-conference event with our conference the ACCC. This would create the largest collegiate cycling event ever!!

Some numbers from the ECCC races:
Total of 352 racers:
40 Mens A
23 Womens A
41 Mens B
36 Womens B
73 Mens C
69 Mens D

Plus the whole ACCC, would give us about 700 racers in an amazing one weekend event! More to come later im sure.

Our final clothing order has been sent in to Giordana. We have a new design for the 2007 season!

After a server crash and losing all of our old website files, we are now launching a new website. This is probably a good thing considering the old site was rather hard to navigate.

This site is a work in progress. So bear with us for the next week or so.

The UMD Cycling team scores a medal and a spot on the podium at the 2006 Collegiate Nationals Road Race in Lawrence, Kansas.

Michelle Hart got a 5th place finish in the Womens Division 1 criterium.

UMD Womens Team Time Trail

The team comprised of Allan Wallace, Michelle Hart, Heather Ross, and Liz Doby

2006 collegiate cycling nationals recap: here

The school newspaper for UMD - the Diamondback - published an article which coincided with the dates of our on campus criterium. In the past the diamondback wouldnt cover sports clubs, so it is great to have their support.

Cyclers take the lead
Club team experiencing soaring success
Jeremy Tam Issue date: 3/13/06 Section: Sports

The Maryland chapter of the National Collegiate Cycling Association continued its unprecedented success Sunday with a win at the annual President’’s Criterium races around the campus.

Already victorious in two early season races, the co-ed team was able to beat out more than 400 participants from 19 schools who rode through Lot 1, President Motes driveway and Ludwig Field.

“We did pretty well today,” said Eric Laing, a sophomore biology major and the club’’s treasurer. “The women’’s teams were really strong.”

Expecting to win is new for the cycling team; the early season wins at the Navy Criterium and William and Mary Road Race were the teams first consecutive wins in the Atlantic Coast Cycling Conference since the 1970s. Led by veteran riders, this years team finds itself in first place in the ACCC and closer to its goal of winning the national tournament in May.

“Our team has never been in first place before,” said Nick Pakulla, the club president. “But we are now at the top of the conference with three first place wins, which pretty much guarantees us a spot in nationals.”

The club returned to the campus in 1999 after dying out in the 1970s. Reviving the team, however, had many obstacles.

“When I first joined the club we were finishing last in the conference,” said Pakulla. “We'’ve had continual growth since 1999, though, as the team got better and stronger with more riders.”

In 2005, the team placed third overall in the ACCC and advanced to the national competition, an accomplishment almost hindered by university policies. Because nationals were the weekend before spring semester finals, the team was not allowed to travel until the very last minute.… more