Claremont Colleges Cycling

:: racing with the team

A few of the more enthusiastic members of the Cycling Club make up the Cycling Team. The thrill of competition has made it worthwhile for us to take our bike riding in doses that cannot always be described as "fun". The fun we once found in casually riding a bike just for the simple joy of it has been replaced by a bloodlust for going fast. Bike racing gives us an opportunity to meet nice people from other schools and then do our best to put them in pain.

Read on to find out whether or not racing on the team is for you.

How racing works:

We are a club sport, just like rugby, lacrosse and many others. Due to the nature of competitive cycling, though, our organization and schedule is really, really different. Those sports have an arranged match schedule, and then travel to play each match with a said minimum number or players. For us, a weekend event is coordinated by a host school, and all schools are invited, no matter how small. If you are enrolled in over 12 units at any CA/NV accredited school, you can show up and race. All teams compete against all other teams at once. When your team is large, you stand a better chance of success, but you can show up all by yourself if you've got the guts (or the legs).

In these races, there are different honors that are raced for. In both men's and women's there are the one-day individual results and the one-day team results. These results accumulate into the season's individual and team "Omnium" standings. Points are amassed and the top teams and individuals are invited to Nationals. From there, the sky is the limit.

We compete in the Western Collegiate Cycling Conference (WCCC). This includes all California and Nevada schools... yes, all of them. Berkeley, UCLA, Davis and, usually, Stanford are the powerhouses.

There's good news, though: because The Claremont Colleges' enrollment is below a certain ceiling, we are considered a Division II team. Unlike other club sports, though, that doesn't limit us to competing only against other D2 teams. We race against the big boys (and girls!), but, unable to realistically compete with them, are only judged against other D2 schools with regards to Nationals invitations. We are always (yes, always) invited.

One more thing: so that less experienced riders can still participate and enjoy themselves, the races are divided by category into smaller, separately ridden races. "A's" are people whose lives are seriously dedicated to and ruined by training and racing. The top riders may go on to Pro careers after graduating from college. "B's" are up and coming riders, and often riders that are just too proud to race in C's. "C's" are new riders, or riders too scared to make the jump. You can race in whatever category you choose, but A's races are worth the most points. Because of this, the points earned toward Omnium standings have been turned into quite a game of chess.

What it's like to be a racer:

If you can't make it to a given race (maybe it'll be UNR's race, which is 550 miles away), it's no great big deal. If we send 4 riders to an event, that's great. If we sent 5, that's greater. It's pretty non-committal in that regard. If you miss out, that's just less fun you have. The team will never have to forfeit because the right fielder didn't show or something.

Training, however, is a different story. If you aren't in the proper shape to compete against the riders in your category, there's not really any point to showing up to any of the races, right? Most anybody could be a C with just a bike, a helmet and a few short rides a week. Someone already athletically built may be a competitive C without any effort, or might jump right into a less technical B's race.

There's no way to explain why racing is fun. You just have to do it. Moreover, you'll probably have to do it a few times before you're not suffering too much to have any fun. Once you start to strategize and shape races with a realistic hope of projecting yourself across that line first, though, it's totally addictive. Give it a shot.