|
Team Profile: University of Massachusetts Cycling Team
The long and storied days of the University of Massachusetts cycling
club dates back to 1969, when the club was first founded by a small
group of area cyclists. In its early years the club was largely
composed of touring riders. As the club became the center for cycling
on campus racers began to infiltrate the ranks, starting the tradition
of traveling to warmer climes for spring break “training camps” that
continues today.
In 1977, a small group of club members, led by
Stephen Solombrino, began the Bicycle Co-op. From its corner of the
Student Union, the Co-op has been a meeting place for all manner of
cyclists on campus, providing good deals to students in need of bike
repairs, an advertising center for the Cycling Club, and a comfortable
couch on which any cyclist on campus can put to practice the old
cycling adage “never stand when you can sit down.”
The first
incarnation of the racing team came in 1978, when a small group of
racers in the club decided to form an intercollegiate racing team so
they could participate in the collegiate racing scene in the spring.
The club managed to raise enough money to have jerseys made for the
team and a UMass van was procured to travel to the races. This early
effort would be the first assault by UMass into a collegiate circuit
that had historically been dominated by the Ivy League schools.
Over
the next few years, that initial group of racers would leave and the
club would return to its recreational roots. It would not be until 1986
that Alan Cote, Greg Swinand, and Bob White would combine their efforts
to create the official UMass Bicycle Racing Club, the second
incarnation of the racing team created nearly a decade earlier. The
UMass team would mark its re-entry into the collegiate scene with Corky
Dean and Burt Jones taking a dominant 1-2 at the Cornell Stage Race in
the spring of 1987. Later that year, UMass would make a clean sweep of
the first four places and the overall at the inaugural Central
Criterium.
1988 would be the first conference championship
victory for the team, which had been bolstered by the addition of Peter
Vollers to the squad. That same year they would go on to place on the
podium at Nationals in the team time trial. The following year would be
a memorable one for UMass. Vollers led the charge through the
conference by going undefeated for the entire season. The team would
win Easterns as well, a feat Vollers would top by going on to win the
criterium and the omnium at Nationals.
The following year Greg
Swinand would carry on the tradition by bringing home another
individual Easterns win. New additions Adam “Jazzy” Myerson, Steve
Rozko, Bob Wilson, and Dan Coady would carry the team to victory at
Easterns in 1992. Now legendary among members of the UMBRC, victory
came down to the last race, the criterium. To win the overall, the
Men’s A squad had to clean house, which they did, with Myerson winning
every points sprint and Rozko winning the day thanks to a “great lead
out from Bob Wilson.” The win would prove to be the end of a season
long bet that culminated in the famous “Naked Ride” down North Pleasant
Street (the main campus drag) just as classes changed on a sunny spring
afternoon. The team would go on, clothed, to place sixth in the team
time trial at Nationals a few weeks later.
The club would
remain relatively quiet until 1997, when Myerson, in his last semester
at the University, would take the National Collegiate Cyclocross title.
The next spring would see the return the team time trial prowess to
UMass when Keith Burgoyne, Chris McDonald, and Joe Alachoyan would win
both Army and Easterns in that event. McDonald would go on to take
second place in the road race at Nationals. ’99 would start well for
the team but any hopes of TTT victories would disappear when Alachoyan
was sidelined for Easterns and Nationals by a knee injury.
Returning
in full health in 2000, Alachoyan, Burgoyne, and Ross Krause would win
the TTT at Easterns. Ross would win the road race solo, taking third in
the omnium, while Keith would slide in for second place omnium honors.
After a consistent season, Burgoyne came out as the overall winner for
the conference, an honor that Matt Loftus would take the following year
after winning a slew of races throughout the season. The depth of the
team would show in the final conference standings for the year: Loftus,
Alachoyan, and Krause would take 1st, 3rd, and 6th, respectively. Joe
would go on to take 3rd overall in the collegiate Super Cup series and
7th at Nationals.
The 2002 season, so far, has been a tough one
for the club. The team has dwindled down to less than ten members
racing. Most of the time, there have only been one or two riders at any
given race. Nonetheless, Joe Alachoyan and Ross Krause have been a
consistent force to reckon with in conference races and should continue
to do so as they peak for nationals in Burlington, Vermont. Both riders
have high hopes of carrying the UMass torch in the road race on the
notoriously hard Mad River Road Race course and the downtown Burlington
Criterium, May 10-11, this year.
Despite the lack of numbers in
the club in 2002, the traditions of the team still live on, if not on a
smaller scale. The group ride, open to anyone with a bike on campus,
still leaves the Newman Center at 2:30Pm each weekday and at noon on
weekends. The team still rides the “Dead Man’s Curve” loop on sprint
days, named in 1987 for a slippery turn that has claimed countless
victims on group rides over the years (and still continues to do so).
In keeping with the spirit of UMass, a big bash is thrown for club
members and alumni each spring, the last of which was thrown at the
Leverett Bike House in celebration of Ross Krause’s brilliant solo win
at the Williams Criterium.
National Championship hopes aside,
2002 is a rebuilding year for a UMass team that is already looking
forward to 2003 when multiple national champion Alicia Genest will
transfer from Boston University to strengthen the team as it turns back
to full swing. The club can expect a strong showing from our
increasingly competitive mountain bike contingent, a group that has
placed several riders on the podium at Mountain Bike Nationals in the
past few years, this fall.
The University of Massachusetts
cycling team is sponsored by: Bueno y Sano, home of the best burritos
in the valley, Impsport Cyclewear, Voler Custom Cycling Apparel,
Zancanato Cycles, Competitive Edge Ski & Bike, Pedro’s, and Iron
Horse USA.
|
