May 9, 2011

IU editorial....

Didn't want to comment below so in response to-
Anonymous said...within the past decade IU used to frequently podium in the team overall at Nationals.. what has happened lately and why doesn't IU have as strong of a team anymore?

Frequently podium is a little overstated. In the past decade they came close on the road with Bahati, Kehrberg and Wangerin, none of which were encumbered with Little 500 training and were/are all fantastic riders. IU has had track success with a strong overall team a few years back and of course a stellar individual in 2010.
With a couple possible exceptions (if eligible, Caroline Brown and Jonathan Atwell could have ridden one or more events to spread the load a little) this years team was the strongest available for IU and they performed well. It was a solid effort that hopefully will continue to help the program grow. It is no coincidence that 5 of the 8 riders also did track nationals as that experience built a good team-base that encouraged participation in Road nationals.
Remember Hannah and Melinda drove 8hrs to St Louis the day after L5 in order to qualify themselves for the experience that was Road nationals. Talk to any of the team and they will tell you how uniquely great is the overall experience of riding for IU on the National stage.
It is different but just as fulfilling as Little500 and success in both need not be mutually exclusive (although it can make it more difficult). Next years Collegiate nationals are in Indy (track) and Madison (road- I think) again so those riders competing over the summer need to aim for those events. IU cycling club is in a good place financially so is well set for the year(s) to come. Get to the Velodrome, ride Track nationals, get the excitement for representing IU and make it to Road nationals* in the spring of 2012. IU may be losing some strong riders but there is enough talent riding on the cinders every year to make IU a perennial nationally top 10 team.
*- or get serious about Cyclocross and MTB and represent IU in those events.

14 comments:

Frederick said...

2 things any critic of IUCC needs to understand: Little 500 is both the wellspring of IU cycling and its curse. The other reality is that cycling will never be a varsity mens sport at IU and because of that IU will never truly compete on a level playing field against schools that offer scholarships.

Anonymous said...

How come cycling will never be a varsity sport at IU? Is it because of Little 500?

Wes said...

IU does not have the resources nor do they want to expend any in that area.

Anonymous said...

Wes, do you know enough that you can expand on why IU does not have the resources and does want to expand in that area?

Rachel said...

Thanks for all of your support Geraint! Most people are unaware of the hard work that goes into IUCC, the strength of our team and the caliber riders that were our competition Road Nationals. Congratulations to everyone that was involved this year, qualifying was a team effort and IU was well represented in all events.

Wes said...

Financially there isn't enough money to invest in a Division 1 program for cycling (hiring a coach, trainer, scholarships, material etc...) The football and basketball programs aren't even solvent.

Anonymous said...

Can't forget the fact that Title 9 plays a roll too. IU's football team and basketball team gobble up a lot of scholarships. That's why I think there is a sliver of a chance at some time in the distant future that IU could have a women's varsity cycling team but I'm doubtful that IU men's cycling would ever be a sport that would get varsity status and accompanying scholarships.

Chris H said...

I don't believe that cycling is an NCAA sanctioned sport, either. This is why only NAIA member schools have "varsity" programs and scholarships for cycling. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I had been led to believe.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know when the MTV opens?

Tom said...

I am waiting for a firm date from the new GM (Julie Kokula) or perhaps from Dean Peterson. Rachel Fullmer said that she heard it would be the 3rd or 4th week of June.

However on the USA Cycling page it shows that Dean is hosting a Regional Development Camp on 6/1 thru 6/4, registration deadline being 5/18. Given the price of $575.00 (this includes food and lodging), this is not really an intro class. So hopefully the track will open for the general public sooner (3rd week) than later (4th week). I'll post anything I hear.

Tom

AH said...

Collegiate cycling is governed neither by the NCAA or the NAIA. It is governed by the National Collegiate Cycling Association (NCCA) which resides under the umbrella of USA Cycling.

2011 D1 Road Omnium:
1. Marian, Private, Varsity (athletic scholarships)
2. Lees-McRae, Private, Varsity (Athletic scholarships)
3. Fort Lewis, Public, Varsity (merit scholarships)
4. UC Davis, Public, Non-varsity (there may be merit scholarships)
5. CU Boulder, Public, Non-varsity (there may be merit scholarships)

I'd be very surprised to hear of any public school that has athletic (not merit) scholarships for a cycling team. As was mentioned earlier any collegiate team with any hope of being nationally competetive would need to be non-L5 riders, because a cat 3 will have no hope in any of the D1 collegiate fields at nationals. Oh, and not to mention the sniping and back-biting that occurs at the periphery of L5 every spring would make teamwork virtually impossible.

Emily Benson said...

IU, get like 4 good MTBers and go kick ass. In fall 2009 I WAS THE ONLY PERSON RACING mtb and "we" did kind of awesome in the overall D1 team rankings considering I am only one person. So, if one person can rack up 900+ points, and Marian had a few people racing and only ended up 458 points, then if you get about 3-5 people who are consistently in the top 5 you can do well, easily.

http://www.mwccc.org/fa09/results/html/fa09_Mizzouteamrank.html

Too bad the club was in shambles that year because I qualified as an individual to go to Nationals in Truckee, CA but couldn't afford to pay for it all myself.

http://www.mwccc.org/fa09/results/html/fa09_Mizzouindrank_v2.html#table3

I'm a tiny bit bitter about it.


I also couldn't afford to go to all of the races, so I ended up 2nd in the conference omnium, and 2nd in endurance rankings. That was kind of heartbreaking that nobody cared about mtb season, but when it's road season the club can just figure out how to fund hotel rooms and crap. Oh well, my IU days are long gone because I'm a poor out-of-state kid.

I miss IU so freaking much though.

I moved away from Bloomington and now I suck even more at riding bikes, true story.

Wes said...

If I were IU and interested in a cycling team and furthering the IUSF Little 5 as a feeder I would put a 220M wooden track in the old field house.

Anonymous said...

What do you mean AH? Little 5ers are known to sandbag Cat 3s for a long time. I think there'd be a chance.