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Now an official rec sport, the Ohio State cycling club has seen major growth in all areas since converting from a simple student organization.
Racing in the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference (MWCCC), the cycling team goes to six races per season all throughout the midwest, in locations within a 3-8 hour radius.
"So a typical race weekend goes like this: We travel on Friday’s after class and stay in a hotel Friday night. Saturday morning, there is the team time trial, which is teams up to five racers and lowest time gets points," club president Doug Simpson said.
"Later in the afternoon is the road race done in a large circuit. We stay another night in the hotel, and have a team dinner. Sunday is criterium which is like NASCAR but for bikes, done on short loop and done for time, not distance."
There are four different categories of racers: A (most competitive), B, C, and D (entry level). For the road race, the D's race 25 miles while the A's race for 80 miles. The club takes riders of all skill.
"I used to always race motocross and started riding bikes to train for that. As I got hurt on dirt bikes, I started doing cycling. I was at Auburn freshman year and then when I got here I wanted to do cycling, so I joined the club," junior Chase Snowden said.
While the races begin in the spring semester, the team is certainly busy in the fall as well with the Cycle Cross program from October-February. The Cycle Cross program blends both mountain biking and road racing. Also, the club uses the offseason to help seek out financial sponsors, as they get very little funding from the Ohio State Recreational Sports department.
"Most of our fundraising comes from dues, as well as seeking out financial sponsors. We have three sponsors this year. Dues are $125 to race, and $40 for the normal year to cover collegiate race fees and hotel fees," Simpson said.
The club has 35 members, all of whom are active. While only 20 of them race, all are very involved. In the past, the club was mostly comprised of graduate students, but that has changed in recent years to more of a 50-50 split.
Other than getting more members, the club has a few official goals lined up in its constitution. "We want to go regionals, especially since we didn’t go last year because it was in Wisconsin. We like to send riders to Cycle Cross nationals, and we want to qualify riders for road nationals. We wanted 24 members, and we are already at 35. Becoming a rec sport has allowed us to be better as people can now see who we are, and hopefully that continues, Simpson said."
For more information on the cycling team, you can visit their Facebook page here.
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