UM Cycling: Bigger and Better Than Ever

Over the first three weekends of collegiate races, UM cycling has obtained fifth place in the conference. This past weekend in Bellingham/Seattle was nothing short of spectacular.

We started out with a win in the Men's D road race, executed by a two man breakaway where Justin Drucker came out the better man. The rest of the D squad looked strong with Luke Juras coming in third, Anthony Purviance in fifth and Peter Young in sixth. Later that day Justin, Luke, and Peter crushed the TTT, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of the next group. The fire continued in the crit on Sunday where Luke took second, Justin fifth, and Wes Furlong sixth.

I couldn't have been happier about the ladies squad this weekend as we had someone repping in every category. Lily Kendall showed her bike handling skills in the C's crit coming in fifth. Kellie Carim took third in the B's road race after a photo finish sprint and fourth in the crit. Probobly the most exciting result of all was that Kellie and I were second in the Women's A TTT. The reigning national champion four-person Whitman squad beat us in our first attempt by a mere twenty seconds!

Despite all of this I have to say the UM cyclist of the has got to be Jesse Agner who got 8th in his first Men's A road race and gave us all goose bumps when he went off the front in the crit to chase down the leader. Jesse always races aggressively and isn't afraid to take chances...it was fun to watch.

Kellie Carim Dominates Seely Biathlon

UM cyclist Kellie Carim won the biathlon at Seely Lake on Saturday. Nordic skiing (and of equal importance, shooting) will leave Kellie in good form for the early collegiate races. Watch out for her this spring!

Cyclocross Nationals Race Report

On Sunday afternoon in Bend, OR I put on my favorite kit... the one I wear when it's time to rip legs off...

It was a beautiful day, sunny. The snow and ice had melted off of the course and it was muddy. I was incredibly nervous before I got on my bike but as soon as I started warming up on the course every worry I had melted away: it was nice out, I was dirty, and just down-right having fun riding my bike.

They started the D1 women a minute before us and a primal drum beat could be heard in the distance. The gun went off and I sprinted. Everyone was left behind except for me and Dartmouth girl...Arielle...my sprinting nemesis. I edged her out in the Collegiate National RR but she bumped me off the podium at the U23 National Crit by the width of a small insect that is so small it actually lives inside of another insect. Anyway, I knew what was going on because I knew Arielle. I stayed with her for a half of a lap but it was inevitable... she could just put time into me on each corner. No matter, I was having the best race of my season riding in second and I didn't let her get more than 40 seconds ahead of me in the 40 minutes of racing that we had that day. (I'll be ready for Madison...I hope Arielle will be ready for me, too)

So for some freak reason I just felt like a total beast. I kept thinking I was getting tired but then, a couple seconds later, I would feel good again and stand up and put in some good stomps after the corners. The energy from the crowd was unreal. Imagine 5,000 people yelling plus a marching band, plus flags waving in your face, plus horns, plus costumes, plus one guy dressed as a pirate playing a saxophone. I was happy a lot of people recognized my kit and cheered for the Montana Griz. I had so much motivation it was incredible. I just kept going and going...picking off D1's and eventually into sixth or seventh place in their race.

Then the race was over. It felt good to be on the podium. A good way to end a really good year! Also, I got to meet Andrea Smith: a UM alum who got sixth in the elite women's race. Really, as far as I can tell, anything is possible, you know?

2010 Calendar Revealed

The tentative road schedule is as follows:

Date Location Events Host
------------------ ------------- -------------------- -----------------------------------------------
March 13-14 Boise, ID RR, CR, TTT Boise State University
March 20 Eugene, OR RR., TTT University of Oregon
March 21 Corvallis, OR CR Oregon State University
March 27 Salem, OR CR, TTT Willamette University
March 28 Portland, OR RR Portland State University
April 3 Bellingham, WA TTT, RR Western Washington University
April 4 Seattle, WA CR University of Washington
April 10-11 Walla Walla, WA RR, TTT, CR Whitman College
April 17 Bozeman, MT RR, TTT Montana State University
April 18 Missoula, MT CR University of Montana
April 24 Palouse, WA RR Washington State University
April 24 Moscow, ID TTT University of Idaho
April 25 Moscow, ID CR University of Idaho

2010 Collegiate Road National Championship: May 7-9, Madison, WI

Tentative MTB events:

Black Rock, hosted by Southern Oregon University
Ashland, hosted by Southern Oregon University
Bozeman, hosted by Montana State University
Bogus Basin, hosted by Boise State University.

2010 Collegiate MTB National Championship, Oct. 14-17, Truckee, CA

UM Cycling Fuels Rolling Thunder

For those who have been living under a rock or don't know what VeloNews is, this past Saturday was Rolling Thunder, a day of cyclocross racing ending with a race under the lights. All of this mostly powered by UM Cycling's patriarch Shaun Radley. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to be a part of this event by feeding the Thunder hamburgers, beer, and home-made cookies. It was a good fundraiser for UM cycling with the grills going non-stop from the kids' race to the podium at the end of the elite men's race. We had a great location right in the action, with a superior view of the finish and the barriers where we could cheer our UM comrades on. In the first-timers race, future UM cyclist Luke Juras looked strong coming in first followed by another recruit. Bryce's lil' sister Meredith came in second for the ladies. We were excited to see the newbies out racing and looking at home on the bike. There were many Griz kits in the men's 4 race and I almost lost my voice because I had to cheer so much. Josh Goldberg, Jens McAller, Agner and Wes represented us well giving a wink and a nod as they passed the BBQ pit. However, the UM result of the day came from Johnny Montana who led the race almost from start to finish but was passed at the very end (ironically by someone from John's "team": Fitzgerald's bicycles). John ended up in second by a hair: a great result from a completely stacked men's field. Johnny brought home some W's for UM Cycling last year and we hope to see much more of him this coming spring.

Here's Chez wondering if he'll be able to hit the high "C"

It was a great day for UM Cycling showing talent and enthusiasm for the upcoming season. We would like to thank montanacyclocross.com for letting us set up and Finley Pt Orchard Management for jump-starting the fundraiser.

Race Report: Collegiate Nationals (Fo Co Fo Sho)

Sorry this race report is incredibly late but between finals and my sister’s graduation I just didn’t get around to it...but for those of you who are still on the edge of your seat wondering what went down at collegiate nationals this year read on...

Wednesday 5/6

Bad Bryce and I left town early afternoon after I took the anatomy practical. It was raining and hard to see but I had taken Shaun’s advice and brought enough snacks to keep everyone happy. We stopped in Bozeman to pick up the rest of our posse: Montana’s very own conference champ, Corey Meyer, who would be racing, Kyle from MSU cycling along for support and Kyle’s dog Ronald. Needless to say it was a cozy 11 hour drive in the van and the five of us were the best of friends by the time we rolled up to Kyle’s sister’s house in Fort Collins at 2:30 in the morning.

Thursday 5/7

The next morning we woke to blue skies, no wind, 75 degrees and it was sunny...weather none of us had seen in a while. Everyone was really anxious to get on a bike but we ate a leisurely breakfast of waffles and turkey bacon in the lawn first. Next we rode the course. It started low and quickly climbed up in the foothills where there were beautiful views of Fort Collins and the reservoir. My one impression was: these hills don’t mess around! They were both long and steep and I knew I’d have to pace myself. I could just imagine the field exploding into a million pieces on them. Later on we went to the Hilton to pick up numbers and all that other junk. We saw the Women’ Cycling Magazine trailer and there were actually people getting interviewed. That was when it hit me that collegiate nationals was a legit event and I was there!

Friday 5/8

Friday I woke up and it was really windy. And I mean really windy. It didn’t matter though women’s D2 started at 8:10 and at least it was sunny. When we lined up I was really nervous. I waved at Bryce. I kept telling myself it didn’t really matter how I did because I made it there and that was more than I was expecting. I just didn’t want to get completely dropped. Once we got out of neutral the race got fast quick. Everyone knew that the first big hill was going decide a lot. If anyone couldn’t keep up it would be really hard to chase because the wind was so bad. When I saw the hill it looked like a giant wall and my stomach dropped as I got ready to hurt. A bunch of girls just took off but I knew they would die and I tried to find a good hard pace that I could keep. I’m not going to lie: I felt like crap. I kept thinking “Oh, if only everybody could see ‘the climber’ now...suffering like a common flatlander.” By pacing myself I was able to overtake a bunch of the over ambitious ones but at the top I saw there was still work to be done with about ten girls up ahead. I heard my friend Daisy from Western behind me so luckily I was not alone because Daisy can do serious work and we were able to catch them with minimal difficulty. There was still much climbing to be done and the pace stayed pretty rough. Finally, things began to flatten out and a group of 20 or so coalesced. All of sudden I felt like I was going to bonk and I realized I had just climbed all over the foothills without taking one sip of water or eating anything at all. The problem was that I was breathing so hard water couldn’t really make it down my throat. I kind of panicked but then after searching my pockets I realized I had my trusty bag of M & M’s! I stuffed a giant handful in my mouth and breathed with my mouth open until they melted and the candy coated chocolate dripped down my throat in between panting. Then I would pour water in there too and let it trickle down, trying not to choke. After doing this several more times and also stuffing goo into me too I was able to recover. The pace relaxed and I was able to just hang in the draft with all my friends from the NWCC. We realized that as a conference we were looking pretty strong especially Lydia Tanner from Bozeman who was just eating up the hills while breathing through her nose. We were also the most friendly conference, we were like one giant team almost. The camaraderie was awesome. The race continued, a few crappy attacks happened mainly coming from MIT, but things didn’t get serious until the final stretch. Of course there were hills so as the pace picked up things got strung out but then there was the final wall and this time there was a head wind going up it. This is where it really mattered. Everyone was in their lowest gear and just suffering...we must have been going so slow. I was reminded of that scene from Fantasia where all the dinosaurs are walking across the desert and they just keep falling over dying. I mean seriously, one girl from Whitman literally just fell over and Daisy said she saw people walking up it! I don’t even remember the last part, I just kept telling myself not to faint. Then there was the descent and the finish. There were about ten of us...we were coming into the last stretch...I was in the back of the group sucking wheel waiting for the sprint but still working really hard...then there was this huge gust...Emily R. from Whitman got blown over and some of us lost the wheels in front of us...I was out of winning contention but was still able to sprint past a couple people into seventh. I was so happy I was smiling before I even crossed the finish line. I had finished with the top group and I couldn’t have been more elated.

Saturday 5/9

The crit started at 8:00 for us the next day. Warming up on the course I wondered what the race would be like. Every other crit I’d done had at least one hill or a hard turn that people could take aggressively to break things but this was all flat and really wide corners. The race started fast but we remained one be group. On the first prim lap Lydia and I were trying to move up but then some MIT girl swerved and crashed Lydia. It slowed a bunch of us down but we were all alright and Lydia was back after her free lap with all kinds fury. By the second prim I was kind of bored. I didn’t think I would be competitive in the crit at all so I just decided to put myself out there and see what would happen. I was up front and I ended up sprinting past all kinds of people to get third. I was so surprised, I just looked at my legs in awe because I had no idea they could do that! The next prim I was second and I heard the announcer say something like “And that was Lindsy Campbell from the University of Montana..?” as if he was really surprised or something. By then I was just like “Damn strait it’s me, I didn’t ride a steel bike through a Montana winter to come here and screw around.” The fourth prim I was in a bad spot with Kendi Thomas and some others on my wheel chasing down Daisy. I thought for sure they would all sprint past me but I just went for it and rode them off my wheel and got second again. I think that was the best part of the whole trip. I got third on another one but by the finish I was pretty tired and everybody was getting aggressive. I couldn’t get a good spot but I gave it all I could when I had room and ended up in twelfth. Later I found out I was tenth overall. I was ecstatic. Still am.

Thanks for listening. I can’t put into words how awesome it actually was. Also, thanks to everyone in Missoula. It was so cool to check my email, f-book, and my phone every day and see that everyone was cheering me on and excited for me. I hope to have more UM cyclists there next year!

UM Cycling - Race One - Corvallis/Eugene

This past weekend an incredibly mangy crew from Missoula headed out to Oregon to race some bikes, and soak up the balmy (relatively speaking) temps. I am going to try to give an accurate glimpse of the weekend, and then work in a little Radley blog end style...enjoy.

We had some wins! That's right, we had two Ws this weekend, as well as top tens and serious workers aplenty. In her race debut Lindsy Cambell (aka Squiggles), after realizing she didn't have to be, "so nervous she was going to puke," killed the women's C field by going solo with her mean face on up the final climb to close the gap on the leader and steal the victory. If you didn't already know, LC can climb.

Also, John (aka -ney on the spot) took a 15 mile solo flyer, climbing and then descending like the devil to take the men's D field. He said he hurt really bad afterwards, but got the upgrade over night.



Ivy had a super consistent weekend with a 5th place Crit finish and a 6th place RR finish in the C field. Ivy and Charlie (who just got off the snow and onto her bike two weeks ago), did work early allowing LC to get set in the front group. The NWCCC ladies I fear are going to get sick of the steady hurt Ivy can dish out on any course by the time May rolls around.




Agner finished 8th in the D RR after helping John get away, and then lit up the D crit with a 3rd place finish helped along by the diesel Daviess brings out to play with. Bryce mechanical-ed in the RR but was ready to go on Sunday. With a big grin on his face Bryce pulled the field around slowly shattering it for about 20 of the 30 minutes they were racing, all the while waving, (I think with his A game downtown wave), at the fans. Roltastic put on a sweet show in the crit groupetto after mechanical-ing out of the RR, and Levon had a good showing as well.

I ate all of my food during the RR and so was a little hungry during what turned out to be a surprisingly long race. A group of four got off the front that never got caught, but thanks to Dusty's voice yelling at me somewhere in my head I was able to get second out of the group at the top of the final climb. The crit was fun - I forgot how scary they can be.

All in all we had a great weekend. People put on shows, grabbed Ws, learned how to race, and even caught some romance in a dusty Oregon rest-stop. Let's hope for more of the same next week in Bellingham/Seattle.











I wonder if Rollo brushed his teeth...