Sunday, October 26, 2008

Rutgers Cycling Jerseys, T-Shirts, and Hooded Sweatshirts Now Available

At long last, Rutgers Cycling is happy to announce that we have a full size run of 2008-09 Rutgers Cycling jerseys, T-shirts, and hooded sweatshirts in stock and ready to ship.

The are all available for immediate order right here:

Purchase Rutgers Cycling Jerseys





Our cycling jerseys are custom made for us by Verge Sport. These are the same jerseys worn by members of the Rutgers University Cycling Team.

New this year is the Rutgers Cycling casual line featuring hooded sweatshirts, t-shirts, and (coming soon!) embroidered polo shirts. T-shirts and hoodies are a 50/50 blend custom screened for Rutgers Cycling by American Youth Enterprises based in Cape May, NJ.


Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Rutgers Superprestige Report, 22 Oct

Today marked the grand return of the Rutgers Superprestige competition to the cyclocross practices on Livingston field. With the sun rapidly setting, we opted to do one 6-lap interval - this made scorekeeping easy, even if the ride itself was not.

In recognition of the growing size and wide range of fitness levels of the team, the organizers of Rutgers Superprestige have opted to give out two prizes each week. As with years past, the Bumblebee jersey (despite its less-than-impressive name) will be given to the fastest Rutgers rider. New this year is the Day-Glo jersey, the luminence of which represents the inner strength of its owner... in other words, the Day-Glo jersey goes to the rider who shows the most heart.

Today's Bumblebee jersey goes to Patrick Bradley, who put his Elite-level experience to use and rode away from the pack.

Far more importantly (no offense, Pat), the Day-Glo jersey was awarded to Cristian Adams. On a course that is notoriously fast, built more for a road bike than for its trail-worthy cousins, Cristian rode a MTB through the entire session. Never complaining, and spending most of the windy ride in no-man's land, Cristian rode like a champ and impressed the judges. He even dismounted and cleared the barriers at speed, a feat of which most MTBers dare only dream.

Honorable mentions for the Day-Glo jersey go to Amy Cutler, who attended her first 'cross practice today, and Eric Rundstrom, who destroyed a tubular tire before we even started riding.

See you next week on Livingston!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Rutgers Cycling Jerseys Now in Stock

We're pleased to announce that the 2008-09 Rutgers Cycling Jerseys are now in stock and ready to ship.

To order, please visit our order page on Bikereg.

In addition to cycling clothing, in a few weeks we'll be adding a full line of Rutgers Cycling casual clothing including t shirts, hooded sweatshirts and winter hats.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Rutgers Cycling Announces New and Returning Sponsors


Once again, Rutgers Cycling is proud to announce its new and returning sponsors for 2008-2009.

New sponsor this year is Berkeley Heights and Beyond, specialists in New Jersey real estate.

Returning for 2008-09 and increasing their commitment to Rutgers Cycling is Maul Electric, Inc., your choice for commercial electrical services.

Also returning for its third year as shop sponsor is Efinger Sporting Goods. Located in Bound Brook, NJ, Efinger Sporting Goods is your source for professional-level bicycles and repairs in additional to a vast selection of outdoor sporting good and apparel.

Rutgers Cycling will once again be donning Rudy Project sunglasses and helmets.

Cycle-Smart is once again the coaching sponsor of Rutgers Cycling.

Rutgers riders will be riding Specialized bikes to victory.

Ritchey Components will once again take care of Rutgers Cycling's component needs.

For its 5th straight year, Verge Sport will be the official clothing provider for Rutgers Cycling.

The ever-genrous Schwartz Family is once again sponsoring Rutgers Cycling.

Friday, October 10, 2008

National Collegiate Track Cycling Championships (Very late report)



So this is long overdue, but right after I went to nationals I got caught up in a whirlwind of exams and applications, but here is how it went.

Me and my dad headed out of BWI EARLY Wednesday morning on our way to Colorado Springs, during our connecting flight in Atlanta I met two other guys on their way to nationals, one guy from a small college in South Carolina and one guy from Georgetown who I raced with earlier this summer. When we all got to Denver safe and sound and went our seperate ways for the hour drive to Colo Springs. When we got there, we found our hotel room, which, thanks to my girlfriend's dad's Marriott points, was so nice I almost didn't want to race. We went to the track and tried to sign in. I learned a great lesson hear, for all cycling nationals you need a proof of enrollment from you registrar. Luckily I had the wonderful Linda Yost, RU Rec Sports Director, on my side. She faxed me the forms and I was good to go registration wise.

I forgot to mention that my bike took a different route to nationals. It went with my buddy Will Fissel from the Univ. of Delaware, who was staying with me and my dad in return for the bike transport. Unfortunately will was running late and didn't get in until 1am in the morning. So after about 5 hours of sleep will and I both got up and went to the track. After getting our bikes together we had about 5 minutes on the track before the women's 2K went off. So we did a few laps and spent the rest of our time waiting for our event, the 3K, on our rollers. After about two hours, it was finally my turn to go. Will was nice enough to let me use his Zipp disc wheel, which is now my disc wheel!! I got up and after the first two laps that 6,000 ft difference in elevation kicked in and my lungs started to scream, but I held on for a time of 3:57.644. This being my first 3K I don't know if it was an improvement, but it landed me 53rd out of 80+ guys.



Gearing up for the 3K, check out my disc wheel

Friday was suppose to be my 1K time trail, but the morning session got rained out so it was postponed to Saturday morning. The days wasn't a complete wash, I got a good workout on the track and David Espinoza from Penn State won his first national championship in the match sprints that night.


One of the only 60 supposed days of rain in Colorado each year

Saturday was crazy, we got to the track and got ready for the one kilometer time trial, better known as the kill-a-meter. This is tough because it is like the 400m in track, it is not a short spring, but it is not a long distance event, it is everything you have for a little over a minute. My first lap of the kilo went smooth and the other two were a blur of pain and more pain. I finished in the middle of the group with a 1:12 and change, 4 seconds faster than my previous best. David Espinoza continued his dominance by winning the kilo in a new collegiate record 1:05 (he is fast).


Start of my Kilo

Next up was the qualifier for the points race. I was in the second heat of 30, the top 15 from each heat advanced to the final. The first heat went off and was relatively mild, my buddy Will picked up 4 points to move to the final. The second heat however, apparently these guys thought it was the final because they were going hard. After a few points sprints, a group of 6 guys went off the front and soaked up the points. They eventually lapped us with about 6 laps to go. By the final sprint I didn't have any points and thought it was now or never. I jumped off the front and was caught by three guys at the line. After we finished the results were posted, I missed the final by open place in the final sprint, half an inch! Needless to say I was pretty mad. After I had time to cool off, I watched the rest of the racing with dad and family from Colorado, including my Dad's cousin SSnake (that is not a type-o his name is spelled S-S-N-A-K-E). The U18 national champ in points race, Nik Reinert, from U of Pitt and a TTown regular won the points race. He is a really nice kid and an incredible racer.


Me on the rail before the points race (w/ over 30 guys!)

All in all a good trip and I am pretty happy with my results. I just hope Rutgers can keep sending guys out to Nationals until we are track phenoms!


Me and my dad outside of the Velodrome

Me and my dad's cousin SSNAKE