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Road races draw talents to cycling team |
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Tuesday, 15 April 2008 |
 Special to The Appalachian
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by ASHLEY DAVIS
Sports Reporter
It’s a common misconception that cyclists shave their legs, like swimmers, for better aerodynamics.
“I hate that people think that. It’s not for that purpose at all. We shave our legs for many reasons,” Appalachian State University cycling team vice-president Jerid C. Gooding said with a laugh. “Firstly, it feels better for muscle massages, and secondly because of crashes…when you’re removing a bandage from a road injury, the last thing you want is all of the hair there. Not only could it cause infection but it’s more comfortable without it.”
While the Appalachian cycling team will find cuts and scrapes whether it is the road, cyclo-cross or mountain biking season, the team has managed to push to the top of its conference in the current road race portion of the year.
The road-racing season began Feb. 15 and will end April 19-20 at the conference championships to be held at Wake Forest University.
“This
year it will be increasingly difficult from previous years with the
addition of Pfeiffer University, a newly formed varsity team,” team
president David L. Forkner said. “Pfeiffer has proven to be our biggest
competitor who has hit us in our weakest spot: women racers. Currently
we only have five women on our team. Although we typically destroy
Pfeiffer in nearly every category for men; the women’s categories count
the same for points in the overall team points competition, thus
leaving us vulnerable.”
Road races consist of three different styles of racing: the road race
which is a 10-mile loop, raced for an allotted number of times, the
criterion, a smaller loop race, and the time trial.
With each road season the team sees more cyclists coming to
participate, due to the fact that road practices are more easily
accessible than mountain courses and are often friendlier to beginning
and intermediate cyclists.
“The simple fact of more riders traveling to races accompanied by the
necessity of team tactics in races makes for a very different
atmosphere,” Forkner said of the road races. “Road racing in general
lends itself towards team tactics much more so than do [cyclo-cross] or
mountain. This forces all of us to focus on the main goal - winning a
third consecutive conference championship.”
“Racing requires more tactics than being strong and fit,” Gooding said.
“It’s for this reason that cycling is sometimes called speed chess.”
An average experienced cyclist on the team will easily put in 18-22
hours of riding in six to seven days, Forkner said of the team’s
preparation.
The conference championship, which awards double points to the winning
team, determines which cyclists advance to the Collegiate Road National
Championships, which will be hosted by Colorado State University this
year in Fort Collins, Colo.
The team hopes to send approximately five cyclists to the national
championship, all of whom are required to be level A cyclists.
Presently Forkner ranks No. 1 in the Men’s Division 2-A rankings,
followed closely by Appalachian cycling teammate John M. Wilson.
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