MARS HILL COLLEGE CYCLING

The team’s revelation of the year, Jake Hill has a keen sense of the finish line.

After our biggest year to date, Mars Hill wants to let you know how we ended up and what we foresee for the future.

We’ve officially crossed the finish line of the 2012-2013 collegiate season. Time to breathe, reflect, and plan for the future. With the team competing in all five disciplines (road, track, mtb, cross, and BMX), it was our most ambitious and exciting year to date. We took teams to all five national championships in Utah, Texas, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Just getting teams to every nationals was a huge accomplishment and major logistical hurdle. We landed on 10 national championship podiums and had a lot of fun competing, ending the year as the #2 ranked team in division two, a title based on performances at all five collegiate nationals. We were #1 for the last two years but decided it would be nice to give someone else a chance. Congrats Colorado Mesa University. We tried to beat you, but you were too strong.

Laura Rice, Stephanie Bunnett, and Michael Robinson at graduation. Also graduating from the team were Logan McGiboney and Steven Bryan.

Our biggest accomplishment of the year, however, is graduating five riders who raced with the team during their tenures at Mars Hill College. Plus, we’ll have two more earning their degrees over the summer. That’s what it’s all about, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors out there in the “real world.” We’d love for them to stick around a bit longer,  but our riders tend to graduate on time or early. We hope their experiences on our cycling team have provided a foundation for building workplace and professional teams in the future.

Jordan Lewis and Blake Johnson, campers from last summer, stand atop the FBCC podium.

Looking forward, our summer cycling camp returns on July 14-19: five days of gorgeous riding in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This camp is for juniors and developing riders ages 10-collegiate. Camp leads into the region’s best omnium, the French Broad Cycling Classic. Campers will have the opportunity to pre-ride courses and receive professional instruction from a variety of USAC certified coaches and industry experts. More info about the camp here; register by June 1 and receive a free Mars Hill team jersey and great deals on power meters, trainers, and bike racks from CycleOps and Saris: http://marshillcycling.com/summer-camp/

Great pic of the boys doing their jobs at Collegiate Road National Championships.

Next fall, the team looks forward to hosting both conference mountain bike and cyclocross races. More on these events as they materialize. We also look forward to the next three years’ schedule for collegiate national championships. For the last four years, nearly every championship has been out west and/or at altitude. None have been on the east coast, let alone the SE. Now it’s looking like we may get a turn. Many regional schools are celebrating that mountain bike nats will be in Banner Elk, NC, for the next two years. And it was announced that road nats will be in Richmond in 2014 as a test event ahead of the 2015 UCI World Road Championships. We already know that Asheville will host cyclocross nats in 2016, which will be amazing on the Biltmore Estate. South Carolina’s Giordana Velodrome looks ripe for more championship action too. We’re also excited about possible locations for collegiate road nats in 2015-2016 too, and we have high hopes they’ll end up somewhere in our neck of the woods.

Thank you! to sponsors and supporters this year. We are fortunate to have so many. Forgive us if we missed your name (and please let us know).  Just know that Mars Hill Cycling loves you!

Beer City Bicycles
Spin-Tech Training
Pepper Palace
Hearn’s Cycling and Fitness
Industry Nine Componentry
DeFeet International
Neo Burrito
ProGold Lubricants
Raw Revolution Live Food Bars
Asheville Pizza and Brewing
Hincapie Sportswear
Stephen Duncan, Beverly-Hanks
Jay Hirst, alumnus
Donald J Dixon, alumnus
Futch Foundation
Doug Clark, track nats host
Brian and Carolyn Cassell, CX nats host
Trevor and Tracey Cartee, alumni
Go Soap Sports Detergent
Kenda Tires
Design Cycles
CycleOps Power
Asheville Bicycle Racing Club
Blue Ridge Bicycle Club
Southeast Sports Marketing
Kolo Mountain Bike Park
And of course, all the kind folks at Mars Hill College

Starting for the 2014 season, Mars Hill will add men’s and women’s UCI professional teams to its already successful collegiate programs, with additional support to other cycling disciplines, including bike polo. [This was an April Fools joke.]

Join us in becoming professional bikers in 2014.

We’ll offer collegiate riders the opportunity to “do it all” under one umbrella: compete at the top collegiate level during the school year, race with a pro team throughout the year at select national calendar events, and all while earning a degree that ensures their long term career success, whether on or off the bike.

We’re eager to line up with the best riders in the world and get heckled.

Although a model unique to cycling teams, we believe collegiate cycling represents one of the most successful development pathways for our current generation of smart cycling professionals. As part of a five year plan,  both the men’s and women’s professional teams endeavor to compete in top domestic pro races and are especially keen on competing in the Caribbean region.

Bike polo skills now rewarded with collegiate scholarships at Mars Hill.

In addition, Mars Hill will go pro in every other cycling discipline we can find, first by offering scholarships for bike polo, as we see this as a growth area to get and keep more punk rock kids on bikes. We anticipate adding singletrack unicycling in the near future to balance the team with hippies.

Applications are currently being considered. If interested, please send explanation of bike riding exploits (no more than 25 words, please) along with high school GPA, SAT/ACT scores to hmoran@mhc.edu, and don’t forget to fill out the online express application HERE. It’s free if you mention your interest in the cycling team. In order to best process your pro team application, please submit it by April 1st.

Mars Hill Cycling is pleased to announce Hunter Resek’s addition to our men’s A roster for this fall.

Taking a break with fans while racing for UNH.

Hunter is from East Dover, VT, and will transfer from the University of New Hampshire. A former top 10 alpine skier in the nation in slalom, giant slalom, super-G, and downhill, Hunter switched sports to cycling in the fall of 2010 after attending Stratton Mountain School, one of the best high school ski academies in the nation. Competing with the UNH collegiate cycling team, he upgraded from category D to A in one year while racing in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference. Hunter also gained valuable experience racing for longtime elite/development team CCB Racing.

Driving the pace for elite team CCB Racing

Long and hilly races are Hunter’s specialty, and he’ll get plenty of training opportunities on the extensive network of mountain roads near Mars Hill. Hunter will compete for Mars Hill in road, cross, mtb, and perhaps track.

Welcome to the team, Hunter!

By senior Laura Rice

The entire point of traveling to Phoenix was to compete at USA BMX Nationals. USA Cycling was holding the collegiate nationals as a part of the larger event which attracted racers from pros, Olympians, and World Cup winners from all over the world to kids who could barely walk! The kids competing were the true stars however!   5 and 7 year olds racing with mad skills and heart! It was inspiring!

We arrived early on Saturday to meet up with Alan who was there with his Supercross team. They opened their compound to us for the day and even provided Logan with a bike to race. It was great having someone who knew the culture, method and way that things go down at BMX races! Aside from the multitude of spectators and racers of all ages, BMX takes all day! It’s not like other cycling races in that you have your race time, show up, warm up, race and cool down. At BMX you run 3 qualifying motos before moving to the next round. At Nationals there were over 350 motos, making for a long wait between each run. Definitely a little different!

I was still a little wary of the start due to my near wipe-out during practice the day before. My slow starts definitely hurt my runs, but I was able to improve them a little over the course of the day. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it past semi-finals, coming in 21st in collegiate women.

Alan made it through his qualifying moto’s of course and made it to finals! It was impressive watching the pro’s race! They went hard, flying through the rhythm sections, getting air over table tops, and sometimes wrecking! There’s a reason BMX’rs wear full face helmets and moto pants! Alan raced hard too, but got caught up in some messy lines, coming in 7th over all.

As a team, we made it to 6th, just out of podium. It’s disappointing being so close to medaling the first time we went to BMX Nationals, but I’m proud of the work we did with extremely limited practice and experience.

This trip was bittersweet for me. As a senior, I’ll be graduating in May. While I’m continuing my education, it won’t be at Mars Hill and I won’t be on this amazing cycling team. I’m sad that I won’t be able to grow and develop my cycling skills so I can return to BMX Nationals next year, when I’m sure the next amazing Mars Hill Cycling BMX team will medal!

Thanks to all of our amazing sponsors!

The culmination of our cyclocross season came with USA Cycling’s Cyclocross Nationals last weekend. It’s different than most collegiate national events, since cx nats also features the championship races for the elite men and women, U23 riders, juniors and masters.

This year we returned to Verona, WI, and to our amazing hosts from last year, Brian and Carolyn Cassel. The Mars Hill Cycling cyclocross team was Tim Jenkinson, Corey Davis, Chad Capobianco, Tyler Hutchinson, Jake Possinger, Maitland Jones, Allison Arensman, Addy Albershardt, Sarah Felpel, Sarah Huber and myself, Laura Rice. This team is the largest in the history of Mars Hill Cycling to go to cx nats, but we knew the competition was going to be fierce and that everyone was going to have to work hard.

The womens’ CX team: Sarah Felpel, Laura Rice, Addy Albershardt, Allison Arensman, and Sarah Huber

Last year the weather in Verona was surprisingly mild, but we knew that our chances of that happening again were very low. After wheeling the short bus across the country, we arrived on Thursday to a couple feet of snow and temperatures in the 30’s. It was exciting to see such different conditions than what we’re used to here in North Carolina, so we quickly prepared to go pre-ride the course. Our hosts live within a mile of Badger Prairie Park, making it easy to ride to and from the course on our bikes. When we got to the course, there were still races in progress, so we ventured out to try some snow riding! Snow riding is harder than it seems, especially when it’s deep! The trick is to find a path that has already been stomped down, and then stay on the very narrow and sometimes slick trail. After a few falls and what is becoming a Mars Hill Cycling tradition of snow ball fights whenever snow is present, we ventured out on the course.

The course was very similar to the course from last year. However, the conditions were constantly in flux from one hour to the next, due to the extreme temperatures. Pre-riding really did nothing to prepare us for our actual races since the course condition was so varied from one day to the next. However, it felt great to be riding again, even if it was in thick, peanut butter like mud.

Friday we returned to ride the course some more, and also worked on our bikes and equipment to ensure that we were all ready to race! Everyone consulted back and forth about what layers to wear, what to expect while racing, tire pressure and got busy adding toe spikes to shoes.

Allison Arensman plows through the mud on her way to the podium.

We woke up excited and nervous on Saturday and got ready before heading over to the CycleOps/Saris sponsored warm-up tent. The warm-up tent was an amazing improvement over last year! We settled in to warm-up and mentally focus on racing. Too soon we had to bundle up and head to the cold, cold staging area. Even though we raced at noon, the temperature had been dropping, so it was between 28-30 degrees by the time we were at the start. Since I won the SECCC DII Individual Omnium for cyclocoss, I received a call-up to the front-line of the start. I never thought that I would find myself on the first line of the start, but I was excited and proud to be there. Allison, Addy, Sarah F. and Sarah H. followed. Combined we made up about 30% of the women’s DII field! We started a minute behind the DI ladies and began the sprint down the paved section before hitting mud. There was a lot of mud. We all struggled once we hit it since it was so thick. However, Allison and Addy plowed on through and I quickly recovered to get back to the middle of the pack.

The conditions of the course in our women’s race were terrible. The mud was so thick in some places that it was smarter and quicker to shoulder the bike and run. Even then, everyone got weighed down with mud. We made several bike switches during the race and the weight difference between the clean bike and the dirty bike was significant. In addition to the mud, there were many sections of the course that were frozen, some covered by a thin layer of mud making it even trickier. However, we all raced hard, and Allison podiumed with 4^th place, Addy finished 7^th, I finished 9^th, Sarah F. got 14^th, and Sarah H. ended in 18^th. Our team points put us only two points behind Brevard for the team omnium, 279-277.

Addy Albershardt enjoying the mud on her way to a top ten result in Verona, WI.

Saturday morning we repeated our trip to the course, this time to  help our guys as they warmed up and prepared for the race. The temperature at race time was about 12 degrees, and the course was completely frozen. Tim got a great spot on the front line. However, in a weird repeat of last year, he experienced a technical soon after the start, requiring a bike switch in the pits. Corey also started strong, but quickly found out how slick certain sections of the course were, damaging his bike and also requiring a switch. Tim and Corey both continued to ride strong, with Tim moving his way up through top five to second place. Chad, Tyler and Jake all raced smart, working their way through the icy corners and rutted course. Maitland suffered a flat in his first lap, having to carry his bike over half a lap to get to the pit bike. Tim finished with a strong second place. Corey came in 14^th, with Chad in 23^rd, Tyler in 31^st, and Mait in 37^th. We all headed back to the house to warm up and prepare to watch the elite races. The men’s race finishes gave us enough points to win top team points over Brevard, 240-236. Combining team points from the men’s and women’s races, we tied with Brevard for first place in the team omnium. However, we lost the tie-breaker because they had a first place in the women’s race compared to Tim’s second in the men’s, which put us on the second step of the podium.

Tim Jenkinson repeated his silver performance from last year.

The rest of Sunday, we relaxed and watched the elite women and elite men’s race. We cheered on Allison as she raced the U23 Women’s race (within the elite race) and were so excited to see her on the podium in second! We all cheered for Katie Compton, who won her 9^th championship and for Georgia Gould who came in 4^th. We spread out and went crazy with the other spectators during the elite race when J-Pow rode by and cheered on WNC-area rider Josh Whitmore. Jake got to cheer on his favorite rider, Adam Craig, who rode that much harder!

Allison Arensman rode to an impressive 2nd place in the U23 women’s race.

After the elite races, we headed to the awards location, where we got our snazzy second place medals and plaque. The SECCC was represented well, with three of the five DII teams coming from the south! North Carolina made a mark on the awards, with 4 of the 5 U23 female riders being from NC schools (including Allison) which makes it even better that Asheville will host the 2016 USA Cycling Cyclocross Nationals.

While getting second was disappointing, it was evident that everyone raced their hardest, from Tim working his way up the field to second and Corey’s determination after wrecking, to Allison recovering from a bad line selection and Addy getting up after each slip in the mud, from Mait carrying his bike from one side of the course to the other to get a pit bike and the Sarahs experiencing the most extreme race conditions yet. I’m so proud to be a part of a team that works so hard! It’s bittersweet that I won’t be joining them for next year’s cx nats, since I’ll be graduating in May. However, I’m glad for the opportunity to ride my heart out, be inspired by my teammates and pro riders alike, and make the most of the rest of our 2012-13 season!

After being tied on points with friendly SECCC rival Brevard, we settled for 2nd in the team omnium due to a tiebreaker. Couldn’t have been closer!

Huge thanks to all our sponsors who helped get us to nationals this year! A special shout out to Go Soap, which saved our kits from the mud!  To ProGold who kept our bikes lubed in the pits. To Beer City Bicycles in Asheville for just about everything. Thanks to Coach Hugh Moran for getting us there and being a great coach. Thank you also to Todd Arensman who supported us with equipment, bikes and encouragement! Thank you to the Cassels for welcoming us into your home for several days! Thank you to Drew and Industry 9 for the loaner wheels and the pit support!

Jacob Hill joins Mars Hill to race road and track.

We’re excited to announce the addition of Jacob Hill to our roster starting this spring. Jacob will race for Mars Hill on the road and track while pursuing his academic interests in finance.

Jacob is from  St. Petersburg, Florida. He got into cycling via his father, Pete Hill, a former cat. 3 racer. He started riding an ancient East German road bike when he was 11. A little later his stepmother, Elizabeth Morse, gave him a Cannondale which he rode in his first junior race where he finished 3^rd out of three racers. Still, the experience gave him motivation and he caught the cycling fever.

With all around talent and a fast sprint, Jacob will have an immediate impact.

After growing a little and training some, he upgraded to a cat. 4 in 2009 and for the next few years each April he upgraded again. Jacob attended the University of Central Florida for his freshman year then took a semester off to focus on cycling and start pursuing it with purpose. He’s going to continue both his education and cycling career with Mars Hill and continue to compete with the Stan’s NoTubes elite team.

Welcome to the team, Jacob!