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

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.

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!

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!

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!

We’re thrilled to announce the addition of Allison Arensman to the team. She will start classes this spring at Mars Hill and first compete with the team at Cyclocross Nationals in January.

Allison comes from a competitive swim background and started cycling in the Fall of  2010 in the local NCCX cyclocross series. She ended up winning the cat 4 women’s series and was hooked.  She currently rides for Pepper Palace/Spin Tech Women’s Pro team in both road and cyclocross, and has many podium finishes, including last weekend’s victory in the elite women’s NC State Cyclocross Championships.

In 2012 she competed in the USA Cyclocross and Road Race National Championships, achieving a 2nd place finish in 17-18 women in cyclocross and podium finishes in the road race and criterium. Her dream is to compete in the World Championships for road and ‘cross, and to one day represent the USA at the Olympics in road racing and in cyclocross (when it is finally added).

Allison greatly anticipates riding for Mars Hill starting this January at Cyclocross Nationals in Madison, WI.  She is super excited about the road season and then trying her hand at track and mountain biking as well. “I can’t wait to give mountain biking a go. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while now; it looks completely terrorizing and irresistible!”

Allison grew up as the second of nine children, and teamwork has always been a huge part of her upbringing.  “Growing up, our parents instilled in us the importance of servant leadership.  That this life is not about us but about glorifying God in all we do and serving others.  I look forward to working alongside my teammates and being an encourager and a friend.”

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!

Two weeks ago our team set off to Angel Fire, New Mexico, for the 2012 Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals. Hugh, Tim, Corey, Catherine, Alan, Tyler, Laura and I all met early in the morning and shuffled into the team bus for the long drive to the Atlanta International Airport. We arrived with time to spare and began navigating our way through security and eventually made it to our gate. Tyler was the only one of us to have never flown before and was freaking out about it. As we made our way onto the plane another passenger overheard the conversation between Tim, Tyler, and myself, telling Tyler to calm down, and gladly took it upon himself to play a cruel joke. Before we even knew it we were in Dallas/Fort-Worth. We grabbed a quick meal since we were only there about an hour until it was time to depart to Albuquerque. When we landed in Albuquerque the dark had already rolled in and all we could see was the city’s lights. We hopped in our rental van and three hours later finally arrived in Angel Fire.

Laura Rice got a great start in the short track.

Tyler and I woke up early before everyone else on Thursday’s practice morning and decided we would go check out the bottom of the downhill course. The downhill course ended leading us to the dual slalom course and eventually to the cross country course. We kept going up the mountain until we were near the very top. Neither of us had ever been up that kind of elevation so we soaked in the view. Eventually we headed back to the condo where we found Hugh, Tim, Corey, Catherine, Laura, and Alan building their bikes. We hurried to build ours so we all could venture out onto the course.

When we started our ride it was in the mid 40s and blue skies. We saw a few other teams out on course and started our ride with a small group from Fort Lewis College. The start of the course was a nearly 3 mile long climb to the very top. The climbs were wide open with dry, dusty soil conditions. Tim and I had gotten away from the rest of the group on the climb and we were both feeling well. While we waited for the group we had a good conversation with some of the Fort Lewis riders. After a few minutes we were all back together and climbing again. At the top of the climb the course turned into pretty technical singletrack section which took me two tries before clearing it without dismounting. After the technical section, there was one more small climb and then a fast descent back to the bottom. The decent was littered with switchbacks and had some pretty sweet flow to it. Four laps were definitely going to make a brutal Friday. We all got back from our practice rides that day and had some delicious food cooked up by our coach/head chef, Hugh.

Coach Hugh taking a break from cooking duties…

Friday morning came quickly and the start of the Division II Men’s XC race was at 9:10. Tim was in the very front row, followed by Corey in the second, Tyler in third and me in fourth. The starting gun fired and everyone was off. Immediately there was a crash involving two to three riders. Fortunately Tim, Corey, and Tyler were able to maneuver around it. I got caught up behind it and was nearly involved in a second crash. Panicked, I hit the first corner and promptly downshifted sending my chain deep behind my cassette, all within 100 meters of the start. My race was over and I was forced to drop out. Disappointed beyond belief I went back to the condo, changed, got my camera and headed out on course to cheer on my teammates. Tim was having a stellar race, and Corey and Tyler were both putting out great efforts. Four laps later saw Tim rolling into a solid 5^th place finish, Corey in 29^th, and Tyler as 51^st. Super proud of those guys. The DII women’s race went off at 12:10 with our very own Laura Rice and Catherine Harnden representing Mars Hill. I only saw Laura once as I wandered from one spot to another but I saw Catherine all three times and at the start of her third lap, when she looked like she was in the most pain, I yelled “Keep It Crispy, Catherine!” That became my phrase for the weekend. Both ladies rode a great race with Laura finishing 19^th and Catherine in 26^th. Downhill qualifications followed the days XC racing. I was the only one on the team to not race the gravity events so instead I went and got some pictures of the team. After a hard day of racing we got some relaxation in and another great dinner made for us by Hugh in preparation for Saturday’s short track cross country race.

All for one: the men cheer on Catherine in the cross country.

The STXC race wasn’t supposed to go off until 10am for the DII Men and 12pm for the DII Women. It was time for the men’s race before we knew it and we were in the same order as the day before. Tim and Corey both had great starts while Tyler and I worked to fight our way from the back. At the start of the singletrack portion of the course the group began to bottleneck but I managed to fight my way through to get one person between me and Tyler. As we came back through the start I passed who was separating us only to take the sharp left corner a bit too fast. I went over the bars and had to run up the hill. Tyler got away from me and I ended up getting pulled. Tim finished 9^th, Corey 20^th, Tyler 43^rd, while I was back in 56^th. DII Women went off at 12pm with a strong looking field. Laura was in the very front row and had a fantastic start. Catherine was just behind her and killed it as well. Each came through lap after lap seeming just as strong as they were at the start. Towards the end Laura came into the same corner a little too fast and nearly crashed but was able to recover and run the hill while the Mars Hill men cheered her on. Catherine had a great race using Corey’s BMC as well finishing in 18^th place, while Laura came in just behind her in 19^th.

Later that same day was the Downhill race. The DII Men and Women were both scheduled for a 2pm start. I made my way up to a great spectator spot; a steep, fast downhill right into a double. Our team as a whole was definitely the cleanest through that section. Props to Catherine for the cleanest ride through there of any of the ladies I saw go by. There were plenty of guys and girls that took a pretty nasty spill there. Mars Hill did a great job with Tim in 24^th, Corey in 27^th, Tyler in 30^th, and Alan in 31^st, Catherine on the podium in 5^th, and Laura in 9^th.  Following DH was Dual Slalom practice. The team was looking fresh with Alan getting some great runs in. We were all excited to see Alan tear it up the following day. Unfortunately Alan took a pretty nasty spill right near the end of the course during a practice run. The medics on duty were quick to respond to his fall and check him out. They gave the opinion that Alan should probably go to the hospital in Taos. Turned out to be a good decision, he ended up having a mild concussion and some fractured bones in his wrist. Luckily, Alan was discharged the same day and was back during the banquet dinner and awards ceremony.

Chairlift rides to the top of the mountain. What a luxury and what a view!

Sunday came with only the dual slalom races to complete. With Alan sidelined our men’s team was represented by Tim, Corey, and Tyler. Everyone had a solid run, despite Tim crashing hard in nearly the same exact spot as Alan had the day before, on the same exact bike. Tim was pretty positive: he separated his shoulder but completed one last run regardless of his injury. After that I deemed Alan’s bike “The Cannibal”. Corey and Tyler demonstrated their former motocross talents during the race with a respectable finish from both. Catherine and Laura did a great superb in the DII Women’s field. They showed no fear and attacked every corner. Results ended up being Tim 12^th, Corey 16^th, and Tyler 31^st. Catherine earned herself a podium spot in the second gravity event in 5^th, and Laura representing in 12^th.

Awards were the final installment of Nationals. Gravity riders, Individual, and Team Omniums were the focus of the award ceremony on Sunday. Catherine was the only Mars Hill rider on the podium for any gravity events, DH and DS. After a solid showing all weekend long, Tim was awarded 3^rd in the DII Mens Individual Omnium, with Corey not far off at 7^th. Our team ended up taking 5^th place in the DII Team Omnium so we all got to head up onto the podium. When the award ceremony was over we headed back to the condo to relax.

The team came through with outstanding DH and DS performances.

Mountain Bike Nationals was by far one of the best events I attended this year. Our team put in the hard work and it showed. Despite the bad luck here and there we pulled it together and got that 5^th place spot. There’s no doubt in my mind that Alan would have won DS had he gotten the chance to race. But there’s always next year for that. Another big shout out goes to our SECCC rival Brevard College, for having riders win the cross country and short track races, and to the team for taking 1^st in the DII Team Omnium.

The D2 team omnium. Congrats to Brevard on the victory. Also to Union and Warren Wilson. Four SECCC teams on the podium!

We want to thank our school, all of our great sponsors, USA Cycling, the event promoters, all the volunteers, Angel Fire Bike Park, the entire town of Angel Fire for welcoming such a cool event, and to the medics for piecing members of the team back together. We also want to thank Hugh for all the hard work he does for us as coach. We really appreciate it. And as far as next year is concerned we will be back, and that DII title will be ours. Remember to keep up with us as we move into cyclocross season, and come on out to our cyclocross race on December 1^st.

And like always, Keep It Crispy.

Rolling into the venue where Brevard was hosting the DH/DS/XC portion of their event, it was very clear that the Mars Hill Cycling team were in for a challenging weekend of racing. Knowing that this was to be the last conference race before heading to Angel Fire for Nationals, a tinge of caution also seemed to be in the air.

A stacked men’s A field begins an intense short track race.

Cross country was up first and with a technical course littered with steep rooted drops, and tons of climbs sprinkled throughout, it undoubtedly gave racers a rough day. Sarah Felpel was up first in B women, and even despite a little tardiness, gave a tremendous effort and rode admirably on a course more suited for the advanced. The seemingly always sunny Laura Rice rode a very strong pace and showed that her training has been paying off. Our men’s team captain embraced that role especially this weekend, and lead the team with an extremely impressive finish of fourth in the ultra competitive men’s A cross country. Tim is most definitely looking to be in top form heading into nationals. Corey Davis came in a very respectable 10^th place finish.

Always having fun. The start of the women’s A cross country.

Dual slalom was up next, and had design and construction provided by professional gravity riders. The course offered a healthy dose of tech sections, flat turns and rollers to test pumping skills. All in all a lot of fun was had during the practice session, with the strong exclusion of me foolishly falling two runs in a row. With only Catherine Harnden qualifying to race, the rest of the team sat and spectated. She ended the day with a 4^th.

Catherine had great rides in both the dual slalom and downhill.

Short track and Downhill were the events to be held on Sunday. The downhill course was most definitely suited for those with equipment with capabilities to maneuver the very fast and very steep terrain. Unfortunately, this weekend, we were with those with the have nots. In short track, the team faired exceptionally better. This portion of the race was held on Brevards meticulously kept campus, and featured a drawn out pebbly climb and a stair gap that I’m sure kooked a few. Tim Jenkinson followed up his fourth place with an even stronger third in the always excitable men’s A field. Tyler Hutchinson had his best  conference showing with a 14^th, and Corey finished just in front of him. A good weekend over all and a nice tune up for the big kahuna in just weeks time.

By next mountain bike season, we’re betting Sarah will be shredding on her own bike.

A big thanks to team sponsors for all the support:

Beer City Bicycles
First Light Solar
DeFeet
Hincapie Sportswear
Raw Revolution
Neo Burrito
Spin-Tech Training
Pepper Palace
Stephen Duncan, Beverly-Hanks
Hearn’s Cycling and Fitness
BioWheels
ProGold
GoSoap
Kenda Tires
ABRC
Sram/Zipp
Training Peaks
Industry Nine

On Wednesday last week, the Mars Hill College Cycling Team left to Frisco Texas. The women’s team consisted of Sarah Felpel, Sarah Huber, and Catherine Harnden, and the men’s team included Tim Jenkinson, Robert Maitland Jones, Jeremiah Dyer, and Sebastian Scherf. After a long day of traveling, we arrived at our huge host mansion with a sweet pool, Jacuzzi, and fireplace. Thanks to Doug Clark for being a great host, lending us equipment and even cooking for us. Especially liked the pool.

The coed team sprint, unique to collegiate cycling and everyone’s favorite event.

However, we did not get a lot of time to tan, because our coach Hugh Moran wanted us to get some track practice in before nationals. The Superdrome is definitely one of the nicest tracks I have ever ridden on. It has super steep banking and is quite fast.  After a quick training, we went back to the house and prepared mentally for the races the next day.

The next day started with the 4k time trial for the men , and the 500m women’s time trial, followed by the 1k men’s time trial and the women’s 3k. Jeremiah Dyer ended up in eleventh, the team’s first top result at the 2012 collegiate track nationals.

The men’s team pursuit finished 7th averaging over 31 mph.

The second day of racing included the 200m sprint time trials flying start, men and women, and the points race qualifying heats and finals. Tim was our outstanding rider of the second day, qualified for both, the match sprints and the point race final. He did well in both races and scored lots of points for the Team Omnium.

Tim in the match sprints trying to outfox a true match sprinter.

The scratch race qualifying heats and finals, the coed Team Sprint, and the 4k team pursuit were the events of the last day. Tim qualified for the scratch race final with an impressive ride in his qualifying heat. Both the men and women 4k team pursuit were super fast, with the men averaging above 49 km/h, almost 31 mp/h. One of the highlights and my personal favorite event of the weekend was the coed team sprint: 2 girls and 4 men riders start at the same time, with everybody leading one lap until he drops out.

On the team omnium podium for 4th, our best finish ever at track nats.

Three long days of racing and tanning in the heat of Texas, we finally got rewarded with US Collegiate Cycling National Championship medals for the 4th place in the Team Omnium. So far, this is the best start of the Mars Hill College Cycling team into a season, so everybody on the team is quite excited about the numerous victories that will follow this great start. Of course a big thanks to our sponsors for making it all possible.