Centennial Homecoming Parade

Jersey and Bib reorder

We have set up an account with Kat Carroll's Kit Order and the pricing from Garneau will be available soon. Send Scot an e-mail at smontagu@smu.edu to get in on the kit order.

Cotton Patch Race report

Quick race report from Spencer Guy

About 20 guys went down in the Cat 4 RR. I had to zig-zag and bunny hop over bikes and legs at 26 mph. I think I rode over someone, too. Amazingly, I got through untouched. At the finish, I sprinted for what I thought was the finish - it wasn't - so I had to hold on for 10th.

Flatted during the TT but was on pace for top 5, if not top 4.

Won the crit field sprint for 2nd - blowing the pack to pieces! I thought I won it all, but a guy from the break took off solo and was 50s up the road.

Even with the RR mistake and TT flat, I ended up 4th for the weekend omnium. Had I sprinted on time and not flatted, it would have been an easy #1 omnium.

Oh well. Live and learn.

Jeff Klein was a top 3 at the Road Race, and his race also had a crazy crash in the final straight.
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Stars and Spokes Circuit Race

Nicky finished second in the P-1-2 race with a sprint that shows he is getting back to form, Jeff Klein finished 4th (resplendent in the SMU kit) and we will post some pictures later. Caryn recovered enough from her encounter with the truck (broken scapula etc) to race well enough to solidify her 3rd place in the North Texas Cup series.

New Semester, New officers TBA

The cycling club is gearing up for winter by establishing new officers and tentatively planning a race with the other schools in the DFW area. More to follow!

U23 State TT

Nicky won the jersey at the State TT in Lytle, Texas (just south of San Antonio) The event was noted for having USADA show up and dope test all the pros and a few masters racers.

Congrats to Nick for getting that U-23 jersey.

July HCTT

Caryn finished 2nd in the Woman's open, Scot did the 40K TT in advance of the State TT's next week.

Livestock Loop King Racing Group Fair Park Crits

Spencer Guy won this C race at the Thursday Night Crits, quite handily. We were both planning on saving ourselves for the B race , but got a little too ambitious. I chased some primes and Spencer chased the victory. By the start of the B race my heart rate was still redlined and discretion caused me to drop out after a few laps.

More post semester racing

This past weekend was the State Crit races and McKinney's Bike the Bricks, making for a long weekend of racing and while no SMU riders won a State Championship jersey, some strong performances occured. Preston finished just outside the medals in the Cat 4 race, Caryn won bronze in her age group race, and Frank and Nicky raced in the hard category (U23) and didn't get any moves to stick. Nicky was toward the front and in good position but plagued by some breathing problems that caused him to drop off. A visit to the doctor seems to have a cause determined.

The weekend started with McKinney's Bike the Bricks and the local paper had this picture on it's front page! Spencer is on the left with Preston in the Park Place jersey behind him. Preston raced both the 4/5 and 3/4 race getting a 4th out of his labors, and Spencer managed a top 10.

Collegiate Nationals

Frank Cusimano and Nicky qualified for Collegiate Nationals in Madison, the Wisconsin capital hosting the race for the second year in a row. Not since Samuel Weyand went to track Nationals in 2007-8 have we sent anyone to compete for a National title and the stars and stripes jersey.

The road race was first, a 5 lap affair through Blue Mound State Park. Really tough with numerous rolling hills and one big hill, Nicky and Frank rode well, with Frank suffering from a slow wheel change after a late flat. Despite a lengthy chase, he was unable to finish as his race was over when the D1 field rolled past. The staggered start meant that if you were behind the race, you were vulnerable to being pulled if detached. Nicky hung with the leaders, Andrew Baker of Mesa State and Bissell pro cycling took a well deserved win after dropping the group on the final hill and Nicky rolled in with a fine 9th place. We said at the time that that was like Tom Boonen finishing Liege in 9th place as Nicky is tall strong rider whose size is still a problem on hilly races.

Sunday was the criterium for the two SMU racers (not enough racers to compete in the Team time trial) We were able to watch the race from a ustream podcast from the coach of Cumberland Cycling, first words we heard was one of our racers attacking through the finishing straight. A mid race break with Cumberland, West Point, Mesa State was threatening to stick but a Western Washington rider worked furiously to bring it back and it was gruppo compacto with 2 laps left. The final sprint saw Nicky finish a strong 7th and Frank 28th. With his consistent results for the two races, Nicky podiumed in 5th place for the men's D2 Omnium, our first medal at the National level, and the first D2 podium for the conference since 2005.

SMU Cyclists at the Thursday Nighter

Preston and Frank are in the Park Place/Boulle/Dallas Bikeworks racing kits, Kevin, Spencer and John are in the SMU/Boulle/BicyclesPlus racing kits (props to Nicky's dad for sponsoring local cycling, as well as our LBS's!

Matrix Crits @ Meadows Foundation, Wilson Block

As Frank and Nicky had already done enough to qualify for Nationals, this weekend was the King of Crits AKA Matrix Challenge for the trade teams, primarily Park Place and KingRacingGroup. The pollen really got to a lot of people, and short of Caryn's 4th and 5th place finish in the woman's Cat 3's, the weekend was full of bad luck. The highlight for the SMU team was a successful debutante race of John Gorum who rode, in the new kit to a top 10 finish in the Sunday night Cat 5 race. Spencer Guy was also at the race and finished just ahead of John. The cycling community in Dallas made its way to the Wilson Block, a collection of Victorian homes that house various non-profit groups. The setting is beautiful for cycling and a yearly highlight.

New kits in time for Nationals

March review

March was quite busy, ending with Nicky racing in his 1st Cat 1 stage race in California, the Redlands Classic. A highlight of the NRC schedule, it is quite the entry to top level domestic racing. Two former TdF white jersey wearers (Alcala, Mancebo) as well as a former Olympic Gold medal winner were in the field, but the former Tour of California race leader, Francisco Mancebo, took top prize after three days of racing. Nicky and most of our local competitors from Elbowz racing were not quite prepared for the hilly terrain and the high speeds (28mph first lap in the road race) Nicky eventully DNF'd on the middle stage, but he learned some valuable lesson and experienced the top level of domestic racing and is wanting more.

The many of us competed in the local crit series with Jeff pulling on a yellow for winning a B race at the King Racing Group Thursday Nighters and ended the month with a 2nd place. Scot had a 4th place and a few vanity laps in front,as local pro Jonny "El Gato" calls them. Chris Snyder raced his first race, and Preston Smith had a 2nd place and a crash to show for his first races.

Collegiate races saw the guys travel to Waco for the Baylor Conference races. Spencer Guy was able to score a podium finish (2nd) in only his second race ever.
Nicky nursed his torn up hand to a top 10 in the men's A race, finishing his required number of races to qualify for nationals in May.

The Denton Crits that were held the first week of spring break, Nicky won his last Cat 2-3 race, then crashed in the P1-2 race after clipping a pedal seeing a great opportunity marred by the crash. We were watching the race with Jeff and Alex, and saw a very bloodied Nicky come to the staging area, with his Park Place teammates taking hime to the hospital, Caryn taking his bike back to our house.

The same day, Caryn posted a 2nd Place in the HCTT woman's open, now racing for King Racing Group and Scot had a personal best in the men's 50+

April should see a lot more races and then Nationals in Madison Wisconsin.

More pictures from UT Collegiate weekend

Opening Salvo of the 2011 Collegiate season

SMU cycling had three first time racers line up in Austin: Spencer Guy, Kevin Dawe and Alex Philipson. These were the first races, let alone first collegiate races for the three and they had a great time, even finding time to stop at Mellow Johnny's, the Lance shrine in the basement a real treat. They joined our experienced cyclists Buzz, Frank and Nicky.

Frank and Nicky rode the A races and were usually the last of the non UT, MSU and A&M racers left, which put us in good position to qualify for Nationals as a Div 2 school. Jeff plans on racing some of the next few races, which should get us more valuable Div 2 points in the next few months.

Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Phoenix

Nicky capped off an up and down weekend with a crit win in downtown Phoenix. Buzz and Frank had solid rides all weekend and gained a lot of experience doing stage races in varied terrain.

Copperas Cove 2011

Nicky raced in a tough P123 field at Copperas Cove, with 2009 UK road champion and Rapha pro Kristian House ripping everyone's legs off. The last 10 miles were really tough by all accounts, with Heath Blackgrove of the new Elbowz team getting the win. Nick came in 15th, just behind the founder of the Elbowz team, former World Superbike champion Ben Spies. Jennifer Purcell of Compton Racing team has decided she needs to race with the men to get the respect she deserves as the fastest woman in Texas, and finished 45th in a race of over 90 elite men.

The 3-4 race saw Frank finishing 3rd in a field sprint, while Jeff finished top 10.
The cat 5 race had the governor, Preston Smith ride his first race with a top 15 placing, getting caught behind an early crash and chasing the front group all day. Buzz had a flat early on, spoiling a good day.

Another season starts on the roads, with our guys riding Park Place when not racing collegiately, Caryn will start her season with King Racing Group soon.

New Year with some Road Results

The Megatron race put on by Holland Racing was held during a very wet and cold weekend just this side of Fort Worth. Results of note, Jeff won his race (first as a Park Place racer, Nicky finished third in his race and Buzz also raced his first race in the colors of the Park Place.

A new kit has just been finished and it is in the production stage.