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