While some students ride their bikes to save money on gas, others ride simply to get around campus or help the environment. However, the members of Western’s cycling team ride their bikes with one goal—to win.

Formed just six years ago, Western’s co-ed, intercollegiate club cycling team already has a history filled with success. The team has placed first in the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference (NWCCC) for the past three years, placed second overall in the Division II 2008 national competition and has a close shot at placing first this year.

“We have a reputation for being really good,” said Western junior Chris Kliem, who has been on the cycling team since his freshman year.

Thirty students ranging from freshman to graduate students manage and race on the team. Within the team, there are four different disciplines—track, mountain, cyclocross and road—that compete during different months of the year. The season begins at the end of summer with track bike races. The mountain bike discipline competes in October, cyclo-cross races are in December and road competitions begin in March. Team members can choose to race in one or all four disciplines.

The team is currently training for the road race season, which begins during spring break. Daisy Phillips, Western graduate student and cycling team president, said the team is currently tied for third place in the nation based on the scores from their completion in the track, mountain and cyclo-cross competitions earlier this year.

Twenty-five of the 30 cycling team members compete in road racing. She said if the team competes well in the road competition, they have a good chance of placing first in nationals for their overall season.

The team is always excited to have new members join no matter what their past experience in biking is, she said. Phillips admits she did not know anything about cycling until she joined the team two years ago and said many of the other team members did not either.

 Kliem said he did not start regularly riding his bike until he lived in Buchanan Towers his freshman year and got tired of making the long walk to class every day. He said he saw the team ride by him one day and thought it looked like fun, so he decided to join the cycling team in February of 2007.

“Everyone was extremely nice,” he said. “The team’s veterans helped me learn how to ride and train.”
Unlike Phillips and Kliem, Western freshman Steve Fisher came to the cycling team with some past experience.

Fisher said he has been competing in cyclo-cross and road racing since he was 14 years old. He has traveled to Europe three times for competitions, most recently to Italy for the 2008 Cyclo-cross World Championship last January. Fisher said the cycling team’s winning reputation influenced his choice to enroll in Western.

“I knew people who were on the Western [cycling] team,” Fisher said. “So I knew [Western] was the best school to come to for cycling.”

Female involvement in the cycling team could be improved, Kliem said. Men and women race in their own divisions during competition and the scores combine to give them an overall total.

Within the men’s and women’s divisions, there are two subdivisions, A and B, depending on the racer’s time record. Just seven women are on the team this year, so having fewer female team members lessens the chances of placing high in the women’s division, and therefore overall, Kliem said.

However, the women who are already on the cycling team are not lacking, Phillips said. The women’s A division placed first in the NWCCC last year, and for the last three years women have been some of the team’s top point earners in competition, she said.

The cycling team is a manageable sport for students who also need to devote a lot of time to their academics, said Kliem. Competitions are held on weekends and most of the training is done on the team member’s own schedule, he said.

The team rides, which take place every Saturday morning, are the only organized practices in which the team members participate. Kliem said he thinks the hardest part of being on the team is not balancing school and sport, but motivating himself to get out and train.

“We don’t have a coach and it is hard to motivate yourself to go out and cycle in the rain for two hours,” he said. “But as much time you put in, you get out.”

Although the team receives some financial support from the university, Phillips said more than half of their budget and resources come from community sponsorships.

The sponsorships help cover the cost of the team’s travel, food and entry into competitions, which can cost an average of $70 per person, she said. Some of the team’s largest supporters are Haggen, Group Health, the Fanatik Bike Co. and the Sanitary Service Company (SSC). The service company has been the team’s largest and most devoted sponsor since the team first formed, Phillips said.

“We always wave at the SSC garbage trucks when we are riding,” she said.

Team members do have to pay for their own bike equipment, which can be expensive, said Western junior Ben Rathkamp, who has been on the team for two years. He estimates the cost of a racing bike and riding shoes in good condition to be approximately $1,000. Although sometimes people join the team with whatever bike they could find at the time, Phillips said.

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