Cycling team prepares for Beanpot

If asked, one would be hard-pressed to find a single person on Tufts' campus that enjoys the fact that we live on a huge hill. A lot of students would rather wait for the Joey for 15 minutes on the campus center patio than walk all the way up to their class in Olin.

But there is a small group of students that looks at our hill as a challenge and tackles it with the same gusto most of us use to tackle Carmichael Pasta night. This is also the same crew that considers riding 40 miles (read: not in a motorized vehicle) on any given Wednesday, "a pretty good ride."

These students make up the Tufts Cycling team, and come April 4, they will host over 300 collegiate cyclists in a criterium race around the Tufts campus, a loop that is heralded as one of the more challenging and technical courses during the cycling season.

"Our crit is very technical and has a lot of hills, so that keeps it interesting for the riders," junior cyclist James Gronek said.

A criterium race is different from a road race in many respects. It is much shorter than a road race, usually only a half to one and a half miles long. The focus of the race is on sprinting, and using the techniques of cornering and pace lining. The Tufts course is a one kilometer loop that leaves from the front of health services, and contains four turns, and one short steep hill climb.

While some cyclists are more suited to one type of race over the other, the cycling team encourages its members to participate in both race types.

"Some people naturally gravitate towards one type of race, based on skills and body type," Gronek said. "But we encourage everyone to do everything since there is no limit on how many people we can enter in a race."

Gronek, along with senior teammate Carolyn Whitten, is one of the coordinators of the annual Boston Beanpot Cycling Classic. Tufts is one of six area schools (along with Harvard, BU, BC, MIT, and Northeastern) that is coordinating the Beanpot. The weekend consists of a time trial hosted by BU and the Tufts criterium on Saturday, followed by a road race in Grafton on Sunday hosted by Harvard.

"The race and the courses are well-established, so we did not have much to organize in those respects," Gronek said. "Our focus this year was to put on a real event and get solid sponsorships. We are aiming to have over 300 people participate."

Gronek and his committee have been successful thus far in their goals. They secured many sponsors, with Dunkin' Donuts leading the way. There will be tents set up with free samples of products and on Saturday night there will be a dinner for all the racers at the Catholic Center.

"The races are great because you get to meet people from all over New England," Gronek said. "It establishes friendships and those friendships lead to a lot of intercollegiate events like the Beanpot."

The Jumbo cyclists belong to the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC), along with 49 other schools from around the area. Currently, the team is in the midst of its spring road-racing season, and for its members, the opportunity to ride and socialize is what makes practicing with this team so worthwhile.

"I like riding, and its fun to do it with people," Gronek said. "Having people to talk to makes it easier to motivate yourself to train and makes it more fun to go on long rides."

The usual schedule for a cyclist is close to four practices a week, usually including one long ride, and one or two races a weekend. Practices depend on the weather, and often are spinning classes inside of Gantcher. As for the outdoor rides, the team's motto is "when in doubt, go West," because that takes them away from the city.

Usually as the season starts, the focus is on getting the people who are new to the sport race experience. The goal is to try and get as many people to the races as possible, a feat which sometimes proves difficult due to lack of transportation. Once there, according to Gronek, the team is proud when its members complete their races. As the season progresses, team members begin to set time goals and team goals.

"Since we are a club sport, we try to accommodate everyone," Gronek said. "There are people who are really into competing and racing, and then there are people who are just biking for biking's sake."

After the Beanpot, the biggest race of the season is the Eastern conference championships that will be held the last weekend in April at the University of New Hampshire. Many cycling teams use this race to earn enough racing points to participate in the national competition. Tufts has recently been competing in the slower racing brackets, brackets that are worth fewer points. Going into the championship, Tufts' goal will be to get as many people there to race as possible.