THIS SITE IS OUTDATED! New Contact Info Below
This site has been abandoned in favor for our Facebook page. If you have any questions regarding the team or its operations please head there so we can help you out!
UNR Campus Criterium
In just a few weeks, our annual Campus Criterium will be going off on the University of Nevada, Reno campus. There will be prizes donated by local businesses for top finishers and the Pro class will even have a purse! Racing starts at 8:00 a.m. so make sure to show up early enough to register and get warmed up. We hope to see you there!
Want more details? Click on the Campus Criterium tab for the full race flier and course map.
Fundraiser for Collegiate MTB nationals
Come support the Nevada cycling team by coming to the Wal Wednesday 10/8 for our Goldsprints fundraiser!
Home Race Report
The 2014 Sky Tavern Sufferfest on 9/27-28 has come and gone again. It was another great race despite cold and wet weather. The trails and the duel slalom track were in great condition!.
Saturday-
The day kicked off with the cross country course. With 6 mile laps with 1000 feet of vertical riders were in for a challenge! Nevada’s own Erica Grief took the win in the women’s A race on a borrowed mtb for her 1 mtb ride a year! Matt Fanfelle was just off the podium in 4th place for the Men’s A race. In the Men’s B race Tyler Toulouse took 2nd with Alex Provan just behind in 3rd. In the C’s race Nevada swept the podium with Caesat Medina, AJ Smith, and Matt Hirni going 1,2,3!
Curtis Duncan in pursuit in the A xc race
Matt Fanfelle on his way down the fast rocky singletrack
The DS course was in top shape for the afternoon as mother nature decided to give use some rain! This was the biggest event of the weekend on arguably the best track in the west coast. Spirits were high and the stoke factor was through the roof. In the Women’s B race Nevada’s Megan Ludwig got 3rd. In the Men’s A race Tyler Hansen barely missed out on the top spot coming in 2nd. In the B race Tom Stuer aka TOM SMASH went 2nd and AJ Smith came in 4th Caesar Medina and Aaron Anderson took the 1 and 2 spots in the C race!
Tyler Hansen on the drop
AJ Smith was not afraid to send it as fast as he could
Caesar Medina on the right side was railing berms as well as Riley Murnane below
Oakley Erickson (below) had the gnarliest crash of the race as he duked it out with Steven Pearl! Luckily Oakley came out of the wreck only a little sore.
Sunday-
The Short track kicked off the day on the brand new track that had riders smashing around the Sky Tavern lodge. The cold weather had hecklers from inside the building shouting out at racers. In the Men’s A race Curtis Duncan took 4th and Alex Provan got 4th in the B race! AJ Smith took 2nd in the C race with Caesar Medina coming in right behind in 3rd.
New team member Alex Provan showing lots of promise to be a top level endurance racer!
The afternoon was the DH race. Blizzard conditions left riders going up for 1 practice run then coming into the lodge to by hot chocolate. The cold weather scared some teams away but not Nevada. Oakley Erickson went 2nd by 1 second in the men’s A race! Tom Stuer was 2nd in the B race and Aaron Anderson was 2nd in the C’s race.
During practice snow began to stick the course. Tom and Kevin were having an awesome time riding these unique conditions.
Kevin Pilar tackling the last section of the DH
Tanner DeGiovanni riding the hero dirt
Oakley Erickson was wicked fast coming into the last and fastest section of the course.
Great race weekend for Nevada! Big thanks to Bill from Sky Tavern and Casey Coffman , Nevada alumni, for making the race happen! Thanks to all the volunteers that make this race possible without you we could not do it! Finally, a big thanks to all our sponsors!
Photos from Tom Stuer and Jon Rhea
Sky Tavern Sufferfest results!
Thanks so much to all that came out to the Sky tavern Sufferfest this weekend! here are the results:
http://www.wcccycling.org/Results/2013%20Mountain%20Results/2RenoMTBResults2013.pdf
Sky tavern Sufferfest, Sept 28-29, 2013
Here are the fliers for our upcoming home mountain bike race, hosted at Sky Tavern Resort. It’s gonna be a great time, with collegiate and non-collegiate riders! Tell your friends!
Collegiate Flier
Open Categories Flier
August updates
Fall semester will be starting soon. Which means MTB season is starting soon. Which means that the 2013-2014 schedule has been updated to reflect upcoming events with the team. Which means its time to get pumped!
Big thank you to a newly acquired sponsor, Safeway, who has been added to our sponsors page. Thank you so much for the support!
This week will be the Twilight Stage Race hosted by our sponsor the Reno Wheelmen. This comprises of 3 consecutive days with events each night.
Tuesday, Aug. 13 – Franktown Time Trial
Wednesday, Aug. 14 – Boca Road Race
Thursday Aug. 15 – Air Center Criterium
There are multiple categories available, so fast, slow, slowly-fast, or just wanting to see what its all about there is always a category available for you and you will see a few UNR riders out there. Rich who runs the races is extremely friendly and make sure to tell him if you’re new so he can help you out. More information can be found at renowheelmen.org
Mid season
For most riders its mid-season. Have you had a chance to visit our coaches corner where Nevada cycling coach and Clif bar sponsored rider Scot Ferguson breaks down a few great workouts and bike tips?
Check out the latest under our coaches corner section, or just view the mid season downturn pointers at http://wp.me/P2JvmK-4yA
Congrats to coach Ferg on a top 20 finish at tour of the Gila which is 5 days of some of the toughest racing with lots of national pro riders.
Collegiate Road Nationals, Ogden UT
The Road to Ogden!
The fun started around 9am Thursday morning after taking my Chem Lab final (thanks Jamie) and chugging lots of coffee. We (Nick Schaffner and I) headed off into the sagebrush landscape for the 8 hour drive to Ogden, Utah. We managed to have some fun along the way though…
The halfway point for the drive was Deeth, Nevada. We pulled off on Deeth Starr Road (NERDZ) to stretch the legs. Maybe it’s just the closer you get to Mormon-ville, the nicer people get… But all the folks living off Deeth Starr were strangely friendly. Really confusing the way they waved and politely passed us… Also! Another goal of the drive was to learn to drive stick. I highly recommend learning to do this on a brand new 2013 Subaru! Only stalled it a few times, I only cried once, and Nick may have found God…Joking!
After a few minutes on frontage roads, and a brief detour off-road, we were back on the freeway. I made it to 6th gear and then cruise control for the remainder of the drive to Ogden….
One thing I noticed about Ogden is how early everything closes. At 9:15, one is hard pressed to find decent food, but after a few tries landed on a hippy-pizza joint that was damn delicious. Not only is food hard to find, all the bars are incredibly quiet by 11- something I am not used to.
Friday morning, instead of entering the ITT, I decided it would be a better use of time and energy to do some recon for the road race. We headed 10 miles north to the base of North Ogen Divide and road the 2.6 mile, 9.4% climb then headed down the descent to get a feel for some of the more technical turns. From there it’s less than 4 miles to the finish. I felt good about the climb, not too worried about the descent, and the first two loops of the Road Race around the reservoir will hopefully be relatively uneventful.
It’s currently Saturday before the crit and the the knot in my stomach has just doubled. Seeing the field sizes is intimidating… Nearly 70 registered for the crit! That’s enormous compared to what I’m used to. None the less, all my t’s are crossed and i’s dotted… there is nothing to do now but rest, eat, hydrate, rest, and focus.
UPDATE: Unfortunately I will not be finishing this post the way I had expected to. The criterium was an interesting course with technical turns, a small hill, some big crashes (I was lucky to avoid), and a short sprint to the finish. My positioning wasn’t great though and I finished 23rd. However, I was really banking on results in the road race.. and pretty well screwed up. While I still cannot quite explain what happened out there, it just felt like my legs weren’t working the way I expected them to. I blew up early on the final, and most important climb when a gnarly headwind shattered the group, I lost contact with the riders off the front, and limped in for a measly 30th place. I say limped because about 5k to the finish, I crossed wheels with someone, slid across the pavement, and hopped back on to cross the line even farther back- this just to add injury to insult. Of course it’s disappointing to leave a race without coming near the expectations that I had set for myself. I worked toward this weekend and rather than it be the best race of the season, it was one of my worst. None the less, this was an incredible trip, I had a great time, learned a lot, and hope to be back next year. I am super lucky to have had Nick’s unwavering attention, patience, and advice along the way. Thank you to my team and family and the cycling community in general for their support.
Sponsors
2012 Sponsors
Nevada Cycling 