New Jersey Sponsor!

With collegiate cyclo-cross championships only a few weeks away we are excited to announce a new sponsor for the Southwest Conference leader’s jerseys. DNA Cycling has stepped up to make the new jerseys and partner with collegiate cycling as we move forward into the spring road season. In addition to this we have worked closely with DNA cycling to revamp the current leaders jerseys as well as provide a look that is recognizable across the conferences.

“We are honored to be working with the Southwest Conference on a collegiate level.  Being able to support such athletes at this stage in their life and cycling careers is a joy for us all at DNA,” DNA Cycling’s Joe Sepulveda has said. “We know the sacrifice, dedication and team support that comes from a collegiate experience and we believe this falls in line with our pure passion for the life long sport of cycling.”

DNA Cycling is known for cycling clothing on both the road and the dirt and in addition to making clothing for the collegiate leaders jerseys, DNA would be happy to help collegiate teams with the design and production of team kits. This includes standard items as well as cycling accessories and other promotional apparel such as team shirts. For more information, feel free to check out their website or get in touch with Joe Sepulveda at joe@dnacycling.cc

Please join us in welcoming DNA Cycling to the collegiate cycling family, and we look forward to seeing many of you in the new leaders’ jerseys.

Schedules!!

We've had a lot of changes to the CX schedule this year...unfortunately most of it being events cancelled. Seems like FOREVER since our season kick off on Oct 24/25. We're bummed when the PHX venue got pulled at the last second and super bummed when NMSU was cancelled (hopefully back in 2015!)

For CX there are two weekends left to score points:
Dec 6 and 7th in Phoenix
Dec 13 and 14th in Tucson (Sunday is also the conference championships)
If you live in NM and can't make it to Arizona, you can use this weekends events in ABQ for your nationals starts. 

The bigger news is  Sam, Spencer, and I are happy to announce the 2015 spring road calendar! We've continued our effort to offer combined weekends throughout the season. I'm very excited to offer a dual conference weekend with the WCCC in San Diego! It'll be a great opportunity for our teams to race against some of the best riders in the country! Check out the schedule table for all the details! 

Nationals Recap and First CX Weekend

First, congrats to Shane Leslie (NAU), Bobby Treadwell (Prescott), David Carlson and Kyle Trudeau (UA) for representing the Southwest at mountain bike nationals on 10/24-26 in Beech Mountain, NC!

Shane finished 4th in the Div I downhill- a great result for NAU! Shane is a freshman so there might be a national championship heading to NAU in the near future.
Bobby finished 17th in the Div II cross country and 18th in the short track.
David and Kyle finished 19th and 22nd in the Div I short track and 23rd and 18th in the cross country.

A solid weekend of racing- the SW is proud of you all!

On the CX side, the season kicked off in Albuquerque, NM with a double header. Doug Torres (UNM) took home the victory both days ahead of Josh Keener (NAU) and Joey Iuliano (UA). Allison Alterman (UA) won both of the women's A events. Prescott College tested the CX waters and Joseph Holway came out with the win on Saturday in the Men's B and Kumara MacLeod won the women's B. Standings are tight with UA only 30 points ahead of Prescott College in the conference omnium- will this be the first year a Division II squad upsets the Division I dominance of the omniums? The season is young but it might happen.

Mountain Bike Season Wrap Up

A big thanks to NAU for putting together a solid weekend of racing- good reviews all around!

Also congrats to our winners!
-David Carlson- Div 1 men's A omnium
-Lindsay Dye- Div 1 women's A omnium
-Bobby Treadwell- Div 2 men's A omnium
-NAU- Div 1 team omnium
-Prescott College- Div 2 team omnium

It was great to see over 30 riders each day and to see new faces from Prescott College- looking forward to having you guys at races!

Finally, make sure to wish the following riders good luck as the represent the SWCCC at nationals:
-David Carlson (UA): STXC, XC
-Kyle Trudeau (UA): STXC, XC
-Bobby Treadwell (PC): STXC, XC
-Shane Leslie (NAU): Gravity Events

Mountain Results updated through Gallup

Gallup proved to be one of the biggest weekends we've had for the mountain season with nearly 20 riders across all categories! We have familiar faces in the green leader's jerseys with UA's David Carlson and NAU's Lindsay Dye both with a comfortable lead. NAU extended their lead in the team omnium- but only by 7 points- over UA. Prescott College showed up in force in the Men's B and C and their results have them tied for 4th in the conference (1st Div II team).

One weekend of racing remains at NAU with a full slate of races and double points on the line. Can NAU hold off a hard charging UA for the conference title? Will newcomer Prescott College unset UNM and make it on to the podium? Tons of points are available in two weeks- so train hard and get your friends to come race! Your friend racing in the women's B field might be the difference between winning the conference and 2nd place....

Back 2 School Special

This weekend is the first race of our 2014 mountain bike season! Woohoo!!

A few pointers:
-Buy your USAC license BEFORE the event
-Do any upgrades prior to the race (I'll even let Friday evening go this time). I won't do any onsite upgrades. So if you are a Pro DH rider but your licenses says Men's C...guess what you'll be racing.
-If your endurance and gravity categories aren't the same (ie: A for XC, B for DH), you'll get half of the points you earn for the A individual omnium but all of your points will count for the team omni.

Looking forward to a great season!

Update your Club Contacts on USAC

A few housekeeping things:
1.) If your club hasn't renewed yet with USA Cycling- get on it ASAP! The first mountain bike race comes up quickly and you don't want to delay your members on getting their license!
2.) Speaking of licenses...if you want to race collegiate mountain bikes and CX this fall, you'll need a license! Buy one now and not at the race- you'll save time and money.
3.) If your club had elections this spring, make sure the out going president update the club's contact info on USA Cycling. This will make renewal easier in December since you won't have to track down a graduated member to change stuff.

Best of luck in the upcoming recruitment craze! Let us know if you need help brainstorming ideas.

Updated Calendars

Welcome to August! School is right around the corner and we are getting ready for mountain bike and cyclocross season!

Check out the updated mountain bike schedule. I'll add the information as soon as it is posted on USA Cycling. We also have a very exciting CX schedule this fall with events in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Phoenix, and Tucson!

2014 Fall Calendars

The fall calendars are being updated! Currently up are the mountain bike and track calendars. Fliers will be posted when I receive them!

A note about track:
-We don't have any collegiate track racing...because we don't have a velodrome in AZ or NM. But! Arizona does have a track series in June and July. If you are interested in racing at nationals in September you MUST attend at least one of these weekends. You'll also need to be a cat 3 to do the mass start events at nationals.

Adoption Exchange and Season Wrap Up

Last weekend was the final weekend for the SWCCC in Albuquerque, NM. The Adoption Exchange featured an ITT, Crit, and Road Race in two days. The ITT was the conference championship for that event.

Winners for the 20 km ITT were: Joey Iuliano (Men's A, UA), Doug Torres (Men's B, UNM), Chris Zedick (Men's C, NAU), Stefanie Sichler (Women's A, ASU), and Allysen Wendt (Women's B, UA).

The crit started off sunny and slowly became cloudy with gusty winds and a bit of rain. The Men's B saw the worst conditions with rain and wind, while the other categories just had the wind to deal with. The Men's A raced with the P/1/2/3 and the race was blown to shreds in the first lap. UA's Max Rich, Joey Iuliano, and David Carlson were the only collegiate riders to survive the chaos.

Sunday's road race featured a 31 mile loop completed twice for most categories and a 42 mile big loop for the Men's A and P/1/2/3 fields. Each lap had a trip up Heart Break Hill- a long and steep climb early in the lap. The Men's C race was won by NAU's Chris Zedick, the B by UNM's Douglas Torres, and the A by UA's Max Rich. The Women's A was won by UNM's Anona Whitely.

For the omniums, UA remained on top and took home the Division 1 team omnium over ASU. GCU took home the Division 2 award. In the Men's A omnium, Max Rich came in first over teammates David Carlson and last year's winner Joey Iuliano. The Women's A Division 1 omnium was hotly contested and came down to the road race. With current leader Lindsey Ryder (ASU) away, UA's Allison Alterman was able to score enough points to over take her despite the efforts from Ryder's teammates to defend her lead. The Women's A Division 2 omnium was won by Alexis Gannis.

The following teams qualified for nationals:
UA (4 riders for the crit, 6 for the road race)
ASU (4 riders for the crit, 4 for the road race)
NAU (1 rider for each)
GCU (1 rider for each, division 2)

Receiving call ups:
Div 1 Men's Road Race: Quinn Keogh
Div 1 Men's Crit: Max Rich
Div 1 Women's RR: Lindsey Ryder
Div 1 Women's Crit: Riley Pankratz
Div 2 Women's Crit: Alexis Gannis
Div 2 Women's RR: Alexis Gannis

Congrats to everyone and thanks for a fantastic 2014 road season!

Nationals Allocations

With the season nearly over it is time to start thinking about nationals! May will be here before you know it! Here are a few key points:
-You must be an A rider to attend
-You must do 3 mass start races as an A (basically, you need to do the last 2 weekends).

Allocations:
Remember, these are equal numbers for men and women:
Road Race: 12
Crit: 8

Div 2:
RR: 7
Crit: 5
A team cannot bring more than 8 men and women.

We will break it down in the following manner:
The team who wins the "Nationals Qualification Omnium" will be able to send 4 riders for the crit and 6 for the road race (the maximum allowed). Second place will send 3 for the crit and 4 for the road race. The remaining spots will be available to individuals who aren't on a qualifying team. Unused spots will be redistributed to qualifying teams first. So if no individuals go then the unused spots are made available to the second place team (they could in theory take 4 and 6 riders). From that point, unused spots will be given to other conferences. Each qualifying team can have 1 team time trial squad per gender.

Trifecta Omnium Recap

What an exciting weekend of racing! You can check the results out on the 2014 Road Calendar page. We had another great turnout with over 40 collegiate riders! You can really tell we are growing fast in the Southwest as we've had a 100% increase in attendance each weekend! University of Arizona wins the prize for the most number of riders with 24 (crazy!)

While the University of Arizona used their numbers to their advantaged to sweep many of the men's podiums, ASU continued their rein in the women's A field, and NAU dominated the Men's C. Points are starting to separate out in the Team Omnium with UA pulling away after the double points road race. Things are still very close in the Men's A omnium, the national qualification omnium, and Division 2 team omnium.

We have two weekends of racing left, each with a championship event:
March 29: SWCCC Conference Crit in Phoenix
March 30: Crit #2 in Phoenix

April 5: Adoption Exchange ITT (conference champ) and crit
April 6: Adoption Exchange RR

Lots of points on the line the last two weekends!

ASU Crit and McDowell Circuit Race Recap

Last weekend was the third set of races for the SWCCC. The ASU crit kicked off the weekend on Saturday with their traditional course around the tech park in Tempe. The Men's A/B took to the course for 30 minutes and the racing was aggressive from the start. ASU was out numbered 5 to 8, however, they played the aggressive card and made UA and NAU chase hard in the early parts of the race. UA rallied the troops midway through and started turning the screws on ASU by forcing ASU to chase down attack after attack. In the end, it came down to a bunch sprint with UA's Max Rich taking first, David Greif in 2nd (first for the B's), and David Carlson 3rd.

The Men's C race was much more open and ASU was the dominate team taking the win over NAU and a visiting rider from Adams State. The Women's A/B race, possibly the largest women's race of the day, was a little more tempered at the start but after the first prime things quickly broke apart. ASU's Lindsay Ryder took the win again over a hard charging Alexis Gannis (GCU) and Allison Alterman (UA).

On Sunday the conference traveled to the McDowell Mountain Park on the northeast side of Phoenix for a difficult circuit race. Field sizes were smaller than usual which made for tactical racing. In the women's B, UA went 1-2 unopposed. The Men's C field was slightly larger at 11 riders and was extremely fast from the start- nearly catching the Cat 4 field that started a minute ahead of them. No break would stick and it came down to a sprint with UA's Ryan Brown taking the win. In the Women's A, ASU worked their numerical advantage and placed Lindsey Ryder up the road forcing UA to chase. Ryder held on to take the win over UA's Allison Alterman. The Men's A race was a show of force by UA with 4 riders- Max Rich, Joey Iuliano, Andrew Keller, and David Carlson- lapping the field. Not content to just ride across the line, the 4 sprinted it out with Carlson taking the win over Keller. The final race of the day, the Men's B, was slightly more laid back than the A race. The only aggressive move came for the final sprint which was won by NAU's Alex Kaufman.

The conference takes a 2 week break now and the action resumes in Las Cruces with the Trifecta Omnium- a fun ITT, crit, and road race!

UA Recap

What an exciting weekend of racing put on by the UA Team! A full slate of events with a crit, TTT, and road race!

The crit took place at the UA BioPark- exactly the same as 2013. New, however, were the expanded collegiate categories with the Men's C, B, and A each getting their own field that met the minimum distance requirement- no 30 minute combined crit here! Field sizes remained strong, especially the Men's C and the Women's A/B. UA put on a show of force in the Men's A, B, and Women's A/B field taking first in both men's races and third in the women's. NAU dominated the Men's C crit with Alex Kaufman lapping the field solo.

The next day the riders were greeted with chilly but sunny conditions in Oracle for the inaugural Oracle Road Race. The 20 mile loop featured a long, fast descent and then over 1,000 feet of climbing per lap. The action was fierce from the start with UA's Quinn Keogh taking another victory in the Men's A, David Greif winning the Men's B, and Alex Alvarez winning the Men's C. NAU's Reamy Winton won the women's B and Amy Chando's won the Women's A.

This weekend the conference has the weekend off but the action will resume at ASU on February 15-16 with the ASU Crit and McDowell Circuit Race. The team omnium is a tight competition between UA and ASU with UA having a slight lead. The Men's A individual omnium is extremely close: 7 points separate the top five riders. Big points are on the line at ASU with a crit and road race, so expect to see another shuffle at the top of the leader board!

First race...TOMORROW

I hope everyone is well trained, rested, and ready to race! The season kicks off tomorrow at Bike Haus and will prove to be the first glimps of what the season will hold.

Will UA repeat as conference champions? Can ASU rally the troops and re-take the title? Or will a dark house like NAU, GCU, or one of the New Mexico schools come out on top? Time will tell but this will be an exciting season!

2014 Road Season is here!

It is finally here first weekend of collegiate racing is less than a week away! Make sure you are signed up for the fun!

Bike Haus
Race Against Time (ITT/TTT)

For the time trials, we have the 8-8:30am slots for the TTT. Price is $30 per team- one person signs up and then we can figure out who will be on the team from there day of. C and B teams can have 2-4 riders, A 3-4.