Cyclists set sights on national tournament

Hidden within Princeton is a team of national contenders that most students probably don't even know exists. There are only 12 active members and no eligibility requirements, allowing graduates and undergraduates to compete together. Their toughest battles aren't fought in a stadium or on a field, but on the road. For them, it's all about the bike.

The cycling team competed in the Boston Beanpot this past weekend, in which freshman Nick Frey from the Men's A team finished first. Frey is currently in third place among the Men's A.

"Riders are broken up into categories based on their race experience, with Men's A being the most challenging, [and] Men's D [being] novice," senior president and Men's A member Chris Wynnyk said. "Women compete in Women's A and Women's B."

Apart from being ranked by skill level, teams are split up by school size into two divisions. Princeton, with under 15,000 students, is in Division II. The Tigers are joined by MIT, Yale, Bucknell, Dartmouth, Tufts and nine other universities, and are currently right behind MIT and Yale in the standings.

But the Orange and Black's overall ranking only tells part of the story.

"As a team, we have already secured our qualification to compete in Nationals," Wynnyk said. "We are leading the conference in points to qualify for Nationals."

Princeton stands atop the division in Men's A and Women's A points, which are the only points considered when deciding eligibility for nationals. That said, Frey hasn't been the only story for the Tigers this year.

First-year graduate student Nick Bennette leads the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Men's A in points. Bennette, who previously raced for Boston University, consistently places in the top ten every race, and was a winner of the Columbia Criterium. He can be spotted by his bright yellow shirt designated for the first place cyclist in the conference.

The criterium race is one of the three different types of individual races in which the cyclists compete in during the season, along with the road race and circuit race. What differentiates the criterium race from the other two is that it is shorter and more technical, with 30 to 50 laps around a closed course anywhere from a half-mile to a mile long. From there it builds up to circuit races, multiple laps of a several mile long course, then to road races, in which laps are ten to fifteen miles long.

Some might think that doing all those laps would get dull after a while. They couldn't be more wrong.

"Our season has 10 race weekends," Wynnyk said. "A different school hosts the race each weekend. This makes it very travel intensive: the team will travel about 6,000 miles over the course of the season to attend races. We compete everywhere from Philadelphia to Burlington, Vermont to Kansas."

With all the traveling their schedule demands, the Tigers get more than their fair share of changes in scenery.

"Collegiate cycling is an interesting animal, as the early nature of the season and day-long format to host all the various categories and events often leads to dawn-till-dusk outings in precarious weather," Bennette said. "We race in snow, rain, sleet, hail, you name it."

With these types of conditions, the cyclists must push themselves to the limit in training to keep a competitive edge.

"In order to be a good cyclist, one must endure a great deal of training throughout the winter, putting in anywhere from 10 to 20 hours [a week] on the bike during the coldest months of the year," Bennette said.

On the women's side, senior co-captain Tiffani White has done a phenomenal job of stepping it up for the team. Despite her recent acquaintance with the sport, White is 12th overall in the Women's A field and is constantly closing the gap that separates her from her more experienced counterparts.

"I'm just trying to improve and learn something new every week," White said. "Cycling is incredibly tactical and it takes a while to get it all down."

White is joined by junior and president-elect Rachel Clattenburg, who is currently 35th in the Women's A group, and freshman Anna Miller, who together have consistently been in the top ten for the women's team time trial.

The team time trial is a race against the clock in which three to four cyclists draft together to achieve the fastest possible time, as measured by the wheel of the third rider. The TTT is arguably the most exciting event of all, because it relies so much on teamwork. That said, it is no accident that the Tigers excel in these crucial races. Their sense of teamwork has proven to be an invaluable aspect of their success.

"Our team camaraderie plays an important motivational role, as we often train indoors together from January until the winter finally turns," Bennette said.

Wynnyk, Bennette, and Frey have also been tearing it up in the team time trials. The trio placed first in the Penn State Time Trial April 1-2, winning the race by a staggering 20 seconds.

The Tigers, currently ranked third in the Ivies, are now hard at work preparing for Easterns, which will take place at Cornell April 29-30. After that, they'll be heading to Lawrence, Kansas to compete in nationals May 10-14.

"We plan to come home with the stars and stripes jersey this year," Wynnyk said. "The year has been epic so far, so look for us at Nationals."