One hour into the intense ride, sweat began to pour from the athletes. Gulping bottles of water and electrolyte drinks, the riders maintained a steady pedal rhythm as the calories and miles-traveled gauge crept higher on the stationary cycle machine.

Despite extraordinary physical output, the conversation is upbeat, with team members exchanging thoughts about gear, training, competition and crashes around their loosely formed circle in the Wade King Student Recreation Center.

The high-intensity sport of competitive cycling requires members of the Western Cycling Club to constantly juggle the rigors of their sport and the never-ending need for time in the bike saddle with their academic priorities.

Late-night training sessions are the norm for many riders, with shorter winter days and a full credit load, said senior Ryan Short, Western Cycling Club president.  Short typically scales back his riding time during winter months, shooting for at least 100 miles in the bike saddle every week.

“It’s important to get the hours in, however you end up getting them,” Short said.

Western’s cycling team, comprised of 25 members, offers riders of all skill levels the chance to compete in collegiate conference competitions throughout the Northwest. Each cycling style has its own competition season. Riding ranges from springtime road racing to summer mountain bike competitions to cyclo-cross events in the winter.

Transportation creates logistical challenges each season, Short said. Sponsors such as Bellingham-based Sanitary Service Company offer much-needed monetary assistance, helping the cycling team get to each race.

Team members typically leave class Friday, file into a carpool ride packed with gear and bikes, and travel as far as Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont. in order to attend the first event Saturday morning.

“I drove almost every weekend,” said Short, who drove about 13,000 miles during the 2011 spring road-racing season.

Risk and Reward

Cycling has its risks, said freshman Sam Bliss, a third-year Western cycling team member. He crashed his carbon-framed road bike during a particularly wet event called the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race in Oregon.

“It had started raining right before the race started, and there are certain things you want to do when it’s raining — you want to have a little less air pressure in your tires,” Bliss said. “But I definitely had them [at] the full psi.”   

Bliss’ bike crashed as he exited a notoriously sharp corner on the course at 20 mph, causing damage to his bike and losing two teeth in the process.

“Someone crashed on the outside. I was going on the inside of the corner, and, just hearing that, my instinct was to touch my brakes,” said Bliss, adding it’s not a good plan when traveling fast around a corner. “My bike just came out from under me.”

Training plays a big part in competitive cycling safety and success, Short said.

“There are lots of intricacies to riding in a peloton in a pack of cyclists — that just takes [training],” he said. 

Short said the Saturday training ride offers a chance to work on skills such as pacelining—where riders draft off one-another to help build speed and stamina—and other drills.

Riding long distance provides team members a chance to hone their nutritional intake as well as test gear they intend to use in competitions.

Calories are important fuel for the body during distance rides, Bliss said.

“If you get to the point where you eat and feel a boost, you know you were too depleted before eating,” he said.

 The lack of calories can lead to “bonking,” Bliss said. Bonking refers the muscle’s lack of glycogen or food-based fuel necessary for long distance endurance, causing the rider to feel exhausted.

Sports gels— small fluid packs filled with essential carbohydrates and electrolytes—and electrolyte-replacement drinks offer temporary aid, Short said.

“Two hundred calories an hour doesn’t come close to replenishing it all, but it will at least keep you from bonking,” Short said.

Cyclists must pay close attention to their diets before and after training and competitions to ensure their bodies recover properly from the stresses of riding.

“I try and eat more carbs before I ride and eat more protein after I ride,” said freshman Sam West, a first-year cycling team member. “[I try to] drink chocolate milk after the rides; I don’t know if it really helps, but it tastes really good.”

The Western cycling team is a member of the Northwest Collegiate Cycle Conference, which is comprised of 24 Division I and II schools from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

Colleges can compete in four cycling disciplines throughout the year: road cycling, mountain biking, cyclo-cross and, new for 2012, track cycling, said Miles Crumley, the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference director.

“Right now the road season is coming up, and the road season is seven weekends long,” Crumley said. “Then there is another weekend after that for nationals.”

Teams travel to one event each weekend during the seven-week Northwest Conference road race season beginning March 10. Each weekend is broken down into three races: a Saturday road race ranging from 25 to 80 miles followed by a team time trial event. And the third race, Sunday, involves a criterium race—aka “crit”— consisting of a short, fast-paced street track where riders loop at high-speed on a closed city course.

“[The crit] is very exciting to watch, and more exciting to be in,” Short said.

Western senior Steve Fisher, a cycling team member, was the Division II cycle-cross national champion in December 2010. Fisher competed against 38 of the nation’s best Division II collegiate cyclo-cross riders in Bend, Ore. He took home the national title after completing the 45-minute on-and off-road endurance event, just ahead of fellow Western cyclist Logan Wetzel, who placed second.

The club does well in the Northwest Conference series usually placing in the top three spots on any given race weekend, Fisher said. The ranking numbers are based on points earned through racer placement in each event — the more people racing, the more points you can earn, Fisher said.

“So you need a lot of riders for each category if you want to hope to do well,” Fisher said. “I think we were fifth overall last season in the Northwest Conference Division II ranking.”

The Other Side of Cycling

The Western Cycle Club hosts open race events such as the “omnium event” on March 17 to 18, featuring a road race, time trial and criterium events. It provides club members with an opportunity to earn volunteer hours, which are required by the Western Sports Club office, Short said.

Season riders earn up to 15 hours by organizing and overseeing races and rides, cleaning up the club’s adopted stretch of highway near north Lake Whatcom and participating in community learn-to-ride events, Short said.

Working alongside Fairhaven Bike & Ski, the club hopes to organize a take-a-child-riding event, Short said.

“Any kid who wants to come out and learn how to ride bikes, you just take them out and take them under your wing,” Short said.

He said events will include a bike rodeo, where they teach bike-handling skills, and volunteers will cover how to use bike helmets properly, correct hand signaling and teach other safety practices for the road.

To Get Involved:

Saturday rides open to all students.

Meet at 9:30 a.m. in front of the box office outside of Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Rides vary from 25 to 50 miles.

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