Welcome back Wildcats!

We hope you had a restful summer and are ready for the new school year! Our group rides will start on 8/22/16 (see the ride page). First meeting will be on 8/25, 6pm in the Presidio room of the Union. There are NO tryouts, just team dues ($40 for the year)- all we ask is that you come to rides and events with a positive attitude and an open mind. You can make what you want from this team. If your goal is to go pro, we have the support structure to help. If you want to just do some group rides here and there, we got you there too.
Make sure to join our e-mail list and our Facebook group!

We’re also excited to announce a number of new sponsors:
-Smith Optics
-The Damion Alexander Team (part of Long Reality)
-KTM Bicycles
-SIDI
-Hair Science
Read more about these companies, and our returning sponsors, on the sponsor page!

Looking forward to seeing you on the road or trail soon!

From Cherry Niel:
The University of Arizona Cycling Team just returned from 2016 Collegiate Road Nationals in Marshall, North Carolina with some of the best results our team has ever had! Our 8-person team trained for months specifically for this incredible event, and each of us put our heart into the races against the top collegiate teams in the nation.

Driving to and from Marshall was a long journey, but the team bonded over being stuck in a car together for 36 hours of traveling and also improved our Tetris-like skills when packing the trailer. With only a small trailer hauled by a Suburban, we somehow fit in 9 bikes, 28 wheels, 3 trainers, 2 work stands, and everyone’s bags. We encountered rain, humidity, and trees everywhere immediately when we arrived in Marshall – not quite the climate we are used to in Tucson!

The road race on Friday began with a rainy start for the women, but soon cleared up and UA’s Erica Clevenger placed 5^th overall. The men’s race was much warmer, and Kyle Trudeau placed 15^th, narrowly avoiding a gnarly crash that occurred only seconds past the finish line. On Saturday, we headed to Burnsville for the collegiate criteriums. With a steep downhill into a 150° left turn and an immediate uphill, the course was exciting to watch, but also an invitation for crashes. Both UA riders David Greif and Kyle Trudeau were involved in crashes; Kyle was issued a temporary bike from the support pit, but David’s crash unfortunately separated him too much from the main group to catch back on. Kyle finished 16^th and David 21^st out of a huge field of 100 men. During the women’s crit, Erica Clevenger rode her way to 17^th place. At the Team Time Trial on Saturday, the women placed 9^th and the men 6^th. Additionally, Erica Clevenger came in 7^th in the Individual Time Trial and Josh Pratt-Ferguson placed 8^th.

As a relatively new competitor in cycling, it was an incredible experience just to attend collegiate nationals. When I first came to college, I would never have expected to visit so many places and race bikes with such amazing teammates. Watching my teammates score victories always reminds me that all it takes to get there is hard work, and seeing their results at nationals really reinforces that idea.

Finally, without our sponsors and contributors, this trip would never have happened. Even though we are not a varsity team, we still compete and place amongst their riders. Our sponsors give us the means to do so and without them, we could not have traveled this season (or beat ASU). Thank you to everyone who has supported us in any capacity this season!”

You can also find some photos and videos of the weekend on our Facebook page.

Our spring crowdfunding campaign was a huge success! We raised $3,493 for our nationals trip!

We couldn’t have done it without the generous donations from our supporters!
Mari Barnes
Ian Barr
Michele Beeson
Adam Borders
Debbie Bovee
Eric Case
David Castro
Jesse Charles
Marc Clevenger
Melanie Colavito
DanielaDiamente
Jack Eyre
Beth Ferry
Deseray Ford
Lentell Fyffe
JamesGardner
Ariana Gil
Jon Greif
Kerri Guehrer
Anonymous
steve herzog
Chelsea Hoglund
Kevin Holmes
Anonymous
William Hughes
Robert & Laura Hunter
Anonymous
Lucy Jennings
jeanne and donald jennings
Bruce Johnson
Donette Kendall
Matthew Knatz
Joseph LaMantia
Erin Lauterbach
Anonymous
Steve Meyers
Dave and Dana Milne
Horny Toad Hustle Mountain Bike Race
Ben Pratt-Ferguson
Joel Snyder
PaulSteffen
Jennifer Steinmann
David Stout
Arthur Telles
Amanda Trudeau
Dave & Pam Trudeau
Patrice White
Thomas Wilson
Brian Wilver
Dave Winckler
Chloe Woodruff
Morgan Zornes

Help send the Wildcats to Road Nationals!
We’ve in the middle of a big crowdfunding campaign through the UA Foundation to send our team to nationals in North Carolina! All donations are tax deductible and any amount helps! Donations can be made quick and easy online at the UA Foundation.

The team is about midway through the 2016 road season and we have had outstanding success so far! Last weekend we raced again in Tucson at the Colossal Cave road race where we took home wins in EVERY category!
Men’s C: Thomas Valente
Women’s B: Cherry Niel
Men’s B: Bryan Little
Women’s A: Shelby Hoglund
Men’s A: David Greif

Check out some photos too!

Spring Semester Info!

New to the UA or interested in cycling? This is the week for you! We’ll be hosting our spring information meeting on Thursday 1/14 at 7:30pm at the Tubac room in the Union. Come find out more about the team and how to join! Be a part of the best club in the country and join a family of alumni across the country!

We’ll also be revising our ride schedule here in a few days. All riders and other info are posted on our Facebook Page, which we recommend you join!

A Year in Review

Once again, the UA Cycling Team had a fantastic fall semester! The team started the 2015-16 school year off with a bang! When the mountain bike season started we were able to send riders to each race and in doing so won the men’s A omnium with Kyle Trudeau and the women’s A omnium with Eric Clevenger. The best part- we won the team omnium for the first time in over 5 years! At nationals, Kyle Trudeau, David Carlson, Ian Wilkey, and Bryan Little represented the team with Kyle earning a 2^nd place in the cross county and 4^th in the short track. It was our first podium at mountain bike nations since Chloe Woodruff won in the mid-2000s. Cyclocross was the next target and the team did not disappoint. Overall, the team won the conference title for the third straight year and David Greif won the men’s A omnium. We’ll be sending three riders to cyclocross nationals in January with good odds at another podium from David or Kyle.

We were also involved in several community projects including continuing work on the Tucson Velodrome project, attending tutoring sessions at El Grupo Youth Cycling, and supporting local rides such as El Tour de Tucson. In the former, Erica Clevenger won the women’s 104 mile event! The team believes in giving back to the community more than we receive and work hard to find projects in which we can help out.

USA Cycling selected us as collegiate club of the year for 2015- the second year in a row we’ve been selected for that honor! It is very rare for the same team to be selected two years in a row and we are thrilled! Furthermore, we are still working towards becoming the first varsity program at a division one school. To that end, we have started working with Josh Berry and Travis McCabe, two local professional cyclists, as our coaches. We’re excited to work with Josh and Travis and their wealth of experience will help our members reach new heights.

It requires a substantial amount of capital to obtain varsity status and we receive very little funding, less than $3,000 a year, from the school. This time of year, when you are considering organizations to support, we ask you to consider supporting UA Cycling. Every dollar makes a difference in our program and no donation is too small. There are many costs we face for the upcoming road season such as entry fees, travel, lodging, and coaching fees. Below are just some of the ways a donation could help:

Support a rider for a weekend:                                             2 races                  $15 per race                    $30

Support a rider for the spring:                                               15 races                $15 per race                  $225

Support travel for a weekend:                                                                                                                $300

Support the women’s development team, 4 riders:               15 races                $15 per race, 4 riders    $900

Send the team to road nationals in Asheville, NC                                                                                $2,500

As you can see no gift is too small. Donations can made quickly and easily online at: http://uacycling.com/donate/ As a 501c3 organization, all donations are tax deductible. Your support over the previous years has helped our team reach new heights and with your renewed support we will continue as one of the best teams in the country.

Happy Holidays and Bear Down!

Joey Iuliano
University of Arizona Cycling President

Wildcats win 3rd straight CX division 1 team title!

Kyle flying over the barriers. Credit: Mary Lauderdale

Lead by Kyle Trudeau and David Greif, the Wildcats stormed to victory this past weekend at Race Around the Farm in Gilbert, AZ! On Saturday the team won nearly every race entered:
Men’s A, 1st and 2nd: Kyle Trudeau, David Greif
Women’s A, 2nd: Sarah Posner
Women’s B, 1st, 2nd, 3rd: Laura Haley, Katie Emory, Olivia Boyer
Men’s B, 1st: Tom Valente
Relay: 1st (Trudeau, Greif, Valente, Haley)

Sunday saw several podiums as well:
Men’s A, 1st and 2nd: Kyle Trudeau, David Greif
Women’s A, 3rd: Sarah Posner
Women’s B, 2nd: Katie Emory

David Greif also took home the win in the men’s A individual omnium and Allison Alterman finished 2nd in the women’s. The team had a 300 point lead over second place University of New Mexico in the team omnium. Next stop, Asheville!

UA Cycling Kit Order window open until 12/7!
Looking to get a rad kit? Missed out on the first order window? Never fear! You can order now through 12/7!

Support collegiate cycling by buying an official UA cycling kit! You’ll get an outstanding piece of cycling gear and the proceeds help fund our team. It’s a win-win!

For the first time in almost a decade, the Cats have returned to the podium at mountain bike nationals!

The team was lead by conference champion Kyle Trudeau and consisted of David Carlson, Ian Wilkey, and Bryan Little. Friday saw the team take on the Short Track. Kyle made the lead group of 5 and survived several attacks to make the lead group of 4.

In the end, Kyle finished 4th with David Carlson in 34th, Ian Wilkey 48th, Bryan Little 49th out of 80 starters.

On Saturday the team tackled the cross country race. The pace was high from the start and the lead group formed in the first few miles and consisted of 4 riders, including defending champion Sepp Kuss. Trudeau was again present in the lead group, which fell apart on the second lap. Trudeau put in a move to chase down the leader, Kuss, but came up just short on the line. Kyle’s 2nd place marks the best finish at mountain bike nationals since Chloe Woodruff’s win in 2008! Bryan Little was 34th
Ian Wilkey, 67th, and David Calrson was 71st.

The team is now gearing up for cyclocross season and looks to defend it’s conference title for the second year in a row!