Thousands of eyes were glued to television sets when Lance Armstrong won his seventh straight Tour de France. It represented the pinnacle of athletic achievement, sheer dominance in one of the most physically demanding sports.
When the Hopkins Club Cycling team suits up and hits the streets, they are not afforded the publicity, the fame, or the glory of even a varsity sport. However, with their particular sport, the line between varsity team and club team is blurred to where it is almost indistinguishable.
The cycling team never takes a day off. They travel everywhere from North Carolina, to Pennsylvania to the Midwest, competing almost every weekend from Friday to late Sunday night. They train in the off-season, forced to keep their bodies in peak physical condition. They weight train throughout the fall and summer, cycle every day, and work their core through other exercises such as swimming. Keep in mind all of this is only to maintain the conditioning required for a single spring race. It's a commitment that is not required of many club teams -- a physical struggle not for the glories of victory -- but for the sheer thrill of each race. "In order to be good and competitive on the bike, you have to practice about three hours a day," sophomore cyclist James Robbins said.
"Throughout the season it's a huge commitment from everybody who comes out and races," junior cyclist Jonathan Smits said. "It's very much, in a way, a very competitive sport, almost to the varsity level."
The cycling team, like many other athletic clubs, is not afforded the luxury of coaches, managers, or administrators for schedule and travel arrangements. These responsibilities fall under the leadership of senior president Cliff Smoot and the efforts of each individual cyclist. "For thpeople who are in charge of running the team, getting the team together, taking care of all our travel arrangements, and getting our registration; it's a huge, huge commitment, and it's on every racer's part," Smitz said.
The team's commitment was exemplified as Hopkins made the trip down to Virginia Tech on April 7. The weather in Blacksburg, Va., on Easter Sunday was far from ideal cycling conditions: 28 degrees with 15 mph gusts rolling from the Virginia hills. It was to be a struggle against some of the top-ranked teams in the cycling circuit, but Hopkins persevered. The men's and women's cycling teams fought the elements to finish with one of their top performances of the season. Nathan Coleman placed 10th in the Men's A division of 29 cyclists with two primes of third and two primes of fourth. In the Men's C division, sophomore cyclist James Robbins finished eighth in the field of 32 with primes of second and fourth. Hopkins' performance boosted their ranking in the Conference to third, fueling their undying quest for a Conference Championship.
Despite the cycling teams' outstanding performance, they often pedal in the shadows, relatively unnoticed by the Hopkins community. Among Hopkins varsity sports, athletes that don't pick up a lacrosse stick are generally not recognized for their achievements. Even on the national level, the only cyclist whom most people recognize is the legend: Lance Armstrong. "Cycling really isn't big in America at all; it's more of a European thing. Once you try it though, and you're flying along down a country road at 40 miles an hour, you know, it's a lot of fun just to get that chance," Robbins said. "I always wanted to be involved with cycling, mainly because of the Tour de France."
Despite the team's full-fledged commitment to the sport, spirits are light among the Hopkins cyclists when they're off the track. The cycling team's web roster is not full of inflated statistics or achievements, but information such as "Weapon of Choice," (Aegis tridents, Brownies) and the undying question of the ages: "Coke or Pepsi." They joke amongst themselves as they step up onto their bikes. They laugh as they strap on their helmets. Though the team is lighthearted and fun-loving, all smiles fade as the rubber of the wheel rests against the starting line. Eyes focused, they set their gaze to horizon, prepared to exert every last ounce of energy to chase it.
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