Red Hawks Cycling

Time Trial Results: Sept. 21, 2011

2011-09-21T21:02:00.008-05:00

Name/Finish time/(Lap times)/[Difference from previous]

Five laps
Eric Smith: 23:46† (4:38 | 4:43 | 4:49 | 4:47 | 4:49) [-0:10]
Ben Senkerik: 26:58 (5:56 | 5:23 | 5:18 | 5:09 | 5:12) [+0:27]
Kyle Greene: 27:02 (5:27 | 5:19 | 5:31 | 5:18 | 5:27) [-0:50]
Andy Fehrenbach: 27:41† (5:30 | 5:27 | 5:33 | 5:35 | 5:36) [-0:24]
Paul Meuer: 27:51† (5:32 | 5:34 | 5:33 | 5:35 | 5:37) [-0:29]
Ben Jones: 29:02† (6:00 | 5:43 | 5:46 | 5:51 | 5:42) [-1:58]
Jeremy Brouwer: 29:28† (5:45 | 5:45 | 5:37 | 5:58 | 6:03) [-4:46]
Renee DeBruin: 29:42† (5:51 | 5:39 | 5:58 | 5:54 | 6:00) [-0:39]
Rosette Reynolds: 33:47† (6:49 | 6:40 | 6:43 | 6:46 | 6:49) [-1:24 off previous 4-lap time]

Four laps
Alex Tande: 25:34† (6:19 | 6:13 | 6:35 | 6:27) [-0:45]
Jay Pettengill: 29:56† (7:50 | 7:36 | 7:30 | 7:00) [-0:53]

†Personal best

Time Trial Results: Sept. 14, 2011

2011-09-21T20:48:00.002-05:00

Name/Finish time/(Lap times)/[Difference from previous]

Five laps
Eric Smith: 23:56 (4:44 | 4:45 | 4:49 | 4:50 | 4:48) [-0:39]
Ben Senkerik: 26:31 (5:27 | 5:16 | 5:17 | 5:16 | 5:15) [+0:08]
Kyle Greene: 27:52 (5:33 | 5:54 | 5:34 | 5:28 | 5:23) [+0:57]
Paul Meuer: 28:20 (5:44 | 5:39 | 5:42 | 5:42 | 5:33) [-0:41]
Renee DeBruin: 30:21 (6:15 | 6:14 | 5:59 | 5:58 | 5:55) [+0:56 over 4-lap time]
Ben Jones: 31:00 (6:20 | 5:55 | 6:06 | 6:37 | 6:02) [+1:40]
Jeremy Brouwer: 34:14 (6:31 | 6:41 | 6:54 | 7:00 | 7:08) [+3:12]

Four laps
Alex Tande: 26:19 (6:27 | 6:37 | 6:42 | 6:33) [NA]
Jay Pettengill: 30:49 (7:26 | 7:50 | 7:57 | 7:36) [-1:15]

Time Trial Results: Sept. 8, 2011

2011-09-21T20:32:00.003-05:00

Name/Finish time/(Lap times)/[Difference from previous]

Five laps
Eric Smith: 24:35 (4:47 | 4:52 | 4:57 | 5:00 | 4:49) [-1:15]
Kyle Greene: 26:55† (5:18 | 5:21 | 5:30 | 5:26 | 5:20) [-1:02]
Andy Fehrenbach: 28:05 (5:29 | 5:34 | 5:39 | 5:42 | 5:41) [-0:55]
Paul Meuer: 29:01 (5:49 | 5:46 | 5:52 | 5:48 | 5:46) [-3:18]
Ben Jones: 29:20 (6:17 | 6:06 | 5:11 | 5:42 | 6:04) [-2:21]
Jeremy Brouwer: 31:02 (6:06 | 6:18 | 6:16 | 6:08 | 6:14) [-1:16]

Four laps
Renee DeBruin: 23:30 (5:43 | 5:55 | 6:01 | 5:52) [-1:03]
Rosette Reynolds: 28:22 (7:07 | 7:02 | 6:59 | 7:14) [-1:02]
Jay Pettengill: 31:49 (7:37 | 8:00 | 8:06 | 8:06) [-0:15]

†Personal best

Time Trial Results: Sept. 1, 2011

2011-09-05T15:50:00.003-05:00

Name/Finish time/(Lap times)/[Difference from previous]

Five laps
Ben Senkerik: 26:23† (5:26 | 5:14 | 5:15 | 5:14 | 5:14) [-0:34]
Kyle Greene: 27:57 (5:26 | 5:34 | 5:37 | 5:44 | 5:36) [-1:02]
Andy Fehrenbach: 29:00 ( 5:39 | 5:43 | 5:48 | 5:57 | 5:53) [-0:37]
Ben Jones: 31:41 (6:03 | 6:13 | 6:24 | 6:20 | 6:41) [-0:11]
Paul Meuer: 32:19 (5:57 | 7:01* | 6:41 | 6:14 | 6:26) [+1:41]

Four laps
Renee DeBruin: 24:33 (5:58 | 6:06 | 6:22 | 6:07) [-2:33]
Rosette Reynolds: 29:24 (6:34 | 8:21 | 7:02 | 6:57) [NA]
Jay Pettengill: 32:04 (7:49 | 8:38 | 8:18 | 7:19) [-1:10]

*Paul had a mechanical issue that he stopped to attend. The issue was not completely rectified and his overall time difference from the previous week shows this.

Eric, Jeremy and Alex did not participate as their bikes were at the shop.

†Personal best

Time Trial Results: Aug. 25, 2011

2011-09-05T15:19:00.003-05:00

This year, we've been able to incorporate the new Ceresco Prairie Mountain Bike Trail into our weekly time trials. Using the outermost loop in a clockwise direction, we get about a 1-mile lap that is entirely singletrack and includes a switchback climb, a few rocky obstacles and a couple of fast and tricky descents.

A GPS track of the loop is available on Garmin Connect.

So here are the results from week one:

Five laps
Eric Smith: 25:50 (5:08 | 5:11 | 5:15 | 5:07 | 5:09)
Ben Senkerik: 26:57 (5:27 | 5:21 | 5:16 | 5:22 | 5:31)
Kyle Greene: 28:59 (5:30 | 6:03 | 5:50 | 5:50 | 5:46)
Andy Fehrenbach: 29:37 (5:56 | 5:51 | 5:56 | 5:59 | 5:55)
Paul Meuer: 30:38 (6:20 | 6:08 | 6:06 | 5:59 | 6:05)
Ben Jones: 31:52 (6:29 | 6:22 | 6:20 | 6:17 | 6:24)
Jeremy Brouwer: 32:18 (6:15 | 6:23 | 6:24 | 6:40 | 6:36)

Four laps
Renee DeBruin: 26:46 (6:41 | 6:46 | 6:25 | 6:54)
Jay Pettengill: 33:14 (7:50 | 8:12 | 8:33 | 8:39)

Two laps*
Alex Tande: 14:02 (6:48 | 7:14)
Rosette Reynolds: 14:26 (7:11 | 7:16)

* Rosette crashed on her third lap and Alex stopped to assist her.

Grand Trail Opening Celebration

2011-08-24T14:07:00.006-05:00

As we prepare to celebrate the Grand Opening of the Ripon College Ceresco Prairie Conservancy Mountain Bike Trail this Saturday.

We'd like to take a moment to recognize all the volunteers who helped in this project. If you feel your name is missing from the list below, please contact Ric Damm at dammr@ripon.edu

Kate Amell

Jeremy Brouwer

Kevin Carli

Kyle Crombie

Renee DeBruin

Andy Fehrenbach

Cody Gunst

Geralyn Haggerty

Bjorn Hauge

Chris Hinshaw

Spencer Hoffman

Mike Holland

Adrian Icenogle

Rich Janssen

Ben Jones

David Joyce

Mitch Katt

Rich Ketter

Bruce King

Zach Kouba

Karen Kriz

Brady Kuphal

Jerry Kurek

Mary Manering

Jessica Martzhal

Paul Meuer

Chris Moen

Brandon Mumm

Pam Mumm

Jim Parman

Amy Pinkston

Cody Pinkston

Michael Rausch

Mark Reynolds

Rosette Reynolds

Amber Rico

Mark Sabel

Nick Sabel

Cameron Schave

Allison Schmidt

Tiffany Seering

Casey Simonson

Zach Smith

Fabrizzio Subia

Alex Tande

Dennis Tande

Corey Vande Brink

Jenny Van Mersbergen

Olivia Verma

Elizabeth Wegner

Kathleen Wendel

Austin Wild

Dale Wszalek

Cool trail story

2011-06-15T06:37:00.002-05:00

I was walking the new Ripon College mountain bike trail Monday night with my parents — giving them the grand tour of where I've spent a good share of my time during the past few months. As we're walking, there is a man riding the trail on a vintage cro moly 1980s Trek 820 Antelope with a rigid fork. He's wearing classic black riding shorts and a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt. He passes us several times before I stop him to ask what he thinks of the trail.

He loves it. He's a local guy who said he used to mountain bike quite a bit in the Chequamegon area back in the day. He said now that he's older, he's been riding the flat rail trails on a hybrid; but figured he'd dig out the old bike and give the new singletrack a try. The wide smile on his face said it all.

Seems each time I'm out on the trail, I have a similar encounter. That night we also saw a whole family — from grandparents to grandkids and their dog — taking a leisurely hike. From trail runners to previously unknown local mountain bikers who have come "in to" the woods to ride; the trail has certainly become a valued resource very quickly.

So, "thank you" to Pepsi for their Refresh Everything program; "thank you" to each and every person who voted for this project throughout the month of August 2010; "thank you" to the folks who came out and put a little sweat equity into the trail; "thank you" to the College faculty and administration who gave the blessing to pursue this venture; "thank you" to IMBA for devising the Trail Solutions program and to Jill Van Winkle and Stephen Mullins for listening to our input and helping turn our dreams into reality. It's all paying off in ways I didn't imagine it would.

Coach Ric Damm

A sneak peek at our new trail

2011-05-21T19:36:00.002-05:00

Coach Damm captured this footage from the team's GoPro Hero cam this morning. The HD quality was lost in translation, so we'll have to work on improving that. Still, this will give you all a sense of what we've accomplished during the last month.

Please help Renee win a trip

2011-05-06T10:49:00.004-05:00

Our very own Red Hawk Renee DeBruin has been selected as a finalist in Wigwam Mills "Wig-L-Wam Dance Your Socks Off" dance competition.

Here's Renee's request: "My video with my nephew Xzavion dancing at last year's WORS Sheboygan race is one of the top 5 finalists to WIN a trip for 2 anywhere within the Continental US. Please go to the WIGWAM MILLS INC. facebook page, like it and then scroll to find my video and "like" it. I am finalist #2. Watch me get my groove on with X and please tell everyone to like my video as well! The one with the most votes by May 25th is the winner! Please help me out! =]"

Do it now, please!

Can you help? Volunteers needed for new MTB trail

2011-04-12T10:51:00.002-05:00

The Ripon College Red Hawks cycling team will be hosting two trail work days Saturday, April 30 and Saturday, May 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers are sought to assist in the creation of two miles of singletrack mountain bike trails in the College's Ceresco Prairie Conservancy.

All volunteers will be entered into a prize raffle featuring a new 2011 Trek 6000 mountain bike.

Last August, Ripon College was the recipient of a $25,000 Pepsi Refresh Project grant to construct the mountain bike trails in Ripon. The grant is being used to rent necessary equipment and retain the International Mountain Bicycling Association's Trail Solutions team to assist in the trail design and construction.

IMBA's Jill Van Winkle was on campus in November to identify and mark the trail corridor. Stephen Mullins, a trail specialist with IMBA, will be on campus beginning Monday, April 25. Mullins will be the chief architect of the trail building project which is expected to take three weeks to complete.

The more volunteers we can involve in the project, the sooner the project will be complete and the sooner people can begin to enjoy this new resource. Wisconsin's unpredictable spring weather could potentially cause delays to the project, and the three-week time line is tight even under the best of conditions. Therefore, we are counting on the greater Ripon community and mountain bikers from around the region to step up and assist in the creation of this new recreational opportunity. This isn't intended to be Ripon College's mountain bike trail. This is intended to be a resource for everyone to enjoy.

In an effort to increase participation and reward volunteers for their service, we are organizing a prize raffle. Each volunteer will receive an entry into the raffle for each hour of service they contribute. Bob Kirkland, chair of Ripon College's Board of Trustees, has donated a new 2011 Trek 6000 mountain bike as the grand prize. Saris Racks has donated a Bones 3 car rack and CycleOps Power has donated a Magneto trainer. GU Energy and DeFeet have also donated prizes for the raffle. Winners will be drawn during a grand trail opening celebration slated to take place later this summer.

In addition to the two Saturday work days, volunteer opportunities will be available throughout the project. For more information, contact Ric Damm at 920-748-8322 or dammr@ripon.edu.

Trail Solutions is IMBA's professional fee-based trail consulting program. Trail services range from trail planning, design and construction to trail management, education and volunteer teamwork. IMBA excels at careful and diligent planning and collaboration to create trail systems that provide high-quality experiences for diverse visitors, minimize environmental impact and user conflict and require less maintenance over time.�

Work to begin on Pepsi Refresh Project trail

2011-04-07T14:55:00.002-05:00

This Sunday we will raise our first pruner in anger as we begin to clear buckthorn and other vegetation from the trail corridor of our planned singletrack trail on campus.

Team members and other volunteers are set to descend on the Ceresco Prairie Conservancy April 10 to begin the brush clearing. The work will prepare the way for the IMBA Trail Solutions team to begin trail construction as soon as April 25.

In an effort to encourage participation and to reward the hard work of our volunteers, we will offer a variety of prizes to be awarded via a raffle. A generous Ripon donor and cycling advocate has offered a brand new Trek 6000 mountain bike as the top prize. Our team sponsors are also coming through for us. Saris Cycle Racks has donated a Bone 3 car rack and CycleOps Power has donated a Magneto trainer. GU Energy and DeFeet are also chipping in with some swag to reward volunteers. Each volunteer will get a ticket in the raffle for each hour they volunteer to the project. Names will be drawn this fall as part of a grand trail opening celebration.

Daily Peloton features interview with Coach Damm

2011-04-06T11:01:00.003-05:00

Imelda March, a Chicagoland member of Team Kenda, interviewed Coach Ric Damm recently and the results have been posted on DailyPeloton.com as part of its continuing "Ride and Learn" series. The series highlights varsity cycling programs throughout the country.

Ripon footage included in new Pepsi promo

2011-03-31T09:02:00.005-05:00

Thanks to the work of videographer Brett Fallentine at GOOD Projects LLC, this footage of the Red Hawks cycling team, shot at Nordic Mountain on a cold and snowy day last November, has been included in Pepsi's new Refresh Communities promotion. The video is included on the Refresh Project blog and will hopefully find its way into the new refresheverything.com.

We'd like to thank Rick Schmitz at Nordic Mountain for all of his support, as well as Ripon College alumnna Liza LeClaire, chief operating officer at Wheel & Sprocket, for accommodating the shoot at the Hales Corners shop.

We hope to begin clearing brush from the flagged trail corridor soon in anticipation of construction by the IMBA Trail Solutions team slated to begin April 25.

Sign Up Now for Wisconsin Bike Summit

2011-03-28T19:17:00.006-05:00

Register now for the Wisconsin Bike Summit on April 19. Attending the Summit is not only inspiring, educational and fun, but now more than ever you are needed to stand in support of Wisconsin bicycling. The Summit is the most important bicycling event of the year!

The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin welcome Wisconsin Secretary of Tourism Stephanie Klett and Copenhagen's bicycle guru Andreas Røhl as our key note speakers.

Secretary Klett will kick-start our Summit with an opening session on the exciting bicycling opportunities in Wisconsin. Prior to leading Wisconsin Tourism, Secretary Klett traveled over 1,000,000 miles throughout Wisconsin promoting our state's special places through Discover Wisconsin.

Andreas has led Copenhagen's bicycle program, making this city famous for being the world’s best bicycling community. An amazing 40 percent of people who work or study in Copenhagen make their commutes by bike, and among folks who also live in Copenhagen, the rate is even higher – about 55 percent. This is a huge change from the 1970s, when the percentage of Copenhagen residents who used the bicycle as everyday transportation was in the single digits – not unlike many Wisconsin communities today.

The Summit will include the following inspiring and social activities for every type of bicycle leader:

Workshops led by experts across the state covering topics from mountain biking to bike-friendly businesses
Organized bike rides highlighting Madison's innovative bicycle facilities
A pre-event Happy Hour and post-event celebratory social
Meetings with your legislators to educate and inform our political leaders on the importance of bicycling in Wisconsin

Bicycling in Wisconsin can't move forward without you! Whether you are a bicycle business owner, a bike club leader or a bike commuter, you are critical to making Wisconsin an even better place to be on a bike.

Save $10 when you register for the Summit by April 11. REGISTER NOW.

Planning to spend the night in Madison? Bike Summit attendees are eligible for a reduced room rate at the Madison Concourse Hotel ($69 single/$79 double). To receive this rate, reserve your room via phone, (608) 257-6000, and ask for the Wisconsin Bike Summit discount. Rooms are going fast — reserve yours by April 8 to guarantee your spot.

President takes 'plunge' with Red Hawks

2011-02-22T09:03:00.002-06:00

Ripon President David Joyce, an avid mountain biker, joined members of the cycling team Friday, Feb. 18, as they plunged into the frigid waters of Lake Winnebago as part of the Special Olympics of Wisconsin Polar Plunge event in Oshkosh.

The team's efforts raised more than $1,700 to support the state's Special Olympcis efforts to provide funding for nearly 10,000 athletes with cognitive disabilities. Joyce agreed to participate as part of the "Toss Your Boss" event.

Joyce, along with Ripon cyclists Andy Ayers, Jeremy Brouwer, Andy Fehrenbach, Benjamin Jones, Paul Meuer and Head Coach Ric Damm, jumped into a hole cut in the ice at Millers Bay near Menominee Park in Oshkosh. And it was COLD!!

Thank you to everyone who supported our efforts, and a special thanks to President Joyce for being such a good sport.

A painful reminder

2011-01-19T09:43:00.003-06:00

Our thoughts and prayers go out today to our friends and colleagues at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C., and to the family and friends of Carla Swart. Swart, who signed with HTC-Highroad this past fall, died today after being hit by a truck while training in South Africa.

According to the report from Cyclingnews.com:

The 23-year-old Swart was riding on the road to Marquard in the central Freestate province of South Africa when a truck slammed into her.
Barry Austin, Cycling South Africa’s team manager who saw the accident happen, said Swart turned around right in front of the oncoming truck moments after she had lost her cycling computer.

“I could see how the driver slammed on his breaks. He even swerved to the right so as to avoid smashing into Swart, but it was to no avail. The truck hit Swart full on, flinging her into the air,” Austin said.

Swart died before she reached the hospital.

According to Austin, Swart was doing time trialing exercises when the accident happened.

Swart was born in Graaff-Reinet, South Africa but moved to the USA with her family when she was 15. She represented South Africa in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, finishing eighth in the road race as the top South African finisher.

She was a multi-discipline US collegiate champion in 2008 and finished eighth in the 2010 Ronde Van Drenthe World Cup. She also won the best young rider's award in the Tour de L'Aude stage race and finished 10th in the women's race at the road world championship in Australia.

HTC-Highroad posted a moving message on the team's website: "Carla, in such a short time you became part of our family and touched us all with your vibrant personality and your constant smile. You infected us with your zest for life and we will forever have you in our hearts. Our wishes go out to Carla's family and loved ones."

Deon Swart, the father of Carla, wrote the following on her facebook wall. "Carla's dad here. We all know Carla has claimed her place in Heaven. She was in a cycling accident today in South Africa while training. Thanks to everyone that was so involved in her life and career. RIP Carla. What more can I say at this stage."

Be careful out there.

Freezin' for a Reason

2011-01-06T10:25:00.002-06:00

As we did last year, members of the Red Hawks Cycling team and I will be jumping into the frigid and murky waters of Lake Winnebago this February. This year, we've challenged College President David Joyce to join us for the 2011 Polar Plunge in Oshkosh, Wis. Joyce has agreed to participate as part of the event's "Toss Your Boss" event Friday, Feb. 18. Joyce will take the plunge if the team raises at least $1,500 to support Special Olympics of Wisconsin. So we need your support!

Last year Ripon cyclists Andy Fehrenbach, Paul Meuer, Eric Smith and Head Coach Ric Damm joined nearly 2,000 participants who jumped into Lake Winnebago at Millers Bay near Menominee Park in Oshkosh.

This year's Oshkosh event is one of 12 throughout the state being organized to raise funds for Special Olympics. According to the Special Olympics Wisconsin Web site, money raised through the Polar Plunge provides funding for nearly 10,000 athletes with cognitive disabilities.

Special Olympics Wisconsin is a statewide organization providing persons with cognitive disabilities year-round sports training and competition. Individuals who are at least eight years old and are identified as having a cognitive disability are eligible for participation. With seven Area offices throughout the state, Special Olympics Wisconsin serves nearly 10,000 athletes in nearly 189 communities statewide. Special Olympics Wisconsin is one of the 50 state programs and one of nearly 200 countries providing this opportunity to more than one million athletes worldwide.

Donations to Special Olympics Wisconsin on behalf of the Ripon cycling team can be made via our pledge site. Checks made payable to "Special Olympics Wisconsin" also can be sent to Ric Damm at Ripon College, PO Box 248, Ripon WI 54971-0248. For more information, e-mail dammr@ripon.edu.

7th Annual Ride for Rosita Coming Jan. 22

2011-01-04T19:55:00.004-06:00

The seventh annual Super Spin Saturday: Ride for Rosita will be held Saturday, Jan. 22 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the newly renovated YMCA in Fond du Lac (90 West Second Street). I'm pretty sure I've attended all six to date, and this year promises to be the biggest and best to date. If you haven't been to one yet (and even if you have) make plans to attend this year.

Participants from six-year-old beginners to pros are welcome to spin for one hour or up to four hours. A limited number of stationary spin bikes will be available, however, participants are encouraged to bring their own bikes and stationary trainer or rollers. If you don't have a trainer, some will be available for use with your bike.

Every participant will receive a free one-week membership at the Fond du Lac YMCA. Plus, $1,000 worth of prizes will be awarded in various categories for most money raised.

Cost to participate is $5 per hour or a flat fee of $15 per individual or $25 per couple or family. United Hearts for Health volunteers will once again serve their very tasty homemade energy bars (worth the cost of admission alone!). To support the cause, you also are encouraged to raise additional money through pledges. All checks should be made payable to “United Hearts for Health/Holy Family.” Download the registration form.

The Red Hawks will once again be leading an hour of spinning beginning at noon.

Super Spin Saturday is a fund-raising event to support United Hearts for Health (UHH) and its health care efforts in Rosita, Nicaragua. The first group of Fond du Lac medical missionaries traveled to Rosita in 2003. The health care system they found was in a dire crisis. The hospital infrastructure was rotting away, the laboratory facilities were inadequate for diagnosis, dental equipment was inadequate and the infant and maternal mortality rates were — and remain — among the highest in the world.

Since 2003, a new hospital has been built and a new well drilled to provide potable water to the hospital and its patients. Fond du Lac health care providers have treated more than 600 patients in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, that number rose to more than 1,200 in Rosita and at two nearby satellite locations. Every year the cost of medicine and supplies goes up, and UHH relies heavily on donors to help us purchase the type and amount of medicine and supplies needed to treat patients effectively. The cost of medication alone was over $10,000 in 2009.

For more information, including a photo gallery from last year's Super Spin event, visit the United Hearts for Health Web site or call 920-921-6021.

You can also check out the Ride for Rosita on facebook.

New trail process has begun

2010-11-10T16:22:00.006-06:00

As many of you already know, Ripon College finished in the top 10 in a nationwide voting contest in August. Ripon’s proposal to build a mountain bike trail on campus was among the top-10 vote recipients in the $25,000 category of Pepsi’s Refresh Project. Our proposal finished in 10th place for the month of August to earn the grant.

The Pepsi Refresh Project began in 2010 as a means to help “refresh” communities, according to Melisa Tezanos, communications director for Pepsi. Anyone can submit ideas on the Pepsi Refresh Web site in tiers of $5,000, $25,000, $50,000 and $250,000 grants.

“We accept up to 1,000 ideas every month across all of the tiers,” says Tezanos. “The top vote-getters in each of the categories receive the grants.”

Each month, Pepsi awards $1.3 million. Tezanos says Pepsi is using the money the company saved by not advertising during the 2010 Super Bowl.

The Ripon College mountain bike team has flourished in the three years since its inception in 2008. The team has won the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference Division 2 team championship and qualified multiple students for national competition in each of the past two years. Still, the nearest mountain biking trail is more than 20 miles from Ripon. Using the money from the grant, we now expect to have a mountain bike trail on campus before the start of school in 2011.

Our team has experienced moderate success to date, but in order for Ripon to recruit top-level mountain bikers and provide those riders with an adequate training ground on campus, we felt this trail was a necessity.

The trail will be located in the wooded sections of the College’s Ceresco Prairie Conservancy at the west end of campus. The Conservancy comprises 130 acres of native prairie, oak savanna and wetland habitat. The area is part of the Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Glacial Habitat Restoration Program, a partnership between the DNR and the College. Damm says the new trail comes with the approval of both Professor of Biology and Director of the Conservancy Skip Wittler and the DNR.

The consensus is that a mountain bike trail fits well within the existing recreational uses of the property without posing any adverse risk to the prairie ecosystem or other guests.

To minimize the potential for erosion and other impacts of the new trail, the grant money is being used to hire the International Mountain Bicycling Association’s Trail Solutions team to design and build the trail. That was the entire reason for seeking the grant. Once it was agreed that a mountain bike trail was an acceptable use of the land, we wanted to be certain that the trail was built to the best standards to ensure the integrity and longevity of the trail as well as the prairie and woodland habitat.

Jill Van Winkle, a trail specialist with Trail Solutions, met with Professor Wittler, President David Joyce, some of the Red Hawks cyclists and I yesterday. Today, she is well on her way piecing together the initial design for the trail. The Trail Solutions team will return in spring to begin construction.

After speaking with Jill and walking around the woods, I’m excited by the possibilities. This trail will not only provide an excellent resource for our team, but it will be another great jewel in the crown of the Ripon community. The trail will be built will some challenges in mind for more advanced riders, but will not be so intimidating as to scare off would-be newcomers.

We want this trail to be a gateway for others who are curious about the sport of mountain biking. Ripon students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the Ripon community at large all supported this project and gave us the votes we needed to secure the grant. This trail will be built for all of them, and everyone is welcome to use it. We hope you'll join us next fall. In the meantime, check back often for updates.

Red Hawks finish 13th among D2 schools at Nationals

2010-10-19T16:49:00.003-05:00

Eric Smith capped the Ripon College cycling team's efforts at USA Cycling’s Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals at Northstar Resort at Tahoe Sunday with a 13th place finish in the men’s D2 downhill event. Smith’s run time of 4:29.8 was just three seconds off a top-10 pace and helped propel the sophomore from Charlottesville, Va., into 9th place in the individual omnium competition.

With help from fellow sophomore Andy Fehrenbach of Stevens Point, Wis., Smith put the Red Hawks into 13th overall in the team omnium. Junior Renee DeBruin of Appleton, Wis., crashed hard in the opening cross country event, breaking her right collarbone and forcing her out of competition.

Ripon opened the weekend’s racing at the ski and mountain bike resort near Truckee, Calif., with a 25th-place finish by Smith in the cross country race. Fehrenbach placed 34th and DeBruin did not finish. In Saturday’s short track race, Smith placed 20th and Fehrenbach was 39th. Smith also competed in Saturday’s four cross gravity race.

He was eliminated in the first round and placed 27th.

Overall, Smith scored 161 points to put him securely in the top 10 among the D2 men’s omnium participants — one spot up from last year’s 10th place finish.

DeBruin's unfortunate accident hurt Ripon in the team omnium competition as the Red Hawks lost a spot from last year’s 12th place finish.

It is unfortunate that Renee was unable to finish her race. She was positioned in the middle of the pack after the first lap and doing very well. Of course it is disappointing both for Renee and the team, but thankfully her injury was not more severe. In fact, it is one of the most common cycling injuries. She is recovering, and she'll be back next year.

Our cycling program remains ahead of expectations set forth when the team was established in the fall of 2008. We've won our conference championship twice now and qualified multiple riders for nationals in each of the last two years. There is a lot of room for improvement, but our trajectory so far has exceeded expectations. We have a solid foundation of talent to build upon, and we will only get better.

For complete results, visit USA Cycling's web site. And check out the photos I took posted on flickr.

Time Trials: Sept. 30

2010-09-29T20:34:00.003-05:00

Eric: 3:43.63/3:55.94/4:07.72/4:07.38/4:07.90/4:05.72 = 24:08.29 {-42.02}
Furby: 4:17.42/4:20.52/4:28.31/4:33.19/4:34.72/4:29.50 = 26.43.67 {-07.36}
Paul: 4:26.54/5:16.84/4:46.16/4:46.72/4:51.63/4:53.00 = 29:00.89
Rosette: 5:16.32/5:13.78/5:14.76/5:25.03/5:26.65 = 26:35.54 {-10.79}
Renee: 5:04.29/5:23.44/5:29.10/5:46.03/5:32.49 = 27:15.38 {-1:53.05}
Ben: 4:56.57/5:02.85/4:44.90/4:48.22 = 19:32.54 {-50.00}
Jeremy: 4:48.89/4:58.12/4:51.94/5:05.06 = 19:44.01 {+33.42}

Lap = 1.05 miles

It was a beautiful night for the time trials. Sunny, warm ... a slight breeze out of the south giving the riders a tailwind down the finishing stretch.

Eric set a blistering pace, beating last week's mark by 42 seconds. It's amazing how similar his lap times were for laps 2, 3 & 4 with only .52 seconds difference between them.

Furby, Rosette, Renee and Ben also improved their times from last week. Renee did so by an astonishing 1 min. and 53 sec. Jeremy slipped 33 seconds off last week's time, and Paul's time can't be compared to last week's since he added a lap. Though Paul's 5-lap time this week was about 1 min. slower than his 5-lap total last week. He's also riding a new bike and had to stop after lap 2 to adjust his seat post.

I continue to be pleased with the progress I see week in and week out with this group. With the conference championships this weekend, the collegiate season will close for all but those going to Nationals. I wish I could oversee their training during the summer months to assure that they each come into the beginning of the collegiate season in prime shape. Each of them has much more potential than we've uncovered to this point.

Time Trials: Sept. 23

2010-09-23T20:48:00.002-05:00

Here's the short version:

Eric, 6 laps: 24:50
Furby, 6 laps: 26:51
Paul, 5 laps: 23:10
Andy, 5 laps: 25:03
Rose, 5 laps: 26:47
Renee, 5 laps: 30:00
Jeremy, 4 laps: 19:11
Ben, 4 laps: 20:23

The good news is everyone showed improvement. That is the goal.

Crunch Time!

2010-08-27T07:07:00.003-05:00

This Pepsi Refresh voting has been a roller coaster. With five days left to vote, Ripon's trail proposal is just hanging in at spot 10. If voting ended right now, we'd receive $25,000. But it doesn't. It ends at Midnight Tuesday. We must keep up the pressure to remain in the Top 10 through that time.

Please, everyone every where to gives a darn about Ripon, Ripon College, cycling and mountain biking ... vote! And tell everyone you know to do the same! Tweet it! Post it as your facebook status. Shout it from the hill tops and everywhere!

http://pep.si/chCaah
text 101366 to 73774
http://apps.facebook.com/pepsirefresh

Week 1 Time Trial

2010-08-26T21:00:00.002-05:00

Men's A Riders: Six Laps
1. Eric = 25:11 (3:59/4:08/4:15/4:16/4:!7/4:16)
2. Furby = 29:18 (4:41/4:37/4:46/4:52/5:00/5:22)

Men's B Riders : Five Laps
1. Paul = 24:04 (4:39/4:47/4:48/4:52/5:02)
2. Andy = 26:14 (5:01/5:08/5:23/5:30/5:16)

Women's B Riders: Four Laps
1. Renee = 22:09 (5:20/5:29/5:42/5:38)
2. Rosette = 23:29 (5:53/6:00/5:49/5:47)

Men's C Riders: Four Laps
1. Alex = 22:15 (5:17/5:44/5:51/5:33)
2. Jeremy = 22:17 (5:05/6:19/5:21/5:32)
3. Ben = 24:41 (6:04/6:36/6:30/5:31)

Tonight marked the return to the Red Hawks weekly prairie time trials. I added a lap for the A men to give them a total of six laps or approximately 6.3 miles. The course includes one tough up hill and one fast descent; all of it on loose crushed limestone. Some heavy rains this summer have left some nasty gullies and ruts, as well.

Eric's lap times are pretty similar to those he recorded last year, even with the additional lap. I'm quite pleased with that considering its the first of the year. Paul's first lap was similar to his first lap of his last time trial of 2009, but his subsequent laps were faster, showing that he's gained some endurance in the past year. Andy's times are a bit slower than those posted last year, but he's nursing a sore knee from a dislocation suffered Monday night. Furby's times are also a bit slower than last year, but tonight marked his debut with the team in 2010 after missing the first week of practice.

I'm extremely pleased with the performance of Renee, who set the best time for our four lap riders. That's not to say that I'm disappointed with the others. Alex posted some decent numbers considering tonight marked only his third (maybe?) time on his mountain bike. Rosette, too, is still adjusting to this off-road phenomenon and getting acquainted with handling the bike on sketchy terrain. Jeremy, who's still nursing a sore hip from a fall earlier in the week, took another nasty spill on that sketchy terrain, and Ben seemed a bit exhausted after a week of riding hard, staying up late and getting up early with ROTC training.

An off-day tomorrow should have them prepared for Saturday and Sunday. I don't think they'll set any course records, but I'm confident they can all go the distance if luck is on our side.

A note about multiple emails and Pepsi voting

2010-08-11T13:55:00.002-05:00

I may have mislead some of you in suggesting that you could vote multiple times by setting up multiple accounts with different valid e-mails (for instance a work e-mail and a home e-mail). Technically this is not within the spirit of what Pepsi is trying to accomplish. I received a nice call from Pepsi today asking me to clarify this point. Each individual can vote up to three times a day for any one specific project using a single account on the web site, via text and via facebook.

Another HUGE THANKS to each of you who have been voting daily on our behalf. At last check we were ranked 8th among the $25K proposals. We must remain in the Top 10 to earn a grant. Please keep voting every day through August 31.

Top 10: Forming an Alliance

2010-08-10T11:35:00.004-05:00

Our Pepsi Refresh Project has made it to the Top 10. Now we must stay there for the duration.

In order to give us a better chance at doing so, we've formed an alliance with eight other Pepsi Refresh Projects to work together to stay in a "winning" spot.

Here is a new link that will take you right to our partners.

Please remember to vote daily for all of our partners! You can vote 10 times each day, so there's still one spot open for the project of your choice. Of course we can't force you to vote for any of these other... projects, but they've agreed to help us. So let's help them. By working together we have a better shot at staying in the Top 10.

Pepsi Refresh Project Voting

2010-08-03T11:50:00.010-05:00

If you've been voting for our mountain bike trail project on the Pepsi Refresh Project site, we appreciate it. I wanted to let you know that you can vote at least three times for our project each day.

Here's how:
1. Vote via the web site: http://www.refresheverything.com/biketrailripon. You will be asked for name, email and birth date info to establish your individual account for voting. Rest assured that if you select not to receive e-mails from Pepsi, you will not (I created my account months ago and have not yet received an unwanted spam e-mail from Pepsi.).

2. Vote via text: Text 101366 to 73774 (be sure you don't reverse those ... 73774 is the recipient; 101366 is the message). If you do not have unlimited texting on your mobile plan, be aware that you may be charged.

3. Vote via the facebook app (if you have a facebook account): http://apps.facebook.com/pepsirefresh

Thanks to all of you who have supported us so far. Any one can vote, so please share this information with others. You can help promote our project by incorporating the widget like the one above into your blog or Web site. You can customize the embed code at http://www.refresheverything.com/biketrailripon

Please keep the votes coming every day through Aug. 31.

Refresh Ripon with a Mountain Bike Trail

2010-08-01T16:06:00.000-05:00

Help make a mountain bike trail in Ripon a reality

2010-08-01T14:38:00.002-05:00

Our proposal to build singletrack mountain bike trails in the wooded areas of the College's Ceresco Prairie Conservancy has been accepted for voting by the Pepsi Refresh Project. This is a competitive voting program in which the College is seeking $25,000 to hire the International Mountain Bicycling Association Trail Solutions Team to design and build the trails so that they are both technically challenging and environmentally sustainable.

There are many deserving projects competing for limited dollars. Only the 10 projects with the most votes will be awarded grants. Therefore each and every vote is critical. It is easy to create an account on the Pepsi Refresh Web site. Once you do, you can vote once every day through August 31.

Please help support this idea by voting every day and by encouraging friends, family, and others to vote as well. Post a link on your facebook page, tweet about it ... promote it in every way that you can.

Go to http://www.refresheverything.com/biketrailripon today and every day and vote.

Great Expectations: The Season Ahead ...

2010-07-22T09:30:00.003-05:00

Each year our sports information director asks me to put together some thoughts for a season preview. Here is what I've provided for 2010. It is going to be a great year!

Last year at this time, I had moderate expectations for the 2009 season. I believed our team would be competitive and that just maybe one or two riders would qualify for competition at Nationals at season’s end.

A year later, with both of those predictions realized, I'm even more optimistic for the coming season.

I'm confident that we have a good shot at repeating as Division 2 conference champions, and I'm anticipating as many as four qualifiers for Nationals in October.

Last year, in just our second as a team, the Red Hawks outpaced Michigan Tech in the Division 2 team competition by 211 points to take the title. In doing so, Eric Smith and Tiffany Seering qualified to compete at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals at Northstar Resort in California.

Eric will be back this fall, but Tiffany has left the team to focus on her academics. She will be sorely missed. Not only did she score a lot of points for us, but she was a centering presence on our team.

To fill the void she leaves, the Red Hawks will welcome three new women to the team in junior Renee DeBruin and freshmen Rosette Reynolds and Sarah Robers. Though each has various cycling experience, all three are new to the world of competitive mountain biking.

Renee comes to the cycling team after a knee injury forced her to resign from the volleyball squad. Renee tore the ACL and medial meniscus in her right knee during the very first day of volleyball practice her freshman year. Having been a cycling enthusiast previously, Renee participated in her first mountain bike race this summer and after nearly two-years of knee rehab, placed 13th overall and third among the 19- to 29-year-old Cat 3 women in the Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) Chippewa Valley Firecracker in Eau Claire, Wis., July 11.

I think Renee will be very successful in her pursuit of mountain bike racing. She has the three main ingredients for success: athleticism, a competitive drive and the simple enjoyment of being on a bike.

Rosette has several years of racing experience on the road and the track. This, combined with a general enthusiasm for the bicycle, will make her a natural on the trail. She has some 'comfort zone' issues on the mountain bike, but that will come with time and training. I fully expect her to be a force to be reckoned with once she becomes comfortable on the dirt.

Sarah also has some confidence issues after taking a nasty spill during her first mountain bike race this summer. She went down and landed awkwardly on her handlebar. The medical personnel at the race were concerned she may have had some internal injuries so they rushed her to the hospital. Everything checked out fine, but her body and her psyche were significantly bruised. I'm looking forward to getting Sarah on campus where she'll have a strong support crew to help her build the confidence she needs to grow more comfortable and be competitive on her bike.

That support crew will be comprised predominantly of Ripon’s four returning cyclists, senior Andy Ayers and sophomores Eric Smith, Andy "Furby" Fehrenbach and Paul Meuer.

I can't say enough about how well these guys gelled as a team last year. They are very supportive of one another and they push each other and feed off each other’s success. They are each very different individuals, but they enjoy being with each other.

In the case of Andy and Paul, they were also very green to the sport last fall.

Paul nearly quit the team the first day of practice last year. I told him he couldn't give up after one bad day on the bike. Now, he's one of the most enthusiastic and dedicated cyclists I know.

After finishing last in his first collegiate race in 2009, Paul quickly showed improvement and would not place lower than 10th among Category C riders throughout the remainder of the conference season, including a season-best sixth place in the Red Hawks Romp.

Andy, much like Renee is doing this year, transferred to the cycling team last year after experiencing an injury in another sport. A former football player, Ayers suffered a knee injury that forced him to choose a different path. He is very competitive and naturally athletic. He needed an outlet for that, and cycling has been a good fit.

Andy showed steady progress throughout last season, culminating the year with first place finishes in the Category C cross country and short track cross country events at the conference championship in Missouri. He will begin the 2010 campaign as a Category B racer but hopes some strong results early will allow him to move up to Category A with the ultimate goal of qualifying for Nationals in his final year with the program.

Unlike Paul and Andy, Furby entered last season with previous race experience. He looks to build on a successful 2009 season which saw him place well among Category B racers. He excelled in the short track last year, twice placing second in the fast-paced, off-road criterium event. A season-best fourth-place finish in the conference championship cross country event gives him confidence that he can be competitive among the Category A racers in 2010.

Furby showed a lot of great poise last year. He’s meticulous about his bike and his training, and he doesn't let the minor mishaps in a race phase him. If he suffers a mechanical, he quickly fixes the problem and soldiers on. He’s very smart and that shows on the bike.

The returning Red Hawk on whom I place the highest expectations is Eric, who began 2009 with a bang, winning his first two races, the Category B cross country and downhill events at Butler University. He followed that up with a few more seconds and thirds before moving up to Category A. In his first Cat A races, Eric placed sixth and fifth in the cross country and short track events, respectively. He rounded out the conference season with top-10 finishes in both events at the championships.

Eric is certainly our all-rounder, go-to guy. He excels in both the cross country and gravity events and is our best candidate for a high omnium placing at Nationals.

The omnium is a combination of results in four events, cross country, short track cross country, downhill and four cross. Last fall, Eric placed 10th among Division 2 riders in the omnium at Nationals, despite failing to qualify for the four cross event due to a mechanical.

Eric placed 28th in cross country, 22nd in short track and 20th in downhill at Nationals last year as a freshman. I truly believe that with continued hard work and a little luck, Eric has a good shot of reaching the podium in the omnium competition at Nationals before he graduates.

For this year, I expect Eric to show continued improvement throughout the season and have another good showing in California come Oct. 15-17. I'll also look to Eric to provide guidance and leadership to a batch of new recruits, which – in addition to the ladies – includes junior Alex Tande, and freshmen Jeremy Brouwer and Benjamin Jones.

Alex, who hails from Waunakee, Wis., is another Ripon convert to cycling after being part of the soccer team as a freshman and sophomore (He continues to be a member of the Red Hawks tennis team.). While new to mountain biking, he brings several years of experience as a competitive triathlete.

Jeremy comes to us from Boulder, Colo., and he is certainly no stranger to mountains or mountain bike trails. He may, however, have to make some adjustments to riding on two wheels. He is an avid unicyclist or MUnicyclist (mountain unicyclist).

Ben, of Manitowoc, Wis., has a history of tour riding and road racing. He recently finished sixth in the Kewaunee Troutman 50K bicycle race and second in his age group in the Omro Cycling Classic.

I'm really looking forward to what Alex, Jeremy and Ben will bring to the team. Each has a unique background in cycling, and all of them will contribute to our success.

And what will define that success in 2010?

Certainly a second conference championship and a good showing at Nationals are among the goals. But as I've said since the start of this program, if these student-athletes give 100 percent week in and week out; if they truly enjoy every moment on their bikes; and if they develop a life-long passion for the sport ... Ultimately, that is my definition of success. The results will come if they care about what they are doing.

Get your official team clothing

2010-07-19T16:36:00.003-05:00

The Ripon College cycling team is proud to offer official t-shirts (both short-sleeved and long) and a warm hoodie for those chilly fall evenings. All three are screen printed on quality Nike apparel with the Red Hawks logo and the mantra "Ride. Race. Refuel. Recover. Repeat."

Short-sleeved Ts are $12, long-sleeved Ts are $15 and hooded sweatshirts are $35. Download an order form and mail it with your check payable to "Ripon College Cycling" to Coach Ric Damm by Aug. 1.

Proceeds from the sale of these items will support the cycling team budget directly. No funds will be spent on performance enhancing drugs (we don't need them).

Go Hawks!

Hey, It's Summer!

2010-07-06T15:53:00.004-05:00

OK, so the fact that it is summer is no excuse for my negligence in posting updates to the blog.

Things are moving forward for our fall season, though.

1. Team kits have been ordered. (check 'em out: http://ow.ly/27NA0)

Who will be wearing them?

2. Team roster posted: http://ow.ly/27NuT

Where will they be wearing them?

3. Schedule posted: http://ow.ly/27Nw7

That's all for now. Go for a ride.

Wisconsin Crit Champs Return for Biggest Event Yet

2010-05-27T10:26:00.004-05:00

The best bicycle racers in Wisconsin and beyond will return to Ripon for two exciting days of racing and fun Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13. For the third consecutive year, Ripon will play host to the Wisconsin Cycling Association’s State Criterium Championships. Riders will compete in more than 10 categories for Wisconsin State Championship jerseys, Rippin' Good Cookies and a cash purse of $2,500 provided by The Ripon Restaurant Group.

Medals will be awarded to the top three riders and a Wisconsin Championship jersey to the overall state winner in each category. Racing action begins Saturday at 4 p.m. and culminates with the pro race at 7:20 p.m. Racing will resume Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. and end around 6 p.m. All races will be run on a 1-mile circuit that begins and ends in the heart of Ripon’s historic downtown at the intersection of Watson and Blossom streets. The course winds down Ransom, Seward, Woodside and Thorne streets before the final 150-meter sprint to the finish.

In addition to the races, this year’s event will feature a Relay for Life Bicycle Relay. The relay is intended to allow local community members to bring together a team of four and be part of the exciting action in a fun and non-intimidating way. The relay will begin at approximately 6:40 p.m. Saturday. All proceeds from the relay race will be added directly to Ripon’s Relay for Life totals and benefit the work of the American Cancer Society.

Also new this year, will be a Saturday night concert on the Village Green featuring Copper Box. A local favorite, Copper Box will perform its mix of polka, Zydeco and rock 'n roll from 6 to 9 p.m. Ripon Main Street will sell cold beverages and Dos Gringos and Roadhouse will serve hot food.

Sunday, America Restaurant will serve a special brunch from 10 a.m. to Noon, featuring pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and milk or juice.

Also Sunday, ThedaCare Physicians, Horicon Bank and the Ripon College Office of Community Engagement will host a Kids' Bike Expo and Fun Parade. All children age 9 and under are invited to a fun-filled afternoon from Noon to 2 p.m. on the Village Green. Each child will receive a free bike helmet and water bottle and be eligible to win a new bike from Fond du Lac/Oshkosh Cyclery. The event will include games, bike safety checks, bike decorating and a parade down Watson Street.

The entire weekend of events is hosted by the Ripon College Red Hawks Cycling Team and the Lakes Area Physical Therapy Cycling Club. In addition to primary race sponsor The Ripon Restaurant Group, the weekend events are being supported with help from Accurate Controls Inc., Brewer Heating and Cooling, Pollesch Construction Inc., The Diedrich Agency, Fond du Lac/Oshkosh Cyclery and Rippin’ Good Cookies.

We anticipate this year’s event to be bigger and better than ever. With the addition of the relay event and the concert on the Green, we are making a concerted effort to get the community to come out and experience the fun and excitement of the races.

We could use some volunteers help with race set-up and take-down, as well as corner marshals throughout the day. All volunteers may be eligible for a free race entry. To volunteer or for more information about the Relay for Life Bicycle Relay please contact me at 920-748-8322 or dammr@ripon.edu.

Additional information, can be found on the race Web site at www.ripon.edu/wcacritchamps.

Help put junior-level mountain biking 'on the map' in Wisconsin

2010-04-08T10:23:00.004-05:00

I attended a meeting last night of enthusiastic folks looking to bring high school mountain biking to Wisconsin. Wisconsin is already one of the best places to ride and race a mountain bike, so why shouldn't Wisco become part of the growing national movement spurred by Matt Fritzinger and the National Interscholastic Cycling Association.

Chad Warren, a teacher at Verona High School, is exploring the formation of a Wisconsin high school mountain bike league. Our friends at WORS are helping with a push to discover who of you out there would be willing to assist and or race as part of such a league.

Wisconsin is a great place to ride our bikes. We have hundreds of miles of singletrack, dozens of off-road cycling groups and one of the nation's strongest centers of cycling industry and advocacy. Wisconsin already has the resources and the interest to create outstanding opportunities for fun, safe, statewide competitive mountain bike racing at the Junior level - and the time is now.

We're bringing people together across the state. For many of you, you'll simply continue doing what you have been doing for years: helping young people to share in a sport that you love. We'll need your support to make this a success, and we hope you'll join us. Some of you may want to get involved now, and we'll be happy to help connect you with like-minded MTB enthusiasts in your area. Some of you may be Juniors who are ready to try out, or further excel in, mountain bike racing on a competitive level. We are a group of volunteers who love mountain biking and want to make this happen - and we need your help!

Our first goal is to organize Wisconsin's Junior MTBing enthusiasts into a network with two aims. We want to put Junior MTB racing "on the map" in Wisconsin!

To allow interested Juniors to find mentorship, friendship and support for riding and racing mountain bikes in their local community.
To support and unite those of you who can offer help and guidance to interested Junior riders in your local community.

The first thing we'll do with this data is to create an interactive, online Wisconsin community map of resources for Juniors who are interested in mountain bike racing. For clubs, teams, shops, families and individual racers, this map will be a resource to connect with others in your local area who share your excitement for hitting the trails.

To add your name to the map and the growing list of individuals interested in supporting junior-level mountain bike racers and a possible Wisconsin high school mountain bike league, please visit this Web site and sign up today.

Join us, won't you?

2010-03-09T12:02:00.003-06:00

Given how much fun the Hawks had riding with like-minded cyclists in Fond du Lac Saturday, we've decided we want to create a similar vibe in our hometown with weekly group rides in Ripon.

Beginning Tuesday, March 23 cycling enthusiasts from throughout the area are invited to join the Red Hawks cycling team for a fitness-minded bicycle ride on rural roads surrounding Ripon. The ride distance and pace may vary depending on the composition of the group.

Participants can be new to the sport or seasoned veterans. If you are preparing for a bike race, a triathlon, a charity ride or a long touring event, or if you simply enjoy riding a bicycle to stay in shape, this ride is designed for you to meet others with a similar interest and share the experience.

The first few rides will be a bit shorter (approx. 15-20 miles) but we hope to increase the distance to between 20 and 30 miles as available daylight begins to increase. Participants should be prepared to average at least 16 mph.

These won't be races. They will be moderate training rides. Of course the pace will be determined by the riders in the group and what their fitness levels and goals are. We'll begin the ride together, ut bit may be necessary to divide the group based on abilities. If that happens, each group will be led by a member of the Red Hawks cycling team who is familiar with the route. We want to ensure that each rider has a good time. So it may be necessary to experiment with the pace and the distance based on the group of riders on any given Tuesday.

Some things to keep in mind about the ride:

It is not a "no drop" ride, but it will be geared towards keeping the group together. It will focus on building riding skills and fitness.
It is not a casual ride, but it won't be a race either.
This ride will be a chance to experience the beautiful roads in the greater Ripon area.
If the group gets too large to manage, it will split into multiple groups with a group leader for each group. The group leader role is to make sure the group rides at a smooth pace, keeps weaker riders protected, monitors who is getting left behind and makes sure everyone knows where they are going.

The ride will average 16 to 22 mph. If done correctly, someone who typically rides a little slower can easily manage the pace. The pace will be dictated by who shows up and what route is taken.
We will ride as a GROUP -- typically in a 2x2 formation that is tight. This helps form a better draft pocket for the riders behind you.
It is NOT a "go out and hammer to show everyone how fast you can go up the hill" ride. If you chose to attack the group, you will be on your own. You can do that at any of the other race pace group rides in the area.
There will not be any sprints from the stop signs and we will regroup after intersections or hills if anyone gets separated.
Before the ride leaves, a leader is established that suggests the route and keeps the ride in order. There can be a different leader each night as there will hopefully be some "regulars" that show each week.

If you want to join us, please make sure your bicycle is in good working condition and be prepared with necessary tools (including a patch kit or a spare tube and a pump or CO2 cartridge) to fix flats and minor mechanical issues.

We'll meet at 5:30 p.m. each Tuesday at the main entrance to Ripon College at the intersection of Woodside Avenue and Seward Street. We hope to see you there!

Base Miles

2010-03-06T18:38:00.003-06:00

The Hawks hooked up with some guys in Fond du Lac for a 40-mile ride today. Temps were in the mid 40s ... the warmest day of the year thus far. Still lots of snow in the fields, but clear skies and clear roads made for a great ride. We hit the Seven Hills route east of Fond du Lac to test the early season climbing legs.

The front shifter on Paul's bike is broken, so he was restricted to the small ring. Appropriate for the climbs of the day's terrain, but not the descents. Andy A. test rode a Giant ride from the shop, and Zach straddled my trusty old Trek 5200.

I discovered we've got some tough guys on the team ... if not the smartest guys. Furby rode with bare legs and Zach rode with bare arms. Working on their tan lines, of course! Maybe freezer burn instead of sun burn.

We all had a great time and are looking forward to a few more this spring. The Fondy guys even offered to come check out a few of our Ripon area routes.

Uploaded the route to Garmin Connect from my Edge 500 in case anyone is interested.

All thawed out

2010-02-22T09:34:00.002-06:00

Thanks to everyone who supported our fundraising efforts for the Special Olympics of Wisconsin. Furby, Paul, Eric and I raised $675 and took the Polar Plunge in Oshkosh Saturday. It was certainly one of those "bucket list" moments. The plunge was a first for each of us, and none of us knew quite what to expect ... other than the shivers. It all happened pretty quickly. In some ways, I would describe it as anti-climactic. Still, we all agreed that we were glad to have done it. Will we be rushing to do it next year? I suspect it could become an annual team event, but time will tell.

Coach Damm's Bike Leg

2010-02-08T06:27:00.003-06:00

Coach Ric Damm completed the bike leg of the 2010 Badger State Games. The route was a 5K out-and-back on Red Bud Road near Nine Mile Country Forest in Wausau, Wis. Damm recorded the fastest time on the bike for the day, completing the 5K distance in 12:42.1. He teamed up with Eric Smith to place second overall in the pairs, age 16-28 category with a combined time of 1 hr. 20 min. 57 sec.

Furby's Quadrathlon Ski Leg

2010-02-08T06:21:00.003-06:00

Andy "Furby" Fehrenbach completed the 5K ski leg of the 2010 Badger State Games Quadrathlon in a time of 17:34.0, the fourth fastest time on the day. Furby teamed up with Paul Meuer to compete as a pair in the 16-28 age group. The two finished fourth in the category with a combined time of 1 hr. 46 min. 33.4 sec.

Red Hawk Recognition

2010-02-08T06:03:00.008-06:00

A few photos from the recognition at Friday night's basketball game:

Tiffany, Coach Damm and Eric.

The new Cycling championship banner hanging among the other College championship banners in the gym.

Hawks to be Recognized before Ripon Basketball Game

2010-02-04T12:41:00.001-06:00

The Ripon College athletic department will recognize two members of the Red Hawks cycling team before the start of the Red Hawks men's basketball game Friday, Feb. 5, at Ripon College's J.M. Storzer Center.

Tiffany Seering and Eric Smith were each named Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference Division 2 mountain bike individual omnium champions for their performances last fall.

Tiffany, a junior from West Bend, Wis., ended the 2009 season in third place in the conference standings and tops among Division 2 females.

Eric, a freshman from Charlottesville, Va., ranked 11th among conference men at the end of the season and was the best of Division 2.

With their success, both Tiffany and Eric earned a trip to USA Cycling's Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals at Northstar at Tahoe Resort in California last October. The pair led Ripon to a 12th place finish among Division 2 schools.

At Nationals, Eric was 10th among the male individual omnium competitors. Omnium results are a combination of scores from all four events, and Eric finished 28th in cross country, 22nd in short track cross country, 35th in four cross and 20th in downhill.

Tiffany competed in the cross country and short track events, finishing 15th and 17th, respectively.

A banner recognizing the cycling team's 2009 Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference Division 2 championship has been added to the College's wall of championship banners in the Wyman Gymnasium.

It's Super Spin Week

2010-01-18T10:43:00.004-06:00

The Red Hawks are back on campus after a long winter break. Hopefully they've been staying active either on the bike, skis, snowshoes, running, weights, whatever. We'll find out this Saturday when they're challenged on the Computrainters at the Ride for Rosita: Super Spin Saturday.

I posed for a promo photo last Thursday with Dave Haase, Thomson Remo and some local radio personalities. This photo and article should appear in the local newspapers this week to encourage folks to come out for a great time and a great cause.

Also this week, a few of the Red Hawks and I will be headed down to Fox Point, Wis., to rub elbows with Frankie Andreu and a who's who of area cyclists at the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin fundraiser. I wonder if Lance Armstrong questions are taboo?

We hope to see you at one or both of these events.

Sixth Annual Ride for Rosita, Jan. 23

2010-01-03T12:17:00.006-06:00

The Red Hawks will be participating in the sixth annual Super Spin Saturday: Ride for Rosita Saturday, Jan. 23 at Theisen Middle School, 525 E. Pioneer Rd., Fond du Lac, Wis. The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration opens at 8 a.m.

Participants from beginners to pros are welcome to spin for one hour or up to four hours. A limited number of stationary spin bikes will be available, however, participants are encouraged to bring their own bikes and stationary trainer or rollers. A limited number of Kinetic trainers will be available for use with your own bike.

Every participant will get a two-week membership at the Fond du Lac YMCA. All children six and older will have their name entered to win a Wii. All adult participants can enter their name to win a $500 shopping spree at Attitude Sports. The adult bringing in the highest dollar amount of pledges will be awarded a Festina watch.

New this year will be a competition between schools to bring in pledges. The top school will win a Fond du Lac YMCA party.

Individuals can also earn a variety of prizes based on the amount of money raised.

United Hearts for Health volunteers will once again serve their very tasty homemade energy bars (worth the cost of admission alone!).

I will be leading an hour of spinning beginning at noon. In addition to your's truly, hourly sections will be led by endurance coach and professional triathlete Heather Haviland, a six-time Ironman finisher; Oliver Clements, a doctor from Fond du Lac who will offer trivia and prizes; and local triathlete Tim Laird.

Members of the Red Hawks cycling team will be competing with other event participants in a point-to-point Computrainer simulated race.

Super Spin Saturday is a fund-raising event to support United Hearts for Health (UHH) and its health care efforts in Rosita, Nicaragua. The first group of Fond du Lac medical missionaries traveled to Rosita in 2003. The health care system they found was in a dire crisis. The hospital infrastructure was rotting away, the laboratory facilities were inadequate for diagnosis, dental equipment was inadequate and the infant and maternal mortality rates were — and remain — among the highest in the world.

Since 2003, a new hospital has been built and a new well drilled to provide potable water to the hospital and its patients. Fond du Lac health care providers have treated more than 600 patients in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, that number rose to more than 1,200 in Rosita and at two nearby satellite locations. Every year the cost of medicine and supplies goes up, and UHH relies heavily on donors to help us purchase the type and amount of medicine and supplies needed to treat patients effectively. The cost of medication alone was over $10,000 in 2009.

Participants are required to pay $5 for each hour they ride and are encouraged to raise additional money through pledges. All checks should be made payable to “United Hearts for Health/Holy Family.”

Download the registration form.

For more information, visit the United Hearts for Health Web site or call 920-921-6021.

By the way, you may notice that the poster and registration forms both list Ripon as the "Midwest's Premiere Collegiate Cycling Program." Rest assured, we don't have inflated egos or a false sense of grandeur. I'm not sure who gave us that billing. We're not there yet, but rest assured we do aspire to such greatness.

Please come out and join us Jan. 23 for a good time and a great cause.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-09T15:23:00.000-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Join the Rampage this Saturday

2009-12-08T20:11:00.002-06:00

Meet at Cafe Hollander (2608 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee) at 10. a.m dressed like Santa!

Free coffee, route info and Fat Tire Beer (only if you're 21)!

Existing and new Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin members get drink specials throughout the day. (Bring your Bike Fed membership card).

New! Pre-ride meeting points: Join other Santas for the ride to Hollander! All roll-in rides depart at 9:30am!!! Riverwest: Fuel Cafe (818 E. Center St., Milwaukee); Tosa Village: Cafe Hollander (7677 W State St., Wauwatosa); Bay View: Anodyne Coffee Co. (2920 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., Milwaukee).

More info: http://bikewinter.org/

The Iceman Has Cometh

2009-11-09T14:20:00.002-06:00

The Red Hawks ventured up and over Lake Michigan to Kalkaska and Traverse City this weekend to race the 28-mile Iceman Cometh Challenge. Eric Smith posted the best time for Ripon at 1 hour 55 minutes and 13 seconds. It was good enough for 5th place among the Michigan Youth Cycling Scholarship racers and the final spot on the podium in the category.

Other Red Hawks results:

Andy Fehrenbach : 2:14:30 : 16th : MYC 12-18
Tiffany Seering : 2:46:28 : 28th : Sport Women 19-34
Paul Meuer : 2:47:53 : 21st : Beginner Men 15-18
Andy Ayers : 2:56:41 : 28th : Sport Men 19-24

Smitty 20th in DH; Red Hawks 12th Overall

2009-10-18T22:16:00.002-05:00

Eric was looking forward to the downhill competition at the collegiate mountain bike championships. After dropping a chain during his qualifying run for the four cross yesterday and missing the 32-man cutoff by less than a second; he was very much hoping to redeem himself today.

But a few technical difficulties had him a bit on edge. First, he discovered a missing nut on the pivot of his rear suspension. The bolt could not be tightened. It didn't seem like the bolt would come loose, so attempted the four-cross qualifier with confidence. The dropped chain cut his competition in that event prematurely, but it gave him time to practice the downhill. So while 32 D2 men raced for the national championship in 4X, Smitty took three runs down the DH.

On his third run, he severely bent his rear derailleur hanger thus effecting his ability to shift well. Between the loose bolt and the bent hanger, Smitty's confidence took a hit. Still, his outlook before departing on his first seeding run was positive and he came away with the 26th best time (5 minutes even) of the 51 D2 competitors — meaning he'd be the 26th rider to tackle the DH course for the real deal.

In his bid for the D2 national championship, he cut his time by 13.9 seconds to take 20th place with a time of 4:46.1. The winning time of 4:13.23 was put in by Michael Thomas of Appalachian State University.

In the end, Ripon finished the nationals competition in 12th place overall among the 25 Division 2 schools competing. Smitty's 20th in the DH, 22nd in the STXC and 28th in the XC dropped him into the top 10 in the D2 individual male omnium competition.

Tiffany 17th; Eric 22nd in Short Track

2009-10-17T22:48:00.002-05:00

It's no secret, neither Tiffany nor Eric like the short track discipline. So after the grueling day both experienced on the mountain in the cross country event yesterday, they were most certainly not looking forward to the equally challenging short track course at Northstar.

They both put in great efforts in spite of the soreness in their bodies. It was exhilarating to hear Tiffany called to the start line first as the Midwest Conference champion. The exhilaration soon faded as the reality of the opening climb set in, followed be a nasty crash on the downhill section. In the end, Tiffany lasted only three laps before being lapped by the eventual winner, Kay Sherwood of Colorado College. Still, she wasn't the first to be removed from the race and placed 17th.

Having a good starting position would be key in the short track as the racers immediately climbed up a road of loose gravel. Eric was fortunate to have a place right up front, but like Tiffany, it didn't do him much good. He struggled up the long climb and the downhill section was too short for him to effectively use his skills to gain ground on the leaders.

Those leaders would eventually lap him, and Eric was pulled from the race with three laps to go. He finished in 22nd place among the 40 starters.

He hoped to do even better in the four cross event, but during his qualifying run, he dropped the chain and limped across the finish line. His run time was 35th best. Only the top 32 qualified for competition. Eric's time was 3/10ths of a second shy. Them's the breaks. You hope such bad luck doesn't occur during the biggest race of the year ... well, for Eric, the biggest race of the year is tomorrow. The downhill is his favorite event, and I predict he'll come back strong tomorrow.

Red Hawks Experience National-Level Competition in California

2009-10-16T23:28:00.002-05:00

After Day 1 at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals, Ripon was 10th (of 22) in the overall team omnium scoring for Div. 2 schools. This after a rough day for Tiffany and Eric.

Tiffany was the final woman across the finish line in the 3-lap, 22.5-mile cross country race Friday morning. She crossed the line in 3:30:46.40, battling the 800 feet of vertical on each lap and significant pain in her knee. Of the 19 D2 women who started the race in the village at the Northstar at Tahoe Resort in Truckee, Calif., Tiffany was 15th. Four women did not finish the race.

Similarly, Eric was the last man to cross the line for the D2 men. Eric finished the 4-lap, 30-mile race in a time of 3:07:03.65 to place him 28th among the 38 starters. Ten men did not finish the brutal race up and down the ski mountain at Northstar.

Regardless of the results, I was extremely happy with the effort and determination both riders showed today. In an odd move, the race officials pulled riders from the cross-country race if they did not complete the second (for women) and third (for men) laps in a specific time.

Had Tiffany come through the finish three minutes later after two laps, she would have been pulled. Instead she went out for her third lap. The effort almost proved too much for her though. But it wasn't. She completed the race ... a national race.

Eric was the last D2 man left to head out on the fourth lap in the men's race. Still he had a respectable race. He finished ahead of two D1 riders. And like Tiff, he completed a national-level race.

For both riders, it was tremendous experience. This is Ripon's first trip to nationals, but it will not be the last. Tiff and Eric will most likely be back next year, and now we all know what it takes to compete at this level.

Mountain Bikers Make the Marquee

2009-10-13T22:42:00.000-05:00

Hawks' Wings Iced at WigWam MTB Challenge

2009-10-12T11:55:00.003-05:00

The unseasonably cold weather put a chill into the Red Hawks cycling team yesterday at the Wigwam MTB Challenge in Sheboygan, Wis. Eric Smith was the only Ripon cyclist to earn a podium spot in the 12th and final race of the 2009 Wisconsin Off Road Series. Smith placed second in the male 17-18 year age class of the Junior X category.

Junior X is the equivalent of the elite category for racers 18 and under. Eric lost time when he had to repair a flat midway through the race, but he still finished. Several other riders abandoned the race after experiencing flats. Despite his mechanical setback, Eric finished seventh out of 13 in the Junior X category. Five of those 13 did not finish.

Andy Fehrenbach could relate to those who abandoned. He experienced two flats during his race and was forced to drop out after the second one. Furby was in good position in his age group (17-18) of the sport class before dropping out. It was unfortunate that he was forced to abandon because he was having a great race before the mechanical issues.

Tiffany Seering was the highest placing Red Hawk in the sport division. She finished 17th in the women’s field — fifth in her age group (19-29). During the race, she complained about having difficulty breathing due to the cold. With temperatures in the lower 30s at the start, the cold could have affected her performance ... perhaps cold induced asthma?

Ripon’s other performers — Andy Ayers, Paul Meuer and Zach Smith — finished 96th, 152nd and 158th, respectively, in the sport division.

It was not a great race for us overall, but it provided Eric and Tiffany with some more solid race experience leading up to nationals and gave the rest of the team incentive to work hard in the off-season to prepare for next year.

Eric and Tiffany will leave Thursday to head to the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals at Northstar at Tahoe Resort in Truckee, Calif. The rest of the team has some downtime before participating in the Iceman Cometh Challenge, Nov. 7, in Traverse City, Mich.

A new DVD for when it's time to head indoors

2009-10-08T06:45:00.004-05:00

The days are becoming shorter and colder. Soon, it will be time to spend a good number of hours training indoors in the gym or the gloom of a basement corner. If the end of the season isn't depressing enough, being relegated to an hour spinning and going nowhere can seal the deal.

For now, the Hawks are concentrating on keeping Eric and Tiffany in top shape to race at nationals next week. When they return, however, our focus will turn to preparing for the 27-mile Iceman Cometh in Michigan. With the Iceman a month away, you can bet that the Hawks will be spending some time riding the trainers that Saris Cycling Group was so kind to donate to us last year.

Now, riding inside on a trainer doesn't have to be torture. There are lots of ways to make it fun and interesting. Selecting different movies and music and playing different games can make the time fly by. And of course there are any number of DVDs designed specifically for training indoors. I've found one series that recently came across my desk to be particularly interesting and enjoyable.

Global Ride LLC has produced a couple of virtual cycling DVDs that follow cyclists through scenic and challenging landscapes. Rather than watch a group of sweaty individuals riding trainers while you're riding a trainer (kind of hard to pretend you're doing something enjoyable when you're constantly reminded that you're not by the group in the DVD ... watching yourself in a mirror may be more effective), the Global Ride concept (and it's not a new one) helps you imagine your riding along the coast of a Hawaiian island or through the Dolomites of Italy by providing a first-person perspective.

I recently spent a raining morning with StrenDurance in Hawaii, one of three DVDs in the Hawaii box set. The DVD has U.S. coach and triathlon hall of famer Sally Edwards providing instructions and inspiration while we follow a cyclist on a four-mile climb on the island of Oahu and along the shore on Maui followed by more climbing up the Maui cliffs.

The scenery is magnificent and the accompanying music selections work well. I did, however, find the instructional audio a bit hard to hear and understand (If you're riding solo, you may want to use headphones.). I also found myself wishing the DVD included a visual dashboard to highlight the target exertion levels, cadence, heartrate and gearing, especially given the difficulty I experienced in understanding the coach's instruction.

Global Ride founder Gene Nacey, a certified spinning instructor and heart zones cycling coach, says they've improved the audio quality for the forthcoming Italy series. He also said the whole point of the Global Ride DVDs is to help the rider get lost in the scene before them on the screen, therefore they decided not to include any visual cues on screen.

In additon to the training offered on the bike, each DVD comes with a 30-minute off-the-bike exercise session to strengthen your core and improve flexibility. The Maui Rollers DVD includes a yoga; the StrenDurance DVD includes strength-training; and the Oceanside Ride DVD includes Pilates. Each is a perfect cool down to compliment your training ride while also working as an effective workout on its own when time is short.

If you're going to be spending some time locked away going nowhere, give the Global Ride DVDs a try. You can at least pretend you're exploring new, beautiful locations. But be prepared to make a financial investment. The Hawaii boxed set sells for $75 while the individual discs run $30 each. This is comparable to most other DVDs on the market, plus you get the added 30-minute off-the-bike training.

Visit the Global Rides Web site for more info.

Ripon Secures MWCCC Div. 2 Title

2009-10-05T14:23:00.004-05:00

The Red Hawks headed into this weekend’s Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference Championships trailing Michigan Tech by 529 points in the Division Two standings. When the dust settled on the trails near the University of Missouri campus Sunday, Ripon had built a 217-point advantage over Tech to secure the 2009 title.

The Red Hawks effort was led by Tiffany who garnered 228 points with fourth-place finishes in both the Women’s A cross country and short track cross country events. T’s hard work moved her up in the overall individual season standings to third place — tops among Division 2 females — and ensured her spot at the upcoming collegiate mountain bike nationals at Northstar Resort at Tahoe in Truckee, Calif., Oct. 16-18.

Joining her at nationals will be Smitty, who claimed the Div. 2 individual conference championship. Smitty was ninth in the Men’s A cross country event Saturday morning. He then injured his left hand during a trial run of the downhill course that afternoon. Somehow, he was able to suffer through the pain and finish his two runs of the descent for an 11th-place result. He proved his mettle once more by returning Sunday to compete in the short track race on a challenging course that included a steep uphill climb and a rock-strewn downhill. The downhill section was so rough on his injured hand that we was forced to walk it on his final two laps. He still finished in the top 10.

Smitty merely needed to complete the downhill and the short track events to secure a spot on the starting line in those events at nationals. He wasn’t sure he would be able to compete with his injury, but he showed true grit and determination in not only participating in both events, but in performing very well considering the pain he was in.

Shaggy brought home two individual titles from the championship weekend. He won both the Men’s C cross country event and the short track event while also competing in the downhill and dual slalom events. He grossed the most points for Ripon behind Tiffany. Shaggy has shown a lot of progress in what is really his first season racing bicycles. He has a real competitive energy and a drive to expand from the cross country events into the gravity discipline.

Furby garnered the Red Hawks' only other podium placing with a second place in the Men’s B short track race. He also finished fourth in the Men’s B cross country event.

Zach flatted and crashed out of Saturday’s cross country race but returned Sunday to finish fifth in the Men’s C short track event. Paul was eighth in the short track and 10th in the cross country.

I’m very pleased with how far our program has come in just its second year. We’ve won the conference title and two of our riders have earned a trip to compete at nationals. Our progress is ahead of schedule.

Look for the Red Hawks at the final race of the Wisconsin Off Road Series, Sunday, Oct. 11, in Sheboygan.

Time Trial Week 7

2009-10-01T20:49:00.004-05:00

Andy F. = 20:17.69 (3:55.16/4:00.78/4:05.13/4:10.30[16:11.37]/4:06.32)* {-1:03.88}
Eric = 21:36.75 (3:45.16/4:19.34/4:11.47/4:35.16[16:51.19]/4:45.56)* {+0:50.97}
Andy A. = 18:37.91 (4:17.44/4:34.34/5:04.99/4:41.54) {-0:06.53}
Paul = 20:42.37 (4:40.85/5:12.84/5:24.03/5:24.65) {-0:28.91}
Tiffany = 24:19.69 (5:31.25/6:09.60/6:13.18/6:25.66) {-1:59}**

*5 laps: the number in [ ] indicates the total time after four laps for comparison to the other riders.
{time difference from last week}
**Tiffany's time difference is from two weeks ago

Lap distance: 1.05 miles

Furby proved the fastest today. He dropped more than a minute from his time of last week. Must be the new bike.

Smitty wasn't feeling well, and his times showed it. He busted out the fastest time yet on his first lap, but his subsequent laps revealed his sub par health. In the end, he gained more than 50 seconds on last week's time.

Shaggy and Paul both continue to exhibit improvement, while Tiffany destroyed her prior best by nearly 2 minutes.

Ripon an Honorable Mention among Bicycle-Friendly Businesses

2009-10-01T07:48:00.000-05:00

The League of American Bicyclists recently awarded Ripon with an Honorable Mention in its Fall 2009 list of Bicycle Friendly Businesses.

The League of American Bicyclists recognizes the businesses that promote bicycling for transportation, recreation, exercise and sport. These businesses also must practice social responsibility by including bicycling in the business culture, promoting the health of each person and the environment. When awarding these businesses specifically, they evaluate them in the four categories of encouragement, education, engineering and evaluation.

In response to this award, David Joyce, president of Ripon College, said, “Ripon’s Velorution Project for students and the recent extension of that program to faculty and staff is part of a broad effort to rejuvenate use of the bicycle as a fundamental form of transportation and recreation. We’re excited and proud to learn that our dedication to this effort has captured the attention of the American cycling community.”

Red Hawks Continue Winning Ways at Michigan Tech

2009-09-27T21:11:00.003-05:00

Eric Smith's first foray into the collegiate men's A category was a successful one. The freshman from Charlottesville, Va., placed sixth in the cross country race, fifth in the short track cross country race and first in the super D event hosted by Michigan Technological University Saturday and Sunday in Copper Harbor, Mich.

Smith made the jump to A in all race categories in a bid to secure a spot on the start line at nationals in Truckee, Calif. His teammate, Tiffany Seering is all but a shoe-in for the championship event to be held at the Northstar at Tahoe resort, Oct. 16-18. Seering, a junior from West Bend, Wis., placed second in the women's A cross country race; was first in the A short track race and was second in the A super D.

The performances of Smith and Seering capped a successful weekend for the Red Hawks. Freshman Andy Fehrenbach abandoned Saturday's cross country race due to pain in his right wrist from a crash the week prior. He came back strong Sunday, however, to finish third in the men's B short track race.

The Ripon men swept the podium in the men's C short track event. Junior Andy Ayers of Eagle River, Wis., junior Zach Smith of St. Louis, Mo., and freshman Paul Meuer of Elburn, Ill., finished in first, second and third, respectively. All three also finished in the top 10 in Saturday's cross country event where Ayers was second, Smith was eighth and Meuer was ninth.

The Red Hawks will travel to Columbia, Mo., next weekend for the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference Championships hosted by the University of Missouri.

Kettlepalooza 2009

2009-09-25T07:12:00.003-05:00

The Red Hawks cycling team will be at regionals in Missouri, but I wanted to spread the word about this great event planned by Randy Wegener. If you're interested, contact Randy at rwegener@excel.net

Hey Everyone,

I know the next few weeks are super busy with MTB races, CX races, etc. but I've got a fun weekend planned for anyone who may be available. Some of you may or may not know that I've been heading up the volunteer trail building effort at Greenbush for the last few years. Last year I organized a trail building day that was quite succesful. We were able to complete loop #3 of the new trail system. This year myself and Gary Lake, who is involved with the Southern Kettles, have joined forces to organize another trail building event but this time it is going to be bigger and better. I've arranged with the Northern Kettle Moraine Forest Superintendent, Jerry Leiterman, to provide our group with complementary camping, shelter use, park passes, and trail passes for October 2nd through the 4th. The weekend will consist of trail building, group rides, bbq, and some fun events. All free to participants who volunteer a few hours of their time to help us try and complete loop #4 of the new singletrack on Saturday morning. This loop has been rough cut by the DNR but it is up to us as volunteers to do the finish work. This will finish the new trail system with a total of approximately 9.5 miles of singletrack. I've listed the itinerary for the weekends events. Whether you can come out for the entire weekend or for just the trail building on Saturday we'd welcome your participation. This is a family event so bring the entire family. If you think you'll attend please drop me a line as we are trying to get a head count for food and whether you'll be bringing children. I appologize if this is a duplicate e-mail for some of you but now that all the times have been secured I wanted everyone to be informed.

Thanks,

Randy

KP EVENT Schedule

FRIDAY

Noon 10 pm Arrival and Camping Set Up in Group Sites 8 & 9
8:00 pm - Friday Night Ride Bring Lights

SATURDAY

8:30 am Gather for the workday at the shelter
8:45 - 9:15 Invasive species presentation and safety discussion presented by the DNR, Award presentation to WI's best trail and trail advocate sponsored by Gnomefest.
9:15 am -10:00 am Depart for worksite and organize crews at site
10:00 - 1:00 Trailbuilding
2:15 - 2:45 Kids Race & Ride
2:45 pm - Ladies Ride, Group Rides, Hangin' Out
6:00 - Kettlepalooza BBQ: Brats - Chicken. - Hamburgers - Corn on the Cob - Soda - Beer - all complimentary to Kettlepalooza participants thanks to generous donations from WORBA, The FatCats and Gnome-Fest!
7:30 - Just before Dark - Derby
Group Camp Fire

SUNDAY

Morning - Group Rides at Greenbush
Afternoon - Group Ride at New Fane?

Week 6 Time Trial

2009-09-24T17:33:00.003-05:00

Eric = 20:45.28 (3:51.28/4:02.25/4:14.25/4:19.79[16:27.57]/4:17.61)* {+0:07}
Andy F. = 21:21.57 (4:16.97/4:11.75/4:19.10/4:20.81[17:08.63]/4:12.94)* {-1:22}
Andy A. = 18:44.44 (4:25.70/4:40.67/4:51.20/4:46.87) {-0:09}
Paul = 21:11.28 (4:57.03/5:09.34/5:29.41/5:35.50) {-2:27}**
Zach = 22:52.07 (5:09.85/5:45.43/6:35.09/5:21.70) {+2:06}

*5 laps: the number in [ ] indicates the total time after four laps for comparison to the other riders.
{time difference from last week}
**Paul's time difference is from two weeks ago

Lap distance: 1.05 miles

Eric's and Andy's overall times were pretty consistent to last week, as were their individual laps. Furby showed some dramatic improvement over last week's times, gaining a minute and 22 seconds. Paul gained more than a minute since his last time trial effort two weeks ago. Zach's slow down can be attributed to the injury he suffered to his knee Saturday at Purdue. Though he said the knee felt OK, rather it was his stomach that he said was bothering him. We'll see how this all plays out this weekend at Michigan Tech.

Seering repeats in DS at Purdue

2009-09-20T21:38:00.003-05:00

Last year at Purdue, I coaxed Tiffany into giving the dual slalom a "go." She had never done any gravity event. Heck, it was her first season on a bike. But the slalom course at Purdue is so tame, it brings gravity to the masses. So Tiffany gave it the old college try and wound up winning her category.

We returned to Purdue this season with the intent that every Red Hawk would take a chance down the grassy, dirty, mulchy slopes of Slater Hill. And every Red Hawk — with the exception of Zach, who was beat up from a mishap in the cross country race yesterday — donned a full-face helmet and took a ride down the hill.

Tiffany had the most success, winning the Women's B category by defeating Brooke Crum in two tries.

Smitty took second in the Men's B, and Shaggy took second in the Men's C. Everybody had a blast with the experience, including Furby who was reluctant after injuring his wrist during the short track. While he was eliminated after two runs, he admitted he had fun despite the pain.

Paul "Jumbo" Meuer looked a bit out of place taking his 29er down the course weaving between the trees. He was eliminated after two runs against Shaggy.

The dual slalom capped a fairly successful weekend for the Hawks. Smitty took third in the brutal short-track race. Furby, who went down hard in a grassy turn, showed true grit in finishing the race. His effort earned him an eighth place.

Shaggy took fourth in the men's C race with Jumbo coming in seventh.

Tiffany hung in for fifth place in the women's A event.

Smith 2nd; Seering 3rd in Purdue XC

2009-09-19T15:09:00.003-05:00

First-year Eric Smith sprinted his way to second place and junior Tiffany Seering finished third in the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference cross-country race at McCormick Park on the Purdue University campus.

In the Men's B race, Smith came out of the woods in third place behind Lindsey Wilson's Taylor Ladd and Jacob Brackett. He clung to the wheel of Brackett, who was in second place, until the final stretch when he dug deep and sped away to claim the number two placing. The path of dry and extremely dusty dirt that served as the starting and finishing stretch was also very loose. Smith lost control in one of the open turns near the end of his first lap. When it came down to the finish, however, he played it safe — riding in the wake of the Lindsey Wilson rider until after that final turn — before turning on the jets down the straightaway.

Seering took to the woods in the three spot and held her ground there throughout her three laps. She came within 10 seconds of eventual second-place finisher Brooke Crum of Lindsey Wilson, but a run-in with a tree in the final lap forced her to settle for third. It was her best placing of the season in the Women's A category.

In the Men's C race, junior Andy Ayers was Ripon's best-placed rider in fourth.

The Red Hawks will return to the Purdue campus tomorrow for the short-track cross country and dual slalom events at Slater Hill.

Week 5 Time Trial

2009-09-17T19:34:00.004-05:00

Eric = 20:38 (3:57/3:53/4:14/4:21[16:25]/4:13)* {-31 seconds}
Andy F. = 22:44 (4:24/4:36/4:37/4:33[18:10]/4:34)* {-20 seconds}
Andy A. = 18:53 (4:24/4:46/4:54/4:49) {-28 seconds}
Zach = 20:46 (4:45/5:24/5:27/5:10) {-19 seconds}
Tiffany = 26:18 (6:29/6:45/6:38/6:26)
President Joyce = 22:15 (5:04/5:43/5:49/5:39)

*5 laps: the number in [ ] indicates the total time after four laps for comparison to the other riders.
{improvement from last week}
Lap distance: 1.05 miles

Wisconsin nonmotorized trail users need to voice support for SB 265

2009-09-14T20:21:00.003-05:00

In reaction to the following plea, I just sent the message below to the members of the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry and Natural Resources (Sen.Holperin@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Sullivan@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.plale@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.hansen@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.kedzie@legis.wisconsin.gov; Sen.Grothman@legis.wisconsin.gov).

I urge all Wisconsin hikers, bikers and nonmotorized trail users to do similar.

Dear Wisconsin State Senators of the Committee on Transportation, Tourism, Forestry, and Natural Resources,

I am writing you to voice my support of Senate Bill 265. As you are well aware, this bill would create a much needed segregated fund with an annual appropriation of $10 million or 1 percent of state motor fuel taxes, whichever is less, to be spent on the maintenance of nonmotorized trails. This is a measure that I whole-heartedly support.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources already administers similar programs that provide grants to snowmobile and ATV clubs to pay for the upkeep of their users’ trails. It seems fair, then, that a measure to make local government and nonprofit groups eligible to receive money to fix biking and hiking trails be put in place.

There currently exists a great disparity between how the maintenance of motorized and nonmotorized trails are funded. Revenue from a motor vehicle fuel tax is an appropriate source of nonmotorized trail funding.

This concept has won majority support on the Special Committee on Enhancing Recreational Trails for Nonmotorized Use.

There are two other bills before the you which I support: SB 266, which would create the Nonmotorized Recreation and Transportation Council; and SB 264, which would increase the trespassing penalties for ATV, snowmobile and other off-road motor vehicle drivers.

I ask that you please continue to moves these bills forward.

Thank you.

Hawks make impression at WORS Treadfest

2009-09-13T22:03:00.002-05:00

Eric Smith continues to impress as he finished first in the 17-18 year age group in the Sport category of today's Wisconsin Off Road Series Treadfest race at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis. He was first among a group of 10 riders, completing three laps of the technical course with lots of vertical in just over 1 hour and 20 minutes. His time was good enough for 16th overall among all Sport racers.

Andy Fehrenbach finished just more than 6 minutes behind his teammate, good enough for sixth in the age group and 59th in the category of 182 finishers.

Forty-four starters did not finished the race, a testament to the difficulty of the course and the unseasonably warm temperatures. Among those who did not finish was Andy Ayers, who was forced to withdraw from the race with a broken chain on his second lap.

Zach Smith finished 12th in the Sport 19-24 group and 142nd overall. Due to a timing SNAFU, Paul Meuer was not given a result, which is unfortunate, because the determined first-year racer definitely finished the race.

On the women's side, Tiffany Seering finished third in the 19-29 age class of Sport riders with a time of 1:49.58 for three laps. Her result was good for 15th among all women Sport competitors.

The beauty of a WORS race is Coach gets to race, too. I finished second in my 35-39 age group of Comp racers and 12th overall with a time of two hours and four minutes for four long and agonizing laps.

Wednesday Time Trial Results

2009-09-10T21:04:00.002-05:00

Well, I tweaked the time trial just a tad this week. I had Smitty and Ferbie, my B riders, go one additional lap for five total — a bit closer to race time for the short track races, which is what the Prairie course most closely resembles.

Both Smitty and Ferbie went great guns on their first laps and then slowed. Again, Tiffany was unable to participate. She spent a good deal of time at the hospital today and the entire team wishes her well.

I also had the opportunity to try out my new stop watch.

Everybody showed improved times compared to last week ... a good sign of progress.

Times were as follows:
Eric = 21:08.87 (3:55/4:07/4:14/4:27[16:43.93]/4:25)*
Andy F. = 23:04.21 (4:21/4:30/4:35/4:41[18:17.33]/4:47)*
Andy A. = 19:21.15 (4:38/4:39/5:07/4:53)
Zach = 21:05.24 (5:06/5:08/5:27/5:24)
Paul = 23:38.37 (5:50/5:39/6:05/6:12)

*5 laps: the number in [ ] indicates the total time after four laps for comparison to last week

Seering, Smith top performers for Hawks on Day 2 of Romp

2009-09-06T22:00:00.003-05:00

Tiffany Seering took fifth in the Women's A STXC race today, while Eric Smith finished fourth in the Men's B event.

Tiffany did her best to hang on to the four Lindsey Wilson riders in her field, but the tempo and the repeated climbs proved to be too much. Lindsey Wilson's Ashley James once again proved she is the best in the discipline by setting a blistering pace. While Tiffany once again proved her toughness by hanging in until the end despite pain in her right knee.

"Smitty" battled hard for third place in the Men's B race, but couldn't maintain the pace of Murray State's Eric Dobberfuhl, the eventual third place finisher. Smith was within seconds of Dobberfuhl's wheel, but was forced to settle for fourth place in the final three laps.

Our other B rider, Andy Fehrenbach rounded out the top 10.

In the Men's C race, Andy Ayers was in a solid third place when he lost control of his bike on a grassy downhill section that was still wet with morning dew. Andy remained upright, but lost his momentum, allowing Michigan Tech's Andrew Reed to swoop into the 3 spot. Zach Smith and Paul Meuer finished behind Ayers in fifth and sixth place, respectively.

Red Hawks Romp at Nordic Mt.

2009-09-05T22:35:00.004-05:00

Eric Smith dominated the Men's B downhill competition during the Red Hawks Romp at Nordic Mountain today. Smitty took the top place by more than 20 seconds in the event in which riders combined their times for two runs down the rocky trails of the ski area. It was his first competition on his new downhill rig after shearing the rear axle on his old ride at Butler last week.

It was Smith's second first-place finish in the discipline in two weeks and led the Ripon attack. Eric was also Ripon's top finisher in the Men's B cross country race, taking third place behind Joseph Maloney of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Taylor Ladd of Lindsey Wilson College. Ripon's Andy Fehrenbach finished in 14th place in the event.

In the Women's A cross country race, the Red Hawks sole female Tiffany Seering took sixth place, just over a minute and a half behind fifth-place finisher Brooke Crum of Lindsey Wilson.

Andy Ayers again led Ripon in the Men's C race. The junior from Eagle River, Wis., was about two-minutes off the pace of second-place finisher Graham Kennedy of the University of Michigan. The Red Hawks put all three of their C Men in the top ten with Zach Smith finishing 8th and Paul Meuer finishing 10th.

Week 3 Time Trial

2009-09-03T18:58:00.002-05:00

This week we extended the time trial to four 1.05-mile laps in an effort to get closer to exceeding 20 minute times.

Everyone showed a lot of consistency in each of their four lap times and everyone showed improvement when comparing total time for three laps last week versus three laps this week. Well, everyone but Andy F. Believe it or not, Mr. Consistency hit the exact same time for three laps this week as last. Each of his four laps tonight differed by only six seconds.

Eric was the first to crack the four-minute mark. He did so on his first lap. Impressive given that he was riding Andy's Velorution Cannondale. He did wipe out on one of the turns in his fourth lap, however.

Unfortunately, Tiffany is sick and missed tonight's training. We hope she feels better tomorrow.

Times were as follows (the number in [ ] indicates the total time after three laps for comparison to last week):
Eric = 16:50 (3:53/4:03/4:14[12:10]/4:40)
Andy F. = 18:31 (4:35/4:37/4:41[13:53]/4:38)
Andy A. = 20:32 (4:51/5:04/5:18[15:14]/5:18)
Zach = 22:01 (5:09/5:35/5:37[16:21]/5:40)
Paul = 23:56 (5:19/6:02/6:01[17:22]/6:34)

Ferbie top Hawk in Butler STXC; Smitty gives MX a go

2009-08-30T22:08:00.003-05:00

Andy Fehrenbach was Ripon's top short track performer during day two of the Butler University race weekend. He put in a good performance to finish second behind fellow Wisconsinite Eric Dobberfuhl of Murray State.

Eric Smith broke out to build a significant lead in the first few laps, but the effort was a bit too much to maintain for the duration, and he was forced to concede the race leadership to Dobberfuhl, who lapped the entire Men's B field. Smith dug deep and valiantly clung to a third-place finish.

In the Men's C STXC event, Andy Ayers led the three-prong Hawk attack with a fifth-place finish. Teammate Zach Smith placed ninth. Despite an aggressive start, Paul Meuer was forced to abandon with a flat tire early in the race.

The sole female Hawk, Tiffany Seering endured the course's brutal climb and the punishing tempo of the race winner and another Wisconsinite: Ashley James of Lindsey Wilson.

Eric Smith also gave the mountain cross a try and finished in fourth place among the Men's B riders.

Despite a few bike issues, it was a great first weekend. Hopefully we can get all of the problems fixed and have an even better showing at our race next weekend at Nordic Mt.

An unedited collection of photos from Saturday and Sunday can be found on flickr.

Eric Smith pulls double at Butler

2009-08-29T19:56:00.004-05:00

I expected Eric Smith to have an immediate impact on the Red Hawks cycling program. He exceeded my expectations today with two first place finishes in two very different disciplines. Eric convincingly captured first place in the Men's B cross country race. He crossed the finish line nearly one and half minutes ahead of Missouri's Brent Davidson. Then after shearing his rear axle in a practice run on the downhill course, he proceeded to take first place in the B downhill by one second riding his cross country bike down the gnarly decent.

Eric's results capped a so-so day for the rest of the Hawks. Andy Fehrenbach experienced a mechanical early in the first lap of the Men's B cross country event and struggled to regain his position among the field. His efforts earned him a respectable 12th-place finish despite losing nearly 15 minutes due to the mishap.

In the Women's A race, Tiffany Seering discovered the steep curve between the B and A categories. After repeatedly finishing in the top two in the B class last season, Tiffany found herself brining up the rear in the A race. Ever determined, Tiffany showed her meddle by hanging in to finish just four minutes behind seventh-place Elizabeth Yarina of Michigan. It was a good learning experience for Tiffany, and I know she'll come back stronger next week at Nordic Mt.

In the men's C race, Andy Ayers was the top Hawk, finishing eighth. Zach Smith was just over a minute behind and finished 11th. Paul Meuer was 17th.

Time Trials: Week 2

2009-08-26T21:27:00.002-05:00

So we altered our time trial course this week to make it a bit longer. (Thanks for the suggestion Brendan, though we're still short of 20 minutes. 4 laps next week?). I had the team ride three 1.05-mile laps. Each lap was the same and each included a roughly 108-foot of climb on packed limestone and loose gravel.

Times were as follows:
Eric = 13:12 (4:13/4:33/4:26)
Andy F. = 13:53 (4:42/4:39/4:32)
Andy A. = 15:56 (5:09/5:30/5:17)
Tiffany = 17:27 (6:00/5:44/5:43)
Zach = 17:50 (5:50/6:02/5:58)
Paul = 18:51 (6:15/6:22/6:14)

The rest of the evening training consisted of 8 climbs up the downhill section of our time trial and 10 climbs up the short but steep grassy slope separating upper and lower Sadoff Fields.

Hawks Tackle 3-hour at Blue Mound

2009-08-23T22:56:00.003-05:00

The Red Hawks took part in their first race event of the 2009 season yesterday. The team and I traveled to Blue Mound State Park to participate in the 3-hour race of the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series (WEMS) 12 Hours of Blue Mound.

I told them to treat the race as a long training ride, but of course, they could feel free to be competitive if they thought they could be.

Everyone but Andy Ayers and Tiffany experienced some type of technical difficulties. Despite breaking his chain twice and completing his third lap on one of the Specialized test bikes offered through Erik's Bike Shop, Eric was the top placing male for Ripon. He finished 14th among the field of 24 finishers with three laps in 2 hours 31 minutes and 18 seconds. (Though as I look at the results, I'm not sure how accurate they are.)

Andy A. followed close behind with three laps in just less than two additional minutes.

On his first lap out, Andy Fehrenbach stripped the threads on his left crank arm where his pedal connects. He, too, was forced to saddle up on one of the Specialized steeds to put in a few more laps. Paul had a flat and Zach's saddle came loose.

Tiffany had no major issues and paced herself for two laps to win the women's category. Her efforts (2 laps in 2 hours 9 minutes 56 seconds) earned her a fancy trophy — Ripon Cycling's first!

Everyone seemed to have fun and count the event as good prep for next weekend's season opener at Butler University.

Results

First Time Trial

2009-08-20T18:23:00.002-05:00

We did our time trials in the prairie this afternoon. The route is just shy of two miles (1.875 approximately) with one long climb and one short steep climb. We will do this time trial weekly to gauge progress throughout the season.

Today's times were as follows:
Andy F.......8 minutes 48 seconds
Eric............9:07
Andy A......10:44
Tiffany.......12:58

Paul made a wrong turn, so his time was not counted. Zach just arrived on campus this afternoon, so he did not participate.

Check back next week to see if there is any improvement.

Team Building Exercises

2009-08-19T21:25:00.000-05:00

The 2009 Red Hawks got of the ground (literally) on day one. We headed to the Kohler Experiential Learning Center for some team-building exercises on the low- and high-ropes courses.

From my standpoint as coach, it appears as if this group is already beginning to gel really well and that they will be very supportive of each other and each other's goals and ambitions.

The instructor noted that our group was very cooperative and quick to solve the problems thrown at us.

We completed the exercises in the morning, stopped at Ella's Della in Sheboygan Falls for lunch and then headed to Evergreen and Jaycee's parks in Sheboygan for our first ride together. Again, I was quite impressed overall with everyone's abilities and their desire to stick together as a group. "No one left behind" is already our unofficial motto.

It's going to be a great year. I can just tell.

For some additonal photos from the Kohler Experiential Learning Center visit new team member Andy Fehrenbach's flickr site.

Hilarious!

2009-08-12T05:36:00.000-05:00

Red Hawks Ready to Romp

2009-08-07T11:11:00.002-05:00

The Ripon College Red Hawks Cycling Team is looking forward to working with Nordic Mountain and the Wisconsin Off Road Series to bring a Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference race to Wisconsin Labor Day weekend.

The inaugural Red Hawks Romp collegiate mountain bike race will feature some of the area's best singletrack, a wickedly fun downhill course and a fast, challenging and spectator friendly short track.

This site will be the definitive source for race info. Take a peek at the course map, download the race flyer, check the race schedule and look for directions and lodging info.

For those who enjoy water sports, Nordic Mountain's new Nordic Wake Park will also be in operation.

The Red Hawks invite all Midwest Collegiate Conference teams to participate. Nordic Mountain provides some great spectating, so friends and relatives should come to watch. We'd also love to see some young high school mountain bikers who want to get a taste for collegiate racing.

Season Preview

2009-08-05T08:12:00.002-05:00

The Red Hawks cycling program remains in its infancy, but I expect the team will take several big baby steps forward in just its second year.

We have two returning student-athletes who are now familiar with the college racing scene and know what to expect from the venues and the competition. For both of them, last year was their first year racing a bike of any kind. So that experience gives them a huge advantage over last year.

Plus, the Red Hawks add three new members who bring race experience to the fold.

Eric Smith, a first-year student from Charlottesville, Va., is a key acquisition for Ripon. Eric boasts three years of quality results in downhill and cross-country racing.

Eric is a student who will have an immediate impact on our program. He is certainly our first marquee recruit.

He is a versatile rider who has finished on the podium in both gravity and endurance events. He placed third in the 18 and under sport division of the 2009 USA Cycling Virginia State Downhill Championship at Massanutten Resort in McGaheysville, Va., in May. He finished second in two cross-country races this spring as well. He and a teammate finished in first place among beginner men in the sport duo category of the Paranormal 6-hour endurance race in Earlysville, Va., last November, and Eric finished second among racers 19 and under in the U.S. Junior Off-Road Duathlon (5k run/11k bike/3k run) National Championship in Richmond, Va., in April.

Andy Fehrenbach of Stevens Point, Wis., is another first-year recruit who brings experience to the table for Ripon. In June, Andy, who has been riding and racing for a number of years, placed second among 17- and 18-year-old males in the sport class at the Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) Big Ring Classic at 9-Mile County Forest near Wausau, Wis. It was his best placing of three WORS races thus far this summer. In July, Andy participated in the Bike Northwoods Tour, a six-day bicycle trip averaging 50 to 60 miles a day through Northwest Wisconsin.

Andy is a kid who just really enjoys being on a bike. His enthusiasm will serve us well, and I predict he will show some quick progress this fall.

Rounding out a trio of new first-year student-athletes for the Red Hawks is Paul Meuer from Kaneland High School in Elburn, Ill.

Also new to the cycling roster this fall will be Ripon juniors Andy Ayers and Zach Smith. Andy, a computer science major from Eagle River, Wis., was previously a member of the Red Hawks football team. This will be his first year racing a bike. Zach, a music and business management major from St. Louis, Mo., is also a member of the Ripon swim team. He brings several years of mountain bike racing experience to the cycling team. Zach is an athletic guy who has been on the bike in a race situation before, so he knows what he’s doing out there and should do well from the gun.

On the woman’s side, Ripon brings back Tiffany Seering, a junior from West Bend, Wis., and Christa Kussmann, a senior from Beaver Dam, Wis.

Tiffany provided us with the best individual results last year. Racing in the women’s B category, she posted two firsts and a second in the collegiate cross-country races. She added three second-places finishes in the short-track and brought home a first place from the downhill slalom event at Purdue University.

Tiffany is planning to make the jump to the women’s A category this year. In order to be competitive there, she is going to have to improve her speed and endurance. She’s a gutsy rider, and I’m confident that she will rise to the occasion.

I am expecting Christa, the sole senior on the team, to provide leadership. At the beginning of last year, Christa was content to simply finish the races she started. But as the season progressed, she showed significant improvement as she became more comfortable on the bike and her confidence grew. I expect that progress to continue this fall.

The Red Hawks add a third woman for 2009 with Charlotte Evans, a sophomore physics major from Berlin, Wis. An avid recreational cyclist, this will be Charlotte’s first year of competition.

I have no doubt that we will be an improved team compared to last year. We lost three great students to graduation, but we’ve added six new members who each promise to bring something special to the mix. I think we’ll be competitive as a team, and just maybe we’ll qualify one or two riders for nationals. That would be a very big step for our program.

The new jerseys arrived today

2009-07-22T15:25:00.002-05:00

Batman is looking good.

Finalized Schedule for Fall

2009-07-20T15:25:00.001-05:00

I've finalized the Red Hawks mountain bike schedule for this fall as follows:

Aug. 22: Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series Race #7 @ Blue Mound State Park in Blue Mound, Wis.
Aug. 29 & 30 @ Butler University
Sept. 5 & 6: Ripon College Red Hawks Romp @ Nordic Mountain, Mt. Morris, Wis.
Sept. 13: Treadfest: Wisconsin Off-Road Series Race #10 @ Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis.
Sept. 19 & 20 @ Purdue University
Sept. 26 & 27 @ Michigan Tech
Oct. 3 & 4: MWCCC Championship/Regionals @ University of Missouri
Oct. 11: Wigwam MTB Challenge: Wisconsin Off-Road Series Race #12 @ Jaycees’ Quarryview and Evergreen Parks in Sheboygan, Wis.
Nov. 7: Iceman Cometh Challenge @ Traverse City, Mich.

Should be a great year.

Tentative Fall 2009 Schedule

2009-07-01T08:30:00.006-05:00

The Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference has announced the Fall 2009 mountain bike race schedule as follows:

Aug. 29 & 30 @ Butler University
Sept. 5 & 6: Ripon College Red Hawks Rendezvous @ Nordic Mountain, Mt. Morris, Wis.
Sept. 12 & 13 @ Lindsey Wilson College
Sept. 19 & 20 @ Purdue University
Sept. 26 & 27 @ Michigan Tech
Oct. 3 & 4 MWCCC Championship/Regionals @ University of Missouri

It looks like the Red Hawks will kick things off with an "exhibition" (so to speak) Aug. 22 at Blue Mound State Park as the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series hosts its seventh race of the year there. The WEMS races are always fun and challenging and will give the Hawks some quality race time before the "real" season begins.

And you read it correctly: Ripon will host its first collegiate mountain bike race with the help of the fine folks at Nordic Mountain ski area near Mt. Morris. Nordic has been hosting the Wisconsin Off Road Series Subaru Cup the past few years and offers some great singletrack and downhill facilities.

I still need to decide if we are up to making the 10+ hour trip to Kentucky for the Lindsey Wilson race. The trip may be too much and we may rather participate in Treadfest, race 10 of the Wisconsin Off Road Series at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva. The WORS races are so well run, and the atmosphere is always electric. Plus, I'm sure the team would enjoy an extra night or two in their "own" beds in Ripon.

Also, while I have already secured my entry to the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 (as have a few others on the team), I am struggling to decide if our team goals wouldn't better be served by making the trip to Purdue that weekend to score more conference points in hopes of a possible nationals bid. If we don't travel to Kentucky the previous weekend, then Purdue is a must.

I'll be making the final decisions in the next few days.

Thank You!

2009-06-15T11:39:00.002-05:00

The 2009 Wisconsin Cycling Association State Criterium Championship bicycle races have come and gone; and by the accounts of the racers and fans, the event was a huge success. More than 215 racers, along with friends and families, visited Ripon Saturday and left with many good things to say about our hospitable community. That success would not have been possible without the help and support of a wide cast of characters, including the cooperation of the businesses and residents along the race route. Your flexibility is greatly appreciated.

I’d also like to acknowledge T.J. Rogers and Accurate Controls and Doug Brewer and Brewer Heating and Cooling. They deserve a big “thank you” for their financial sponsorship of the event. Additionally, I’d like to thank Rippin’ Good Cookies for providing cookies for the race winners. The sweet treats were a big hit amongst the riders.

Also, thanks to John and Carol Bartow and Fond du Lac and Oshkosh Cyclery for their ongoing support of the Ripon College cycling team and their contributions to the state championship race.

Thank you also to the City of Ripon, the Ripon Police Department and the Ripon Public Works department: first, for granting permission to use the city streets, and second, for making those streets as safe as possible. Your extra efforts did not go unnoticed.

And while there were a few scrapes and bruises (and one broken hip), I would like to thank Chris Schattschneider, Brian Azinger, Mark Sabel and the Ripon EMTs for the quick and attentive care they provided to the injured racers.

I would also like to recognize the work of Danelle Phillips of the Ripon Medical Center and Stefanie Ehle of the Ripon College Office of Community Engagement for the fabulous Free Wheelin’ Children’s Bicycle Safety Expo and Fun Race. The many children and their parents with big smiles on their faces added a great deal of fun to the day’s events.

Thank you, also, to the Ripon Chamber of Commerce and Ripon Main Street for their constant support and encouragement.

A special thank you to Heidi Mingesz and her crew of race officials for their hard work and dedication to the sport of cycling in Wisconsin. We wish Rich Weiss, who suffered a heart attack Saturday morning before the races began, a speedy recovery.

An extra large “thank you” to John Van Susteren and his teammates at LAPT Cycling Club and to all of the volunteers who assisted with set-up, registration, announcing, corner marshaling, take-down and all of the behind-the-scenes details that make a bike race safe and fun.

We hope to bring the race back next year and with the support of the Ripon community make it even better.

Be sure to take a look at peloton-pix.com for a video and photos from the event.

WCA Crit Champs Returning to Ripon June 13

2009-05-18T20:27:00.004-05:00

The best bicycle racers in Wisconsin and beyond will return to Ripon Saturday, June 13 for the Wisconsin Cycling Association’s 2009 State Criterium Championships. Riders will compete in 10 categories for the Wisconsin State Championship jerseys, cash and prizes.

Medals will be awarded to the top three riders and a Wisconsin Championship jersey to the overall state winner in each category. Racing action begins at 10:30 a.m. with the junior’s races and continues all day with the final pro race beginning at 6:30 p.m. The junior’s and women’s category 4 races will run counterclockwise on a half-mile course with a start and finish on Watson Street in the heart of Ripon’s historic downtown business district. The later races will expand to a 1-mile route that winds down Ransom, Seward, Woodside and Thorne streets before the final 150-meter sprint to the finish.

The Ripon Medical Center and the Ripon College Office of Community Engagement will also hold the Free Wheelin’ Children’s Bicycle Safety Rodeo from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on the 100 block of Watson Street. All games and activities are free, including the Kids’ Fun Race and Parade that will be held on Watson Street at 11:45 a.m.

The event is hosted by the Ripon College Red Hawks Cycling Team and the Lakes Area Physical Therapy Cycling Club. Cash and prizes are being supplied by race sponsors Accurate Controls, Brewer Heating and Cooling; Rippin’ Good Cookies, Precision Plus Inc. of Elkhorn; Fond du Lac/Oshkosh Cyclery; Bicycle Doctor Nordic Ski Shop of Dousman; Open MRI of Sheboygan; and KC’s Driving Schools of Southeastern Wisconsin.

We’re looking forward to having some of the state’s most exciting bicycle racing in Ripon again this year. Despite the flooding problems of last year, we experienced excellent community support and a good turnout for our first year as host. We hope the weather will cooperate, and that we’ll see increases in both the numbers of participants and spectators this year.

With discounted rates at Ripon hotels, racers and fans are encouraged to come early and stay late.

Volunteers are needed to assist. All volunteers may be eligible for a free race entry. To volunteer, please contact me at 920-748-8322 or dammr@ripon.edu.

For more information, please visit the race Web site.

Looking Ahead

2009-05-05T10:29:00.002-05:00

As the 2008-09 school year at Ripon winds down, I'm excited by the promise of the 2009 mountain bike season. While we're losing three seniors to graduation, we've already picked up two promising freshmen and a few current Ripon students who have come out of the woodwork to flesh out next year's roster.

While one of my best possible female recruits has opted to go elsewhere, I'm still holding out hope that one more top male prospect will decide on Ripon in the coming days.

I'll be sure to share more details about our promising young team soon. For now, let me tease you with a sneak peek at our 2009-10 jersey. Inspired by the Kenda Titus Hayes MTB Team jerseys of 2008, I adapted the look for the Ripon Red Hawks. I've already received great feedback from the team who are excited to once again wear one of the best looking kits in the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference.

Wisconsin Cyclists: A Call to Action

2009-04-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

Assembly Bill 59 and Senate Bill 29, commonly referred to as the "Dooring Bills," are both scheduled for votes TOMORROW: Tuesday, April 28. Please contact your Legislators today and ask for their Yes vote!

Background
As many of you know, bicyclists are being ticketed - WHILE IN THEIR HOSPITAL BEDS - after being struck and injured by the doors of careless motorists who failed to take responsibility for their actions by first checking to see if traffic was present before opening a door. These bills place responsibility back where it belongs - on the operator of the vehicle - to ensure that their actions are not endangering other users of the road. Neither of these bills alleviates the bicyclist's responsibility to operate in a safe and predictable manner, as some critics have suggested.

Action Item
Please contact your Representative today and ask him/her to vote Yes on AB59. Please contact your State Senator today and ask him/her to vote Yes on SB29.

To identify your Legislators and to obtain their contact information, please use the "Who Are My Legislators" tool.

2009-10 Velorution Press Release

2009-04-23T21:40:00.002-05:00

The first Ripon College Velorution Project (RVP), the innovative bicycle program for freshmen, had so many unknowns it could have been called the Velorution Experiment. A little more than one year after the debut of the famous free-bike program, however, college officials feel the experiment is worth repeating.

“The RVP will be offered once again to the class of 2013,” said Ripon College President David C. Joyce. “Leave your car at home this fall and we’ll give you a quality bike to keep. That’s still the deal.”

The program’s $50,000 price tag is not insignificant for a college Ripon’s size (1,057 full-time students). Despite some belt-tightening in other areas, however, the college was loath to scale back or eliminate the RVP.

“We’re facing the same economic challenges as many other colleges, but the support of this program by our alumni, trustees and friends hasn’t abated. I think that speaks to how much we believe in it,” said Joyce. “It’s part of our identity now.”

Initially conceived as a way to mitigate parking woes on campus, the program’s focus expanded to address such concerns as student wellness, fuel costs, pollution and safety. A roadway through main campus was also vacated and re-landscaped last fall to make it more pedestrian- and bike-friendly, setting the stage for an even less motorized campus going forward. Since its Feb. 2008 introduction variations on the program have been implemented at several other colleges.

Cannondale is the official bicycle partner of Velorution 2.0, which will apply a custom paint scheme and Ripon College graphics in red and white to each F9 mountain bike used for the program. Locks and lights will be furnished by Madison, Wis.-based Planet Bike.

Measuring Success
About 1/3 of participating students responded to a recent survey about their experience. Ric Damm, RVP coordinator and cycling coach, said the program seems to have resonated with students.

“Feedback was very positive. The majority of students said they used their bikes for recreation and to run errands off campus,” Damm said. “While we still need to address bike parking in some key areas on campus, overall I think the program fared well in year one.”

Although this year’s participants could bring a car next fall if they wanted, 81 percent of respondents said they won’t do it, either because their bike is sufficient (52 percent) or they don’t have a car at all (29 percent). Fifty-four percent of respondents said their bike use increased as a result of the RVP, and 82 percent said they would encourage future students to sign the pledge.

The 2008 pledge offered a free Trek mountain bike to any freshman who vowed not to bring a car to campus for the duration of their first year. More than 160 students took the deal, or six of every ten in the Class of 2012. The bikes were handed out Aug. 26, 2008.

For more information, including an FAQ and the full text of the RVP Pledge, visit www.ripon.edu/velorution.

Freedom Riders

2009-04-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

Time to Rally the Troops

2009-04-02T06:23:00.005-05:00

If you ride a bike in Wisconsin, then you owe it to yourself to get to Madison April 27 and 28 for the first-ever Wisconsin Bicycle Summit. As a member of the cycling community, it is extremely important that you participate in this event and that you encourage every cyclist you know to do the same.

"Forward" is Wisconsin's state motto. It describes Wisconsin's continuous drive to be a national leader. On April 27 and 28, Forward is where the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin plans to take the state's cyclists. Our goal is to lay the foundation for making Wisconsin one of the world's greatest places to be on a bike. Creating and maintaining a safe and friendly atmosphere for cycling will help make Wisconsin even more sustainable and economically diverse.

As you are aware, the bicycle is a “silver bullet” cure for many of today’s societal ills. Increasing trips made by bicycle decreases obesity, decreases individuals’ carbon footprint and decreases dependence on oil. It’s also fun. People need to have the freedom to bicycle for transportation, fitness or recreation and to do so safely and without harassment.

Lawmakers and policymakers play a significant role in determining the quality of bicycling in the state. The 2009 Summit is our opportunity to share best practices, network with fellow bicycle advocates, retailers and enthusiasts, and to lobby our State Legislators at the capitol.

On Monday April 27 we will gather at the Madison Concourse Hotel to lay the groundwork for establishing Wisconsin as one of the world's greatest places to be on a bike. Please join us in sharing this vision and connecting and networking with cycling leaders from across Wisconsin. On Tuesday morning we will all gather together to discuss bicyclist's most urgent legislative needs and then continue on to the capitol to meet with our own legislators.

If you are unable to attend both days of the summit please consider attending either the Monday or Tuesday events. There is strength in numbers and we need to hear your voice. If you know anybody else who might be interested in supporting this cause, please share this information with them.

For more information and to register, please visit the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin’s website at www.bfw.org.

Catch the Klunkerz Trailer

2009-03-25T17:01:00.000-05:00

Ripon College Athletics

2009-03-23T10:39:00.002-05:00

Testing a new site I found called Issuu that allows users to post publications in Flash. Chose this one because it clearly demonstrates Ripon's commitment to treating cycling on equal ground as the other varsity sports. Take a look.

Open publication - Free publishing - More undergraduate

New Belgium Brewing Promotes Team Wonderbike

2009-03-11T22:22:00.003-05:00

From the beer makers who brought us Fat Tire Ale, check out New Belgium Brewing's teamwonderbike.com site for some good info and good laughs ... Follow your folly!

Another Excellent Urban MTB Park Example

2009-03-11T22:15:00.003-05:00

Highbridge Park in New York is another excellent example of transforming negative space into a meaningful place for kids and adults to be active ...

The Highbridge Project from y.arava on Vimeo.

Mountain Biking Under an Interstate?

2009-03-11T22:08:00.001-05:00

The I-5 Colonnade Skills Park in Seattle proves that you can build a mountain bike trail/park anywhere...

Cycling Copenhagen

2009-03-11T21:51:00.002-05:00

I'm at the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C., and have been learning lots of interesting things. This is the first of several postings that I'll share.

Andreas Rohls, director of the City of Copenhagen Bicycle Program Office in Denmark, spoke Tuesday night. He shared some great info about bike use in Copenhagen, where bikes account for 36% of the transportation mode share. Driving and public transit each come in at about 33%.
In Copenhagen, 60% of residents report bicycling as their primary mode of transportation. Rohls' goal is to increase the bicycle mode share to above 50%.

He shared a great video. I haven't been able to find it online, but did find this one that tells the story:

Wonderful Copenhagen from Colville Andersen on Vimeo.

New meaning to the term "cross training"

2009-02-26T16:14:00.004-06:00

Cory Smith, a former editor of FasterSkier.com, posted the following on that site back in August. A friend just passed it along to me. For all of you cross-country skiers and cyclocrossers out there, Cory supports both as "cross training."

Like many skiers, I try to incorporate a lot of variety into my training. Variety ensures that my training is well-rounded, and makes it more fun than doing the same thing day after day, week after week. Variety can mean new places to train, different workout formats, or trying entirely different sports.

One sport that I've recently gotten into is cyclocross. For readers unfamiliar with 'cross, imagine if you took a criterium bike race and held it on a nordic ski trail. Cross is a little bit road biking, a little bit mountain biking, a little bit cross-country running, and a little bit of madness.

Read the entire story.

$825 MILLION for Active Transport

2009-02-19T07:37:00.002-06:00

A press release from Rails to Trails Conservancy ....

TRAILS, WALKING AND BIKING EARN $825 MILLION IN STIMULUS
TO SPARK JOBS, ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION

Washington, D.C.—Today (Feb. 17), President Obama signed into law an economic recovery package that contains $825 million in funding for Transportation Enhancements. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) applauds Congress for its foresight in recognizing the job creation benefits of building bicycling and walking infrastructure, including trails. While representing less than two percent of transportation funding in the bill, this investment could create tens of thousands
of jobs and critical active transportation connections that communities need.

Transportation Enhancements (TE) is the nation's largest federal funding source for trails, walking and bicycling and a long-standing program that has historically enjoyed bi-partisan support. Its place within the stimulus package, however, heralds a transition in thinking among elected leaders who once viewed active transportation projects as niceties and now know them to be necessities for a balanced transportation system and a robust economy.

"We are very pleased with Congress for recognizing the wisdom of investing in active
transportation," says Kevin Mills, RTC vice president of policy. "The immediate job creation will also deliver long-term benefits for communities by reducing traffic congestion, climate emissions, oil dependence and obesity rates."

RTC documented this strategy and its implications in its "Active Transportation for America" report, released last October. According to the report, moderate investments in active transportation can yield substantial economic benefits, making bicycling and walking a highly cost-effective choice for policy-makers.

"Americans are seeking opportunities to walk and bike more, and drive less, particularly for short trips," says Keith Laughlin, RTC president. "With this funding, more Americans will be able to make that choice."

RTC will track the progress communities make in implementing hundreds of ready-to-go projects that will be aided by this recovery funding. Visit www.railstotrails.org/atfa to learn more about the immediate and long-term benefits of funding active transportation.

Make Every Ride Count

2009-02-13T08:55:00.002-06:00

I was just turned on to an interesting new concept that allows you to log your riding and or running miles and turn them into cash donations to some wonderful non-profit organizations who support our beloved sport.

It is called Plus 3. It's a free online social network that motivates and rewards its members for logging rides. For instance, SRAM/RockShox and Trek support IMBA and provide funding to the organization for every mile you ride.

The following is info posted on the Plus 3 site:

Making It Count. With the Plus 3 Network, we let you turn every step, every turn of the pedal, every stroke in the pool into a fundraising effort for a cause of your choice. We do this at no cost to you via the support of Corporate Sponsors - dedicated companies who care about the planet, about health and fitness, and about the things we can do together to make a difference.

Free. And as we said, this is all free to you. We've identified companies who want to support you as you get healthier, get social, and help others. All you need to do is choose a Cause/Sponsor combination and then get out there -- either solo or with friends-- and get going.

Activity = Rewards = Fundraising. When you record an activity on The Plus 3 Network -- either by simply logging it on your Activities page "by hand" or by uploading with a GPS to automatically record it and identify it as a run, ride, walk, swim or other -- we apply a value ($.00x per mile, depending on the sport - click here for the table of values). And that value translates to money raised for your Cause and towards Rewards for your Challenges.

Payout By Activity Type

Activity GPS Upload Payout
(Per Mile) Hand Entry Payout
(Per Mile)

Road Biking $0.02 $0.0067

Mtn Biking $0.025 $0.0083

Running $0.035 $0.0117

Walking $0.05 $0.0167

Swimming $0.2 $0.0667

Other $0.01 $0.0033

GPS vs. "Hand Entry" - Remember President Reagan's famous quote about "Trust but verify"? That's sort of Plus 3 Network's motto when it comes to recording your efforts. We trust that the items you put into the system to raise funds for a Cause are accurate to your best estimate, but when we can Verify the accuracy (like with a GPS upload that includes the course, the pace, the distance and the date), we can transfer even more funds to the Cause. And on top of Fundraising, you also get to use your activities to earn Rewards and all kinds of other cool swag.

So to summarize, every effort your record on Plus 3 Network earns rewards for you and money for your cause and shows up on your calendar. A GPS verified record earns 3 x-- yes, Three Times-- more funds than a hand entry. And it's 3 times more fun, 3 times more geeky, and even 3 times more valuable to the rest of The Plus 3 Community when you post activities via GPS. Need a GPS? We can even help you get one. Click here to learn how.

How Does My Cause Get Funds? We run a report about once a month or once a quarter depending on the sponsor / cause requirements. The report tells Sponsors how many Plus 3 members covered how many miles that month/quarter. Then the corporate sponsor writes a nice big check to your Cause and everybody wins.

Stimulus Amendment To Prohibit Bike Funding

2009-02-06T19:49:00.004-06:00

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has offered an amendment to specifically prohibit funding for bicycles, walking and offroad vehicles.

The amendment, which states: "Prohibition on use of funds for trails and off-road vehicle routes. None of the funds made available under this Act shall be used for bicycle, walking, or wildnerness trails, or off-road vehicle routes," has been offered but not introduced.

Alert your Senators and urge them to vote against such amendments and ensure that funding for bicycle infrastructure remain eligible under the transportation funds provided in the stimulus package.

DeMint, who is chair of the Senate Steering Committee, said “When people see bike trails and hiking trails and golf courses, they know this is not designed to stimulate the economy and create jobs. It’s just basically special-interest pork barrel spending.”

Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) rebuffs this argument, stating, "Investment in bike paths will not only improve our economy, and take our country in the right direction for our future; it is precisely the kind of investment the American people want. American families have indicated time and again in the passage of bond measures across the country that they favor spending on alternative transportation, such as bicycles and mass transit, over spending on more highway capacity.

"Americans want a real solution to the economic crisis, not just a band-aid fix. These investments will stimulate the economy in the present and point our nation toward the economic and environmental realities of the future.”

From the Mouths of Brainy Cyclists

2009-02-02T17:35:00.004-06:00

Jon Paretsky, a senior on the Ripon cycling team and a Knop Scholar, was asked to welcome the 30-plus high school seniors who were on campus Saturday to compete for scholarships.

His presentation went a little like this:

Hello! It’s my pleasure to welcome you all to Ripon College. First of all, congratulations, for each of you has shown a certain degree of skill and scholastic aptitude to have been invited to scholarship days. I trust that your interviews and essay writing went well, now is your time to relax, and to enjoy being here.

When I was first asked to speak at Scholarship Days, I wasn’t really sure what I would talk about. Not unlike yourselves, I am a senior. I have worked throughout my four years of college for this last semester, for the preparation of my next leap into the bigger world. I, too, am applying to academic programs, although in my case I’m looking into Ph.D. programs in chemistry. So I’m pretty familiar with that feeling you probably have — trying to answer the big questions, like: “Where do I go next? What place is right for me? What will I study? Will people like me? How will I know?”

So I’ve taken time to reflect on my own college experiences to see how I’ve come to this point now. You know, four years ago I was sitting in your spot. I had just hammered out an essay and made it through a couple of interviews. The next school year, I would be entering Ripon College as an incoming freshman of the class of 2009.

Like most people, I came to college undecided about what I wanted to study, although I had a pretty good idea of what I thought I wanted to do. I would, of course, continue studying German, because I enjoyed languages in high school and figured that it would be a neat path to follow. However, language majors are encouraged to take a second major, and I thought I would take up history. Well, some things just don’t work out the way you plan them to. Although German has been a mainstay of my academic experience, history soon fell out of the picture as I got hooked on chemistry after taking an introductory course.

Hey, no judgment casting guys. I hated chemistry in high school like most American students are supposed to. Part of what caught my interest was the new environment that I found myself in: people interested in learning science and seeing what they could do with it. And then there were the professors.

Ah, professors. Talk to almost any Ripon College student about the best part of the education here, and they will certainly mention their professors. When you’re looking at schools and trying to find your ideal student to professor ratio, what you don’t realize is that professor may become one of the driving factors of your education. I may have hated chemistry in high school, but my professors here at Ripon inspired me to not only enjoy it, but to thrive on it. They have encouraged me to challenge my comfort zones, to push myself in class, and to not give up, all while ensuring that I understand the material I’m supposed to be learning. Professors have such a keen impact on students’ lives because they actually care and take the time to become involved.

Enough about professors though, because, ultimately, there is so much more to college than being in the classroom. Indeed, some of the greatest lessons you will learn will be through the activities you participate in, the friendships you make, and the places you go.

Preparing for this speech made me realize just how much I had fit into my four years here.

I have participated in themed living groups, where a group of my buddies and I lived together in various residence halls over the past three years, throwing movie events and raising money for hunger programs.

Even though I’m not a theatre major, I have participated in a number of Ripon theatre productions, including two student-directed one-act plays.

There are numerous campus events for students, ranging from movie nights to iron-chef competitions to a concert by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

And there’s intramural sports. Nothing is quite like getting a group of your friends together to play innertube water polo in the fall or a vicious round of floor hockey in the spring. My friends and I live for the days when intramural sign-up sheets are released.

This past year I participated in something absolutely new to me: the brand new Ripon College Cycling team. Wow! Was I in for a rough road, literally. Our band of cyclists traveled near and far on the weekends competing in collegiate and general mountain bike races across the Midwest. I’ll admit, I’m not a stellar mountain biker, and believe me, I have some scars to prove it. But cycling gave me a chance to try something totally new, and in the end it was one of the most personally fulfilling things I have done at Ripon. I found that I was capable of doing things I never thought possible, like surmounting an impossible hill, or getting up and finishing a race after biffing it on the asphalt for the third time.

Ripon College has enabled me to have some of the most formative experiences of my life by providing me with the opportunities to travel. As a sophomore, I participated in a Maymester class that spent two weeks in a tiny mountain village in Jamaica, helping out with menial labor, painting walls and keeping the children out of trouble in after-school programs. This was my first major cultural exposure. In the following year, I spent my spring semester abroad at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Yeah there’s that German connection again. I’ve known since eighth grade that I wanted to go to Germany, and my junior year I realized that dream. I spent five months living in Germany, meeting new people from across the world, and taking classes in German language.

While there, I met up with fellow Ripon students who were on their own abroad programs. I visited my best friend in Scotland, and entertained guests in Germany who were studying in programs in Paris, London and Italy.

Probably my favorite part of studying abroad was an internship I had. I actually connected my interests in chemistry and German by doing lab work in the Bonn chemistry department. I spent about 20 hours a week in lab, gaining not only valuable lab experience, but some really cool German friends, too. I admit, it was hard working in an environment where I was speaking a foreign language, and there were days that I was so frustrated that I couldn’t find the German words to explain what I was doing; but the victories I had in lab made me feel like I was 10 feet tall. Studying abroad gave me a chance to live in a world that I had only ever seen pictures of, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about all that I have gained from it.

So there, now you’ve heard of all my experiences at Ripon, and believe me, there’s much, much more that I don’t have time to include in my talk. There’s a little something for everyone here, whether it’s Spanish theatre class, the hustle and bustle of Greek life, or a secluded corner of the library with your favorite book. Now is the time for you to have your own experiences and make your own memories. Good luck with your decisions ahead of you, and I hope you take advantage of the life shaping opportunities you will find here at Ripon College.

For more of Jon's experiences on the bike team and other miscellaneous tidbits, check out Jon's blog.

Another Public Spin Opportunity

2009-01-27T06:22:00.004-06:00

Straight off the heels of the Super Spin Ride for Rosita, there's a second spin event slated to take place in Fond du Lac. It's the second annual MS Saturday Spin. This event, hosted by Team Fond du Lac/Oshkosh Cyclery will be held Saturday, Feb. 14 — that's right Valentine's Day — from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the center court of Fond du Lac's Forest Mall.

Who else would you rather spend time on the Hallmark holiday with than a group of sweaty cyclists in a mall. I'm not sure who's idea this was. I'm certain Simon Property Group, the owners of the Forest Mall, had some input as a convaluted way to get cyclists, who typically shun shopping malls for the great outdoors, into their facility. Or perhaps it's just one more unique way to spread the cycling gospel to a new group of mall rats.

The principle is essentially the same as the Ride for Rosita. You can ride one hour or all four hours. You'll need to raise at minimum $5 for each hour you ride. All dollars raised will go to support the Wisconsin Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

I will once again be leading a hour of torture. After experiencing some technical difficulties this past Saturday at the Ride for Rosita, I am going to be more prepared with my audio/visual equipment for the MS spin.

Download the registration/pledge sheet here.

Super Spin a Success, sort of

2009-01-25T06:35:00.003-06:00

So the Super Spin Ride for Rosita Saturday was a good time. I picked up Tiffany at 7:30 a.m. (that's darn early for a college student any day of the week, especially a Saturday), and we headed over to my old junior high school: Theisen Middle School in Fond du Lac. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've stepped foot in that building since "graduating" from 9th grade back in 1986.

The gym was pretty much the same as I remember it. My sister's high jump records from 25+ years ago stand to this day. The volunteers who help run the Ride for Rosita each year were the same as I remember them as well: extremely helpful and extremely happy to see us. In fact, I'd say it is this dedicated group of volunteers who make this event the joy that it is. They weight on the participants, making sure everyone has enough to eat (including homemade "power bars" and drink). Oliver Clements and Dave Haase have been behind this event since its inception five years ago, and they, too, go out of their ways to welcome everyone and assist as necessary.

The riders present were a collection of local roadies, mountain bikers, casual cycling enthusiasts, regular spinners and kids from 8-18.

I was prepared to lead the group for one hour, but because Iron Woman Heather Haviland was sick and had to cancel, Doc asked me if I'd lead two. "Sure. Why not?" was my silly response. I spent the better part of two nights last week preparing a DVD presentation to go with hour. Unfortunately, the lap tap on site chokes on DVDs and no one had the necessary cables to connect Decal Dave's MacBook to the projector. I carried on with the first hour as scripted (thankfully I had the forsight to prepare my music on my iPod for this very event). The second hour didn't go so well. I put the iPod on shuffle and the song selection was less than desirable. I'm pretty sure I lost most of the remaining crowd before I even began.

Oh well, Tiffany and I got in about four hours of riding. Jon and Bryan showed up for an hour as well. According to Doc Clements, the event raised $6,000 which will cover the cost of hospital drugs in Rosita for one year. It was a good day.

A gallery of photos taken by Patrick Flood of the Fond du Lac Reporter.
A few photos taken by Decal Dave Hornung and me.

This is frickin' amazing!

2009-01-18T20:10:00.001-06:00

For all of you who've played Guitar Hero or Rock Band, this crazy dude took it a step further. I give you: Bike Hero. Rated TA for Totally Awesome.

Activity	GPS Upload Payout (Per Mile)	Hand Entry Payout (Per Mile)
Road Biking	$0.02	$0.0067
Mtn Biking	$0.025	$0.0083
Running	$0.035	$0.0117
Walking	$0.05	$0.0167
Swimming	$0.2	$0.0667
Other	$0.01	$0.0033