Cycling team finishes strong despite small numbers

By Nick Pinkerton

The cycling team finished its first complete season in several years last month at the Western Collegiate Cycling Conference in Reno, Nevada.

Though the team was too small to compete in races and finish ahead of the competition, the Broncos ahieved some impressive results nonetheless.

Sophomore Julienne Syme won the women's C-criterium and placed second in the C-road race, while junior Bobby Lorenzen finished in the top ten in the C-road race.

"All of these teams have been racing for years, and this was kind of like our debut," said Lorenzen. "We gained a lot of respect in that little community of collegiate riders."

Santa Clara competed against several universities, including host school University of Nevada, Reno; Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.

Many of these teams consist of dozens of riders, while Santa Clara only has seven team members.

Lorenzen, the club's president, is just happy to have riders on the team, since two years ago there were no riders at all.

Lorenzen took up an interest in cycling between his freshman and sophomore year at Santa Clara and assumed club presidency on a stroke of luck.

"I thought I should see if there's a race team, so I contacted Father Reites (club faculty advisor), and he said, 'We don't have a president now,'" Lorenzen said.

He had to restart the club from scratch and recruit an entirely new team.

He began the process during the following fall, but he struggled to find committed riders who were willing and able to cover the demanding club dues, including the cost of bikes, equipment and race fees.

During his early days as the club's president, the workload just to keep the club alive was so demanding that Lorenzen nearly stepped away from his duties.

"It took a lot of dedication, and there were a couple times I thought about quitting because I was doing this all by myself," he said.

The fall after he became president, Lorenzen recruited only Syme and Ben Thompson, not nearly as many as he had hoped for. Lorenzen recruited an additional four riders this season, all of whom are freshmen and sophomores who do not have much racing experience.

Despite their inexperience, riders Chris Bartunek, Henry Kuo, John Popplewell and Andrew Shenstone rapidly improved, and Lorenzen feels confident about picking up next year where the team left off.

"Every time our riders got on a bike we improved, and we improved from day one to where we our now. It was a quantum leap," he said.

To complement the team of riders, Lorenzen added a coach -- Santa Clara alumnus Al Painter, '95.

Lorenzen first met Painter at the Amgen Tour de California. Painter spotted Lorenzen in his Santa Clara jersey and soon contacted him through the club's Web site.

Painter assisted in the team's workouts, which included various exercises on and off the bike. He also taught the new riders the crucial tactics that make cycling more than just a rider peddling on a bike.

"Having a coach helps with how we optimize our effort to get one guy on the podium and the rest of us doing well," said Lorenzen.

The women's team was also affected by a small number of riders, considering there was only one.

Syme, the only rider on the women's team, found it difficult to find ways to win races with no supporting riders.

"Racing is all about team strategy -- keeping the team drafting together, using your best riders at the right time, sacrificing yourself so that the sprinter can take the breakaway and win," Syme said.

She added, "Though possible, it is much more difficult as a solo rider to win races."

Despite their small numbers, the club embraced their accomplishments this season and saw their success as a potential formula to bring more riders in and expand the club in future seasons.

Syme added, "We hope that our successes this race season will get some good response from the Santa Clara community and encourage more racers to join next year."

Contact Nick Pinkerton at (408) 551-1918 or npinkerton@scu.edu.