Cumberland Cycling = Victory!
The Cumberland University Cycling Team raced this weekend on their home turf in Middle Tennessee. Vanderbilt and Cumberland successfully teamed up to promote a weekend of collegiate and USCF races in Franklin and downtown Nashville. Despite chilly temps we still had a great turnout as it provided both schools an opportunity to raise much needed funds for our respective programs.
Being so close to home the Cumberland boys were geared up for a good weekend of racing. Earlier in the week our team suffered a setback when Ben Bevans crashed during a training ride and broke his collar bone, but this weekend we picked up Robbie Yost who has been overcoming pneumonia. While we missed Ben's presence and strong efforts on the road it was good to see Robbie mix it up for the first time.
On Saturday Vanderbilt hosted the road race in Leipers Fork near Franklin. The course is picturesque with rolling terrain, but there's one big hill at Fernvale that split the pack on each 21 mile lap of the 63 mile event. When there are hills involved expect to see Peter Fairbanks pushing the pace, and on each lap Peter was involved in a breakaway with two to three riders each time.
Eventually Peter settled into a breakaway with one other rider from Lees-McRae named Scott Jackson, but only after dropping another of Scott's teammates. Coming into the final 500 meters Peter and Scott were battling head-to-head in an intense sprint, but Scott proved the stronger rider and edged Peter by less than one foot! Second place by less than a wheel length, ah, but that's bike racing. Truly a sport of tire widths and bike lengths.
The chasing group behind Peter were a little over a minute behind, and Jason Chatham finished off that pack strongly and took the sprint for 4th place.
Now the attention was turned to Sunday as it was Cumberland's chance to host a day of criteriums at The Coliseum, home of the Tennessee Titans. The backdrop of the stadium and downtown Nashville makes for a wonderful view and motivational surroundings. Peter, Jason, Robbie and Whitney Stanbrough knew this was their race to win.
As usual the attacks began from the start with Cumberland and Lees-McRae swapping punches, but Jason Chatham quickly got into a three man break with two other Lees-McRae riders. Not good odds for Jason, but those three kids proved ultra strong as they lapped the field.
After catching their breath for a few laps in the field Jason once again broke away from the pack, but this time taking only one of his previous breakaway partners. Jason was going up against Luke Winger of Lees-McRae, but with unique racing tactics both were able to utilize an extra teammate during the final two laps who were not on the lead lap.
Jason smoked the sprint and took home victory for Cumberland University!
Check out this photo by Gregory Byerline of Spincycle Creative.
What a wonderful result for a group of hard working kids, all dedicated to helping the team cross the line first. Jason, Peter, Robbie and Whitney all sacrificed for that top spot, a spot becoming familiar territory for the Cumberland team.
Look in the background of the photo and you'll see Peter Fairbanks throwing his fist up cheering as he realizes Jason will win. Peter had sacrificed a possible 4th place finish to drop back and support Jason in the finish. What better example is there of teamwork with a photo to capture the excitement? That's the kind of picture you see from top European teams when they have victory in the bag.
To recap the season we now stand at:
4 Victories and 12 podium finishes this season
This truly was an exciting moment for our program. Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement, and stay tuned for more good news as we gear up for Collegiate Nationals.
Being so close to home the Cumberland boys were geared up for a good weekend of racing. Earlier in the week our team suffered a setback when Ben Bevans crashed during a training ride and broke his collar bone, but this weekend we picked up Robbie Yost who has been overcoming pneumonia. While we missed Ben's presence and strong efforts on the road it was good to see Robbie mix it up for the first time.
On Saturday Vanderbilt hosted the road race in Leipers Fork near Franklin. The course is picturesque with rolling terrain, but there's one big hill at Fernvale that split the pack on each 21 mile lap of the 63 mile event. When there are hills involved expect to see Peter Fairbanks pushing the pace, and on each lap Peter was involved in a breakaway with two to three riders each time.
Eventually Peter settled into a breakaway with one other rider from Lees-McRae named Scott Jackson, but only after dropping another of Scott's teammates. Coming into the final 500 meters Peter and Scott were battling head-to-head in an intense sprint, but Scott proved the stronger rider and edged Peter by less than one foot! Second place by less than a wheel length, ah, but that's bike racing. Truly a sport of tire widths and bike lengths.
The chasing group behind Peter were a little over a minute behind, and Jason Chatham finished off that pack strongly and took the sprint for 4th place.
Now the attention was turned to Sunday as it was Cumberland's chance to host a day of criteriums at The Coliseum, home of the Tennessee Titans. The backdrop of the stadium and downtown Nashville makes for a wonderful view and motivational surroundings. Peter, Jason, Robbie and Whitney Stanbrough knew this was their race to win.
As usual the attacks began from the start with Cumberland and Lees-McRae swapping punches, but Jason Chatham quickly got into a three man break with two other Lees-McRae riders. Not good odds for Jason, but those three kids proved ultra strong as they lapped the field.
After catching their breath for a few laps in the field Jason once again broke away from the pack, but this time taking only one of his previous breakaway partners. Jason was going up against Luke Winger of Lees-McRae, but with unique racing tactics both were able to utilize an extra teammate during the final two laps who were not on the lead lap.
Jason smoked the sprint and took home victory for Cumberland University!
Check out this photo by Gregory Byerline of Spincycle Creative.
What a wonderful result for a group of hard working kids, all dedicated to helping the team cross the line first. Jason, Peter, Robbie and Whitney all sacrificed for that top spot, a spot becoming familiar territory for the Cumberland team.
Look in the background of the photo and you'll see Peter Fairbanks throwing his fist up cheering as he realizes Jason will win. Peter had sacrificed a possible 4th place finish to drop back and support Jason in the finish. What better example is there of teamwork with a photo to capture the excitement? That's the kind of picture you see from top European teams when they have victory in the bag.
To recap the season we now stand at:
4 Victories and 12 podium finishes this season
This truly was an exciting moment for our program. Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement, and stay tuned for more good news as we gear up for Collegiate Nationals.
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 3/27/2006 01:27:00 PM
8 Comments:
no reports on the first TBRA mtb race of the season, which fell on the Sunday of the crits (though it was scheduled first)...
blog about the local cycling scene...road and mountain as this site is called nashvillecyclist.com and not cumberland university cycling.com
Thanks
First anonymous....read Daniel Matheny's newest diary posted tonight about Chickasaw. I am also working on getting another mountain diarist contributor. I've always admitted my lacking knowledge on the mountain side, which is why I'm bringing others on board.
Second anonymous....look at a map to find Lebanon in Tennessee. It's closer to Nashville than Columbia (ie Chickasaw). There are three riders on the Cumberland team from Middle Tennesse, and all are familiar faces to the local scene (more familiar than yours?). The race was held in downtown Nashville, promoted and organized by Cumberland. The university is 100% behind the program and helping to grow the racing culture of Middle Tennessee.
I have more bullets to shoot, but really, need I say more?
I think one just went through your foot.
Another brilliant and insightful comment by an "anonymous"
Some people get it, some don't.
First Annon here. I don't mind the CU and VU write ups, I'm not around that crowd but do like to hear they are kickin' some butt and like that the efforts to grow the collegiate scene are in effect.
But, Daniel's diary entry doesn't mention the huge turn out in each class, the team tents and supporters that showed up to cheer on the racers.
It's your blog and you can blog what you want, but you call it "Nashville Cyclist" and link to it from the "Nashville Cyclist" site, which you'd like to be "the" center for regional cycling information, but it's not. Biased towards road and not the Nashville cycling scene. The urban rides, the night rides, the commuters, the mountain/road racers, the mountain/road enthusiasts, the free-riders, trials riders, bmx-ers... there's more scene than crits in the area. If someone from out of town were to check the site they'd just think we were all road racers.
But, I don't have a blog or a blogger account, so don't take this all too personally. Just think about the huge cycling life in Nashville that's missing from the site
2nd anon. here....yea...it's your blog so do what you want...as far as racing the local scene...been doing that for years...just wanted you to do more than college race reports in your blog...like 1st anon. stated..there is a lot of cycling here in nashville that should be covered...like the critical mass this friday.:)
i love when people tell bloggers what to put in their blogs...there are plenty of areas for content contribution on this site, dude. and it's been pretty clear(to me, at least) from the start that any new info/reports/ideas/thoughts; etc. are welcome. if it seems biased towards road racers, it's because they are the only ones contributing.... so, rather than complain, why don't you contribute?
btw-thanks for the race weekend. fun, well organized rr and crit.
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