Cycling club takes No. 1 ranking to nationals

With one road race under their belts, members of the Penn State cycling club are looking to maintain their No. 1 national ranking in the National Collegiate Cycling Association.

The NCCA combines the mountain bike, track and road racing seasons together to obtain the overall collegiate rankings. Mountain bike and track seasons are completed.

"Many people compete during mountain biking season as well as road racing," club co-president Matt Koerber said. "They're completely different sports, but you use the same muscles."

The cycling club competes in the Eastern Conference of the NCCA along with schools from New York, New Jersey and New England. Its first road race of the season was a non-conference victory at Ohio University. Four of the top six finishers were from Penn State.

During a recent club meeting, Koerber and fellow co-president Brian Vedder discussed upcoming races, including Penn State's home race March 29.

The race is scheduled to run through Benner Township, located a few miles east of campus. However, in a recent letter sent to Vedder, Benner Township board of supervisors has denied the racers use of its roads.

The letter states that last season "requirements were met for the event. However it has been noted that one prime consideration was during the year, use of our roads by your members was to follow criteria such that single file cycling traffic would be utilized."

The letter went on to say, "This criteria has not been met and on several occasions cyclists have been observed traveling three and four abreast, causing unnecessary traffic back-up. It is plain to us by this behavior that your members have little or no consideration for the requirements set forth by this Township."

State law allows for cyclers to ride two abreast.

"Obviously, these guys don't like the way we ride," Vedder said. "We will respond to this letter."

Despite the conflict with Benner Township, the cyclers are ready to continue with their season. Leading the cyclers this season will be 1995 Road Racing National Champion and All-American Stephan Kincaid. Kincaid thinks he can return to national champion status after a top 10 1996 finish.

"That was one of my primary goals last year," he said, "but my training wasn't tweaked right."

Even though he finished in the top 10 last year, Kincaid said, "You don't get remembered for second place."

Jim Young, a professor at the the Allentown Campus, makes the trip to State College once a month to teach interested riders the tricks of the trade. Young serves as an informal coach for the club and demands a minimum of 10 hours of training each week from team members.

"If you can't commit to 10 hours a week you shouldn't be racing," Young said. "It's that simple."

Young stressed the importance of capitalizing on team racing and racing smart.

"The advantage Penn State has over other schools is that we have the most, the best and the biggest racers," Young said. "Cycling is a thinking man's game. It's not always the strongest man wins."

Because the cycling club is not a varsity sport there are no scholarships available for its members. They receive $3,000 from the University, and the other money comes from the $25 annual dues from team members.