Jesuit’s very own cycling team has been very productive and focused this off season, despite there being no high school road races for them to compete in. Instead they have been focused on fall training and lifting to increase their strength and stamina. However, they still are racing in some races, such as “cyclocross” and mountain biking.
Dalton Walters ’16 said the team has “been getting race experience for our new riders” with some small “criterium” races. Criterium racing is very fun and fast-paced racing, usually on a mile-long course in the shape of a square. These races usually last around thirty to forty-five minutes, and many can be found in the local area.
Dalton went on to say that the whole team has been “developing strength with weight room sessions and interval training.” In addition to these shorter rides, they regularly gain “endurance with long distance rides,” he continued. Most of the team, already riding four days out of the week, rides both days of each weekend.
“One of the coolest things,” Dalton added, “is to see someone who goes from zero to one hundred really quick,” referencing the new recruits for the year. “More time in the weight room and more miles on the saddle will determine who separates themselves from their peers in the spring” when the racing season starts, he said.
Another interesting type of racing the team has been doing during the winter is “cyclocross.” Dalton explained that cyclocross is a “discipline of cycling in which people race bicycles on an obstacle course. This course can be, and is usually on and off road.” Cyclocross traditionally takes place in the winter, or road off season, and generally riders enjoy it more as the conditions get worse, in other words, they like the cold and snow and mud.
Dalton concluded by remarking on the most memorable race of the off-season in which the team packed up and went mountain biking in Huntsville. “The mountain squad rolled up to the starting line, and it started pouring rain,” he said. “We raced in the wet Huntsville forest for 10 miles until we finished. Hugo Scala ’16, one of the teams finest road racers, and a machine in cyclocross and mountain, finished first. I came in second, and Thomas Whitaker ’17 came on fourth,” he continued.
Alejandro Joglar ’15 also weighed in on the year so far. “The cycling team has been really good the past few months. We have gotten a lot of freshmen who have a lot of potential,” he remarked. So far, though, “key players this year are Hugo Scala in the mountain races and the road races, and Dalton in the cyclocross races,” he shared.
“We are focusing on increasing our power and stamina before the season starts,” he said. “In training we have been really strong,” he continued, complimenting the team. “Everybody works very hard during the weekdays doing intervals and doing a lot of long, endurance based rides over the weekend.”
Alejandro signed off with one last comment: “We’ll be strong and ready for this next season.”
