Do you ever dream about getting out of Manhattan twice a week, enjoying beautiful views of the Hudson River Valley, and keeping yourself fit and healthy all at once? The next time you see a group of 40 cyclers riding around the neighborhood on a Sunday morning, you may be looking at Columbia’s cycling club doing just that.
Of these bikers, most of them may have never taken riding seriously until recently.
“Cycling in the U.S. does not have any grassroots movement like Little League,” said Alexander Bremer, SEAS ’09, the team’s captain and vice president. Since most young athletes are encouraged to play mainstream team sports such as soccer, basketball, and baseball, there remains a largely untapped pool of potentially talented cyclists at Columbia, and at many other universities as well.
There are “lots of new cyclists in the collegiate scene,” Bremer said, and Columbia’s cycling team accommodates biking enthusiasts of all levels of experience. On Fridays, the team’s more experienced bikers typically run a “skills ride” to teach newer cyclists how to adjust to the team’s methods and routines.
During the week, team members train on their own, with the more serious riders putting in 10 to 20 hours per week. On Saturdays and Sundays, the whole group rides together on long rides that generally range from two to five hours.
With little space to ride indoors, it forces riders to face the cold winter and ride against high winds.
“You can’t let your bike start collecting dust once the temperature drops,” the club’s president, Alexander Graybeal, SEAS ’09, said in an e-mail. The collegiate racing season begins in early March, and “in order to show up competitive, training through the winter is a necessity.”
Exceptions are made when the temperature dips below 20 degrees or when enough snow falls to seriously impact conditions. At these times, club members will usually ride on an indoor mount, a contraption that “basically turns your outdoor bike into an indoor bike,” according to Bremer.
But riding outside is a far more scenic option. Cyclists often leave Manhattan, seeking uninterrupted routes.
“Most people don’t realize how easy it is to get into New Jersey,” Graybeal said. “It only takes about 20 minutes to ride all the way over into New Jersey from the Morningside campus.” Several of the more popular routes take the cyclists over the bridge, up the river, back into New York State, through the Palisades, and all the way to destinations such as the Orchards of Concklin or the Nyack area.
“A long ride is typically 60 to 70 miles,” Bremer said, but riders will go for up to five hours and approach the 100-mile mark.
The cycling team does not have varsity status from the University, but they compete regularly every spring. The season lasts eight to nine weeks, beginning in early March, and the team meets up with many northeastern schools for several days of racing in Boston, Princeton, and other regional locations on most weekends.
“Last year, we finished fourth out of the 74 teams in the eastern conference, winning two race weekend omniums on the way,” Graybeal said. After the championship race in the final week, some riders go on to collegiate nationals, competing against cyclists from all over the United States.
In order to stay afloat, the team must rely on more than Columbia’s club sports funding, which only provides about a third of the necessary support for the group’s main expenses—travel and lodging. Additional funding comes from sponsorships and alumni contributions. The Grant’s Tomb Criterium, an annual race hosted by Columbia on the third Saturday in March, also helps raise money for the team.
The club, which is made up of both graduates and undergraduates, is always seeking new members looking to put in a commitment. “We welcome any cyclists who are interested in trying their hand at racing, whatever their fitness level,” Graybeal said.
One thing is for sure—getting involved with Columbia’s cycling team will be just like riding a bike, an experience you’ll never forget.