Cycling club takes on Antelpoe Island
Saturday at Antelope Island, the USU Cycling Club will participating in its first big race of the spring season.
Utah State will send about 14 riders to race at the Antelope Island Road Race. The USU riders are licensed by the United States Cycling Federation and are divided into five divisions based on their experience. Riders start in division five and work their way up to division one based upon points earned in races.
The race will consist of laps around a 4-mile course. Riders in divisions four and five will be racing 10 laps for a total of 40 miles while riders in divisions one, two and three will be racing 15 laps to total 60 miles. Utah State will have about eight or nine riders in division four/five and about five racers in the upper division.
The race will start at 9 a.m. for division four/five and at approximately noon for the upper divisions.
This is the first Utah race of the year and several hundred racers are expected to turn out. In addition to the licensed division are citizens divisions and masters divisions for older riders. Team captain Tommy Murphy said this is a big race and there will be a lot of big names out trying to win because prize money goes to the winners.
Because this is not a collegiate race, Murphy said several Utah State riders will be riding under a different uniform. About half the team rides for other teams during the summer and many will represent their other teams at this race.
Murphy said this will be a really good race for the team and will help them get their intensity up. USU will also have a chance to compete against cyclists from Brigham Young University and the University of Utah.
“We have some high hopes for the race,” Murphy said. “We will expect to dominate division four/five.”
In the upper division, Murphy said he will lead the team and have four other riders working for him. In division four/five, Murphy said Steve Hadley has been elected captain because they think he has the best shot to win. The other team members will be working for Hadley to allow him to save his energy for a strong finish.
“We are going to try to work as a team to get a win in [division] four/five,” Murphy said.
Hadley said his strength is in climbing, and the course at Antelope Island has several rolling hills. The hills will work to his advantage and serve to break up the pack and create some breakaway opportunities.
Leading up to this race, team members have been participating in criteriums in Salt Lake City on the weekends for about the past month. At the criteriums, racers ride around a track for approximately an hour before sprinting for the finish line. Racers in divisions one and two are put in the A group, while racers from divisions three, four, and five are put in the B group.
Murphy said every week a Utah State rider has finished in the top 10 in the B group and in the top 20 in the A group. Last week in the B group, Drew Shetrone finished sixth, Hadley finished ninth and Roger Snow also finished in the top 20. In the A group, Murphy finished 17th and Billy Allen finished 12th. Murphy said in that criterium they finished ahead of a rider who competes for the U.S. National team.
Hadley said the criteriums are good for learning strategy, and it was a good lesson for him. He said he was at the front going into the last lap, but everyone was drafting off him, saving energy, allowing them to go around him at the end of the race.
After the Antelope Island Road Race, the team will begin its collegiate season. Murphy said a few riders may race over Easter weekend, but the entire team won’t compete until April 21 in a race hosted by Mesa State College in Fruita, Colo. The team will race in collegiate races every week after that to earn points for a spot at nationals, which will be in May.
The race tomorrow, USU’s only local race, is in a good format for spectators, Hadley said. Spectators will get to see the racers many times because the race is done in laps.
“I really encourage people to go to this race,” Hadley said. “This will be the one chance to see us.”