Cycling team returns after years of dormancy
It often seems like most biking on campus is either in a rush to get to class or is preceded by Beer. But Rice’s long-dormant Cycling Team is starting to put campus peddlers back into competition.
The year-round club, started by Baker College senior J.C. Zapata and Brown College sophomore Jasper Yan this semester, meets several times a week to bike around Houston.
Yan said the team was an effort to revive Rice’s cycling team, which was extremely active about ten years ago and had road races with the University of Texas, Texas A&M and the University of Houston. Although the team has existed since then, it became less active over the years until Yan and Zapata decided to revive it this year.
“I got into cycling this summer and cycled with my friend and was thinking we should have a cycling time, so I found J.C. online and we were like, ‘We both cycle, we both have a passion for cycling, so why not just form a club?’” Yan said.
The team competes in the South Central Collegiate Cycling Conference and is a member of the National Collegiate Cycling Association, a standing committee of USA Cycling. The team offers recreational rides and training sessions for its 16 members. Since the Beer-Bike track is closed until January, Zapata said the club bikes recreationally in the two-mile loop in Memorial Park on weekdays and bikes at Clear Lake with other cyclists on weekends.
Zapata said the club expanded students’ opportunities to cycle competitively, beyond the annual Beer-Bike.
“The difference between Beer-Bike and this is that Beer-Bike is one day and everyone just prepares for that one Beer-Bike race while the cycling team is year-round,” Zapata said.
Yan, who said he first became interested in cycling because of Beer-Bike, said the Cycling Team offers more variety.
“Beer-Bike is basically a one-mile sprint around the track,” Yan said. “Cycling can be a sprint but it can also be a lot more than that. I found out that cycling around the track was extremely boring and I really wanted to get on the road and explore the road. I found road cycling much more dynamic than Beer-Bike.”
Yan and Zapata both said cyclists of all abilities should not be discouraged from joining, since the team is not as competitive as it might sound.
“Basically the cycling team is open to anybody who is interested in cycling or has a passion for cycling,” Yan said.
The club hopes to participate in road races next year, and has secured sponsorship from Bike Barn, Polar, Accelerate and Rice Web Searches. Yan said students interested in joining who do not have a bike can acquire one at discounted prices through the team.
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