Ledger

Issue date: 5/1/03 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Chris Janes Cycling Club President Chris Janes races in the Beacon Bomber downhill event in Spokane the last weekend of May.

Chris Janes forms UWT Cycling Club after being informed that he couldn’t compete with the Husky Racing team.

Mountain bike fanatic, Chris Janes, joined the official UW cycling club, Husky Racing, to get involved and compete in racing events only to be disqualified from the National Collegiate Cycling Association championships.

Although active in the Husky Racing student recreation organization, as a registered student at UWT Janes was unable to compete with the UW Seattle team at the NCCA level. That's when he decided UWT needed a cycling organization.

"I basically started the club so I could race in the national race," said Janes, now the president of the UWT cycling club.

Mountain bike racing for about six years, Janes said the club has about eight members so far and is hoping to get more people involved.

According to the mission of the club, it's goal is to promote mountain biking while providing opportunities for students, staff, faculty and the UWT community to explore the joys of cycling while building life-long friendships which are developed during group rides and to allow opportunities for advanced cyclist's to compete in NCCA events.

"It's for everybody," Janes said. "There are beginner classes all the way up to pro-pretty much anybody can do it."

The cycling club recently raced in the Olympic Meltdown event, April 26-27. Held in Port Angeles, WA, the race was sponsored by Sound bikes & Kayaks featured cross-country racing and downhill racing.

The downhill course at Olympic Meltdown included a high quality single track rolling through the rain forest of the Olympic Peninsula. The downhill course, built by the locals, challenged riders with a fast single track and huge jumps all while weaving through the trees and scenic surroundings of the Olympic Mountains.

Janes finished in the top 10 of the Expert Men, age 19-29, category at Olympic Meltdown event last weekend.

The NCCA administers, develops, promotes and governs collegiate cycling across the country. NCCA clubs, or teams, are assembled specifically for recreational and competitive bicycle racing at the junior, four-year college and university level.

Whether a team is focused on racing by road, track, cyclo-cross or mountain bike riding there are approximately 215 NCCA member collegiate cycling clubs with over 2,500 member athletes. Each club belongs to a particular collegiate cycling conference, which is designated on the basis of the school's location.

The UWT cycling club and Husky Racing organization belong to the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference, an organization of club cycling teams from colleges and universities in the Northwest. The current members of the NWCC include Montana State University, University of Oregon, Seattle University, University of Idaho, Oregon State University, Central Oregon Community College, Walla Walla College, Washington State University and Seattle Central Community College.

"There's one big national college race in October, the NCCA mountain bike championships," said Janes.

The club has been funded for four races so far, but Janes said that they plan on putting together a fun race this summer-possibly at Mt. Rainier.

Even though the club is currently based on mountain bike riding, Janes is open to anyone joining and starting up a road-riding event. Graduating in 2004, he explained that if people want to continue the club they could do whatever they want to do with it.

"Come out and have fun," Janes said. "There are lots of people looking for other people to ride with."

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