Via the CSU Rams
As most cyclists’ thoughts turn to cyclocross, skiing, or off-season feasting, the Colorado State University Rams Cycling team is in full mountain bike race mode. Next Tuesday the Rams will make the 25 hour drive to Beech Mountain, North Carolina for the 2013 Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships presented by Lees McRae College. After a successful showing at the Collegiate Track National Championships, CSU is sitting 6th overall in the nationwide team rankings and hopes to leverage a strong result in North Carolina to move further up the overall rankings. The Rams are confident in their ability to bring home some hardware as they take the largest, most competitive, and most well-rounded team they’ve had in several years. Despite missing almost 2 full weekends of conference races this season due to acts of intense weather and the government shutdown, CSU managed to secure 3rd place in the standard setting Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference behind CU Boulder and Fort Lewis College, teams that are consistently on the podium at MTB nationals. Men’s and women’s points are combined in collegiate cycling so the Rams are especially proud to be taking 7 women racers to North Carolina, including two brave ladies going for the individual omnium by racing all four events. The Rams cycling team for collegiate nationals is;
Greg Krieger – XC, ST, DS, DH, Team relay
Greg has made a name for himself this season by racing Men’s A downhill on his 29″ hardtail and hitting all the jumps and drops, causing other downhillers who wear pads and race DH bikes to feel silly.
Mark Currie – XC, ST, Team Relay
Mark honed his endurance all summer racing marathon XC and 100 milers and has consistently been the top Ram in XC and short track
Zach Bodhane – XC, ST
Zach has missed a few races this season so he could be a good student but is successfully racing himself into shape and trying hard not to hurt himself
Drew Faturos – XC, ST
Drew upgraded to the Men’s A field this season and also upgraded his bike so he’s going fast and crashing less, he also manages the team’s substantial funds.
Ricky Pimental – XC, ST
Ricky is the team guitarist and singer and also upgraded to the Men’s A field just this season.
Brett Donohue – DH, DS
Brett is the lone male gravity racer, upgraded to the A’s quickly after dominating the B’s, and has been known to crash a mountain resort wedding.
Suzie Livingston – XC, ST, Team Relay
Suzie finished out the season in 4th place in the conference for women’s endurance racers and is known throughout the conference for coming to all the races with her biggest fan, her dog Papaya.
Jackie Kabel – XC, ST, DH, DS
Jackie decided endurance racing wasn’t enough so she moved up through the gravity ranks this season and will be racing for the individual omnium at Nationals.
Lauren Presley – XC, ST, DH, DS
Lauren became a skilled enough XC racer that she stopped crashing, but that was boring so she starting racing the gravity events to stay sharp and will also be competing in the individual omnium by racing 4 events.
Jordan Cooper – XC, ST, Team relay
Jordan started the season in the Women’s B field and after a few days of domination she upgraded to A’s, where she has been one of the top lady Rams in endurance races
Erin Wilson – XC, ST
Erin upgraded to the A’s during the season so that she could face her biggest rival, her twin sister, who foolishly chose to attend and race for CU Boulder
Katy Aceto – XC, ST
Katy also started the season as a B racer but was extra motivated to upgrade after she heard stories about how much fun the Rams have on Nationals road trips.
Eva Wilson – DH, DS
Eva is an east coast native so she is less likely to fall over when she looks at wet roots like all of her Rocky Mountain native teammates. Eva is a threat to podium in both gravity events this year.
For real time updates on Ram results throughout collegiate nationals follow the Rams on twitter @RamsCycling or search #collnats and checkout our Facebook page www.facebook.com/CSURamsCycling.
