Mercer Racks up at Clemson!

-Macon, GA-
The Mountain bikers of the Mercer Cycling team traveled 4 hours north this weekend to race in Greenville, South Carolina. Elizabeth Lee represented the team in the Womens B/Cat2 division, Charles Weaving represented the team in Men's C/Cat5, and Gabriel Denes represented in the Men's B/Cat3 division.

Lee Swept up this weekend with a first place finish in both the short track cross country races. Freshman Charles Weaving has made his mark on the Men's C circuit, taking second place in both the short track and cross country races. Charles now holds second place in the southeast for Men's C cross country and third place for short track.



Denes crashed hard in his short track race, only able to fight up to 8th place before the finish. In the Men's B/Cat3 cross country race, Denes placed second, 26 seconds behind the win. Denes recalls," The race sunday was brutal. It started out raining in the morning, which made the course completely soupy. We all ran super low pressure in our tires to try to get at least some grip through the course, though we had to get off the bikes and sprint up several of the hills. There were several big crashes in my category due to all the muck and mud. I sprinted in the holeshot to make first in the woods, and made a gap along with two other riders on the rest of the pack. We led out for a while, until I caught a tree with my bars and was thrown off the bike. It put me far enough back to have a brutal fight to finish in second."


-Men's B Start-



The Team plans to finish the Collegiate MTB Season this weekend with the Conference Championships in Conyers, GA at the GA Tech race. Look forward to more podium finishes next week!

Victories, Thrills, and Spills at Columbus & Dauset

- Columbus, GA -
Results

It was a tough final weekend of racing for the Mercer Cycling team as the squad was represented at the 12 Hours of Dauset Mountain Bike Race as well as the Uptown Columbus Omnium. The outcome of the weekend: one huge crash, a few top-10 finishes, a team trophy, and a tired squad.

Gabe Denes, Charles Weaving, and Elizabeth Lee traveled to Jackson, Georgia for the grueling endurance event. Weaving, opting for the solo division race, placed 16th in a hard fought effort while Lee would finish 3rd in the female category. Gabe Denes teamed up with another racer to win the 2-person race trophy, a coveted feat.

Meanwhile, in southwest Georgia, Kevin Roberts and Andrew Lockwood entered Saturday's time trial (6 miles) along the banks of the city's river and scorched the trial, finishing with times of 15:08 and 15:10 respectively. Lockwood would take 4th, just 8 seconds from the third place finisher while Roberts would finish in 5th.

Detecting illness, Roberts sat out of the Saturday afternoon race in Hurtsboro, Alabama where a massive crash with 1 mile to go took out any chances for a Top-5 finish for Lockwood.

"They combined the Cat 5's and juniors with us and unfortunately I was behind a rider who somehow make a huge mistake during an acceleration," said Lockwood. "I went over my handlebars, flipped over on my helmet and my bike went flying by someone's face. I was really lucky to leave with just scrapes."

Despite the crash, Lockwood lost only 2 minutes and continued to the finish line to secure an 8th place finish.


Sunday's criterium saw Denes, Lockwood, Weaving, and Denes' father (also sporting the MU kit) team up in the fast crit around downtown Columbus. Averaging over 25 mph for the race, Lockwood won an early prime but lost ground gradually through the race. Denes, despite the fatigue from the Dauset race the day before, managed a 4th place finish while Lockwood would finish 11th. Weaving, racing in his first criterium, would fall 4 laps down in 12th.

Lockwood accumulated enough points throughout the weekend to place 3rd in the Omnium Standings for Category 4. The elder Denes would also take 3rd in his respective category, sporting the Mercer jersey for the weekend.

"It was a great last weekend or racing for our team," said the team racing director. "We really made huge strides throughout the year and I think we'll be much stronger next season," he added.

Mercer Mountain Bike Team Looks Strong at SECCC event at FSU

- Tallahassee, FL -
Results

Racing in the second SECCC Mountain Bike event this fall held in Tallahassee, Florida, three members of Mercer Cycling competed in the short track and cross country races. Gabe Denes and Elizabeth Lee, two of the usual suspects on Mercer's team traveled as did newcomer Charles Weaving, a freshman Vocal Performance/Biology major out of Lawrenceville, Georgia.

In the short track race, a race around a 500 meter course that resembles a criterium, Gabe Denes showed power early on, rocketing to the front, but dropped back to the pack later in the race to finish 6th in Category B. Elizabeth Lee also looked strong in her second place finish in the Women's B category while Charles Weaving had the most interesting short track race of them all.

After leading 12 laps of the race, Weaving heard a loud pop coming from his front fork in what resulted as a destroyed rim. Running across the finish line with his bike in hand, Weaving still managed to salvage a 4th place finish in the 'C' group.

The next day, two of the three riders saw 1st place finishes in the cross country event. After buying a new rim, Weaving took his first collegiate victory after passing slower traffic in front of him and Elizabeth Lee held off a trio of riders from Warren Wilson College to take the top spot in Women's 'B'.

Unfortunately, Sunday's race wasn't easy for Denes as he crashed 6 times in the sand, breaking a seatpost and doing plenty of damage to his bike. Despite the wrecks, Denes fought back from 7th to finish 4th in his second race of the mountain bike season.