MU Cycling Prepares for Macon Cycling Classic

- Macon, GA -

Following a busy weekend of racing in Athens, Roswell, and Ft. Yargo, Mercer Cycling now prepares for the Macon Cycling Classic to be held Saturday, May 1st around the Tatnall Square Park in front of Mercer University. Hosting the event along with the Walthall Oil Cycling team, the criterium race boasts over $5,000 in prize money and merchandise awards and over 10 races during the course of the day.

The team expects several entries from within Mercer Cycling in the race, including Andrew Lockwood, Kevin Roberts, Elizabeth Lee, Austin Sholly, Gabe Denes, and Paul Rush among others. Roberts comes off of his best weekend of crit racing yet, placing 4th in the Cat 5 in Athens and 22nd in the Cat 4/5 in Roswell. Denes and Lee all look to garner top finishes after placing 3rd in their respective races in Ft. Yargo.


Lockwood looks to redeem himself after crashing midway through Athens and finishing 33rd in Roswell while Sholly also looks for a high finish after a vicious wreck on the Greenway course in Athens last Saturday.

The Cat 3/4 Women's race begins at 11:20am while the Mercer men will take off at 12:10pm.

For a full list of details, results and event schedule, visit www.maconcyclingclassic.com

Top Showings in Athens, Ft. Yargo

Athens Photos
Roswell Photos

- Athens, GA -

After a crazy weekend of racing, Mercer Cycling took another big step by racing near the top in Athens, Roswell, and Ft. Yargo. Racing for the second time in Athens, Mercer traveled with six riders (Kevin Roberts, Andrew Lockwood, Jason Glow, Gabe Denes, Austin Sholly, and Elizabeth Lee) and endured pouring rain during the morning criterium races presented by Jittery Joe's.

The 8:00am start saw enormous rain showers soak the 1 mile (0.7k) Greenway course between East Broad Street and North Avenue. Elizabeth Lee finished midway through the peloton in the Women's Cat 3/4 race to start the action that morning.

The men's race saw two significant rain showers during the 30 minute event and despite starting in the back, Kevin Roberts and Andrew Lockwood found their way to the front of the Cat 5 peloton after 2 laps. Midway through the race, Lockwood found the pavement after running in 3rd place behind Roberts in a slick part of the 115 degree turn 2. Losing valuable seconds, Lockwood would finish halfway through the second chase group in 27th.

Perhaps the worst crash of the race occured when Austin Sholly met the curb after taking the third turn a bit wide with 2 laps to go. Sholly suffered severe cuts to his right arm and leg and was forced to withdraw. Gabe Denes and Jason Glow would ultimately finish behind Lockwood in the third chase group.

After a solid run up front, Roberts was leading the peloton coming up the final hill before being edged out by three other sprinters, finishing 5th in the race. That finish marked Kevin's best crit finish of the 2010 season.

"That was a tough race out in the rain," said Lockwood after the event. "Congrats to Kevin on an unbelievable finish. Our team certainly showed a lot of improvement since last season's 53rd and 54th place finshes."

The team was able to also catch the remainder of the criterium racing schedule in Athens that night before splitting up to travel to Ft. Yargo for a mountain bike race and to Roswell for the Historic Roswell Criterium.

All four entries in the Roswell race posted strong showings in the 100+ field of Cat 4/5 riders. Roberts garnered a finish in 22nd while Lockwood stayed in the peloton to finish in 33rd. Jason Glow and Austin Sholly survived until the midrace cut, but Sholly showed a gutsy effort after he sustained a big crash the day before. The 40 minute event was by far the fastest race the team had endured all season with an average speed of over 25 mph on the 6 turn course.

In Ft. Yargo, Elizabeth Lee and Gabe Denes rode to 3rd place in their respective classes. Gabe Denes said after the race, "This was definitely my hardest race of the year. The fourth place rider stayed on my wheel for most of the race until the sprint at the end, which was into a 20+ mph headwind."

Mercer Cycling now hosts the Macon Cycling Classic around Tatnall Square Park on Saturday, May 1st. Details about the race can be found at www.maconcyclingclassic.com

Roster Set for Twilight/Ft.Yargo/Roswell

- Macon, GA -

As Mercer Cycling heads to Athens Twilight for the second year in a row, they take a much larger team with higher expectations. Andrew Lockwood, Elizabeth Lee, Kevin Roberts, Jason Glow, A.J. Sholly, Gabe Denes, and Evan Ayoub will all travel to Twilight to race in the morning on the Oconee River Greenway Circuit. The race course is a 1.3 mile, 4 corner circuit, with two long straights that encircles the Greenway Park between East Broad Street and North Avenue. It's fast, with an open uphill sprint finish to the Greenway Overlook on smooth pavement.

Elizabeth Lee will race in the Cat 3/4 women's event at 8:00am while the men's Cat 5 race will commence at 8:45am. Both races are 30 minutes with purse sizes of $250 and $200 respectively. The top five finishers of the Cat 3/4 women's race will also earn an entry into the Amateur Finals that night in Athens.

After the racing finishes Saturday morning, the team will break up into two squads as Lee and Denes will compete in the Ft. Yargo mountain bike event while the rest of the team will travel to the Historic Roswell Criterium to race in the Cat 4/5 race at 1:55pm. This 40 minute race offers 7 placings for a $300 purse.


Stay tuned to MercerCycling.blogspot.com for more details!

Lee and Denes Finish High at Flat Rock

- Columbus, GA -

Taking a break from the spring road season, junior Elizabeth Lee and freshman Gabe Denes finished first and second in their respective categories this past weekend at the Flat Rock Mountain Bike Race in Columbus, GA.

Donning the new Mercer Cycling jerseys for the 2010 season, Lee pulled ahead early in the race and maintained her lead throughout the course of the event to become the top finisher out of the 8 person field.

"It was a pretty good race and I went out hard so i was the first one on the trail," commented Lee. "After that there was no turning back. Well except I decided to take some epic spills on the trail, you know so i would have something to remember it by. But at least this time i didn't end up in the E.R," she added.

Denes also had a great start from the line and picked off his competitors in route to a second place finish. He also set a personal-record with a 49 minute lap time.

"I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest," Denes said afterwards.

Mercer Cycling plans to visit the Athens Twilight Criterium and Roswell Criterium this next weekend (April 24th, 25th) before hosting the Macon Cycling Classic May 1st.