Racers line up at the starting line, adrenaline pumping through their veins.
Next to the group, there’s a pit stocked with spare tires and volunteers, waiting for any sign of a crash. A crowd gathers at the checkered flag, anticipating the announcer’s magic word— “Go.”
This isn’t NASCAR. It’s collegiate cycling.
The LSU Cycling Club hosted races Saturday and Sunday on campus and in the Baton Rouge area for members of the South Central Collegiate Cycling Conference.
Dustin Drewes, kinesiology junior and race director, said it was the first cycling event held at the University in more than 10 years.
Drewes said racers were divided into groups according to skill levels, from the men’s and women’s A, the most skilled, to Men’s D — the least skilled.
Brennan Percy, philosophy and religious studies senior, was the only LSU Cycling member to race in the Men’s A division.
Percy said LSU Cycling hosted three races total during the weekend.
He said the first was a team time trial, in which individual riders raced against the clock.
The second was the criterium, which is usually a short race on a flat course. The criterium was the race held on campus.
The last race, a road race, was held Sunday in St. Francisville. The distances in Sunday’s road race varied from 79.3 miles for the men’s A division to 35.9 miles for the men’s D division.
Drewes placed first in the team time trial Saturday morning in the men’s B division, and Percy placed eighth in the men’s A division in the criterium race.
Riders met at the Memorial Tower and prepared to make their way through campus.
Elliot Minick, a member of the University of North Texas Cycling Club, said he was excited to be racing at LSU.
Minick said when other schools host races, the courses are set up in small areas on or near their campuses.
Minick said he liked that the University’s course was laid out so racers rode through most of campus.
Angela Man, a member of the University of Houston Cycling Club, said she felt the same way about the course at LSU.
Man said the University’s course was different from others on which she has raced.
“It definitely has more components to it,” she said.
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But Man said her favorite part of the race was the historic look of the University’s campus.
“It has an old look to it,” she said. “That’s really cool.”
Man said she attended the race to support her team and the Baton Rouge bicycling community.
“It’s all about fitness and having fun,” she said.
Ethan Boudreaux, political science sophomore and member of the LSU Cycling Club, said he enjoyed the race because it was the first he had attended at the University.
Drewes said LSU Cycling competes in the South Central Collegiate Cycling Conference, which includes other clubs from universities in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Drewes said clubs apply to conference officials at the beginning of each year to host races.
Drewes said he and the other members of the club wanted to host a race because most of the other schools in the conference are located in Texas.
He said club members were expected to travel to Texas nearly every weekend for races, which was sometimes difficult.
“It just wasn’t fair to us,” he said.
Drewes said LSU Cycling wasn’t prepared to host a race last year, so members focused their efforts on hosting this weekend’s race.
Drewes explained the cycling club meets for fun and the love of the sport, and it doesn’t race for money.
Riders were required to pay a fee to register for the race — $13 per event or $30 for the weekend — but Drewes said the club tried to keep the race as inexpensive as possible.
He said LSU Cycling members housed participants from other teams to eliminate the cost of lodging.
Drewes said Baton Rouge Emergency Medical Services and race officials monitored the race free of charge.
Drewes said he had help from several of the club’s officers in planning the race.
He said it was stressful to plan because of all the buildings and offices he had to visit to get permission to hold the race on campus.
“It’s a good thing we’re on bikes,” he joked. “It was a lot to do.”
Drewes said he saw a large number of women at the race, which he found encouraging.
“There are a lot of women here,” he said. “It’s not like a ‘dude fest.'”
Drewes said he hoped the sport would become even more popular among women.
“The more girls that are in it, the better it is to be a girl in it,” he said.
Drewes said his favorite part of cycling is the camaraderie that comes with it.
“You really get to know people in this sport,” Drewes said. “You make a lot of friends.”