After delivering Jimmy John’s sandwiches on his road-racing bike for a few months, Adam Hauser, senior in chemical engineering, joined the “premier cycling group in the Auburn-Opelika area for college students.”
The Auburn Flyers used to not welcome beginning cyclists such as Hauser because they wanted a team with only the fastest cyclists, according to Flyers’ president Nathan Spence, junior in civil engineering.
Since Spence took charge of the group in 2012, it is headed in a new direction.
“I kind of wanted to take it in a direction that the past Flyers had not gone,” Spence said. “They were mostly about racing and being as fast as they can. I didn’t want to do that. We try to encourage cycling in all forms and all levels. We definitely try to encourage everybody to ride no matter how strong or how fast they are.”
This welcoming approach has helped the cyclist group grow and become more successful over the past three years, according to Flyers coach James Wenzel, professor of clinical sciences.
“We have off and on had a competitive team,” Wenzel said. “Now we are one of the bigger clubs that has been at Auburn University. We have riders in four out of six categories.”
Spence said they expect to have moved into the top-3 of the Southeastern Collegiate Cycling Conference standings after their performances in Clemson, South Carolina, from March 6-8 are tallied.
“We’ve had a win and a few top-5 finishes,” Hauser said. “The first weekend we had two fourth-place finishes.”
The two most experienced Flyers besides Wenzel are Spence and Frank Whittle.
Spence had two top-10 finishes this year and won the men’s category “B” omnium his freshman season.
Wenzel has been cycling since 1975 and has more than 30 competitive races under his belt.
What the veteran cyclist said he likes most about racing is winning.
“I’m not like most cyclists,” Wenzel said. “Personally I wouldn’t be riding my bike if I wasn’t going to compete on it. But it is enjoyable to go out and see the countryside moving along at a rapid rate of speed. There’s a bit of the thrill of going fast with nothing between you and the road except a carbon fiber bike.”
Wenzel said they have 10 riders who participate in most races and five more who do not compete as consistently, but the team hopes to keep adding cyclists of all skill levels so the Flyers can remain competitive.
“I would be tickled to death to have five or more riders in all of the categories,” Wenzel said. “They would graduate up through the categories while they are in school with us. I would like to see riders come in and train with the team, get experience and become great riders so they can compete with the really good guys before they graduate.”
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