The cycling/mountain biking club hosted several schools for a cross country race at Crabtree Lake on Saturday and cross-country and short track events at Harris Lake on Sunday.
“It was very hectic at times,” John Crow, a junior in history, said. “We were an hour behind schedule this morning because people couldn’t mark the course so the riders would know where they were going.”
Experienced riders from UNC, West Virginia, Mary Washington, Lees McRae, Pfeiffer University, Virginia Tech, and Appalachian State were in attendance. State managed to sweep the men’s A, B, and C events on Saturday. The winner of the A relay was Matt Rotroff, a freshman in first year college, who has been a professional mountain biker for two years.
“With guys like Matt and Aaron Oakes on our team, we have a really good shot at placing well in nationals,” Crow said. Oakes, a first year grad student in food chemistry, took first place in the cross-country event on Sunday.
“Pretty early into the last lap, I sensed that he was a little bit tired from having raced yesterday,” Oakes said. “I tried really hard to put a little distance on him, and held that for the last lap.”
Crow was nursing a shoulder injury and the tendonitis in Oakes’ knees flared up. Neither was able to participate in the short track races later in the day. Rotroff was counted upon once again to give the home team the victory.
“It came down to me and one of the Appalachian State riders,” Rotroff said. “We were together the whole race, and then I wound up outsprinting him for the win.”
The Appalachian State rider Rotroff beat for the win was a fellow professional mountain biker. Rotroff said many of the club teams have professional riders on their rosters.
“The top tier is pretty competitive,” Rotroff said.
Being a professional allows Rotroff to compete in the National Mountain Bike Series opening up opportunities for sponsorships. He is currently on a team in Raleigh run by an N.C. State alumnus.
Rotroff credits the club team for helping him progress, saying that it has “really helped” his training.
Meanwhile, the club’s season is far from over. Hosting races is the club’s primary source of income, Crow said, and there will be two more hosted at N.C. State this year.
“We host a race almost every year,” Crow said. “We host a mountain bike race, a road race, and a cyclecross race.”