Cycling Club

Geography as Destiny: The temperate Santa Cruz Mountains have long been known as prime training grounds for top racers. Those ranks include Canadian Linda Jackson, MBA ’88, who left the investment banking world for cycling. She was bronze medalist at last year’s world championships.

Intra-Squad Competitiveness: Competition among the club’s top riders ­ spiced by drop-in alumni like pro racer Derek Bouchard-Hall, MCE ’94 ­ turns some weekend training rides into brutal, impromptu races. (Team tradition calls for sprints to all city limits signs.)

Dave Bailey, a doctoral candidate in physics, recalls a 95-mile trip to the top of Mt. Hamilton and back along with members of the Cal team. During the climb, egos kicked in. Returning, Stanford riders drove each other in a pace line at nearly 30 miles per hour.

“This guy from Cal asked me, ‘Do you guys always ride like this?’ I said, ‘No, usually we keep on going ’til there’s only one person left.’ ”

Geek Bonding: “A lot of us didn’t do traditional team sports in high school. We were geeks,” says Bailey.

Bailey’s father was befuddled when his son shaved his legs as a 16-year-old hell-bent on racing. But at Stanford, riders find others who get it.

“We don’t have a TV, we just sit around talking about bikes and components and training methods,” notes co-captain and medical student Cynthia Ferguson. ST

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