Varsity Cycling Colleges (primary interest mountain biking)

My son is a junior in high school, we live in NY. He plans to apply to Ft. Lewis and Colorado Mesa, with the hopes of obtaining a partial varsity cycling scholarship, as well a few schools in NC that we recently visited (Belmont Abbey, Lees McRae and Mars Hill). I plan to get in touch with FL and CM this week to plan a campus visit. My son isn’t entirely sure what he’d like to major in, possibly marketing. If there are any parents who have any thoughts about these colleges, or are familiar with the cycling scholarship process, we’d welcome the feedback. Thanks in advance.

Not college athletics and scholarships, but IU has a large cycling community which ends with the little 500. Might be of interest if nothing else works out. Good luck.

There is a parent on CC with a son at Ft. Lewis on the cycling team. @NCalRent

Colorado College has a lot of cyclists including students who compete on a national level in mountain biking. They don’t do scholarships for cycling to my knowledge but might be worth a look.

@yourmomma When I think of IU, I always think of Breaking Away. Great movie.

I don’t know anything about the cycling scholarship process (although one of my daughter’s HS classmates is going to Ft. Lewis on a cycling scholarship). But I do know that Durango, CO is a great town in a beautiful location and would be a wonderful place for a mountain biker (or anyone who likes the outdoors). As far as I know, Ft. Lewis is known for it’s cycling program and the large percentage of students with Native American ancestry (25%) who attend.

I also came across Brevard College in NC during my oldest’s college search, and it has a great cycling team also. Some reviews I read stated that there was a large percentage of athletes at Brevard college so if he’s interested in that type of environment - it could be another possibility.

USA cycling is the governing body for collegiate cycling in the US. This site lists the
programs that meet their definition of Varsity:
https://www.usacycling.org/get-involved/college/varsity

This one has some questionable data, but might be useful.
http://www.scholarshipstats.com/cycling.html

Western State University Colorado hands down should be looked at if he’s looking at Mesa State.

https://www.western.edu/

We had not considered Western State, we were worried that the area may be too small and lack support for a students. This is likely a fear with no real basis, but it did worry us. I have to admit, just the thought of our son being half-way across the country is worrisome in and of itself, but we all love the state after visiting on ski vacations over the years, our son has always hoped to live. Starting college there and his own life seems like a natural step in that direction.

Thanks for those links, they’ve been useful to us while we absorb as much information as we can.

Thanks to everyone for the replies, much appreciated!

Both Western State and Ft Lewis are very isolated. Both are in great areas full of things to enjoy though.

My neighbor’s daughter has been on the MTB team at Ft Lewis the last two years and loves it. I don’t think she has a scholarship though. As far as academics, a lot of the local kids that go to Ft Lewis transfer after 2 years to CU for their upper level courses.

It depends on what you want. Western State is isolated from urban and suburban amenities, but if what the student wants is to ride his bike, Western State is smack in the middle of the right place.

Look into the University of Vermont

Pretty pricey for out of staters.

hi there @kellyannm- and thanks for looping me in @twoinanddone
My son is a freshman at Fort Lewis and is on a partial scholarship for their Mtn Bike team. He is currently undeclared but is leaning toward exercise science. He rode Varsity for his high school team, but was not a top regional rider and had some USA Cycling races under his belt, having raced up to Cat 1 when he was a Sr and applied for the scholarship. Somewhat counter-intuitive but, I understand the essays are as or more important than your race record.

As others note above, the place is BEAUTIFUL and an unbelievable place to be a mountain biker. My son runs into the defending national champion and a couple of former Olympians just riding in the woods. They are FLC alum so, they stop and chat, and let him and his friends ride along - as long as he can keep up. It is pretty amazing that the people are so open to someone who clearly idolizes their accomplishments. Nearly everyone in the sport seems to be that way.

There are 3 categories in collegiate and this conference is probably the most competitive in the country. He raced in the top as a Freshman, and never came in last but, was close. According to Strava, He rides 4-5 days a week about 2-2.5 hours and has a full 15 unit load. The collegiate season is in the late Summer/Early Fall and there are 6 or so races in the CO area, then a national championship you need to qualify into. There are team rides but, generally, everyone has their own training plan, some kids ride less. He has a group of 4-5 people he rides with often and there are hundreds of miles of trails that you can access from campus without driving . He has learned a ton and is a lot faster than when he left in August. (he just rode in his first Pro race last weekend at Fontana. road-tripping with team mates.) He came in around 70 of 85. I don’t know much about the other schools on your list. We looked a UNR, CalPoly Pomona and Chico State who each have club level teams. UNR was by far the strongest (from a cycling perspective) but, nothing like FLC.

The coaches at FLC have all had pretty prestigious racing careers of their own and a string of national championship in all of cycling disciplines, but are available to the kids on and off season. The conditioning coach will develop individualized plans and everything else you would expect from a varsity sport. One nice thing is that they aren’t an NCAA sport so, student athletes can compete elsewhere and can have sponsorships

I would suggest you contact the coaches via the cycling web page and see if you can arrange a tour when they will be available. They will make time for you on your visit and introduce a couple of athletes. .https://www.fortlewis.edu/cycling/ The college tour coordinator was great at connecting all the dots for our visit.

I believe they are hosting a collegiate race in late Aug at Purgatory resort (a ski resort just outside town) If you can make it that weekend, it would be a great opportunity to meet student athletes from several schools on your list - and because they are governed by USA cycling, all races must be open to anyone with a race license. So, he could actually rent a bike and compete against them and see what it is like. (we did this at a CA race and were stunned at how close the talent level was between HS and college - My son (A mid pack JV rider at the time) won the cat C race.) I am sure the competition is stiffer in CO but, it would be a great experience.

Anyhow, i have gone on enough… If you visit, you may want to move there yourself. It is the perfect place for my son.

I am happy to answer any additional questions either here or via a PM.

Colorado College is Div 3 (for all but men’s hockey and women’s soccer) so there are no scholarships for cycling. However, the training with the USOC in the same town might be very good.

@twoinanddone thank you! Yes, I will PM you today, I have a few more follow up question. My husband and I breathed a collective sigh of relief reading your positive comments. @momofthreeboys yes, Vermont is out of our price range, even if he were to consider it. He’s really focusing on the varsity schools as mountain biking is his passion, and he’s really hoping for partial scholarship funds. This forum is fantastic, appreciate all of the prompt feedback.

I will also add a plug for D2 in general, which many of the schools you are looking at fall into (Ft. Lewis, Mesa, Western State). It’s a level that has worked very well for my daughter. Fewer schools, usually less cross country travel, good competition, good school/athletic balance.

@twoinanddone how do I PM in this forum? I cannot find an icon in inbox or preferences to initiate a conversation.

You need to have 15 posts before you can send a pm.