About us
Get to Know Hopkins Cycling

About Us

Hopkins Cycling is a student club focused on promoting a healthy lifestyle of bicycle riding and racing. Club membership is open to all Hopkins students, faculty, and staff from all divisions of JHU and includes cyclists from all backgrounds, disciplines and fitness levels. Traditionally, we also focus on road racing and compete in collegiate races every Spring in the Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference.

In the Fall, we focus on athletic development during weekly team rides as well as encourage cycling in the community through other activities. In October, we team up with local team Kelly Benefit Strategies/LSV Amateur Racing, and Joe's Bike Shop to organize our annual Fall Colors Ride, inviting all levels of riders to come out and enjoy the beauty of autumn in northern Maryland. In addition, we host free bike tune ups and commuting clinics for the Hopkins community. JHU Cycling also helps mentor the Hopkins 4K for Cancer, a bike tour in which students ride 4,000 miles from Baltimore to San Francisco to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society.

In the Spring, our efforts focus on road racing in the talented Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference (www.usacycling.org/accc). The racing team travels to university locales from Maryland to North Carolina and competes in a total of nearly twenty-five races every Spring, typically 2-3 races per weekend, culminating in the conference and national championship races. JHU Cycling itself promotes and hosts two of these races every season. There are three basic race formats: the criterium (short, fast circuits), road race (long, endurance races), and time trial (individual or small team "race against the clock" format), and racers are divided into skill/fitness categories so all can participate regardless of previous experience.

To help make all these activities possible, we receive funding through JHU Student Activities and Clubs as well as from individual and corporate sponsorships. Thanks to this financial support, JHU Cycling provides coaching, discounted cycling clothing, and lends select equipment to its members. For those involved with racing, the team provides race registration fees, transportation, lodging, and many other necessities for the normal race weekend. Given the small average student budget and high cost of cycling, this support from the club is essential.