Suspension Of Disbelief

I've never owned a full-suspension bike.  My Jamis Dakota and Bontrager Race Lite mountain bikes had telescoping front forks, but no suspension built into the frame.  Perhaps if I had kept with mountain biking longer than I did (I stopped about 15 years ago), I might have such a setup now.

These days, my suspension consists of the sprung saddle on my Fuji commuter/beater--and my joints.

Folks like Jan Heine will tell you that you don't need suspension if you ride the right tires.  He's right:

What Guidance Counselors Really Need To Know

So, what do you consider when choosing a college?

One of the top considerations, I'm sure, is whether it has a good program in whatever you plan to study.  (Never mind that there's about an 80 percent chance you'll switch your major to something else!)  Cost, of course, is another factor.  Then, of course, there are such things as geographic location and the appeal of the campus itself.

As for that last category, one thing that might figure into it (at least, it would for me) is bike-friendliness.  One part of that is safe, secure places to keep your wheels:  College campuses are hotbeds for bike theft.  Another might be whether the college has bike lanes or has other ways of making it easy to navigate the campus from your saddle.

There are also other ways in which a college can encourage its students to ride.  It can offer new students free bike-share memberships or vouchers to spend at a local bike shop--as well as free bike rentals or bike-share memberships to students (or faculty members) who don't bring cars to campus.

By now, you might be wondering whether I'm indulging in substances of questionable provenance. When I heard that there is indeed a college that offers such incentives, I thought I was dreaming.

Oh, but it gets better:  That school has hired a full-time coordinator to oversee its support for cycling.  Sandra Broadus, whose official title is Alternative Transportation Manager, says that this college will soon open its first indoor bike room, complete with shower stalls, lockers, a fix-it station and water bottle fillers.  There will also be a vending machine from which students can purchase parts like inner tubes and chains while on campus.

The school where such progress is taking place is not located in Portland or San Francisco or Seattle or Boston.  Instead, it's in a place known more for its scenic rides than for a hipster bike culture.

Of course she's smiling:  She's riding on the most bicycle-friendly campus in the US, according to a survey!

I'm talking about the University of Kentucky at Lexington.  The League of American Bicyclists has just named it the most bicycle-friendly college in the US.  

It was followed by the University of Maryland-College Park, Harvard University, Dickinson College, University of Utah, University of Vermont and University of Washington.

OK, so the Kennedy School of Government isn't the only reason to attend Harvard after all.   But tell me:  Do they have a full-time cycling coordinator?

A New Kind Of Scholarship

I must confess that I have never been to Indiana.  For me, hearing its name brings to mind a song that was extremely popular when I was about twelve years old:  "Indiana Wants Me."

(Of course, it's fair to ask why a Canadian wrote and sung a song about running from the law in the Hoosier State.  Then again, it's hard imagine the name of any Canadian province fitting into the meter of the lyrics, or the rhythm of the song, as well as "Indiana" does.)

Anyway, the fugitive in R. Dean Taylor's tune probably couldn't move as quickly as some students from one of the state's institutions of higher learning.

Marian University,  located in Indianapolis, is a non-profit school affiliated with the Catholic Church (via the Sisters of Saint Francis, who founded it) that is known for one of its athletic programs in a state whose citizens are as passionate as any about collegiate sports.  Although it competes in many of the sports one might expect, it's not known for its basketball team, as nearby Indiana University is, or football (the American version), which has been one of Notre Dame University's calling cards.

Rather, Marian is known far and wide for its cycling team, which has won 37 national titles:  19 on the track and the rest divided between road, mountain bike and cyclo-cross.  That they've won so often on the velodrome is, perhaps, not surprising when one considers that the riders train on the Major Taylor Velodrome, a part of the Indy Cycloplex--which the University has owned since 2011.

Charis Lott (center) with head coach Dean Peterson (right) and Michael Kubancsek (left), Marian University's director of cycling operations.

One particular need of every cycling team has led to the establishment, at Marian, of what might be a unique scholarship--one for a team mechanic.  The University has just announced that Charis Lott, a senior at Mount Vernon High School in nearby Fortville.  According to coach Dean Peterson, the team would be "hard pressed" to find someone more qualified than Charis:  She already has five years of mechanical experience with Freewheelin' Community Bikes and LoKe Bicycles.  That, Peterson says, has prepared her to "serve the diverse needs" in the "variety of settings" in which the team trains and competes.

But being the team mechanic, for Ms. Lott, will mean more than just wrenching racers' bikes. The scholarship is part of a program, first announced two years ago,  that aims to teach students that being a team mechanic also involves coordinating logistics, providing athlete care, service course management, sponsor relations, marketing and other things.  

Her work with the team should  tie in very nicely with her plans:  She wants to major in psychology, with a concentration in sports.  After all, as someone titled his book with unintended irony, it's not about the bike--or the body.