West Michigan Coast Riders - The Beginning
The plan for the West Michigan Coast Riders cycling club was conceived over pizza and beers at Muskegon's Glenside Pub in 2000 by a group of local cycling enthusiasts - namely Ken Polidan, Bill Schouman, Ken Scott, Sue Scott, Kurt Schultz, Bryan Myers, Norm Kittelson and Stan Andrie. The motivation to form a new cycling club came from a resurgence in road racing and the fact that the Muskegon Bicycle Club had no interest in the racing scene. In keeping with the original motivations, the WMCR promoted its first road race in 2001 - the Tour of Cedar Creek. The WMCR promoted the Tour from 2001 through 2008 with the last three years of the event being the State Championship Road Race! After eight years of promoting a successful road race, the WMCR then turned the focus to Time Trial racing. From 2009 through 2012, the WMCR hosted the popular Duck Lake Time Trial, which also grew into a State Championship level event for two years. |
Historically, the club has always focused on more than road racing. WMCR also promotes non-competitive tours such as the popular MOST (Muskegon Oceana Scenic Tour) Tour and many group road rides. The late Dan Cihak was a "local cycling icon" whose passion for the sport was contagious and attracted many newcomers into cycling by means of his "epic" group road rides. Unfortunately, Dan passed away suddenly, leaving the local cycling community stunned. As a memorial to his legacy, the Tour of Cedar Creek road race was (re)named after him. At the pinnacle of the WMCR road racing era, the Monday Night Ride was well known to be the largest and fastest group ride along the lakeshore. The WMCR Monday Night Ride still exists today, but in a more subdued nature and is now a welcoming, no-drop group ride that's open to cyclists of all fitness/skill levels.
Out of the humble beginnings over beer & pizza, a national caliber road race team was formed in 2004. Under the sponsorship and leadership of Stan Andrie a ten-man Cat 2 road race team was formed with Brant Hendler and Jason Swaitlowski joining the WMCR ranks due to the sponsorship funding of their previous team being lost. The new team quickly became very successful and claimed their first National Championship medal in 2005 when Stan Andrie made the podium at masters road nationals in Utah. In 2006, Brant Hendler claimed two bronze medals, one at master’s road nationals in the criterium and the other at master’s track nationals. Brant also claimed the club’s first “stars & stripes” national championship jersey when he won the match sprints at master’s track nationals that same year.
I2006 was also the year the club introduced the U23 (under 23 years old) road team. The U23 team included some very notable riders such as Ben Renkema, David Williams, Nathan Williams, Greg Christian, Ryan Cross, Scott Riddle & Kyle Lake. Many of those kids went on to great careers. For instance, in 2014 David Williams won a bronze medal in the time trial at the US Pro National Championships. In 2011, Bill Schouman, Dean Cohen and Brant Hendler launched a WMCR Juniors Racing Team. This team started with only 2 kids, by the end of the summer, the team had expanded to 9 kids. In 2012, Stan Andrie decided to sponsor the Junior Development Team, so the WMCR Juniors Racing Team became the Andrie Junior Development Team and - as a result - raised the performance to a whole new level. In 2012, the team went to Nationals with 4 kids and won a silver medal, a bronze medal and also earned 3 additional top ten finishes. In 2013 the team won 2 national titles and a silver medal with Janelle Cole. The team posted 2 more top ten finishes with Nick McKey. At the 2014 Road Nationals, the team won 2 more National Championship Jerseys and another silver medal with Janelle Cole. Logan Zueger also made the podium in the criterium earning the first national championship medal for the team on the boy’s side. At the 2014 Junior Track Nationals, Danielle Mullis, won 3 national titles and 2 additional medals. The Andrie Junior Development Team continues into the 2015 season and is sure to continue in its winning ways!
|
After 10 years of tireless efforts to promote the sport and grow the club, Bill Schouman and Ken Polidan retired from the WMCR board in late 2009 and several of the current board members took over leadership of the club. With this "changing of the guard", the focus of the club diversified somewhat in order to support growing segments of the sport such as triathlons, mountain biking, gravel road riding, cyclo-cross and fat-biking / snow-biking. Whether your preference is fat or skinny tires, the WMCR club is here to promote all forms of cycling here in beautiful West Michigan!
|