Second-year Law student and member of the Virginia Cycling team Mark Hardman won the USA Cycling Collegiate National Championship last month. The races were held in Lawrence, Kan. May 12-14. Points were assigned in both of the races and the overall winner was crowned the collegiate champion.
On the first day's road race, Hardman negotiated his way to the front of the pack and led the 84.6 mile -- three laps -- race by 12 seconds with only 500 meters to go before finishing with an open road behind him. The next day, Hardman secured the National Championship by finishing sixth in the criterium. The criterium in cycling is a high-speed race around a short course. The course in Lawrence was a 1.2 mile, eight-corner loop. With a large number of riders competing, it is easy to imagine how dangerous this race can be.
"The end of a criterium is chaos and a national championship criterium is even more chaotic," Hardman said. "I am a little guy without the biggest spring, but I knew I could win the overall if I began the sprint with good position."
The Newport News native was confident going in that he had a chance to at least be competitive.
"There were 10-15 guys in the race with a legitimate chance at winning," Hardman said. "I knew that my chances were good, although I tried not to put too much pressure on myself to win."
One should not, however, misunderstand Hardman's confidence for cockiness. He describes cycling as a sport where at least some degree of arrogance is necessary.
"At a national championship, to have a chance to win you have to have an arrogance that you are the best person on the start line and that puts off a lot of people that aren't athletes," Hardman said. "But to win at the highest level you have to have this confidence."
In addition to this confidence, Hardman also cited the importance of tactics and mind games.
"In running, the fastest runner wins, but in cycling, the mental effort is equally important," he said.
Hardman credits Donny Autore, now on the faculty at Florida State, with teaching him the tactics of cycling.
"On long training rides, we would discuss every possible scenario that could unfold during a race," Hardman said. "I really do credit Donny with teaching me how to understand a race as it is unfolding."
Hardman was a former distance runner who only picked up competitive cycling after being inspired by Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France Champion. Hardman, with only two years of competitive cycling under his belt, trains 25-30 hours a week. He spends 20-25 hours a week riding in the Blue Ridge Mountains and on Skyline Drive. The other 5 hours a week he spends weight training in the gym. Hardman, however, claims the best training is the races each weekend that the team competes in during the collegiate season.
"To be a champion, you have to be willing to take your body to the depths of pain," Hardman said. "There were months in the winter where my body was so fatigued, I didn't have the energy to type class notes. You are not training hard enough if your body is not on the edge of collapse."
The 2004 graduate of Virginia Tech has a degree in Finance and plans to graduate from Virginia Law in May of 2007. Hardman plans to race professionally through at least next April.
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