2012 Team Roster

WOMENS TEAM

COLLEEN CONWAY
Colleen’s athletic interests started in high school when she joined the high school track team. She was a sprinter and especially loved working with teammates in the 400 and 800 meters relays. Although she dabbled in track in college, before long she left athletic competition behind. Fast forward about 20 years to her honeymoon where she and her new husband did a week long supported bike ride in the Vermont Mad River Valley on a tandem. This was Colleen’s first foray into cycling long distances. The week ended with a dramatic rear wheel explosion on the final descent which might have been the end of cycling for Colleen. The fact that her husband managed to get the fishtailing tandem in control and safely stopped by the side of the road was enough to get her on a bike again. Not long after this, seeing other women riding very cool road bikes led to the purchase of her own bike – a Trek 2200. In a few years, Colleen went from walking her bike up climbs to doing long, fast New York Cycle Club rides. She was interested in racing, but figured she was too old to start and was afraid of crashing. Then, a long time friend and racer who was a few years older pointed out that one great reason to try racing was so that she wouldn’t regret not trying it later. Words of wisdom—she started with a few races in 2007 and hasn’t stopped since. When not racing or training, Colleen is a professor of religious studies at Seton Hall University. She lives in NYC with her husband David and their teenage kids.

Fabienne Gerard, GMSR, Yellow Jersey
FABIENNE GERARD
As a munchkin, Fabienne rode a bike to school and to the village bakery every day, just because it is what people do there, in her little village in France. Three decades later, when she returned home for the summer, she discovered the joy, freedom and truth of riding her father’s road bike through cows’ fields and mountains’ wild flowers again. And so, back to New York’s skyscrapers landscape, she decided to get her first road bike, white and pink and awesome, and to join a weekly cycling program organized by the New York Cycling Club. At the end of that program, fueled by the desire of transmuting into her childhood’s hero, Bernard Hinault, she tried a women race clinic. She won, and it is all it took to have her hooked to bike racing! In 2009, she started racing, and in 2011 she turned into a Cat 1 racer. Watch out, Fabienne loves to “kill it”!

VICTORIA GOCHENOUR
Vicki came to cycling back in 2008 to slow down and depart from the demands of training consistently in classical dance and bikram yoga technique. Although the transition provided a brief hiatus, was soon filled with an exhilarating athletic experience! Training daily and adhering to discipline has been the structure she has lived since childhood. Vicki grew up dancing and spent four years training heavily at the University Of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. Upon completing a summer intensive at Alvin Ailey, Vicki set out to relocate to New York City to pursue modern dance. As one turn led to another, Vicki discovered road cycling and the european race calendar. She began reading about professional road cyclists and watching races. She developed a great appreciation for the exciting sport and quickly identified with the dedication, and possibly addictive tendencies, needed necessary to be competitive. A former NYCC SIG graduate, Vicki joined NY Velocity and gained extensive race training and race exposure. Vicki joined Fuoriclasse in the fall of 2010 and just completed her second race season! Aside from race training, Vicki works in higher education in career development. She loves spending any and all spare time with her ultra supportive boyfriend and incorrigible cats. 

Ann Marie Miller, Tour of Colts Neck Champion
ANN MARIE MILLER 

MENS TEAM


Russell Bogin, Tour of the Catskills, 4th Place

RUSSELL BOGIN
A lawyer heading up the reinsurance group of a property and casualty insurance company by vocation and a bike racer by advocation, Russ completed his first full season of bike racing in 2011. His wife started racing in 2006 and after one too many "casual" rides where she dropped him on a climb, Russ decided to commit to training on the bike in a regular manner if only so he would not be too embarrassed on these rides. After a prolonged period of riding and slowly being able to stay within hailing distance of his wife, Russ gathered up the courage to race and in his first major race got on the podium at the Tour of the Battenkill, which is dubbed America's Queen of the Classics. Having tasted success (along with the chocolate milk awarded to top finishers at Battenkill), Russ was inspired to race frequently and had top 10 results at among other events, the Tour of the Dragons (Bennington), Tour of the Catskills and the Maltese Classic. Prior to bike racing, Russ' athletic endeavors included nearly three decades of captaining and playing Ultimate frisbee, including playing at the U.S. club national and World championships. Before Ultimate, Russ was an avid soccer and tennis player who used his lefty craftiness to full effect. 

David Taylor, GMSR 2011, Polka Dot Jersey
DAVID TAYLOR
David is a category 1 Masters racer with over ten years of experience in the sport. 2011 was another strong year for David with four wins and fifteen podium placings. The highlights were winning the KoM at the Green Mountain Stage Race and win from a solo break at the Turkey Hill Classic in PA. Going into 2012 David is happy to discover that he still has motivation to train and race and is aiming for another good season, failing that, he will just brag about his past exploits. Off the bike David is an Operations Consultant specializing in the financial services industry, he lives in Manhattan with his wife Kimille and daughter Georgia.

CHRISTOPHE WILKES
Even though he was born in Paris, France, Christophe started racing bicycles in New York City in 1990. He had moved to the USA to study finance at the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Upon completing his studies he moved to the City and after seeing an article in the New York Times about CRCA, he decided to join the club and take on bike racing as a way to stay fit. By the end of that first year, he won his first race in the "C" field. To date, his biggest achievements have been a first place in the Club Championships Cat.4 in 1996, a first place in the "A" field in 1999, and a first place in the Fitchburg Longsjo Criterium in 2001. For 2012, he is determined to have a full racing season, after a year hampered by business commitments.