To consider the history of DC Velo Limited, one must take into account a band of brothers sharing a common bond: a desire and love for racing their bikes. It was through that same passion, in 1993, that ten young men came together in the living room of one of the founding members, Matt Galvez, and laid the foundation for a course of action that would create the identity of the team that we have today.
Referred to as the “Continental Congress”, the following men are considered the “Founding Fathers” of DC Velo Limited: Sam Trevino, Jim Youngblood, David Kay, Joe Baremore, Richard Mounts, Matt Galvez, Roy Johnson, Randy Thrasher, Joe Padalino, and Hank Brink.
One of the most important topics of discussion was the name the team would race under. Several ideas were tossed around and voted on by the membership. Two of the most popular were “End of the Century Velo Club” and “Voo Doo Velo,” championed by David. Eventually the original members agreed on “District of Columbia Velo Club”, which became commonly known by the shorthand “DC Velo.”
Century Bicycles and the Daily Double
Before that first meeting, the team operated as the Century Bicycle Racing Club. The 7 am Saturday ride from Century Bikes on Bonifant Street in Silver Spring, Maryland was the launching point for the team. The rides were spirited, to say the least. It was rumored that a dual athlete named Randy, riding a Tomassini, always kept the pace high and showed no mercy on his comrades. Another rider who animated the Saturday ride was Shawn Fenty, who also raced for Century Bicycles at the time.
In the early days, one of the requirements of a bike racer was to build your own wheels, so it was common to see the guys sitting on the shop floor learning the art of wheel building at the feet of super mechanic Russell Fenty, Shawn's cousin.
During the Century Bicycle Racing Club era, the team wore a classic Descente jersey with a silk-screened day-glo orange swath on the front. It did a good job of trapping in heat without suffocating your torso; not everyone agreed on its aesthetic beauty. In 1994 the team introduced the first of many versions of the official DC Velo jersey, and in 1996 a pro version of the kit, with matching shorts, which was a big deal back then. Jim Youngblood, as a manufacturer's rep, secured a sweet Bianchi EL/OS frameset for the team to race on.
Many days the guys would ride the 7 am, get coffee, and then do the 10 o'clock ride, affectionately known as the “Daily Double”. The team made regular trips to Skyline Drive, raced Greenbelt and Bowie midweek (three training races in a week was the “Triple Crown”), and took road trips to stage races like Killington, Altoona, and Fitchburg.
The Columbia Spring Classic
In 1994 the team decided to test the waters and promote a bike race. The race on Columbia Gateway Drive was originally called the Columbia Spring Classic, held in early spring with low entry fees and deep prize money. The first year, hundreds of racers turned out. The men's 3/4 race had a field limit of 100, was oversubscribed, and was split into two races that each filled to capacity. That race, still running today, has become the longest continuously operating race in MABRA history.
As time moved on, the team continued to grow. Masters road champion John Epting joined and brought Ed Kottrel, Mario Stevens, Steve Schultze, Rick Barnett and several others with him. Others joined later, including Paul Mittelstadt, Carl Dolan, and Kerry Scanlon. John also served as president of the team for several years. Some of the new members wanted to form a separate masters team under the DC Velo umbrella, but in the end everyone stayed together: an army of one.
Carl
On an extremely hot day in June 1999, the team raced the Church Creek Time Trial. Racing the only way they knew how, leaving everything on the road, they put it all on the line. In the extreme heat, Carl Dolan and Mark Frick became seriously ill. Mark recovered; Carl did not, and later died from complications of heat stroke.
Carl was one of the nicest people anyone could have known, always willing to provide for others, even if it meant giving the shirt off his own back. His death devastated the team, and it became a defining moment for DC Velo. In the spring of 2000, in his memory, the team renamed the Columbia Spring Classic the Carl Dolan Memorial Spring Classic, and Mark Frick would eventually become its race director.
President for Life
The turn of the century brought new possibilities. Mark Sommers joined in the fall of 1999 and became president of the club later that year. His first executive decision was to take what little money was left in the treasury and treat everyone to drinks at the team banquet. From that point on everyone knew they had the right man for the job, which explains Mark's informal title, “President for Life” (PFL).
Mark's vision was a culture of collective team ownership: a larger community pursuing a shared passion for bike racing, without ever losing DC Velo's identity as a race team. That culture was formalized in the DC Velo Outreach Foundation, which grew under the leadership of Catherine Ferguson to run DC Velo's First Responders courses, Ride2Recovery support, kids' helmet giveaways, deliveries of team clothing to developing nations, and collections of used bike parts for recyclers such as Phoenix Bikes in DC.
The Red Train
Around 2004 the team developed the race focus that defines it today. The arrival of Josh Frick, owner of multiple national championship titles, marked the beginning of a new generation of elite racers. Until then DC Velo had been mainly a masters team. The first elite senior men's team was Mark Sommers, Josh Frick, and Joe Baremore.
It was in this era that the “Red Train” became synonymous with DC Velo. It began as a race-closing plan at the Bethesda Grand Prix, where Mark and Joe timed a leadout for Josh. It worked, and the Red Train was born.
The senior team grew with Ryan McKinney, Dave Bozak and others, becoming one of the better elite teams in the Mid-Atlantic. Ken Young, Jason Meidhof, and DJ Brew later joined and became an integral part of the team's success. Josh brought discipline and structure to the racing culture: everyone rode together, trained together, and went to training camps together.
Since then DC Velo has had tremendous success in senior and masters racing, including two world championships, 25 national championships, two national records, scores of MABRA Best All-Around Rider awards and event championships, and hundreds of race wins.
Today
DC Velo's growth has been carefully cultivated so that the club culture is kept. What started as ten young men has become a community of about eighty members, locally, around the nation and abroad. Many members who have had a tremendous impact on DC Velo are not named in this short history. What matters is that everyone who joins the team, wears the kit and bleeds “DC Velo red” contributes to keeping it the organization it is.
Having established itself as one of the top amateur clubs in the nation, DC Velo is united and relentless in pursuit of the ultimate cycling dream: to win as a team.