richmond2015, Student, TheWorldsatVCU, uciworldchampionship, vcubrb
UCI Visitors
Q&A
City and country: Jacksonville, FL
Age: “Spring chickens, in our late 30’s”
Occupation: Gary, retired contractor. Deby, HR director at bank
Do you follow bicycle racing?
We are so excited to be here! This is our first experience!
How many races do you attend a year?
We’ve heard about races like these, but haven’t actually taken time out to get the full experience.
Do you have a favorite rider?
All of them are truly inspirational to us, but of course we are rooting for team USA.
How did you get involved in the sport?
Sometimes we ride our bikes together during beach trips, we see how hard it is to be a cyclist.
What’s the farthest you have traveled to watch a race?
From Florida to New York for our daughters half marathon.
What other sports do you follow?
Football, golf, baseball, and we enjoy the Olympics.
Do your friends or family think you are nuts?
DUH! All of our family think we’re crazy for making this trip.
What are your impressions of Richmond?
It seems very cool and fresh. There are a lot of sites to see, and the people are really friendly. I think Richmond prepped well for the race.
The Worlds At VCU
I had a discussion with these avid cycling fans who claim to attend all major national and international cycling events, estimating that they go to at least 10 races a year. They asserted that they love any rider sporting the orange jersey of team Netherlands and came out to support riders Tim Kerkhof, Sam Oomen, and Twan Brusselman of team NED in the Men’s U23 Road Circuit. With an amateur background in cycling, they got involved with sport through a cycling culture where they live. When asked what other sports they follow, I was given an exclamatory, “Football of course!” (European football that is).
When we closed, they had kind words to say about Richmond, claiming “the people are nice and we don’t mind this weather!” (Definitely referring to the beginning of the week).
Bike Race Selfie Action
My favorite highlight from the Road Circuit Training day: These wonderful racers from Australia, Japan, Estonia, and Poland agreeing to take Snapchat selfies with me! Thanks guys!!
Road Circuit Training day 9/24/15 #TheWorldsatVCU
It’s definitely an exciting week in RVA as the worlds have literally come together smack-dab in the middle of VCU campus. Today was the last training day for the UCI Road World Championships before the races officially begin on Friday at 10am with the Women’s Junior Road Circuit. If you haven’t made it out to see these bicyclists in action yet, this weekend is the time to finally do so! History is being made in Richmond this week and it’s certainly an event you don’t want to miss! Be sure to follow Richmond2015.com for event details, times, and courses.
Here are some pictures from today’s UCI Road Circuit Training
Photo credit: Me and my trusty iPhone 4s
Meet Antonio Pingitore – He’s pretty cool
Name: Antonio Pingitore
Hometown: Buena Vista, Colorado
Occupation: Retired/“Trying to maintain my 14 year old body”
Antonio Pingitore traveled approximately 1,746 miles by RV to Richmond Virginia solely for the UCI Road World Championships. He’s of Italian descent, born and raised in Chicago but is currently from Buena Vista Colorado, and has a passion for bicycle racing. He’s followed racing for the past 40 years and at 74.5 years young, that’s over half his life. He raced for a long time, but now only rides for fitness. Not only is Antonio an avid bicyclist, but for 25 years he had also competed in Nordic Ski racing competitions. When asked what his occupation is, he responded, “trying to maintain my 14-year-old body.” And with his intense bicycling and fitness habits, I’d say he’s definitely doing the job! But before retiring, Antonio lived a life of service as a firefighter and in the U.S. Navy. Furthermore, he was also a master electrician for 45 years. Even though we only spoke for a moment, I had the greatest pleasure meeting Antonio and hearing about his love for bicycling. He’s excited to explore Richmond, but is of course even more excited for the week ahead.
3… 2… 1… And she’s off!
Women’s Elite Time Trial at the UCI Road World Championships #TheWorldsAtVCU #Richmond2015
Assignments, Class Announcements
VCU is counting on YOU to provide content for the ‘Great Bike Race Book’
Good morning, crowdsourcing journalists. Welcome to the first full day of the UCI race.
VCU plans to pull together the content you produce (photos, tweets, stories) for a book. Wow — this is a huge opportunity. Below is an email that Dr. Gardner Campbell, the vice provost overseeing this project, sent to instructors teaching bike-race-related courses. Check out the “best practices for interviewing”; they echo and reinforce things we’ve covered in our class and our journalism curriculum.
The key takeaways for us:
* Wear your Bike Race T-shirts when you’re out gathering content.
* Tag every tweet with #TheWorldsAtVCU … and #Richmond2015 and #vcubrb if you have room … so they will be easy for VCU to find. (I should have mentioned this when I sent out the race-week assignment yesterday.)
Assignments, Class Announcements
Race week assignment: 10 tweets, 10 photos (including 1 Q&A)
Hi, all. Here is your assignment for the UCI World Championships. Between now and Sept. 27, you must:
— Send out at least 10 tweets about the event. But space them out: You must tweet on at least three days. Remember to use hashtags (#TheWorldsAtVCU on every tweet; #Richmond2015 and #vcubrb if you have room). Also use Twitter handles — the names of people or institutions using Twitter.
— Retweet at least five of your classmates’ tweets. We’ve listed everybody’s Twitter handles toward the bottom of this page. So follow your classmates; look for something interesting they’ve tweeted; and then retweet it to amplify its reach.
— Shoot 10 photos from the race. Follow Tim’s tips for effective composition. Post your photos on your Rampages blog. Each photo must include an informative cutline/caption. You can use the photos in your tweets as well.
— At least one of your photos (and it could be several) must focus on a person who has come to watch the bicycle races. Ideally, this would be a tourist from another country. But if you can’t find an international visitor, maybe you can find somebody from out of town. Ask your interview subject, “Can I take a picture of you for a class project I’m doing for VCU? Is it OK for us to publish this on our website?” Assuming the person says yes, ask these questions (and any others you think of): More…
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