MONTCLAIR -- Miles Whitford, a promising young cyclist who races for the Montclair Bikery Development Team, was competing last month in the state criterium championship for his age group, wheel-to-wheel with another accomplished teenage rider known for his acceleration in sprints to the finish line.
Whitford, 17, of Rutherford, had recently lost a sprint finish to the same rider, Reilly Carlton of
, and he and his Montclair coach talked before the June 27 championship race about the need for a big enough lead going into the final stretch to cushion him from his rival's final burst.
So with what life he had left in his legs after 30 mile-long laps around the streets of Plainfield, Whitford launched his sprint before the course's last turn, getting a surprise jump on Carlton and opening a gap big enough to hold onto the lead and win the New Jersey Bicycling Association Criterium Championship for the junior 17-18 class.
"A few weeks prior, it was the same situation and he beat me," Whitford said in a recent interview. "He has an explosive but short sprint. This time, I attacked him early, so he just couldn't catch me."
That winning strategy, along with the training that allowed Whitford to execute it, are examples of the expert guidance that he and other young racers receive from Coach Bill Brunner of the Montclair Bikery Development Team, which was just awarded the prestigious designation of "Center of Excellence" by
, the sport's national governing body based in Colorado Springs.The development team, sponsored by the Montclair Bikery cycling shop, is one of just 22 Centers of Excellence nationwide.
"The first and only one in New Jersey," said Brunner, 57, of Fairfield, a lifelong racer, coach, and cycling official who is the reigning master's champion in the Garden State Cup competition, a points-based system ranking amateur racers.The designation makes the non-profit development team eligible for grants from USA Cycling to send its young riders to races and camps. It also bestows other tangible and intangible benefits, including a level of prestige that the team hopes will raise its profile and attract more riders.
"We're more out there," said Whitford, who was praised by Brunner not only as a skilled and committed racer, but as a team leader and even a mentor to younger riders. "People are learning about us, people know us, and it opens up more opportunities."
For example, Brunner is now invited to attend USA Cycling's annual summit in Colorado for coaches and team directors, which he said will give New Jersey "a voice" in national cycling issues.
The Montclair Bikery Development Team, which includes half a dozen active members, ages 14-20, is affiliated with Montclair Cyclists, a club also based out of the Valley Road bike shop. The club's 50 or so members, made up of adult men and women plus the juniors on the development team, gather every Saturday morning for rides of 30 and 60 miles to destinations including the Great Swamp in Somerset County.
Montclair Bikery owner and development team founder Dave Adornato, an avid cyclist and a former photo editor (Years ago, Adornato did freelance photography for The Star-Ledger.), said he moved to the area from Hoboken in 2001, attracted by its rich cycling culture.
There are three other bike shops in Montclair: Diamond Cycle on Bloomfield Avenue; Pedal Montclair on Midland; and Sir Isaac Bike, Board and Ski on Belleview."I picked Montclair because of the Montclair Bikery shop," said Adornato, 45, who lives in neighboring Verona. "I wanted to be committed to the community and a really good bike shop and community of cyclists."
The team's orange, blue and white "kit," or cycling uniform, is emblazoned with the shop's oval logo.
"The designation is an affirmation of the success of the team, and the dedication of the juniors to cycling," said Adornato.
Indeed, Whitford is not the team's only state champ. Ben Douglas, 14, of Bloomfield, also won his age group's criterium race last month. Another team member, 16-year-old Matt Jogodnik of Chatham, won last year's state cyclocross championship in the men's class, adding to past junior titles in the criterium, time trial and road race disciplines.
Just as NCAA football and basketball feed the NFL and the NBA, and baseball's minor leagues send the best players up to the majors, development programs like Montclair's are potential breeding grounds for professional cyclists. That could mean domestic teams, or, in fewer cases, international teams that compete in European classics and the three so-called grand tours: Italy's Giro di Italia; Spain's Vuelta a Espania; and the Tour de France, which finishes in Paris on Sunday.
The Montclair Bikery squad is one of a handful of junior development teams in New Jersey, including Liberty Cycle and the Team Somerset junior program, affiliated with the Somerset Wheelmen cycling club.
About 80 junior riders are "licensed" to participate in races sanctioned by the New Jersey Bicycling Association, an affiliate of USA Cycllng, though additional young riders race using one-day licenses, said Marryanne Caruso, a member of the Montclair program's board of directors.
Those races include the annual Tour of Somerville on Memorial Day, one of the nation's biggest criteriums -- the term for one-day races that involve repeated laps around a looping course -- and the longest-running bike race in the country.
Somerset County is a hub of cycling that until only a few years ago was home to the U.S. Cycling Hall of Fame, also in Somerville, which is now located in Davis, Calif.
Brunner, a Hall of Fame Board member, said despite the annual tour, the Somerville location was not attracting year-round attendance numbers befitting the sport, and that the California location was able to offer a larger space and higher profile generally.
Nonetheless, officials say organized cycling remains popular in New Jersey, with 1,100 total "licensed" riders in the state, including adults, who take part in about 80 New Jersey races per season, according to the state association.
Beyond those racers, Caruso said there are about 3,000 club riders around the state who take part in regular weekend rides. And, of course, there are countless more casual riders unaffiliated with any club who pedal on their own or in small groups.
Whitford, whose racing is supported by his parents, plans to keep on cycling as long and as hard as he can. He hopes to race in college, where he'll major in mechanical engineering, possibly to help him design bikes.
"In the back of my head, I want to be a pro cyclist," the teenage champion said. "It's kind of a stretch, but I'm going to try."
Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.