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On Tuesday, October 15th, 93 colleges all over the U.S. and Canada hopped on Expresso bikes in their rec centers and turned on the Glee soundtrack to ride the most miles in the Expresso Fall Frenzy Tournament put on by Interactive Fitness. This March Madness bracketed tournament whittled down each week, in 48-hour rounds, until one college would take home the golden spokes trophy and claim the Fall Frenzy championship title. After five weeks, students and faculty gathered with sore legs at the Football Operations building gym on Louisiana State University campus to celebrate their victory over SUNY Binghamton college in the final round and 9,074 miles it took to get to the end.
The Expresso bikes have a visual screen with over 40 digital roads and trails to choose from. The bike reacts to the terrain that appears on the screen allowing the rider to shift and steer as they ride. The resistance increases when the rider pedals uphill and decreases downhill – but there is no coasting on an Expresso bike. Kevin Mawae, retired NFL player and Louisiana State University alum, added 43 miles to LSU’s totals. “It’s a whole heck of a lot better than riding a regular stationary bike,” says Mawae. “You feel like you’re accomplishing something. I feel like I’m working harder.”
SUNY Binghamton went into the final championship round as the underdog with six bikes against LSU’s ten bikes, but that pushed them even harder. In the end, their 3,102 miles could not beat LSU’s 3,348. Jenna Domin, Binghamton’s Fitness Program Coordinator, worked with Chris Griffin, the Aquatics Program Coordinator, to promote and rally riders to represent Binghamton. They extended the rec center’s hours, put a table in front of the bikes with a laptop on it to register riders, and created prizes for top riders. “We don’t have a ton of sports [at SUNY Binghamton]. A lot of the students who are working out in the fitness center aren’t athletes,” Domin said. “The Fall Frenzy gave them a chance to be on a team.”
SUNY Binghamton racking up the miles against LSU in the Championship round
The Expresso bike is hooked up to the internet to record mileage and calories for riders to challenge themselves further each time they ride. The riders were required to register through the Expresso.com website to sign up for their school’s team in order for their miles to count. From there, they could choose whatever tour, challenge their “ghosts” – or past rides – and race against their neighbors. All miles counted towards the Frenzy. “I like how innovative the bikes are,” said Josh Patkin, top rider at Binghamton. “It allows users to track a wealth of information very easily and even allows for an aesthetic and exciting bike ride as if you were outside, in the comfort of a gym or at home.”
At Louisiana State University, the excitement grew exponentially as the tournament progressed. Tommy Moffitt, LSU’s Strength and Conditioning Coach, explained that they just rode for fun in the qualifying round, but after they won and moved into the Sweet 16 against Lorain Community College, the human competitive nature took over. The amount of riders to strap on their purple and gold sweatbands grew exponentially from 45 to 214. Moffitt used Facebook to encourage the cycling team to join. “It took off after that [qualifying round] and everyone wanted to be a part of it,” said Moffitt. “Everyone banded together and said that we were going to do whatever it took to win the competition.”
Carnegie Mellon University went all the way to the Final Four, leaving Harvard Business, Cedarville, Ithaca Wellness, and IRSC, UNC Wilmington, and University of Texas at Arlington in their wake. This 12,000-student school may have less than half the population as LSU, but these Tartan Scottie Dogs had bark in their bite. Pattye Stragar, Fitness Operations Manager, brainstormed with the students to jokingly hack the LSU fitness department to cut off their power. In the end, they were no match for LSU’s powerhouse football and cycling teams. Kim Farrah, Carnegie rider with 44 miles in the Frenzy, achieved her only personal victories anyway. “Until that time I had not used those bike much,” Farrah said. “The challenge encouraged me to work out. It challenged me to bike distances I never thought I could.”
Carnegie Mellon celebrating in their Final Four Frenzy t-shirts
The Final Four winners, Marist, SUNY Binghamton, Louisiana State University, and Carnegie Mellon received a $250 Professional Development scholarship as well as a set of 25 Fall Frenzy t-shirts. Mirroring the Tour de France, Interactive Fitness recognized Lorain Community College, University of Rochester and Carnegie Mellon as the “Most Combative” because of the extreme milage their riders put into the tournament. Marist rode to the Final Four but fell to SUNY Binghamton with a student-run team and only 26 riders. As Marist rider, Nicholas Di Gruccio’s famous Fall Frenzy tweet once said: “What I’m about to do on this Expresso bike isn’t for me, for the team, or for the school, but for America.”
On Tuesday, November 19, Louisiana State held a Fall Frenzy award ceremony and Interactive Fitness presented the team with the official golden spokes trophy and the Championship title. Although Carnegie Mellon did not make it into the Championship, Pattye Stragar, was honored to make it so far: “They [students] started talking about their favorite trails and then riding the same trails side-by-side so they could see each others ghost and, once again, we created this competition not only with UT Arlington but with each other.”
Almost 600 riders lined up to the Expresso bikes for the qualifying round on that Tuesday morning one month ago. By the end, over 1,500 riders registered to represent their school in the Fall Frenzy tournament. Marney Yu, 19-year-old Business Accounting major and top rider for University of Texas at Arlington, rode for seven hours in the qualifying round accomplishing 70 miles. “I am neither fast, nor strong, just determined,” she says. “I would like to show other people that even average people like me can make a difference.”
