HISTORY
The Pista Elite Cycling Team was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1889 as the “Cleveland Wheels” an organization which featured a Professional Team, an Amateur Team, and a riding club. The organization eventually operated under the auspices of the League of American Wheelmen, then the national governing body of competitive cycling in the United States.
In 1932, the team was reorganized as the “Cleveland Wheelmen” and operated under sanction of the Amateur Bicycle League of America, which took over the governance of competitive cycling as a member of the United States Olympic Committee. During this period the team functioned as a strictly amateur organization in conformity to the Olympic requirements.
Subsequent to the reorganization of the Olympic Committee and the change from the Amateur Bicycle League of America to the United States Cycling Federation and USA Cycling as the governing body of the sport in the United States, the team also reorganized in 2000 and was reincorporated as “USA Pista Elite Inc.”. The team is now affiliated with USA Cycling, a Group “A” member of the United States Olympic Committee as well as the Union Cycliste Internationale, which is the International Governing body of the sport. Since that reorganization, the team has competed on both the amateur and professional levels.
COMPETITIVE RESULTS
Over the years the team has produced many State, National and International champions. More recently, the success of the team has been unparalleled. Since the year 2000, the team has placed at least one athlete on the podium at the United States National Championship in each year since 2000, with the exception of 2001 when the best finish of the team was tenth (10th) place.
In each season since 2008, the team has won at least one United States National Championship each season. Most recently, in 2018, the team won one (1) individual United States National Championship and three (3) podium finishes in Team Sprint and Team Pursuit.
USA Pista Elite Inc. has had over 6,159 race starts on five (5) continents resulting in 1246 victories, 47 United States National Championships, 128 United States National Championship Podium appearances, and 5 World Records.