A trail of street cones and sidewalk chalk in lot B4 near Hilton Coliseum mapped the course for the ISU Motorcycle Club’s biannual CyTrax event in early November. 

An event focused on safety, CyTrax is a solo time trial designed to give riders of all experience levels, the opportunity to test their skills and improve in a safe and controlled environment.

While many types of vehicles, including motorcycles, ATVs and scooters, are permitted in the event, each participant must pass a number of safety checks before taking the course.

“It does a lot for new riders, especially. You never have the chance to do this on the road until something bad is happening,” said Trevor Stoakes, club president and senior in mechanical engineering. “Having a controlled environment like this really helps out with being able to really understand what your bike can do and how you can react safely without losing control of your bike.”

Stoakes has been a member of the ISU Motorcycle Club since his freshman year. Like many members in the club, Stoakes got his start riding dirt bikes and ATVs at a young age and purchased a motorcycle after starting college.

The organization hosts number of events for its members, including a weekly group ride, drag racing trips, the International Motorcycle Show trip and the Indianapolis MotoGP trip in addition to CyTrax.

Allen Paczynski, club treasurer and senior in construction engineering, said he has seen the ISU Motorcycle Club go through a decline in membership activity during his freshman year.

“There were a lot of dedicated members; there were a lot of different activities. And then, they all graduated,” Paczynski said. “There was no one to come in, so we had to rebuild a little bit.”

Paczynski was appointed treasurer of the club during his freshman year when there were as many remaining members as there were officer positions. Following a period of declining membership enrollment and club activity, Stoakes and Paczynski began to rebuild the club to its former status.

“I was a member for about a year before things started slowing down,” Stoakes said. “That’s when I picked up presidency, and we kind of took off from there and built it up.”

Now with a roster of 50 active members, the ISU Motorcycle Club hosts a number of regularly scheduled events, such as group rides, stunt nights, racetrack trips, spring break trips and pocket bike races. In addition to a rejuvenated undergraduate membership, Stoakes and his club have been able to develop an extensive network of current and former members.

Stoakes said catering to the interests of the club’s members is a major goal of the group. Stoakes and Paczynski said their club focuses on simple goals such as keeping members in touch through similar interests.

“The goal of the club is to get like-minded people together,” Stoakes said. “It’s always a lot more fun riding in a group than it is riding by yourself.”

The ISU Motorcycle Club’s next CyTrax event will be during Iowa State’s Veishea 2014.