Nov 14: Kent State CX

This past Saturday, Mike Maher, Steve Marlette, Rich Allen, Ray Sielski and I (Henry Dimmick) headed off to Kent State University for a CycloCross race.
...and a gorgeous day it was for a Road Trip!

Upon our arrival, Steve broke out his latest in Team Warm-Wear... a fashion risk if ever we saw one!
The first race of the day was the Men's Cat 4... which is why we entered 4 riders :)

Steve Marlette...

Ray Sielski...

Rich Allen...

..and Mike Maher.

At the end of the race, Steve took 5th Place, and Mike took 4th Place ... after letting a rider pass him at the LAST moment because he thought there was one more lap to go ... gosh darn-it :)

Of course... we had to hear ALL ABOUT IT afterwards!!!

In the next race, the Men's B, my excuse was even weaker than Mike's ... as the Concrete Edge of Death and Destruction took me out with a flat in the FIRST LAP.... DNF for me :(

Soldiering on were Mike & Steve...

...cheeered on ALL OVER THE COURSE by the Ag3r Peanut Gallery!!!

All in all, an awesome day... the weather, the course and the company included!

Nov 01: Boulder Cup

Our Western Mid-Western Team Rep, Sam Morrison, competed in the Boulder Cup this past weekend.

You heard that right... as in Boulder, Colorado!

While some say Sam has only two speeds... FAST and OFF (!) ... it would seem that SINGLE Speeds are his strength... evidenced by Sam taking 5th Place in the SS Race!!!

That makes 3 top 5 finishes in 3 ACA (American Cycling Association) Races this season!

You can read & see more about it HERE :)

Nov 01: Pittsburgh 1/2 Marathon

Hanna Brewer proved that strong legs and lungs can do more than just pedal a bicycle, by running in the Pittsburgh 1/2 Marathon.

Finishing with a time of 1:48:09, Hanna took 32nd Place in the Women's 25-29 Division...

...508th Place Overall out of 2062 total runners.

Well Done Hanna : )

Oct 31: Marilla CX

Dirty Mike Maher (and his bike!) were exactly that... Dirty ... after doing 2 races at this weekend's Marilla CycloCross Race.

In the Single Speed Race, Mike took 9th Place ... just happy that his chain stayed together!

In the Men's B Race, Mike improved on that result by taking 6th Place.

Two excellent finishes in harsh conditions... proving again just how Dirty Mike really is!

Oct 25: Raccoon CX

Brian Hopkins, Steve Brewer and myself (Henry Dimmick) headed to Rochester, Pa. for the Raccoon Twp Park CycloCross Race... our second day in a row of racing :)

After yesterday's mudfest in Murrysville, THIS turned out to be a PERFECT day... 60 degF and sunny.

In the Men's 4 race, Steve Brewer took 2nd Place, and Brian Hopkins took 3rd Place... both on the Podium ...and BOTH with medals : )

In the Men's 40+ race, I was able to hold on to 4th Place.

In our second race, we all raced....actually... we all "rode for fun" together in the Men's 2/3/4 race!!!

After our races, we stayed to "Cyclo-Party" the Men's 1/2/3 race ... handing up Glazed Donuts and cold Foster's to the riders who were man enough to stomach them!

What a GREAT Weekend : )

Thanks to Brian Hopkins and JR Petsko for the photos.

Oct 24: Murrysville CX

After spending the majority of the day yesterday setting up the course, CX regulars Ray Sielski...


Brian Hopkins...


Steve Brewer...


Mike Maher...


and myself (Henry Dimmick), returned to RACE the course : )


Along for the "ride" were 2nd-time-crosser Steve Marlette...


...and 1st-time-crosser Mark Briercheck!!!


With LOTS of rain the night before, the course was muddy enough that one rider was overhead saying that "riding in this mud steals your soul"!





At the end of the day...the Results were in:

Steve Brewer DNF the Men's 4 race after being taken out by a stick through the wheel, and took 31st in the Men's 3/4 race.


Mark Briercheck took 15th in the Men's 4 race.


Henry Dimmick took 13th in the Men's 45+, and 33rd in the Men's 3/4 race.


Brian Hopkins took 8th in the Men's 4 race, and 26th in the Men's 3/4 race.


Mike Maher took 7th in the Men's 4 race.


Steve Marlette took 9th in the Men's 45+ race...


...and Ray Sielski took 18th in the Men's 4 race.


Afterwards, Mike Maher, Steve Brewer & I stayed to help tear down the course... before heading to Butler for some cleaning and rest, before heading out to race The Raccoon CX tomorrow.


Thanks to Photographers Brian Hopkin, Vaughn Wallace & me! ...and to whomever was operating our cameras while we were racing :)

Oct 23: Murrysville Ready

Ray Sielski & I (Henry), along with 5 guys from Team Freddie Fu, spent the day setting up the CycloCross course at Murrysville for tomorrow's race.

Late in the morning, Mike Maher rolled in to lend a hand... and just after lunch, Steve Marlette spun through the course a few times on his bike to check the layout.

While the rain held off until around 2pm... forecasts for tomorrow are for WAY better conditions than LAST year!!!

Keep your fingers crossed : )

Oct 17: The Valmont Varmint : )

From 2,000 miles away, Sam Morrison reminds us that HE TOO was racing this past weekend!!!

Dr. Frankin-Sam attended the Valmont Bike Park Ground Breaking Cross, racing his way to 2nd place in the SINGLE SPEED CLASS... on his mulit-million dollar, 27 speed mountain bike, stripped of all it gears via cable connections ... pitifully reduced to but one . single . speed.

They sure do things weird out there in Colorado...!!!

Oct 18: Kiski 5K

Mike Maher was the only Team Member in action this past weekend, "Running" in the Kiski 5K Road Race.

Mike placed 13th Overall, 2nd in his Age Group.

Oct 11: Iron Cross Weekend

Brian Hopkins and Steve Brewer competed in this year's Iron Cross Weekend ... a combination of a traditional CycloCross Race on Saturday and "The World's Longest Cross Race" on Sunday!

Saturday - Iron Cross Lite

Steve finished 13th in the Men's 4 Race

Brian crashed out of the Men's 3/4 Race - DNF


Sunday - Iron Cross VII

Brian finished 71st Overall out of 275 entrants.

Steve finished 174th Overall

You can read more about the weekend on Brian's Blog.

...and maybe more of the story from Steve's Blog sometime soon ...

Oct 10: QUEEN of the Mountain

While others were in the dirt this past weekend, Hanna Brewer grabbed her road bike to compete in the Clearfield Queen of the Mountain, a fund raiser for Habitat for Humanity of Clearfield County.

Set up in an Individual Time Trial format, riders left at 30 second intervals for a HILL CLIMB of 1,100 feet in 5 miles. But as Hanna put it, "you get to ride down after you are done, so that makes it fun"!

Finishing on the Women's Podium, Hanna took 3rd Place, a medal, and a bit of cash to pay for gas!

Despite the temperatures outside (today), reports are that there was no snow at the top of the climb ...!!!

Oct 3: Grove City CX

This past weekend was the Grove City CycloCross race... a regular race-horse in the Month of Mud Series stable!

Returning for more grass and mud(?) were Steve Brewer, Rich Allen and Ray Sielski.

On the opposite extreme, appearing in their first CycloCross race were Steve Marlette and Hannah Brewer : )

By the end of the day, Ag3r had earned two top-10 finishes! Well Done Team :)

Masters 45+ :

Steve Marlette - 9th

Sport :
Steve Brewer - 12th
Rich Allen - 15th
Ray Sielski - 17th

Sport Women:
Hannah Brewer - 4th

Welcome to "CROSS", Hannah and Steve!!!

Thanks to the Brew-Crew for the pictures.

Sept 27: Raccoon Twp Park CX

Rain and the promise of wet grass and a slippery course was not enough to deter the hearty. In fact, a total of six riders showed up for the first CycloCross race of the 2009 Month of Mud Series.

Brian Hopkins and Steve Brewer were first to arrive... at 7:00 am ... 3 hours before race time, the result of a slight miscalculation in their travel back into Pa. from Saturday's Ohio CX race!!!

Also racing were Mike Maher, Rich Allen, Ray Sielski and me (Henry Dimmick).

The first race of the day gave us all a chance to check out the course under race conditions, knowing that each passing racer only made things more and more treacherous for those who would follow!

This can be seen in the excellent displays of Race #2 bike handling by Steve Brewer...

...Ray Sielski...

... and myself :)

Even Brian's Where's Waldo Socks could not overpower the Gods of Slip'n'Slide!

Just to make sure you know we aren't TOTAL sped's, here are a few pics of us STILL on two wheels!

At the end of the day, we had the following Results in the "Sport" B-Race:

Steve Brewer: DNF (saddle "malfunction"; rear brakes "inoperable"!)

Mike Maher: 6th Place

Brian Hopkins: 8th Place

Henry Dimmick: 14th Place

Rich Allen: 19th Place

Ray Sielski: 22nd Place

A good day in the MUD :)

Thanks to John Curran and (me) for the photos!

Sept 26: Kent State – Stark CX

Brian Hopkins and Steve Brewer traveled to Ohio on Saturday to race in the Kent State University – Stark Campus CycloCross race ... part of the 11th Annual Bike Authority CX Series.

Steve took 3rd Place in the (full length) "C Race"!

Brian took 10th Place in the (lightning shortened) "B Race"!

Afterwards, they fed their faces and got themselves ready to race again TOMORROW, back in Pa. at the Month of Mud, Raccoon Twp Park CycloCross Race!

Thanks to John Curran for the photos!

Sept 20: Presque Isle Time Trial

This event marks (for us) the end of the Summer Road Racing Season... something we all look forward to! Attending were Steve Marlette, Ray Sielski, Dave Hickey and me (Henry Dimmick).

Arriving to Erie at 6am... the change of season goes hand-in-hand with a change in the Sunrise ...so camp set-up for this Fall event is done in the DARK.

While the venue is the same as usual, a beautiful loop around Presque Isle State Park...


...NEW THIS DAY was the addition of 2 new riders to the Ag3r Team... the one-two punch, husband-wife team of Steve and Hanna Brewer.

...and as you can see.... Hanna is a real "Knock Out" :)

So, while everyone pulled out their Time Machines for this final TT of the season, I dusted off my Single Speed Fixie... and outfitted it with the latest in (not so aerodynamic) "hipster"assessories and race fuels!

Meanwhile, with such close proximity to the lake...

... one must be on constant watch for signs of forward(?) steps in human "evolution"...

Getting back to racing (!)... and to the awards, we all gathered around...

...to watch Steve Marlette and our "New Brewers" proceed to collect some hardware!

Hanna Brewer: 1st Place Women's 20-24 yrs / 87th Overall

Steve Brewer: 1st Place Men's 20-24 yrs / 4th Overall

Steve Marlette: 1st Place Men's 45-49 yrs / 6th Overall

Dave Hickey: 30th Place Overall

Ray Sielski: 34th Place Overall (Setting his 3rd Personal Record on this course in 2009!)

I, on the other hand, beat these two 9 year olds!

Henry Dimmick: 59th Place Overall

So...now we transition into The Month of Mud, and CycloCross Season!

See you all in the dirt :)

Thanks to Steve Brewer for providing a few of the better photos!

Sept 19: Crooked Creek Triathlon

By Mike Maher:

Great race for me.

½ mile swim brought me out of the water about mid pack, but knew the bike course would hurt the traditional triathletes in attendance.

Once on the bike, I started quickly picking off riders as the terrain went more vertical. By the end of the bike I was in first place with one other guy coming out of T1. One more guy was close behind.

The eventual race winner pulled away from me on the first hill. Near the top # 2 caught and passed me. I stayed about 100 yards behind these 2 till about mile 2 when they started testing each other.

About a ¼ mile from the end a guy overtook me on the downhill run to the finish. He was flying I was not.

So old guy Mike took 4th overall and won my age group for the last tri of the season. Now to relearn how to ride for a couple cross races.

Sept 19: Peanut Butter Festival

Rich Allen finished in 2nd Place (50+) in the BIKE-THE-WILDS SERIES,

...a three race circuit comprised of the:

(1) FAT TIRE Challenge (June 21),
(2) Shannock Valley Community Festival (July 18), and the
(3) Peanut Butter Festival (Sept 19)



The goal of the Series is to promote Mountain Biking and Racing in the local western Pennsylvania wilderness.

Congratulations Richy... and nice Podium Face :)

Sept 12/13: Tour de Strongland

Text by Mike Maher
Beatings suffered by: Brian Hopkins!!!

MTB Expert:
Never use anything new on race day. We’ve all heard it right? I didn’t know that applied to floor pumps. I misread my new pump and mistook 57 lbs for 27 lbs of pressure. On the first of 2 laps I crashed 13 times! (No I am not exaggerating! ) 4 times completely dislodged from my bike. After a lap I “realized” that my fork was not broken and let some air out of my tires and completed the race without any more incidences. I finished WAAAAY back. Good news….I beat Brian….bad news he asked me to fill his tires before the race as well. Sorry Brian, Really!

Mike Maher - 19th Place (4th Place 40-49 yrs)
Brian Hopkins - DNF


MTB Sport:

Rich Allen - 20th Place (2nd Place 50-59 yrs)


Road Expert:
I had no ambitions of doing well, but had hoped for strong team showing for a local race. Brian and I were both at the start of the expert race. That has to count for something right? The gun goes off and I work my way to the front for the upcoming brutal 1.5 mile climb up “Garver’s Ferry Road”. I knew I’d get shelled, but had hoped to hang on at least on the first brutal climb. About ½ way up a group of 7-8 riders went off the front. Then Before the top I was spit out the chase group. So a long day of being in the 2nd chase group of 10 knowing that we will never see the front of the race again. Good news x 2. I attacked the group with 1.5 miles left and soloed in for 311th place. Oh and I beat Brian who “claimed” to flat about ½ mile in. Yeah right????

Mike Maher - 21st Place (3rd Place 40-49 yrs)
Brian Hopkins - DNF

Sept 11: Remembrance Ride

(Back Row - L to R) Ray Sielski, Ken DeFurio, John McLaughlin, Skip Rogers, Ed Johnson, Jason Maust, (Front Row, L to R) Randy McCracken, me and Curt Morrison went for a ride on Friday, September 11th... and like all good rides, it started at Cummings Coffee Shop!

Our goal this day was to Remember the attacks of Sept.11, pay our respects to those who lost their lives that day, and to proudly fly the colors of the Unites States.

Beginning with a wreath and flag (lowering) ceremony at Diamond Park, across from the Butler Court House...

...we were then escorted by the Pennsylvania State Police...

... which took us past a Military Fuel Depot...

...the whole way to MARS...................... Pa!).

... finishing the final miles on Rt 228 into the Cranberry Twp area.

Once there, we pulled out the folded flag we received and carried with us from the Butler Ceremony...

...and handed it over for an official flag (raising) ceremony at The Ciba Restaurant in 7 Fields.

Afterwards, we rode back to Butler, with a little less formality and a LOT more speed : )

Remember... " NEVER FORGET "

Sept 8: 24 Hours at 7 Springs

Mike Maher competed in the Corporate Team competition in this years 24 hours race.

Mike was the only returning member of last years 3rd Place Masters Men's Team from 2008. The rest of us are soft!

Team TMR finished in 14th Place, with 14 Laps.

Below is a picture of Mike (bottom left) waiting out the final countdown seconds before the LeMans start (run) around the mountain top lake.