June Results Summary

While May was a slow month of racing for the Team, June more than made up for it ...with road races, time trials, mtn bike races and even a team triathlon!!!

Tour d'Grandview

Sunday, June 29 Dave Shaffer raced Pro/1/2 this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio finishing 35th in a field populated by riders from many of USA's best Pro Teams. He said the loop was short with a big ring climb leading immediately into a descent, then right back to the climb. A day of intervals, for sure ...with the early lap climbs at 30 mph! Dave sure likes to mix it up with the big boys :)

Bike Wars Episode 2

After the onset of the clone wars the Jedi Knights are spread throughout the universe, Luke Bikewalkers Droid, jbcj2(cousin to c3po), continues his strategy to collect debris from throughout the universe, to ultimately dump it onto Bike Vader and the clone armies, thus destroying both.

Throughout his journeys he had a set of rules that he followed that had been passed down through Jedi lour, the matter should fit in the Jedi Jersey pocket or at least be easy to carry. this rule had haunted him for many years for he new that the key piece to his ultimate goal, to find and retrieve the sacred Barbecue grill grate. This would be used as a distraction for Lord Vader and the Clone Army, a picnic lunch of sorts. Something to distract them from there goals and temporarily lower their guard for the dumping of the crushing debris. Now you can only imagine how much jbcj2 had to find one pocket full at a time but he is a hard worker and has a keen eye.

Unknown to jbcj2 in another part of the universe another Jedi knight had heard of jbcj2's plight and while cycling had come across the much coveted barbecue grate, and ignoring the Jedi cread, retreived the grate thus allowing years of planning to be set into motion........

PMVC 10 Mile ITT

Friday - June 20

Three players ended their week with a refreshing 10 mile, full on Individual Time Trial at the Washington Blvd. 1/2 mile Oval in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, the Ag3r Team Time Trial record for this distance was not challanged...standing firm for another day :)

Yellow Creek Triathlon

Mike and Sierra Maher (father and daughter) competed in a Team Triathlon.

Both selected the bike as their weapon of choice!

Mike and his Team took 3rd in the Coed Division, while Sierra and her Team took 4th in the Female Division.

Check their results below :)

Brookville- not much to report

I made the trip up to Brookville today for the YMCA Summer Heat ITT. I've done this race 3 other times and it is a good one. It's a small community level event but the course is fun and challenging. It involves alot of rolling hills and some bigger than that but just enough to make it really hurt. Anyway, I show up today and they make and announcement that the race is canceled due to the road workers covering the entire course in fresh tar'N'chips yesterday and it was unsafe to race on. So I headed back to Indiana and rode with Rich after he shut the shop down. Like I said, not much to report.

The Beachcomber Log - find date: June 19, 2008

Well, I've got a good one from last night. My wife and I went out for a walk around the neighborhood with the dog. Between some of the houses, in an overgrown area, I noticed something blue. I had to investigate more. A closer look revealed that the blue object was one of those bags you get at a home show or some sort of event so you can collect all the free stuff you see. To find out what was in that bag, lynx over to The BeachComber Blog @ http://jbsbikeblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/beachcomber-log-find-date-june-19-2008.html

What's in a name?

I have been given the nick-name "beachcomber." It's not that I live at the beach. It's because, while on my bike rides, I keep an eye open for any interesting curiosities that might be strewn along the roadside. Then I made the mistake of sharing that information with others who are adept at making up nick-names.I do have certain criteria for anything interesting I find and report on. It should fit in my jersy pocket or at least be easy to carry. No normal trash or dead things. As I come across other interesting finds, I'll post them too. I'd be glad to hear what others have found along the roadside. To find out what I came across yesterday, lynx over to The BeachComber Blog @ http://jbsbikeblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/whats-in-name.html Beachcomber out.

Presque Isle Time Trial - PICC Championship

Another Erie Time Trial under our belts... on a BEAUTIFUL day.

(1) Benchmark Times were set by: Dave Shaffer, Rich Seevers and Hunter Dimmick.

(2) A new Club/Team Record was set by Brian Hopkins (3) Personal Records were set by Henry Dimmick, Randy McCracken, Doug Frost, T.Lyle Ferderber, and Ray Sielski.

(4) New Club Rivalries were formed between Shaffer & Dimmick (time diff = 15 sec), Hickey & Ferderber (time diff = 7 sec) and Sielski & Allen (time diff = 3 sec).

Afterwards, Hunter, T.Lyle and I went for a swim in Lake Erie, Dave Hickey rode the loop a second time and the others hung out waiting for the awards ceremony pictured in the header photo of the Blog.

Riding On Borrowed Time.....

Time trial Bike that is...Look Familiar Brian

Well this was my second voyage on a time trial bike and I must say that I was impressed. Now the route I took wasnt the best for this type of bike, and the bike deffinately does not fit me right but i was able to make due. the ride the day before was much better and flatter but i had spent most of my time trying to get the bike dialed in for this coming wekends erie time trial.

I did 50 miles from Cambria county into Indiana count and home. the first portion was pretty hilly but others that were flatter were great fun. Speeding along in the mid to high 20's, when the wind was not in my face, seenmed effortless. even the headwind did not seem quite as bad.

The seering heat was probably the worst thing to deal with on teh day, and the limited water that i could carry made me have to stop a couple of times to refill. No real heart problems today to speek of but had a little flutter near the end. I think it is mostly due to slight dehydration and gatorade type products seem to have an effect as well. I usually use ELITE but did not have any with me.

PLT TT #1

I hate flat tires!

The day started early at 4:30AM. That's what time I had to get up to head to Chesapeake for the race. My start time was 10:20AM and I arrived at 8:30AM so I had plenty of time to get my number pinned on, everything set up, and a good warm-up before the race. It was scorching hot out, 95* at race start and 102* by the time I left. It was a flat lollipop course with a head/cross wind out and tail/cross on the return trip. I wasn't sure how I'd manage to do since I'm just getting over being sick and I'm also very sun burnt. I started out and felt good. I was riding at 26.5mph into the head wind on the way out. Then on the back side of the course I was able to cruise along at 28mph with a tail wind. Then when I was about 200 yards from my last turn before turning back onto the final straight stretch I hear that awful hissing sound that every cyclist knows and hates. I had a flat front tire. Day over! I was averaging 25.45mph at that point with only 8 miles remaining mostly with a tail wind. Oh well, better luck next time. The good news is that I know I'm finally recovered from being sick. Form is also looking good for next weekend in Erie;-)

To read more, or see additional photos, GoTo: "Blog Peeps - MIRV", on the right side tool bar.

Can you count to 10(?) Time Trial

Friday: The seasons 1st WB Time Trial demonstrated that T.Lyle and I need functioning computers and can't count to 10!!! I thought 9 laps = 10 laps... and T.Lyle thought 11 laps =10 laps! So even though we had to extrapolate the Offical's stopwatch times to get (valid?) 5 mile race times for T and I, we had a good turnout of riders with functioning computers! (5. 11:16 Henry Dimmick) 8. 12:05 Dave Hickey (10. 12:05 T. Lyle Ferderber) 11. 13:14 Ray Sielski 16. 14:14 Donnie Panizales 17. 15:30 Hunter Dimmick

Dash 4 Cash - MTB Race

Saturday:
Whoa! What a great... technical... painful... race course. From the very rocky single track to the near vertical descents, to the multiple 75+ foot wide, thigh deep river crossings, to the quarter-mile pitch black tunnel, this course was one for the ages! Making it more unique, the race was set in a time trial format, with 2 riders going off at a time every 60 seconds.
Rich Allen, Sam Morrison and I raced, then hung out for hours listening to live music, eating from a massive buffet of food and drink under a 50' tent, and waiting for the Results.
While the results are not yet posted... Sam took 3rd in Expert and I took 4th in Sport. Meanwhile, between the pictured "out-of-bounds-marker" taken from the course and a bent rear derailleur, Richy was having a bit of difficulty shifting!

This event was awesome... and HOT... and after 5 hours and darn near 100 ounces of water, I have yet to visit the little boys room!

Ahhh Silence

As much as I love riding my bike, I also love working on it. I enjoy getting the shifting to work flawlessly. I find a reward in truing a wheel. I consider wrapping handle bars correctly a small work of art.

I get frustrated when my bike is making some noise that I can't find and fix. For a while now, I have been experiencing the tick, tick, ticks ... the occasional creeeeeaaaaak ... and some ping, pings. You all know what these sounds are. They were driving me nuts and taking some of the enjoyment out of my rides.

Recently, I was able to replace some worn parts. I got a set of "new" wheels (used but better than what I had), replaced the chain and the small chain ring. Then I went out for ride... ahhhh silence. Silence here is not the absence of any sounds at all, but the sound of things working like they should. None of the extra little nuisance noises, just the music that a bike makes when things are working right.

Race for Alex - Circuit Road Race

Dave Shaffer and I raced the roads of Ohio on Sunday in Middletown, Ohio...where ever the heck THAT is! Shaffer took us via so many (way)back roads that I was totally LOST!!! Dave took 8th in Masters 30-39, while I was reported to have taken 13th in the Masters 40-49 group. We both got cycling tans :)

Mohican 100k Mountain Bike Race

For S.A.M. Morrison's race report, see Blog Peeps: "SamLikesBikes".

Dirty Mike Maher Race went as follows:
It was déjà vue all over again for me. 6 hours of monsoon the night before the race left much of the course a muddy mess. Much like my first attempt several years back. It was a hard day for me. The good news…Sam kicked some serious ASS! Not sure how many entries overall but upwards of 150 is my guess. Sam took 13th overall. Phenomenal result for his first attempt at an endurance MTB event. Yours truly 37th with a wrong turn 2 miles from the end that gave me 6 bonus miles…yeah! So if a picture is worth a thousand words than this photo tells it all. Here’s me just seconds after finishing. Notice Sam is already showered, changed, fed, and manicured!
Also for you roadies, both Sam and I beat Floyd Landis…he abandoned before the first checkpoint!