Wilderness 101

I just posted my long, rambling race report from the Wilderness 101 on my blog

More Sunday Racing - Clark Valley TT

Brian Hopkins and Rich Seevers drove East to do the Clark valley 40k Time Trial.

Brian finished 3rd Overall with a time of 57:19, good enough for 2nd in Cat 1/2/3 using his new TT bike.

Rich finished 4th in the Cat 4 race with a time of 1:09:09...also using his semi-new bike!

See...maybe the equipment DOES make the racer :)

Sunday - Fort Cherry Road Race

Dave Shaffer , Mike Maher, and Sam Morrison raced the road this weekend. The following was written by Mike of the Cat 4/5 race:

The Dirt Duo – Scores a Podium

The Ft Cherry Road race was a welcome event to get me out of the woods for a bit. Man was I happy to have a team mate show for the Cat 4-5 race. Sam and I had discussed a plan before the race thinking the race would stay together on the relatively flat 8 mile circuit. The finish was at the end of a pretty good power climb to the line. OK Sam, I’m going to attack with about 1000 meters to go, right before the base of the climb. Don’t chase me! Chase the 3rd or forth wheel after me and we’ll use those suckers as perfect lead out on the climb, you should launch for a strong finish.

Ahhh the best laid plans….The first attack came at the first corner. I chased it down. The second attack came on the first climb, I was in the break, but it was caught. The third on the next riser. I pulled the peloton back. By now it pretty obvious that Iron City Bikes is feeling perky with 5 strong riders. One or two would attack, with anyone who would go with them, and the rest would soft peddle on the front and block or disrupt the chase. RATS! There they go again. And again I’m reeling the break in. DAMN! Doesn’t anyone else want to chase. I know that every team can’t be represented in all these breaks. SHEW! It’s back together. A couple more brutal attacks and I’m feeling it. We‘ve only completed 2 of the 5 laps and I’m pretty sure that I will crack after another one or two.

Here’s comes Sam to the rescue. Sam get’s a little roadie 101 as we talk about what Iron City is trying to do attacking and blocking. Right on cue they attack again and Sam is in the break. I’m gasping at the front trying to now control the chase. Someone tries to bridge up and it’s all back together. Sam and I are in the pack yacking and another attack occurs about ½ way thru the 3rd lap. Two riders from ICB and about 10 others. Come on Sam we need in that break!

Sam jumps on my wheel and we bridge the gap. No one from the pack can latch on and the break has a 100 meter gap. As I work my way to the front of the break I was telling riders that someone in this group will win. Take some short pulls and keep 'er rolling. I take strong pull at the front (for me) and roll to the back. I’m pretty spent and drift back to the chase. At this point almost all the strong horses are in the break and with me and 3 riders from ICB the chase is doomed. Ag3r is well represented in the winning break.

I’m not sure what all went on in the break, but apparently a couple guys were pretty unhappy that Sam had made the move, and were giving him some $hit. Not sure why, except maybe they had a premonition of how he was going to school them in the finish! Third place and a podium for young Sam. Great race!

With a couple team mates, I’m pretty sure we could have dictated the race. Especially with some roadies to help!!!

(See "S.A.M. likes Bikes" for more from Sam.)

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Dave Shaffer also rode in the Cat 1/2/3 race ...info to come on that later (?!!!)

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(THANKS to Kirk Morrison for the photo in this post.)

Saturday - Shannock Valley MTB Race

Mike Maher took 6th Place Overall in this race, improving on his previous best placing of 9th Overall. In doing so, he bettered his time of two years ago by 5 minutes with a race-time of 55:30, and broke into the Hour Club for the first time to also finish 2nd in his age group. This race, along with Mike's plans to attend the Ft. Cherry Road Race the following day, are his final hard efforts before the Wilderness 101 Mtn Bike Race this coming weekend. Good Luck to Mike in that serious ENDURANCE event!

PMVC Friday Night @ the Track - 25mi. TT

A very hot night for a race...especially one in a teardrop helmet with limited ventilation :) This week's Individual Time Trial was the dreaded 25 mile! Make the distance in under an hour, and you find yourself in an elite Club. I fell short! ...by 19 seconds... but still ended up in 4th Place. Dave Hickey took 5th Place... with both of us doing so with personal records at this distance...at this location. Rich Allen, working to dial in his time trial bike, did a 10 mile TT for comparison to his previous benchmarks at this distance... at this location. As always, a good way to end the week... but unlike always, I got such bad and long lasting cramps in (both) my hamstrings that I could hardly do steps, let alone ride a bike for the rest of the weekend!!! Better luck next time!

UPMC ITT

Great job to everyone who showed up on Saturday. I just put us a post on my blog with some pics if you wanna look.

UPMC Time Trials

UPMCCycling.com organized a (painful!) 10 mile Individual Time Trial this past Saturday......and while the day took a bit longer than many had planned for, the multiple category event went off quite well. A few of us (not me!), even went home with money in (our) pockets!!!
Additionally, there was a Junior's Race...
...and even an U12 Kids Race, completing one lap of the circuit with their still-in-kit dads at their side, and their own race numbers pinned to their backs. Cool :)

And last...and least... Agr's Team Time Trial Record for the 20 mile distance fell.

New 20 mile TTT - WB Track Record => 43:10.0 @ 27.80mph

Old 20 mile TTT - WB Track Record =>

2007_0720 => 44:57.0 @ 26.70mph by Ag3r: DeFurio, Dimmick, McCracken & Rogers

(Thanks to Dave Hickey for the photos in this post :)

20 mile ITT at WB track

We had a really good showing with 4 of the 12 riders in the race being from AG3R/Indianacyclig.com. Rain threatened us the whole time but never did come. I broke the old track record but only held it for about 2 minutes until Eric Hodos(UPMC) finished and bested my time by about 20 seconds. Rich managed to almost die when he went into afib 5 miles into the race and John won the award for the rider with the least aero equipment. T. Lyle had a respectable race and I really can't think of anything to make fun of him about other than I don't know his first name. Just that it must begin with a "T".

Never Give Up...

Never Give Up...Never Surrender.

The results of the June 7th Dash 4 Cash Mtn Bike Time Trial have FINALLY been posted. It just goes to show that even a handful of seconds "wasted" can cost you a place... even at the end of a two hour event...

Beachcomber Report - My own little part of the Tour of PA.

New Beachcomber Report Now Available. What did the Beachcomber find today? Find out here: http://jbsbikeblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/cool-and-useful-how-good-is-that.html (Maybe one of these days soon, I will do some actual racing of my own and report on that.)