Yella Crick

Well...that's how we say it in these-here parts.  Others of you may pronounce the race the YELLOW CREEK Park Grassroots Racing X-County!  This month, the race was held on the South Shore course.

Six Ag3r-ButlerHealthSystem riders accompanied our "expatriate" Gear Movement/Epic Pro Cycling Team members Sam Morrison & Deidre York. 

By the end of the day, we soon realized that, as roadies in the dirt...

photo by Steve Brewer

..."we" were only there to take podium pictures ...and carry their luggage!

Steve Brewer - 9th Place

Rich Allen - 13th Place

Mike Maher - 17th Place

Hannah Brewer - 18th Place

Kirk Morrison - 19th Place

Henry Dimmick - 22nd Place

Because Deidre and Sam both WON (...top girl and top boy, in case you didn't figure that one out on your own!)  Obviously, the result of high altitude training.  Yup, that's the story we are sticking with...!!!

BTW, Sam & Deidre say "Hi"!

For winning the overall race, Sam got to put on the coveted "Green Jacket"...

...and take home the hotly sought after Cherry Pie.  Ask Leslie how good it was!

Thanks to Kirk Morrison & Steve Brewer for their photos!

The World according to Garmin

Here are two of my favorite recently ridden sections of "road"....!

Wisp XC

....and with a WISP of dust, Richy was GONE...!

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Story by Kirk Morrison:

This past Sunday, Rich Allen and I met at the Wisp Resort in McHenry, MD (near Deep Creek Lake) for JR’s series opening, ABRA Wisp XC Challenge Mtb race. The weather was great with sunny skies, a light breeze and temperatures in the low 80’s.

The race started (and ended) from the top of the mountain, near the ski lift. The course was great with nice a mix of loose rocky down hills, challenging rock gardens, flowing single track and lengthy double track climbs (which resulted in a relatively high # of DNF’s)

The Sport Class race was almost 18 miles (two – 9 mile loops) with a total of almost 2,500 feet of climbing. I was happy about the “loop” format since it gave me a chance to pick up a few full water bottles in between laps (Unfortunately, I ejected one of my water bottles during a tumble on lap 2).

In spite of any mishaps, we were both able to finish with podium positions:

Rich – 2nd place in the Sports Masters 55+

Kirk – 5th place in the Sports Masters 45+ (1st Cat 3)

This is a great venue with a coffee shop (including espresso shots) and (real) hot showers near the start/finish line. The organization was fantastic with quick registration, on-time start, quick posting of results and an early podium.

Attached are a few pics that I was able to gather (sorry, couldn’t find any of Richy). Unfortunately, Rich also missed his podium since he needed to leave quickly to pick his wife up at the airport (?!).

The results link is: https://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2012-690

ABRA at the Oval

The Appalachian Bicycle Racing Association (ABRA) has added to it's calendar this year with a series of Criteriums at the Bud Harris Oval on Washington Blvd in Pittsburgh, Pa.

This past weekend, Steve Marlette and Dan Schar jumped into the Men's 40+ race...

Steve Marlette - 8th Place

Dan Schar - THE WHINER, I mean WINNER!!! - 1st Place!!!

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Steve Marlette tells the story:

If Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin were commentators for the Master's crit race at the oval today they would have picked Dan’s attack on the final lap as the big move of the day! It was brilliant!

The promoter chose the bullet course, featuring two 90 degree turns at the Bud Harris oval. This made for a tricky slow-down-and-accelerate situation for turns 3 and 4. Dan took advantage of this by not waiting to sprint after turn 4, but instead attacking after turn 2 on the final lap. The result was a first place for Dan!!

I'm glad I decided to do the race this morning. It was a thing of beauty!

Presque Isle TT

"Back in the Day", the Presque Isle Individual Time Trial used to mark the beginning of the racing season.  Leaping forward to 2012, there has been racing going on now for almost 6 weeks!  My how times have changed.

The day always starts the same...waking at 4:00 am to get to Erie by 6:30 am in order to register and get warmed up before our individual start times.

Part of the fun of TTs is checking out all the interesting "new" equipment...some readily available and some "custom"...and questionable!

Once all the "talking with our legs" was over, Ag3r-ButlerHealthSystem again went home with our fair share of the Awards :)

Steve Brewer - 3rd Place OVERALL, setting a new Personal Record.

Steve Marlette - 8th Place OVERALL, 3rd Place Men's 40-49 yrs

Hannah Brewer - 1st Place Women's 20-29 yrs, setting new Personal Record

NEW Ag3r GUY Tim Bauer, celebrating his 21st Birthday this very day - 2nd Place Men's 20-29, 34th Place Overall


Henry Dimmick - 7th Place Men's 50-59 yrs, 33rd Place Overall,

Ray Sielski - 15th Place Men's 50-59, 64th Place Overall

...and FoxVelo Club rider Randy McCracken - 8th Place Men's 50-59, 35th Place Overall.


Modern times aside, we remained true to our heritage, by being the LAST PEOPLE to leave the parking lot after the race...hanging out to socialize with our teammates in excited anticipation of the racing season ahead.  However, THIS time, no one was "brave" enough to go for a swim in Lake Erie after the race!



Afterwards, both Hannah & Steve Brewer, Ray and Henry headed to Steve's favorite 6-pack (and food!) shop for some "fine dining"!

...and were still home in time to cut the grass!