20151030

VAMPIRES Beware!


20151015

Kick Off Cross

 
The Promotional FLYER for this race looked like THIS...

......a beautiful SUNNY day at last year's 2014 event.
Mike Maher and Mark Briercheck
Unfortunately, THIS is how the ACTUAL morning started in 2015.

Photo by N. Black Photo
 Luckily, the rain lightened up as everyone got dressed...
 
Nathan Black
 .....but it was TOO LATE for the COURSE, which looked like THIS, for the first Ag3r race of the day:
 
The SINGLE SPEED DIVISION:

Nathan Black

Kirk Morrison

Henry Dimmick
But, it was Mike Maher who rode away...


....leaving the rest of us to FINISH TOGETHER"Go Team"!!!
 

Nathan Black, Kirk Morrison, Henry Dimmick


Moving immediately into the NEXT RACE of the day....
 
...well, ALMOST immediately...
 
FIRST we had to re-pin Kirk...who had ALL his layers "numbered" together!
 
Mike can't believe it...!!!
 
OK............BACK TO RACING.
 
Ag3r then (immediately) entered riders into the 40+ Division...
 

Mark Briercheck


Nathan Black



....and into the 50+ Division.

Henry Dimmick


Kirk Morrison
But, it was Steve Marlette who rode strongest of the 55+...
 
Steve Marlette
Steve Marlette
...to place on the PODIUM :))


 Once we got OURSELVES cleaned up....


 ....and pounded down some hot dogs.....

Takeru Kobayashi
...all we had left to do was clean our BIKES...!






20151001

Peanut Butter Festival

Story by Ray Sielski:
--------------------------
The prerace meeting starts with an apology from the director for the rain and bad day, WHAT?

After an evening down pour to loosen up the single track sections the sun came out and revealed a glorious day.

Photo by Ray Sielski
Greeted by the Peanut Butter Festival Queen and with her blessings, Team Ag3r headed off to the start line.


Off we go and this is the last we see of Richey and Hannah, sprinting up the road and off into the double track.

Forget about Bobby as he was the first off the front.

Double track with gravel bumps that dump you into a ravine for a crossing with a climb into more single track. That is the bump and dump section on the map. Here things are a bit bunched up as the riders are not yet sorted out.

Soon you ascend to the highest elevation of the county on double track that opens up to a blue sky view of the surrounding valley.

Back down into the single track where Kirk decides this is a good time to change out his chain.

Confusion at the tunnel as they mixed up the course a bit, however they left the water in the creek so racers received a bike wash for their efforts.

Next onto low land river view single track before the ramp up to the finish.

Here Ray decides to pass and pull out his lead until the gravel pit round about, a bad decision takes him out and results in a lost podium position.

Kirk rebounds nice and finishes with a clean chain.

Off to awards after and podiums.

Hannah impresses all with a Race WIN and with another Bike the Wilds Series WIN.

Photo by Ray Sielski
 Later in the day, it was revealed HOW she does it:
Image by NBlack Photo
Rich pulls a PHANTOM on the podium stage for his placing in the race :((
Photo by Ray Sielski
Bobby is the biggest winner as he shares the podium with a cast of EXPERTS for the BTW series.
Photo of Ray Sielski taking Photo of Bobby Irwin!

Peanut Butter Festival Results:
 
http://www.smileymiles.com/2015/RES15%20NEW%20BETHLEHEM%20PB%20FEST%20BIKE%20RACE.htm

Bike the Wilds Series Results:
 
http://www.bikethewilds.com/previous-results/btw-2015_final_expert.pdf

http://www.bikethewilds.com/previous-results/btw-2015_final_sport.pdf


Pittsburgh Roubaix

...a CRAZY "city" format for which ONLY Kirk Morrison was CRAZY enough....!

Here is the story by The Man himself:
----------------------------
Pittsburgh Roubaix 2015
....a Sunday in Hell with the Lid Off!

Finish Place: 2nd DFL

...but I wasn't really DFL since I passed at least 6 riders on the course. The first of these riders were just arriving as I was driving out of the parking lot. My guess is that I was the last rider to arrive before the organizers ran out of PBR and headed for home ......!

.........therefore DFL's were awarded, and I was the 2nd DFL (?).

In reality there were about 30 starters and between the DNF's and the riders behind me, I would guess that I finished at about 20th place).

Got it...?....!!!

Attached pic is from one of the traffic lights in Oakland where we were spotted "obeying" the traffic laws!
Photo my Megan Lovett
This was a unique and fun "alley cat" style race with as many cobbled sections as possible (mostly climbs). 

Warm race with a 1pm start, bright sun and 90F temperatures.

Course started in Schenley Park with a LeMans run up the hill and then heading straight into Panther Hollow (on hiking trails) before looping through Oakland, downtown, Point Park, past Heinz Field during the Steelers/Green Bay pre-season game, up to Riverview Park, then winding back down through mini-Appalachia to cross the 40th Street bridge, Lawrenceville, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, around Frick Park, Edgewood, and Homewood before finishing at the Bud Harris Oval.

Since we were on our own to find the route it took me 48 miles of riding to cover the 42 mile course (several missed or wrong turns ...)!

2nd DFL prizes were super generous including:
3 T-shirts
a PBR bucket & pint glass
a Dirt Rag commemorative bottle opener
a Thick water bottle
2 passes to the Wheel Mill
a free oil/filter change certificate, and
a gift card for Coffee Tree Roasters.

Pretty amazing when considering that the entry fee was only $5.

Cool course!

Web Address to Facebook Results Post:
https://m.facebook.com/events/1702601236627983?view=permalink&id=1707305812824192

Best regards,

Kirk