July Results Summary

PMVC 10 mile ITT

August 01, 2008 Dave Hickey, Randy McCracken, Rich Allen and Ray Sielski raced at the Washinton Blvd. Track in the Pittsburgh Masters Velo Club 10 mile Individual Time Trial. Dave finish 9th. Randy finished 10th. Rich finished 12th... and Ray finished 14th. All four posted Personal Records at this distance :)

6 Hours of Power

Sam Morrison raced in a different Endurance Mountain Bike Race in New York. He finished 1st in the U18 category...7th Overall. To read his story, link over to http://www.samlikesbikes.blogspot.com/

Wilderness 101 - Part Deux

Mike Maher and Brian Hopkins raced this CRAZY mountain bike race. Mike finished in a battered and bruised 9 hours and 51 minutes...for 92nd of 243 starting riders. Brian finished in contorted 12 hours and 28 minutes... cramping up the entire way! You can link below to Brian's Blog and his perspective on the experience. The following is a choice snip-it from Mike's race. Want the whole story? Leave your email address in the comments section to this post, and I will forward it to you! ---------------------- Fade to Light Wilderness 101 Gone Horribly Almost Right ...The trail takes a hard left and we are presented with an 18-20” rock ledge that you must bunny hop up and ride over or dismount and run. My prey comes up short and I try a stupid move and accelerate hard to wiggle around him on the right side of the rock ledge, oblivious to the obvious lack of a line. The blackness comes quickly and without warning. I’m being crushed! Suddenly I’m suspended between two knife’s edge shaped rocks about 18” high supporting my rib cage on the right side and the outside of my right quad. In short, choppy, gasping, hyperventilated, slurps, I’m squeezing air back into my lungs. As I’m gaining perspective, I tell the four riders to go on. Someone else will be thru in a couple minutes if I need help. As I try to stand, I realize the clamping pressure on my ribs is not my only problem. My thigh has taken a major hit as well. I can’t support my weight on my right leg...

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.)

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!