August 2012

To some a relief but to many a bummer: this month signals the end of the mountain bike race season. First up, the Bear Creek Resort MASS Cross-country Finals in Macungie, PA. It isn’t a myth, this course beats you up! The course is loaded with rocks, tight switch backs, long climbs, and tight single track…and a lot of that all at once. Only the strong survive. Chris Edmonds competing in the packed Pro/Cat 1 men’s open class finished a strong 25th (37). Tim Fowley had a very solid race finishing 12th (27) as did Ryan Ashcroft 21st and Mike Bria 23rd. That same weekend racers were battling the mountains at Bear Creek, a WWR delegation headed north to the Dark Horse 40 endurance race in Stewart State Forest in New Windsor, NY. This exclusive race (only 400 racers accepted) is two 20 mile laps starting with a 3 mile gravel road climb to fast, twisty single track with plenty ‘o rocks, drop-offs, and steep short rocky climbs. It was a very hot, humid day, adding to the fun of the race. But who wouldn’t want to race when included in your race fee is a t-shirt, pint glass, bbq and Long Trail beer?!?!? Bring it! The team showed NYers how its done. Pete Borromeo had the spirit and finished 3rd, Rob DiSibio finished 4th and Dennis Dischler 11th out of 32. The gals loaded up the podium with WWR jerseys with Heather Heinrich taking 1st and Nancy Thompson DiSibio pulling in 2nd. If people didn’t know who WWR was before the race, the definitely knew after. The last race of the MASS mountain biking season was the Rattling Creek Endurance Marathon and Endurance Series Finals, in Lykens, PA. Not sure where the name originated, but if you ask any riders after this race, they would likely say its because your bones rattle the entire marathon course! Rocks, rocks and more rocks…makes French Creek look like a jogging trail! While battling the rocks, there are long climbs and very fast downhills. Chris Edmonds (after racing Bear Creek the previous weekend!) came through with an outstanding performance finishing 5th out of 45 racers in Men’s Open. Brendan Reilly also had a great race finishing 19th in the same category.

It was with great excitement that Wooden Wheels Bike Shop opened a companion location to its Newark store in the Concord Square Shopping Center in north Wilmington at 4327 Concord Pike. Wooden Wheels is Delaware's largest family owned bicycle shop providing the latest and best in BMX, Freestyle, Mountain, Road and Comfort-bicycles plus a large selection of accessories. Located across the street from one of the most popular trailheads to the Brandywine Creek State Park and the scenic roads and hills of Chester County, the location is ideal for cyclists of all disciplines. With friendly and knowledgeable staff and a great selection of bikes and accessories, the Wilmington shop is well needed addition to the North Wilmington community.

July 2012

When the opportunity presents itself, why not race? While visiting family in western New York, Rob DiSibio and Nancy Thompson DiSibio made a pit stop on the way back east to race the Raccoon Rally in Allegany State Park in Salamanca, NY. This cross-country race started with a 5 mile climb straight up on grassy double track, followed by flowing double and single track and twice down the narrow, rocky, rooty shoot to the finish. WWR showed western NY what mid-Atlantic riders could do: Nancy was 2nd in her Cat 1 class, and Rob 2nd in his Cat 2 class. WWR racking up more podiums! Next up for WWR was the Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler in Sewell, NJ. Each 6 mile lap is full of logs, stream crossings, soft trails and short-steep climbs…and is fast, very fast! Lots of WWR teammates came out looking to play in the Jersey Shore sand. Great finishes for the Cat 2 racers competing in their age classes: Andrew Webster 6th (18), Jason Temple 7th (18), Mike Bria 27th (29), Ryan Ashcroft 28th (29), Brian Urion 16th (18) and James Ambagis competing in the single speed class finishing 11th. Despite a nasty wreck taking time off her finish (and some finish off her bike), our newbie Liz Jones dug deep and pounded out a 3rd place (6) finish in Cat 3! Trish Reilly suffered a nasty wreck and had to be escorted out of the trail. After getting to know the ER staff at the local hospital, Trish came home with all bones intact, but a deeply bruised and bang-up body. A big shout out to Scott Racing rider Scott Dickey who selflessly stopped to help Trish after the wreck; sacrificing his own race to help an very injured rider…sportsmanship = class. Trish will be back after some R&R; she is a mountain biker, after all. Another gem of the east coast mountain bike racing season – the Trail Spinners Fair Hill Classic, in Fair Hill, MD – includes cross-country and 50 mile endurance races. The volunteers that comprise the Trail Spinners mountain bike advocacy club put together one of the most organized, well-marked, best prizes (!) and most fun post-race festivities of the MASS season. The added bonus is that 100% of the proceeds go to building and maintaining trail systems in Delaware, Northern Maryland and Southeast Pennsylvania. Also, who doesn’t want to race a course that includes trails named Drunken Sailor and Crackhead Bob? The course is full of fast single track, very tight-twisty switchbacks, both long and short steep climbs and just enough rocks and roots to keep racers paying attention. WWR had outstanding finishes! First up, the cross-country racers included 2nd place podiums for Lauri Webber in Cat 1 (9) and Andrew Webster in Cat 2 (27). Also on the podium in 3rd was Rob DiSibio (41). Rounding out the great finishes were: Heather Heinrich in 6th (9), Jason Temple 5th (27), Brian Urion 36th (51) and Kirsten Wegner 5th (6). The endurance racers completed the 50 miles all under 6:10. Nancy Thompson DiSibio finished 8th (18), Brendan Reilly 13th (63), Tim Fowley 17th (31) and John Zerheusen 39th (63). Another fine race with great finishes, bbq and prizes from the podiums! Charge up those batteries! The last race of July was the Chester County Bicycles’ Midnight at Marsh Creek State Park, in Glenmoor, PA. The night owls came out to race around the lake and try to avoid the poison ivy beds. Good showing for WWR – Tim Fowley had his best place this season at 5th; Heather Heinrich came in at 4th, Trish Reilly at 7th, Mike Bria at 15th and Ryan Ashcroft at 17th. Way to stay awake and kill it WWR!

June 2012

This month brought a full calendar of mountain bike racing. First up was the perennial favorite the Bike Line Spring XC @ Fair Hill, in Fair Hill, MD. Each lap is approximately 7.5 miles of 75% singletrack with many fast flat to slightly rolling sections with several short climbs and an open sprint finish. Known as the fastest course in the MASS series, it is clearly the most popular cross country race bringing 610 racers this year – making passing on this tight course a real challenge. WWR was out in full force with 15 racers in all Categories. Our Cat 1/Pro racers Chris Edmonds finished 5th and Chris Denny 22nd out of 42 in the class. Other WWR Cat 1 racers also had outstanding finishes: Brendan Reilly 11th (26), Jeff Meyer 22nd (26), Lauri Webber 4th (9) and Heather Heinrich 6th (9). Fighting it out in very large Sport/Cat 2 classes were: Andrew Webster 4th (30), James Ambagis 14th (16), Jason Temple 14th (30), Mike Bria 53rd (57), Tim Fowley 28th (76), and Brian Urion 65th (76). Our Cat 3/Beginner women showed in full force: Liz Jones 6th (17), Kim Webber 12th (17) and Kirsten Wegner 8th (8). The outstanding performance gave WWR 3rd place in the Large Team Category! Another great race, bbq (with plenty of ice cold DogFish) and placing in the books. Next up was the re-tooled Andrew Mein’s Excellent Adventure at the private Granogue DuPont estate. This race is dedicated to Andrew Mein, a member of the Wooden Wheels mountain bike team, an ambassador to the sport of cycling, and a friend to all. Andrew was struck by a car in 1998 while commuting to his home after work. The course is a MASS series favorite for its exclusivity - the grounds only open to riding for this race -

and for its very technical trails full of rocks, roots, creek crossings, switchbacks and the infamous looonnnggg Koppenburg climb, of course always in the beating sun. This year the promoters, Velo Amis, decided to shake things up and rather than the traditional cross-country race, they put on multiple events to challenge every type of rider…and everyone’s light battery life.

Friday night was a Time Trial; WWR had racers on the first and second place women’s TT teams, Lauri Webber and Nancy Thompson DiSibio; and Heather Heinrich took 3rd in the solo TT class. Saturday’s race was a 12-hour bonanza! The toughest of the tough competed in the solo category…yes, 12 hours on your mountain bike on an unforgiving course.

For WWR, that was Will Neide who stood at 2nd place (7) on the podium in the single speed class (the 15 minute mid-race nap really paid off!!) and Eric Nefferdorf who took 6th (19) in the geared solo class. The team category proved tough as well – trying to balance the off-bike time between resting, staying warm and getting nutrition. The dynamic Duo Team of Chris Edmonds and Brendan Reilly rocked the podium at 2nd (7)! WWR participated in three different trio teams including racers Dennis Dischler, Jeff Meyer, Nancy Thompson DiSibio, Brian Urion and John Zerheusen – who finished in 4th, 6th and 10th places. The Stoopid 50 Marathon race, a 50 mile mountain bike race in Rothrock State Forest near State College PA, was next up on the calendar. This single loop course is a mix of forest roads and tight technical single track with a lot of climbing – obviating its Stoopid name. Chris Edmonds, again proving his mettle, finished 2nd out of 160 racers in the Men’s Open class – his 5th top-5 performance this year! He’s proven that there may be some logic in using your mountain bike on road training rides! Andrew Webster, Brendan Reilly and Dennis Dischler also pulled in great times finishing 39th, 52nd and 90th in the Men’s Open class, respectively. Heather Heinrich rolled her way to 12th (20) in the women’s field. Last up in June was the Guys Neshaminy Classic cross-country mountain bike race in Neshaminy, PA. Deceptively challenging, Neshaminy has a way of beating a biker up. The course, nestled behind Neshaminy High School, never seems to dry up; making the roots and rocks feel like riding ice. The Mexican Bowtie downhill rocky switchback never fails to be a challenge too. WWR women racers, Heather Heinrich and Trish Reilly represented in Cat 1 and finished 3rd and 9th. Way to finish out the month of great WWR finishes!

May 2012

First up in May was the Iron Hill Challenge, in Newark, DE. This is the first solo cross-country mountain bike race (for points) in the Mid-Atlantic Super Series (MASS); and includes a 4-hour endurance race. The rocky and rooty course, which never seems to dry out despite how dusty the rest of the world is, is highlighted by the 40-foot “mega-dip” which always draws a crowd of spectators chanting and heckling the racers to “DO IT,” “pedal-pedal-pedal” and “Awwww” as they swoosh down one side, finesse their gears

– if they aren’t in the hard-core single-speed class – and spin those cranks to hopefully keep from riding backwards up (down?!) the other side…some successful and some…well not so much. WWR had a solid turn out for this popular gem in east coast trail racing. Chris Edmonds took home first place in Men’s Expert class - AWESOME. Love the WWR jersey on the podium (especially the top spot!); way to start the MASS cross-country season!

Brendan Reilly, Heather Heinrich and Trish Reilly all competed in Cat 1/Expert and finished the tough course in 8th (out of 28), 4th (7) and 12th (13) places, respectively. The WWR sport class racers also battled the course (and mechanicals!) to finish well in their classes: Jason Temple 8th (29), Justin Rogers 8th (41), Rob DiSibio 17th (41), Tim Fowley 20th (50), Brian Urion 40th (50) and Walt Hayes 23rd (23).

Our newbie Liz Jones chose Iron Hill to be her first mountain bike race (after only owning a bike for 2 months!) and crossed the finish line 5th (10) sporting her own take-home prize of a bloodied leg – welcome to mountain biking Liz! Going the distance, WWR had three racers in the 4-hour endurance race. Jeff Meyer placed 18th and John Zerheusen 25th in the Men’s Open class of 32 racers. James Ambagis got the tough-guy award this race, competing in single-speed endurance race coming in 13th. All in all a great day for WWR: big team turn-out; fun and tasty post-race bbq; and a third place team finish in the Large Team Category!

No rest for the weary… bring on On the Rocks @ French Creek! The name sums up this race in Birdsboro, PA perfectly: do these rocky sections ever end?!?!?...ummmm, no, well yes, at a rooty slippery climb and technical, twisty single track. The rocks are relentless – which is one thing to ride and another to race. The race has cross-country and an endurance option, for those that love punishment. Lauri Webber took home 1st place out of 10 in Cat 1 – another first place for WWR!!! Heather Heinrich and Chris Edmonds rode great races in Cat 1 finishing 3rd (4) and 10th (34), respectively. This race’s tough guy award goes to Jeff Meyer who completed 5 laps in the Men’s Endurance class – taking home 26th (47) and likely blurred vision. Last up for May was the Wilmington Grand Prix; a weekend of road racing in downtown Wilmington, DE and the surrounding Brandywine Valley. The event kicked off Friday with the Monkey Hill Time Trial, a 3.2 mile course through Brandywine Park – made famous from the Tour DuPont – including the cobblestone climb up Monkey Hill. The team showed in full force to ring the cowbells and whoop it up for our racer Curtis Miller’s climb up the stones. It clearly worked as Curtis finished 5th (12) in his class! Saturday’s events included Pro/Am Criterium Races, which were the seventh stop on USA Cycling’s National Criterium Calendar. Curtis competed again, finishing a solid 9th (21) in his class. Because two races aren’t enough, Curtis took on the Gran Fondo, a 100-kilometer course featuring a timed climb and a hilly terrain. The third time is the charm as Curtis won King of the Mountain, topping the climb first out of 180 riders! Curtis is still sporting the crown around town. What a way to finish the racing weekend and month! Another highlight this month was the arrival of our Powerbar nutrition! We are really psyched to have Powerbar as a sponsor this year.

The Performance Energy Bars, Energy Blasts and Energy Gels are the team favorites and key to our training and racing nutrition. Also, their website has awesome information on how to keep ourselves (and all athletes) riding our strongest – no bonking!

April 2012

Wooden Wheels Racing demonstrated our broad skills and interests in tackling road, circuit, cross-country relay, cross-country solo and xterra races in April. First up for WWR, the Mid-Atlantic Super Series Mountain Bike Team Relay on the Oesterling Farm in Marysville, PA. Four-racer teams squared off in completing as many 3.5 mile laps as possible in four hours on a course full of roots, fast downhills, and twisty single-track…with little margin of error next to the creek!

Also to add to the fun, the first racer of every team had a half-mile (the runners thought it felt more like a 5k) trail run to get their bike to start the lap. Andrew Webster took one for the team and volunteered to run…confirming that mtnb shoes are definitely not made for running. Race rules required racer rotation after every lap, in the same order, so keeping warm, loose and hydrated between laps was critical. Dennis Dischler, Jason Temple, Andrew Webster and Rob DiSibio finished 14 laps – giving them a 25th place out of 45 teams. The second weekend of April was faced roadie style! Up north it was the Tour of Battenkill: America's largest one-day Pro/Am cycling race in the Battenkill Valley of Southern Washington County, NY. Racers competed over 62 miles with 3,950 feet of elevation gain (maximum gradient of 18%!) through rolling countryside, covered bridges and some dirt roads. This year the field was honored by 3-time Tour de France Champion Greg LeMond riding in the marathon course. Curtis Miller represented WWR in the Cat 4 race – finishing an outstanding 12th out of 107 in his class; way to rock the hills Curtis!

Also that day, to the west was the SoYoCo Circuit Race in Brogue, PA. The 15 mile course consisted of two 90 degree turns after a speedy downhill followed by a mile long false flat and then a solid, short but steep climb into the start/finish line. Compounding the difficulty were many patches of gravel and dirt along the roads. Andrew Webster, competing in Cat 4, finished 13th out of 31 racers – awesome job Webb. Justin Rogers, Rob DiSibio and Brendan Reilly – all competing in their first ever road race – finished 2nd, 7th and 11th out of 35 Cat 5 racers – way to go!! Next up, Brendan Reilly and Chris Edmonds packed up their mountain bikes and headed to Hagerstown, MD to complete in the Greenbrier Challenge - a national qualifier. Their course was 22.6 miles of fast, heavily wooded trails with narrow single and double tracks and one particularly steep climb. Brendan and Chris raced hard and fast in tight races finishing 4th and 5th in their Cat 1 age classes respectively.

Over at the Jersey shore that day, Mags Crilley completed in the NJ Devil Xterra, in Barnegat, NJ. This race included a ½ mile swim (in chilly lake temps!), 13 mile mountain bike and 3½ mile trail run. Mags showed her training diversity paid off by rocking the race finishing 1st in her age group and 6th overall female – with no visible blood, her usual trademark.

WWR hits the presses! The Newark Post did a great story on the shop and the team in the April 20th issue. Read it here… http://www.newarkpostonline.com/news/article_3868e3fc-8a43-11e1-ad7f-001a4b cf887a.html. The picture with the article is our first MASS season Grassroots Championship podium shot – what a handsome group!!

March 2012

After a winter of indoor trainers, spin classes, icy trails, frigid road rides and countless urban rides through the parks, streets and cobblestones of Wilmington, Wooden Wheels racers are ready to put away the winter gear and punch into the race season.

First to kick it off was Will Neide who rocked a St. Patrick’s Day race: the AFC Sugar Hill cross-country mountain bike race in Patapsco, MD. The course Will faced was 23 miles with 3,000 feet of climbing – a major undertaking on a single speed! Will’s hard work training over the winter paid off with a 5th place out of 29 racers in the Men’s Single Speed class. Way to start the season, Will!

February 2012

The 2012 Wooden Wheels Racing kits have arrived! This is just what we needed to heat up the racing juices in these dark, dreary, cold winter days. The 2012 kits retain the traditional black, blue and yellow Wooden Wheels color scheme. Proudly displayed are the logos of our Sponsors: Wooden Wheels bike shop, PowerBar, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Tifosi, Cannondale and Specialized. We are excited to represent our sponsors and appreciate their support of our training and racing goals. This year Powerbar was added to our list of sponsors; and as great nutrition is key to successful training and racing, we are psyched to have their support. BRING ON THE RACING!