September 2012

The first Saturday of the month brought the epic Shenandoah 100: 100 mile backcountry mountain bike race in Virginia's George Washington National forest on singletrack, doubletrack and fireroads – it is not for the weary…or the untrained!

The total elevation was 14,000 feet! There were 600+ riders for a sharp 6:30 a.m. start. Racers were on bikes of various shapes, sizes and varieties- tandems, singlespeeds, hardtails and every style and color under the sun. Although by the finish you couldn't see anyone's bikes as they were covered in mud!

The rain held off until about 7:30 a.m. and then the skies dumped on the Shenandoah Valley until about 1:00 p.m. and at times considered a torrential downpour. All of the racers were COVERED in mud coming through the finish line; for which the sun decided to finally break through! Despite these far, far from optimal conditions, our two racers had solid finishes, illustrating their months and months of training paid off!

Chris Edmonds came in 20th with a solid finish at 8:18. Brendan Reilly just beat his 10-hour goal at 9:59 and came in 104th. Pure awesomeness!!!! Rumor has it that Brendon is starting to train already for next year’s race. The third weekend of the month kicked off the first cyclocross race of the season: the Nittany Lion Cross was kicked off at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Breinigsville, PA. Nittany was dry, dusty, and very fast...good stuff for sure. Compared to last year’s stinky mud pit our racers were psyched.

WWR racers made a great statement for the first race of the year: Day 1, Andrew Webster finished 19 out of 107 Cat 2/3/4 racers; Cati Scheifele finished an awesome 7th out of 30 Cat 3/4; and our great junior racer Emily White, 14 years old, battled it out for 3rd out of 7th. Day two also proved to be a solid day of racing for WWR: Web finishing 20th and Dennis Dischler finishing 77th out of 88; Cati rocking 4th place and Heather Heinrich 11th out of 32 Cat 3/4 women; and Emily leading the pack of mostly 16 year olds to win her race! Awesome weekend of racing to kick off cross season! The following weekend brought great sun and great racing to the Charm City Cross UCI Race Weekend. The venue is the Druid Hill Park a beautiful, historic 745 acre urban park established in 1859 outside Baltimore, MD. Despite being in late September the summer heat remained for Day 1 and a few riders fell victim to heat exhaustion. The courses rolled fast with 3 dismounts per lap, including one set of barriers, a tree round-about with a barrier, a set of stairs, and a sand pit which could either be ridden or run. The courses favored good bike handlers and technical riders. WWR Day 1 racers rocked it: Lauri Webber taking 21st in Elite Women; Andrew Webster coming in 17th out of 110 racers in Cat 2/3/4; Heather Heinrich and Cati Scheifele finished 7th and 8th, respectively, in 39 Cat3/4 women racers; and our awesome junior racer Emily White placing 7th out of 10 under 19 racers! Day 2 the temps dropped a bit and the wind picked up, but still a beautiful day to race. It was a great venue with music, beer, bbq and great peeps. WWR racers again raced hard and it showed with Lauri taking 24th, Webb 14th, Cati 7th, Heather 18th and Emily 7th. Great weekend of racing!

The last weekend of September brought a tough two-day race weekend to our cross racers at the Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester in Massachusetts. It was definitely a character builder – Belguim weather style! Day 1 began with a light rain, preventing many from pre-riding and muddying bikes and gear. The rain subsided as the start of the women's 3/4 race began. But within seconds off the start, there was a crash on the asphalt, with several riders going down. As the group forged on, the course was slick with soft mud and a total of four laps were completed. WWR Cat3/4 racers Cati Scheifele and Heather Heinrich fought their way to great finishes at 15th and 29th, respectively, out of 87 racers. Our awesome junior Emily White placed a solid 13th out of 29! Day 2 started with steady rain, again thwarting many pre-riding efforts. The course was a little longer and included a ramp down to the beach, with about a 30 yard run in the sand, then up a step wooden staircase. The women's 3/4 race had a clean start, with the only crashes happening on the course which was cut down to three laps because of the dangerous conditions…allowing them to get to dry clothes faster! Cati survived an endo and a face full of mud to pull out a solid 14th out of 80 racers. Heather also proved her mettle by finishing 43rd despite two crashes, one leaving her saddle sideways requiring a pit fix and the other requiring removing the wheel to fix the brakes. I guess her bike mechanic lessons paid off! Emily again had another solid race finishing 13th out of 29 juniors.

That same last Saturday of the month Andrew Webster competed at the WhirlyBird 'Cross at Bensalem High School, in Bensalem, PA. This was race #5 of the MAC Series. Webb pulled off a great finish in the Men’s Cat 2/3/4 race finishing 11th out of 92. Awesome racing! That Sunday Webb and Dennis Dischler competed in the Winchester AppleCross-2012 in Winchester, VA. Webb continued his weekend of rockstar racing finishing 6th out of 76 in Men’s Cat ¾; and Dennis finished a solid 36th out of 66 in the Men’s Cat3/4 35-39 age group. What a superb weekend of cross racing to complete a great month of WWR racing!