May 2013

The team is a big fan of two things Iron Hill: the brewery on Thursday nights for the team road ride recovery and the trails at the namesake county park. The first Sunday of May it was the latter which brought the team out to hit the dirt in the Iron Hill Challenge in Newark, DE.  Eighteen WW racers battled it out in all classes in the 7 mile loop course consisting of twisty-tight single track, BIG woopdies, short steep uphill and a few long climbs.  The fun, challenging course brings a lot of competitors to this race, especially this year as it was the Delaware state championship and a national qualifier (true?).  The team again proved our strengths - in skill, speed, endurance, and support. Our Cat 1 guys crushed it with super solid finishes: Chris Edmonds    7th (open/pro), Andrew Webster 6th, Brendan Reilly 7th, Jeff Meyer 7th and Dennis Dischler 13th. Our Clydesdale, Dave Jordan, continued his awesome season finished 2nd (!!)...while Ryan Ashcroft had a bad encounter with a rogue stick so now is the proud owner of a new derailleur. Ricardo Gomez and Colin Hoon represented in Cat III fishing a solid 4th and 12th...way to go in your first race Colin! The gals continued to show the WWR women's team is a force on the circuit.  In Cat 1 Trish Reilly brought home 1st and Heather Heinrich 4th - both becoming DE state champions in their respective age groups. Liz Jones took another podium, this time the top spot, placing 1st in Cat 2! Kim Webster stood on the podium at 3rd with Jenny Gomez battling it out for 8th in Cat 3.  Mags Crilley had to pull out after a nasty rib injury...she'll be back on the scene in no time. Because two to four laps wasn't enough, four WW racers enjoyed peddling madness in the 4-hour endurance race.  Nancy DiSibio finished 2nd in the women's class missing pulling out one more lap by a minute. The guys also did great in a huge class: Rob DiSibio finishing 10th, Eric Nefferdorf 20th, and Jeff Burris, despite being riddled with mechanicals, stuck it out and finished 30th. The support from Powerbar was especially needed to make it through the long race!  The post ride par-tay was as good as it gets: Powerbar recovery cooler, Cinco de Mayo chow and Dogfish beer....and of course podiums!

Ricardo and Colin ready to go!

Dave "Reds" Jordan taking 2nd place

Nancy DiSibio fueling up 

Our guys ready to take on 4 hours of Iron Hill

It doesn't get any tougher than On the Rocks At French Creek, held in Elverson, PA the second weekend of May! You want rocks? French Creek has 'em: big rocks, little rocks, fat rocks, skinny rocks, loose rocks, buried rocks, tombstone rocks, rocks to rip off your derailleur, rocks to rip off your skin, rocks to make you still shake 4 hours after the race is over.  This race isn't for the feint of heart!  Six WW racers were up for the challenge and hit it head on. In cross-country, our powerhouse Clydesdale Dave Jordan finished an awesome 5th, and Ryan Ashcroft battled to 21st in a big, strong class. Ricardo Gomez' tire lost the battle and he sadly left the course with a taco'd wheel. On the endurance side, because two hours of rocks isn't enough, Rob DiSibio finished 8th and Eric Nefferdorf 21st...now that is mettle! Andrew Webster fought a valiant fight, but also succumbed to the rocks. Great riding on a tough course...to make it out is a win.

Comparing carnage at the post-race tent

He wanted a burrito for post ride but he got a taco (wheel) instead

WWR bid a sad good bye to our teammate and friend, Chris Edmonds, who moved back to his home state of Alabama.  We will greatly miss training, racing and hanging out with Chris.  He is the definition of a first-class guy and an amazing athlete.  All the best to Chris - especially getting some WWR wins in the deep south - you will be missed (although your KOMs will likely live on forever up here!).

A final training ride with Chris

And so wrapped up a short racing month for WWR. Less racing means more training, so check back with us to see how we kicked it in June!