December 2013 / January 2014

December kicked off with the MABRA Cyclocross Championships in Taneytown, MD which include the Maryland, DC and Delaware State Championships. Freeze + Thaw = MUD! This was good 'ole peanut butter mud with deep sections that sucked the power right out of your legs.  Add to that the traditional challenging  Taneytown course and you've got a challenging Championship race!  The course was filled with slippery s-turns, up and down chicanery, power sections, and two very treacherous off-camber downhills. Spectators were lined up to watch the inevitable wreckage as one racer after another tried to negotiate down the off-camber hill, many crashing, slide-sliding, endo-ing, or sliding through the tape - this is fun, right?! Its totally hilarious...until it's your turn to race!  Andrew Webster and Heather Heinrich persevered through the challenge and took home the titles of  State Champions, respectively! Webb stood in the second podium spot in the Single Speed class and took home the Maryland and Pennsylvania State Champion title and Heather finished 6th and the Delaware title...and they still haven't taken off the crowns or stopped executing the royal wave!

Next up...the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships weekend held at various venues across Philadelphia.  The most unleashed, wild, anything-goes qualifier was held at Big Guy's Used Auto Parts behind Blinkey Cycleworks - warmly known as the Junkyard 'Cross.  This annual event is no holds barred...partying mandatory, costumes encouraged, tetanus shots recommended and rules optional. The course wove through stacks of flattened cars and aisles of hubcaps; over car hoods; through a van (rocked by hecklers harder than a toddler on a hobby horse) and ended through a front end loader. Many WW racers shiowed up to cheer on Heather Heinrich as she battled it out in the woman's field.  For Andrew Webster, Saturday was the Pizza Strength to determined who made the final on Sunday.  For Webb it was a 54 mile adventure up and down the hills of Philly on a single speed!  He qualified for the finals with 150 racers - pure insanity. Within 45 minutes, the course had two inches of snow - fun, right?  Webb is already counting the days until Kentucky 2014!

A racer's dilemma: over the hood or up/down ramps over the roof at the Blinkey race!

Webb sporting the fancy 'do for the finals!

The last race of December wrapped up the 2013 local 'cross season. It was the final MAC race: Limestone at the Kiln at Camp Olympic in Emmaus, PA...and what a sensational way to end it!  Emmaus got several inches of snow Saturday, leaving a beautiful white blanket of the white stuff on the course which quickly became churned up by cleats and spinning tires.  Straying out of the grooved, slushy, muddy path into the frozen tundra, was a mistake as your bike would slow immediately.  The course wove across the fields, over the river and through the woods..."heckle woods."  Apparently all the SSCXWC hecklers who didn't get enough last weekend, were out in full effect, cheering and tossing snow balls, high-fiving and providing a beer hand ups. The mantra of the day was to embrace the chaos and uncertainty both on and off the bike! Andrew Webster capped his competitive season with the TOP podium spot in Men's 2/3/4 - awesomeness!! Heather Heinrich finished a solid 12th in Elite Women 1/2/3. Way to close out 2013 race season!

Heather slip sliding away!

There is no better way to kick off a new year of biking than a fun relay with a great group of racers! Alex Frigon, Heather Heinrich, Andrew Webster and speedy team friend (on loan from Bike Line) Scott Roberts teamed up to tackle the Highpoint CX Relay in Forrest Hill, MD.  The course wound around the Highpoint farm fields, a little bit of woods, and all kinds of fun terrain variation. Half way through the course, riders rode through the largest letter G you've ever seen on their way to and through the barn...where the cows were replaced by a herd of hecklers and revelers. It was a cold, blustery day and after the first few laps, the course turned into Nutella. But it turns out, our team LOVES Nutella! They pulled out the win in Cat 1/2 4-person Open...and have the trophy to prove it! Way to kick off 2014...and we'll take that as a predictor of our results for the mountain bike racing season which is right around the corner in March!

Way to go - first place complete with trophy!