The month kicked off solidly with 13 racers on eight
different teams at
THE International
Intergalactic Global Open Mountain Bike Relay Championship of the
Multi-Friggin-Verse (aka, the Mid-Atlantic Super Series Team Relay) on April
6
th at the Oesterling Farm in Marysville, PA.
To tackle this relay, racers needed both endurance
to last 4 hours and sprinting ability to speed through a short 2.6 mile
lap.
Each lap was full of twisty trails
loaded up with roots and logs, logs, logs and more logs with a few short climbs
in-between.
No chance to put your feet
up here…else risk missing the tag with your teammate barreling in on this short
course.
So all eyes were on the
start/finish line to tag…and tag again…and again…and again - for.four.straight.hours.
Unless you are WW racer Heather Heinrich who
did the whole four hours solo – way to woman-up!
Rather than using traditional race classes,
this race is scored using a handicap along with full laps completed and race
times – levels the playing field so any one (or teams) from juniors to pros
have a shot at winning.
Our WWR teams came
out hard and fast (and long!) and brought in great finishes: co-ed duo Mork and
Mindy (aka, Nancy DiSibio and BikeLine Race Team friend Scott Roberts) finished
15 laps and with 82 points placed 19
th out of 149 teams.
Butts To Nuts (Brendon Reilly and Jason
Temple) muscled their way through 17 laps – the most for the whole WWR team! -
for 34
th place.
Blazing
Saddles (Rob DiSibio and Alex Frigon) man-handled 16 laps - which would have
put Mongo to shame - for 42nd place. Man Down! (Will Neide and BikeLine Race Team
friends Scott Figiel and Curtis Miller) smoked through 16 laps to finish in 58th
place. Duo Webb-Monds (Andrew Webster and Chris Edmonds) were on fire…both
Chris’ bike and Webb’s stomach (way to pound out laps while fighting a stomach
virus!). Chris blazed through the
starting lap to come across the line first out of the whole 149 field! He also had the second fastest lap of the day
at 13:30! They fought through 15 laps
for 90th place. Fat
Chick Check In (aka, Trish Reilly and Liz Jones) were the model of
race-lap-time consistency and finished 12 laps for 104
th place.
El Toro
(Jenny and Ricardo Gomez) were el dúo rápido finishing 7 laps for 135
th
place.
Dusty Grimm Tribute (Heather Heinrich)
gets the tough-guy award for doing 11 laps solo. This race definitely got the team psyched up
for a great mtnb racing season!!
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| 1/2 Team Web-Monds & 1/2 Team Butts To Nuts |
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| Smooth tag up for Blazing Saddles |
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| Brendan taking off for another lap while Ricardo watches for Jenny |
On the second Sunday of the month some WW racers opted to
pound the pavement and race road-style.
The Tour of the Battenkill is
called America's toughest race. The largest
one-day Pro/Am cycling race, racers ride over 62 miles facing dirt and paved
roads as they traverse Southern Washington County, New York. It has over 3900 feet of climbing, with
grades up to 18%! Despite the
not-so-ideal race conditions - 40 degrees and overcast - our racers didn’t disappoint. Jason Temple and Alex Frigon jumped out
front, broke away from their field with 30 miles to go (wow, that takes…) and never
looked back! They took the top two
podium spots in their 5-A Cat…with Jason nudging out his roomie and homie by 5
seconds. LOVE seeing the jersey TWICE on
the podium!! Dave Jordan battled through
mechanicals to finish 79th in his 45+ class. Way to go guys, great finishes in a tough and
grueling race!
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| Jason & Alex taking 1st & 2nd...with their maple syrup |
While some of the crew were tearing it up north at
Battenkill, four WW racers were tearing it up on the rocks, white-knuckle
descents and loooonnnggg climbs in Michaux State Forest at the Michaux Off-Road Weekend Endurance Race. Michaux is deep in mountain bike racing
heritage with its classic East Coast trail terrain challenging even the most
experienced and trained riders – it definitely isn’t for newbies or
lightweights! To ride Micheaux is
a challenge; to race FOUR hours of Micheaux gives a whole new meaning to
the word challenge! Brendon Riley took
18th place, despite 3 flats, while teammate Chris Edmonds’ chain
couldn’t withstand the rocks and was unable to finish. Did we mention this course is tough…on the
bikes too! Trish Riley and Liz Jones
fought it out to complete 4 laps finishing 7th and 8th,
respectively.
The team was psyched to get our first order of PowerBar as a
Team Elite sponsored team! We love that
there is a variety of products in a variety of flavors for our various training
and racing needs. The most popular favs
are the Performance Energy Bars and the Gels and Chews. This year we are trying the recovery bars –
with 12 grams of protein and 30 grams of carbs, its exactly what we need
post-race/training ride. Also, we were
surprised – and excited – to get free PowerBar Performance Energy Blends to try
(new this year)…these are especially good for our gluten-free teammates. You can check out PowerBar by clicking on our
link under “Sponsors.”
Late in April, WW racers headed west to race the 10th
annual PVC Greenbrier Challenge in
Greenbrier State Park in western Maryland.
The course was 5.7 miles with 735 feet of climbing each lap, which
included dense woods, 60% old narrow double track, and 40% single track. The loose and rocky climbs and creek crossing
added to the adventure. The dry weather brought
fast, rocky trails. Again, the racers of
WW showed their mettle fighting through some great finishes! Andrew Webster and Brendan Reilly took 4th
and 5th, respectively, in their Cat 1 race while Trish Reilly and
Mags Crilley brought in 3rd & 4th on the women’s side
of Cat 1. Our big man, Dave Jordan took
8th in the Clydesdale class; while the dynamic Cat 3 duo of Jennifer
and Ricardo Gomez took 5th and 6th in their respective
classes.
The last Sunday of the month provided the perfect racing
conditions – sunny and upper 60s – for one of the most popular races in the
MASS series: the Bike Line Spring XC @
Fair Hill at the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area in Elkton,
Maryland. This race is often called a
“roadies’ mountain bike race” as it is ripping fast and not technical. It is 7.5 mile laps of creek crossings, off
camber roots, tight-twisting single track and one steep switchback dirt climb
which definitely tested hearts and legs.
There were well over 700 racers which made for great sprint starts to the
single track, tight passing and sprint photo-finishes. WWR did not disappoint with 13 racers
sporting the blue, yellow and black in all categories. Top performance goes to Liz Jones who took 3rd
out of 11in Cat 2...way to kick off your first Cat 2 race, Liz! The other gals of WWR also pulled in great
times and finishes with Nancy DiSibio and Heather Heinrich placing 8th
and 10th, respectively, in Cat 1; and Kim Webster 7th and
Jenny Gomez 19th in Cat 3.
The guys held up there end with great finishes as well. Our Cat 1 guys were led by Andrew Webster
finishing 10th followed by Rob DiSibio in 19th and Jeff
Meyer in 22nd in a huge class of 36.
Alex Frigon in his first MASS mtnb race ever took 5th in Cat
2 19-29; while Ryan Ashcroft placed 46th in a huge class of over 50 and Brian Urion also in a huge Cat 2 class battled to 60th. Big man Dave Jordan killed it in the battle
of the Clydesdales finishing 4th out of 13! Our beginners in Cat 3 waited all morning to
face the competition in what would be a lung-busting single sprint lap – with
Ricardo Gomez finishing 4th out of a big class of 20 and John Dixon taking
7th. There were smiles all
around in the post-tent festivities, and why not: bright sun, great racing, and
fun teammates toasting it all with tasty Dogfish-sponsored brews – what’s not
to like!
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Rob navigating the course
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Webb starting lap two
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Heather's splash down
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Team Gomez with post-race smiles
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Liz with her first Cat 2 podium - sweeeet!
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