With mountain bikes undergoing race-season-ending repairs
and delegated to fun rides, they take a back seat to cyclocross bikes, which
are primed and ready to race! Ask any
cross racer and they’ll tell you: Cross is Boss! Kicking off the cross season is Nittney Lion Cross near Trexlertown,
PA. The course starts on paved road
which quickly turns to gravel, then to the majority of the course which is on
grass. With sweeping turns and one set
of barriers, the trickiest part is a 50 yard section over tree roots. Andrew Webster and Dennis Dischler, competing
in Cat 2/3/4 finished 13th and 74th respectively in a
large very class. Heather Heinrich
competing in her first Pro race finished a solid 34th in a strong
women’s class. Webb and Heather were
sucked in and stayed to battle it out again on Sunday finishing 67th
and 34th in their classes, respectively.
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| Heather working to stay up-front |
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| Dennis clearing a log mtnb style! |
The team sent a strong contingent to take on the second
annual Pedal Away Prostate Cancer Road
Race, in Dover, DE. The 25-mile course
winds through Amish country in Kent County and is flat so makes for a very fast
race. Without any climbing, high winds
(and an Amish buggy on a tight corner) came to the rescue to add more challenge
to the race. In the Under 40 class, Jeff
Burris powered out of a large peloton in the last few meters to pull out the 3rd
spot on the podium! Rob DiSibio finished
in the front of the pack taking 7th.
Our newest teammate Uriel Bohorquez took home 11th; way to go
on your first time in the kit and first road race! Ricardo Gomez finished 12th, just
ahead of Wooden Wheels Tri Team member Trevor Massaconi. In the senior men’s division, Jay Paulding
took 14th in a large class with John Dixon fighting the wind for 22nd,
just ahead of Tri teammate Tom Wilson in 29th. On the women’s side of the race, Jenny Gomez
took 5th, just ahead of Tri teammate Lauri Wilson in 8th. It was great to have both WW teams
represented!
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| WWR men getting ready to line up |
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| Rob with a solid finish! |
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| Post-race de-briefing...with PowerBar recovery and DogFish! |
Next up: Charm City Cross in Baltimore, MD at Druid
Hill Park, a beautiful, historic 745 acre urban park established in 1859. The course starts on a long, slightly uphill
paved road which turns into a wide grass and dirt surface funneling into an
off-camber slope to a series of climbing turns. Thereafter the course is full
of sweeping turns, off-camber slopes and the infamous stair-run and sand
pit. The 2.9 km course requires a few
dismounts, even for the more experienced cross racers. Our die-hard Cross-Is-Boss teammates, Andrew
Webster, Heather Heinrich and Dennis Dischler headed south for the two-day
event. Competing in the Pro/Elite
classes Web finished 47th both days with Heather finishing 33rd
and 36th. Dennis battled it
out in very large Cat 1/2/3/4 Masters class finishing 54th and 100th. Way to ride!
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| Line 'em up! |
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| Heather battling the sand |
The last weekend of the month brought the ultimate in cross
– the
Iron Cross UltraCross race in
Michaux State Forest. All the
traditional segments were in the 11
th annual course including the
rocky and steep Lippencote singletrack, the Rt 30 road section, the 45% grade Wigwam
"run up," (where you feel every gram on your bike!), the PowerLine
"run up," the never ending Hogshead gravel road climb...but this year
introduced a new mix of roads that resulted in 10 of the last 12 miles going
up, up, up to the finish line where Larry's Tavern waited with PBR for
everyone. As a special bonus the race
promoters provided an extra five miles of riding this year for a total of 69
miles of suffering and over 7,000 feet of climbing with a max speeds
potentially reaching nearly 50 mph. In
the shorter 50K race, Liz Jones took home an outstanding 4
th place –
and gets extra props for carrying her 30+ pound mountain bike up the Wigwam 45% grade run-up! Nice guns, Liz. In the longer race, Will Neide blew out a
tubular in the 2 mile prologue and spent the day as well needed and appreciated
race-support – what a teammate! Jason
Temple took on major damage to his drive train on the Lippencote trail and
after gimping his bike back to the start, joined Will in heckling, er ahhh
uumm, as race support. Andrew Webster
took solid control of an 8 person peloton as the race General and set a furious
pace and commanded the group throughout the race…and made a power move on the
13% grade on Larry’s Tavern climb to finish an outstanding 24
th. After an endo on the Lippencote Trail, Rob
DiSibio spent the day chasing General Webb's wheel and finished not far behind
in 28
th. Despite some
disappointing mechanicals, it was a great day for all and one which will
require a LONG week of recovery. But no
doubt they’ll be back for another beating next year!
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| Rob, Webb and Jason - ready to rock and roll! |
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| Another climb, no problem! |
As we enter the 2nd half of our race season –
this time on cross bikes – we’d like to again thank our outstanding sponsors,
Wooden Wheels Bike Shops, Cannondale bikes, Dogfish Head Brewed Craft Ales and
PowerBar. Without you all we wouldn’t be
able to train and race as we do. We were
delighted in that PowerBar expanded its Energy Blends flavors into
Pear-Apple-Peach and now offer a variety pack.
They are very easy to eat and digest during fast paced training sessions
and races. Made out of fruit and with
its C2Max formulation we love its efficient energy delivery. Thanks again PowerBar for providing us with a
wide variety of products which meet our wide variety of needs and tastes!
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| New Flavor! |
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| Jeff loves his PowerBar gels! |
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