 APRIL 28, 2002 |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1st
Place OVERALL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1st
Place OVERALL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FIRST
PLACE out of 92 TEAMS! |  | TOP
FIVE TEAMS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1.
Wooden Wheels 2. Shirk's Bikes 3. Guys Bicycles 4. First State Velo Sport 5. Team Harrisburg | 1680 1300 1236 1222 879 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
INTERVIEWS
Race notes: This wasn't just nice loose fly off your bike mud, but the kind of gooey mud that sticks to your teeth. That is why Chris Eatough was seen with his whole bike on his back claiming that it was faster than trying to roll the bike along side while running/walking. The
slick conditions made for hair raising descents where you could build up a lot
of speed and run all over the place as your front wheel was taken in different
directions through the peanut butter mud. One racer was praising his disc brakes
as "the best thing I ever bought" on the way down the steepest single
track hill. Karen Henry - Team Harrisburg was seen at the finish line reading a copy of War and Peace and having a cup of tea as she waited for the next Women's finisher. Karen took 1st Place Women 35+ at Michaux last week! We've been kidding her about what her secret is. What's that about a picture being worth a thousand words? - Click here for Karen's secret! Interesting excerpt from Romolo Forcino - Shirk's Bikes interview: "I saw Mike Yozell come out of the lake like the "Swamp Thing" at the beginning of my second lap. I had never seen a mountain bike racer appear from a lake before." I
would like to point out the value of spectators - a case in point:
An excerpt from Joel Nace - First Capital Velo's interview: When the Beginners took off it was steady raining but everyone seemed to be having a good time. There weren't a lot of spectators at the top of the most difficult muddy hill but the spectator who was there claimed that two of the top ten Beginners actually rode the hill! Hat's off to them as none of the top ten pro/experts rode it (OK, so maybe it wasn't as chewed up earlier)? Sorry we missed pictures of Beg. & Sport Awards. This will be corrected by the next race. Hope we caught you out on the trail. THANK
YOU also
to | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
JBmountainbikes.com When I pulled into the Blue Marsh Ski Area in Bernville, PA (just outside of Reading) right before 9:00 a.m. I was shocked to see the parking lot almost filled. There was a steady rain but it would take more than that to keep Don Morrison's Mid-Atlantic Super Series racers at home. You could feel the excitement as the Beginners were lined up to start the second of ten Super Series races. Mud? No problem. Hills, no brakes, no gears, can't see (mud in the eyes).....so what? This is what our racers call a good time! The course was a tough one thanks to the rain and mud. Beginners would do one lap, Sport - two and Experts (except Men 45+ and Women) three laps. Even without the rain and mud there were a few climbs that took a lot of effort. Slippery descents and slimy uphills made it very tough to go fast, not to mention the extra weight on your bike and body due to the gooey mud. Millennium Sports did a great job delivering timely results as race numbers were disappearing after the first lap and racers were becoming unrecognizable as in some cases you couldn't even make out their Jersey! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The start was perfect as everyone had plenty of room to pass and the climb up the fire road from the lodge made sure that the strongest riders would reach the top first. The fire road descent back down towards the starting area was fast and took a lot of nerve to just let go and have confidence in your bike handling skills. About
the first half of the course was flat and super fast (except for the mud) but
after that things became more serious as the second half of the course included
some climbing and descending that would suck the energy from you if you were not
in super shape. After snapping pics for the Beginner, Sport and then the Expert
race I really considered not climbing the largest muddy hill again but since I
can't swim that well I figured I had no choice - actually I was inspired by Lauri
Webber (see below). Karen Henry - Team Harrisburg had an incredible win with a winning time of almost five minutes ahead of any other women. What is surprising is that Karen races in the 35+ Expert Women's group plus she won 1st Place in the 35-44 Women Expert race on what may be the most physically demanding and extremely technical mtn bike course in the country called MICHAUX last Sunday! John MacInnis - SoBe/Cannondale was going back and forth with Chris Eatough through most of the race and every time they came up the largest hill John was not too far back. He finished up just over a minute behind Mr. Eatough on his smooth running Scalpel which he mentioned ran great in the mud. Jason Moore - Shirk's Bikes placed 3rd, Mike Kuhn - PA Pension Planners 4th, and Brandon Ott - Tailwind 5th in the Expert 19-29 race. Kristine Oesterling - TREK/VW won the Expert Women 34&under with Caitlyn Tuel - Shirk's Bikes placing second. Lauri Webber - Wooden Wheels won 2nd Place Expert Women 35+ and had so much momentum trying to catch Karen Henry that she did an extra lap just for good measure. She inspired me to climb that nasty hill for about the 5th time and can be seen carrying my bike as well as her own as I took off my jacket in the Expert Pictures (#324). Ransom Weaver
- Guy's Bicycle continued his winning ways taking 1st in the Expert Men's 30-34
race, Blair Saunders - First State Velo Sport held off 2nd Place David Henry -
Team Harrisburg winning the Expert Men's 35-39 class. Mark Nelson - Shirk's Bikes
won the Expert Men 40-44 claiming his very first win in a mountain bike race.
Tim Messersmith - First Capital Velo kept Rich Cordero - Guy's Bicycle at bay
in the Expert Men's 45+ race with Rich closing in on the uphills and Tim - gaining
time on the descents....... here is an excerpt from his interview: "I just
let it go on the down hills and held on!!" Brandon Draugelis won the Expert
Junior race by the largest margin of the day..............almost 38 minutes! Dustin Shenenberger - Cycle Works held off the up and coming Kyle Hammaker - Team Harrisburg by just 28.74 seconds in the Sport Junior Men's race. Patrick Kelly - Guys Bicycles took 1st place honors in the Sport Men 35-39 race with Rob Lyon 50.14 seconds back finishing 2nd. Kenny King - Guy's Bicycle won the Sport Men 40-44 and my hero George Bressler - Cycle Works continued his amazing undefeated status winning the Sport Master Men 45-49 after moving up from Beginner last year. His winning margin was 4 minutes and 40+ seconds!
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Don Morrison - Wissahickon Cyclery - Super Series creator (THANK YOU DON) had a convincing win in the Sport Men Master 50+ group winning with more than 3 minutes to spare. I can't figure out how he can race, promote the Super Series, the Hibernia race and run his retail business all with great success at the same time. Extra
credit goes to the Beginners as there was a steady rain and it was a bit cooler
earlier in the day while they were racing. Jim DeWald - Shirk's Bikes took 1st Place honors in the Beg. Men 40-49 race with teammate Mark Yourkavitch also representing the team well with another 1st Place in the Men's 35-39 race. Claude Mervine - Mervine's won the Beg. Men's 45-49. 1st Place in the Beg. Men's 50+ Dave Johns - Cedar Bike held off Peter Mollenkof - Shirk's Bikes who took second 40.41seconds back. Shannon Orr was first Beg. Women overall being the only female to break an hour lap winning the Senior Women 34&under race in 0:59:14. Corinne Balestrier was second overall winning 1st Place in the Beg. Women 35+ race. Millennium
Sports will be timing the Race for Chocolate this year and don't forget it's on
a SATURDAY - May 18th (with Sunday May 19th the rain date). Get ready for some
beautiful single track and loads of fun as the Super Series continues! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michaux Gettysburg
Monster
of Michaux
All
three races will have complete coverage by | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||||||||
