Weekend Race Report

 Podium Pandemonium!

 
The Mountainside Race Team was hard at work this past weekend.  Six team members headed down to Greenbrier Mt. Bike Race. Weather conditions were at a premium and so were the winning attitudes.

The day started off with Janice Morris rockin 7 laps in the endurance race. Janice traded places with 1st place rider and was definitely showing her strengths in hill-climbing endurance races, as she so often does. Janice finished with a strong 2nd place.  Congratulations Janice!

Mike Laub aired his killer racing skills out for all to see as he rode away with a 1st place finish in the Cat 1/Expert Men’s field. Mike hung tight on the climbs and then simply stole the race on the
technical downhill sections. Sa-weet!

In typical Sally McClain fashion...Sally ripped up the course and her competitors as she rode fast and furious to a 1st place finish in Cat 1/Expert Women. Important to note Sally’s lap times are not
far off from the pros. Hmmm….. Awesome job Sally!

Mike Funk is a standard fixture when it comes to podium shots.  Mike had a good race and a strong 3rd place finish. Mike, like the others, was wishing for a few more technical sections. Bring
on French Creek!! Congrats Mike!

Melissa Mertz had her 1st ever win in the women’s Cat 1/Expert class. She battled out the hills with Jen Tillman and was able to create some gap on the downhills and technical sections to pull
out the win. Woo-hoo!

Dave McClain raced sport and had a solid 10th place finish in his class. The McClain family wasn’t done yet, oldest son Kyle ripped up two laps to claim 1st place in Cat. 3 Male division.

A few states away, Dan Rapp raced the Cohutta 100 in Tennessee.  Dan finished 36th out of 165 with a smoking time of 8:48.37.  Congrats Dan!

Wrapping up the race weekend...two teammates Judd Kulas and Brian Fischer raced the Michaux Maximus. Judd placed 6th in Mens Vet with a time of 2:18.50 in the 20 mile course and Brian finished 8th in the 40 mile course with a time of 4:36.10. Awesome job guys!

CONGRATS TO ALL RACERS!

-Missy-

2012 SMSS & Ironmasters TT Series

The South Mountain road racing brain trust has been discussing summer mid-week riding fun and do we have something good cooking for you!

As many surely know, Mark Laser has been putting in years of service to the South Mountain road riding community with the Twirly Top Time Trial Series, which morphed into the Ironmasters Time Trial Series, which has been interspersed with King's Gap TT fun and other delicious and FREE summer events for the two-wheeled inclined.  But Mark's got other things cooking now, has put down the torch, so to speak, and, well, with it just sitting there I figured a few of us could probably manage to pick it up and keep the fun going.

And then there's this awesome South Mountain Summer Smackdown that we've been doing the last few years--a team style cycling competition, scored like a cross country meet--and we for sure want to keep that going, because AWESOME.

Well, we're going to sort of integrate the two this year, and this is how it's going to work:  Every second Wednesday, starting next week, we run an event--either an ITT on the Ironmasters course on Pine Grove Rd, an ITT on King's Gap Rd, or one of FIVE South Mountain Summer Smackdown events.

Here's the tentative 2012 CALENDAR:

 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012	Ironmasters TT
Wednesday, May 02, 2012	SMSS #1 - E. Big Flat HC
Wednesday, May 16, 2012	Ironmasters TT
Wednesday, May 30, 2012	SMSS #2 - Pine Grove RR
Wednesday, June 13, 2012	King's Gap TT
Wednesday, June 27, 2012	SMSS #3 - Ironmasters TT
Wednesday, July 11, 2012	Ironmasters TT
Wednesday, July 25, 2012	King's Gap TT
Wednesday, August 08, 2012	SMSS #4 - Caledonia RR
Wednesday, August 22, 2012	Ironmasters TT
Wednesday, September 05, 2012	SMSS #5 - Ironmasters TTT

 

 

And everything is FREE!

Scores will be kept.  Boasts made.  Smack talked.  Please proceed.

If you're not on the regular Goates spam server then please leave comment below with some way to get a hold of you and I'll put you on the list...so you can get notifications of all our fun.  (Or just join the "shipcycling" Yahoo group.)  But if you're on my list, then there will be more reminders and notifications of slight schedule changes or reworkings or whatever, but the general idea is as shown above.  

 

Plan to come play next week.  Parking at the Mountain Creek Campground as usual.  (You'll get a reminder email next week with the address and details and whatever.)

 

...

 

A short note on the team organization for the SMSS:  I mentioned above that we score SMSS events like a cross country meet.  That means the sum of first three riders' places from each team score the team's points, the lowest team score wins.  Riders four and five from a team can displace the riders from another team, causing them to score more points (bad for them, good for you).  

As for the teams themselves, the SMSS was conceived as a "club challenge," meaning area USAC clubs competing against each other.  Like South Mountain Velo vs. YBR vs. Ship Cycling vs. Lost Boys, etc.  And we'll still do that, and hope to get some of the AVC crew to join us too, and perhaps Round Here Racing, and maybe the Mountainside mtb team, and anyone else that wants to play...  But we also have a place for anyone that doesn't have an official club affiliation or can't get anyone else from their club to come.  In other words, composite teams.  You show up on race night and we'll assign you a team.  Makes it more fun. 

 

Also, though we've schedule everything for Wednesday, if the weather looks nasty then things get pushed to Thursday.  If that happens, there will be an email.  So...more reason to get on the Goates spam server.

 

Ok, I think that's it.  Get excited!

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Mountainside Races to the Finish!

It may not make the September cover of Dirt Rag or be the feature article on the IMBA Facebook page, but there is no doubt that the 2011 Mountainside Mt. Bike Race Team gave it their all this season, especially at the MASS Finals at Bear Creek.

The only way to start this article off is the way you start mt. bike races, you typically put the best first. So the first thing to do is highlight two of the best ... Mike Laub and Janice Morris. There is no question that winning is the prize jewel, but sometimes the real "winning" isn't a result of a 1st place trophy, but maybe it's about the intestinal fortitude and down-right "digging-deep" to get the job done. Both Mike and Janice were subject to mechanical problems at Sunday's race. Even with a flat in the first lapfor Janice and a run down the mountain and back up for Mike to fix a chain, both finished with impressive times and proved once again why they lead such a successful race team. Mike finished 19th in the Elite Open Men and Janice swept up 6th place in the Women's Elite Class. A big "Thank you" to Mike and Janice for a great season and for showing us what it means to be the best!

The Mountainside men had a stellar day at Bear Creek. Andy Hoover ripped the 3-lap course with a time of 2:28.39 and took 10th place in the Elite Men's Open Class. Andy then took center stage as the Champion for the Individual Endurance Series with a point total of 1,674.

You would almost think he is a native to Bear Creek with a super fast time of 2:30.15, but quite the contrary, Chad Cherefko never raced or even rode this course prior to Sunday. Not only did Chad have his best race of the season that day, but he also swept up 2nd place in the Men's Expert Class 19-39 and took 3rd in the overall Cross Country Series for Expert Men 19-39 with a total point score of 1,899.To Mike Funk - apparently blue is his color. It has to be because he simply refuses to take anything but 1st. Mike once again took 1st place in the Men's Expert 50+ Sunday with 2:32.47 registered on the clock. Wait, he's not done yet, Mike also was the Champion for the Men's 50+ Cross Country Series with a total accumulation of 2,415 points.Nathan Goates raced in the Expert Men's 19-39 Class and rode to an impressive 12th place finih with a time of 3:01.22.

Sally "Speedy" McClain led our women to some awsome finishes for the day. Sally traded places through the race with competitor Susan Mrugal and she came away with a tough fought 3rd place overall for the Women's Elite Class and tore up the course with a time of 3:02.33. But Sally wasn't finished with the podium yet, she also took 2nd in the overall Women's 40+ Elite Cross Country Series. No doubt this woman thrives on the gnarliest of trails. Awsome job Sally.

Melissa had one of her personal best races of the year as well. Melissa finished 2nd in her class andd 4th overall for the Women's Elite Class with a time of 3:16.11. To her surprise, Melissa also took 3rd for the Women's Elite Under 40 Cross Country Series. It was a very satisfying finish to her first year racing in the Elite Class.

In the Sport Division, Ben Moore represented Mountainside well with a time of 2:47.26. Ben has been a solid racer in the Sport Division and has helped Mountainside with additional points.

All this indivual effort brings us to the team awards. Mountainside went pedal to pedal with Bikesport for 1st place in the Cross Country Series and the Endurance Series. After tallying all race points, Mountainside took 2nd to Bikesport in Cross Country and 1st in the Small Team Endurance Series for an overall 2nd place in the Endurance Series, which includes all the big teams.All team members agreed that we gave it our best and applaud Bikesport for their 1st place finish. Now that the dust on the trails has settled, next year's goal is within site - 1st place!

Written by Melissa Mertz

Photos by Chad Cherefko

Duathlon - Troegs Greenbelt Ride/Harrisburg Mile

Janice stormed through the pack at the impromptu duathlon that included a Greenbelt ride from Troegs and finished up with the Harrisburg Mile. In a strong women's field she took a third place in the Mile!

Midnight in Milford Mills

Race Report by Sally McClain

Thunder rolled and lightening streaked across the dusky sky over Marsh Creek, just as Mike L., Andy, and Sally pulled in to race XC #8 of the Mid-Atlantic Super Series.

As the rain poured down, thoughts of 'it was a dark and stormy night...' horror stories went through their minds. Fortunately the severe weather only lasted for a short while and the 98 degree air cooled off considerably, a welcome change that didn't stick around long enough, with the humidity intensifying.

Since the storm caused a 30 minute delay to the 9:15 p.m. start time, the Mountainside racers took their time rigging up lights and prepping for battle.

Once the clock started, a great contest ensued for Sally with Amy Breyla of Team C3 Athletes serving Athletes. The two exchanged places throughout the 19 mile course, each suffering a crash, and then back at it again. It looked like it would end in a sprint finish, but Amy washed in a turn on the final lap. Sally took the advantage to finish ahead as 4th overall Elite Woman and 2nd place for the Elite Women's 40+ class.

Meantime, Andy and Mike took on the Men's Open Elite Field that is completely stacked with wickedly fast racers, including themselves. They both tore it up and spanked the course, despite each of them suffering some light malfunctions, of which caused Andy to be edged out of the top 10 into a strong 11th Place finish and Mike in 17th.

The Mountainside Racing Team is currently in 1st Place for the 2011 MASS Team Cup XC Competition, as well as 1st Place for the Team Endurance Series. There are only 3 XC races left in the series and the Team shows no sign of letting up.

Thanks to all our Sponsors for allowing all the fun and excitement to stay alive !!

Wednesday Night Ride - Greenbelt

From Sally:

Mike, Janice, me, Mark, Jen Kulas, and friends rode Greenbelt for our weekly Wed ride. Too bad Troegs wasn't open.