Schooley Mill recap.

Over to the race page....[more]

MARBRA Super8 Ed Sander Memorial recap.

I'll refrain from an apology for being tardy on the entry of the Ed Sander cx race which happened two weekends ago...but hey, I don't feel tardy....

A.Brenneman Photography

We rolled in with the trailer early with hopes of getting a spot in the team tent area which we did. Nice. After unpacking the gear, hitting the registration tent and catching the tail end of Mike Brenneman's (above photo rider) field finishing up, all of us on deck for the 10am push off, slipped into something more comfortable.

Photo courtesy of C.Sherdel.

Me, Evans, Sherdel and McCready pinned our numbers on the left-side and promptly started our OCD pre-race rituals. Despite the temps hovering around 29*F that morning, it felt great to warm up on the trainer under the bright morning sun; no wind. This race was kissed by blue bird skies just as the other MABRA Super8 events have this year; at least the ones I've attended--missed Hyattsville and Winchester, :(

After 30 minutes of trainer time and a water bottle of jet fuel, I swapped out the rear trainer wheel for knobbys and reset the tire pressure as any good boy should. Evans was still unsure of his bottom bracket which seems to have felt the wrath of another local 'cross race gone Belgium the weekend before. Yikes, later this proved to be fatal on his first lap, forcing our man Evans a mechanical and a DNF. Better luck next time mate.

The Ed Sander's venue was beyond comprehension when explained to me at first. Holding a 'cross race at a lily pad farm seemed to raise more than just my eyebrow. The course flagging tape wound its way wearily between large, deep ponds which are used to grow lily pads. Honestly, I thought it was pretty rad once I got the first lap under my belt and it sunk in where I had just ridden through.

Back to the start. The four of us lined up and I'm back again, near 100th on the starting grid. It would be nice if we were staged like F1 according to your qualifying laps, not your ability to stare at the Bikereg.com web page ready to pounce on the register now button, but I digress.

The whistle blows at less than 30 seconds to go and the drag race starts up the long road section to the first left turn into the grass. It's funny how things unfold at the start, the adrenalin spikes and things go into slo-mo. Half way up the road which everyone was doing a swell job to not crash into each other, I realized the course tape extended 3 feet off the road to the side and no one was seeing this. At that moment of clarity, I clicked off another gear and tore off into the grass, around gobs of racers, and got back onto the road in time as the field pealed off the pavement onto softer terrain.

My first lap saw the usual bottle neck of cyclist at the hard left turn into the mud pit; I ran it the first lap. Second lap, tried to be a hero and pedaled through the muck which burned off way too many matches I was saving for later, laps 3-5 I ran that section like a nervous doe during opening season gaining much ground on the others who decided to have a pissing match with the pit. [By the time the Masters 1/2/3 field went off with Clark and Mealey, this section of mud was 50% drier.]

A.Brenneman Photography

Shane McCready moving through traffic during the first half of the race.

A.Brenneman Photography

Chris Sherdel on the pavement section of the course, eyeballing the first turn.

I really was enjoying the fast corners; probably the fastest of corners compared to the other races this year. I feel that a couple of psi less in the rear would have yielded a faster lap time on the grass yet bogged things down on the long stretch of road up to the finish line. That's the tricky thing about 'cross racing; finding that balance of tire pressure for on and off road.

A.Brenneman Photography

3 laps to go I caught Sherdel and we did a little tempo work on the climb to the finish area. It felt good to ride with a teammate for a bit...guess it's the roadie in me speaking...?

I love the MC work that went on at ESMCX. Mostly because I got heckled BAD by the dude. I have a habit of loosing track of 'laps to go' during the race. Hell, with a murder yourself attitude when riding, the memory is the first to go, right? On the grassy mid-field climb near the announcers area, I took in a huge gulp of air and shouted out to the guy, 'How many laps to go?' He shouted back over the PA, 'Man, if you can talk, you ain't riding hard enough!' Damn, tough crowd here, I thought. Luckily Mealey was at the next corner and yelled back, 'One and half, this half and then one more...go, go!' Love everywhere, haha!

After attacking the road section every lap, I chalked up a 29th place finish out of 84 riders that started. There was a dozen or so no-shows which was easy money in the promoters pocket since those dudes DNS'd. I'm pretty happy after starting near the last line of the start. My kill points for this race have bumped me to 5th place out of 217 guys in my division of the MABRA Super8 series-- happy, happy.

A.Brenneman Photography

Our junior racer Owen, drilled it for a 3rd place finish in the Juniro 10-14 age division. Nice work from the kid who the announcer claimed 'weighs no more that a fifth of liquor'. 12 more years he can have that victory pint.

A. Brenneman Photography

Great effort man! And congrats to his dad Mike Brenneman for being that 'cool dad' who takes him racing. They have a ton of fun with the rest of the family cheering from behind the tape.

The Masters 35+ 1/2/3 field is fast, smaller in size than the Masters 35/45+ 3/4 I race. Sort of the difference between a cup of diner breakfast coffee versus a doppio-- condensed and powerful.

Clark and Mealey lined up down the road and I stood craning my neck over the tap to catch the drag race that was about to start. Bam, in a flash there were up the road and tearing into the grass.

A.Brenneman Photography

Clark Evanitus grinding away in the grass. This guy is like a diesel, bottom end power that keeps spooling up.


Clark on the short power climb, exiting the mud pit area. I envy his field as the pit was drier by 1pm when his class went off; more ride-able. 11th overall for the day.


Our Team Director, Mealey tackling the climb, post-mud pit which then led to a sweeping left into the barriers/run up.

A.Brenneman Photography

Mealey pushing it up the climb after the barrier section. This part of the course burned the most matches-- mud pit to barriers to steep run up. 17th place overall for the day.

A.Brenneman Photography

Like any good day of racing, we all look forward to relaxing, recovering and review the events that unfolded from the side of the course. The Mens 1/2/3, Killer Bs, women's field all provided copious amounts of entertainment as we gobbled down food and and enjoyed a cold beer.

A.Brenneman Photography

This race season I learned that me and Mike B (left of me in photo above) have so much in common from our youth it's scary; yet never crossed paths. Funny how racing brings people together who you never knew growing up. This makes you realize how small the world truly is once you start sharing stories of yesteryear.


Packed up and heading home. Thanks for the great efforts guys!

A.Brenneman Photography

The team Keystone Velo 'cross guys. (l-r) Shane McCready, Evans Rohrbaugh, Chris Sherdel, Mike Brenneman, Owen Brenneman, Clark Evanitus, Will Mahler and team director Sean Mealey. I'm blessed to have a great crew around me.

Keystone Velo and DCCX wrap up.

I'm working backwards on this post as the photo album below has already been Tweeted.

None the less, here's the embedded version.

This Sunday, the Ed Sanders Memorial in Adamstown, MD. Race #5 of the MABRA Super8 series.

Enjoy!

2011 DCCX 'cross race/Keystone Velo

Up, up, up!

Clark knows how to throw it down @DCCX. It's hard enough to race in the Men's 1/2/3 field let alone get moto on along the front straight like this.

Nice work mate!

Granogue, the Tower of Power.

Last weekend was the ever popular, ever growing, Granogue Cross race, located in the state of Delaware. This weekend event was not part of the MABRA Super8 series therefore team attendance was thin.

Mike Brenneman and Chris Sherdel did kit up and pin a number on for the KVC/Simplicity team.


Mike B putting his head down and running the course. I'm starting to think that other than Mealey, he's logged more cx race starts than anyone else on the team!

Chris wasn't so lucky for his race though. The Masters 35+/45+ came to abrupt end when a pile up on the concrete straightaway, left two racers on the ground in need of serious medical attention. One was Life-lined out and the other had a cab ride to the hospital in an ambulance. Not good; that group's race was done.

Next week is DCCX. Larger turnout for Keystone Velo, praying my form comes around by then.

Photo caption contest.

Tachinno Cross race 2011. KVC-Simplicity Cycles racer, Clark Evanitus in the barrier section. There's a lot going on in this photo.



Give me your best caption for what's happening in this shot and win a Bianchi Oltre Cycling Cap if I choose your caption! { kvc team excluded ;) }

Enter your comments in the comment section of the blog post. Good luck!

People say you'll never forget your first.

The Tacchino Cross race marked the first race for the team last weekend. Yeah, I'm a week behind on the post but when you're trying to rustle up everyone's pre-books for the 2012, things get crammed near the end of September.

We had a six pack of guys from the Keystone Velo Club p/b Simplicity Cycles at the event. Three of the six guys raced cross last season. The other three were green; me being one of the newbies to the cross scene. I've owned a cross bike, rode it as a commuter bike back in my shop days but never pinned a number on my side and decided to red line it for 45 minutes.

Located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Tacchino was what some have described to me as one of the most technically challenging courses in the area. The weather was cooperative..errrr, let me say, not the typical Belgium junk weather but the course was wet and slippery from the storms the day before.



Mike Brenneman (above two photos) was representing the Cat 4 field and had an early start time of 0830. Our team director talked me and two other guys into doing the Masters 35/45+ 3/4s, mostly because of the later start time. And seeing as I had a two hour drive to the race, took his advice.

Me, Chris and Shane pinned on our numbers and rolled to the start 15 minutes prior to launch. The field was huge; 125 starters. It was then when I found out that you are staged at the start of the race by when you register for the race. Let's just say that I didn't register too early being moved up a class four days before the event, ended up sitting back in 100th something spot, along with Chris and Shane.


Chris Sherdel after closing the door on the rider behind him. I think Chris rode better than he expected. Hell, the guy is an Ultra-marathoner and a mountain biker on the weekends. That's a toxic cocktail of potential if you ask me!


Shane McCreedy (above pix) rode a solid race as well. He has some good low end power too from those soccer playing quads. A good mid-field finish by Shane and Chris.

I won't lie, I had some butterflies in my gut entering my first cross race but as usual, clamped down on them and squashed them underfoot once the gun went off. A paved start leading into a 30 degree turn to a grassy straight, did little to spread out the field. At this point I knew it was going to be a challenging morning working my way up through the already strung out field in front of us.

During the first lap I jockeyed a couple of times with Chris and Shane and honestly it felt odd to pass them. I'd attribute this feeling from the amount of time I spent pack riding at the local training crits and doing a couple of sanctioned races on the East Coast. This time it was every man for himself for all 5 laps.

The corners were definitely slippery and off cambered. The straightaways were long and the section between the straights were littered with punchy corners. Lot's of accelerating; on the gas, brake late and then off the gas. There was a hellish run up with a telephone pole as a barrier at the bottom of the hill and then another pole 10 feet from the top. At the top was DJ AA's tent playing the beats and what I could determine; a dude and a keg pouring bevies for the spectators enjoying that part of the course. I wanted a hand up from there so bad, not a sole willing to help a brother out. Damn.

Two barriers flanked the food concessions area which provided a level of entertainment on each lap; Duval consuming fans, screamed each lap for me to bunny-hop the barriers. Not this year guys...

Proper tire pressure is your friend at every race. It's the easiest thing to over look and sometimes the hardest thing for amateur racers to understand. I weigh 180lbs in the buff so I decided to roll with 30lbs in the front and 35lbs in the rear of the clincher Grifos. I was very happy with this pressure and how well the Grifo tires worked on this type of course. As the race unfolded, I realized how much mountain bike handling skills crossed over into 'cross. And if you aren't a diesel, you need to make up time in the corners.

As each lap clicked by, I could hear our DS, Sean Mealey yelling updates to me. At the third lap I hear heard him shout that I was closing in on another group of riders. That would explain why there wasn't much traffic on that 3rd lap. Despite feeling like my head was going to pop off from my heart rate being pegged the whole time, his words were encouraging so I continued to dig deep; i.e. don't get out of the 46t ring unless approaching slow off camber sections or traffic in that area.

With two laps to go, I closed in on a guy after rounding the first 160 degree, rising muddy turn to the right. He stops pedaling and launches his pre-race meal over the course tape. Yuk! I'm closing in fast and he hits the brakes and launches another protein spill, this time his bike has come to a complete stop. At this point a guy rolls past him, around the 90 degree left but looses speed when watching the gory display of exhaustion. I lean into the bars a bit and pass them both with out missing a beat.

The last two laps reminded me of racing this summer in Annandale, VA during the Wednesday at Wakefield races. Fast, hard, no spots to take a breather and technically complex. One lap to go and I'm trying to see straight, keep the mistakes to a minimum and keep the wheels turning. My mouth is dryer than I've ever experienced. It's not tradition to have a water bottle during this short 40 minute race. Imagine eating handfuls of mulch in the middle of the summer; yeah, that dry.



Two laps then becomes one lap to go and I'm up in traffic again in the last hillside before crossing the pavement to the straightaway finish. By now I'm running on fumes, loads of dopamine, and blurry eyed from the sweat running into my contacts and me not blinking enough for fear of missing a line through the last few corners. I reach for the drops, lower my head for one last sprint down the straight, and......done.

Mens 1/2/3


Clark in the foreground and Mealey in the back approach the final bend before the first set of barriers near the food concessions. I aspire to keep up with these two in the future.

Barrier time! Mealey flows like water according to Bruce Lee.




After the barrier section. The dynamic duo are back on the gas looking for some kill points.



Clark tackles the off camber section after the concessions/barrier area. Again, much hairier than it looks when you're riding it as apposed to spectating.



Mealey in the drops as he slices one off in the corner. Keeping low and balanced is critical through all the off camber sections.



The six amigos? Four Zurigos, a Carbon Cross Concept and my Cavaria Red litter the ground after our first team showing of the season. The guys were all smiles with regards to the handling of their new Zurigo bikes.

Takeaway:
Having seen my wife give birth to my two beautiful children, her pain and all through pregnancy and child birth, only to finish delivery with the comment of, I'd do that again......

Cyclocross, I'd do that again.

Thanks to Mike and Chris for the photos.