Schooley Mill Cross recap

I'd like to speak on behalf of the team and many of the appreciative MABRA Super 8 series racers and thank Joe Mallis for lending his talent every Sunday and exposing the locals races through his lens. His camera work is excellent and for you ladies out there, I'm sure your man would love a 10x8 framed portrait of his suffer face, for the holidays so hit up the website and buy a photo from Joe. Thank you.

I parked the Element and began unloading everything into the team tent area. I'm definitely getting the knack of setting up the area quickly. This morning I had a fire under my bum to have the area ready for Chris Sherdel who was in need of a tire change that morning. The night before he decided to go with some lighter wheels and wider rubber for Schooley 'cross so I patiently waited with my tools and a talc powder for his tubes.




After the work on the bike was finished, I bounced over to the registration building, got my number and returned to slip into the kit. One note for this race, it was really nice to have heated bathrooms near the course, luxury!

My strength coach, Mike DeCarlo was scheduled to stop by for the start of my race. He has never seen this crazy thing called cyclocross and after that day, realizes what a drag race in the grass it can be. In addition to the rest of the guys in my M34/45+ 3/4 group, Evans was out to race, now that his bike was back in working condition, McCready and Sherdel were close by in our group and Brenneman took a step up from the Mens 4 field to or Masters group. Good choice Mike B!

Our junior racer, Owen Brenneman finished 4 on the podium for the day. This was a terrific finish for the little guy as there were 3 monster features to conquer on the course. One was the large 'giraffe coffin', a set of up hill barriers and a hillside 'M' where the last part of the 'up' on the 'M' featured steps.




Push it up, up, up! Owen wishing for a Slurpee hand up at this point.

The Masters 34/45+ 3/4 field was large and in charge again. I was on the grid starting 30 something, behind Adam Austin.Evans, McCready, Sherdel, and Mike B the row behind. '30 seconds to go....' then the whistle blows and the drag race starts. I'm learning this starting thing the hard way this year and this morning, I was over geared when the guys got rolling. Once on top of the gear, I reeled a handful of places back in, saw one crash at the grass transition area; then off to the punchy first half of the course.

I really like the layout of Schooley Mill course. The first half was punchy and featured a gigantic wooden...what looked like a massive coffin or equestrian feature which you had to dismount and jump up on then back off the other side. After snaking over a baseball infield and back to the middle of the course, you had a 90* left turn into a slight rise with the barriers and over the more open part of the course. This is the section where if you have any matches left to burn, you can reel in some guys who got gassed in the first half of the course. I was able to keep the pedals moving, yet bring the heart rate down a bit without loosing positioning within the field. The hill run up with the steps on the last half of the field was a game changer for many. I enjoyed it as sick as it sounds, anytime I can run with the bike, I can settle down a bit and focus.



I'm up and over; four more times of this. After this shot was taken there was a kicker of an uphill which most remounted at the bottom which for me to do and get going again didn't seem too efficient. The remaining laps, I ran with the bike up the hill, passing some racers, gaining position in the field. Thank goodness for a light bike. I knocked out a 23rd place finish for the day.



Chris Sherdel staying light on his feet. He finished 52nd due to a mid race crash.



Mike B leading McCready through the barriers. A solid mid pack 46th and 43rd place finish for them.

 A.Brenneman Photography

Evans rolled for a 59th place finish in the large M35+ 3/4 field.



Our team director's son, Ean, leads Owen B. through the practice course. Future team rider.



Mealey in the barriers for the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 finish 25th for the day.

Clark Evanitus is thinking of two things here in this photo:
-Be the water and flow, become the cup.
-Damn race license.

Clark had a slight snag with his registration that morning and had to race the Killer Bs instead of with Mealey in the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 field. 10th place for Evanitus.

Next race- Rockburn CX.