Its a wrap Season of Highlights

The 2012 race calender has officially ended for the NAG/KVR!
The year started out on a good vibe at the Marysville Relay back in April and was chock full of great racing and results from the whole team that represented in road, mountain, and cyclocross.

Our last race for the books was last Sunday at Ed Sanders Memorial CX.
Lots of Great results to end the season. Three wins and lots of personal best to round out the season.
Highlights include:
Emily Dubs won her first one in the Cat 4 Women! This is only her 3rd race and shes ready to move to the 3/4s for next season.



Owen B wrapped up his season with another win and earned another series win. This makes 2 point series wins with the Mabra Super 8 and Sportif Series.8 wins out of 18 races and is currently ranked 12th (race age 11, actual  age10) in the nation. Huge props to all the JR riders especially Marcus Provine and Gentry Jefferson for always giving it 110%. The Mid Atlantic JR scene is certain to develop some serious talent in the years to come.






Another JR highlight was Ean Mealey taking 8th in the Super 8 Series and 12th in the Sportif series. He is ranked 8th in the nation in his age group (race age 9, actual age 8)



Will Mahler finished up the season in 20th place in the Super 8 and 1st in the State for Cat 4's. Awesome work from him between reping for Bianchi up and down the east coast, and juggling family commitments. He plans to cat up to 3 for the 2013 season.



Clark Evinitus decided mid season to focus on the Single Speed races and ended up 4th in the series after only doing half the season in the category. He's digging the SS action and plans on having a pit bike for 2013, this is a sure sign of seriousness.



Jake Sitler ended the 2012 calender year with a huge win in the mens elite field nipping Weston Schempf at the line. This was a breakthrough victory for him and the race had us full of suspense. He ended the season 2nd in the MABRA super 8, 8th in the MAC series. He has come along way since the very first Cross race that Clark and I took him to back in 2004 as a JR. He will likely be moving on to bigger things in 2013 but we will keep cheering and supporting him along the way. His next stop is the National Championships on January 13th. Good Luck Jake!






We have also had a hand full of guys that did the Mountain bike and Road racing scene over the summer with some great results. Jared Trinkaus ended up 2nd in the series for the Cat3's in the MASS Super Series and Justin Sotdorus also made his mark in the series with multiple wins in the Cat3 before moving up to the Cat 2s. Both these guys are good friends off the bike but talk a good share of smack to each other and plan on  fierce competition in the Cat2s in 2013. Bring on the bragging rights challenge!
For 2013 we are looking forward to another great year of success and fun times. We will continue to grow our JR and Women's team and represent  in all disciplines.  A huge thank you to all of our sponsors: Nuts About Granola, Simplicity Cycles, The Bike Shak, Springhouse Beer, Gates & Gates, Wetchco Signs and SublimeAthletics without them we could not be as successful with our efforts.
Thanks for following our efforts and see you in 2013!!
SM

1,2 we forgot the 3 Go!

Capital Cross.
First off the Bike Lane crew did an amazing job with laying out the course. General concencus was it was one of the favorites of the season.
First race of the day saw Tony Doll using great race tactics to pull off the win for his last race of the season. He has enough points to cat up next year so he'll have a few options as master and cat 3. Nice work Tony!




Next up was the Jr 10-14 with Owen and Ean. Heading into the first turn off the pavement Owen took the hole shot and held it for the entire race also taking the first to the barrier prime. This course really suited his riding strengths and he was climbing and cornering like a seasoned pro. He came across the line with a nice victory salute and a huge smile. Fighting it out for 2nd was Gentry Jefferson and Marcus Provine and when Marcus flatted Gentry's 2nd place seemed to be wrapped up but seemed determined to chase after Owen and a chance at first place . Have to hand it to Marcus for running his bike almost half the lap after his flat to do an excellent pit exchange and fought back up to 6th place. Ean enjoyed the downhill section and had some interesting race stories to share on the ride home. He ended up in 12th.




Next up the 3/4 race with Will M and Beshore. Will had a bad start that landed him directly on the ground and went from a front row start to almost dead last. Hopefully this wasn't jinxed by me as I thought this would be a great day for him. He still managed to pick off lots of riders and ended 32nd in the day. Beshore was working between a few small groups dangling onto mid 20's but managed to use his fitness and MTB skills to end up 19th. Mike Brenneman finished off his season with with a respectable 53rd place still mending a little from his broken rib incident.








Clark and Cavey joined forces and did the SS with a field of riders that seems to be growing. Clark had a good start into the grass and also used his technical skills to make the contender group. He worked his way up to 3rd and was nipped at the line in a sprint finish to take 4th. Cavey ended up working between groups and ended up 9th.








The last race of the day was a pretty heavy hitting elite field with Wittwer, Schempf, Waite and Bahnson on hand to give Jake a hard day at the office. The time was set from the whistle and the field was starting to string out by the time that they hit the run up. Jake was back and forth between 4-6 and Bahnson bridges up to him and started pulling away but Jake used the run up to gain back his list time and eventually pulled away to a individual CX TT and sitting in 5th place chasing the group of Schempf, Fawly,Wittwer ,Waite. On the last lap Waite flatted in the gravel and rooted wood section and Jake took over in 4th position and held it to the line.




Another day of great times and impressive results

Running on Fumes

Its hard to believe that our races are dwindling down to just two MABRA Super 8 races left on the calendar. We have had a number of highlights so far including this past weekends Sportif Cross Cup title win by Owen Brenneman. He won the series by an impressive 19 points and is also currently in 1st place in the MABRA super 8.



In other team news we are excited to now have an additional bike shop sponsor. The Bike Shak(owned by Tony Doll) is joining as an additional bike shop support along with Simplicity to keep the bikes rolling smooth with over two decades of servicing bikes. Tony and his wife Amy, have also joined the racing action along with Evans Rorhbaugh. Tony jumped into the action mid-season after a long vacation from mountain bike racing(6+ yrs) and has already podiumed at every race, good work to him and look for him to move up in the ranks.


Stay tuned for the news coming out of the final two races and for upcoming evnts etc.
-
SM

Taxation without Representation

Washington DC(aka District of Columbia)has been a place that I have frequently visited since my adolescent years due to the music scene of bands from the dischord records label that was started by legend Ian MacKaye (Bare with me, I promise that I will get to the bike racing in a few moments) it was place that I appropriately gained much of my political views and interest in the various cultures that represent the city as well a the nation. I have always been infatuated by the the majesty and beauty of the monuments and deeply humbled by the sight of Arlington Cemetery. It always puts me into check on my beliefs and solidifies the notion that You don't always have to be in 100% agreement with our government to love the country at the same time.




When DCCX hit the mid Atlantic Cyclocross calendar in 2007 it became must do race for me. It meshed the world of bike racing with my interest with the District. The vibe has always been great and the course seems to mature more each year. One of my favorite sections that makes the cut every year is the brick straightaway stretch that can be your worst enemy or best friend depending on how your riding for the day. The stair section has come along way and was fast and fun as ever. The fast straightaway on the section near the pond was so fast that it didn't leave a whole lot of room to recover. As of now this is my favorite DCCX course ever. I'm not sure if they can out do themselves.
Sarah and Evan from Nuts About Granola came to hand out samples and sponsored the event with prizes. It was great to have them literally in the middle of the action. Even if I didn't get to spend much time with them I was motivated to perform well with them being there.
Now to the race report.

Photo Angie Brenneman

First up is always the JR race. the start of the 10-12 JRs had 30 riders(that's an impressive number) the format for this was a little confusing to the Jrs as well as the parents who normally try to walk them through instructions. They typically race the full 30 minutes but for some reason their race was reduce to just a lap and a half. The whistle blew and Owen had a great start and it settled in quickly to him and Marcus Provine. They hung together the whole race and when they came around to the finish stretch an official yelled "one to go"?which caused confusion. Owen thought they had one more to go so he kept going but in actuality they were finished on that lap putting Marcus in 2nd and Owen in 3rd. The podium was a mess also and the only spot that was right was the winner. Ean raced hard an ended up in 10th place, he even out sprinted a kid in a gear that looked like he was spinning 130rpms, gotta get his dad to school him better on that one. Nice day of racing to them despite all the confusion. Owen still maintains the series lead with Marcus close behind. Regardless of their competition on the course it's always good to see the JRs hanging post race as good friends having good times.

Photo Joe Mallis.com

Photo Angie Brenneman

Next up was the Master 3/4 35+. Stacked field with the some of the areas finest. DCCX always seems to bring some stiffer talent to the table so the boys had their work cut out for them. Will started well and raced a smart race. Taking some tight corners in the drops and making up some ground. He was catching some big air on the popular drop off section that had me worried that he would crack his head on a low hanging branch but all was well and he came in at 27 position. McCready had a solid race and looked to be riding a good tempo and ended up a respectable 41st place. Beshore started way in the back and gained a lot of "kill" points, looking strong and motoring through the bunch and placed 48th for the day. Chris S was still recovering from his little run( marathon) from the week before and still ended up 92nd place.

Photo Angie Brenneman

Next up was the hard mans race the open Single Speed race that mixes every category as long as you only have one gear and an addiction to pain. Clark E and Mark Cavey did the SS. Clark was settled into top 15 for the first few laps but ended up fighting his way up to an impressive 6th place finish. Mark was moving up in the field everytime that I saw him and seemed to be racing neck and neck with DC's own Joel Gwadz(Gwadzilla) And he ended up in 26th place. Was hard to see friend and fellow racer Marc "Fatmarc" Vettori suffer a mid race flat that put him out of the top ten fight, better luck next time mate.

Photos Angie Brenneman

I was up next and got caught up in socializing with my wife and team Sponsor Sarah who was on house handing out granola samples. I looked at my watch "4 minutes to and realized that I missed my call up so to the back I went and started with Skibby. It was a tricky start and I had to play it cool while weaving through some bad mistakes. I ended up settling into top 20 and saw 5 laps to go "huh??" I kept plugging away and tried to hang with Jay Lazar(20/20) as he motored through the filed after what must have been a crash or mechanical. He's riding super strong this year, great guy with a big engine. The lap counter ended up being wrong and I was saving a little too much gas for what I thought was 2 more laps but only had 1, it was a bitter sweet feeling to see but had allot of work to do. I motored the flat sections in all out mode and made no mistakes through the barriers am corners. I ended up with 12th place and my best DC race to date. Skibby raced a 10 mile run in the morning and hung on as long as he could to the fast paced start.

Unfortunately I did not catch much of the 3/4 race with Mark K and Jared because I went back to the car to change and get Jakes pit bike ready to go. Jared was jumping in the 3/4 to avoid the early start and to get the faster racing experience. he ended up in 73rd place. Mark was racing up close to the front in what seemed to be large packs of rider that formed groups of 10 or so which makes for hard to pass moments. He ended up placing 35th place.

Final "official" race of the day was the elite men. Jake had a front row start with the stacked field of fast Riders. Haymarket's Ryan Dewald started the separation early putting in a fast paces start. Jake got tangled up in traffic and unit the tape. The fast pace start also involved a high speed crash into a tree on a tricky corner. This caused a little chaos and as I was dropping Jakes pit bike off was asked to stand in for Fred Wittwer so he could go check on the rider who crash's and was still laying on the ground. On Jakes next time through he was crashed into the tape and hit the deck hard. When he regrouped his chain was off and took him awhile to get back into the groove. He went from top ten to 28th and worked back up to 18th. He seemed to be settling back into the groove but ended up snapping his derailuer hanger due to damage from the crash. It ended up ending his race. Obviously disappointed he wanted to jump in the tandem(video clip) race for redemption. That started out good enough but after only a short 6 minutes we managed to break the chain. We continued to run with the bike(I sat on for most of it) , let Ean in on the action for a few minutes and then Kilgore finished the last bit and stoped for the reward.

 

 Its always such a great time and I am already looking forward to next years event. We have 4 more races left in the MABRA Super 8 series.Thanks for reading and see you soon!

Rainy day in Hyattsville.

The Nuts About Granola Racing team brought the team Sponsor tent and made an appearance at the Hyattsville CX race. Some finally had a chance to race in traditional cross weather for the first time.
Rain and cool weather was in the forecast for the day so everyone prepped for the bad conditions. Some folks welcomed the rain as others seemed to want to stay in the car and head back to the comforts of their warm and dry homes.
The Cross hairs guys were HPIC(head promoters in charge) and if you've never attended one of their events you need to make it a point to, as they know how to bring the party to a bike race making a cool rainy day feel warm and sunny.




The conditions seemed to really suit the team. First players in the game were the JRs. Owen had one of his best starts ever and it quickly became the Marcus (bike doctor) and O show. They were both glued together for the first few laps, but Owen decided to make his decisive move on one of the long straights,and established gap that would stick for the remainder of the race. He finally gave us the victory salute that the crowd demanded.




Ean came in 8th after enjoying the muddy grass and even won a sweet castelli hat as a hand up.




Next up on deck were the 3/4 masters. Will and Shane both seemed to enjoy the conditions withboth had stellar top 20 finishes Will at 12th and Shane at 19th for the day. Shane said that the course really suited him and it showed as he seemed to be powering through the field pretty well.








Last race of of the day put Jake Sitler against the rest of the elite field with a front row start and a good result in his vision. He started well and came past the NAG tent in 3rd spot. The race started settling in with Steevo (20/20) putting his mudder skills to work as he started pulling away from the field. Jake held 4th for a lap or two but made a few early race mistakes and feel back to 6th. By mid race Jake ended up getting into his groove as he passed the 5th guy and created a little space. He started pulling closer to the 4th place rider and was obviously riding the corners smoother and much faster than him. He finally bridged up to him and passed him to open up yet another gap eventually coming across the line in 4th place for his first well deserved podium appearance. Thanks to Chris from team sponsor Sublime Athletics for working with Jake on getting him up closer and closer to the front.




Thanks to everyone that stopped by the tent. We're looking forward to our next stop just a few miles from Ian Mackayes neighborhood. See you there!
~SM~
Photos courtesy of the Brennemans and http://brokenspokephotos.com/
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Results for charm city weekend.

Always good racing Druid hill park. It's always quite a production and this year was no exception .They added a massive stair section this year that became a crowd favorite. I ended up having one of my best Masters results for Charm at 16th place. It was another great day of memories.
Day 1 results
JR u19
Owen B-12th
Cat 2/3/4
Cavey-64th
Masters 35+
Brenneman - 2 broken ribs after a bad crash that ended his race, heal up fast and get back out soon
Men's 45+
Kevin "Skibby" Schaeffer-48th
Elite Men's
Jake Sitler- 20th
Day 2

Cat 4
Jim Keegen-54th
Jeremy Haag-63rd
JR U19
Owen B-9th
Ean M-14th

Cat 2/3/4
Mark Kilgore-58th
Mark C-87th

Masters 35+
Sean M-16th
Clark E-30th
Chris S-76th
Shane M-82nd

Elite Men
Jake Sitler-22nd

See you next weekend in Winchester for applecroos.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Charm City Results

Gonna take this itty bitty world by storm,and I'm just getting warm

Another great weekend of racing with our team headed multiple directions. On Saturday Justin S and Jared T headed to trexlertown's Nittany cross for MAC race #1 . Both of them
have had strong mountain bike seasons and wanted to give cross a try. Justin even put a custom paint job on his bike for the occasion. The day went well for both and Justin ended up with a 4th place finish and Jared finished mid pack after fighting a tough crowd of guys on cross bikes in the cat4 race.
Clark E stayed local and switched over to running mode to do the Sasquatch 5k cross country and ended up 1st in age group 40-50.
On Sunday the Jrs and a few masters headed to the grounds of Ft Ritchie for race #1 of the Sportif series. First up was the JR race with Owen B and Ean. Owen settled in with Bike Docter rider Marcus and they seperated themselves from the group. Owen had his poker face on and then made his move on the twisty uphill section on the back of the course and won in convincing fashion. We tried to get the salute from him and he gave us nothing( have plenty of time to practice that one). Ean started well and Ended up in no mans land between two smaller groups eventually coming across the line in 6th place.




In the 3/4 masters race Mark C and Mike B represented with Mark taking 13th and Mike finishing respectively in 28th spot.
A few hours north East from Ft Ritchie another day of action at Nittany Cross yielded another mid pack finish for Jared in the cat 4 race, he's really toppling forward to doing cross on an actual Cross bike. Jake S tested fitness against a stacked group of strong riders ( even a few Euros) in the UCI men's race that resulted in a very impressive top 25 finish. Awesome things to come from this "kid"!




On tap - Will plans to go test his luck in Vegas but it won't involve a slot machine or blackjack table as he races to represent Bianchi at the "Wheeler Dealer" Cross Vegas. Good luck to him as he goes head to head with the rest of the industry big guns. Next weekend we head to Charm city for the fun at Druid Hill park. See you on the run up!
~SM~
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Ft Ritchie MD

"Cyclocross ruined my life"

Sometimes it does suck the life out of you but that's the point.
We are now into the 2012 cX calendar, check back here for updates and results! In the meantime here is our first report.
Race 1 update

'Cross calendar updated.

We have the race calendar mildly populated (rt side of blog panel) with our commitments for this upcoming cyclocross season with our first event looking to be Tacchino of the MABRA Super 8 series. Mainly Charm City and the MABRA Super 8 events so far. 

Best of training to the team and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone September 9th at Tacchino!

'cross on!
--will.

Cyclocross clinic and Strava.

This weekend unofficially kicks off 'cross season with the John Gantz Memorial Cyclocross Clinic.


Today is the LAST day to register for this #getrad event which will be under the guidance of the Ayatollah of 'Cross-ola, Sean Mealey. 


Registration is an easy $20 which the funds go towards a YAMBA membership. Well, I don't need a membership you say...or, that club is too far away, no need to support them, right? Wrong. The trails we run on and mountain bike on need upkeep and if you live in MD/VA, there's a chance you might wander north some day and session either Lake Redman or Rocky Ridge, so it's for a good cause folks! <stepping off soapbox now>

Also, I've added a Strava widget to our blog, down on the lower right panel of the blog. It seems that I've been sucked into the world of 'study hall arm wrestling' called Strava, since getting a Garmin 500 for my 40th birthday. (thx babe!) Now you can keep up with our shenanigans on all things two wheels and two feet. 

2012 Brownstown Road Race Recap.

Gotta dust off the old blog here. That's a good thing actually. It means we're out putting down some miles and bumping elbows on the weekend.


A few weeks ago we saw the Brownstown Road Race come to town. I figured I'd have a go at it being my first road race for the season. Prior to this event, it's been four crits for me so I was looking forward to sampling something new.


The morning started off with me oversleeping. Not by much, 15 minutes, yet enough to receive an alarming, 'Are you getting up?!' from my lovely wife's side of the bed. Two seconds of processing the statement, one second of unconscious fact checking with the last stored thought before passing out the night before. Yup! Looks like you've over slept Mr. Mahler, better get your tail moving! 


I spring to action, throw on the morning hoody and chase the steps down to the kitchen to kick it with some press pot coffee and a hearty sized bowl of Kashi Harvest and soy milk. That's cereal, 2 cups of joe, glass of OJ and vitamins are all I need to carry me for the next three hours. I packed two water bottles of mojo knowing it would be a hot morning, yet used one on the bike for the 32 kilometer race.


The race was 5 laps for us 40+ Cat5 guys. We had a neutral first lap, after that, it was every man for themselves. I started marking guys immediately; "there's one from Race Avenue Crit, there's the guy who won the Smoketown Crit for the 5s". This is something I'm learning as the races go by, who's strong, who will work in a break or not. 


The yellow line rule was in effect and it kept this group skitsh to say the least. With two laps to go, I'm sitting in safely and roll up next to a guy from Team Artemis, blurt over to him, 'Let's grab your boy and with one to go, we turn it up a notch.' With a nod of agreement, he and I started to move up to the front. Two guys from Philly with Cadence Bike Shop kits moved up with us too and started to stick their nose out off the front for a stint. After they both pulled through, I'm up and take a turn for 30 seconds, check under my left arm, flick the right elbow and smoothly pull to the yellow line. No one pull through. Waiting. Still no one as I look over my right shoulder. 


Really guys?, I'm thinking. No one comes up so I sit up onto the hoods and start to lift my pace. Look back to the right, still no one. Now I'm up on on the flats of the handlebars and glance back again. Still, they're all staying behind me and everyone is 4 and 5 wide in one lane. I start coasting and according to Mark Price who humorously informed after our race, the field slowed down to 16mph. This was sad.

photo courtesy of Julie Elliot

By now we're approaching a section of the course that's a quick left and an immediate right. A few guys take off entering the left turn and I jump on along with the one Artemis guy and the 2 Philly boys. We're back up to 24mph and the field is getting strung out a bit. Sadly, the guys with me are a bit gas'd as we hit the last left turn before the straightaway to the non-yellow line stretch of the race course. This results in too much brake checking by the handful of riders in front of me, ugh! 10 guys or so latch on to us as the result of the brake checking. We rolling down hill to the base of the road where the yellow line rule lifts and many guys jump and take off. 

photo courtesy of Julie Elliot

I remember Craig telling me that morning to be patient at the base of the road as many guys will haul by you and then end up popping halfway up the hill. Which is exactly what happened. I throttled on a bit more as the shelling started and stayed with the guys I marked earlier in the race. Picking a lane on the right side of the road, I got a second kick and reeled in a few more guys, hitting the line in fourth place. Satisfied for my first road race. Me peaking over on the left of the photo above.


In the Cat 3/4, Craig St. Onge finished 49th and Kevin Shaeffer was 60th in a hot and furious field. 

2012 Wrightsville Crit recap.

photo courtesy of mwcdpe photography

Last Saturday marked the first annual Wrightsville Crit which was hosted by Mason-Dixon Velo. Located  on the edge of the Susquehanna River in eastern York County, this course provided the riders with a text book, four corner criterium race (.8 mile loop), with an added S-turn section off the 4th corner; up and over a rise that I named, 'Mini-yunk', after the hugely popular steep climb of the Philly Pro Race called The Manayunk Wall.

The weather was exceptional all day and the attendance was what I would consider to be excellent for this first year event. I was joined in the 5s by teammate Mike B and Chris Sherdel with whom I joined forces with at the Marysville Relay Race back in April. Mike Brenneman was jumping into his first road event this morning with us as well. Justin Sodorus and Craig St.Onge were in the Cat 4 field, after our race. 

We went off on time and motored smoothly for the first lap, being led by a Kawasaki Green Jeep Wrangler. The rectangular course was as follows-- Flat start to a flat first right hand turn led to another right turn which brought you to a false flat descent. That descent sets you up for what could be an extremely fast right hand turn, depending on whose wheel you were on for that lap. Immediately out of the apex of turn 3 you had 4% uphill kick to another right hand corner which was the base of Mini-yunk. This rise took it toll on many people in our group to the point of 50% attrition by the end of the race. The top of the mini wall curved right, then left, then dropped you down to the straightaway run-out to the finish. 

Being a new racer to road (only 2 events in 2011) I strive to come away from an event with something new I've learned, either by success or hard lesson. Some things I've bookmarked this year include patience, reading group for attacks, moving up in the group with 3 laps to go, holding your line in a group, i.e., don't close the door in a turn when others are around you (different approach though when you're single file, pace-lining the field.), remember who from the last race got top 10 and stay with them if possible (which I did for this race).

Near the beginning of the race I marked the winner of the Smoketown Crit in our field and stayed with him through the entire race, figuring when and if he gets led out by his teammate, I would go with him. Turns out I got the jump on him at the final turn to the straightaway. He looked as if he wasn't being led by his teamie, so I came out the outside of him in the last turn, made sure the SRAM shifter paddle was pulled back to the bar (lesson from the Johnson City, TN crit) and didn't lift off the gas until I hit the line. I ended up 2nd for the 5s and felt satisfied about the day on a whole, a clean race, no regrets from the event.

Congrats on Mike B and Sherdel for their first race on the road seeing as these guys are mtb and 'cross racers at heart.

Justin got 5th in the 4s. Craig ended up top 20.

Congrats to Melissa Clingan and her crew for putting together a terrific, local event!

Here are the photos from Brenneman's site....2012 Wrightsville Crit


--will

#payitforward, feels good.

The bike rodeo we did a couple of months ago was still on the minds of the scout troop enough that they sent me a thank you photo and a nice arrangement of signatures from everyone. 

(l-r) Mike Allison, Chris Sherdel, Will Mahler, Sean Mealey

I've since run into one of the den mothers this week while out and about and she enthusiastically updated me that the boys are still amazed we came out and did the event for them. To us, the team, it's seems natural to Pay It Forward and I hope they keep that image with them through their lives and do the same for others some day.

Here's a recap of that rad day....more!

--Will

2012 Race Avenue crit is here already!?

Hello, is there anybody out there, just nod if you can hear me....


Well not really but it's been made aware to me that this site has become dusty over the past 2 weeks. Truth be known that we're out riding and getting our race legs back.

This Sunday is the Race Avenue crit. We have Will, Kirk, and Craig heading out to have a go at it on Father's Day. Last year's course proved to be speedy with an average pace of 24mph for the 4/5s. A 3 block long by one block wide, 4 corner course with a false flat uphill finish in front of F&M College, will test the riders ability to make sound decisions while in oxygen debt. 


From what I remember from last year's stint, tire pressure was key if you wanted to keep your speed in the corners. It seemed like I was constantly jumping out of every corner, chasing to hold that wheel in front of me. 


My goal for this Sunday is to apply a large effort of patience and I hope the goal for the rest of the field is to hold their line and no half wheeling. Finger crossed and hopefully we'll have some photos to post here next Monday.


--Will

Simplicity-keeping us rolling

Next up for our "Sponsor Highlight"  is Simplicity Cycles.
Simplicity Cycles opened its doors back in 2009 after owner Kirk "Cap" Lindskog
decided to venture off on his own after a long tenure as
manager/mechanic for another local bike shop.
Kirk is not only a 
long time fan, but also a participant in many of cycling 's disciplines
and has been involved with the Keystone Velo club since its inception
well before some of the current KVC members were even born.  I met
"Cap"  in the late 90's on one of what is locally know as  Sunday IRD
rides and later raced under his direction for First Capital Velo.  Kirk
still kits up and represents when family and shop needs
permit.




Part of the glue that helps keep Simplicity together
is ace wrench Mike Allison. Mike has been showing the love for two
wheels ever since I can remember. Like Kirk, Mike also managed a shop in
the early 90's and has over two decades of experience under his belt. 
He keeps the customer and team bikes rolling and always bails me out of
my attempts to repair my own bike. When he's not working his full time
gig and wrenching he also suites up for the mountain bike scene. Mike
has a new toy in the form of a CX bike and plans on joining the
cyclocross mayhem this fall.




We are fortunate to have such an
experienced  crew behind us at Simplicity Cycles.  Hit them up next time
you are in need of anything bike related.
-SM-

Gratitude

In the next few weeks we will be doing a "sponsor highlight" for all the sponsors of the Nuts About Granola/Keystone Velo Racing team. This gives us a chance to share what makes each of these partnerships a unique match.
Our first "spotlight" is none other than our title sponsor Nuts about Granola, a locally owned and operated tasty granola maker that has a real grass roots story on how they got their start.
I met Sarah a few years ago during one of her many deliveries of her product to a local bike shop.

Sarah making a delivery.

  I was helping  organize a local "kids bike safety day" and NAG became a partner for the event.
Last fall I approached her again with an idea to do a fund raiser with a special granola recipe catered towards the cyclocross crowd and with that Muddy Waffles was born. With great success, Sarah also held a Belgian waffle benefit breakfast that helped sponsor our Junior program.  At that time she mentioned interest in becoming our title sponsor and that is how the partnership came to fruition.
The thing that makes this partnership a feel good fit is that both Sarah and Gayle have a passion for what they are doing and walk the walk when it comes to living and supporting healthy lifestyles.  So next time you are at either the York or Lancaster Central Markets please stop by, check out all the great products and support NAG and all their efforts!
SM

Race calendar now up and growing.

Set a date, make a date, plan an activity.


If you put it on a calendar, you'll be more likely to strive to do that event. If you speak of it to others, you're more likely to be held accountable by your group of peers. 


I've added a Google Calendar to the blog. The calendar will be populated with events and races which we will be making an appearance or throwing down at. It's an ever growing calendar which we use to hold ourselves accountable for competition, development of our junior racers, new racers, old heads and the occasional meeting at The Tap Room for a chocolate stout. 


Thanks for the follow and looking forward to see you all out there!

#stroopies. The sponsor that's good enough to eat!

Stopped by SKH Market in Litiz for some gnom, gnom. I'm not sure which is deadlier, being hopped up on these and a doppio through the run-ups or chasing Mealey on one of his York Roubaix rides?!

^admin Will