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