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/
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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.