"On The Road" Update

The last few weeks have been quite busy with the outdoor "on the road" season underway.

On the racing front, we have Margaret Northam on top of the podium as she took 1st in her age group in The Tri for The Cure in Phoenix, Arizona last weekend! Way to go!

Matt Davis takes on his first crit of the 2010 season Vint Hill Classic

Other Speedsters in action on March 28th were Frederick Triathlon Club's George Corbi, Kevin Kendro, and Lucas McCullom of the Snapple Tri Team. All had impressive early season results at the Brandywine Duathlon. Next up is the Boston Marathon for George and New Orleans 70.3 for Lucas.

This past weekend brought on some local racing with the Walkersville Road Race sponsored by Steve Wahl's racing team ABRT (Annapolis Bicycle Racing Team). Alot of locals took part in the event. Jordan Leitma raced his first Cat 4/5 road race and finished strong after some very hard efforts. Joining Jordan in the Cat 4/5 field were local triathlete Lucas McCullom and Matt Davis of NCVC, both managed to keep the race animated and put a hurt on the rest of the field. Other locals, John Olinski, Dennis Crockett, and Jim Johnson all raced in the 35/45+ Masters Race with very impressive finishes averaging almost 27mph for the 56mi. race. Steve Wahl racing with the big guns in the Category 1,2,3 Men's field had another solid performance. With a teammate in the break, Steve could hide in the field to conserve energy for the field sprint. Yours truly finished comfortably in what was left of the main field in a combined Women's Category 1-4 and Master's Men's 55+ field. All results are posted on the ABRT website.

Sunday offered the chance for a double race weekend for the roadies. Tyson's Corner Circuit Race in Virginia offered up a nice little circuit with an uphill finishing stretch. Starting the day off strong with his first podium appearance of the year was NCVC's Matt Davis in the Category 4/5 . Look for more of these in the near future. AVC's Scotty G rolled to the line for 2 races on Sunday. This is not an easy task. First up Scotty finished 15th in the Cat. 3 race and followed this up and finished with the field in the Masters 35+ race, which can be just as fast as the pros. Wanting to test his legs a little more on Sunday, Steve Wahl came out with his game face on in the Cat. 1,2,3 race. In a field of up and comers, former and current pro racers, Steve, with his take no prisoners attitude pulled off an early race prime winning $75 and finished an impressive 8th place. Being the ultimate speedster he gets to use his prime money to pay his speeding ticket on the way home. Go Steve!

I jumped in the ladies race again on Sunday with my Team Kenda teammates. and managed 7th in the Cat. 1/2 field and 8th overall. Here it a report from one my teammates Jen:

"Tyson's Corner Circuit race is always a tough race. Whether its the uphill finish, or because its early season and the day after a road race, or perhaps a combination of both, its never less than a gut-checker! This year was easily one of the highest quality fields we've had since I started racing; Team Kenda's Marni Harker, Chris Kelley, Janelle Hubbard and myself lined-up against riders Sarah Caravella from BMW Bianchi, Amanda Watson and Erin Siliman from Fruit 66, the ABRT Women's Elite team and all the other high-quality women from the area.

The course is selective and tends to be a race of attrition, but that didn't stop numerous attacks lead by Team Kenda, BMW Bianchi and Fruit 66 from making the race aggressive from the gun. Team Kenda raced like a well-oiled machine and there were several attacks throughout the race that looked like they would stick as a break, each time Team Kenda being represented by either Chris Kelley, myself or both of us. About half-way through the race I was able to counter a move from CK and solo away going up the hill and quickly had about a 20 second gap! I really wanted it to stick, but knew with 25 minutes/10 laps to go it would be a long time to stay off the front with this tenacious field.

As the race counter came down to 2-3 laps to go it became clear that other than a possible flyer on the bell-lap, this race was going to come to a field sprint (meaning time to "recover"). The Bell came and we proceeded around the course for one last time. Fortunately, even with the tired legs the tempo did manage to ramp-up. Coming into the final corner we were about 400m downhill from the finish-line. I was fairly well-positioned in 3rd or 4th wheel behind Sarah C. and Amanada W., but still a little too far for me to make it to the finish line. Knowing my sprint, I need a high-speed leadout in order to maintain the speed I need to contest a field sprint and generally in local races that does not happen. Suddenly, I felt a light touch on my hip and there was teammate Marni Harker coming on my inside to give me that much needed 15m catapult launch to the finish. The sprint was on! Sarah Caravella easily took the win, but the race for last two podium spots was tough. My legs started to lock-up aout 10m from the finish, (now hating me for all the earlier breakaway attempts), but the thought of Marni sacrificing her race to push me forward gave me that last "umph" to get across the finish line and hold onto a podium at 3rd place!
Jen"

There are lots of great outdoor riding opportunties in the area. Check out Frederick Pedalers and the Frederick Triathlon Club. Also, 8 a.m. Sundays is the weekly WheelBase ride. Lots of options on this ride that usually splits up into 2 or 3groups. Minimum miles is usually 40, max is 60 or so with average speeds of 15-18. The Monday night ride from the same place that leaves at 6p.m., and a Wednesday morning ride that leaves from the Frederick YMCA at 9 a.m.

If you have any results or rides to share please pass them along. Hope everyone is enjoying spring!

Pedal on....