Chester County Velo

Well, Jimmy G…Drew….and Tim Hoyle….braved some serious….did I say serious?……serious climbing in the Tour of the Catskills.   Ugh….  I woke up in a cold sweat…thought I’d lost my entire family….and all my money…and my house….and my job………..nope, it was just a nightmare…..and a stick in the eye…   No big deal.   Better than all the f***ing climbing in the Tour of the Catskills.  Maybe I’ll join them nex year.   Ha……sure…maybe NOT!!!   But our boys showed their brass balls.  Nice job guys.   In the Cat 3 Drew finished 48th in the GC and Jimmy 36th, while Tim Hoyle finished 22nd in the Cat 4 GC.   Jimmy said to Floyd Landis as Jimmy passed him on the 22% climb…”Dude, got any performance enhancing drugs?…..or maybe a pack of GU?”    Floyd didn’t answer….was too busy huffing and puffing.   Tim Hoyle came by Floyd and said, ”Dude, you look like shit”.  Floyd didn’t answer.  Hmmm.

Well, the CCV race team has had several weeks of wild and crazy racing!   Going back several weeks to July 10^th and the Iron Hill Twilight Criterium…..we had a great race with the ol’ man Dave Grant taking 3^rd place in the final sprint, finishing 6^th overall with Jimmy G, Iggy and Joe Pigga coming in close behind 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th.  Dave said he really owed it to John Rachfal for the great lead out over the last two laps.  John actually stopped racing mid-race when he came around corner #1 and saw another racer crash into the barriers, flip up in the air and come down right on top of John’s young daughter.  John immediately stopped to check on his family.  He then went to the pit to see if the referee would give him a free lap…but no deal.  So John jumped back in the race, and on the last lap went straight to the front and hammered it hard to lead out Dave.  Nice job by all.  Joe Pigga was also on the front in the final laps hammering hard and softening up the field.   Unfortunately, one of our star up-and-comers, Mark Lennie, was involved in an early crash and ended up in the hospital for a few days.  We understand he’s on the mend….and hopefully will be back racing with us before the season’s over.  Mark was in first place in the Cat 4 PA BAR competition.  Maybe he’ll get back in the saddle in time to defend his position!

On Sunday July 17^th, several of us went over to New Jersey to the Ronde Van Mullica road race to see if we could spoil the day for those NJ racers….and we did a good job.  The Iggynator got in a break in the 35+ group and took 3^rd place.   I also got in a break in the 45+ race with 30 miles to go.  I even sprinted away from the break at the end of the 3^rd lap to win a preme and dropped two guys from the break with ten miles to go.  Out of the six guys left in the break, I ended up in 3^rd place….and quite proud to have been in my first break ever!   And many thanks to Scott Gamble who was back in the peleton chasing everything down, demoralizing anyone who tried to bridge up to the break.  Eric Salzer also participated in the 1/2/3 race, getting his first ‘top 10 finish’ (he finished 9^th!) in a 1/2/3 race! 

On Saturday July 24^th was the Grandview Gran Prix.  It could not have been hotter or more humid!  As for myself, I got in another break.  Since the 55+ raced with the 45+, I was lucky enough to get into a break with a bunch of 45+ guys….and since I was the only 55+ in that break, all I had to do was hang on and I’d win the 55+ race!   But….hanging on proved to be challenging since I was in a break with six genetic mutants named John Spittal, Ramon Benitez, Joe Mannachio, Aubrey Gordon, and Marty Mrugal.  Ugh.  My legs were toast!   But I did hold on and took 1st place for the 55+ race.  Dave Grant and Jimmy G took 9^th and 10^th in the Cat 3/4 race too!

The next day was the Liberty Crit.  Jimmy G put his man pants on and raced this race even though last year he ended up being medivac’d out to the hospital with major brain trama!  But he faced his demons and came in 11^th place out of about 80 racers!  Way to go Jimmy.  Greg Dattner took 2^nd place and Chris Candy came in the top twenty.  Julia Lonchar took a respectable 15^th place in a sizeable group of Women’s 1/2/3, and Eric Salzer garnered his second ‘top 10’ finish in a Cat 1/2/3 taking 10^th place.   Tim Hoyle also took 9^th place in the Cat 4 race after suffering several crashes as of late!  Nice job Tim!

Senior Men (4) Rider Team Points  -  MARK IS IN FIRST PLACE…..JIMMY IN 9TH……GREAT SHOWING!!

1 Mark Lennie Chester County Velo    119  points!!!  (And he’s in 5th place with 108 pts in the Cat 3/4 competition!!)

2 Luke Zagurski Mason Dixon Velo    85

3 Michael Egan Zen Masters Racing    60

4 Taylor Lantz Christiana Cycling    43

5 Darrin Bann Lost Boys Racing inc.    40

6 Paul Cunningham QCW Cycling    40

7 Alexander Roberts Lost Boys Racing inc.    21

8 Mark Flis Human Zoom Cycling    15

9 James Guardino Chester County Velo    15

10 Meurig James QCW Cycling     15

This was from back when Julia crashed (got taken out by another rider) right at the finish line at the Cherry Blossom crit in NJ….but still took 4th place.  Gotta love the pic!

One of our newest team members and webmaster extraordinaire, Shaun Gormley, is getting married in June!   I asked him how his fiance (Sara) feels about him continuing to race….and he said, “Well, given that I’ve lost about 60 pounds since I started riding and racing….I think she’s ok with it!”.   But, he did say he wouldn’t be taking his bike with him on his honeymoon.            Oh well, I’m sure he’ll find something to do!  

Good luck and best wishes to Shaun and Sara on their big day and their future together from the whole CCV-Smedley/IronHill racing team.

Julia Lonchar takes 1st place in the  Cat 4 women’s race at the Kelly Bike Jam crit in Baltimore, MD.    The Cat 3’s and Cat 4’s raced together, with Julia actually coming in 3rd overall (…..and never stood to sprint all out!). 

Hopefully this will begin to attract more interest from other women racers looking to join a growing team of men and women racers where women are given all the support and comraderie they need to succeed like Julia!  And with a “tip of the hat” to Mary too who is improving remarkably this year!  Her winter-long training effort at Velo Souplesse is paying off with several top ten finishes already!

Sounds like Drew, Jimmy, Chris and Noah threw down the gauntlet to all the other riders at the Dan Spencer Memorial Road Race on Saturday May  22nd……keeping the peloton in check….allowing Mark Lennie to ride away in a break.   Mark rewarded their efforts by taking 2nd on a very very tough course. 

Then, the next day, same thing happened again with Mark getting in a break at the Bloomsburg Crit, being protected by his teammates…and then Drew and Shawn leading out Jimmy to win the sprint in the bunch sprint. 

Nice job guys!    That’s teamwork.

Geez…what’s with all the wind?  Two weeks (Pocono crit and Smoketown) of racing into brutal headwinds.  But the CCV-Smedley/IronHill race team managed to get some results!   The Iggynator held tough for 12th in the Masters 35+.    Our Cat 4’s continue with their strong results with Mark Lennie getting a 3rd place podium finish, followed closely by Adam Snoke in 6th and Tim Hoyle in 7th.   Rick Steele took 10th in the Cat 3 (finishing part of his sprint on the grass to go around another rider), and Rick also took 9th in the Masters 55+ race (and won a $35 prime!…but isn’t quiting his day job yet….).   Tim Hoyle, Mark Lennie, Scott Gamble and Rick all doubled up that day…racing twice in the brutal headwinds.  Fun day….if you like racing feeling like your brakes are on!   Rick decided to go over to NJ on Sunday (no wind!) and took 8th in a Masters 45+ race of about 90 racers.

Our race team helped to raise over $750 for the West Chester Cycling Club’s “Bikes For Kid’s” program.  Our contribution helped to provide almost 10 bikes out of the 40 bikes given away this year to local kids in the West Chester area.   Special thanks to my fellow teammate Hannah Johnston and my daughter Kate for their help on a Saturday morning assembling six of the bikes.   And thanks to Big Show and Tom Keenan for their help the following Saturday in delivering the bikes to St Agnes Church in time for the Bikes For Kid’s festivities.  Also, special thanks to Tim Gresh and Mike Chauner at Velo Souplesse for allowing us to store and assemble the bikes at their training facilities.  The event was held at St. Agnes Church and it was a huge success….with 40 kids getting new bikes, new helmets, riding lessons, and even a ‘bike riders license’ after finishing the obstacle course.  Big smiles were everywhere from the kids, their parents, and all the volunteers.

After being taken out at the finish line in the Cherry Blossom crit just a few weeks ago by another NJ racer, mangling her wrist and hitting her head…….Julia returns to NJ and gets her revenge!    Julia raced in the women’s Cat 4 Giro del Cielo stage race taking 9th in the TT, 1st in the crit, and 1st in the road race, and even got a few extra points for taking a prime in the road race……and finished on the top podium step in 1st place for the General Classification!!   Nice work Julia!   Mary LaSota also raced well taking 8th in the crit and was in the mix with Julia in the road race but had a mechanical with less than 1 k to go!   Ugh!     But….congrats ladies!   Job well done.