Roundup from the weekend of April 21-22 - H2H Chainstretcher; Camp Hilbert Series

Over the past weekend of April 21-22, 2012, the team went several directions given the washout at the MASS series event at Fair Hill.  Aaron, John, and Ross headed to the H2H series event, the Chainstretcher, at Blue Mountain, in Peekskill, NY, Jeff headed south to the VA Mountain Bike Super Series event, at Pocohantas State Park outside Richmond, VA and Dylan headed to a hilly road race in Waynesburg, PA.  


Weather conditions over the weekend were not ideal for most of us, with temperatures in the 40s and rain.


My event at Pocohontas was far south enough on Saturday that the weather was still sunny and warm.

Just before the start - still sunny and warm in Richmond, VA

The race consisted of two laps of a 10 mile circuit through some of the most twisty singletrack imaginable.  It was hard to keep up a steady pace as every turn meant a new sprint to keep up speed.  Matt Bailey (a pro from Yorktown, VA) and I rode away from the rest of the field and stayed together for the duration.  Every turn and slight rise was a new attack.  Matt usually beats me by 2-3 minutes, so I was happy to stay with him, though he beat me by a half a wheel in the final sprint at the finish.

Jeff - podium (2nd)

Pro category results

Results are available here.  And, here's the ride data from Strava.com:





Right after the race, I put on my awesome Medilast Relax socks to promote recovery (I haven't had sore legs post-race or hard training ride since I started using these consistently after races and at work) and made the 3.5 hour drive to volunteer at my adventure racing team's event in the Shenandoah Valley area, the Rev2 Epic Adventure, a 24+ hour adventure race involving kayaking, mountain biking, trekking and tons of orienteering. 

Long drives require some attention to your legs for optimum recovery

I manned a transition area/checkpoint area near the summit of Massanutten Mountain from 8:00pm Saturday night through 9:00am on Sunday.  No sleep was not the best recovery post-race, but it was good to see so many people coming through the transition area in good spirits.  It was cold (in the low 40s), but at least the rain held off until around 7:00am.


Here's a shot of the winning team in the transition area around 4:00am (my team, the Rev3-Mountain Khakis team):

My adventure racing team at 4:00am - they'd been racing since 7:30am the prior day...

Aaron, John and Ross were in Peekskill, NY for the opening race in the H2H series.  The rain held off at the start of the event, but started to come down during the race making the course slick and covered with mud that had a peanut butter consistency.

The start

John - before the rain started pouring down

Aaron crushed the competition, winning by nearly 5 minutes over second in the pro category.  Ross and John finished mid-field in their opening race of the season, finishing 11th and 12th.


Results are available here.


Dylan raced the 72 mile Category 3/4 men's event at the Green County Road Race in rainy and cold conditions.  Due to the small fields, his race was combined with the Pro/1/2 event.  The race was very selective, with only  a few riders making it to the finish.  

Climbing in the rain

Dylan finished third in the final field sprint and was so cold he skipped warming down to head to the car to get on warm clothes before hopping on the podium.

Dylan in third

Next on tap for the team this coming weekend is the Greenbrier Challenge, the opening race in the Mid Atlantic Regional Championship series, in Maryland, Michaux Maximus, a rocky and tough 40 mile event in Pennsylvania, and the Cohutta 100, the opening event in the National Ultra Endurance series, in Tennessee.  Lots of races!


- Jeff