INTERVIEWS
In
Order of Fastest Riders
Race notes:
Hibernia County Park was gracious enough
to let the Hibernia Spring Bash continue for the third
year. A big thanks to the park for allowing close to 500
racers to converge in one day on park property. Everyone
seemed to obey the 15mph speed limit and thanks to Brian,
Anne Hess and Jay Oleksak the new Super Series and Hibernia
Promoters, everything seemed to run fairly well.
Everyone seemed pleased to be back into
the Mid-Atlantic Super Series atmosphere and it was a pleasure
to run into old friends again. There were the usual ups
and downs of promoting dealing with timing issues and the
coordination of activities......... however everyone was
very patient and extremely polite showing that the mountain
bike community is indeed filled with people who are determined
to remain upbeat and pleasant while enjoying their sport.
2nd Place Beginner Men 35-39 David Hallman
had an interesting experience. Here's an excerpt from his
interview: "After seeing
the final standings, I realized the rider I was trying
to catch all race graduated with me in high school and
I had not seen in 10 years."
Kevin Diamond lucked out after the race. " I
would like to send a big shout out to the guy who gave me
the coat hanger to jimmy open the car door after Ronny locked
the keys in the truck. I would also like to thank the guy
who suggested going through the top of the door frame with
the hanger instead of the window. It worked like a charm!"
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Unkown Sport Rider
Who said this was a roadie course?!
Hibernia
Spring Bash
April
6, 2003
Bill Deputy
It was a bit
cool and damp from yesterday's drizzle however the Mid-Atlantic
Super Series new promoters, Brian, Anne Hess and Jay Oleksak put
together a super race for the first race of the Mid-Atlantic Super
Series. The turnout was very good with 472 riders participating
according to the promoter's results courtesy of Millennium Timing.
There were 97 Expert/Pro, 232 Sport and 143 Beginner racers.
I anticipated
a mudfest as in the 2000
race but due to hard work by race volunteers (including series
creator Don Morrison) and drizzle rather than a downpour the day
before the race, it seems that although there was mud, it was actually
a fairly fast course. New single track (including an uphill) was
added this year which lengthened the course by close to a mile.
Beginners did 2 laps, Sport 3 laps and Expert/Pros 4 laps.
The TREK/VW
team was out in force showing their support for regional mountain
bike racing. Ernie Martin who manages the regional teams all over
the country and handles sponsorship and support of those teams
was kind enough to show up in person. Year after year Ernie has
selected highly skilled regional talent for Trek's regional teams
including the now famous Sue Haywood - (TREK/VW National Team member)
and World 24hr Solo Champion Chris Eatough. Chris Eatough, Jeremiah
Bishop, Kristine Oesterling, David DuVall, and Erin North make
up the East Coast Factory Team for 2003. The whole of the team
is always professional, genuinely courteous and very helpful.
The mountainbikeRACER.com
news page appears to be an advertisement for TREK/VW at times.
Friendly and courteous are the words that come to mind when interacting
with this team, however we all know the intense effort necessary
to win in a competitive environment. The east coast is a hotbed
and perhaps the most competitive environment in the country for
hard-core mountain bike racers. For consistent exceptional results
it takes a real love of the sport. Jeremiah Bishop - TREK/VW and
teammate Kristine Oesterling obviously love this sport.
Jeremiah took
off from the start of the Senior Men 19-29 race, getting the hole
shot (first into the singletrack) and sparred with Roger Aspholm
- WESTWOOD VELO (Roger is from Finland, a former cross country
skier with the Finland National Junior Ski Team and a category
2 road racer) who was working with Mike Kuhn - BERGWERK/JBmountainbikes.com.
Mike passed Jeremiah on the first downhill. Roger and Mike worked
together using the road race tactic of drafting. This forced Jeremiah
and Chris Eatough to join forces and do the same enabling them
to create a gap on the Roger/Mike duo during and after the second
lap.
Jeremiah pulled
away from everyone at the end winning by a margin of 2 minutes
and 24 seconds. Chris Eatough - TREK/VW was second, Roger Aspholm
- WESTWOOD VELO third. Todd Helmich - TREK/GRASSROOTS had a very
impressive 4th place ahead of Mike Kuhn - BERGWERK / JBmountainbikes.com.
The incredible
Les Leach - YARDS BREWING/WISSAHICKON who usually rides a single-speed
showed up with a few gears today, however he chose to race on a
bike with NO SUSPENSION (known as a rigid bike). He blasted through
the spectator friendly rocky creek near the awards pavilion with
the smoothness of a deer running in the woods. Les took 6th place
by holding off the formidable David DuVall - TREK/VW by just six
seconds!
David weighs
in at over 200 lbs and consistently places in the top single digits.
He was wondering why it seemed difficult for him in the muddy sections.......
let's see........ hmmm......... thin bicycle tires traversing mud
carrying 200+ pounds?
A few exceptional
performances should be mentioned. Brandon Draugelis - GUY'S BICYCLE
took 1st Place Junior Expert. Brandon came in ahead of 2nd Place
by a whopping 11minutes 28 seconds! Brandon is new to the team
and is off to a very good start of the season.
I ran into
Ransom Weaver - GUYS BICYCLE at a convenience store on the way
home and he mentioned (when asked) that he placed 12th. What's
so great about 12th? Ransom raced in the Senior Expert Men 19-29
age group. He is 34 years old. He must have gotten into the Henry's
(Scott, David & Karen - Team Harrisburg) goats milk.
THANK
YOU
Brian & Anne Hess & Jay
Oleksak
Hibernia/Super Series PROMOTERS
FOR A JOB WELL DONE!! |
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Kenny King -
GUY'S BICYCLES did the impossible. He came on strong at the last
minute and overtook the invincible Tim Messersmith - FIRST CAPITAL
VELO series Expert Men 45+ Champion (who placed 4th at the Worlds
last year). Tim is 50+ however he has been running the old Iron
Masters (Michaux) course every weekend last month while many racers
remained indoors on the rollers or trainers. Kenny slipped by in
a head to head battle for the finish line by just ONE SECOND. What
a race! Let's see what happens next time these two compete.
Expert Men 19-29
1. BISHOP
JEREMIAH - TREK/VW 1:33:12
2.
EATOUGH CHRIS - TREK/VW 1:35:36
3.
ASPHOLM ROGER - WESTWOOD VELO 1:36
4.
HELMICK TODD - TREK/GRASSROOTS 1:37
5.
KUHN MIKE - BERGWERK/JB MT. BIKE 1:39
6.
LEACH LES - YARDS BREWING/WISSAHICKON 1:40:21
7.
DUVALL DAVID - TREK/VW 1:40:27
8.
CECCOLINI ED - TITUS/MAXIM 1:40:28
9.
WING JOHN - MOAB CYCLERY/HARO 1:41
10.
JOUES BENJAMIN - SUBURBAN SPORTS 1:41:49
The Expert/Pro
Women 34&under was a hornet's nest. A torrid pace was set from
the beginning with Theresa Richardson - SOBE/CANNONDALE working
her way to the front after a slow start. Coming out of the first
turn it was Kristine Oesterling - TREK/VW, 35+ Lauri Webber - WOODEN
WHEELS, Erin North - TREK/VW, Josie Shew - FIRST STATE VELO SPORT
side by side with Caitlyn Tuel - SOBE/CANNONDALE. Theresa followed
Caitlyn with Nicole Sheets - TAILWINDS and Anne Hess - SHIRK'S
trailing.
Theresa - SOBE/CANNONDALE
worked her way to the front while Kristine Oesterling - TREK/VW
kept her normal style of pacing herself the first lap, then slowly
but surely turning up the heat. Theresa proved tenacious in trying
to hold onto the lead, but Kristine passed her on the last lap
and used just enough power to win by six seconds.
Caitlyn Tuel
- SOBE/CANNONDALE put in a wonderful effort for her new team fighting
her way towards the front and maintaining a steady hard effort.
Caitlyn was less than three minutes back by the end of the race.
Caitlyn has moved up through the ranks and shows great promise.
Erin North - TREK/VW used this race as a training race finishing
a respectable fifth.
Lauri Webber
- WOODEN WHEELS won the Expert Women 35+. Lauri has been training
through the winter even while taking on the task of team manager
for WOODEN WHEELS. She has been riding a unicycle as of late and
I wonder if Karen Henry - TEAM HARRISBURG knows about this powerful
new cross training method? Anne Hess - SHIRK'S who is the new promoter
of the Super Series (along with hubby Brian) finished second.
Expert Women
34&under
1. KRISTINE
OESTERLING - TREK/VW 2:01:29
2. THERESA RICHARDSON - SOBE/CANNONDALE 2:01:36
3. CAITLYN TUEL - SOBE/CANNONDALE 2:04:16
4. ERIN NORTH - TREK/VW 2:21:39
5. JOSIE SHEW - FIRST STATE VELO SPORT 2:20:43
Expert Women
35+
1. WEBBER LAURI
- WOODEN WHEELS 2:14:33
2. HESS
ANNE - SHIRK'S 2:20:05 |
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