1st Place OVERALL
Pro/Expert Men
DAVID Duvall
TREK/VW/JBL

IRON HILL
CHALLENGE
August 4, 2002
by Bill Deputy

FINALLY! A Super Series race this year with NO RAIN!! The only thing our racers had to deal with Sunday Aug. 4 at the Iron Hill Challenge was the heat. It wasn't as intense as the week before at Granogue....... however the heat from the competition was. 441 racers looked to be having great fun around the challenging but fast approx. 6 mile loop.

The spectators loved the mega-dip (a steep drop off followed by an almost as steep exit making for a roller coaster effect). Although the hills are not that long, they are tough as some are mixed with a sprinkle of rocks and water bars. Then there is "Fuzzy's" trail - a fairly new trail that has some off-camber roots/rocks and a few technical dips that will keep you on your toes. There's also a couple of small rock gardens (all ridable), slime hill (that wasn't slimy for the race...... just short and steep), a new short and steep 15 foot downhill with a sharp left at the bottom, a rather high speed run paralleling I-95 with some small but kind of deep "dips" that caused fear in the hearts of some............ here's an excerpt from George Bressler - Cycle Work's interview: "There was a section of trail that ran near a highway-- I tried to jump a gully in that section (going downhill) & scared the shit out of myself"

Everyone seemed to have good things to say about the First State Velo Sport Team and this year's race sponsors - Christiana Care Physical Therapy Plus, Henry's Bikes and Carman Lincoln Mercury. The team did a fantastic job with everything. It was a phenomenal course utilizing everything Iron Hill has to offer, well marked, and the results/awards seemed to run fairly smooth. The displaying of results on the FSVS site (which we are linking to for this race) are really detailed as you can find out how everyone on a team did simply by clicking on a drop down menu, or search by plate # or last name thanks to Sky Marsh and Andrew Hogg.

The whole team did a wonderful job putting this race together as you can imagine what it takes to coordinate all race promoter tasks among several volunteers. Special thanks to Brent Biddle, Josie Shew, Rick Mihills and the whole FSVS team!

Let's not forget Don Morrison who's idea this whole Mid-Atlantic Super Series was. Don runs a successful business and somehow does running races and mtn bike races ending up on the podium more than not.

David Duvall - TREK/VW/JBL at 205 pounds weighed in as the fastest man of the day. This guy is amazing in that he is a great spokesman for the sport and if you read his past interviews you see that he is into racing against himself and isn't out to beat his fellow racers. He's a bike courier in Baltimore and has been a long standing member of the TREK East Coast Factory Team. He's probably the only 205 lb guy that was seen RIDING that long, steep grassy climb at Granogue called Muncle's Revenge by the water tower while partially dehydrated. At Iron Hill Mr. Duvall was the only person to clock in with an average speed of OVER 14mph!! (see race notes about David's mechanical problem on the last lap) David finished the race 2 1/2 minutes faster than anyone else. Greg Marini - Bike Doctor (1:48:05, 13.88mph) was 2nd place Expert Men 19-29 and Jason Moore - Shirk's (1:49:45, 13.67mph) was third.

The incredible Karen Henry - Team Harrisburg 1st Place 35+ Expert Women's category was the fastest overall Women. With a three minute lead over any other women she clocked in at 1:36:32, managing 11.65mph. Lauri Webber - Wooden Wheels was second in the 35+ category at 1:39:56, 11.26mph and was the only other women to break the 11 mph average speed mark. Lyn Shaffer - Wooden Wheels had a very respectable ride making the podium in the Expert field again (Lyn just moved up from Sport last year) coming in third (1:52:40, 9.99mph).

Josie Shew - FSVS who played a big part in pulling off the promoting of this race found the time in her extremely busy schedule to win 1st Place Expert Women 34 &under (1:46:00, 10.61mph). Jessica Klinefelter - Team Snow Valley (1:48:22, 10.38mph) had a great run placing 2nd representing her Washington D.C. based team very well. Lacey Gonzalez - JAMA Bikes placed third (1:49:45, 10.25mph).

In the Expert Men 30-34 Ransom Weaver - Guy's Bicycle was first over the line (1:54:18, 13.12mph) and the only rider in his category to break 13 mph average speed. Joe Fritsch - College Park Bikes / TREK (1:56:03, 12.93mph) had a come from behind extra intensity race that brought fear into the hearts of his competitors as we can witness from Mr. Weaver's interview: When did you put the hammer down? "After 2 laps, Joe Fritsch arrived saying he'd started 2 minutes behind! He looked to keep right on going, but after a couple of surges he slowed considerably on one of the climbs. I left him really by just continuing my pace as before he had come up. I wasn't really hammering till the final run into the finish when I saw a rider whom I took to be Joe F. coming up on me; after burying myself to keep a good gap it turned out to be a SR I." Nicholas Johnson - Guy's Bicycle helped fill the podium with "Guy's" placing 3rd (1:57:36, 12.76mph).

Blair Saunders - First State Velo Sport brought home the gold for the home team taking 1st Place in the Expert Men 35-39 race (1:57:12, 12.8mph). Blair and 2nd Place David Henry - Team Harrisburg (1:59:25, 12.56mph) were battling for the first lap and a half making for great racing. Local cyclocross star and veteran racer Greg Ferguson (2:00:43, 12.43mph) dropped by and managed a third place as he no doubt is just warming up for this year's cyclocross season.

Jay Dodge - Guy's Bicycle took another 1st place in the Expert Men's 40-44 category (1:31:12, 12.34 mph) with over a two minute lead. The incredible Todd Forrest - Wooden Wheels came in second (1:33:25, 12.04mph) on a SINGLE SPEED. John Keller - Sun & Ski placed third (1:34:53, 11.86mph).

Special mention here goes to wild man Les Leach - Wissahickon who on a RIGID SINGLESPEED in the FASTEST age group (Expert Men 19-29) - doing more laps than anyone - clocked in at 1:52:56, 13.28mph taking 6th Place!!

Kurt Mikeska - Wooden Wheels (1:34:12, 11.94mph) has showed great consistency this year and had a huge gap on the rest of the field in the Expert Men's 45+ race taking 1st Place with flying colors. Rich Cordero - Guy's Bicycle (who is very busy as organizer of the Neshaminy race coming up August 25th) placeed 2nd (1:39:10, 11.34mph) and has had a great year making the podium on most SS races. John Thompson - Wooden Wheels (1:44:50, 10.73mph) with hardly any time to train this year thanks to family duties and a new job found himself on the podium in the Expert field after moving up from Sport last year

Adam Beattie - First State Velo Sport was the only Junior Expert to break the 13 mph average speed mark placing 1st (1:26:15, 13.04mph). Brandon Draugelis came in second (1:27:48, 12.81mph) and Wes Shirey - Cycle Works third (1:31:41, 12.27mph).

NCS - Mt. Snow 2002
Junior X Women
by Paulo Silva

Matt Doyle - Wooden Wheels (1:31:32, 12.29mph) was the fastest Sport Men racer overall and 1st Place 19-29. Clay Cawthorp came in second (1:31:49, 12.25mph) and Greg Burbige - Wooden Wheels (1:32:06, 12.21mph) third almost making it a clean sweep for WW of the podium in the 19-29 Sport Men's race.

Mike Keller - Team Harrisburg (alias "slowboy" to his teammates - however I don't see how that's very fitting) was first place Sport Men 30-34 (1:33:38, 12.01mph). Here's a glimpse of how his race went from his interview: "Right about 1.5 laps the strap on my fanny pack broke, sending my tools and tubes to the ground . I couldn't stop and stuff everything in my jersey because Tony and Mike were right behind me . I left it and prayed I wouldn't need it for the rest of the race. Luckily everything worked out." Matt McElroy - Jack's Broken Spoke (1:34:30, 11.9mph) looks like he would have overtaken Mike if he had stopped coming in 2nd Place, and Tony Baldo - LBC a mere 2 seconds back from second took third. That's racing at it's best.

Kyle Hammaker - Team Harrisburg clocked in at a whopping 12.08mph wrapping up first place Sport Junior Men with a time of 1:33:10. Cid Ismael Jr. - Bikes by Jake (1:36:38, 11.64mph) was second and Josh Weiser - Big Ring Velo third.

1st Place Sport Men 35-39 went to Patrick Kelly - Guy's Bicycle (1:34:31, 11.9mph). 2nd Place John Cleary - Wooden Wheels was right on his heels just 10 seconds back over the line! Another WW powerhouse Michael Kirk took third (1:36:18, 11.68mph).

Jeff Waldie - Cycle Fit is having an outstanding year already. He was Beginner Men 35-44 End of the Year Super Series Champion in 2001 and is already being seen on top of the podium in the Sport Men 40-44 category. He took 1st Place (1:40:29, 11.2mph) after placing 2nd at Granogue last week. Donald Pagano - Yellow Breaches was second (1:40:36, 11.18mph) and Cary Hunter - Potomac Velo Club (see his interview excerpt in race notes) took third place (1:41:01, 11.14mph).

Undefeated in the Sport Men 45-49 George Bressler - Cycle Works (1:38:40, 11.4mph) had a dominating win with a gap of over 8 minutes. The scary thing is that he was strongest on his final lap. Perhaps someone could tell George that old men aren't supposed to race so fast. Rob Trautman - Auto Sonics (1:46:47, 10.54mph) was second and Joseph Kenas - Guy's Bicycle (1:47:15, 10.49mph) third.

Another really old guy - John Fuchs - Wissahickon apparently doesn't get the aging thing either. He was just a few minutes off of super hero George Bressler's time winning the Sport Men 50+ race in 1:42:09 with a very fast average speed of 11.01mph. Second place went to Richard McCurdy Jr - Cycle Fit who battled John to the end finishing right on his heels at just 20 seconds back. The ever powerful Ken Stadden - Unemployed Webmasters (1:46:33, 10.56mph) took third.

Cassandra Ramirez - Wooden Wheels (1:48:31, 10.37mph) roadie turned mountain bike racer has already learned how to stay on her bike enough to utilize her powerful legs. In only her second mtn bike race (her first was Fair Hill 2002) she has managed to find her way to the top of the podium winning the Sport Women 35+ race and first overall Sport Women. Anne Hess - Shirks (1:52:29, 10mph) placed second and Jill Lewis - Wooden Wheels (2:09:13, 8.71mph) placed third. Jill is also just learning technical skills as can be seen by going to past news and checking out the mouse over effect on the main Granogue 2002 news page.

Nicole Sheets - Tailwind (1:52:56, 9.96mph) won the Sport Women 34 &under race with Lori Wagner - Team Harrisburg (1:55:25, 9.75mph) up from Beginner last year already on the Sport podium in second place. Melissa Roddy - First State Velo Sport (1:57:35, 9.57mph) was third.

Fastest Beginner of the day Matt Vahey - Delaware Cardiovascular (1:00:43, 12.35mph) came to within 43 seconds of breaking the one hour mark for two laps! Here's an excerpt from his interview: When did you put the hammer down? "After the first wash out I had with a competitor, we were fighting for first into the single track, and we were not giving up our line on the first gravel turn, we both went down, and I lost a lot of time." Hugh Plumb came in second Beginner Men 30-34 (1:01:50, 12.13mph) and Kevin Farmer (1:03:39, 11.78mph) third.

Matt Christie won the Beginner Men 19-29 race (1:02:03, 12.09mph) holding off second place Kyle Gery - Shirks (1:02:52, 11.93mph) by a narrow margin. Michael Hoffman - Cycle Works (1:05:46, 11.4mph) was third.

Paul Watson had a good race placing 1st in the Beginner Men's 35-39 (1:05:53, 11.38mph). Tim Kershner - Cycle Works (1:07:21, 11.14mph) was second and right on his heels at just 9 seconds back was Donnie Harries - Harries Racing (1:07:30, 11.11mph) securing a third place podium spot.

Don Leavitt - Cycle Fit (1:09:25, 10.8mph) showed off his fitness with a 1st Place in the Beginner Men 40-44 race. Ben Taverna took second less than a minute back (1:10:16, 10.67mph) and John Gould wrapped up third (1:14:29, 10.07mph).

Andy Harrold - Shirks (1:08:35, 10.94mph) had his heart rate over 170 for more than 56 minutes to secure 1st Place in the Beginner Men's 45-49 race. Eric Krone (1:09:17, 10.83mph) must have had his heart rate rather high too coming in second less than a minute back. Scott Santec (1:13:29, 10.21mph) placed third.

1st Place Beginner Men 50+ Richard Butz - Cycle Board (1:15:58, 9.87mph) held off second place Dennis Scott - Del Stridest Riders (1:16:55, 9.75mph) who was less than a minute back. Third place was Dave Johns - Cedar Bikes (1:17:15, 9.71mph).

Fastest overall Beginner Women was Karen Schneider - Team Harrisburg (1:18:41, 9.53mph). She must be tapping into some of the Henry's goat milk (see Blue Marsh 2002 in past news). However, Sherri Bosley - Cycle Works (1:19:31, 9.43mph) was right on her heels taking second. Jill Wiest is showing great improvement this year securing herself a respectable third place (1:25:00, 8.82mph).

Kristin May - Tailwind (1:23:02, 9.03mph) who has averaged a whopping 30 minutes training per week managed a 1st Place Beginner Women 34 &under. Tammy Coleman - Gung Ho Bikes (1:26:56, 8.63mph) was second and Rose Corrigan - Guy's Bicycle (1:28:06, 8.51mph) was third.

Kevin Vesley (1:06:26, 11.29mph) held off Aaron Snyder - Tailwind for 1st Place in the Beginner Junior's race. Aaron was just 11 seconds back wrapping up two laps in 1:06:37, 11.26mph. Sean Lanan (1:11:13, 10.53mph) was third.