   October 9, 2000 |
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TERROR
OF TEABERRY XC |
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 Dave Radziewicz Gettysburg Bicycle & Fitness |
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1st
Place Overall & |
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Sami Fournier Snow Valley |
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1st
Place Pro/Expert Women
SAMI FOURNIER Snow Valley |
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INTERVIEWS
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Then it was round and round the ragged rocks for a while, leading us into a mixture of smooth and extra-chunky terrain that grew a little scarier by the mile. Hike-a-bike is the rule for me at Michaux, but only for a little while, until I start to get the rhythm of the rocks. Meanwhile, flat tire and mechanical failure casualties amassed around me. At some point Mike Capraro, Jay Duffy and Jake Gettier took and held the lead. Capitalizing on Jake's familiarity with the course, and Jay and Mike's regular display of speed, they worked together to dominate, chasing each other around most of the race in a good train. Michaux is fantastic fun, even with the little bit of dampness that was hanging around the rocks, which grow up out of the ground and loom in massive cliff-like boulder sections. Racers rode rapt with fascination and respect for these geographical wonders, which assume frightening animal shapes in the Appalachian gloom of dense late-summer foliage. It's a matter either of carefully picking your line or plowing over all the rocks and letting your shocks do the work. Sometimes there is no line. Some said the deep-woods effect and the dappling of sun between dense leaves gave them pause, caused severe hallucinations and precipitated crashes. A superman or two was performed to an audience of impressed woodland creatures. A bad front tire choice on my part (too semi-slick) caused me a few spills, but mostly I was grateful for the extra speed on some good long fire road sections. Anna Aurilio had a little extra drama in her race when, toward the end, a bystander told the recently-turned-expert racer that Terry from Penn State was in front of her by only 30 seconds. Anna kicked it in, took her pass and then took a wrong turn. She then managed to reorient herself and chase Terry down yet again, edging her out of second in the Expert race. Regular fast man Chris Eatough earned the nickname "Quick-fil" that day, crossing the line with a tube sticking out of his sidewall, unbeknownst to him. His dad, Master Mike Eatough raced real well, though, as did Dave Radziewicz (Gettysburg Bicycle) who defended his home turf again---he won The Curse this summer as well. Another Getty's boy, Travis Coldsmith took 4th. Gotta hand it to the locals, both for the fine condition of the trails and the awesome riding. I personally have never seen such nice scenery at a race before. They really know how to grow 'em in PA. |
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Terrorist Teaparty Fall-my favorite season---started officially for me on the 17th of September this year, with a cool sunny MTB race in my favorite place. Of course it was Michaux-everyone's fave-and the third in a series of wildly technically challenging races in the PA Forest of choice for truly masochistic mountain bikers. About 175 of us were herded to the 10AM start by race director Rich Winkelmann, who rolled us down the road to make an about face and get ready for fun. The start was rampage--a furious attempt to warm up on a short gravel road and over a rock barrier into a fire road. At the barrier, a bottleneck formed, squeezing the racers into a pileup. But those up front were golden. The first singletrack downhill reduced some experts to sports in a rough little prelude of rocks that foreshadowed many more in the just under 24 miles to come. While the really fast guys were getting carried away, the normal humans and Michaux denizens were pacing themselves, bracing for a couple of seriously bumpy hours. Meanwhile the expert women were taking it easy on each other, prepared to give each other plenty of room, based on the pre-race tips from Rich. He said if we didn't get the greatest position at the very start, there would be plenty of wide-open doubletrack where we could hammer out a pass. We stayed in a pack for a while, enjoying the rare sunny section of fireroad, chatting and making new friends. Mostly I was really spaced out during this whole race, not really even there. This was mostly because of my painful new saddle. Wish I had not tried to break it in at Michaux. Rich had promised a minimum of climbing, but at the first good climb, we realized he had lied. I took my pass and chased some sport guys down on the climb. |
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