SM100

Hey folks here is the Shenandoah report. It's a little long so if you want to check it out click on the link below.

Race Report

sm 100

HOLY CRAP!!!

A more informative race report coming soon!

Wilderness 101 (The photographers' story)

We had a blast at the wilderness 101. The weekend was full of unexpected happenings, good and bad. Our first night there most of the racers turned in around 9:30 pm, so we thought it best to take off for a bit, so as not to disturb anyone. We needed to find our way to the tunnel in Poe Paddy State Park, to take pictures there during the race, so we headed over the mountain. On our way we noticed a man walking down the road and we stopped to ask him for directions. He offered to show us in person if we would take him home afterward. We agreed so he hopped in the back and we continued on our way. On the way we learned a lot about our guide. His name was Jack and he is a retired biology professor from Eureka, CA. He spends his summers here in an old CC camp that has been in his family for many years. After finding the tunnel (which is very cool to see at night, and a little creepy) we took Jack home and he invited us in for a beer. Jack showed us around his camp pointing out the flying squirrel he has in a hamster cage. He explained to us that he accidentally caught the flying squirrel in a trap while trying to catch red squirrels. We had a great time hanging out with Jack; he was a really cool guy. It was getting pretty late so we made our way back to Coburn Park and called it a night.

The next morning we told Jay Heverly and John Majors about the little adventure we had the night before, and our wish to free the flying squirrel. Then we started preparing to get some great shots of the race. We made our way around to some of the best parts of the course to get our shots, and saw the awesome technical skills of the top riders. At the first tunnel we wanted to get shots of Jay and John. We waited for a while and started to wonder if something happened to Jay. The last time we saw him he was doing extremely well and should have come through already. When John came through we asked if he had seen Jay, and he informed us that Jay’s frame had broken.

We went to the finish line to find Jay, watch the rest of the racers come in, and see the awards. Jeremiah Bishop came in first with a time of 6:52:07 setting a new record, followed by Harlan Price in second, and Tinker Juarez in third. John Majors took first in the Men’s Masters clenching the endurance series title. After the awards we decided we had one more mission this weekend and that was to buy the squirrel’s freedom. We gained the support of John and Jay and went into town to buy a six-pack, hoping that Jack would accept it as trade for the squirrel’s freedom, and journeyed over to Jack’s. We pulled into the driveway only to find that Jack was not home, so we went back to Coburn Park. Disappointed by our failed mission we all went to bed. Overall the weekend was a success we got some great shots, and although we didn’t free the squirrel we have faith that Jack will release it before he ventures back to California. To see more pictures of the of The Wilderness 101 and also Ole Bull Midnight Madness visit www.serenafranck.com. Race report written by Eric and Serena Franck

Matt Tomb's first road race

Saturday, August 11 I raced in my first road bike race. I raced in the Mansfield Campus Criterium race. It was an awesome day for racing. Although not too many riders came out to the race, it was still a fun day.

I was feeling a little nervous about the race because a few of the corners on it were pretty sharp. After pre-riding it a dozen times I lined up on the line feeling pretty good. After everybody wished each other good luck we were off.

I went off the front at the start, not really knowing what I was doing. It only stayed that way for about a lap then the lead pack caught me and Josh Beals gave me a quick word of advice. He told me to try to stay out of the wind. But I wasn't able to keep with the lead pack. They were just too fast. I was just able to keep them in sight on the long downhill. Slowly they started getting farther and farther ahead. I would see Tom every lap and he would tell me that they weren't that far ahead and that I could catch them. This just made me work a little bit harder.

I never could quite catch then but I was able to finish 4th over all and 1st in my age group. Josh was the winner of the B-race, only winning by 5/100ths of a second. I had a lot of fun at this race, it was the most fun race that I’ve ever done. I really hope to do it again next year.

- Matt Tomb

Race Reports

I have been slacking the last week or so and I am just getting my race reports up. You can check them out using the following links if you want.

Mansfield Campus Crit
Kinzua Classic
Ole Bull

Course Preview

Here's a cool little video preview of the course for the upcoming Mansfield Campus Criterium. Camera work by Tom D'Angelo, fine driving by Jimmy G, super-fast pedaling by Josh and Tom, and editing by Fletch.



Saturday, August 11 - don't miss it.
More info here: http://www.twistedspokes.org/events.php

Lake Effect 150 mile road ride this Sunday!

If you are interested in testing your limits, Show up at my house on Sunday July 22nd for the Lake Effect 150. We leave my house at 8:00am and should take in the neighborhood of 8 hours. My dad will be trailing the group in his car with water,your own food and anything else you would like to bring to keep your flying weight down. My house is located just over the NY/PA border on RT. 328(1812 Pennsylvania ave. is the address) Hope to see you there.

Sunday Ride

Tom, Eric, and I are going to be riding some cool roads this sunday leaving from my apartment in Bloss at 9:00. All are welcome to join in.
Map URL: http://runningahead.com/maps/711dee3c192d42a985b71bf32d9e573b

2006 Wilderness 101

Here is a little video from the 2006 Wilderness 101. Do you see Eric and I?

07 century pics

check out pics from the 07 OCW Century

07 Century

Track Madness in NC

My longtime buddy, John Derry, lives in Asheville, NC, about two miles from the famous Asheville Mellowdrome (http://www.mellowdrome.com/). It's an old race car track that has been converted to a velodrome for fixed-gear track bikes. For years, John has regaled me with wild tales of his racing exploits. The stories always interested me--I'm up for about anything that involves a bike--but the closest I'd come to being a trackie was, during an earlier visit, joining John for a weight lifting sesh that consisted of plylometrics, squats and more squats. (I was nearly paralyzed for a week afterwards.) Once the fam figured out when we'd be visiting the Derry crew, I called him and asked about the possibility of racing on the track. He said he'd planned to blow off racing that night so we could ride and drink beer (though not at the same time) but than he called back a few hours later and said that he'd found me a bike to borrow. Ssswwwweeettt!! I was stoked and a little scared, mainly because I didn't want to kill anybody--those bikes ain't got no brakes--but felt better when he said I'd be riding in the pursuit, essentially a very short time trial.



We loaded the kids in the car and headed to A-ville from Charlotte on June 19. John cruised by his house about 4:30 p.m., picked me up, and we headed over to the track. Once there, he pulled out a Bianchi, my track bike for the night. We pumped up the tires to 140 psi, grabbed aero bars, and walked over to the track. John introduced me to a bunch of guys--Kurt (the organizer), Sean, and some other guys. I registered (40+), grabbed my number, and we walked onto the track.



Now, the scene there is very cool. There's a big wooden bridge that spans the track, with a big playground for kids and a roller hockey rink in the infield (that was packed with padded folks pounding the crap out of the puck and each other). Kurt had set up a sound system and Iron Maiden poured out of it. Trackies were milling about, changing from drop to aero bars, putting on funny helmets, razzing each other, and warming up. John and I switched to aero bars, hopped on the bikes and cruised slowly around the inside of the track as he explained the rules. (There's not many, but, obviously, they are very important.) I pulled back in the "pits" to fiddle with my seat height and discovered the complex pleasures of trying to stop a fixed-gear bike. Needless to say, I wasn't very graceful. But I didn't kill anybody either.



With storm clouds threatening, we warmed up. And warmed up. And warmed up. (Conventional wisdom: The shorter the race, the longer the warm-up. Or so I'm told.) John taught me how to draft him into a turn, pull off, swing up the (admittedly slight) banking, and then use gravity to help me swoop back down into his draft. Very cool stuff. We warmed up for a long time and I found out I was riding a 90-inch gear. Finally, race time rolled around. John instructed me on how to start from a standing stop held by another person. It goes something like this: left crank aligned with down tube, on 2 (this is the countdown from 5) start pushing with left leg, on release, throw right leg forward, and sprint like hell. I guess I did eveything ok, because my start felt pretty good--straight, not wobbly. I settled onto the aerobars about midway through turn one and pounded out the six laps (3K). I was the only one on the track, which was weird, and I felt surprisingly fast while concentrating hard on holding my speed through the turns, keeping a high cadence, and not gutting myself too early. Toward the last two laps, the pain began to set in in earnest, but I pushed for all I was worth. After all, it was less than a 1000 meters to the finish. I crossed the line and spun out my legs. John raced after me and rode 3000 meters fifteen seconds faster than I did! Blue Light (a highway patrolman) took four seconds off John's time! Crapola, those dudes were fast!! And there were others even faster!!! All those weights pay off, I reckon.



We were slated to do some other whatchamacallit that involved four guys and a sprint, but the rains came and made the track too slick . Dangit. I was ready to race some more. But I did get some hardware, seeing as there were only 3 guys in my category. I also got razzed: Blue Light muttered "Yankee, go home" as I walked up to accept my medal. That stung, me being from NC and all. Track racing was big fun, though, and I highly recommend gettin' mellow at the Mellowdrome, if you get a chance.



(I was sore as hell the next day, crazy for a 4'27" race. But John and I worked the kinks out by taking a gentle cruise in Swannanoa that included a hill with a 22% grade, averaged out, for about a mile. He's a thoughtful guy like that.)

Century

The Oswald Cycle Works Century is on Sunday July 8th. The ride starts at 9:00 am, come a little early if you want some pre-ride coffee. To see the map click on the link below. We will be doing the same course as last year, only in the opposite direction.

Century
http://tinyurl.com/2z66bv
Short Course
http://tinyurl.com/ytdmer

Race report

Date: 6/24/07
Race: Owasco Flyer
Distance: 36 Miles

The Owasco Flyer is one of my favorite races. I can’t really put my finger on what I like so much about it. Maybe it’s screaming down the road at 30 miles an hour with a group of 200 people. Perhaps it’s the terrain that doesn’t really favor someone who is strong in any one area. In any case I was super stoked about this year’s flyer.

I was worried, sure, but for the first time I was going to be doing the flyer with my hombres. People have been sharing knowledge of every aspect of racing with me since I started cycling. I was excited, for the first time we were going to a race that none of the other guys had ever done. This gave me a chance to be the one sharing a little knowledge.

I have been dropped on this course a couple of times and knew where to pay attention and where to work. I also know who the fast guys are. My goal was to keep them in sight as long as possible. I succeeded in one respect; I kept the leaders in sight for the whole race. Unfortunately that was after they dropped me and I dug deep to catch back on. Alas, I had forgotten to pack my suitcase of courage. I kept the leaders in sight for several miles and I kept everyone else out of sight up to the very end. I was in the unhappy place called no mans land. I don’t remember much about the ride from the time I got dropped to the time I finished. All I remember was looking back at the top of each hill to see if I could spot any chasers. I only spotted them on the last hill before the finish.

I was very happy to have finished 8^th with a time of 1:29:56 (a 24 mph average) up one spot from last year and three minutes faster, and up 12 spots from the year before. The other boys did well with Jared finishing 34 with a time of 1:32:34, Tom finished 62^nd with a time of 1:35:37, and Eric finished 77^th with a time of 1:38:33.

12 Hours of Roundtop

Saturday June 23rd was the 12 Hours of Roundtop race in Athens,PA. I went down on Friday night to set up my pit canopy and pre ride the course. The course was a nice mix of flowy singletrack and short steep ascents. I rode it in 37 minutes while scoping out things and picking lines, So I felt pretty confident I could do 16 laps. The race starts with a 1/2 mile run which is to my disadvantage thanks to a bundle of sprained ankles in my day. Despite having a disadvantage I ran about mid pack and came back to the bike in decent position. The first lap went well and the pace was pretty fast but I felt strong so I pushed it to catch Dave Perry who went aroound me like I was sitting still on the single track. Dave later was having some major flatting issues so i was able to reel him in and go a lap up. I kept the cadence high and spun to victory with 18 laps in 11:30 something. Congrats to Jim,TJ,Matt and Fletch( Team Twisted Spokes) for an outstanding performance in the 4 person male category cranking out 23 laps and having the fastest lap of 28 min. More info here and pics.

Century

Hey,
Don't forget about the second annual Oswald Cycle Works Century! It will be on Sunday July 8th with refreshments and starting time to be announced soon. There will also be a shorter ride leaving at the same time and following the same course as the century for awhile.

Race Report

Date: 6/9/07
Race: Laurel Flyer Road Race
Distance: 24 Miles

The Laurel flyer is a course that has the effect of making everyone slow. It is hilly but not a climber’s course. It has a some good flats and downhills that don’t help the good descenders or flats riders. The race usually ends in a sprint finish but that doesn’t mean the sprinters are even going to have a chance. If you want to do well you have to be able to do a little bit of everything well. More importantly you have to do it well at the right time. On the other hand, you could be terrible at everything and still do well. It is for this reason that I love this race, that and it’s on my home turf.

This was my first bike race two years ago and I got third overall. I thought for sure that this would be my year. After all, I am stronger, lighter, a little smarter, and I have better equipment then I did before. My buddies had been egging me on for the last week and by Friday I was frothing at the mouth to get out there and dominate. Not only that Tom placed the trophies (strategically, I think) right in front of me at work. So, for two hours on Friday I tried to keep my eyes of them as I wrenched.

The turnout was good with a lot of familiar faces and in some cases “marks”. I knew there were some fast guys in the group and I wanted to be towards the front to avoid any wrecks early on. Unfortunately I had trouble clipping in and got pushed to the back. It’s at times like this when I think there just might be something to that Karma stuff. I say this because my buddy Jimmy worked like a mule to get me back up front. As I passed him and took my place with the leaders I heard a tire blow behind us. I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t get caught up in the crash like two years ago.

I have to digress for a moment and try to illustrate just what exactly happened when Jimmy pulled me to the front. First you have to understand that Jimmy has a good background in criterium racing, which is to say he can take insane chances in a pack and come out smelling like roses. That is exactly what happened. When he saw I had fallen back he slowed enough to let me get on his wheel then he accelerated. The next five minutes were the most poignant and exhilarating of the entire race. On the way out of the airport I saw Jimmy approaching the corner and I was thinking we are going to run out of pavement… we are going to fast… I am too young to die. Once we got out of the airport all I saw was Jimmy’s arse and people zipping by us as if the pack was frozen in time and we were zigzagging through them in extremely fast slow motion. Jimmy looking back and then gave me the thumbs up. I thought that was my cue to get out there and rip off some legs. Really, Jimmy was just telling me he had burned all his matches. In any case I said good-bye and rode my race and left him to his. Still, I think those few minutes were the best part of the race. You have to really trust someone to follow them blindly through the minefield like obstacle course of a peloton under full steam.

From that point on I just hung in until dibble hill when I moved to the second or third position. I turned the screws a little on the climb but everyone was climbing well so I didn’t push it. Then came the descent down Draper hill, I was doing fifty something dodging potholes and what not. I descend on my road bike well and am use to the poor conditions of the local roads so I was not at all surprised or worried about the sketchiness of the descent. We then made the turn in Stony Fork with a fairly large group. I believe we shelled a few on the climb to the Yellow Basket Shop. The second time around was pretty lame with little or no action. I did get sworn at a bit when I came to the front and soft-pedaled, I don’t think the dude understood that 1) this is not the Tour de France and 2) I wasn’t racing for him. Then it was just a matter of some serious suffering from the Yellow Basket Shop to the finish. Finally it came down to a sprint finish.

I ended up getting fifth overall and fourth in my age group with a time of 1:07:26, a result I was not at all satisfied with. I have to accept the fact that there were four faster guys out there but I certainly don’t like it. On the other hand, I can’t do anything about it. Some other notable results from the Oswald boys include 1. Jimmy with 1:19:54 2. Eric with 1:15:48

Pics

Hey,
Pics from the race are up so check them out. If you have any pics to add let me know.

The Lake Effect 150

Come join us on July 22 for The Lake Effect 150(not a race). The route starts and ends at my house 1812 Pennsylvania Ave. Pine City,NY. The course is a nice easy rolling course with a few short climbs. It leaves Pine City and heads up around Seneca Lake and then back to Pine City. There will be a SAG vehicle if you wish to bring your own food and drink or spare tubes etc. We will also pass a few mini marts as well. The ride starts at 8 A.M. I hope to see you there. Oh yeah, I hope you know how to ride your road bike on dirt! Email with questions jamesheverly@yahoo.com, leave comment if interested!

Course Map and Profile here.

My house here.

Addison Road Race

May 5th, 2007. While driving my mail truck up 15 towards Wellsboro, I started to think about the race as the sun was coming up and was beginning to wonder if my decision to work the night before the race was such a good idea. Got home about 6AM, picked up my trusty Oswald and headed off towards Addison. 7:30AM, pulled into school parking lot, parked the car and preceded to take a nap. Nap didn't really happen, too much commotion going on to allow that. 9AM, while heading towards registration I started to see familiar faces, Jared, Joe Allis, Mike M, and Dave Jelliff. Further down the parking lot, I see Josh, Tom and Jimmy. After exchanging a little pre-race chatter, I preceded to ready myself for the race.
As we waited at the starting line, the noise drowned out the race instructions. I did hear something about a chute at the finish line but didn't hear where the finish line was. As the horn sounded, we rolled out across the intersection towards Jasper. At the boro limits the pace quickened and the race was on. I picked up my pace to try to stay near the front and tucked in behind the biggest guy I could find. This worked until I decided to make my way a little closer to the front not realizing that they will let you go out front where there is a headwind. I pulled for a little while, then let off of it. There were lots of attacks but no seemed to break away. While climbing the first hill, I noticed on my right, the dynamic dual a.k.a. Jimmy G and Tom on the tandem passing me. They did this many times during the race. As we neared Jasper, I talked with Jared, he said the pace would pick up as we made the turn back to Addison and he was right. I fell off the back and had to work extremly hard to catch back up. The second half seemed to go much faster and as we neared the town limits, the pace got crazy as everyone knew the finish line was near. As I entered the chute I knew the race was over and I was happy with with my performance. I did much better than I expected finishing 3rd in my age group, Josh finished 2nd in his age group, and Jimmy and Tom finish 1st in the tandem category ,it was a great day for a race.

Addison race report

Howdy folks,
I thought I would try posting my race report a little differently then usual. So if you want to read about the race just follow the link. Addison Race Report