Rapport de course de Neshaminy

Jordan on the extended podium (6th place, far right)

Bonjour!

One of the longer-running Mid-Atlantic Super Series races took place this past weekend:  The Guy's Bicycles Neshaminy Classic.  Martin, Matt, and Jordan were there to represent in a stacked field of 34 Elite riders.  The course was it's same old awesome self, with lots of logs and tight'n'twisty singletrack, and the previous days rain kept the course nice and tacky for premium ripping. 

The start saw BMC's Kerry Warner fly off with Scott's Aaron Snyder, with Aaron's teammates Cam & John in tow.  Giant's own Jordan Kahlenberg managed to squeeze in behind the Scott train and latch on during the prologue, while Marting and Matt held steady in the pack.  After the prologue Jordan made some quick moves to establish himself in 3rd, while Martin and Matt began to trade places. 

Ripping through these trails, sometimes you feel like you're on a BMX bike, jumping and diving through trees, and over whoops.  It's hard to go slow when you're having so much fun!  And you also forget to eat sometimes, which is what happened to Jordan early on.  Despite the mental slip, he managed to recover quick and roll in 6th, with Matt in 16th, and Martin behind. 

What a great race!  The team can't wait to be back next year!

Seamus Race Report: Canada Cup's

Its been a pretty busy and diverse spring so far. GMA has been Racing from east coast slope to dry and fast west coast race course's. To add to the diversity I headed north to Quebec, Canada to add some spice to things. I hit the first two rounds of the UCI C1 Canada Cups at Mt. Tremblant on May 21st and Baie St Paul on May 29th.

 The first of the two races at Mont Tremblant  was an hour North -West of Montreal. After 7 Hours of driving and taking two wrong turns due to construction in Montreal i made it just before midnight on Thursday evening. Coming off of my win the previous weekend at Tymor Park i was feeling confident that a good race was in store for me on Saturday. Having raced there last year i knew the track had lots of climbs and gnarly rock sections in it, but due to two weeks of "solid rain" as one local said the track offered a nice layer of mud on all the rocks and corners... Perfect!!! After pre riding the course on Friday i was certain that i was going to have a solid race.

 The morning of the race came and i woke up to my eyes being glued shut and a scratchy sore throat. Allergies followed me up north were trees in bloom down south two weeks ago were just getting a jump on things up in the north country. I was still feeling confident that i would do OK. To add to the drama warming up before the race i broke two spokes in my rear wheel, and nearly missed the start to the race. I pulled a Jordon and thought the race was at 12:30pm and the race really started at 12:00 noon. I guess we are even now. Oops... good thing i made a loop through the feed/tech zone to find my wheels and  feed bottles and saw the race lining up...

I'm not going to bore you with the blow by blow details of the race but i finished a solid 17th out of 95 starters. It was pretty brutal out there. Legs felt blocked up from the Allergies and the track was a little more slippery than i expected, but i made few mistakes and was one of the lucky ones that was not carried off the mountain on a back board.

Baie St Paul the next weekend was more of the same thing. Lots of rain left the course in pretty rough shape and left me with no choice but to avoid a pre ride so not destroy myself or the bike Pre Race. All in all the legs felt 3 times better this weekend than the previous weekend at Tremblant. Laying in bed the night before the race i could hear the rain falling outside and knew it was going to be a running race the next day, the only thing was i didn't realize how much running there was actually going to be...

Everything was flowing beautifully race day. Perfect fueling and hydration, legs were feeling awesome, got to the start on time, Light mist in the air, got a 2nd row call up and blew off the line and was riding in the top 10. That's about the extent of the race right there. 10 min of real bike racing and then once we hit the first single track up hill it was ankle deep mud going up and axle deep mud  in spots on the down hills. The only part of the track that was fully ride able were the start/finish area and a couple of fire road section connecting the single track in the woods. After the first lap it was a free for all. Really glad i got through this race in one piece. Finished 19th out of 80 starters. Still not bad for a 85% running and 15% MTB race.

Well Canada was an experience for sure and i think it was more of a character building trip more than anything. I didn't get any UCI points like i was hoping for but i finished top 20 in both so I'm pretty satisfied. Everything on the bike worked Flawlessly especially the X-Fusion Suspension and Shimano XTR. Canada Cups are some of the most technically challenging tracks out there and X-Fusion handled it with ease and with all the mud the Shimano never missed a shift. These are not shameless product plugs, this stuff really worked awesome!!!

The next major UCI Race action will be in Wisconsin the end of the month were Jordon and I make a run for the top 20!! Stay tuned.

-Seamus

Turning it around again: Greenbrier Challenge Race Report

Martin: Head down and pedals turning at the Greenbrier Challenge

By: Jordan

After a cooler and wetter than normal Spring, I find myself staring down a hot and humid summer.  Somewhere in that short transition between the two, there was the Greenbrier Challenge.  This year's race was an AMBC and MARC race, as well as the Maryland state championships.  This is easily one of my favorite races all year, and I typically rise to the occasion somewhat to have a good result.  Go me!

Matt takes flight over one of the many logs on the descent.

The day prior, Martin and I took to the course to see what's what and what has changed.  To my shagrin, nothing was drastically different and the course had it's normal flow of short, technical climbs with a mix of fast and technical descents.  As I was riding the Trance this day, the descents were a little faster than normal, which was ok with me! 

At this point in the report, I wish something exciting happened that I could expand upon, but alas this is not the case.  On with the report........

Me, looking like I'm going fast, wishing I was going faster!

Race day comes and I'm rolling up to the race a little early.  Tent set, Martin shows up, Matt rolls in fashionably late, the mood is set.  Pre-race prep goes relatively well, roll to the line and get my leg marked.  Whistle blows, we're off, and I have a mediocre start, which is better than the horrible starts I had been having early season.  The front of the race stays in sight for a while, but I can't seem to make up the ground necessary to catch their wheels.  I linger for the first lap or two than lost contact.  Despite this, I have fun on the course and just ride my bike in a relatively quick manner.  Trying out different lines, I keep my motivation up by jumping obstacles that I could clearly ride around quicker.  After riding the majority of the race in no-man's land, I finish up in 10th place.  Not what I had wanted or hoped for, but I'll take it mang!

Thanks to Potomac Velo Club for putting on this great event year after year!