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Breakaways the Order of the Day at Inaugural Fort Ritchie Criterium

Corroborating the stereotype that road racers are largely anti-social beings, small groups of racers repeatedly peeled off from the community of the peloton-at-large and rode into their respective finishes at Fort Ritchie alone. Despite the open views of two and even three corners ahead afforded by the serpentine course, stiff winds and smallish fields contributed to the success of breaks in nearly every race.

In the Women's Open, a group of 7 rolled clear. Powered with two racers each from C3-Sollay.com and HPC p/b Altarum, and with representation also from Team CycleLife, Artemis and Team Kenda Tire, the group comprised all of MABRA's heavy-hitting women's teams. C3-Sollay.com went 1-2 with Janet Olney towing new teammate Sonja Evers across the line. Kenda's Heidi Goldberg rounded out the podium in third.

In the Men's Elite race, the two-man break of Ryan McKinney (Clean Currents p/b Don Beyer Volvo) and Nate Coleman (Immediate Mortgage / Artemis Elite) reached escape velocity with about 12 to go. McKinney won the sprint to the final corner and hung on down the short straight for the win. The field sprint for third was won by David Bozak (Clean Currents p/b Don Beyer Volvo).

Battley Harley-Davidson had to content themselves with a single podium placing on the day: California transplant Chuck Hutcheson won the 30+ event.

A group of 3 rolled clear in the opening laps of the Men's Cat 3 race. Containing talent from Bike Doctor / Bayside Velo, Haymarket Bicycles and LSV, the group was quickly afforded some respect and more racers bridged to join it. Ultimately the break settled into 6, which proved to be the magic number. With about 10 laps to go they had lapped the field. Josh Kahney (Bike Doctor / Bayside Velo) was catapulted to the win off a Wrobtastic leadout. Bruno Neto (LSV / Kelly Benefit Strategies) sprinted home for 2nd, and Ian Morrison (Bike Doctor / Bayside Velo) claimed the podium's third step.

Complete results are already up on AVC's website.

Additional Coverage:

• The Chicks in Black earn their chocolate chipotle cookies.
• Chick in Black vonteity offers another perspective, but fails to disclose the recipe for said cookies.
• girloffroad notes the aggregation of power among the MABRA women's elite teams and lobbies for a TTT. But not on the Fort Ritchie course, I expect.
• Pete Rides Bikes makes the point that when it's 20 guys in a field of 40 starters, it's not a "break" - it's a "field split."
• Brian at racing and all that other stuff makes a similar point, and goes on to question the strategic wisdom of blocking in the back group.
• Nick Mulder's recount is shinier and happier. And with good reason. His teammate got the win, another won the field sprint, and he followed in for fourth.
• The Wrob opens the Bike Doctor kimono and alludes to the secret team strategy. The one that didn't work. But then he shows us what did.
• Top 10 finishes in stereo for Estebe.
• And finally, think racing is hard? Try your hand at a long day as a Moto Ref.

MABRA Gila Monster Ascends New Mexico Podium

NCVC's Blair Berbert had a good reason to miss his club's famed Poolesville race over the weekend - it was too flat. While teammates were sucking down dust, he was out in New Mexico racing the Tour of the Gila stage race, famed for its vertical gain and beloved by climbers across the country. Teammate Paul Lengermann writes in,

The 5-stage race is comprised of a TT, a downtown crit, and three extremely mountainous road races of 94, 78, and 103 miles in length respectively.  The final stage has 9,000 feet of climbing with several climbs topping out at between seven and eight thousand feet in elevation.

Blair had a fantastic race, proving he's not only one of the best Cat 2 climbers in the MABRA region but also nationwide.  Blair came in second in the overall GC, behind only Velonews cover boy Danny Summerhill.

Blair secured his podium position in the first stage by making the final break of about 10 riders with 30 miles to go and then dropping all but Summerhill and Bill Demong (a 3 time nordic combined olympian), who nipped him at the line by just a few seconds on the famous 7 mile climb up the Mogollon.  He then held his own in stage 2, before moving into second on the stage 3 time trial and then keeping it for the final two stages.

For full results and course descriptions have a look at TouroftheGila.com.

Battley Harley, Kelly Benefit Strategies / LSV and Artemis Power to Poolesville Podiums3

As ever, the strongest showing at NCVC's esteemed Poolesville H.S. Road Race was made by the course itself. Attrition rates of 50% or more laid fields low, with mechanicals, crashes, flats, dehydration and too-friggin-hard being the principal culprits of truncated race days.

Battley Harley-Davidson avoided most major mishaps to dominate the elite men's field. The break of three containing Dave Fuentes (Battley Harley), Ryan Dewald (Battley Harley) and R Muoio (Kelly Benefit / LSV) proved decisive, and they took podium spots in that order. Battley Harley seems to be pursuing an inverted BAR championship strategy. Whereas most clubs with Team BAR aspirations aim to capture about 20% of the points in 80% of the different category events, Battley Harley appears to be on track to capture 80% of the points in 20% of the category events. The team went on to capture 4th, 5th, 7th and 12th at Poolesville as well.

R Muoio's podium in the Men's Elite race wasn't LSV's first trip up the steps at Poolesville on Saturday. Earlier in the day teammate Susanna Matsen Nazarian claimed the coveted Box-of-Rox trophy in the Women's Elite event, soloing to victory ahead of Kate Flore (HPC p/b Altarum) and Leslie Jennings (Team CycleLife). Last year's winner Marjan Huizing (Team Kenda Tire) finished 6th.

The purple of Artemis stormed the under categories. Jorge Marccenaro (Artemis) and James Drane (Artemis) powered to 1st and 2nd in the Men's 4/5 event, with Manny Samaniego (HPC p/b Altarum) rounding out the podium. And Amanda Watson (Artemis) claimed top honors in the Women's Cat 3/4 race, ahead of Ainhoa Perez-Diez (NVRC) and Joyce Gearhart (unattached, but what a great cyclist's name).

Kevin Gottleib (Squadra Coppi) continued to show great form, leading home a late 2-man break in the Men's 3/4 race, and outkicking Ben King (Guy's Racing) for the win. Russell Weber (Cycles 54 / YSG Racing) won the field sprint for 3rd overall.

Spared the pain of Speed Week that his teammates endured, Haymarket Bicycles' Chris Hayes stayed home and won the 40+/50+ race, ahead of Arthur Brown (ABRT / Latitude) and Paul Morse (Clean Currents p/b Don Beyer Volvo).

Full results are available at NCVC.net.

Additional Coverage:

• Bryan vs the Poison Ivy
• Brian Fouche found the butter line in the dirt, only to get caught in a crash coming out of it.
• Il Nessie battled to an impressive top 10 for the home team in the Men's Elite race.
• Flamenco Chuckwagon ended up one of the course's many statistics.
• So did RayMan.
• And Nick Mulder.
• TerribleCyclist finished, at least.
• Says Indy, "I have a love-hate relationship with Poolesville. I think she’s trying to break up with me."
• Gay Bike Racer adds his Cat 4 Race Report to the Poolesville Mix. But more importantly he vows, "I'm going to start checking you boys out a little more closely and will come out with a palmares based entirely on looks, musculature and tan lines." So we've got another competition within a competition - a prime for sexy.
• Keep the Shiny Side Up has an insider's perspective on the 40+/50+ race.
• 1km2go details his podium-worthy effort in the 4/5 race.
• Followed closely by Bryan of On Cycling in 4th.
• The C-3 Sollay.com Chicks in Black have race reports from the Women's 3/4 and Women's 1/2/3 events, and also a bunch of pictures.
• Compare their notes with perspectives from the same events from Team CycleLife.
• Anna Kelso points out that in 1760, John and Joseph Poole bought 160 acres of land which would ultimately become Poolesville. (At least one road surface since then has remained virtually unchanged.)
• Jim Wilson (naturally) has photos from the race, and also an update on his blog.