Monday, August 31, 2009

Aug. 24th What a week!

From the Individual TT to the Team TT to Tour De Gaps to more Cyclo Cross it was a great week for MOB. Wed. Aug 26th at Lowes Motor Speedway we had Rick Lee who won the Cat. III individual TT with another personal best of 22:00:79 just so close to under 22mins. Then we had two Teams in the Team TT. MOB Team I was Daryl Rains, Kelly Holmes, Brad Messenger and Rich Melenico who worked together to set a time of 22:06. Good enough for 5th out of 31 teams. Then MOB Team II of Zach Lail, Jay Cox, Joe Carpissasi and Mark Jellous set the third fastest time of of the night of 19:13! The fastest team was Carolina Masters who posted a 18:32.
Then on Sat. Jay "the Mt. Man" Cox, Frank "the climber" Mullins and myself took part in
the 9th annual Tour De Gaps in Mt Airey. This event boasts of over 11,000ft of climbing in 82miles. We had the sheer pleasure of climbing Squirrel Spur , Willis Gap, Orchard Gap and then the icing on the cake was Pipers Gaps. All 4 gaps combine for 30miles of climbing leaving just 50miles to roll around. Jay was able to finish a very impressive 2nd place in a time 4hrs 17mins. Myself and Frank ended the day by doing 3 / 4 of the climbs.
Then there was a host of folks @ SECCA who worked to perpare the course for the upcoming training and pre season races. There is a 20 degree drop in the temps today from yesterday almost feels like Cross is around the corner. Till next time have fun and be safe. Rodney

Saturday, August 15, 2009

MOB is everywhere

From Ace Speedway to Terry's Challenge biathlon to the Blue Ridge Brutal 100 MOB was everywhere this weekend. We had Pete Cannell, Grant Lawyer and Mark Jellous in the Master's race at Ace Speedway which Mark was able to lap the field with one other rider from the super team support and would go on to win the event.
Mark, and Grant then joined Zach Lail, Kelly Holmes and Avery Telligman in the A race. Zach, Mark, and Grant would lap the field as part of a 7 man break. I'm not sure how this one played out. So maybe we can get the result from one of these 5.
All the while Frank "the climber" Mullins was in West Jefferson participating int he Blue Ridge Brutal 100. This is a 104 mile event with over 10,000ft of climbing. 30miles into it Frank is in the select group of the day with John Patterson, Ryan Jenkins, Charlie Brown, Terry Huss, Jeremy Kahn, and two others. Frank would go onto finish 6th over all in a time of 4hrs and 47min. That is a great effort!
Then we had Paul and Julie Paisant, Steve Golinski and his wife Jennifer, Rick Lee and his wife Stacie, and myself did the Terry's Challenge Biathlon. Paul was able to bring home some hardware for his team. Team Golinski, Steve and Jennifer were able to bring home a trophy, Rick and Stacie Lee were able bring home a trophy, Julie teamed with her sister in law won the women's team division and I was able to win the men's team division with the help of Jacob Crickenburger as my runner.
Wow, what a Team that we can be in so many different events and still have such great success!
Who knows where we will be next weekend, maybe Krispy Kreme!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Cat 4 / Crossroads & Hanes Park

The Crossroads Classics are a fun week of racing. This year I raced the last three of the five races in Salisbury, Statesville & Harrisburg, finishing 25th, 15th and 11th. Charles joined in on the fun @ Salisbury and Statesville and rode strong. Congratulations to Jerry Rebo who raced all of the Crossroads races and finished 3rd in the overall. Also, Congratulations to all team members who participated in the races, as we finished third overall in the team competition.

The Hanes Park Classic Cat 4 race was an absolute blast. I overheard several people questioning the decision to reverse the course, my opinion, it was great. We had a strong presence in the field with myself, Rebo, Charles, Matt Chambers and Steve Golinski. Charles, Rebo and I stayed at the front the entire race not letting anything get away. I won a Mock Orange Prime and tried to stay off the front but wasn't capable of doing it alone so I sat up and integrated back into the field. Charles had a plan for he and I to get Rebo off the front on the last lap for a shot at the win but it didn't pan out, Rebo had worked his rear off at the front and chasing down attacks and his legs had left him. Charles executed like he said he was going to and I went with him, I had a shot at the win but finished second with Charles 5th, Rebo 14th and Steve and Matt finishing strong. Great team effort.

I would also like to thank everyone for the offers to teach me to get in the drops, stand up and sprint. I'm pretty sure I get it... LOL