smss #4: results!

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SMSS #4, Pine Grove - Caledonia - Pine Grove
July 22, 2015
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Individual Results
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 1 Eric Noreen                 AVC (guest rider)
 2 Christopher Woltemade       AVC  
 3 Nathan Goates               RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop          
 4 Darin A.                    succas          
 5 Wade Turlington             Carlisle Consortium
 6 Joe Kaehler                 SMVC            
 7 Josh Jacoby                 Blue Mountain Velo
 8 Corey Stalker               Blue Mountain Velo       
 9 Tyler Honey                 Blue Mountain Velo
10 Erik Davis                  succas (guest rider)            
11 Jeff Townsley               succas (guest rider)       
12 Steve Luckie                Carlisle Consortium
13 Kutztown Kyle (dnf - flat)  Carlisle Consortium

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Club Results
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 1 Antietam Velo Club (AVC)                     17 pts
 2 Blue Mountain Velo                           24
 3 succas                                       25
 4 Carlisle Consortium                          30
 5 RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop                    31
 6 South Mountain Velo Club (SMVC)              34
   everyone else                                42                                

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2015 SMSS Series TOTAL (after four rounds)
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 1 South Mountain Velo Club (SMVC)              86 pts 
 2 succas                                      120
 3 RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop                   125
 4 Blue Mountain Velo                          129
 5 Antietam Velo Club                          134
 6 Carlisle Consortium/ARC                     143
 7 Integrated Sports Medicine                  155
 8 Hub City                                    160
 9 everyone else                               180
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iron masters ITT #2: results

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Iron Masters Time Trial #2
July 7, 2015
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Aero Division
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 1 Joe Kaehler             SMVC                        26:04
 2 Gordan Sheetz           Shirk's                     26:08     
 3 Jim Hartnet             SMVC                        27:09
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Merckx Division
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 1 Kyle Helder                                         26:20
 2 Darin Alleman                                       27:45
 3 Kevin Griffin                                       28:01  
 4 Max Fiorentino                                      29:18
 5 Justin McFadden                                     29:45
 6 Bruce Bedell                                        31:29
 7 Mike McFadden                                       31:37
 8 Jeff Townsley                                       32:23
 9 Vanessa Fiorentino                                  32:53
10 Dalton Miles                                        33:20
11 Lindsey Lucus                                       35:11
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smss #3: results!

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SMSS #3, Merckx-Style Iron Masters Individual Time Trial
June 24, 2015
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Individual Results
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 1 Josh Beck              24:50  Carlisle Consortium/ARC
 2 Nathan Goates          24:51  Shirk's Bike Shop  
 3 Christopher Woltemade  26:28  Antietam Velo Club           
 4 Fred Yutzy             26:45  Hub City            
 5 Tyler Honey            26:48  Blue Mountain Velo  
 6 Joe K                  26:59  SMVC            
 7 Tim R                  27:03  SMVC
 8 Gordan Sheetz          27:25  Shirk's Bike Shop         
 9 Pat Hankins            28:03  SMVC
10 Jim Hartnett           28:30  SMVC                 
11 Jere Ballard           28:40* SMVC         
12 Pete Doyle             29:58  Antietam Velo Club
13 Cliff Feldman          30:17  SMVC
14 Justin McFadden        30:24  Carlisle Consortium/ARC
15 Daniel Grooms          31:17  Hub City
16 Mike McFadden          31:45  Carlisle Consortium/ARC
17 Kenny Haines           34:xx  Hub City
18 Greg Walter            35:00  Hub Cit

* Jere claims he rode 11 miles. If so, he rode at .39759 miles/minute, which, pro-rated for 10 miles, would have been a time of 25:09, or third place. However, his time was still 28:40 when he crossed the line, so that's his time. (Plus his team is already winning, so...)

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Club Results
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 1 South Mountain Velo Club (SMVC)              22 pts
 2 Shirk's Bike Shop                            28
 3 Carlisle Consortium/ARC                      29
 4 Antietam Velo Club (AVC)                     33
 5 Hub City                                     34
 6 Blue Mountain Velo                           41
 7 everyone else                                54                                

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2015 SMSS Series TOTAL (after three rounds)
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 1 South Mountain Velo Club (SMVC)              52 pts
 2 Shirk's Bike Shop                            94
 3 succas                                       95
 4 Blue Mountain Velo                          105
 5 Integrated Sports Medicine                  113
 5 Carlisle Consortium/ARC                     113
 7 Antietam Velo Club                          117
 8 Hub City                                    118
 9 everyone else                               138
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smss #2: results!

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SMSS #2, Pine Grove Road Race
June 10, 2015
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Individual Results
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 1 Alan Royek               succas
 2 Jon Marshal              Integrated Sports Medicine
 3 Kutztown Kyle            unattached
 4 Jerry Ballard            SMVC
 5 Joe Kaehler              SMVC 
 6 Tim Rohrbaugh            SMVC
 7 Gordan Sheetz            Shirk's Bike Shop
 8 Corey Stalker            Blue Mountain Velo
 9 Michal Perdek            succas      
10 Chris Townsley           succas
11 Jim Hartnett             SMVC
12 Tyler                    Blue Mountain Velo
13 Ben Coleman              Blue Mountain Velo
14 Richard Able             succas
15 Jeff Townsley            ?
16 Ken                      ?
17 Dave Gouge               SMVC

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Club Results
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 1 South Mountain Velo Club (SMVC)              15 pts
 2 succas                                       20
 3 Blue Mountain Velo                           33
 4 Integrated Sports Medicine                   38
 5 RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop                    43

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2015 SMSS Series TOTAL (after two rounds)
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 1 South Mountain Velo Club (SMVC)              30 pts
 2 succas                                       41
 3 Integrated Sports Medicine                   59
 4 Blue Mountain Velo                           63
 5 RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop                    66
 6 everyone else                                84
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iron masters ITT #1: results

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Iron Masters Time Trial #1
May 27, 2015
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Aero Division
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 1 Nathan Goates           RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop   25:09
 2 Joe Kaehler             SMVC                        26:03
 3 Gordan Sheetz                                       26:34     
 4 Jim Hartnet             SMVC                        26:40
 5 Pat Hankins             SMVC                        28:26*
 6 Erik Davis                                          29:09
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Merckx Division
------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Wade Turlington                                     26:24**
 2 Christopher Woltemade   AVC                         26:25
 3 Chris Brechbiel         Quick Release Bicycles      26:57  
 4 Justin McFadden                                     30:56
------------------------------------------------------------

There was some confusion about where the turnaround was (our cone was stolen), so Pat and Wade ended up doing a bit of extra credit.

* Pat reported riding 10.7 miles in 30:25. That's about a 2:50 mile pace...so the time posted is 2:50 for 10 miles.

** Wade reported riding 11.3 miles in 26:24. That's about a 2:38 mile pace...so the time posted is 2:38 for 10 miles. 

They get asterisks by their times this week. We figure by next time they'll have it straight.

smss #1: results!

Yeah, this happened over a week ago. So I'm a little slow on the writeabout. My apologies.

Anyway, last week, Wednesday, May 13, was Round 1 of the 2015 South Mountain Summer Smackdown. The big story line was the utter team dominance of South Mountain Velo Club. Strength in numbers. The minor story line was me, getting beat by a college freshman. Ugh.

Your results:

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SMSS #1, Big Flat Hill Climb, East Side
May 13, 2015
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Individual Results
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 1 Jon Marshall             Integrated Sports Medicine
 2 SC                       succas
 3 Nathan Goates            RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop
 4 Tim Rohrbaugh            SMVC (scored)
 5 Joe Kaehler              SMVC (scored)
 6 Jim Hartnett             SMVC (scored)
 7 Gordan Sheetz            SMVC (place-holder)
 8 Gary Lehman              SMVC (place-holder)
 9 Dave Gouge               SMVC 
10 Michal Perdek            succas (scored as 9 pts)
11 Pat Hankins              SMVC

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Club Results
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 1 South Mountain Velo Club (SMVC)              15 pts
 2 succas                                       21
 2 Integrated Sports Medicine                   21
 4 RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop                    23

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2015 SMSS Series TOTAL (after one round)
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 1 South Mountain Velo Club (SMVC)              15 pts
 2 succas                                       21
 2 Integrated Sports Medicine                   21
 4 RHR p/b Shirk's Bike Shop                    23
 5 everyone else                                30
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so you wanna be a bike racer...

So you live in south-central Pennsylvania and you want to start bike racing...

Amateur cycling in the United States is governed by USA Cycling. They set the rules. Train officials. Police cheaters. Facilitate race promotion. Etc. There is certainly a lot of bike racing that occurs outside of USAC sanctioning (especially for off-road events), but if you're interested in ROAD RACING, you should be familiar with USAC.

They have a website: https://www.usacycling.org/

Click the "Get Started" link and poke around.

Within the USAC umbrella, there are local associations that help manage things on the ground level. In this area (south-central PA), the local associations of most relevance are the PCA (http://www.pacycling.org/) and MABRA (http://mabra.org/). You can find on their websites two really important things: (1) calendars of events and (2) lists of local racing clubs.

To start racing in USAC sanctioned events, you first have to buy a USAC license. You can buy an annual license (good until the end of the year) on their website, or you can pay $15 for a one-day license at each event you attend.

One of the advantages of racing USAC sanctioned events is that they segregate racers not by age (like in running and triathlon, which is, frankly, a moronic way to organize amateur athletics), but by ability. As a beginner, you'll only race against beginners ("Category 5"). After accumulating some experience, you'll race with the novice/intermediates ("Category 4"). When you become something of a decent bike racer, as shown by finishing well in a number of races, you'll move to a semi-elite category ("Category 3"). And it keeps going... Category 1 racers are essentially pro-level athletes who don't have pro contracts because (1) they can't get one or (2) they don't want one.

To give you a sense of how many people populate these categories, imagine a random sample of 100 USAC licensed racers. Of that 100, about 35 would be Cat 5 racers. Slightly more, 40, would be Cat 4s. Less than half as many, 17, would be Cat 3s. Less than half of that, 7 riders of that 100, would be Cat 2 racers. And only about 2 of the 100 would be Cat 1 racers. There wouldn't be any pros. Because pros are more rare than 1 in 100 licensed racers. (And the kind of pros you've heard of, that race in the ProTour in Europe and whatever, are even more rare than that.)

That's all for road racing... Things are slightly different for off-road (MTB, cyclocross, BMX) bicycle disciplines. And then there's also the track...

In this country, road racing is the most popular form of bike racing. Mountain bike racing is probably second. Oddly (to me), relatively few people do both. Cyclocross racing is sort of a hybrid, culturally. Because lots of road racers race CX and lots of mountain bikers race CX too.

In the warmer months, some local riders organize a little grassroots racing series that is all for fun and no money and designed to help get newbies into racing and, for the more experienced among us, to compete for bragging rights on favorite local courses. The current year's calendar is (usually) posted here:

https://sites.google.com/site/shipcycling/home/training-rides/summer-smackdown

But most people who ride bikes, and even ride bikes seriously, don't race. Don't want to. Never did. The cycling world is also full of folks who once or twice pinned on a number, gave racing a try, decided it wasn't for them, and now just ride bikes because they like riding bikes.

And many local cycling clubs (like the Franklin County Cyclists, or Harrisburg Bike Club) are not full of bike racers, but cycling enthusiasts of various stripes. There are lots of really great, really experienced riders in these groups, but relatively few who have pinned on a race number, and far fewer than that who take racing seriously. (That said, don't make the mistake of assuming a non-racer doesn't know their way around a bicycle or can't make it from point A to point B really quick.)

starlight circles, 9/29

WEEK FOUR (9/29) RESULTS:

MEN
 1 Kyle        10 pts
 2 Kevin        6
   Alan
   Chistopher
 3 Michael      4
 4 Rick         3
 5 Scott        2
 6 Ryan         1 
 7 Jeremy       1
 
WOMEN
 1 Coretta     10 pts


2014 FALL SERIES STANDINGS after FOUR rounds

MEN
 1 Kyle        30 pts
 2 Kevin G.    26
 3 Darin       14
   Michael     14
 5 Scott        8
   Jeremy       7
 7 Rick         6
   Ryan         4
 9 Greg         2
   Kevin D.     2
11 Chris T.     1
   Rich         1

WOMEN
 1 Coretta     40 pts
 2 Meg          6

starlight circles, 9/22

WEEK THREE (9/22) RESULTS:

MEN
   Alan
   Woltemade
   Goates
 1 Darin       10 pts
 2 Kevin G.     6
 3 Kyle         4
 4 Michael      3
 5 Scott        2
 6 Rick         1
 7 Ryan         1

WOMEN
 1 Coretta     10 pts


2014 FALL SERIES STANDINGS after THREE rounds

MEN
 1 Kevin G.    20 pts
   Kyle        20
 3 Darin       14
 4 Michael     10
 5 Scott        6
   Jeremy       6
 7 Rick         3
   Ryan         3
 9 Greg         2
   Kevin D.     2
11 Chris T.     1
   Rich         1

WOMEN
 1 Coretta     30 pts
 2 Meg          6

RESULTS: SMSS #5, Caledonia Cauldron of Burning Bicycles

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SMSS #5, Caledonia Cauldron of Burning Bicycles
September 9, 2014
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Individual Results
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 1 Jon Marshall             Faulkner Nissan Racing
 2 Daniel Blumberg          
 3 Kyle Irwin               Antietam Velo Club
 4 Michael Urban            SU (students/alumni/friends)
 5 Joe Kaehler              SMVC
 6 Michal Perdek            SU (students/alumni/friends)
 7 Jim Hartnett             SMVC
 8 Chris Townsley           Antietam Velo Club
 9 Rick Ackerman            SU (students/alumni/friends)

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Club Results
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 1 Shippensburg Univ (students/alumni/friends)  10 pts
 2 Faulkner Nissan Racing                       11 
 2 Antietam Velo Club                           11
 4 South Mountain Velo Club                     12

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2014 SMSS Series TOTAL (after five rounds)
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 1 Faulkner Nissan Racing                       46 pts
 2 South Mountain Velo Club                     59
 3 Shippensburg Univ (students/alumni/friends)  74
 4 Antietam Velo Club                           85
 5 Dickenson College                           108
 6 ARC / Carlisle                              119
 7 everyone else                               139
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