Race | Photographer1. Igda Warner 2. Igda Warner 3. Igda Warner 4. Igda Warner 5. Chris Jones 6. Harry Fang 7. Dave Provine 8. Brook Edinger 9. No Film Photography 10. Igda Warner 11. Craig DuBois 12. Lesley Olsen |
A few pictures from this past weekend of racing can be found below. Glad to have the Tyson's race come back to the region! If you have any additional photos shoot us a link and we'll add them!
0 Comments
Everyone talks about the Reston Grand Prix as being one of the hardest races in the MABRA series. It doesn't receive the hype of Wilmington or Clarendon, nor is the course design as technical. It seems to be one of those races that just makes. you. slowly. painfully. suffer. For those of you who were unable to make the course it is an 8 turn crit somewhere within the 1k to 1mile distance. The first 5 turns of the course take you around a primarily downhill stretch where maneuvering the peloton is striaght forward. The kick in the _____ comes during turns 6, 7, 8 and back to turn 1. This stretch consists of slow and painful uphill. The P 1,2,3 field progresses anywhere from 25-28mph through this section while the other fields come in somewhere slightly slower. Any time you go uphill at that speed for prolonged periods of time and you are NOT (even though you believe to your inner-most soul you could have made the tour given a separate set of life circumstances) Eddy Merkcx, Jens Voigt or Fabian Cancellara... you are going to hurt. The day saw a flurry of attacks, crashes (3/4 men), hot temperatures, rain, and simply awesome racing. The MABRA is a stupid hard conference to race in but never fails to disappoint. Each venue has been well-run and the competition is always stand-up. Reston Grand Prix fell in the exact same category. The men & women in the MABRA are just fun to race against. While they may leave you red lined around a 190 HR pushing 800 watts... post-race, they are some of the best guys/gals to have a beer & laugh with. In other news... the bird above tried to steal a cyclist's manly quiche at Baked & Wired Friday morning. The bird has been reported missing and no one has seen it since the encounter. If you have any news as to the birds where-a-bouts please contact someone... anyone. Never try to take a cyclists pastry, cupcake or quiche from Baked & Wired. We have posted some of the photos from some of the local photographers who were at the race:
As always ... if you have any pictures shoot us a link and we'll throw them up for you!
This past weekend the Tour of Washington County (ToWC) was the main event of the MABRA race series. It brought out the likes of Battley-Ducati, Kelly Benefits, Clean Currents / Beyer Kia and Sevas / Haymarket and of course NCVC. All teams in the 1-2-3 field were rolling deep all weekend long with their heavy hitters. The race series also attracts many of the up-coming riders in the category 3 through 5 fields. The race series gives riders a chance to experience a two day stage race with 3 completely different races (RR, TT, Crit). All three races require different skills on a bike and truly test each athlete's ability to race in separate disciplines. So how does one describe a weekend at the Tour of Washington County. Some of my thoughts consisted of ... "OUCH." "Please DJ stop attacking." "Mother of pearl is Beyer Kia off the front again?!" "Oh ... that's a familiar sight ... my bar stem." "Where's my HR now (175) ... ok let's relax a bit ... 5 min later (185)." "HEAD WINDDDDD." "I hope Frick doesn't gain 5 minutes on me in this TT." "All i want is a chik-fil-a milkshake after this race." "Go GO GOOOOOO." "What's that sound? ... motorcycle engine revs ... andddddddd i'm at the back of the pack." "(While at twilight crit) ... Holy moly he just did a flip on his bicycle." Despite all the above, the ToWC county is one of the best races I have been a part of. There are few races where cyclists have an opportunity to compete in stage-race events and are able to avoid traveling 8 hours to the race. Any cyclist cat 1 through 5 looking to compete in a multi-disciplined weekend SHOULD do the ToWC. Also, sign up to do the twilight crit. Many riders skip this event to save themselves for the overall competition; however, the twilight crit is probably the most exciting race of the entire weekend. Absolutely nothing like racing under the lights on busy streets filled with people. Thankfully we had some AWESOME photographers & bike cameras capturing the action this weekend. See below for more pics (we also included some from the Harlem Skyscraper Cycling Classic in NYC this weekend as well): Results: Kick-off / Twilight Crit Stage Race
*Shoot us a link to your pictures and we will add them!
2013 brought the return of the Air Force Cycling Classic to the streets of Clarendon and Crystal City. Clarendon Cup is known for it's technical course design. It is well known by riders that if you do not start the race near the front, you WILL get dropped. Crystal Cup seemed to have a few common buzz-words throughout the weekend: Sprint, Flat, Crash, Pothole, Lead-Out-Train. Two very different courses requiring two very different cycling skill sets. Nonetheless, with all of the excitement and buzz surrounding these events, it made for an awesome weekend of cycling pictures. We've compiled a few resources below for you racers who were able to compete this weekend. Enjoy!
* If you would like us to add your pictures let us know and we will throw them in as well! *Updated 4:40pm - 6/10/2013
Memorial day weekend brings a slew of races every year. Many racers travel home to spend time with families, but for many, it is one of the largest weekends of racing all summer as most people have a 3 or 4 day weekend. The three largest races this past weekend were the notorious Tour of Somerville, Mountain Massacre and Tour of Tucker County. Somerville is always nororiously hard as it falls within the NCC racing calendar. Mountain Massacre & Tucker County is what the climbers of MABRA have been waiting for. Hills, Hills ... Hills ... some more Hills ... Did I mention there were Hills? Needless to say, these are two of the hardest road races as there are plenty of no joke climbs in these two races. We've assembled a listing of some of the pictures from these three races below:
Results:
Somerville Results Tour of Tucker County Mountain Massacre If you have additional pictures please message us and we will add them! WilmingtonMay 18, 2013 saw the return of the 2013 Wilmington Grand Prix. This course is notoriously hard as it features 8 technical turns within a 1 mile lap. The average speed in the Cat 2/3 field, at least by my calculations, was right under 25 mph. Given the technical nature of the course there really are only two places where significant changes in the positioning can be made during the race: 1) On the finishing road and 2) on the backside downhill into turn 7. Typically option #2 is not used by as many riders given the fact that turn 7 is the tightest turn of the entire race. The rest of the course is spent strung out, avoiding potholes, making the turn, and dreaming about stopping at the Peanut Butter & Co tent post race to try ALL the flavors (seriously, try them all... they are incredible). As this race is a staple in the NCC series, some of the best riders in the country turn up for the event. Therefore, regardless of which race you're in, the environment is one which any level of cyclist would feel like a pro if only for a moment. The flip side ... since it's in the NCC series you are going to HURT during this race. Unavoidable, impossible, grab your drops cause it's gonna be a fast one. The day was exactly that. Each day was full of straight lines of riders gripping the bars and hanging on for dear life. Spectators had their fill of excitement among all of the bike races, inflatable obstacles, dances in between races, kids races and much more. As this was an NCC race, there were numerous photographers capturing the days event on film. Please see below for pictures from the races as well as a link to the final race results: Results - Here
Kelly Cup / Bike JamKelly Cup / Bike Jam certainly is a staple of the MABRA series. Discussions among riders in the days leading up to the race usually involve tales of war stories from prior seasons. Naturally they are an epic tale of strength, courage, calculated (and some un-calculated) risks in order to achieve a glorious outcome. For others, the journey and battle proved too long and gruesome. All that remains is a dream of next year. Nonetheless 2013 saw the return of the Bike Jam. Despite any war stories, many riders love this race. It is never lacking in thrills, excitement, danger and hopefully one EPIC story at the end. The race is anything but easy and challenges riders over the terrain, technical design and the overall talent of the field showing up each season. While I was unable to partake in the race myself this season, I did get a solid view, and perhaps a "picture book summary," of the race. See here andddd here for more description on that. More pictures, video and results all can be seen below: Results - Here
*If you have any pictures available which you would like added above, please shoot us a message and we will add them!
Poolesville lived up to the hype and OHHHH so much more. While the thunderstorms held off, the imminent and daunting weather front led to a hot, humid and body wrenching 76 miles of pain. All of the races were active from the get-go. The dirt section alone in the 1-2-3 race claimed 25-30 bottle casualties on the first lap. Piece of advice... always keep a bottle in the jersey before a dirt road section (preaching to myself here). Bottles sliding left and right proved to be more hazardous than the actual pot holes. The new addition of a drainage ditch resulting in major bunny hop action proved to be an added piece of fun/fear/pleasefortheloveofallthatisgooddonotcrashinfrontofme to the race as well. Almost all of the races ended splintered by the end; however, there was a massive field sprint within the cat 3 race. NCVC brought the pain train and claimed the 3rd through 6th place finishes (two men had slipped off the front in a break). Very impressive for any team to finish in such a dominating fashion. Major kudos to the 17yr sensation Shane Scoggin old who broke away in the Cat 3 field and held off the entire pack! Two words, Beast. Mode. The winning move in the 1/2/3 race formed on lap one with a breakaway of one, then two, then three, then ten(ish). They were never seen again. Lengerman however, had quite the pain cave face at the finish line (see right). Overall it was a great weekend of race put on with great support by an awesome team, NCVC. Thanks to all who made this race possible! Here are a few photos from the weekend: The winning move in the 1/2/3 race formed on lap one with a breakaway of one, then two, then three, then ten(ish). The break in the 1/2/3 field splintered near the end as a series of attacks broke the group apart. Lengerman, may have had the best pain face of anyone at the finish line (see right). Thankfully Dustin (dwhitphoto.com) was able to catch it on photo. Pretty indicative of the conditions which the riders had to bear all day. Overall it was a great weekend of racing hosted by an awesome team, NCVC. Thanks to all who made this race possible! More photos/videos from the weekend can be found at the links below:
Full Race Results can be found here. Please contact us if you would like your photos added to this list. Today marks the launch of DCpaceline. A website aimed to serve as a resource for the DC community by creating one central location for all of the best group rides in Washington, DC. We hope this website can serve as a resource to locals, visitors or anyone who simply wants to ride their bike with other people! So what is "The Paceline?" We plan to use the blog as a place to provide updates and information on group rides, awesome local events, great coffee shops or really anything any person riding a bike in and around DC would enjoy. We hope you like the website and we value any opinions you have about the site! Please let us know via our feedback page! Grab a bike, grab a friend, make a friend and go enjoy some awesome riding in the nations capitol! |
The Paceline
The Paceline is our blog which is updated periodically with different news about races, events and anything else interesting and involves a bike. Archives
April 2015
Categories
All
|