Dirt Rag Dirt Fest 2013 – Raystown Lake

Peanut Butter & Co Human Zoom girls at
SRAM sponsor’s tent in the DirtFest expo area.Race Type: Just for fun

Conditions: Partially sunny, dry, 70s

Riders Representing: Dana McAllister, Erin Mascelli, Lauren Festa

Raystown Lake is located in the middle of Pennsylvania and is home to some beautiful riding. The Army Corp of Engineers crafted twisty trails through the woods that are generally smooth and fast. “Whoop-dee-whoos” are jumps that literally make riders involuntarily squeal with joy/fear (depending on the speed and control of the bike) and are found throughout the area. The mission of Dirt Fest 2013 was as follows:

“We gather to promote the mountain bicycling community. We aim to promote an environment of inclusion not based around ability, but rather hearty spirit for adventure, festivity, and camaraderie.”

They achieved just that.

The weather was perfect. Rain threatened attendees all weekend but held off to keep the trails dry and fast. Lauren, Dana, and Erin all rode separately throughout the weekend but got a long, great ride in together on the far side of the lake Saturday morning. Led by friends of Philadelphia Ciclismo, the girls tackled the most technical portions of Raystown in less than 3 hours of ride time. Dana, the Rock Queen, was in heaven to see a few rock gardens, Lauren climbed purely for the opportunity to eventually descend, and Erin rode like a pro despite being in yoga teacher training all year. It was a great opportunity for the girls of Peanut Butter & Co Human Zoom to practice their technical skills and endurance and spend some time together.


One of the gorgeous vistas at Raystown Lake after quite a bit of climbing. Photo courtesy of Mike Festa.

Later in the day, the girls went to the Skills Park to play. The park included a skinny to help with balance over long and narrow trails/bridges as well as ramped and unramped logs. Everyone ended up cleaning their most feared obstacle and left feeling more confident.

BikeJam/Kelly Cup – Baltimore, MD

Kim on the podium for her second place finish!Race Type: Criterium, Category 3 (race with cat 4s, scored separately)

Conditions: Drizzling and 60 degrees

Riders Representing: Kimberly Zubris, Sarah Grogan, Jen Rhodes, Victoria Hanks

The Kelly Cup race is held on a mile loop through Patterson Park in Baltimore. The course contains many sweeping corners and a challenging turn that leads into the shallow climb to the finish. Kim, Sarah and Jen lined up with the women’s 3/4 field with a plan to ride aggressively and stay near the front of the pack.

Click to read more ...

Wilmington Grand Prix – Wilmington, DE

2 man breakawayRace Type: TT Friday, Criterium Saturday

Conditions: Sunny, 70's

Riders Representing:

TT:
Patty Buerkle, Jeremy Shirock

Criterium: Beth Bonilla, Patty Buerkle, Kristine Church, Nonnie Mann, Jeremy Shirock

On Friday Peanut Butter & Co. Human Zoom riders Patty Buerkle and Jeremy Shirock traveled to Brandywine Park in Wilmington, DE for the Wilmington Grand Prix Prolouge Time Trial. The 3.2 mile course started out with a cobblestone decent, followed by a number of sweeping turns and straightaways before ascending up a cobblestone climb to the finish. In the Women Pro1/2 field Patty rolled across the line with a 1st place time while in the Men Cat 2/3 field Jeremy finished 2nd.


Men Cat2/3 call up

Click to read more ...

Women’s Woodstock Cycling Grand Prix – Saugerties, NY

Race Type: Road Race

Conditions: Cloudy/Foggy ending in partially sunny, 60s

Riders Representing: Julia Lonchar

Sunday, May 12th, Julia went up to New York to race in the Women’s Woodstock Cycling Grand Prix. The course was 53 miles point to point, with 2780 feet of climbing. The pouring rain Julia woke up to that morning quickly disappeared, but left the sky cloudy and grey for most of the race. The race started out at a decent pace, with some rough roads and a small hill before getting to the main kicker that had a high point of 1795 feet. This bigger hill broke the group up, with the help of some fog at the top, and Julia ended up in a small chase group for the rest of the race, but they were not able to catch the front group. Toward the end, Julia broke off with a couple of other riders and ended up 12th in the 1/2.

Race Results:

Julia Lonchar: 12th

Official Result

Poolesville Road Race – Poolesville, MD

Dana and her pre-race game face—
hard to achieve when sporting pigtailsRace Type: Road Race

Conditions: Humid, dry, sunny, mid-70s

Riders: Dana Hanchin

Course: 60 miles total, consisting of 6-ten mile laps of rolling, country roads with just about 1.5 miles of hard packed dirt and crushed gravel per lap, with potholes, a drainage ditch and randomly popping water bottles.

It rained all the way down to Maryland and all the way back home to Philly, but bright, dry skies held strong during the race. The Women Pro 1/2 race was a combined start with the Men’s Cat 3 field with results ranked separately. There were only five women amongst the sea of boys. The challenge was to not lose sight of the women in such a large pack. The first two laps the field stayed mostly together—but separated with a strong surge after the gravel stretch over a short hill. Dana ended up working with two other women the rest of the race and finished in 3rd place. After the finish, she passed out Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams squeeze packs to her fellow women racers and race volunteers, thanking them for a fun, safe race. While waiting for the podium presentation, Dana happily ate her post-race sandwich of Peanut Butter & Co Mighty Maple and Seriously Strawberry Jam.

Race Results