Tour de Fair Haven and Chesapeake Crit

Tour de Fair Haven
by Patty Buerkle

Sunday morning was Tour de Fair Haven. The race was 10 laps of a 1.7 miles course in Fair Haven, NJ which has a friendly and welcoming community. There were 18 of us at the start. It was a fast, fairly flat course with a 100m hill on the back section. The first few laps were a steady pace, the next couple of laps there were a few efforts to break it up with no success, with 3 laps to go the bell was rung for a preme which stirred some action (which I won!), followed by a good attack from a VK-Focus rider, ending in Ann Marie Miller (CRCA) leading out the sprint for a lap AND taking the win. Super close finish for the first three of us and I took third. Good times! A photo of the podium. We couldn't locate 2nd place Billington(VK-Focus).

Chesapeake Crit
by Emily Joyner




photo by BJ Samuel

photo by BJ Samuel

Saturday morning I was stoked to go and watch Chesapeake Crit because it's so close to home and two of my teammates were racing, Amanda E. and Mallory. Early on in the race Ali (Velocita) attacked along the start/finish straight gaining a big gap on the field. Mallory reacted quickly and dug deep to get to Ali just before the first turn. Amanda and some of Ali's teammates got to the front and helped the break to stay away. After the break was safely away, Ali attacked and got off by herself, staying away for 1st. There were a few other attacks in the field that Amanda was able to easily cover. Mallory got back into the field and both got ready for the sprint. With 2 laps to go a $10 prime was announced, not much excitement about it until the field was about 100 meters away when someone decided to jump for it. The jump spurred some reactions and wheels were crossed, Amanda and another rider went down (bikes were ok and bodies were bruised), hopefully a quick recovery to them both, not a fun way to end the race. They got off the course quickly and the field came around with Jen taking the sprint, Mallory sprinted in for 5th overall.

Next Races...

Chris Thater Criterium in NY & Green Mountain Stage Race in VT!!

Page Valley and Bob Rodale

Page Valley Road Race
Report by Amanda W.
...It was hotter than hell - glad i had nylons full of ice in my jersey...  We started with about 20 1/2/3 racers and we stuck together for the first 6-7 miles (i sat on the front b/c i hadn't warmed up at all) but the field broke up the first time up the long hill.  As soon as soon as we crossed the finish line after the first (partial) lap we saw that our race had been cut from 52 to 40-ish miles. (honestly, that was plenty...)  After the fun descent I got a flat on the flattish section and had to chase back up to the pack, which was difficult, but I was happy to drag a few friendly faces back into the mix.  We were barely back in the pack, certainly not recovered yet, by the time we hit the long hill for the second time.  I don't believe ABRT jumped first, but an attack went up the hill with Katie, Ainhoa, Patty and Kat K.  A chase group of around 7-9 formed and absorbed Patty and Kat after a few miles of at a brutal pace.  Unfortunately the heat took its toll and Patty cramped badly.  The chase group continued to splinter and by the last lap there were only about 6-7 with Stephanie and I still in the mix.  The last time up the long hill Kat K launched an attack and Sarah with ABRT and I jumped after her.  We worked together to catch her until the last 1K.  I dropped Sarah somewhere around 500-600m to the finish line and passed Kat between 300-200m, which landed me in 3rd place. 

Bob Rodale Crit
Report by Patty
Went to the Bob Rodale crit today, across  from the track in Trexlertown. It was a 20 mile/ 20 lap fast crit with a few strong track racers who showed up. There was a good bit of hard attacking from various ladiesduring the race, but nothing stuck. It ended in a bunch sprint and I took 3rd.