Upcoming Races and Photos

This Sunday, June 15 is the 2008 Cargas Criterium presented by Spinners Cycling. As far as our team is concerned, the action starts off with the 3/4 race at 10:20 AM, with the 4/5 race starting at 1:20 PM. Also this week, Kerry Werner leaves for Italy to join the US Junior National Mountain Bike team to compete in Worlds! This is a very, very big deal, and we are extremely excited for Kerry and his family. We hope to see you this weekend, and until then, here are some pictures from the PSU Harrisburg Criterium which Jordan Binkley won (the rider out front is getting lapped at the finish), and from the 2008 Philadelphia Amateur Time Trial. 

Saving the 2008 Racing Season

Ok, so I just got out of a conference call with the PA Cycling Association. There were 24 promoters present, and a lot of progress was made for a very positive experience. I was very encouraged and excited to see everyone coming together to make the best of a really ugly, sad situation. We’re actively trying to get reactive and fill the now open dates in the calendar to get some events back on the calendar. Here’s what we discussed:

6/7 is not able to be filled due to time constraints

6/14 is the soonest date open. It was the 2008 Bird-in-Hand Road Race.

6/21 was the 2008 Peiffer Hill Road Race, and currently the Dan Spenser Memorial Road Race in Bloomsburg is still there.

6/28 was and still is the Brownstown, and was scheduled to be a bar event. Boulevard race is going on. Brownstown is presented by Pro Am Cycling

7/5 and 7/6 Iron Hill twilight Criterium, which is a fantastic race, is on this date. This was the 2008 Dutch Country Stage 1- Road Race

7/12 was the 2008 Mount Penn Road Race but is canceled. It is now the 2008 Peiffer Hill Road Race presented by Pro Am Cycling. Faulkner Honda Crit was also on this date canceled because Honda discontinued all outgoing sponsorship.

7/19 Tour de FCCC is a Junior only stage race put on by Dave Golic. The Robert Fulton Road Race, which was the PA State Championship Road Race, was on this date. This date is still open. John Lenart of Human Zoom is interested in providing a road race on this date. Mike Miller also expressed interest in hosting a state championship road race in Reading. There will probably be a co-collaboration of teams to promote this event once a location is chosen.

7/26 Great Grandview Heights Criterium was scheduled on this date, and efforts were to continue this event. The people of Grandview want this event to still perpetuate in their community. There is someone interested in promoting this event. 

8/2 is now Deodate Road Race presented by Pro Am Cycling.

8/2 Gotham cycling also offered to have an Allentown ball park crit this week. *Please not that PA Bar status is being planned for all three Pro Am Cycling events (Peiffer Hill, Brownstown, and the Deodate Road Races). There is no category for men higher than Cat 4 for these days, no day of registration and no cash payout. So they are definitely stripped down from what they were before, which is less than ideal and very unfortunate for a lot of teams, but still going on, sort of. For these events, if you prepaid with RedRoseRaces for the season, you can enter these events for free. 

8/3 is still the Doylestown event, and is not affected by the RedRoseRacing collapse.

8/9 and 8/10 was and IS the 2008 Tour of Christiana, and a lot of interest has been expressed in keeping this race alive. Dave Felpel has been in touch with the community. **I immediately pledged our team’s assistance to Dave Felpel for this awesome event to continue in its 17th year, and John Lenart of Human Zoom is also interested in helping bridge this gap. The Road Race is also possible at this point and with the support on the phone, it seemed very likely for this to continue. The time trial on Sunday morning would not be completely possible given the support and time constraints, but may be brought back.

Stay tuned and keep training, this isn’t over yet.  Thanks to everyone who attended this conference call, especially PCA President David Mitchell, who offered to contribute time, efforts, primes, and take on the challenge to make it possible for everyone to race!

RedRoseRaces

This post brings the not so good news concerning RedRoseRaces. Due to internal financial troubles, CEO Rich Ruoff has canceled all races for the season and immediately resigned from his position. This is very bad news for local racers in Pennsylvania, particularly in Lancaster County, and it concerns our team greatly. At this point, this news means that we will have to travel farther to compete in races, and that there are far fewer races to compete in, particularly in Lancaster county.  Typically, I attempt to write with little bias in the third person, but on this occasion I’m going to speak up for a bit. I am very disappointed to hear of RedRoseRace’s troubles, but have come to a few realizations while having largely limited information. The financial troubles that Rich ended up in at RRR were unfortunate, long term, and caused the downfall of the organization over a period of time; it wasn’t overnight. The efforts of people like PA Cycling Association president David Mitchell is our greatest hope at getting some of these races going again. Rather than get angry, complain, put blame on other people, bring up personal biases that create more issues, I challenge you to man up and help be a part of the solution. The situation sucks for sure, there’s no doubt about it. We live for racing, just to be able to ride, and we put a lot of time, money, heart, and effort into this sport. I myself know all too much about that. But don’t just sit there whining about the problem. There is a huge demand for races in this area, and if enough people who care about cycling step up, good things can happen for us. Maybe things will be better than before. So sit tight for now, and I encourage you to see what we can accomplish together constructively and for the good of our beloved sport.

Race Updates- Millport Road Race, PSU Harrisburg & Habitat Crits

On Monday, May 26th at the PSU Harrisburg Criterium, Jordan Binkey secured his third win of the season in the Category 4/5 race, with Manny coming in 7th and Noah taking 8th after protecting Binkley throughout the course. In the Category 3/4 race Binkley took 22nd with Jonathan Glick coming in a spot behind.

Saturday, May 31st was the 2008 Millport Road race, and despite the horrible storms, the race went on. In the Category 4/5 race, Jordan Bush took a fast spill on the final lap in the downpour but finished for a bloody 17th. In the Category 3/4 race, Jordan Binkley took 10th while Amos Glick took 12th, Jonathan Glick finished 29th and Manny Caliz coming 36th in the field. 

The 2008 Habitat for Humanity Criterium was held on Sunday, June 1st, and was yet another exciting day for our team. In the Cat 4 race, Kerry Werner broke away from the field on an uphill switchback and won solo with a commanding lead. Coming second up the hill was none other than Jordan Binkley, who took second for a one-two sweep. 

Binkley remains in first place for the Pennsylvania Bar points competition in Men’s Category 4. Kerry Werner is also climbing the ranks quite rapidly. Due to the implementation of a new website, the Pennsylvania Cycling Association’s Bar Standings are not yet up to date, but will be made available soon.

Pictures from these events will be added to this entry as they become available.

Kerry Werner has been featured in VeloNews this month concerning his upcoming trip to the 2008 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy, June 17-22. The VeloNews link can be found here.