Category Archives: Race Reports

Tacchino Cyclocross: Start of Racing Season

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By: Sean Mealey

Even though the seasons seem to come and go faster and faster each year, Sunday marked the start to the 2012 Cyclocross campaign at Tacchino, Cyclocross. We had representation in 6 fields with a total off 11 riders. This was race number one of the MABRA Super8, which will have three of the races, sponsored by Nuts About Granola. It was super motivating to have Sarah on hand representing her brand and handing out samples of her product, look for the red tent at Hyattsville and DCCX if you missed her on Sunday.

(photo courtesy Broken Spoke)

 

First up for the day was the JR race with Owen B and Ean M racing for the 10-14 age group.  They were up against a pretty strong group that included a national champion. Owen was all business from the gun and made climbing look like it was recess. He ended up with a 4th place finish. Ean was taking it all in and ended up 16th for the day.

The highlight of the day was that the Jeremy Powers (National Cyclocross Champ) made an appearance and signed something for both of the JRs . He talked to both of the boys, giving them some great advice and tips. It's so great to have him as a driving personality of the sport.

 

(photo courtesy Angie Brenneman)

 

Next up was our "bakers 6 pack" 35 + 34's. It was great to see the large representation in action. The sold out (125) field made for a bottleneck of excitement and as the race started to unfold the crew went to work. Mark C and Will found each other eventually and ended up 19 & 22  with  the rest coming in as follows Chris S , Shane, Myke B, Michael B and Skibby.

 

(photo courtesy brokenspoke)

 

The next race to watch was the Single Speeders that left Skip fighting lady luck and a broken chain after he put in a half lap. No pit bike meant game over and that's a tough one to swallow but we know he'll be back to make another go at it.

 

Clark and I were into the mix of the Elite masters 35+. The racing seems to get harder and faster every year no matter how much you think you are ready. We raced the first lap and a half together when Clark decided to make his move forward. I tried to keep him in sight by putting in a hard last lap to bridge up but he was finishing up strong. He ended up 20th with me coming in 23rd for the day. 

 

The 3/4 race was represented by Mark K.  Mark typically rides a Single Speed MtB but decided to come back for more CX after spending a few years away, fighting through the sold out field of 125 to a respectable finish at 26th place.

 

For the final race of the day it was the men’s Elite race with Jake doing his first elite race and returning to Cx since his freshman year in high school. He was excited to get the race experience and see how he stacked up against the tough MABRA competition with the aforementioned National Champ on hand as well. I was pretty confident that this course suited Jake and when the separations began I could tell Jake was riding strong. He ended the day in 10th place, pretty impressive for his first Cat1 CX race! I know without a doubt that he will only keep improving and I am stoked to have him on board.

 

(photo courtesy broken spoke)

 

Thanks to Kelley from Broken Spoke Photography for all the shots check out more here: http://www.brokenspokephotos.com/

2012 John Gantz Memorial Cyclocross Clinic

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By: Sean Mealey

Saturday marked the kick off to the 2012 cross campaign with a day to remember an old friend at the 1st annual Jonathan Gantz Memorial Cyclocross Clinic. 

Nearly 40 riders showed up for a day of riding, learning and good times. Every skill level of riders was represented from the newbie to cross, to the very seasoned Cyclocrosser.

(photo by broken spokes photography)

We started the day with a warm up on the euro-style training course that Jon used to train on. After we had the blood flowing to our legs we started the learning part of the day.

We were all lucky enough to have "Bad Andy" Wulfkuhle-(C3 Athletes Serving Athletes) bestow us with his cross knowledge. Andy was humble about his many accomplishments but his nickname comes from his actions on the bike, no he's not mean, he is just a genuine smooth and powerful bad a%# and his passion for cross is obvious in the details that he teaches; huge thanks to him for showing the love. 

(Photo by broken spokes photography)

Riders had a chance to try out the dismount and remount of the cross bike and as well as the shoulder technique. This is something that takes a bit of time and patience to master and being smooth and fluid is key.

Next up we practiced "starts" as the outcome of a race can dictate the whole race. 

We finished the day with some relay action to practice our new skills; lots of good times and equally good efforts by everyone.  The format was super fun and quickly reminded me of why cross is so enjoyable.   

(photo by Angie Breneman) 

Thanks to all our sponsors without them it wouldn't have been possible.

Nuts About Granola

Barrys Country Market

YAMBA

Simplicity Cycles

The Bike Shak

Banjo Brothers Bags

Spring House Beer

brokenspokephotos

Also a huge thanks to the volunteers that helped make it happen and to all that attended. See you next year!

Nuts About Granola/Keystone Velo Team Gearing Up For Race Season

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By: Sean Mealy

The Nuts About Granola/Keystone Velo team have been working over the winter to hit the 2012 race scene with a  fresh new look and hopefully will bring some leftover fitness after the winter that seems to have never really made its mark( thank you Old man winter for taking it a little easy on us this year).

The team has a good representation of riders in the road, mountain bike and cyclocross disciplines of cycling. During the spring and summer the team generally split ways as one team focuses primarily on the road season with others take part in regional mountain bike races and endurance based off road events. Eventually the teams will merge when cyclocross starts in the fall.

To jump start the season we are sending at least two, 4 rider teams and one, 2 rider team too the Marysville Relay in beginning of April. This is always a fun way to start the year and serves as a nice reunion to most involved in the scene.The ball will start to roll over the summer and the NAG racing team will also compete in some of the MASS Series.

In the meantime the Road crew will travel to the local and regional events and hope to make an impression on the cat 3/4 field. Stay tuned for updates and results as we look forward to a successful venture.


York College Wrestling is Nuts About Granola!

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Congrats!

Congrats!

We are thrilled to be a sponsor of the York College Wrestling Team!

They recently competed in the Virginia Duals… and won! Each player and coach received a goodie bag containing our granola… hmmm I wonder if that could have been why :)

We chose the York College Wrestling Team to sponsor because the team is not just in it to win it, but really promotes, teaches and practices a well rounded approach to playing. The coaches instill an importance of sportsmanship, community and comradely in each of their players.

I have a had a chance to sit in on one of their tournaments while I was working our table as a sponsor for the event. These guys work their butts off! I love how the coaches promote good nutrition and health with a focus on a local, whole foods diet and not a crazy supplement based regime. It shows during the last portion of the tournament… they have energy!

The York Dispatch recently published a fabulous article highlighting their success.

Stay tuned for more posts and summaries from the team and players. I leave you with this remarks from one of the players:

“I ate the College Staple in the morning and it provided enough energy for me throughout the morning until lunch.  It also works as a great “pick me up” when you need a that little extra kick to get you through the day.  I also sampled the “Lovers Combo” down at Virginia duals and having a sweet tooth it provided not only the “pick me up” I was looking for plus hit my sweet tooth!”
- Duane Bastress; YCP top asst and MMA Professional Fighter, YCP 2x NCAA Wrestling Champion

Bob Pott’s Marathon official sponsor

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We are pleased to announce that we are an official sponsor of the Bob Pott’s Marathon to be held on May 15, 2011 on the York Heritage Rail Trail.

For more information please check out the race website.

As part of the race sponsorship we are manning a water station. We are looking for 6 volunteers to help out with the table. If you are interested, please contact Sarah at sarah @ nutsaboutgranola.com. Free granola may be in the cards.

7th Annual Hands on House Half Marathon & 5K

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This has been a crazy, hectic, exciting week with the Emmy Awards, First Friday, the 1/2 marathon and the Mother Harvest Festival. I was honestly bagging granola until 9:00PM on Friday night thinking how the heck am I going to run this race tomorrow when I know I am not going to get home from First Friday‘s activities until after midnight.

5:00am came sooner than expected. I got up like clockwork, ate breakfast and hit the road for the 7th Annual Hands on House Half Marathon & 5k which we sponsored and I raced. I arrived at the race site at 7:15am so I could get a good parking space, unload our display and still have enough time to do a warm up.

From the moment I arrived I was greeted with nothing but kindness and direction. I have been to some of the largest and most prestigious races in the country and I was shocked by the level of organization and professionalism this small town, low budget race was able to achieve. Everyone knew what to do, where to be and what was going on. It was awesome!

Intern Ashley manned the stand while I ran the 13.1 race through the beautiful rolling hills of Lancaster Country. The course was very well thought out with a good mix of rolling hills, flats, turns and climbs. All of the half marathons I have ran were on flat boring courses, fast, but boring. I decided before the race that I was going to descend the race starting at a slower pace and ending with a faster. I felt surprisingly good after only 4 hours of sleep and finished with a cruising time of 1:46:00.

My two favorite parts of the race were when I passed a barn with an obnoxious cow inside mooing like crazy and I descended a 15% grade hill thinking I was going to have run back up it only to rejoice at the bottom when seeing the leaders cruse past its entrance.  I think the cow was startled by the hundreds of runners passing its low traffic Amish country roads

After the race I joined intern Ashley at our sample table to talk about our granola with fellow runners. The response was incrediable! Thank you to all the particiapants, supporters and volenteers. I am looking forward to next year!

Did you run the race? Leave a comment, tell us about your race and *receive a free bag of granola!

*one per person. Must show proof of race participation.

Virginia Beach Rock and Roll Half Marathon

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I ran the Virginia Beach Rock and Roll Half Marathon on Sunday, September 5th. I went down with one of my best friends and her husband for a weekend getaway with a little side of running.I thought my beach curse was going to strike again when hurricane Earl came up the East Coast, but to my surprise it turned out to be a dud and left us nothing but spectacular weather perfectly fit for a spectacular weekend.

We arrived mid afternoon on Friday, check into our hotel, scoped out our new terrain and hit the streets in search of a grocery store. I don’t mess around when traveling, especially before a race. I have A LOT of food intolerances and prefer to eat in. It felt good to walk the 1.5 miles to the store and back after a long day in the car.

Saturday morning I awoke to the sounds of the beach: seagulls, wind, waves and people hustling about. I hit the boardwalk for an easy 4 mile warm-up run followed by a refreshing dip in the pool. We made our way to the expo, aka running heaven, got all of our stuff and spent the rest of the day at the beach. I called it an early night after laying out all of my stuff for the race.

Sunday, race day. Can I say PERFECT running weather!? My pre-race ritual went off without a hitch: the gun went off and I was ready.

The course was undoubtedly the flattest course I have ever done. Give me rolling hills over that any day! My pace was right on until about mile 9 when my hips went “I hate you Sarah” and decided the no longer wanted to run. I faded to a less than desirable pace and finished into a headwind down what seamed to be an endless stretch of board to finish in 1:44. I wanted to break 1:40 but we will have to save that for Philly in two months.

I was very happy with my performance and look forward to racing the Hands on Half on October 2nd!

todd-and-i-va-b-half

Josh Mottin Memorial 5k Memorial Run

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The intern and I were at it again on Saturday, April 24th at John Rudy Park for the 6th annual Josh Mottin 5k Memorial Run

Intern Flori, Me, Joe
Intern Flori, Me, Joe

. The course was my former high school cross country course so needless to say I could run it in my sleep. My mom was out of town for the weekend so I had to work the stand in the AM. Thanks to my best soap neighbor friend, I was able to sneak away for the race.

The weather was pretty much perfect for running. Not to hot, not to cold, a little breezy but nothing alarming. It has been a while since I raced a true cross country course and was super excited to break out my old spikes for the event. The intern and I did our usual warm-up and then I laced up the old Brooks for another go.

The course starts out with a pretty decent hill so you have to be conservative or you will be in serious pain come mile two. I felt pretty good off the gun but Thursday’s killer track workout set in after I crested the second hill. I didn’t have the turnover I was looking for but was happy with my performance.

The intern grabbed 1st overall women!!! and I snagged 4th. We were both pleased and ridiculously sore from running on grass. Our market friend from Roburritos joined us along with two others to make for a really fun afternoon.

Next on the calendar pending market coverage…  Spring Grove 5k, May 15th

Doylestown Duathlon

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Last Saturday, my “intern” and I headed up to Doylestown for their annual Duathlon. Now, neither of us had been training for a Duathlon. Our race entries were waived as a sponsor, so we thought what the heck, we have been training for running so what harm will a 30k bike do?

The trip started out with a series of granola delivers on the way to Elizbethtown to pick up the intern. Her parents were meeting us there with her bike… good thing because the granola mobile was stuffed to the max with my gear and the sponsorship goodies. It took us forever to get to the race Friday night because 1) there was a lot of traffic and 2) we have no navigational skills. We finally arrived an hour after we were suppose to, handed out a few samples and then got back into the car for another wild win adventure to find a place to eat. We called it an early night; a 5:00am wake up call would prove difficult otherwise.

We woke to chilly temperatures and strong winds… joy. We loaded up the car and headed for the race. After I got my transition set up I decided to race in all of the clothes I brought plus some of the interns’. It was cold, really, really cold. The gun went off and my strategy was to run the first 5k conservatively, hold a steady pace on the 30k and then give it all I had on the last 5k.

The first 5k went really well… a little slow but not by much. T1 went off without a hitch. Right out of transition there was this very steep hill leading out of the park. I felt strong on the hill but things quickly turned south as I exited the park into a very strong headwind. That pretty much sums up the bike: super windy, super cold and very slow. It was also 22 miles… not 18.6 as advertised.

I was so happy to get off the bike and back on two feet. My feet were completely numb from the bike. My legs were bricks. Now, I have not done a brick workout since last September so it is no surprise that I granny shuffled the last 5k. All in all, I met a lot of great people, had a blast with the intern and would do it again in a heart beat.