Tour de Ephrata: Road Race Complete

This morning I was very excited.. Another chance at a good finish in a road race. Last weekend was the Lower Provience criterium which I would describe as a tour of "Pot Holes". I flatted in the crit with 3 laps to go. Overall today's road race went well for the team members in the Cat 5 and 4, however Kevin Kopanski had a crash in the Cat 3 race. He's OK with some shoulder pain. His bike also took a hit to the front rim. He's a tough rider and still plans to ride tommorow in the TT and crit. We have by far the strongest showing of any team in the Cat 4 race and a couple of guys have a strong chance at winning the General Classification. The day was a bit of personal disappointment for me, but I continue to gain race experience and learn where I'm making my mistakes. I felt very strong and basically botched the finish... I did get a chance to take some great pictures of our racers.

From Left:Rick, Jeff, Chris, Bryan,Kevin K., Jason, Matt

Tomorrow the Hill Time Trail starts at a very early 7:30am. We reconed the course today and the hill reminds me of Purdue Mountain out in Penn State country. It's definitely a course that I should do well on and I'm hoping I feel as good and aggressive tomorrow as I did today. My plan for tomorrow is hold nothing back and lay the hammer down the whole stage. We'll see how it goes...

Kevin and Jim

Here's a link to the Tour de Ephrata Race Flyer... take a look at the MT Pain Time Trail.. 1200+ of climbing it should be fun :).

Mt Joy...Where's the Joy in 26th?

What a perfect day, Sunny and 75 degrees. All the races were full with a strong list of competitors. I personally had high expectations for today's race as I've done my best finishes in races with "Mt" in the title. Mt Joy's course is 5.7 miles of rolling hills with one fairly steep climb and a long decent on the backside. On to the action.

In the 4/5 race we did fairly well with Jason and Casey finishing 14 and 15th and Jeff(Team Alliance) coming in 9th. Bryan had a tough break with his chain coming off on the first lap.. He ended up chasing the field the whole day. Kevin K. and I were signed up for the 3/4 and Kevin was doing well in the front pack until the 4th lap when he and the misfortune of hitting Kevin Farmer who dropped his chain. Both Kevin's where fine but Kevin Kopaniski took a spill over the bars and could not catch back on the front pack. Kevin and I ended up racing with the chase group and having a good time. The best part of the race for me was jumping off the front after the big climb with 1.5 miles to go and being able stay away all the way to finish. Kevin got to enjoy sitting in and watching everyone else try to chase me down . He was fresh when the final sprint came and he easily took the line. .. So we were racing for 26th and 27th it was still one of the most fun finishes I've had in a race.

Kirkwood:What's up with Wind?

It was another fine day for racing in Lancaster County, well except for the nasty rain in the morning and the 40mph crosswinds! On the positive side the whole team looked great in the new kit!

Here's a sample .. More pictures to come as soon as I learn how to use a camera better .. or get my wife to come out and take some for us.

If you're looking for some better race pictures check out the racingcaptured. There are some great pictures of the racing.

The Race
Kirkwood is a 7 mile loop with a couple of hills, not a difficult course. What makes the course tough are the crosswinds, strong enough to blow you over on the bike( I'm not kidding the winds push me off the course twice). Oh and the rain ... Oh and the big descent(50+ mph) that ended with a 90 degree left turn. That left turn was made for a crash, caution was the best strategy. Our guys raced well and we had a great turn out.


Cat 5
Bob Poley
Rick Steele

Cat 4/5
Chris Candy
Jeff Salvitti(Team Alliance)
Jason Schilitz
Bryan Verdeur

Cat 3/4
Kevin Fryberger
Kevin Kopanski
Matt Perry
Jim Walls


Full Kirkwood results are available, overall Iron Hill had a good race. Next week is open; there's a Time Trial and the Philadelphia 2 Day Classic which is a Circuit and Criterium Race. See you on the road...