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October 23, 2005, Glenmoore, PA, USA: On a deceptively difficult wind-blown
course, Oregon�s Barry Wicks of Kona Bikes and Canadian Lynn Bessette of
Cyclocrossworld.com-Louis Garneau galloped to victories in the UCI sanctioned
Pro Elite portion of the Wissahickon Cyclocross in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania on
Sunday, October 23. Part of the Verge Mid Atlantic Cyclocross Series, the races
took place at the Ludwig�s Corner Horse Show and Country Fair Grounds in this
semi-rural area about 45 minutes northwest of Philadelphia.
Though the race itself is established as one of the finest in the nation, the
venue was a new one. And, as with any new venue, it was guesswork as to what the
personality of the track would be. Adding to the guesswork was the days of rain
that turned the previous day�s race at Granouge Estate into a slippery, muddy
mess. As the first racers arrived, they gazed across the fields and show rings
of the facility and saw a classic English cyclocross track. Completely open, and
mainly grass with a long, paved start/finish straight and a short run-up -- the
course appeared to be almost like a grass criterium. Early warm-ups also gave
the impression that this would be an �easy� race. Once the actual racing
started, though, the track turned around and bit riders like the coiled snake it
resembled. With a collection of switchback turns, hairpin turns and turns that
don�t even have names, the track twisted back and forth and inside itself. As
Pro Women�s winner Lynne Bessette told so me of the Pro Men prior to their race,
�The course is much harder than it looks, there�s no place to rest.�
In the Women�s race, Kona�s Georgia Gould took the holeshot and led the field
into the first section of turns. It was quite an unusual occurrence for Gould,
who is normally a poor starter. �I�ve been trying to improve my starts. That was
on of my goals for this race.� said Gould afterward. Once Bessette took the
lead, however, it was clear who was the strongest rider in the race. The Velo
Bella duo of �Barbarella� Howe and �Peanut� Vardaros gamely tried to work
together in an effort to keep Bessette in sight, but to no avail. Turning laps
faster than the Class B men who had just finished their race, Bessette gave a
display not only of power, but also of the incredible torque she is able to
generate as she consistently pedaled out of the tight lower corners in a slight
motorcycle-style power slide. In the end, Bessette won by a margin that was
large enough for her to ride back to the spectator area, where she cheered as
loudly as any of the spectators for her fellow competi tors who were engaging in
sprints for second and fourth places. Velo Bella riders Barbara Howe and
Christine Vardaros finished second and third, with Victory Brewing�s Tara Ross
winning the sprint for fourth.
The Men�s race that followed featured a stacked field led by Ryan Trebon of
Kona Bikes, a two-time winner in the 2005 Verge MAC Series. Trebon was joined on
the grid by 50 other competitors including Kona teammate Barry Wicks, former U23
World Championship Bronze Medallist Tim Johnson, 1999 USPRO road racing champion
Mark McCormick of Team Clif Shot, defending Verge MAC champion Ryan Leech, Kodak
Gallery-Sierra Nevada�s Ben Jacques-Maynes and Belgian Sten Raeymakers. From the
start it was the usual suspects up front, but Kona�s Barry Wicks made an early
adjustment that had repercussions later. In the exact opposite approach to what
teammate Georgia Gould took, Wicks decided to throttle back some on the start
rather than give the 100% effort he usually does off the line.
On the first lap the usual suspects of Trebon, McCormick, Wicks and
Jacques-Maynes were joined by Colorado�s Jonathan Baker (Primus Mootry Racing),
with Tim Johnson mired near the back of the field. By the second lap, Trebon,
Wicks and McCormick rode away from the others with Johnson working his way
through the field -- a difficult task on the twisty circuit. Johnson finally
elbowed his way into fourth place, 23 seconds behind the leaders. Though Johnson
was well behind, he was still influencing the race for the lead. �Ryan, Mark and
I were up front, but McCormick wouldn�t work,� said Wicks afterwards. Asked if
the Kona riders where teaming-up on McCormick, Wicks responded, �Oh sure. We
couldn�t just wait for Johnson to catch up, so we had to keep it going.� The
following lap, Wicks surged ahead on the uphill grass to establish a lead.
Eventually, Johnson was able to claw his way up to the second place battle, but
Wicks had checked out and had a commanding lead. Trebon cou nter-attacked soon
after to establish himself in second, closing Kona�s two-week eastern road trip
with a one-two finish.
Afterwards Wicks was smiling and candid about his first Verge MAC victory of
the year. �I got lucky,� he said, �One of us was going to drop McCormick, and it
just happened to be me. It�s always better to go with three laps to go instead
of five laps to go, but it worked out in the end.�
Race Notes:
Masters rider Mike Yozell won his second race in as many days, leading his
FORT/GPOA teammate Gunnar Shogren to a one-two finish. Shogren also raced the
Elite race later in the day.;
University of Texas rider Chris Case out-dueled Steve Cummings to win a
thrilling sprint in the B Men�s class.
Velo Bella�s Christine Vardaros� third place won her a special bonus by being
the highest placed rider age 35+. The bonus was put up for the second year in a
row by Sturdy Girls, an all-female cycling club out of Philadelphia.
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