Local Bicycle Racing Information

The 2nd lap Crew.

The Start of 12 hours of Tsali.

 Will Murr about to go out on his lap.

Nick getting mean on it.

Michael thinking about his lap.

Denise showing the boys how it is done.

 Philip is all smiles.

Chris has his game face on.

KWood up to all good.

 

Matt St.Marie's report

12 Hours of Tsali is an event that the Sycamore Cycles team always tries to have a strong showing at. For several years, we only had one open money team at the race, and we gave it our best shot at the win, but never quite made it. Last year, we added some more teams, broadening our level of representation, but still missed the top step on the pro podium despite a very strong showing. This year, Sycamore had 7 different teams at the race, plus one 12 hour solo racer. Our single pro/open money team came to the race hoping to be able to finally take top honors, despite not having our strongest rider from the year before. This year's team was composed of Wes Dickson, Chris Bennett, Donnie Kirkwood, and Matt St. Marie. Bennett started the team out on the run and first lap, and threw down a solid time, only slightly behind a very determined 1st and 2nd for 3rd on the lap. Dickson took the next lap, and posted the fastest lap for the team on the day, but it wasn't quite enough to pull back even with the leaders. The team continued rotation with strong laps from St. Marie and Kirkwood, but kept loosing time to the surprisingly strong and highly motivated lead teams. Despite a series of very fast and consistent laps throughout the day, the team was not able to make up time on the leaders, and finished in 3rd on the day, a solid podium finish for Sycamore's open team. The team is looking forward to next year, when we will once again be gunning for the win in the pro field.

Josh was loving it.

 

Timmy's report "Jeff Parker is a Pretty Man" did very well as a team. Little P, Kell, and Josh all hung tough. I met my personal goal of keeping my lap times fairly consistent and the rest of the guys did as well. When one of us came rolling into the transition area, there was always somebody on deck waiting to roll out. I think that the game ball has to go to Josh. This was josh’s first XC race and he def gave it all he had, he even went out for his first night ride and race lap. Over all, "Jeff Parker is a Pretty Man" did awesome and I can’t wait for next year.

Jeff Parker I don't need to say anything else.

Derek laying down a hot lap.

The girls talking about the plan.

  

Daniel shredin' the cabbage.

Geoff on his way to the solo win.

Team Domination's race report

 

It all started about 11 o clock on Saturday. We had already decided the order of the race the week before. Aaron would go first and do the run because he is like 6'6" and he would only have to take 2 or 3 steps to complete the long run up the gravel road. Derek was going to go second, myself third, followed by Michael. It all started good with Aaron finishing his lap about mid pack of the sport field, hand off to Derek and he was off. Derek came back in and damn!! He just turned a little over a 46 min. lap. That was awesome and he moved us up a couple spots. Hand off to me and I put the power to the ground, just after leaving I caught a guy from one of the Velosports teams and was able to shake him climbing the county line road. I felt really good and the course was FAST. I finished up the last climb which is short but kind of steep, a little down hill and then it is rolling and flat for like the last 3 miles. It is very fast, big ring, burmed corners, and hard packed. I got back handed off to Michael and checked the Garmin. 48:03 nice! I was shooting for 48 min. laps so I was happy with that time, plus I shaved about 5:30 of last years lap time. We continued the rotation throughout the day with no major mishaps but a few things to note:

 

Michael shaved about 3:30 of last years lap time. Derek was our ringer of the day not going above 48 minutes until his 4th/night lap I crashed on lap 2 and saw a snake, you wanna talk about a predicament, put a SNAKE between me and the finish line during a BIKE RACE. "Oh snap its a snake, but I am in a race, but its a snake, but....." you get the picture The new race kits look pretty awesome, especially when laid over the best bikers body in the PNF (see above pic haha)Throughout the day we kept trading spots with the other 2 Sycamore sport teams mostly staying a few minutes behind the "Chiefs" (insert Atlanta Braves chant here). Going into our last lap we were a couple minutes off them but our ringer came through and got the pass on the last lap to put us up on them by a couple minutes which was pretty exiting to hear. I had already gone back to the camp site for more "real man" recovery drinks. All in all we had a pretty solid race ending up with 14 laps (1 more than last year), and everyone improved on their lap times. There was some very stiff competition there this year including all of the Sycamore Sport teams. Props to the TDS's for laying down and taking 1st place. Again please view the pics above. Obviously I am not smart enough to figure out how to put pics where they belong.

 

Chad Banner went down to Tsali, he was looking for a race to steal.

He was in a bind 'cos he was way behind: he was willin' to make a deal.

When he came across TDS rolling their bikes and playin' em hot.

 

And Banner jumped upon a hickory stump and said:

"TDS let me tell you what: I bet you didn't know it, but I'm a mountain biker too. "

"And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you."

 

"Now you ride a pretty race, boy, but give the Banner his due:"

"I bet a GT of gold against your soul, 'cos I think I'm better than you."

TDS said: "My name's Talent and it might be a sin,"

"But I'll take your bet, your gonna regret, 'cos I'm the best that's ever been."

 

Parker you dust off your mtb and ride your lap hard.

'Cos hells broke loose in Tsali and the Banner deals it hard.

And if you win you get this shiny GT made of gold.

But if you lose, the Banner gets your soul.

 

The Banner jumped on his stumpy and he said: "I'll start this show."

And fire flew from his quads as he got ready to go.

And he stomped down 5,000 watts to his pedals and it made an evil hiss.

Then a band of dominators joined in and it sounded something like this.

 

When the Banner finished, Talent said: "Well you're pretty good ol' son."

"But if you'll sit down in that chair, right there, and let me show you how its done."

 

"47 minutes on the course, run boys, run."

"The Banner's in the house of the risin' sun."

"Parker in the house, pickin' off the rest,"

"Steve, does your dog bite?""

"yes, dan, yes."

 

The Banner bowed his head because he knew that he'd been beat.

He laid that golden GT on the ground at Talent's feet.

Talent said: "Banner just come on back if you ever want to try again."

I told you once, you son of a gun, I'm the best that's ever been."

 

"And he rode 45 minutes to the parkway, run boys, run."

"The Banner's in the house of the risin' sun."

"Miles in the pit blowin on a shofar."

Steve, does your dog bite?"

"yes, dan, hard." And thats exactly how it happened.

 

Dano out.

Julia's report Last year despite their best efforts the top spot on the podium eluded the Sycamore Oh Yeahs (Dirty Girls of Brevard). This year they were back for blood. Their four-woman team included such big names as regional pro and glacial morphologist Natasha Cowie, fresh-off-the-boat Ohioan Emily Benson, race director extraordinaire Jenna Bales Walker, and local celebrity Julia Tellman. Cowie led out with a sizzling first lap, put in at least ten minutes on the competition, and kept up the pace the entire race. She also made delicious peanut butter bars and identified wildflowers. Tellman scored the coveted fastest lap time and continued the tradition of never getting kitted up until ten minutes before the race. Walker ignored her gnarly road rash and shoulder damage and threw down some consistent lap times, while maintaining a devil-may-care attitude and a half-zipped jersey. Benson entertained everyone in the pit area, possibly sustained a concussion, and loved every minute of her first night ride. The ladies held a comfortable lead the entire twelve hours and were happy to find themselves on the winner's block after their hard work.

Jamie's report

Team 'Short Shorts' had an awesome time at Tsali this year! Jami, Denise, William, and Ray had fun riding the super fast course and enjoyed the awesome company from the Sycamore crew. Denise endured the sprint and the first lap of the day, putting up a great time and getting us off to a good start. I took on the second lap, followed by Will riding the third one. At first, Ray was a little hesitant about racing at Tsali, but stuck it out and dominated the fourth lap of the day. Overall, we finished 5th in the 'base group,' which we were all happy about since it was our first time out at 12 hours of Tsali. We look forward to racing with everyone again next year!

Jena heading out on another.

Justin telling all that Parker is on track.

Tamer is pinned.

 

Jamie is having a blast.

thumbs up.

J Miles is on fire

Go team

 

Get it Yuri.

Roommates

BFFL

 

Team Stats

 

1st place Solo men

1st place sport team

1st place open womens team

3rd place open mens team

7th place sport team

8th place sport team

13th place sport team

5th place base team

We also won best team name. "Jeff Parker is a pretty man.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day started with Chris Bennett picking me up from my house at 6am. We headed straight to Huddle House to get our Big House on. We both polished ém off, because we knew we had a long day ahead of us. After all that eating, we headed to the shop to get ready for a day in Pisgah and hunting for 5 check points. Chris wanted to put on some slightly more aggressive tires, so we mounted up some Specialized Sauserwinds. It was the tread for the day, seeing how we were both rockin' them. Our game plan was to go for all the check points first. In years past, it has always been won by getting all the check points. So that's what we did. And it worked. We got there with ten minutes to spare. We went straight to the gear check line to get checked in. After showing them all our goods, we were allowed to go get our number plates. Dan Ennis walked up to me and asked if I'd seen Justin, his teammate. Justin showed up with about 3 minutes to spare. After we dropped our pint glasses in Kell's car, we headed back over to where the riders' meeting was going to be held. After the riders' meeting, I went and got our map with the checkpoints and off-limits areas. This was one of the funniest starts you could ever watch. When he says, "go", some folks just started riding up Black Mnt. trail and the rest were frantically opening Pisgah maps. We opened our map and looked at where we needed to get to. The way Eric set up the check points, there were quite a few good routes.

Once we got rolling up Black Mnt. trail, we had to roll though some traffic before clear sailing. Once we got to Maxwell Cove Rd., Dan and I talked about our two route ideas. We both agreed that going Turkey Pen Gap was going to be the the best way to go. We got to Turkey Pen and rolled down to our first checkpoint. Then we headed to Squirrel Gap for checkpoint 2. On our way to checkpoint 2, we ran into Bob K. and Dennis H. and Team Dicky- two of the fast teams- going the other way. Oh No!!! did I pick the wrong route? Thatwas when the fun started in my head! We headed on to Horse Cove and to Yellow Gap Rd. At that point, we had 3 options. We decided to pick the hardest out of the 3 to get it done with. So we headed up Pilot to the our 3rd checkpoint. Then we headed straight back down Pilot. It was so much fun to rip down Pilot with Chris, Dan and Justin. Dan and Justin were headed back in to Turkey Pen, so we headed over to Wash Creek Rd. Getting up and over Yellow gap twice tested our souls a good bit. Once we got past that, I knew we didn't have any long climbs for a while. We headed out to 276 and to 475b. On 475b, we saw Chad and Micheal heading to the same checkpoint that we were. At the end of 225, I was pumped to see Ray(one of the shop regulars) and Dan(Chris's dad). After we got our map stamped, we knew the last part was going to be fun. On our way back to 225, we saw Team Dicky heading to the 225 checkpoint. I knew then that we where ahead of them. We headed back out to 276 and turned onto 477 and then straight to the Horse stables. We had one last test in our way(Clawhammer Rd. to Maxwell Cove Rd.). We eased onto the bottom of Clawhammer Rd. and started picking up the pace as we got closer and closer. When we got onto Black Mnt. Trail, we could taste the the finish. At the top of Hickory Knob, we knew it was all downhill from there. Chris lead the charge back to the finish. We had no clue how we did until we finished. We pulled out the win!!! We went 76.25 miles and 14,770 feet of climbing.

 

Get Some Chad!!!

Chad's write up for PMBAR

Thats right everybody we finished the PMBAR. Michael arrived at my house at 6 am on the nose to load up and head the .5 miles to the trailhead. We were the 3rd or 4th car there and the second to sign in which left us plenty of time to get ready without being rushed. So on to the riders meeting Eric gave us the rules and then the maps. And right at 8 o clock "GO" and it was on. Alot of teams took off up Black Mt. while others including us just chilled out, looked at the map and figured out our route. After getting a tentative route we started cranking towards Turkey Pen trailhead. We rode with a couple teams to there and got our first checkpoint. Then off to the first mistake of the day, we are gonna call it "Cantrell Creek". It looked faster on the map because it was a straight line but very rough and unrideable (maybe on a regular day but not PMBAR). So we make it to CP 2 at squirrel gap. At this point we changed our orginal route but it was for the better, we headed out squirrel, up horse cove to a fire road and yellow gap rd to the Pilot Rock trailhead. This is were I see WD, Pinnett, J Miles, and P. Ennis headed the other direction and I thought "Them dudes have already gotten 4 CP's and are headed to 225 and out" I was a little discouraged. We will later find out that this was not the case. We started the trek up Pilot Rock and hiked 3/4 of the trail and finally got our 3rd and last mandatory CP. This was a huge relief as all day so far we had kind of been guessing because niether one of us was to familiar with Turkey Pen or the trails around Yellow Gap rd. So we laid it down on yellow gap rd passing a team of 29er wheeled SSers. To 276, 475B and what do I see? The KOP with a Pinnett on his wheel???? They had went to Wash Crk for there 4th CP. Nice, so we werent as bad off as I thought. On to 225 our last CP Whoooo Whoooooo. So we head back out 225, 475B, (were we saw the STD's thinking they were going for there 5th CP, wrong) 276, 477, then the left turn at the horse stables. That started at about mile 49. It was the most brutal climb up clawhammer and Maxwell I have ever done. We got to Pressley Gap and I started pushing there knowing my poor legs did not have that climb left in them. And then HICKORY KNOB!!! the sweetest sight ever, we didnt stop we kept rollin down Black Mtn. and to the finish. We finsihed up 16th out of about 70 teams with 55.5 miles, almost 9900 feet of climbing, and 9.5 hrs on the bike. Our goal was to finish, and we accomplished that plus it was fun. Remember it doesnt have to be fun to be fun. Oh, TDS's I hope they have the route laid out for us at 12 hrs of Tsali or it might not be pretty?!? Later Ninjas

 

Dan P. and Justin taking it to the house.

Dan's write up

It all started innocently enough, Sycamore was sponsoring the race and Wes asked if I wanted to race. Justin and I said sure months ago, not really thinking about it. little did we know...

 

 

 

 

5:30 am- Wake up to my alarm blaring before the sun, wonder what is going on for about 10 seconds before the brain starts working and i remember I'm racing my bike today. Crawl toward the shower, flipping the coffee maker on as i pass.

 

6:00 am- Arrive at sweet lady friends house for breakfast, as discussed the night before. the house is pitch black, and phone calls are not answered. proceed to window and throw empty beer cans at it until she wakes up too. misery loves company, right? Breakfast feast is prepared, truckstop style, and consumed till point of sickness. many thanks are given.

 

7:10 am- Arrive at race start. Justin is nowhere to be found.

 

7:26 am- still no Justin, mandatory gear check ends at 7:30. begin to worry.

 

7:29.6 am- Justin arrives at gear check. sigh of relief is heard.

 

8:00 am- GO! start out with a peak at the map and then head up black mtn trail, following the KOP and Pinnett, picking off teams the whole way.

 

8:45 am- Hit turkey pen trail with Wes and Chris, followed by a super serial team proudly rocking flatbars, v-brakes, and ultralite hardtails.

 

9:15 am- watch hardtail goomba go ass over teakettle on a steep piece of trail. i giggle to myself as i pass. I'm having fun.

 

9:45 am- hit first checkpoint down in turkey pen. Justin and i decide to take our own route and pickup the squirrel checkpoint later in the day. this may be the start of bad decision making that will haunt us later.

 

 

10:15 am- begin the climb up yellow gap to get to the climb up laurel mtn, not realizing we've lined up over 10 continuous miles of climbing at once. complain about ass hurting for the first time.

 

 

12:00 pm- get to the top of laurel mtn, run in to Wes and Pinnett. they've just climbed straight up pilot rock and horse cove, two trails that i want to go down. we head down pilot as a group, blasting by rigid 29er riders the whole way. I'm having a lot of fun right now, because we are losing elevation fast.

 

 

12:38 pm- climb up funnel top, begin to wonder why everyone is going the opposite direction. stop for food and ponder this.

 

 

1:15 pm- head down horse cove. i pretend my 2.5 inch travel kona is a dh bike until Justin yells at me. he says I'm gonna break it. he's probably right. i continue to pretend I'm Sam Hill.

 

 

1:45 pm- get to the squirrel checkpoint, after riding the sweetest singletrack of the day. I'm still happy, because the trail is fun. we head towards Daniel ridge, thinking we're almost done. little do we know...

 

 

3:00 pm- finally get to club gap and the gravel roads to Daniel. I'm tired, and my knees hurt.

 

 

3:45 pm- over it.

 

 

4:15 pm- get to Daniel ridge checkpoint. i want to give up and take 276 home, but don't because i don't want to climb up the hill after the turnoff to the horse stables. my mind is cooked at this point. we head towards home on the fire roads.

 

 

5:15 pm- begin climbing up Maxwell. Justin is strong, and rides off the front quickly. i get a slow leak in my front tire, but am too tired to stop and fix it so i just slide as far back on my saddle as i can and pedal almost all of Maxwell with a flat front tire. we change it at the top.

 

 

6:00 pm- reach the top of hickory knob. its all down to the finish. i take the lead and let it ride down the mtn.

 

 

6:15 pm- finish. i will never do this again.

 

 

 

and that's all.

 

dano out.

 

 

Chris showing me all the tricks the kids are doing.

TDS in full effect.

How it all played out.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

2009 Season has dawned

 

 Chris Herndon started out right with a win down in Clemson. He is getting tuned up to rip it up at Sea Otter!!!

Joh Tuttle is starting where she left off last year with 2 more DH wins under her belt, and an 8th in the Icycle XC.

 

 Tristan Cowie has been pinned from the get go this year with a win at the Icycle, 3rd at Hobby park, and a 4th at Tsali.

Chris Bennett has been showing us how it is done with some killer results. 6th at the Icycle, 13th at Hobby Park and a 2nd at Tsali.

Julia is racing on the road as well as the dirt this season and she is turning heads with her speed. She got 4th at the Icycle and 3rd at Hobby Park.

 Kell Bond has just Started racing this year and has already had some great results with 4th at Hobby Park and a 4th at Tsali.

Jenna has started out with some strong finishes this year. She won Hobby Park in the Cat 2 race and then moved up to cat 1. She won her first race as a cat 1 at Uwharrie.

Dan Ennis has been talking smack all winter long and now he is backing it up with a 3rd at the Icycle and a 3rd at Clemson. Oh Yeah, he also pulled out a 21st in the Icycle XC.

Jeff Parker has been keeping an eye on his ibike and it has been paying off. He has got 14th at Donaldson Center, 8th at Fork Shoals,13th at River Falls, and a top ten at ATOC.

Michael has been working hard all winter and it is paying off with an 18th at the Icycle and a solid at Tsali.

Phillip has been tearing it up so far this year with a 5th at the Icycle and a 12th at Tsali. If we can keep him away from trees this season he will be a force at the races.

Donnie has recovered nicely from a broken hip. He has shown us what dedication is all about by pulling off a 2nd at Hobby Park, 5th at Tsali, 15th at the Icycle and a 10th at Chickasaw Trace.

Matt St.Marie is going to lite it up this year in Cat 1. He has been racing on the road and dirt. He got a 15th at Hobby Park.

  Nick has joined us this year and is already making an impact with a 2nd at Tsali and a 7th at Hobby Park.

Danny has been training hard all winter and pulled out a 6th at Clemson and a 5th at the Icycle.

Chad Banner is doing what he wants! So far he has wanted a 7th at Tsali and a 12th at the Icycle.

Andrew is planing on a good season and he has started on the right foot with a solid finish at Tsali and a 21st at Hobby Park.

Matt Wells is looking forward to National champs. He got 20th at Hobby Park.

Timmay is learning a lot this year about road and mountain bike racing. He got 22nd at Hobby park.

Marshall has been destroying souls on the road already this season.

James Chaput has taken to the DH side of things quite nicely. He got 11th at Clemson and 9th at the Icycle.

Eddie is showing the young pups how to hold it down. If you can't find Eddie you might want to check the pump track.

Wes is getting ready for another year of fun with his Friends. He has got a 3rd at the Icycle, 7th at Hobby Park and a mediocre finish at Tsali.

Waiting for awards.

Some of us after Hobby Park.

Refuel and do it again.

 

races

2008 in the books

Team Results 

 Donnie Kirkwood 

Brevard College Brings home some Gold

Tristan Cowie Starts off the weekend right for the Tornados with a win in the D2 XC

Tristan came back the next day and took the D2 short track title also

Jo Tuttle won the D2 womens Dual Slalom

Jo Tuttle was strong all weekend and took the overall in D2

The team had a great weekend and came away with a 4th place in the team event

Way to go Tornados

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oct. 14th and 15th - SEASONAL TRAIL GRAND OPENING 

We couldn't wait for the seasonal trails to open so we all met up at the shop for a little pre-ride coffee at around 10:00pm. There were all sorts of people there. Of course Wes D showed up, Justin was there with his awesome beard, Ray even came out of hiding, Chad showed up for one his last pre-wedding rides, Julia and Tamer were there, so was Jimy(that's Jimy with 1 "m"), Dan Ennis finaly bought a legit light so he could ride with us, the Squirrel family tagged along too, and Daniel, Rob, Yuri, Kell, and Michael were crazy enough to show up too. Oh yeah, I forgot that I was there too. After we got some caffeine in our systems we rolled out to the Hatch to ride some Cat Gap at 11:00pm. I was pumped to see Stephen out there waiting for us. Once we got suited up we rolled out Jedi style. Heading up the gravel road Thad threw down a short-lived attack. After some cussing, we finally brought him back. Of course someone had to counterattack, so I took over that responsibility. I had to turn my light off to trick the guys chasing me. We regrouped at the top of Long Branch. It was still pretty early so Wes lead a group up to Butter while a few of us stayed behind and just took out time riding down Long Branch. It was an awesome night for riding, and everyone had a blast. There were some trees down in some inconvenient places on Long Branch. Jimy took it to the ground pretty hard on the super fast section of Cat Gap, but he's a tough dude so he was alright. A tree snatched Rob's light right off his head and Julia's light went out on her, but Tamer(St. Marie) was there to save the day. Once we all met back up at the Hatch the conclusion was that Cat Gap was AWESOME!!! We went out on Thursday and hit up another seasonal trail: North Slope. Come out on Tuesdays and Thursdays for some awesome night riding. Don't forget your light.

The Sycamore Amigos ride The Night Train
We started out with a major blow to our four man team, one of our guy call us up and I knew it was bad when he sounded like death on a stick. Oh Yeah, he was sick with a fever. Then there was three of us. After leaving 30 minutes late, due to Pinnett, we were off like a heard of turtles to go ride the Night Train. Once we got to Fontana Village, we set up camp next to some friends in the battlefield. On the drive to Fontana, a name came to me. There was three of us and there were three amigos. Sycamore Amigos were named. The team had Chris Pinnett, Matt Wells and me.
Pinnett lead off for our team. He laid it down on his lap, even if he found a tree a little to friendly. He was the first back to the transition area and off went Wells he had a quick lap. I went next the lap was a good length with plenty of climbing and some ripping descents. We had a clean race with no major issues. I was a little worried that just going with three might bite us towards the end of the race, but none of us had a problem with the shorter rotation. The weather was spot on and the race course was awesome. The Amigos ended up on top after 12 hour of ripping. We got some great prizes for the win, and I got the fastest lap and a box full of Gold. After the awards we headed to the cabin for some well deserved sleep. The next morning, I woke up with a hunger pain in my tummy and I did not want another Zebra Cake. Off to the breakfast buffet we headed. The Night Train was good to us.
Chad showing ya how it's done

The Sycamore Amigos

USA Cycling National Championships

We here at Sycamore Cycles have been very busy recently, as we always are this time of year.  The shop has been very busy, and of course, everyone has been riding a whole lot.  Because of this, we have been very slow about updating our site.  Sorry about that.  But, in this case, it is better to be late than never.

The trip to Mount Snow was a long one, but by the time we arrived at the mountain, everyone was ready to race and ride.  Tristan Cowie was the first one to race, and only had 2 days to prepare for his event on Thursday.  After a very good start that saw him riding in 7th after the prologue loop, Tristan settled into his pace in a top 10 spot.  Unfortunately, the course featured steep climbs that didn't suit his riding style very well, and he was eventually regulated to a 16th place finish. 

The expert races were up next, and saw the largest SYCR contengient of the weekend.  Matt St. Marie, Chris Bennett, and Matt Wells all were racing in the 19-24 field, making for some very exciting pre-race speculations.  St. Marie led the start with Bennett and Wells close behind.  On the race's opening climb, St. Marie had a race ending mechanical, leaving Bennett and Wells to battle it out for the finish.  After trading spots for most of the race, Wells ended up leading the finishes in 7th with Bennett close behind in 8th.  Julia Tellman had an extremely strong race, leading off the start and for the first 2 of 3 laps. On the final lap she was finally caught by a hard chasing competitor, and ended up 2nd only a minute off of the win.  Donnie Kirkwood placed a strong 8th, taking advantage of his strengths on the downhills.  Later in the day, Natasha Cowie placed 35th in the pro women's field.  Jo Tuttle placed a very solid 4th in the sport women's field, beating out 10 other women for a podium spot.

Sunday saw the Super D and short track races for all categories.  Tuttle was the only team member to race this event, and shone brightly, winning her event by a significant margin.  Her time would have placed her in 11th in the pro women's field.  In short track, St. Marie once again had a mechanical that ended his race, while Bennett charged ahead for a 4th place finish, outpowering 5th in a sprint finish.   

A Mass Update

12 Hours of Tsali

Cowie and St. Marie on the start line

One of the events that Sycamore Cycles looks forward to every year is 12 hours of Tsali. This is a very different event than we usually participate in, and we are always excited about the unique format. Instead of participating as individual racers, teams of 4 compete in a relay for the whole 12 hours. This style makes for a very exciting race, as the laps are done as fast as possible in order to get the baton back to the teammate waiting in the transition area. The race started with a Leman’s start, making the first racer from each team do a ¼ mile run before getting to their bikes. The run went off without incident, and once everyone reached their bikes, the race began for real. 

            The team had a great time at the race, and is definitely looking forward to next year. Thanks to Bracken Mountain Bakery for supplying us with loads of excellent bakery goods for the race, and to the rest of our sponsors who continue to support us in our racing endeavors. 

Julia Tellman waiting for her lap to start

Wes and Wells trading off laps

The Women's podium

The Pro/Expert podium

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Sycamore Cycles Race team has had a very busy past couple of weeks.  The team has gone in several different directions to race, and has had good results from all over the country.  First up, half of the team went to California to race the Sea Otter Classic, and the other half of the team decided to stay local and race in Clemson, SC at the Tiger Rag.  Wes Dickson, Chris Bennett, Jimy Fink, and Ray Adams went out west for the biggest race in the country, and had a week filled with bikes.  Dickson raced Semi-Pro, and got 8th in the Short-Track race, and 29th in the Cross Country.  While not what he was hoping for, he was happy with this result, and looking forward to next year.  Bennett raced in the Expert 19-24 category, and got 7th in the Short-Track and 3rd in the Cross Country.  This was a very strong result for Bennett, and is his first Expert level podium.  Fink placed 24th in the Cross Country and 7th in the Short-Track.  Team sponsor Ray Adams went out to support the team in their racing endeavors, and had a great time at the race.  This race is becoming a regular event for the team, and we have seen a growing contingent traveling to the race each year. 

The half of the team who went to Clemson got some very solid results, and enjoyed not having to travel as far to race.  Tristan Cowie, Matt St. Marie, and Donnie Kirkwood went to the Tiger Rag with several people supporting them on the trip.  Cowie won the Pro/Expert race, dominating the field, winning by over 4 minutes over 2nd place.  St. Marie placed 5th in the combined Pro/Expert field, beating all the other Expert riders in the race.  Kirkwood got a 7th place finish in the Expert 30-39 field, beating some stiff competition in the process. 

Moving on to the weekend of the 27th, Tristan Cowie, Matt Wells, and Matt St. Marie traveled to Maryland for the Greenbrier Challenge, a UCI level event, and a qualifier for the Jr. World Championships team.  The course was a challenging 5 mile loop, and the terrain was similar to what our riders would experience in Pisgah Forest, so the team felt well prepared for the event.  Heavy rain the night before left the course drenched and covered with mud, and increasing the difficulty of an already very testing event.  Cowie entered the Pro race, and was riding with the leaders when he flatted his rear tire.  After fixing the flat, Cowie had been passed by the entire Pro field, and had to work hard to get back into the race.  He ended up passing over half the field on his way to finishing 8th.  Wells placed 8th in the Expert 19-29 race in his first mountain bike race of the season.  St. Marie took his first Expert level win, beating the 2nd place rider by 10 seconds after a hotly contested 4 laps.   

All in all, this has been a very exciting few weeks for the team.  We have had several top finishes, and solid results in all of our events.  We are enjoying riding our bikes in the warm weather, and looking forward to our next few races.

SERC #2 at Tsali

The SYCR crew headed over to Bryson City this past weekend for the annual "Knobscorcher" held on a rain soaked Tsali trail system.  The weather looked bleak throughout the week leading up to the race, and we were all hoping against hope that we would have a dry race.  The team had a large group from Brevard, and were joined by Julia Tellman who traveled all the way from Chapel Hill for the race.  We left Brevard on Saturday morning, and intended to do a group pre-ride on our way to Fontana Village where we were staying.  However, because of the weather, our plans were changed and we had only a small contengient of riders willing to brave the mud on the course before going to the cabin. 

In spite of the rain on Saturday and all through the night, race day dawned sunny and warm.  We got to the race site in time to set up our tent in our pit area, and start preparing our bikes for the race.  Julia Tellman, Jeff Parker, and Geoff Bergmark were the first riders off in the race, and had a course that was just beginning to dry out.  Jeff Parker got 11th in his category, not bad for a roadie.  Geoff Bergmark was 3rd in Single Speed against a stacked field, not far off the 2 leaders.  Julia Tellman dominated her first sport race, beating 2nd place by about 2 minutes and 3rd by over 10.  This is the best result from a female Sycamore Cycles racer yet. 

Julia on the Podium

The next categories to go off were the Pro/Semi-Pro and Expert fields.  The course was significantly drier than it had been earlier in the day, thanks to both the warm weather and previous fields going over the course.  Wes Dickson and Tristan Cowie raced in the first wave of Pro/Semi-Pro, and both had exceptional results.  Tristan took a very strong 2nd in the Pro race, less than 40 seconds off of the win, despite having crashed on the 2nd lap and finishing with only one brake.  Wes placed 5th, gaining his first Pro/Semi-Pro podium.  This would have been a convincing win had the Pros and Semi-Pros been seperated for their race.
Matt St. Marie, Chris Bennett, Gattis Tyler, Jimy Fink, and Donnie Kirkwood held it down in the expert race for the team.  Matt had the high finish of the day with a 5th place, getting his first Expert podium finish.  Chris was close behind in 7th, even with a tree crash injury.  Gattis finished 17th after hitting a 30 foot brick wall of pain.  In the 30-35 race, Donnie placed 14th and Jimy 17th, successfully battling the mud for the finish. 

Tristan fighting the mud and the competition

Wes and Tristan on the Podium

This was a great weekend, and fun was had by all.  A special thanks to all of our sponsors who are supporting our racing efforts, Ray Adams for the photos, and to Thad Walker who provided the feeds for everyone.  Their results from this weekend put Wes in 4th and Tristan in 8th overall in the Pro/Semi-Pro field, Julia Tellman in 4th overall in women's sport, and Matt St. Marie in 10th overall in Expert 19-29.  We are looking forward to our next race, and will keep you updated on our progress as we go along.  Until next time, happy trails. 

Thad giving Wes a feed

Jimy being awesome

Bennett holding it down

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Assault on the Carolinas!

Some of the riders on the start

Hey everybody!  Sycamore Cycles Racing (SYCR) just got done riding in an extremely epic 9th annual Assault on the Carolinas.   We started in moderate temperatures under cloudy skies with a "slight chance of scattered showers."  For the first hour the group kept the pace high as we headed over Walnut Hollow and towards The Continental Divide.  Right after we crested the climb and started going down 178, we started getting assaulted by the weather.  The front group made a valiant attempt to descend the road in heavy rain and lightning, and I'm pretty sure that there was some hail in there too.  The rain never let up, even across South Carolina, and the group continued to speed towards the climb.  

Before the rain

Once we hit the climb, the group quickly splintered into a lead group of 4 and a chase group of 6 with 4 SCR team members.  Our group chased hard, but weren't able to catch the leaders by the top of the climb.  The chase continued across Cedar Mountain and back into Brevard.  We rode hard, but had to settle for putting Wes in 5th, Matt S. in 6th, Chris B in 7th, and Tristan in 10th.  Matt W had to drop out as a result of a light case of hypothermia, and only a small minority of the riders actually finished the ride.  

Coming back into Brevard

In spite of the conditions, the SCR team members feel good about their performances, and are glad to both have made it out alive and with an amazing story to tell.  We are heading to Tsali this weekend for the first SERC race, so stay tuned for a report on that...

After the ride

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Road and mountain mix...

The Sycamore crew has hit up several races since the Icycle, and we all have started getting really excited about the warm weather.  Our first race was one of the Greenville Spring Training Series races in South Carolina, and the team had a great time racing some road.  Gattis Tyler, Jimy Fink, Chris Bennett, and Matt St. Marie went down for one of the three weekends, representing for the team exceptionally well, with St. Marie, Bennett, Fink, and Tyler getting 1st through 4th respectively in the sprint finish.

The team after the finish

On the mountain bike side of things, Wes, Gattis, Jimy, and Jenna Bales-Walker went down to Florida to race in the first SERC series race.  The team didn't have the best weekend, with poor course markings and flat tires holding back their results.  Not to mention that the racers in Fl come into the season STRONG!  Wes ended up with a 17th place finish in his first Semi-Pro effort after getting lost on the first lap.  Gattis got 12th and Jimy 21st in Expert, and Jenna got 5th in the women's field.  In general, our team isn't quite as comfortable with the Florida style of racing, and we are looking forward to getting on some courses with climbs!  

Wes racing in FL

We are slated to represent in the Assault on the Carolinas this weekend, a ride that is based right in our back yard.  We'll let you know how it goes!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Icycle without the Ice '08

The Sycamore cycles race team started out our season with the annual Icycle mountain bike race in Fontana, NC.  This is an event that the whole team looks forward to all year, and we are always excited to go and test our early season fitness in a what is usually a relaxed environment.  We had a large contingent there to represent for the shop, all wearing our brand new jerseys that came in the day before the race.  

The Sycamore Crew

Our expert contingent was strong and ready to race, with 6 people in that category alone.  We had talked Tristan Cowie (Captain America) into racing on the team for the weekend, and he was excited about getting to race such a great event. 

St. Marie on the start

Wes ended up with the highest placing on the team in 3rd, just over a minute off of first.  Tristan was right behind Wes in 4th, and Matt St. Marie got 6th, both just off the lead group.  The rest of our men's expert crew consisted of Chris Bennett in 10th Jimmy Fink in 18th and David Cook in 19th.  Our sole racer in the Women's Expert field was Jenna Bales Walker who had to abandon due to a flat tire. 

Tristan

In the Single Speed category, Matt Wells and Geoffrey Bergmark both representing well taking 1st and 2nd respectively.  Wells narrowly edged out Geoffrey on the last lap to take the win by 8 seconds. 

Wells on his way to a win

Sycamore also fared well in sport, getting 4th and 8th with Art O'Dell and Ray Adams.  Justin Miles and Eddie Mcelyea added solid 11th and 21st place finishes for the team. 

Ray Adams

Moving from the Cross Country events to the Night Downhill, we had Chris Herndon winning by the significant margin of 8 seconds.  Running a dual light setup, he easily beat Gerrit Baytagh who was 8 seconds up on 3rd. 

Chris Herndon Setting the Woods On Fire

Chris Bennett got 2nd in Sport DH while Jimmy Fink placed 4th in the Hardass category. 

Jimmy Getting Caught By Herndon

The team is looking forward to our next event, and are excited about a new year of racing.  Winter is half over, and the promise of summer has everyone wanting to be out on their bikes again.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Full race results can be found at http://www.jandwevents.com/results.html

Thanks to J and W events for another year of an amazing event!

2008 Sycamore Cycling Racing

While the busy season of racing mountain bikes is over for the most part, the Sycamore Team has been staying busy racing cross and some local endurance mountain bike events. 

A huge team contingent showed up for the Swank 65 this year, and we had some great results and great times.  The Swank is a mountain bike event unlike any other.  The course consisted of approximately 65 kilometers of Pisgah riding, much of it on some of the toughest singletrack the forest has to offer.  We had some very strong results from the team, and some that were a complete surprise.  Our biggest upset came from Justin Miles, someone who usually doesn't even race, getting 24th.  This result was up with some of the best riders in the event, and out of 150 riders, many of whom spend months training for the event, 24th is incredible. 

Wes D led the charge for the men's team, getting a solid finish in 4th place against some of the best competition in the region.  Tristan Cowie was close behind in 7th after riding with Wes for the first part of the event.  The rest of the local boys finished up with Dave Hall in 18th, Chris Pinnett in 22nd, Jimy Fink in 28th, David Cook in 29th, Yuri Eliashevsky in 35th, and Jeff Parker in 41st.  That means that all of our racers were inside the top 45, which is a solid result for the team overall.

Our women's team also finished very strongly.  Natasha Cowie led the charge, getting 2nd in the women's race.  Johanne Tuttle was not too far behind in 5th.  This is a solid result for both girls, as this was both of their first attempts at the event. 

Sycamore has also been doing a bit of cross racing this season, and we have had some success in that field as well.  Jenna Walker has been one of our most dedicated racers so far, traveling to many of the Tennessee and North Carolina series races.  Racing in the women's 4's, she has been on the podium for most of her races, and is looking forward to moving up to 3's in the next couple of weeks.  Bill Tellman has also been hitting the cross scene hard, racing in both the Men's 4 and Master's events, sometimes racing both of them in one day.  Chris Bennett got excited about racing cross at the beginning of the year, and has been holding it down in the 3's after upgrading from 4's.  Thad Walker has also been racing hard in the men's 4 category.  Julia Tellman has had some success in the women's 3's, while Matt St. Marie was trying his hand at the Men's 2's.