Covered Bridges Tour

And so the day came, a cool Sunday morning, and 100 miles to go along the backroads, hills, valleys, and of course, covered bridges of Columbia County. I hear the turnout was a little light but the riding was good. Sorry I couldn’t be there this year, but Bob M. was kind enough to snap some photos along the route. Check them out at our club’s photo album.

Frans just returned from leading a bike tour of Tuscany. He’s still sorting through all the photos and as soon as he’s finished I’ll get them posted too. Also, I hope to have a little bit of news on next year’s Euro bike tour brought to you by the Dutch Wheelman Bicycle Shop.

Later,

Fred

Bloomsburg Town Park Criterium Info Available

The date is set, categories finalized, and prizes are posted. The 2008 Bloomsburg Town Park Criterium is ready to roll on June 22. Information is available online at the Dutch Wheelman Web site.

Events Added to the Calendar

Okay folks, I’ve started entering events on our racing calendar for the 2008 season. So far the calendar is biased a little towards the upstate N.Y. racing scene because that’s where I live and do the better part of my racing. That will change as I get more info from my teammates on where they’ll  be racing. A couple of changes since last year…

• Syracuse Race Weekend was moved up a week. Too bad since that’s the same weekend as the 75 Miles of Mon-Tour.
• The Jon Dechau Memorial Time Trial date was shuffled around, I image due to the new Rochester Omnium. This conflicts with our race weekend, June 21-22. Oh well. I’d like to honor the memory of Jon by riding the event, but instead I’ll be there in spirit only.
• The Rochester Twilight Criterium is now part of the larger Rochester Omnium scheduled for Aug. 8-10. If Scott Page and the City of Rochester can pull this off, it will be a big deal. The plan is for a 100+-mile pro road race on Sunday. I’m very curious to see the route map because the way it sounds, most of the climbing will be in the beginning of the race and the rest flat. Someone please dispel my assumptions – I’d hate to see a pro RR that allows the non-climbers plenty of time to catch back on for a mass sprint at the end.

More events, and event details will be posted as they become known. If you have any events you’d like posted, leavea a comment.

Waking Up the Racing Calendars for 2008

Start writing down the dates – racing weekends are getting set now for the 2008 season. A couple of calendars we like to pay attention to are:

• spokepost.com 
• Pennsylvania Cycling Association calendar
• Rivertowns Race Series

We’ll be searching through the calendars and picking out events where you’ll be sure to see the Dutch Wheelman.

Rivertown Race Series – Dutch Wheelman Success Stories

A big congrats to many of our SBRT/Dutch Wheelman cyclists for their success in the Rivertowns Race Series, a 15-event multisport series held in the Susquehanna River region. We had a handful of wins, plenty of top 10’s, hosted a great crit (Bloomsburg Town Park Criterium), and overall, made a great showing throughout the series. The net result: overall series wins and top placements in our age groups.

Here are some of the series final placings:

Michel Spuesens – overall age group winner 26-30. Michel’s series title was capped by an emotional win at the Milton Harvest Festival road race.

41-45 age group – a number of the Dutchies placed well in an age group we load up on. John Beers, 4; Thorr Pharr, 10 (Includes a win at Sunbury – NICE!); Fred Hoyle, 11; Tim Wynn, 12; and Larry Winans finishing in the top half of a huge age group.

Bob Shultz – winner of the 46-50 age group. Bob always placed high in race finishes including an epic win at the 75 Miles of Mon-Tour. Mark Croneberger and John Snyder finished 14th and 20th overall repectively.

Frans Verstraeten – 5th place, 51-55 age group.

Again, congratulations to these and all the Dutch Wheelman who raced in, and help support the Rivertown Race Series.