Lewis Morris H2H MTB Race

Such a cool MTB race put on by Marty’s Cycle on a really fun course. Super fast with plenty of punchy climbs and fast twisty decent. A course that offers everything and you have to be good at everything to do well.

Team FinKraft did well , Roger 3rd , Frank O’Reilly Sr 7th after suffering a flat in the very competitive Pro 1 field .Frank junior also raced with Roger and Frank to get the speed workout in preparation for MTB Nationals. He hung on a full lap in the top 5 , so mission accomplished.

Finley raced the Cat 2 15-18 juniors women ( 1st place ) but raced with the open cat 2 women at the same time and would have placed 2nd ( over all ) to another other fast young lady Zoe Eckman.

Great to see everyone and thanks to our Team FinKraft support crew , Lido , Annabel and Lianna coming out to cheer on and take pictures and Adam and Alex riding the course cheering the riders on as well. Great day and thanks everyone involved putting this great race on every year.

Roger@FinKraft

www.finkraftcoaching.com

H2H Stewart MTB Race.

Fast and flowy course made it for some epic battles at Stewart State Forest. FinKraft had 45 + masters , juniors and masters riding the open class. Well organized and great vibe as always with the MTBNJ crew.

Sierra and Finley took 1-2 in the open cat 2 women , combine age 24 , so old enough. Roger lost the sprint for the win in the open class after a tight race al day. The 45+ boys : Wilson 4th , Charlie 5th also a sprint to the line. Mark was 7th and Kevin 8th in that same class. Rob races the 55+ open class and finished strong.

This weekend is the next H2H race in the series , the legendary LOMO put on by Marty’s Cycles – In honor of Marty who just recently passed away.

Roger@FinKraft

www.finkraftcoaching.com

Women’s Woodstock Cycling Classic

Nancy Ford wins the General Classification in 55+ class in very wet and rainy conditions at the Women’s Woodstock Cycling Grand Prix! Great accomplishment and super happy for Nancy to pull this big win off with some tough girls.

Roger@FinKraft

www.finkraftcoaching.com

Inferno MTB Race in NC

The Inferno was a shorter race for Karen and Jeff , after doing all the longer endurance events this was all about speed.

Karen raced in the women’s open category today. At the start up the mile pavement climb Karen passed 2 girls right before they went into the single track at this point she was in third and the 4th place girl was breathing down her back. Going into the second lap when we hit the long climb that’s when the separation started. I was able to maintain my gap and by the third lap Karen was feeling pretty comfortable. Karen place 3rd today and very happy with her riding today.

Jeff also had a great race and took 4th in the 50 + category. Karen and Jeff are both on great form leading up to next week’s Marathon MTB Nationals in Texas.

Roger@FinKraft

www.finkraftcoaching.com

Winding Trails Fat Tire Classic

2nd round in the Cliff-bar Dirt Cup took place last Sunday in Farmington, CT.

Course was damp , but the rain kind of held off. I personally love this course. Not too technical, a few power climbs and a lot of pedaling.

Our junior girls Finley and Sierra raced the Girls Cat 2 , 12-18 age and took 1st and 2nd , great performance by both of them.

Christoffel Prinsloo and Wilson Vasquez raced the 50+ , finishing 6th and 7th. Hard 4 laps with a good battle in a very competitive field.

Roger did an extra lap in the open pro race and managed to finish 3rd at the end with the young guys.

We love this race and we will be back next year again for sure.

Roger@FinKraft

www.finkraftcoaching.com

2019 Quabbin Road Race

A New England spring classic , the Quabbin Road Race. A beautiful 64 mile loop around the Quabbin Reservoir with a nice gradual uphill finish at the end. With the rolling hills there is a selection, but most of the time a pretty good size group at the end sprinting for the line , which is actually pretty selective after all.

Our 50+ rider Robert Lyons lined up and definitely was one of the favorites for the win with his precious results on this course. Rob was there at the end , but edged out by David Taylor and took 2nd this year and Cliff Summers in 3rd. Great racing and a super well organized event.

Roger@FinKraft

www.finkraftcoaching.com

High Point Hill Climb

On April 27, 2019 TT race number 4 of the NJ TT series brought riders to High Point for the traditional Hill Climb organized by Skylands Cycling. Temperatures at the start of 42 degrees and ever so changing wind speeds and directions made as always for tough conditions on this hill. The actual gradient is not so steep at 5.5% so all types of bikes and wheelsets were chosen by various riders from deeper dished to purely climbing wheels, etc. traditional helmets or TT helmets.

For the FinKraft Cycling Team Andreas Runggatscher won the Master 45 category and Glenn Babikian came in second in the Masters 50 category. Next stop NJ State TT in Chatsworth, NJ.

Roger@FinKraft

www.finkraftcoaching.com

Karen Tripp Wins the Women’s Open Hammerhead 50 MTB Race

Report by Karen:

Another year doing the Hammerhead 100/50 mile MTB race. One of my favorite races and this year it was even better because the temperatures were in the 60’s instead of the hot and humid 80’s. I must say, I’m not very excited about how the race starts. Everyone lines up together, all one hundred of us. Whistle blows and we are off, following a motor scooter escorting us on pavement for about two miles until we get to the entrance of the single track. You can imagine up until then the chaos going on with everyone trying to get to the front. We hit the single track and everything comes to a screeching halt. It’s critical for me to try and maintain my spot so that I can keep my eye on the other three girls ahead of me. The death march begins thru the single track before it opens up and I have an opportunity to close the gap on the other women in my field.

It takes about seven miles for the race to sort itself out. I have managed to get by the three girls that were ahead of me. But at this point I still don’t know my position in the race. Are there any more women in front of me? It has now started to rain making the conditions sketchy, however I’m cruising along just fine, when next thing I know I’m off the trail upside down in the woods. I jump up, brush myself off, I’m ok, bike is ok, back on the bike and see that my husband has heard all the commotion and is waiting for me. I get on his wheel and we crank up the pace as I try to shake off my crash. Now I’ve become a little bit tentative. The start finish line comes quickly and still no sign of any women. One lap down and one twenty five mile lap to go.

Things are quickly drying out as the rain has stopped. My nerves have finally settled down and we are moving smoothly at a good pace, I catch a glimpse of someone up ahead, is that a girl? We close the gap and now realize it is a girl and she is in my race. She’s now aware that I have caught her so she picks up her pace, making several attempts to drop me. For the next ten miles I patiently wait and watch. I can see that she is struggling when the terrain points up. With about seven miles to go I make my move on a technical uphill section. Not enough to shake her but I keep the pressure on, and within a mile I realize she isn’t with me anymore. Knowing that anything could happen, I keep the pace up until I cross the finish line. I didn’t know at the time that she was the first place women, so I was pretty darn happy that I took the win!

Hop Brook Clif Bar Dirt MTB Race

Sunday June 7th , Hop Brook MTB always marks the CT MTB Race kick off for the season. Great course and very nice dry fast conditions this year.

FinKraft brought 3 juniors and 5 masters to the race. The juniors dominated, Frank Jr winning the cat 2 15-18 year olds by a healthy margin. Sierra Vasquez and Finley Aspholm races the girls 13-14 year age group and took First and Second with Sierra leading the way.

We split up the masters in the 40’s , Roger , Frank Sr and Charlie and Wilson and Christoffel in the 50’s. Roger won the 40’s , but due to true MTB fashion no results has been found yet for the rest of the boys. Both fields were big and very competitive of course , fun times with team and a great event. Thank you , onto the next one.

Allamuchy TT

The 3rd stop of the NJ Time Trial Series was Allamuchy TT. A fast course (circuit with overlap) with several turns that were wet due to the rain overnight into the morning. So a certain amount of caution, if there is any at these higher speeds, were in order. FinKraft once again represented with Glenn Babikian who finished 1st in the Masters 50 plus, Andreas Runggatscher you doubled up in two races, finished 2nd in the Masters 45 plus and 1st in the Non TT category A, Kate Tormey scored a fantastic 2nd place in the Senior Women. As always good times were had by all. Special thanks to Team Somerset and Chuck Crocco for making this a smoothly run event.

Roger@FinKraft

www.finkraftcoaching.com