"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Does anyone know about these small PA road races?

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Ghostman
02-14-07, 11:12 AM
There is a series of road races (circuit races really) in various towns in Southeast PA that are all run by the same promoter. The races are the Strasburg Road Race, Mt Joy Road Race, Mt Penn Road Race, etc.

Has anyone done these? What are they like?

MDcatV
02-14-07, 11:30 AM
They are short road races that are well run and on pretty good roads - rolling to hilly is how I'd characterize. The cat 4 and 5 fields usually fill up week of the race. That being said, IMO they're just too short to warrant the drive from DC up to the lancaster area. Although they can be used as experience for a Cat 5 to 4 upgrade, the distances in the Cat 4/5 races are too short to qualify for upgrade from Cat 4 to Cat 3; and in the Cat 3/4 race, distance is too short to qualify for upgrade from 3 to 2. I've talked to people whose upgrade coordinator has dinged them on this.

Here's a web site with that promoters series.
http://www.majorleaguecycling.com/events.htm

In my opinion, if you're going to drive to PA to do a RR, and you're a Cat 4 or better, go do the Turkey Hill Road Race - it's a great race with the Gamber Wall - tough, tough rhonde style climb. As a 5, turkey hill doesnt incorporate the gamber wall so I wouldnt do it. Problem with Turkey hill is it's same day as poolesville, which I hate but is in my backyard and the team wants to do it this year.
domestique
02-14-07, 11:36 AM
+1 on probably not being worth driving from D.C. But like MDcatV said, the roads are in decent shape for southern PA roads (I say decent because a few potholes every now and then is actually a good quality road in PA). Lots or rolling hills, with open farmland (a lot of Amish childeren like to come out and cheer along).

The races are shorter due to all the backroads in PA that would be needed to beshutdown for a long road race (hence the circuit format), however this makes it interesting for the fans to see the race a couple times.
Here are some pics.: Just use the menu bar at the very top to view the race photos of the different fields and courses.
http://www.racingcaptured.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1


Promoter:
http://www.redroseraces.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=46