Road Bike Racing - July 4th Bike Race Weekend Mid Atlantic Racers Listen Up

Hey all my team, Rogues Racing in cahoots with Roanoke Cycling Organization, Team El Toreo are putting on a 3 race weekend starting Friday July 4th. Races will be held in Roanoke and Blacksburg VA. Blacksburg has a rich cycling history having seen the likes of Greg Lemond, Ekimov, Armstrong and many more during the great Tour Du Pont in the 90's. We have finally brought racing back to Blacksburg and we have some pretty decent prize money to boot. The courses are challenging including the classic Mill Mountain TT which was part of a stage of the Tour Du Pont $500 on line if you break the course record. These races include BAR points and are part of the Commonwealth Games. Unlike the Common Wealth games of the past we are now able to have prize money instead of just medals so some of you can win gas hotel money ;)

So check it out folks and come out to beautiful western part of Virginia in the cool mountains and enjoy a weekend of racing.

http://www.id3races.com/

I hope to not get dropped in my race!! The hillclimb course is definitely tough! Hope to see some of you there.

Man, that's pretty hot. Shame it's 320 miles away. 8(

I hope to ride the Roanoke crit. I hear it has brick sections, which suits me just fine!

Man, that's pretty hot. Shame it's 320 miles away. 8(

Oh come on man us hillbillies in the mountains often travel up to D.C. and Maryland to race. You can do it ;)

We can do crits practically every day of the week in DC. Hard to justify the gas money for 45 min of racing.

We can do crits practically every day of the week in DC. Hard to justify the gas money for 45 min of racing.

It's a Weekend of racing Nomad, a Weekend, and it's a 50 minute crit ;) The Mill Mountain TT is a classic hill climb TT. There aint a mountain like it for miles around D.C. So come on flat landers are you up for the challenge ;) :)

Don't you get sick of racing the same old races? Don't you want to get out of town every once in a while? Sure you do.

Besides the incentive is there for you to make back your gas money ;)

It's a Weekend of racing Nomad, a Weekend, and it's a 50 minute crit ;) The Mill Mountain TT is a classic hill climb TT. There aint a mountain like it for miles around D.C. So come on flat landers are you up for the challenge ;) :)

Don't you get sick of racing the same old races? Don't you want to get out of town every once in a while? Sure you do.

Besides the incentive is there for you to make back your gas money ;)

+1

Great riding down in Roanoke, and that's a great place for the uphill TT... but when the only thing a city has to brag about is the big structural star they have on top of their token mountain, well, you're lacking something. At least it's got riding terrain. I spent a weekend down there for my buddy's wedding and yes, we brought bicycles and put in about a hundred miles around Mill mountain and on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Cool riding.

...but can't you bring the mountain up to DC where all the MABRA racers are anyways? 4 hours? Not worth it on a holiday weekend to me. Still, I heard great things about the VA state champs that were held there a few years ago.

And to whomever said that there isn't a nearby mountain like that... ummm... there are a few good places to climb in the Shenendoah that aren't over 4 hours away.

good luck with your race weekend! thanks for promoting it, wish I could make the trip but wont be able to.

a note: MABRA (D20) is a crit district, the D42 is even more of a crit district (along with some TTs for the tri geeks). I speculate that you'd get a much better response from these nearby more populous districts if you had a RR with a finish on Mill Mtn. or some other climbing RR then your hillclimb ITT thrown in there. just sayin', again good luck and thanks for promoting!:)

MDCatV has a good point. Didn't they have an omnium (RR/mtn TT/crit) there in '06 for the state champs?

We can do crits practically every day of the week in DC. Hard to justify the gas money for 45 min of racing.


don't you do the majority of your racing in NJ?

don't you do the majority of your racing in NJ?

Nah, he just moved here from the other side of the Earth and has mostly just done racing in Northern Virginia, best I can recall. And one event in Upper Marlboro.

John,
There is a TN BAR race in Dayton that weekend, but Blacksburg is closer for most of our club members. I'll post it on our site so everyone knows.

don't you do the majority of your racing in NJ?

PA, NJ and NY road races. I've done a couple in MD. But that's my point. If I wanted to race crits, I wouldn't drive 3-4 hours to do it unless it was part of a stage race. I can do crits 30 minutes away from the office. I'd gladly drive down to Roanoke on a holiday weekend for some stage racing if a road race is involved.

whats wrong with the maryland and virginia road races?

whats wrong with the maryland and virginia road races?

are you going to do page valley? i'll be working corners but can't wait. it's going to be a fun day...

I wasnt planning on it but now that I see its on a sunday I may.

whats wrong with the maryland and virginia road races?

Like....? I did Jeff Cup and Walkersville. I had my fun on crap roads in Battenkill Roubaix and saw no need to follow that up at Poolesville. I'll do the back to back weekends at Page Valley in August. Anything I haven't raced in May/June was due to training plan. July and August I'll race some of the MABRA/VA stuff on the calendar as it fits the family's summer schedule.

Even then, MABRA has 4 road races between now and September. VAcycling has 2 that aren't on the MABRA schedule. 2 of those six are at Page Valley. It's not that the courses are any different down here than PA/NJ/NY - they're all pretty much power climb/descend/repeat. But if I'm gonna spend money to drive to a race, money on registration, and hours on the bike training - I'd rather race fewer times for 2+ hours a shot, than go out week after week for 45 minute races - let alone drive 3-4 hours, get a hotel for 3 days of racing 50 minutes per day at the most.

Not that one is better or worse, and its apparent that I pretty much suck at the long and short of it :) - it's just the personal preference.

well you missed Murad and the tour of washington county stage race just last weekend.

I was at Giro di NJ last weekend. I was already signed up for it when ToWC hit the calendar.

Murad was in May, and I promised the wife I'd not race in May to give the family some break after racing all but one weekend of March/April. The good thing is, I'll plan next year's season a lot better now that I know what races are out there, how they're run and which are "the good, the bad, and the ugly"

Either way, hopefully some PA clubs will pick up some of the defunct Red Rose races else the calendar will get much more sparse for all of us.

edited to add: Giro di NJ was an awesome event. I'll plan to race it again next year regardless of the ToWC on/off the schedule. I'd recommend it to anyone. Some small typical disorganization for folks that aren't familiar with the area, but overall - great course, great races, great racers. Really fun event.

i cant see myself doing something like the gio di nj over a local race because I enjoy racing with my teammates and against more familiar faces than strangers.

Do you ever wonder if you gave up on the local scene too quickly? Do you think racing locally would be any different for you if you were on one of the local teams and got to know them better? Perhaps just getting to race against people you know well from area group rides would make the whole thing more enjoyable.

If giving up on the "local scene" is giving up on crits, then no. I don't regret that. I've raced with/against a lot of the same folks over the season and have enjoyed that. There's a bit of regret not having gone with a local team from a simply logistical standpoint, but as I don't really frequent group rides much, I don't lose out much there. I've met some great folks from local teams out on the roads as individuals. But I've also raced against some of their teams and I wonder if I'd want to be associated with them. The Westwood folks are a great group of guys and it would be a challenge for me finding a local MABRA team that has the training ethic and drive that they have.

Now that I feel like I'm working my way back to a respectable level of fitness, I'll probably start looking for group rides in the area that can compliment the training plan. Supposedly there's a hard Tuesday nighter right down the street from me out of Wakefield (road bike, not the MTB rides) that I'll probably start doing because it would fit the weekly schedule great.

i think that wakefield ride is twice a week. I never managed to get to it when I lived close by.

I see what you guys mean about the road race and in fact we did want to do that but being our first event we also wanted to keep it simple. Having a decent pay out ought to bring out some people we hope and if it doesn't then a few racers will be paid well. We didn't expect to get a whole lot of the Northern VA, Richmond folks and are counting on some NC and Tenn racers to come up. We mostly do races south of here as they are easy to get too (DC traffic is the pits). But again some folks might want to get out of the big city and have a nice race vacation. Also this is part of the Commonwealth Games and has BAR points so if you need points you might be able to get some.


but when the only thing a city has to brag about is the big structural star they have on top of their token mountain, well, you're lacking something.

I don't know if they have a lot to brag about but Roanoke is actually a pretty nice city and if you like the out doors you got it all around you.


John,
There is a TN BAR race in Dayton that weekend, but Blacksburg is closer for most of our club members. I'll post it on our site so everyone knows.

That would be great! Thanks for that. I hope some of you all can make it up.

But again some folks might want to get out of the big city and have a nice race vacation.

IMO, racing and vacation should have nothing to do with one another. Training and vacation? Sure.

whys that?

To each there own I guess. I've had some great and very memorable race vacations for stage races, omniums etc. I love places like Boone and Ashville NC, Nashville, Vermont you name it.

For us in western Virginia we train locally and race far away simply b/c there are no local races until now.

whys that?

Just a personal thing. I'm not a morning person, and there's no way I'm setting an alarm for anything on vacation.

ah considering I get up at 3:50am for work; race days allow me to sleep in.

ah considering I get up at 3:50am for work; race days allow me to sleep in.

kudos to you, i wish i had that discipline. I'm on the east coast and work a "west coast schedule." :p