This picture was snapped by District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop teammate Marcus during the Cat 4 Men’s race, which was shortened for pretty obvious reasons. And oddly enough, this marks the second year running that a race has been cut short at the Dawg Days of Summer Circuit Race due to rainstorms of death. Last year, it was the 1/2/3 field that got the axe.

Regardless, it was another successful running of the circuit race that we’ve co-promoted alongside Artemis for the last three years. Despite the soggy ending, there was plenty of exciting racing to be had, including an impressive ABRT win in the Women’s 35+/45+ race. Our own Sarah took second in the Women’s Cat 4, racing intelligently against a strong field of contenders, and Tom S. placed fourth in the shorter-than-usual Men’s Cat 4. Grayson got some props for being “animated,” and we welcomed three new DVR racers to the 1/2/3 fold.

Honestly, we all consider it something of a miracle that no one was struck by lighting after the monsoon started.

Thanks to everyone in MABRA and beyond for coming out to the race, which has become something of an end-of-the-season celebration. Big props are due to everyone at Artemis for putting up with us for another year, and we look forward to keeping the race going far into the future, deathly weather or not.

There’s something about second-place finishes at Page Valley for District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop, it seems.

Over the weekend, Grant finished second in the Cat 4 road race, capping off a strong season that saw him land second place in the Tour of Washington County road race and crit and third overall in the GC. But much like in 2010, being runner-up this year had its perks.

See, Grant’s a Virginia resident, and he was the first Virginia resident to cross the line. That means that he not only nailed a podium spot, but walked away with as the Virginia road race champion! Last year, Corey also finished second in the Cat 4 road race at Page Valley, but being that the one guy that beat him wasn’t a MABRA racer, he also walked away with the championship jersey. And in showing that finishing second at Page Valley is our business, back in 2009 Dennis was bested by only one other person in the Cat 4 road race. Freaky.

Otherwise, another great weekend in Page Valley, and as usual, fantastic organizing and promoting by Chris Gould et al. It was especially nice of them to arrange for weather that didn’t hit the 100-degree mark on Saturday.

After weeks and weeks of what seemed like crit after crit after crit, we’re solidly in the road racing segment of the season. First up was Giro di Coppi, where District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop rolled up in a number of fields.

Our best showing was in the Cat 4 race, where Matt R. took a very respectable sixth after the team did a bunch of work to make sure things stayed together over the 50-mile race. He’s looking stronger as races go by, so we’re hoping for big things in the coming weeks. No pressure, buddy.

In the Cat 3 field, Grayson nailed a solid 11th after staying tucked in the field throughout the race.

In last week’s Tour of Washington County, the District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop Cat 4 men put on quite a display, finishing first, second and fourth in the Sunday crit. At yesterday’s Reston Town Center crit, that same show of force yielded another win for the team (by the same guy that won the ToWC crit, no less), along with third and fourth place.

Rez again powered his way to the win by launching a solo bid late in the race, taking advantage of a field worn down by persistent DVR attacks in the early laps. He crossed the line as the field came around the final turn, with Grant snatching the last spot on the podium and Tom S. claiming fourth right behind him. Not only did Rez repeat with the win, but both Grant and Tom doubled up on their top five finishes from the week prior. That’s some fine racing, boys.

Some great pics from the Cat 4 race are here.

The Tour of Washington County just seems to suit District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop. After a strong showing in a variety of fields in 2009, our strong Cat 4 squad showed up this past weekend feeling motivated and ready to do some damage.

After the prologue on Saturday morning, Grant emerged as our go-to guy, sitting in the Top 10 GC. He followed that up with a second-place in the road race that afternoon, pushing him into the top three. A solid time trial the next morning kept him on the podium; all the team had to do was keep him out of trouble during the Williamsport Crit.

They did more than that. From the gun, Chas, Tom, Matt, John and Rez launched a barrage of attacks that saw the field strung out and whittled down after only 10 laps. With a small and tired field to contend with, Grant sat in the top 10 wheels for the remainder of the race, content to protect his third place.

With five to go, Rez launched a bold solo attack, and the field couldn’t respond. A cross racer who just got back from three months of leading bike tours in Mallorca, Rez, who admits himself that he’s not much of a crit racer, powered to a strong and surprising victory almost 20 seconds ahead of the field. Back in the field, Tom took control and led the pack into the final turn, where Grant sprinted for second place and Tom held on for fourth.

With his own strong riding and the team’s concerted efforts, Grant remained on the podium for the 2011 ToWC Cat 4 GC.

In the 3/4 field, Grayson and I remained in the mix throughout the various stages against a tough field. Congratulations are certainly in order to the guys from Bike Doctor, who won Friday’s Hagerstown Twilight Crit and Sunday’s Williamsport Crit. They’re an impressive outfit of crit specialists, and this season has certainly shown that.

Also, a big and hearty salute is due to Joe Jefferson and all of the promoters, officials and volunteers that put on a full weekend of exciting racing. The Twilight Crit was a knock-out success, and the ToWC again proved to be both exhausting and exhilirating.

For totally unrelated and random reasons, District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop hasn’t had much luck at Ride Sally Ride over the last two years. In 2009, a nasty crash led to an aborted Cat 4 race, and last year the Cat 3 race was called a lap early as a massive thunderstorm rolled over the course.

This year, though, things seem to have changed for the better. On Saturday Lisette and Sarah (pictured above) went fourth and fifth in the Cat 4 Women’s race and Tom S. took third in the Cat 4 Men’s!

Lots of great pics here.

This picture pretty accurately sums up our highlight of the weekend: Chas took second place in the Masters 4/5 race at Leonardtown! Not only did he basically attack at the gun, but he managed to aggressively work his way through the toughest turn on the course, survive a pedal skip and flat, and otherwise outlast everybody but the one guy who attacked him on the last lap. He was helped by a number of teammates during the race (Seth, Gregg, Mike R., Tony A-M) and feted with beer and Mexican food afterwards.

Well deserved, Chas. The rest of us can only stare at this picture and wonder how you didn’t go down.

Phew! What a great weekend of racing, and an excellent set of results and efforts for District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop.

The basic rundown: Four podiums! We got ourselves a win (Tony in the Cat 3 race at Ft. Ritchie), three second-place finishes (Dennis at Turkey Hill 3/4 and Jeff Cup 3/4 and Nathan at Turkey Hill 4) and placed three riders in the Top 10 at the Jeff Cup 3/4 race.

We also had two teammates prove their hardman and hardwoman bona fides: Chas raced twice in two different states on Saturday (morning at Ft. Ritchie, afternoon at Turkey Hill) while Sarah took second in the Turkey Hill 5K before jumping into the women’s race!

In other solid results, Tony took fourth and I took seventh in the Cat 3 field at Jeff Cup (added to Dennis’ strong finish in second place, we had three in the Top 10), Corey claimed fourth amongst the 4s in the combined 3/4 field at Jeff Cup, Nate took eighth in the Men’s 4 at Jeff Cup, Sarah came in eighth in the Women’s 4 at Jeff Cup, and Matt took ninth in the Cat 4 race at Ft. Ritchie.

With his win at Ft. Ritchie, Tony managed to defend the GamJams Cat 3 Cup Leader’s jersey (a picture of the proud jersey-holder here), and likely pushed DVR to the top of the team standings. Given his results over the last week, along with Dennis’ incredibly strong performance at this weekend’s road races (who knew the Dutchman could sprint?), it’s certain that they’ll both soon be seeing the Cat 2 ranks, which means that we’re going to do our best to defend the jersey throughout the season.

Beyond results, it was a great weekend for solid teamwork, one of the things we here at DVR pride ourselves on. There’s a lot of sacrifice going on amongst the team’s members, whether chasing down a break or shouting encouragements at teammates as they ride by.

This coming weekend: Greenbelt, Poolesville, Smoketown Crit, and Leonardtown.

Are we going to produce a race report for each of the 16 Greenbelts this year? Probably not, but the first one was good enough for District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop to merit mention.

In the B race, Nate Gazzetta landed himself the victory, thus assuring that he’ll be wearing the leader’s jersey next week! Nate’s following in the large footsteps of Dennis, who won the B race series in 2009, and Jon, who took third place in the same series last year. It’s obviously too early to call an overall victory for Nate, unless every Greenbelt from now on is called due to freak weather. Which they might. Regardless, congrats to him on the early season win! Additional props to Matt for taking fifth — good enough for a point!

As for the A race, Dennis got about as close to succeeding in a breakaway as you can in Greenbelt, but it again came down to a bunch sprint in which I managed fifth place. Now, this wouldn’t otherwise be a big deal, but this is my first Greenbelt A series point ever, so I’m happy. Again, if that freak weather cancels every Greenbelt from now on in and the four finishers in front of me abandon the sport, I’ll win the series! Here’s to hoping.

District Velocity Racing p/b Bicycle Pro Shop was well-represented over the weekend in two races: Pennsylvania’s Tour de Ephrata and the local Bunny Hop Criterium.

Quick take: Corey places highest at Ephrata, taking sixth GC in the Cat 4 field, while Ringer gets 10th! Dennis takes sixth in 3/4 Pain Mountain Time Trial. Tony gets in two breakaways — with the same partner, no less. We eat as much as our bodies allow. Sarah tries a late-race breakaway at Bunny Hop — and almost nails it! — while Tony Allen-Mills gets seventh in 55+. Strong racing this weekend.

Tour de Ephrata

A favorite for DVR, and we were happy to see this race back on the schedule after a one-year hiatus. Dan went up for the Cat 5 road race, Matt and Corey represented us in the Cat 4 field, and Tony, Dennis, Grayson, Patrick and I hit up the 3/4.

In the Cat 4 road race, Corey struck early, landing a solid fifth place in the bunch sprint. (Check out the pain faces here.) In the 3/4 race, Tony and Haymarket’s Darion Fleming (and a third rider who I couldn’t identify) jumped into a breakaway somewhere between laps two and three (of six), leaving Grayson, Dennis and I to patrol the front and stifle any attempts to catch them. Much as we tried, and much as Tony tried to stay away, he was caught with less than a mile to go after his breakaway partners fell back into the main field. Dennis placed top 20 in the bunch sprint, while the rest of us rolled in at the back of the field.

Though not race-related, that night we headed to the Shady Maple Smorgasbord for dinner. While we didn’t know what to expect, pretty much any place that advertised a 200-foot-long all-you-can-eat buffet had to be good, right? Indeed. Beyond the endless food (for $20, no less!), the smorgasbord was simply huge. It wasn’t a restaurant so much as it was a conference center that served food. We were there with at least 1,000 other hungry patrons — and we still didn’t even have to wait to be seated. Of course, as huge and glorious as the place was — a real slice of middle America, to be honest — it was oddly depressing. The healthiest options available were in the salad bar, and even there the most-advertised dressing was, I kid you not, “Hot Bacon Dressing.” (The place also advertised that it sold a million donuts a year.) Even worse, the smorgasbord not only sold annual passes, but offered discounts for patrons that had had gastric bypass surgery. Yeah.

The next morning, we headed to the Pain Mountain Time Trial, where Corey and Matt hoped to put in solid rides and keep in the running for GC spots and Dennis hoped to prove that despite being from a country with absolutely no elevation (he’s Dutch), he can climb with the best of them. All three did what they set out to do, with Dennis placing highest amongst DVR racers with a very solid sixth place in the 3/4 field.

In the afternoon crits, Corey and Matt played their cards right and kept themselves safe, coming out of the race with great top 15 GC placings — Corey was sixth, Ringer 10th. Nicely done, gents.

In the 3/4 crit, Tony and Darion again got away (great pic here), staying clear for over 20 laps. I sat third wheel pretty much the whole time, watching as the field couldn’t seem to agree whether a real chase was worth the effort. Finally, Shirks p/b Trek, a Pennsylvania team that had the biggest presence in the race, sent a few guys to the front and did solid work to catch the break — and caught it with a mere two laps to go. It was as heart-breaking as it was exhilarating — this was real racing we were witnessing. Two bell-lap crashes (including one that felled Darion) left Tony, Grayson and I to roll in at the back of the field, but we were happy that we all put in the efforts we did. Tony and Darion certainly deserve an award for being the most aggressive riders in the 3/4 field.

All told, a great weekend in Ephrata. Hopefully the race will stay on the calender for 2012.

Bunny Hop Crit

Sarah did us proud in the Women’s Cat 4 field at Bunny Hop, riding aggressively in her first season as a racer and almost nailing a podium spot. As fellow DVR teammate Tony Allen-Mills noted, “She was up with the front pack all the way, seized the lead at the start of the final lap, but may have gone a little too early. She was swallowed by the group sprint at the end, but she looked really strong and with a bit more experience the podium beckons…”

Speaking of Tony, he fared well himself, taking seventh place in the 55+ race. (The man might be a distinguished British journalist, but he still breaks legs when he has to.) Tom S., Bender and Stacey also raced, proudly flying the DVR colors, mixing it up at the front and staying safe on what’s a notioriously rough course. We’ve got some good pictures of the race here.

This Weekend

Never too soon to be plotting what’s next, right? Some of us will be back in Pennsylvania for the Turkey Hill Country Classic (or just the free ice cream), others will be competing at the Fort Ritchie Crit. Sunday will see us head into Virginia for a hopefully warmer Jeff Cup than what we’re all used to.