Sunday AMBC Greenbrier Challenge National Championship qualifier Greenbrier State Park Boonsboro Maryland
Cummings 20-29 Expert Mayhew Single Speed Open
"If I hadnt seen the guy in front of me ride through it, I would have maybe gotten off and walked" Stephen Cummings said referring to the "creek" (river) crossing on Sunday's 4 lap 22 mile cross country mountain bike race. The rain from the previous week had really washed out a lot of the course, and caused the creeks and puddles to swell into rivers and ponds. This did not prevent IRMC from placing two racers into podium spots during Sunday's race. Chris Mayhew rode a time trial, holding second place from the first lap until the finish line without seeing another racer in his class. Cummings fought his way back after a sloppy first lap, slowly picking riders off to find the final podium spot and a qualification for the National Championship in Vermont this summer.
It is estimated that 20 lbs of Maryland mud was brought back to Western PA attached to their bikes and clothing. Pictures of the epically messy race to follow.
Saturday. Race at the Lake RATL#2 Munroe Falls Ohio IRMC Team Present Cioccio Lifson Nicoll Cummings
At RATL #1 the IRMC team missed the breakaway and had to settle for winning the field sprint for a bitter sweet 6th place finish. This week at the prerace meeting, it was agreed on that we had to be in every move, or we would risk the same result. There were plenty of strong Regional/National teams present, including the current Elite road national champion and men's 30-35 road national champion (same person). This led to a very aggressive race with lots of attacks and counter attacks, which eventually split the field in two. Chris Cioccio was in the longest lasting breakaway of day, which might have lasted 4 or 5 laps. The field was too strong and impatient to allow any other threatening moves to develop. The final lap came and Cummings started the lead out from the start finish in an attempt to prevent any last lap attacks. The goal was to try and set up a clean sprint for Lifson. As Cummings ran out of gas, he was immediately counter attacked by an Inferno rider. Cioccio took over with the lead out, reeling in the rider and setting Lifson up for a hotly contested sprint. Jake managed to pull out the victory against some of the strongest riders in the midwest and the current elite national champion.
IRMC with two race wins and the overall Mingo title!
40 degree rain did not keep four members of the IRMC cycling team away from the final Mingo Spring Series Road Race. The race started slow, but eventually the field splintered into a small group containing Cummings and Lifson. UPMC cycling had 3 team members in the group, which posed a threat.
The group further whittled down to just Jake Lifson for IRMC and Justin Kanter for UPMC. Jake is an odds on favorite in a bunch sprint, and did not let down. He lead the sprint out and won the race. Cummings held on for 5th place to clinch the overall series victory.
April 13, 2008 CATEGORY 1-2-3 and MASTERS 40-49 = 7 laps = 33 miles 1 Jake Lifson Indiana Regional Medical Center 1:33:48 2 Justin Kanter UPMC st 3 Jeremy Kirchin UPMC 1:34:20 4 Steve Bedillion UPMC st 5 Stephen Cummings Indiana Regional Medical Center
2008 Mingo Creek Road Race Series Points CATEGORY 1-2-3 3/30 4/6 4/13 TOTAL 1 Stephen Cummings 10 6 4 16 2 Justin Kanter 0 3 8 11 3 Jake Lifson 0 0 10 10
A quick recap of the Mingo race: Present: Chris Cioccio Stephen Cummings Ed Krall Jake Lifson Chris Mayhew Mark Nicoll
Sunday's race was a good race the IRMC team. We started the race aggressively and finished it successfully. From the start whistle, we had a man in every move. The initial move slipped away within the first mile containing Chris Mayhew. Over the first climb, Mountain bike legend Gunnar Shogren and Cummings got away for a lap. After being chased down, Jake Lifson attacked with strong man Joe Valese. That move threatened to be the winning move for the day. However, unrepresented teams chased it down. The counter attack went and the numbers were right. It contained: Cummings (IRMC), Johnson (PSU Cancer Center), Valese (ProGraphics), Quinlin (MVC), Fisher (Freddie Fu), and Kirchin (UPMC).
The field behind splintered, with remaining teammates in smaller groups. At one point, Chris Cioccio was hanging mere seconds off the lead group.
The break worked together for the remaining 4 laps. On the finishing lap, Cummings attacked over the climb. It was a predictable move, and was pretty quickly brought back. The fact that it was chased down so quickly showed that some of the guys were still pretty fresh. Cummings sat in the remaining half lap to try and recover for what was going to be a group finish.
There were few attacks with 1 mile and 1/2 mile to go.Cummings didnt chase and saved energy for the finish. The finishing straight has a long run in and he waited until almost too late to jump passing 3 riders in the last 100 meters for the win.
It was a great day for the Indiana Regional Medical Center team, we were aggressive enough to be in every move, and conservative enough to hold out for the win. Great job guys, we set a high bar for the season!
