Mercer

This past weekend Ed and Steevo went out to the Mercer Cup, the second stop of the USGP. Here is a great photo courtesy of Velonews.com of Steevo (#60) heading out on the course...

Wilderness 101

The 5th leg of the National Ultra Endurance mountain bike series stopped in Coburn, PA this past weekend. Two IRMC racers were in attendance. Steevo Cummings and Mark Nicoll lined up for the 101 mile mountain bike race alongside multiple national champions, a 6 time world champion and nearly 300 other competitors. The course consisted of a single 101 mile loop with over 10,000 feet of elevation gain. The terrain varied from technical rocky singletrack to dirt forest roads.

Mark had bad luck during the race. He managed to flat his tire, and get lost. After missing a turn and riding down a long descent, Mark realized his error and had to backtrack to where he went astray. Following this he rode a conservative ride to finish in the middle of the group. This made for a very long day.


Steevo managed to have good luck and experience from the previous year on his side. He fulfilled his goal of a sub 8 hour race, finishing the race in 7:46. He finished in 11th place as the 4th amateur.

Around mile 90 for Steevo...
Around mile 90 for Nicoll too...

Fort Cherry Road Race

Indiana Regional Medical Center Cycling team is proud to be a supporting team for the Fort Cherry Road Race. Come out to Western PA for this great event.

Details are below...

JULY 20th Fort Cherry Road Race announcement

CATEGORY	DISTANCE		START TIME	FEE	PRIZES
	Cat 1/2/3	56	miles	10:00 AM	$20	$600/7
	Cat 4/5	40	miles	10:05 AM	$20	$300/5
	Masters 45+	40	miles	10:10 AM	$20	$250/4
	Womens Open	24	miles	10:15 AM	$20	$250/4

Register at BikeReg

Mill Creek Circuit Race

Although it wasn't the longest race, the 90 degree heat made for a great race. Early on during the race there were many attacks. One of the attacks started by Ray Haung of Team Columbus rolled off the front at a point when everyone wanted some rest and stuck. Chris Cioccio quickly bridged the short distance and was joined by Nick Fisher of Team Freddy Fu and Thom Dominic of Team Spin. There were 2 others that joined Nick and Thom, but went back to the field shortly after. The heat and pace quickly took there toll on the riders. After getting about a 30 second gap, the break was having a hard time working together. Regardless, the break was able to hold off the field. On the final climb to the finish, Nick attacked with Chris Cioccio finishing second. Back in the field, none of the riders were willing to put in the effort to bridge to the break. Although many attacks occured, nothing developed which lead to Jake Lifson winning the field sprint for 5th! Overall, another good day for IRMC Cycling.

Start Line...Jake & Nicoll
Chris in the field

Jake in the mix
From the break of four, Chris rolling in for 2nd.

Mohican 100

Nearly 300 cyclists lined up to compete in the Mohican 100 mountainbike race on Saturday in Loudonville Ohio. This was the second stop onthe National Endurace Series race schedule. Notable racers includedpast 24 hour solo world champions, 24 hour solo national champion,previous Endurance Series champion, current Series points leader, and2006 Tour de France winner, Mr. Floyd Landis. IRMC's Steevo Cummingslined up alongside them.

The 100 mile course is nearly 60% singletrack, 10% pavement, and 30%dirt roads or doubletrack, which makes for a brutal day. Cummingsfound himself sitting in the top 10 at the 50 mile mark, beforefatigue started to set in. 6 hours into the race, he started crampingand needing to walk up some of the longer climbs. Pushing on as besthe could, he held out for 15th place and a finish time of nearly eightand a half hours.

16th annual Wilkesville cycling classic

Sunday May 4th
16th annual Wilkesville cycling classic
Wilkesville OH
Stephen Cummings

Sunday was the 16th annual Wilkesville cycling classic in Wilkesville
OH. The course is a clover shape, which brings the riders through the
town two times before finally coming back for the finsih, after 67
hilly miles. Only six riders were together the first time through
town, and only 4 the second time. Cummings found himself with only one
other racer heading into the famous "hawk station" climb, a 1 mile 6%
grade. Cummings attacked and soloed the final 5 miles for the win.

Urban Velo

Steevo describes his racing experience from the beginning until present in a great article in the most recent issue of Urban Velo. Click HERE to read the article.

RATL Video

Below is a clip of Jake winning the 2nd Race at the Lake!

Greenbrier Challenge

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.

Steevo through the muck...

Race at the Lake #2

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.

Mingo Creek Spring Road Race Series

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

Mingo

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!

1	Stephen Cummings	Indiana Regional Medical Center
2	Joe Vallese	Pro Graphics
3	Nick Fisher	Freddie Fu
4	Turner Johnson	PSU Cancer Institute
5	Dan Quinlan	Elves and More
6	Jeremy Kirchin	UPMC
7	Gunnar Shogren	Swashbuckler	1st 40+
8	Gerry Pflug	Speedgoat / SPK / Salsa	2nd 40+
9	Mike Jernigan	Pro Graphics
10	Chris Cioccio	Indiana Regional Medical Center

Steevo takes the win in the break. See below!

Early Season

On Sunday, March 2, 2008, Indiana Regional Medical Center scored its first top-ten finish of the year in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic Criterium in Columbus, Ohio. This was a big-money criterium held in conjunction with the annual bodybuilding contest...and yes, the Governator was, in fact, in attendance.

Team member and current Allegheny County champion, Jake Lifson, was aggressive throughout the race, showing the IRMC team colors at the front throughout. Jake won a mid-race prime (i.e., a prize given out for the first person across the line which does not count toward the overall results), and put in a strong showing to finish 8th overall (out of almost 100 participants). In the process, Jake beat some of the best racers in the mid-Atlantic states, including several current and former national champions.

This race is but a taste of things to come, and, as always, we could not have done it without our sponsor, Indiana Regional Medical Center.

Jake leading the group below...

Race to any Place

IRMC Cyclocross and Road Team rider Steevo Cummings was involved with The Race To Any Place. This is a great cause that involved "cyclists who took 15-minute intervals in a six-hour race on stationary bikes in the lobby of the U.S. Steel Building to raise money for the Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society."

Everyone appreciates Steevo's time for such a great cause.

Philipsburg Cross Photos

Below are a few photos of Bill Elliston and Stephan Kincaid courtesy of Anthony Skorochod and his site CyclingCaptured.com from the Philipsburg, NJ race that IRMC Team rider Bill Elliston puts on. Good job, Bill. Lots of time and hard work go into putting on races! Thanks again to Anthony for the photos. Click HERE to visit Cyclingcaptured.com



Geronimo pre-race



Bill cornering...


Bill rockin' his way to victory!
Geronimo descending...

Men A
1 1:00:45.9 Bill Elliston Easton PA EK Racing/Indiana Regional Med. Ctr.
2 1:01:25.8 Stephan Kincaid Pottstown PA EK Racing/Indiana Regional Med. Ctr.
3 1:01:52.1 J Gabriel Lloyd New York City NY CRCA - REMAX
4 1:02:02.6 Ben Showman West Point NY United States Military Academy
5 1:02:46.1 Jeremy Gardner Ithaca NY
6 1:04:04.5 Andrew Crooks NY NY Endurex
7 1:04:28.7 Martin Jones High Bridge NJ Team Somerset/Van Dessel/Bike King
8 1:05:02.8 Frank Zgoda Sussex NJ Skylands Cycling
9 1:06:10.7 Brian Lariviere Rockaway NJ Team Bulldog/Campmor
10 1:06:42.1 William Irving Rosendale NY Table Rock Tours and Bicycle Shop
11 1:00:49.0 Partland JP NY NY Watchung wheelman
12 1:04:25.2 Keith Licata Andover NJ Team Bulldog/Campmor