Lindine and Carey win stage 2 in Tran-Sylvania Epic

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Justin Lindine (Redline/NBX) and Amanda Carey (Stan's NoTubes Women's Elite) raced to victories in stage 2 of the Trans-Sylvania Epic. As the men's and women's race leaders, both defended their yellow jerseys on a 36-mile stage including lots of technical, rocky singletrack through Rothrock State Forest. The technical nature of the stage caused many flats and mechanical failures, but riders couldn't have asked for better weather; it was sunny and mid-70s.

Men

Racing kicked off after a neutral start to get riders over a bridge that was mostly out. Promoters had covered its beams with plywood to allow racers to walk across.

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"We took off up the hill, and there was a selection right away, especially with the fast and technical descent that followed," said Lindine, who was joined by several other riders, including favorites Sam Koerber (ProGold), Brian Matter (RACC/Trek/ProGold) Drew Edsall (Kenda Felt) and Aaron Snyder (TSEpic).

Koerber set the pace on the a very narrow and technical first steep singletrack climb and got a gap on his chasers.

"I was lucky enough to get into the first singletrack first. I rode hard and got a little gap and that got me excited, and I just went with it," said Koerber. "I tried to keep it going. I did wreck one time and knocked my teeth, but I got back on before anyone caught me."

Koerber chipped both of his front teeth, but it didn't seem to slow him down significantly.

Lindine, Matter and Edsall comprised the chase group heading toward aid station 1.

"We were working together to chase Sam down. It took us awhile to reel him back in, then we rode the middle part of the race together," said Lindine.

"Justin picked up the pace on a dirt road section," said Matter. "It was a pretty hard chase. He was out of sight - pretty far gone."

Lindine and Matter caught Koerber, and the three raced together for the middle portion of the race.

The three stayed together until the second of the two enduro sections.

"I was swiping for those enduro stages and on the second one, when I swiped, two of them got a 15-second gap," said Matter, is the only one of the three doing the enduro sub-classification. "I was like... 'I have to close this gap as fast as possible.' On the next rocky section, I went a little to hot and flatted on a rock. At that point, those two were gone. I tried to fix it with air and sealant, but that didn't work, so I put a tube in."

Matter would never regain Lindine or Matter, but said, "I was happy no one caught me while I was fixing it." He rode the last eight miles alone to finish in third place on the day.

Lindine said he didn't know what happened to Matter. "We hit the road at the bottom, and I didn't see Brian anywhere. So we hit it pretty hard. Then I was able to drop Sam on all the climbing near the end and put some time in on the gravel road."

"I could see Sam for a little, and then when I hit the steeper pitches of the climb, I opened it up," said Lindine. "I was psyched to see the gap growing. I didn't want to kill myself to gain 10 seconds, but it was worth it to gain a minute or two. My strategy was to get some more time."

Koerber described what happened. "Justin is climbing stronger than me, and I couldn't fake it any more. I wear a heart rate monitor now, and I can gage things better than I used to. I had to back off a little bit."

Generally, Koerber was faster on the descents while Lindine was the better climber. Both racers seemed to impress each other.

Lindine said, "Sam was super motivated today. He has tremendous technical skills so sometimes it's tough for me to hang in there with him. He pushes me on the descents."

Koerber said, "Justin is unbelievable - racing on a hard tail. I thought maybe I was gaining something on him... that was a really hard trail, but he was ripping on that thing. Brian Matter was ripping it too."

"Wow - what a ride that was. That was the fastest race I've had for a long time. You know, I haven't done these two-hour races. With these shorter stages, the racing is intense. We have a competitive field - we're all on a similar level, which is fun."

Women

Carey won stage 2 ahead of a resurgent Sue Haywood, (Stan's NoTubes), who was back in action at the front end of the field after yesterday's mechanical cost her a bunch of time. Sarah Kaufmann (Stan's NoTubes) finished in third place.

With all categories starting simulatenously on a narrow, rocky dirt road, the top women first made sure they were together for the start.

"Then we went at it," said Carey. "It was me and Vicky [Barclay] and Sarah and Sue in a pack at the start. I never looked behind us because it was just us."

"We kept a strong pace up the first climb and down the first descent. We were all together until the first singletrack. Vicki being the local, knew exactly where the first singletrack was and got in there first."

Halfway up the climb, Carey, Haywood and Kaufmann rode around Barclay and formed the lead group of three.

Then Carey and Haywood got away from Kaufmann. Carey and Haywood would race together for about half the stage, until the final enduro section.

"I don't think either of us was just hanging in there for dear life," said Carey. "I could keep her in sight on downhills now, which is still shocking for me, and she's a strong climber, so she was right there on the climbs.

Haywood said the technical course suited her well. "The changes they made to the course were awesome for me and my abilities because they kept singletrack in longer chunks all together so you didn't have the road sections breaking it up as much. That meant I could stay with Amanda a lot longer."

Carey called their race "a fun group ride for both of us, but at hammer pace".

Going into the second aid station, Haywood said she was starting to feel the fatigue. Carey began to pull away on the last singletrack climb, en route to the final enduro.

Haywood got a front flat on the rocks of the second enduro stage. "I was able to put air in it and then I was good to go, so it didn't cost a ton of time, but it was definitely nerve-wracking." She did not get any splits on how far back her chasers were.

Carey had a 45-second gap on Haywood at the second aid station and rode the rest of the race solo. "Once I hit the road, I tried to put in as much effort as was reasonable for day 2. I felt good. I kept it hard, but reasonable. It was a good day."

Haywood, who said she enjoyed the course and is famously skilled at riding rocks, was one of the only racers interviewed afterward to think the stage's rocky sections are getting easier.

"Those rocks were like pavement," said Haywood. "The trails are getting better and better so they aren't as selective." She was happy to move up a spot in the GC and close in on second and third places in the overall.

Behind the two leaders, Kauffman and Barclay chased.

"Vicky was yo-yoing behind me. She would catch up on the singletrack and then I'd drop her on the climbs. I wanted to work with her, but I didn't want to wait for her. We were all pretty close I think."

"I was by myself a lot," said Kaufmann. "I rode with Dejay Birtch a lot. I had three flats at this race last year, and I got hit by a car last year so I'm just so happy to be healthy and riding my bike."

Singlespeed men

After yesterday's time trial, Dax Massey (Breck Epic/Honey Stinger/Light and Motion) led the singlespeed class by a mere nine seconds over local rider Matt Ferrari (FreezeThaw/Hubcap Cycles). With tight margins separating most of the singlespeed field, today's stage had the potential to cause great shifts in the overall standings.

As the riders reached the first section of singletrack, Ferrari charged ahead of his competitors to ensure he entered No Name - a steep, rocky chute typically ridden as a descent - first to begin the long, grueling climb.

"I figured that if I was going to try to get the [leader's] jersey, today was the only day I could do it," said Ferrari. From that decisive moment, Ferrari would continue to expand his lead over his competitors and take first place for the day.

Behind Ferrari's dominating win, stage 1 winner Massey was forced to spend much of his day chasing down Dejay Birtch (Ride for Reading/Stan’s NoTubes/Maxxis/Pivot) and Rich Dillen (Faster Mustache), who passed the jersey holder when he took a wrong turn into a section of singletrack. Though Massey was able to move up to second place by the halfway point, he would trail race leader Ferrari by approximately four minutes for most of the race.

In the final miles, Massey yielded an additional two minutes to Ferrari, but was able to maintain his position for a second place finish. Rich Dillen followed in third.

Ferrari's early attack earned him more than enough time on GC to surpass Massey in standings and develop a strong time buffer entering the third stage. Dillen's impressive ride also shifted the standings as he moved from fifth to third overall in the GC competition. Looking forward, Ferrari believes stage 4 to be the larger challenge in retaining his lead on the singlespeed class.

"Even though I know the trails, you should never get cocky on the rocks," Ferrari said.

Under 25

Tennessee's Cory Rimmer (Piney Flats/Dean Endurance) took over the U25 men leader's jersey with a win in the stage. Competitor Madison Matthews (The Bicycle Shop/MBR/Maxxis) suffered multiple mechanicals and dropped away from the top of the leader board. Gunnar Bergey (Cannondale/Champion Systems) took second on the stage and sits four minutes behind in second on the U25 GC. Besides chasing the U25 jersey, Bergey is keeping his squad in the Epic Team GC hunt. Toasted Head's Zach Adams moved into third on GC after finishing third on the stage.

In the U25 women's category, a major mechanical forced race leader, Donna Miller (TSEpic.com/NoTubes) to also take a neutral BMC from the checkpoint. As the sole competitor in this competition all she must do is finish out the event to win the free entry to the 2014 Trans-Sylvania Epic awarded to the U25 GC champions.

Duo Men

The duo men category mostly held onto the status quo after stage 2, with Drew Simson and Jon Firth (TransRockies/HoneyStinger/Planet Foods) expanding on their first place lead in GC with a first place finish. Mike Festa and Craig Lebair (Philadelphia Ciclismo) fought hard to chase down Simson and Firth, but ceded thirteen minutes to the leading team with their second place finish. Third place team Anthony Sanson and Matt Johnson (Racing for Riley/Summit City Bikes) held onto their third place GC placing, but sit only a scant eleven minutes ahead of fourth place GC team Catamount/1K2GO, comprised of Matt Salter and Don Harmeyer.

Duo Coed

No major changes occurred in the duo co-ed GC, as Kaarin Tae and Lawrence Plug (Java Blend) continued their early winning streak in the category. Chris Merriam and Libbey Sheldon (Crosshairs Cycling) held on to second place, but leads third place team Sean Riley and Elizabeth Shaner (Griggs Orthopedics) by only three minutes.

Masters 40+

In the masters 40+ category, Nate Ruch (Evolution) won in a bike throw over Alex Dawkins in a mad dash to the line. Ruch maintained his slight lead in the GC while Dawkins, a former winner of the masters 40+ competition, is making this the closest GC battle in the event.

Former category leader Chris Cyr (Bikeman.com) fell to the rear of the field but salvaged his opportunity to finish the event via a neutral BMC from the checkpoint. BMC's support of the event allows riders with these sorts of mechanical failures to officially finish the race and the Trans-Sylvania Epic is perhaps the only mountain bike stage race to offer this service. While likely out of the GC competition, Cyr will likely challenge for stage wins in days to come.

Masters 50+

In the masters 50+ competition, Jim Matthews continued his domination of the field with a 3:41:27 finish. The strong finish time was more than enough to secure the lead in GC. John Williams repeated a second place finish. Joe McCarthy's third place finish was fast enough to move him up to third in the overall standings, ahead of Jack Dalzell (Team CF-Ohio).

Enduro

Riders were treated to two opportunities to compete for the enduro jersey during today's stage. Going into the day, Zach Adams sought to retain his hold on the jersey, but strong attacks from his competition in the U25 field would wear him down right before the first enduro segment and weaken his attempt. Allowing a bit of rest later in the stage, Adams rebounded and worked hard to make up the deficit on the second segment. However, Adams' early loss would push him down to seventh place in the overall enduro competition.

The top honors for the day went to Brian Matter (RACC/TREK/PROGOLD), with Drew Edsall (Kenda/Felt) coming in second and Marc Basilliere (Bikerumor.com) in third.

In the women's competition, Andrea Wilson (Brickhouse Racing) bested the strong women's field to take the leader's jersey. Sue Haywood backed off of her strong ride to capture second in the competition, while Jordan Salman (Pisgah Tavern) placed third.

Stage 3

Tuesday will bring a 42-mile stage with nearly 5,000 feet of climbing. It contains more road and less singletrack, but organizers warned racers that it would not be easy.

"It's not like a stage you could ride on your 'cross bike," they said at the stage 3 preview meeting. "If you have a full suspension, ride it."

Lindine, who has done the race twice before gave his assessment. "Tomorrow has historically been easier. It's not as technical. It's longer and has more climbing, so on paper it sounds harder, but it tends to be a more group racing kind of a day."

"It's going to rain, which might change some things a little bit. There are some technical sections but they are not as prolonged as today. But if they are greasy and wet, it can be decisive. We'll see what tomorrow brings."

Stage 3 will offer the riders an additional two enduro segments to push their limits and fight for the leader's jersey.

Non-elite reports written by Tim Darwick.

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