Bishop and Barclay win a rocky stage 2 of the Trans-Sylvania Epic

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Jeremiah Bishop (Sho-Air/Cannondale) and Vicki Barclay (NoTubes Elite Women's Team) won a rocky stage 2 at the Trans-Sylvania Epic on Monday.

Bishop earned himself some more time on his rivals and retained his leader's jersey while Cheryl Sornson (Rare Diseases Cycling Team) also kept hers by finishing second, but at the same time as Barclay.

Men

Bishop beat Nick Waite (ProTested Gear) for the stage win. Under 25 rider Payson McElveen (Richard's Rainwater) was third, although his result did not count in the elite category, so Spencer Paxson (Kona) officially took the third spot on the day.

"I knew this would be a hard stage, but I didn't know how it would pan out with the addition of more trail," said Bishop.

A pack of all the favorites entered the singletrack together although Bishop was caught off guard upon its start and entered the trail in eighth place.

Kona's Kris Sneddon attacked off the front and quickly got a gap - he and his teammate Paxson had planned to string things out a bit.

Bishop was further stressed when he got a stick jammed in his back wheel, stopping the wheel and him immediately. After breaking the stick into pieces, he removed it and got back to chasing.

"I fell back to about 12th, then I put in a big dig on the road to catch back up to near the front," said Bishop. "The guys had let Kris get up the road a bit, and I knew it wasn't good to let him get too much time. We finally caught him on a long rocky climb up toward checkpoint #1 at about 15 miles."

Bishop then tried to get away, but couldn't do so; however, the effort helped him drop some of the others. He whittled the group down to Waite, Paxson and McElveen.

Finally, upon hitting a rocky ridge after a long road climb, Bishop and Waite applied more pressure and gapped Paxson and McElveen.

Waite said, "We were going pretty fast on the climbs. Jeremiah and I made a separation on multiple climbs, but Spencer and Payson were descending very well so those guys would come bombing back up to us. That happened a few times and finally it snapped with about 15 miles to go."

At the front, Bishop and Waite would work together for most of the rest of the race until the final long climb up toward the finish, when Bishop got away.

"Coming into the final climb, which I knew from previous races, Nick hit it hard, then he sat back down and coasted for a second," said Bishop. "I knew something weird was happening and I went hard up that to get every bit of time I can get. I need to build buffer on my lead because I could lose it fast with a flat."

"This race requires a lot of finesse. You need to ride well, but consistently, and I plan on focusing on that for the rest of the week."

Bishop finished nearly three minutes in front of Waite.

Paxson stayed with the two leaders the longest, after McElveen crashed and had to stop and deal with a crash-related mechanical. However, the Kona rider had to finally back off a bit.

"I had to mitigate my cramp situation," said Paxson on a day when staying hydrated was a challenge. "It was painful to watch the guys walk away. Payson caught up to me after I'd come off Jeremiah and Nick, and he and I rode together until the bottom of Stillhouse Hollow, which is when I said goodbye to him."

McElveen finished about three and a half minutes after Bishop but one minute up on Paxson. Sneddon rode in for the fifth spot on the day.

In the general classification, Bishop leads Waite and Paxson.

Women

Barclay finished the 41-mile stage in a time of 4:27:22, crossing the line with race leader Sornson. Selene Yeager (Rare Diseases Cycling) was third about 10 and a half minutes later.

"This is my first stage win at the Trans-Sylvania Epic. I never felt so good at the end of a stage," said Barclay, who lives nearby in State College, Pennsylvania. "I definitely had the home court advantage. I've ridden the exact loop minus the final climb, and I knew how much it would hurt and that I'd need a lot of water."

Barclay struggled to hang onto the group early in the race on the initial road section while Sornson rode comfortably in the front bunch and entered the singletrack as the first woman.

"It was a fast road ride out, and I just wanted to get that section over with," said Sornson. "I got a gap and got into the trail feeling good. I got to the first checkpoint and knew I had at least a minute advantage."

Mary McConneloug (Kenda/NoTubes) chased in second, ahead of Yeager in third. Barclay worked her way up to Yeager and then McConneloug.

At the front, Sornson decided she needed to dial it back a bit as her legs were hurting.

"Climbing the rocky trail after the first checkpoint at about 17 miles, I could see Cheryl," said Barclay. "I tried to stay smooth and felt good - only going into the red on the road. I caught Cheryl at the bottom of the Sassafrass enduro and then we rode together the rest of the day - we were cruising fast, but didn't try to attack each other. We took turns going hard to force the pace."

Sornson said, "We were both riding hard to get time on the others. We decided she'd cross the line first and get the stage win, and it'd be good for me to keep my jersey - we tried to be smart about it."

Behind them, McConneloug struggled and was eventually passed by Yeager.

"I had periods when I felt good and periods when I didn't," said Yeager. "I tried to be consistent. This day there is no break - the rocks are fun, but even the road sections you have to pay attention. I overcooked one turn and went over my bars and I crashed in a stream."

In the general classification, Sornson now leads Barclay, who moved up into second. Yeager is in third.

Under 25 men and women

McElveen took the top honors in the under 25 category, ahead of Cameron Dodge (Pure Energy/Scott Elite) in second and last year's overall winner Madison Matthews (Toasted Head Racing) in third.

"Today was a good day. I'm enjoying racing the elite guys even though I don't get scored with them," said McElveen, who kept his overall lead.

In the under 25 women's race, Kaysee Armstrong (Kona/TBB Race) won the stage ahead of Emily Shields (BMC Project Dirt) and Ellen Noble (Bear Development Team).

"I felt rough on the climbs and Emily dropped me, but then she got a flat with about six miles to go and I passed her," said Armstrong, who also took over the race lead from Noble. "I was disappointed to see a big climb at the end, but I was excited to finish first after I had figured all day that Emily had got it."

Race notes

In an unusual occurrence, a small fire broke out next to the course during the race.  Some racers flew past the flames, which extended to right next to the trail, but one rider turned back to tell a photographer who he'd just passed.  That photographer, Devon Balet, ran toward the fire and singlehandedly beat it out with sticks.  Though he called for help from a nearby videographer a bit further up the trail, no one could hear him.  By the time the fire department and forest service had responded, Balet had extinguished the flames.

The cause of the fire is undetermined although the rangers speculated that perhaps it was caused by a spark from a rider's pedal hitting a rock.

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