Bishop overcomes mechanical to defend lead

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Stage 2 of the Trans-Sylvania Epic, featuring a remote start from Greenwood Furnace State Park and return to the picturesque 7 Mountains Camp, gave race leader Jeremiah Bishop a scare and shook up the women's leader board. Stage 2 was the hardest stage, with the 40-mile course featured close to 30 miles of classic rocky Pennsylvania singletrack gnarliness strung together in a long flowing chain with small breaks afforded by dirt roads of the Rothrock forest.

The stage had participants digging deep with temperatures and humidity adding to the challenge of the trails, but as multiple 24-hour National Points Series champion Rob Lichtenwalner (who is racing the mountain bike tandem category with wife Sarah for the PAValleys.com Team) put it, it was challenging in a "That is the best singletrack in the world!" sort of way.

Although the field faces five more days of racing, day two started hard and fast with a group of six men separating themselves by the first major descent on the techincal Telephone Trail just a few miles into the stage. Emerging from this section were Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing), Christian Tanguay (Team CF), Drew Edsall (Yeti), Evan Plews (EvanPlews.com). Brandon Draugelis (PAValleys.com) and Alex Grant (CFR) were only a handful seconds in arrears.

Plews, looking to regain time lost in the open prologue, pressured the group on the ensuing climb and forged a small gap while Bishop realized his rear brake had failed. The trail into checkpoint one spread this group, with small gaps forming between each racer and Bishop trailing in fourth looking for mechanical support.

The aptly named Beautiful Trail saw Plews emerge a full 1:30 ahead of Tanguay while Edsall trailed a further 0:30 back and Bishop, charging hard, another 0:30 behind. By this point the racers were into the heart of the Pennsylvania singletrack and Draugelis used his skills to separate himself from Grant, but was trailing the leader by 4:00 and Edsall by 2:00.

Things changed dramatically by checkpoint 2 as Plews had flatted and Bishop capitalized with the two riders entering Chestnut Trail at the same time. Tanguay was still holding strong 2:00 back, but Draugelis had closed the gap significantly to Edsall and was now within shouting distance of yesterday's second place finisher. This marked the end of the technical trail riding and any further reshuffling of the field.

Bishop, now in a position to defend his lead, rode tactically and threw in a last attack on Plews, the day's big mover and shaker, to pad the lead by a few more seconds. Tanguay crossed third and Draugelis and Edsall called truce on the run to the line with Drauglis rolling in a second ahead of the Yeti rider.

Meanwhile in the women's race, Karen Potter (MTBRaceNews.com) took the women's win and the overall lead as yesterday's winner Selene Yeager (Team CF) faced the challenge of a mangled derailleur hanger in addition to the abilities of her rivals.

Potter, Yeager and Rebecca Rusch (Specialized) went out as fast as the men and the heat and humidity seemed to hit Rusch harder than her competitors with Yeager and Potter distancing themselves from her on the early climbs. Yeager's mechanical gave Potter the opening she needed and Potter used it to full advantage by railing the singletrack and then settling in on the roads that finished the stage once the gap was established.

Potter really enjoyed the race, later saying, "It was hot. Rough terrain today, but fun. It was a good mix and the singletrack here really inspires me." Potter is looking forward to tomorrow's 45-mile long Coburn stage from the base camp and featuring portions of the original mtb 100 miler - the Wilderness 101 - where she will defend her new Trans-Sylvania leader's jersey.

Other category winners today include Kristin Gavin and Nikki Thiemann of Team CF in duo, Doug Jenne (High Gear Cyclery/Ghostship Clothing) in singlespeed, and Garth Prosser in masters field and Rob and Sarah Lichtenwalner of PAValleys.com Team in tandem category.

The general classification at the Trans-Sylvania Epic reflects the finishes of today's stage with Bishop, Potter, Prosser, Gavin and Thiemann, and Jenne leading their respective categories.

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