Bishop defends attacks on lead

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Trans-Sylvania Epic's day three welcomed racers with a steady downpour not unlike some of the days seen in the 2010 Giro d'Italia. The similarity doesn't stop there, as the GC shuffled hard today within the women's category. Selene Yeager (Team CF) soloed to a dominant 12-minute victory that began with the first climb of the day.

The men's field is still being led by Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing), but each day he has to fend off attacks from new challengers. The result is a top five behind him that's eager to put time into its nearest rival. Today, Alex Grant (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Brandon Draugelis (PAValleys.com) finished within the same minute of Bishop to take third and fourth respectively.

Despite the race bible's statement that stage three would be a "Flatter/Rolling stage" the day had a classic Pennsylvania 13-mile climb that involved enough false summits to please the strongest climbers. Mark Weir (WTB) posted on Wilderness Trail Bikes' Facebook page that "there is nothing like climbing a million miles to find out it was 10."

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The stage started and finished at the Seven Mountains Boy Scout camp. The first climb of the day retraced the road climb of the prologue and took a left on the first piece of single track from day one.

The rain turned a rough descent into a slimy mess and Bishop was gunning to get clear of any potential trouble by diving in first. Exiting from the first section of trail there were a group of 11. All the top men were included in the mix.

Slowly the bunch began to break apart until it was down to Bishop, Evan Plews (evanplews.com), Draugelis, Christian Tanguy (Team CF) and Drew Edsell (Yeti). On the mind of Bishop and local Draugelis was the Fisherman's trail near the halfway point outside of the town of Coburn. One of the most challenging trails in the area was made impossible by the day's rain.

Bishop attacked at the start of Fisherman's and came out with a 30-second gap over Draugelis and Drew. Then out came Tanguy and Plews. The crew of four hurtled themselves up the climb to catch Bishop at the top. "Brandon was the surprise of the day and was bombing fire road downhills! I wasn't so excited about that so I backed off and we came back together on the cinder railroad grade," said Bishop afterwards.

On the next climb, Draugelis attacked again with Edsell and soon Tanguy. Grant jumped the gap from Plews and Bishop and soon after Bishop started accelerating to catch the four ahead. Towards the top he managed to reconnect and when he looked back Plews was gone.

Just before the top Edsell popped and all that was left were Bishop, Grant, Tanguy and Draugelis. The four stayed together over the last major climb of the day, but it was the trail they had started the day on that proved to be the decider.

Draugelis dropped in first and according to Bishop was "ripping it before he caught a stick with his wheel. Then I endo'd." It was the last little trail pitch that was too slippery to ride and that put the final finish in its order. Bishop and Grant came across one second apart and Draugelis followed in 17 seconds later to make it a Cannondale top three. Tanguy rolled in a minute back.

According to Bishop, "Everyone was really motivated to put time in on their rivals and I benefited." In almost the same breath Bishop pointed out that there are still a lot of days to go and "a weird explosion can happen to anyone and their bikes." The Pennsylvania trails are known for keeping the bike mechanic happy.

Women's leader's jersey changes hands again

When one of your job titles is "The Fitness Chick" you might want to back it up. Selene Yeager (Team CF) proved that given an open road and some hills, she deserves that moniker.

As a multiple Ironman competitor Yeager has the pedigree to go the distance, but it wasn't till the last couple of years that she has chosen to test the mountain bike endurance world. She won stage three with almost 13 minutes to spare in front of 24 Hour World Champion Rebbeca Rusch (Specialized) and took back the leader's jersey from 100 miler contender Karen Potter (MtbRacenews.com).

When waking up in the morning "I can usually tell if it's going to be a good day." and today was one of those days, according to Yeager. That 'good day' feeling added up to riding away from the women and most of the men for all 45 miles.

For Rusch it was a different story upon waking, however. After a hard day on stage two when she suffered from asthma attacks, she was uncertain how things would go. Fortunately the rain and cooler weather helped her relax into a good day on the bike. "I felt like 50 percent of my normal self and I felt a little bit of racer spark back in me," she said. That's a good sign to see from one of the sports top professionals.

In regards to the stage, Rusch was happy to have a less physical course that allowed a small break before the remaining days' trails. "I was really thankful it was mostly road riding. It was beautiful riding through Amish country." she said.

Single Speed jersey goes back to Martin

Doug Jenne (Ghostship Clothing/ High Gear) had to return the SS jersey to Greg Martin (Club Ride Apparel) after Martin put over 14 minutes on Jenne.

Yesterday saw Martin suffering from cramps in the high heat, but stage three's rain was welcomed by Martin. "I like riding in the rain and I kind of embrace it." To take him to the finish Martin stuck with the 32/18 gear he had the day before and it ended up being the right choice.

Jenne and Rich Dillen (Team Dickey) battled it out till the 20 mile mark, but the Dillen couldn't hold Jenne's wheel on the remaining big climbs. With any luck the remaining days will see a couple more jersey exchanges.

Tomorrow's stage: Raystown Lake

Tomorrow's race will visit the Raystown Lake trail system. Riders will race on 36 miles of trail that circumnavigates the lake. Raystown Lake is the site of Dirt Rag's Dirtfest from last weekend.

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