Ben's Performance Bicycles

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- Ben

BPB racer Mike Birner won in a sprint finish in the Masters 35+ 3/4 race at the Michael P. Murad road race this past weekend.  Here is the play-by-play in his own words:

"We've done 4 laps, there's two to go and no breaks have stayed away for any amount of time. Two guys are 20s up the road but not really a threat, looking to come right back once the pace picks up which it's starting to do. We come around a corner to find a woman on her horse off the side of the road. Horse gets spooked and starts bucking, starts running, bucks again throwing the woman and dragging her before she gets loose and stepped on. There is now a loose horse in the middle of our field running alongside us. People are yelling to hold up, stop the race. All but the 2 in the break have every indication of what's going on. Some stop to help the lady, some of us try to catch the horse. Some, yes some, decide to keep racing up the road. In the midst of this, the official says the race is stopped, to wait at the corner and we'll restart once we have the police back, the horse is caught and the woman is taken care of. Meanwhile the wheel van took a left off the course to go after, and finally catch, the horse."

BPB racers had a wildly successful cyclocross season this year, which concluded the past couple of weekends with both the MABRA, MAC and VA championships.

In the Masters Elite category, Blair Saunders finished out the year in fine season with wins in both the MABRA and MAC finales.  This gave Blair 3rd place in both the 35+ and 45+ categories despite missing three races in the series.  Despite dealing with illness for most of the season, Mike Birner finished 12th in the MABRA series for the year.

In the Masters B category, BPB riders Neil Sapp and Scott Stahl finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in both the 35+ and 45+ groups, with just four points separating them in them in the latter.

In the Cat 4 ranks, Mark Stahl took his first podium finish with a 5th at the MABRA championships.  Barry Hindman carried the BPB flag in the Virgina Cyclocross series with three top-10s including a 4th in the finale and 11th overall in the series.

With cyclocross season at its end, BPB racers will begin their winter recovery and training and look forward to the 2010 road, mountain and cyclocross seasons.  Check back here for more details!

This past weekend was a great success for BPB racers.  Saturday's Schooley Mill Cross was wet and muddy although the weather for the day was nearly perfect for a cyclocross race.  Blair Saunders put in a move on the last lap of the Elite Masters race and held off the chasers to pick up the win.

Sunday's Rockburn Cross saw a BPB 1-2 finish in the Masters B race with Neil Sapp bringing home the win and Scott Stahl in 2nd.  In the Elite Masters race Blair Saunders captured 2nd place (1st in 45+) and Mike Birner finished 7th.