Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic: Day 7 - Bald Eagle Little Poe

Justin Lindine overturns his past years’ misfortunes to win the 2013 Trans-Sylvania Epic, while Amanda Carey takes her second overall win in the week-long stage race. After close racing all week, riders battled over an intense, 26-mile course in Stage 7 to confirm the final standings.


Open Men
Heading into the seventh and final stage of the Trans-Sylvania Epic, race leader Justin Lindine (Redline/NBX) led the Open Men field by a comfortable fifteen minute gap over Sam Koerber (Progold) in second. The strong lead allowed Lindine to race more defensively in the final stage to retain his leader’s jersey, while the other competitors used their final opportunity to defend or improve their standings in the GC.


Early in the race, Phil Grove (Hammer Nutrition) put in a strong effort and gained a substantial lead over the Open Men field. “Right before the long enduro section Aaron was pulling really hard; I was following him and the rest of the guys didn’t want to come around,” said Grove. On the road climb heading into the aid station, Grove had a 30 second gap over the chase group comprised of Aaron Snyder, Justin Lindine, and Sam Koerber. However, the group would catch Grove right near the aid station, ending his chance for a stage win. “I can’t quite hang on the dirt road climbs,” commented Grove.


From the checkpoint onward Snyder, Lindine, and Koerber developed a severe pace. “It took a little while to warm up, but I was just getting fired up there towards the end,” said Koerber, who felt particularly strong. Koerber stuck with Lindine, but would lose precious time when he clipped a pedal on a rock and crashed about two miles from the finish.

Sam Koerber finished up a great week of racing and finished 2nd overall.
Lindine developed a minute and half lead over second-place Koerber to take the win in the final stage and finalize his hold on the NoTubes Leader’s jersey in the GC competition.

Brian Matter (RACC/Trek/Progold) went through a troubling day on the bike after spending most of the night with a stomach virus. Matter rode strong to try to keep his third place standing in the GC over Aaron Snyder (TSEpic Team).

Snyder needed to make up twenty-two minutes in today’s stage to surpass Matter in the GC and stand on the overall podium. Snyder watched the clock tick away after he crossed the line, but would only put ten minutes into Matter on Stage 7, leaving him just outside of the overall podium for the week.

Very content with his performance over the week, Lindine commented that it felt “like everything came together,” adding, “We had a pretty good field. Everybody was taking their shot at it every day. It was fast racing.”

Lindine intends to return for the 2014 Trans-Sylvania Epic to defend his jersey.


Open Women
After losing over thirty minutes from a detour off-course in Stage 5, the Stan’s NoTubes Elite Women went into the final stage with one goal: to reestablish their dominance of the Open Women GC. After a strong finish in Stage 6, Vicki Barclay needed to gain only 41 seconds on fourth-place Andrea Wilson (Brickhouse Racing) in order to put the NoTubes team in the top four GC positions.

Sarah Kaufmann, the winner of today’s stage, worked from the start to move Barclay up the field and develop an early lead. “We had a plan for Vicki [Barclay] and we executed it,” Said Kaufmann. With Barclay suffering from a small virus, Kaufmann helped to pace her through the road sections while Barclay used her technical skills to excel on the single track. “Sarah was my knight in shining armor,” said Barclay of Kaufmann’s assistance.


With their teammates up the road, Amanda Carey and Sue Haywood took a brisk but defensive pace. Carey’s lead in GC enabled her to play a more supportive role in Stage 7, allowing her to “be more choosey about when to help and when to go.”

Despite having her teammates as her main competitors, Carey acknowledges that the race dynamic remained intense. “We are still each other’s competition; Sue [Haywood] and I went at it every day fair and square,” said Carey.

The NoTubes team’s goal succeeded, with Barclay gaining almost eight minutes over rival Andrea Wilson. Sarah Kaufmann finished first in the stage, with Barclay following shortly behind. Haywood and Carey crossed the line within fifteen seconds of each other in third and fourth, respectively.

The strong finish secured the top four GC podium spots for the Stan’s NoTubes team, with Amanda Carey keeping the NoTubes leader’s jersey, Haywood in second, and Kaufmann in third and Barclay in fourth with Wilson finishing fifth overall.

Though NoTubes controlled the podium at the end of the week, their success was hard fought. “Talk about a roller-coaster week,” commented Carey, who’s team endured crashes, detours, mechanicals, and ninety-degree weather over the rugged Pennsylvania terrain. Continuing, Carey admitted that the Trans-Sylvania Epic contained “some of the most challenging riding” she had experienced. Carey encouraged other riders, particularly those from the West unfamiliar with East Coast terrain, to challenge themselves at the Trans-Sylvania Epic. “If you think the high-altitude, long climb stuff is hard, you come and ride these rocks; this stuff is no joke,” said Carey. When considered the technical nature of the course all week, Carey remained grateful to her lead sponsor, attributing her flat-free race to Stan’s NoTubes’ products.


Single Speed
Coming into Stage 7, race leader Matt Ferrari (FreezeThaw/Hubcap Cycles) held a comfortable lead over second place Dax Massey (Breck Epic/Honey Stinger/Light and Motion). However, with the two riders riding wheel-to-wheel the past few days, Ferrari did not have the luxury of easing up on the last day of the race.

Though close in the early segments of the race, Massey suffered from two flats throughout the 26-mile stage, causing him to lose six minutes to Ferrari by the time he hit the aid station.

“I just kept looking over my shoulder expecting him to come and get me, but he didn’t,” said Ferrari on Massey’s unexpected absence from the lead of the race.


Massey was able to recover some time from his bad luck, but it would not be enough to catch Ferrari. The FreezeThaw/Hubcap Cycles rider took the stage win and earned the Single Speed leader’s jersey for the 2013 Trans-Sylvania Epic.


Ferrari attributes his success throughout the week to his girlfriend’s support, “Nita is my main teammate; she got me through this week. I couldn’t have done this without her.”





Full results here.

Written by Tim Darwick
Photos by Devon Balet.