Athens Bicycle Racers Gear Up
for 24 Hour Event

Two female members of Athens Bicycle's Mountain Bike Team will compete in a 24-hour mountain bike relay race in West Virginia this weekend.

Team members Meredith Erlewine and Elizabeth Boyle will join Kerry Combs of Boston, Mass., and Cheryl Sornson of Fairfield, Pa., to race the 24 Hours of Big Bear from noon on June 10 until noon on June 11. The race is held at Big Bear Lake Campland near Morgantown, W.V.

The race works like this: each team rotates each racer's turn on the course so that everyone races a lap once every four to six hours. Using Radio Frequency ID (RFID) cards, racers log-in and log-out of each lap once they complete a turn on the circuit.

Erlewine, Boyle, Combs and Sornson will race in the women's expert category under the team name Shenandoah Mountain Touring Chicks, in recognition of title sponsor Shenandoah Mountain Touring (SMT). SMT owner Chris Scott is the race promoter for the popular Shenandoah Mountain 100 endurance race. Other team sponsors include Athens Bicycle, Dansko, Independent Fabrication, Gettysburg Bicycle (Pa.) and Belmont Wheelworks (Mass.).

Several members of Athens Bicycle's Mountain Bike Team will be accompanying the ladies to provide support during the event. Team-mates Joey Boyle, Craig Watson, Peter Kotses and Rich Willy will head up the pit crew, assisted by special guests Atira Parker, Michelle Maguire and Aaron Beck.

In addition to the SMT Chicks, four other Athens Bicycle team-mates will be racing the 24 Hours of Big Bear: Kelly Shaw, Aaron Burk, Mac Stricklen and Marco Deshaies make up the Finger Pullers team. They'll be joined by special guest Jeremy "Toad" Krohn of Marlinton, W.V., to race in the 5-person open class

Use of the RFID cards means that the race promoter, Granny Gear Productions, can publish the standings live on the Web as the action unfolds. For more information or to check in on the race in real time visit www.grannygear.com.

Back to Info page