Gelukkig Nieuwjaar

Happy Festivus

Frank Costanza: "Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way."
Kramer: "What happened to the doll?"
Frank Costanza: "It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born: a Festivus for the rest of us!"
Kramer: "That must have been some doll."
Frank Costanza: "She was."

Don't forget the tenents of Festivus:

(1) Festivus Pole

(2) Festivus Dinner

(3) Airing of Grievances

(4) Feats of Strength


Happy Holidays Everyone -- Peace !

Be There w/the Cool People

#1 William Nicholson -- solo gig tomorrow night!!

Sakana-Ya Sushi
Town Center, Fayetteville
6:00 - 9:00

A fully acoustic solo performance, only Lucky the flat-top Gibson and Helen the harp will be used. Should be a nice night for guitar lovers!

Note: You don't have to be a sushi fan to attend. Lots of other options for food & beverage.



#2 Bikes & Brews at Syracuse Bicycle (a Toys for Tots event) 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Bring an unwrapped toy, have an Ommegang, hang with bike geeks, talk politics (UCI, USA Cycling), religion (cyclocross/road/MTB), have a good time.

Save the Date: Dec 17 !!

Wayne's & Meltzer's Syracuse Bicycle and Team SCARR-Ommegang will be hosting the 2nd "Bikes & Brews" event on December 17 from 6 to 9 pm at the Syracuse Bicycle location on Erie Blvd. "Bikes & Brews" is an event to benefit the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation as well as a chance to hang out with your cycling & tri-buddies before going into winter hibernation. Come trade a few race tales from 2009 and yes, sample some of Brewery Ommegang's finest offerings.

The price of admission for "Bikes & Brews is an unwrapped toy (or two).

More details to come as we get closer.

Soul Cycles Sexiness

Check out some of the new sexiness from Soul Cycles ... ooooh, ahhhhh, nice. And these are just pictures of the new eccentric bottom brackets and forks. You should check out their blog (http://blog.ridesoul.com) to get a peek at the new Gen 3 Dillinger 29er frames with the new color offerings. (I kinda like the root beer, but the scotchbrite is pretty sweeeet too.) They've also got some pics of the new "Hero" frame as well if you really want to explore your inner ride creativity and desires.

So if you've grown "road" weary, or perhaps "cross"-eyed from your current ride and need to change things up a bit, it's time for a little "Soul" searching. It's pretty hard to go wrong here kids, you're getting great value for the buck and Chad at Soul Cycles will surely hook you up with a great deal as a member of Team SCARR-Ommegang. Ride Soul my friends, Ride Soul!


http://blog.ridesoul.com/

Dave Panella KX -- Race Director's Report

Race report for the Dave Panella Memorial Cyclocross

Race morning found the Kingdom of Kross blanketed in a thick fog. The course sorcerers descended on their sections of the course to add its unique features and become the longest course we’ve had yet. Something for all from fast wide open to technical sections a touch of mud and slippery grass in the first race.

As the riders grooved in the course and the sun began to shine. Sixty four degrees? This is Kross weather? The Belgians sought out the sunscreen, while others shed layers.

Twenty nine masters toed the line for the start. Fresh off the red-eye Greg Drumm took the holeshot as they wound their way through the first chicanes. When it opened up the “King” hit the gas in the mower section and took the lead holding it through the first lap and opening a gap after the spiral. The “Train of talent” formed behind him. Glenn, Ernie, AJ, Greg, Ad and Andy. The King tried to force his hand in technical sections as the Train would draw him back on the horsepower sections for the first three laps. Drumm and Swan fired the first attacks as the King latched onto the fast moving train. As crashes would split the group it would regroup with a new leader. Then a split happened. Glenn towed me back up to retake the lead in the spiral only to be outgunned by the tough accelerations of Drumm on the straights. The battle waged right till the finish where Drumm and AJ were neck and neck. Then disaster struck for AJ. A washout and dropped chain forced him to run to the finish. Drumm scores another win and Swan’s late race aggression nets him second. Ernie Bayles scores third. He later emailed me and told me he was worried I was going to ride away with it. Trust me I was trying. It was a great race. The hour was a good thing. Let’s see more races come back to that. All in all a good show of the colors for the Ommegangsters with a 1st and 6th.

Open Men now had the stage; Josh “West Coast” Miner has been progresing rapidly this season. Always near the front and aggressive. A 5^th, 4th, 3rd and a second had him focused for a win at the DPM. We saved number one for him. A fast start saw Ramon, Josh and Felix breakaway early. Another seesaw battle followed till Ramon hit the afterburners and was gone. Josh fought valiantly and hung onto second. The rest of the field strung and were all over the course having their own private hell in the one hour plus one lap.

Beer hand ups were seen. The hecklers turned nice and offered encouragement as the laps wound down. Ramon took a convincing win with Ommegangsters Cory P back at it after a long layoff and Mike (Huggies) K fisnishing strong in 5th.

Next up was the first annual Kross Relay dash for cash. The riders were assembled and drew their team mates. They then went to their respective sides for the LeMans start. Only to find while their backs were turned. Their bikes were switched around. The pack all got off sort of together. Dave Yacobelli lead out of mower and was gone. Have missed the earlier races with a mechanical. He had the freshest legs in the bunch. Dave gave a display of his power in that lap and tagged the King for the relay. The King downed the beer and was harassed about “How did those two end up together? Rigged? Pay offs? No just a random draw. The King extended the gap and rounding the third to last lap was facing a wall of the other team riders who grabbed him and held him while Ruth closed the gap. They even let the air out of his front tire. Ruth cut the course and they let him go. He dove back into the fray almost crashing on the flat tire in the last turn, hung on for the win.

Many stayed for chili and the awards. Where prizes and Ommegang flowed freely.

Thanks to all who picked up the course while I handed out prizes and tried to get it all together.

In all it was an incredible day in the Kingdom of Kross. Blue skies, warm temps, great riders, fans, and delicious food.

See you next year. The King

Results: http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/11/15-Dave-Panella-CX.asp

NYCross.com Series Finale at Bethlehem 11/15/09

A few Ommegangsters rolled out towards the Albany area for race #9 in the NYCross.com series to participate in The Bethlehem Cup. This event also served as the finale in the NYCross.com series. Jeff W and Skinny Phil were hoping to hold onto the mythical "cycling form" one more week as they were looking at possible podium spots in the overall NYCross.com series. Eric G also accompaied Jeff & Phil in trying to squeeze in just one more race for the year.
In the 3/4 field, Skinny Phil had a "good ride" and ended up placing 2nd in the field of 24 while Eric G powered to a mid pack finish.
In the 45+ field, Jeff W finished a very respectable 3rd again showing great consistency with yet another podium finish. Results may be found at: http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/11/15-Bethlehem-Cup-CX.asp

Some race pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/PhilRebecca/BethlehemCX#

Thus with the final race in the books, the overall NYCross.com series points were tallied. The Ommegangsters did us proud with Skinny Phil ending up 3rd overall in his division while Jeff W placed 1st in his. A closer examination of the points will show Jeff frequently on the podium week to week while Phil still managed a 3rd while missing three of the nine races. It was also great to see Phil have a total breakthrough CX season (especially with the Ommegang colors on his back). Also a shout out to the lovely Mrs Jeff W as she took overall honors in the elite women's points series. Series points at
http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/11/16-NYCross-Overall.asp

Congrats Skinny & Jeff !!

Winding Down? November 7-8 Weekend Recap:

For most of us, the season’s sadly yet ironically gladly winding down. Nearly two months straight of CX racing on top of a road and/or MTB season that probably started back around April can do that to you. The body and the mind seem to be getting ready for a little R&R (maybe Rare Vos & Recovery?). But there’s still some racing to be had. With the cancellation of the Greene CX event, the Ommegangsters found a couple of CX alternatives to keep the ‘cross fires stoked a bit longer

Chenango Tango?
One alternative CX outlet came in the form of a last minute, informal CX event down near Bingo land in Chenango Forks – the Chenango Forks Crossfire. King Karl mixed it up with the Swan-man and a few other strong south-towners in the “mature dudes” division winding up with a 2nd place spot. You best be ready if you’re headed to the Dave Panella Memorial “KX” event this weekend as the Bingo-landarians found a way to keep some race fitness in the legs on what was looking like a down weekend.

Road Trip
Ommegangsters Drummroll and Eric the Bolt, along with Omme-buddy Bryan B headed east to the Cycle Smart Invitational (CSI) in Northampton, MA to see what one of the big time New England Verge CX series events was like. We rolled in Friday eve to the number pick-up location where they had a nice little spread set-up complete with a variety of munchies and brews (including some Omme’s!!) as weel as some CX race vids on the tele. We actually had a chance to chat with Adam Myerson a little and he said to tell Skinny Phil he said hello. He was psyched to hear Skinny was having a great season. We didn’t even notice, until Adam said “hey Jeremy”, that J-Pow himself was in the room watching the CX vids.

Next morning we got to the race and we chuckled as various people were asking us if we brought any Ommegang. One dude even asked if we brought any Adoration. Soon enough it’s time to line up for the 35+ Masters event. After all numbers were called up, we looked behind us and ummm, we were wayyyyyyy in the back – there were probably 60-70 people in front of us and probably not even a full row behind us. A look at the race results will show we got our arses kicked (placing in the 50’s/60’s out of a finishing field of 74) but there’s a story within the story. We learned that with a field that big, you have rather limited chances starting in the back. On the first lap, the start bottle-necked, the run-up bottle-necked, and the sand pit bottle-necked. After a lap or two, things spread out a bit and you were now relegated to pretty much battling with the 5-10 guys in front of you and the 5-10 behind you. Afterward, we cleaned up and stuck around and watched some of the other races where we saw our Spokeposter friends Sarah & Wayne. In the pro men’s race, about 125 meters into a vicious start they stacked it up right in front of us with bikes and bodies flopping all over. We quickly backed away from the barricade tape as we realized getting clipped by a bike (with or without a rider on it) would not be a good thing.

Day two found a course with a few different twists and turns while sharing some of the same features from the day before. Drumroll raced the 45+ this day and then cheered/heckled his road trip companions when they raced the 35+ right after. Results on day two were somewhat similar with Drumroll taking 24th in a field of 46 while Eric & Bryan fought once again to be in the 50’s. Not sure if Eric got scored correctly but seemed like he was up a bit further.

All in all it was a cool experience. Good people, good food, good brews, and a pretty damn good event. We each noted that if we get back to a Verge or similar “big event” in the future, we either had to sign up really early to start closer to the front or we would have to use some of our new experience and knowledge to hopefully grab a few more spots when starting in the back.

This weekend on deck: Dave Panella Memorial in Bingo-land and the final installment in the NYCross series in Delmar, NY

Halloween Weekend Recap

Yes it's Friday but it's Beer Week. So here's a real quick recap of this past weekend which found some Ommegangsters at the NYCross series event Wicked Creepy CX in Bennington, VT while others headed west to Ellison Park CX in Rochester.

Wicked Creepy: Jeff W managed a second place in a tough Masters field and Skinny Phil managed a top 10 in a 30+ cat 3/4 field. Skinny maintains 3rd spot overall in his division in the NYCross series while Jeff's consistency has him in first for the 45+ masters series. (Jeff;s lovely wife also has the Elite Womens lead in the NYCross series.)

Ellision Park; Drumroll, Jeremy K & Gordon S all went west. Drumroll overcame a poor first lap to climb back into a second place finish in the guys 40+ while Jeremy & Gordon raced the huge & stacked open mens race. In this field of 70 finishers, Gordon manged the top half while Jeremy rolled in a few spots behind Gordon.

We've also got some informal reports that AJ has been putting up some real respectable results down near his new home in MD.

Get on board before it's all gone -- only a couple weekends of racing left.

CX Training on Hold, It's Beer Week !!

Beer Week. Think about those two words. How can one not be intrigued? Anywho ... you should get out & support this event, even if it's stopping by a Wegman's or your fav local "establishment" for a sample or two. Details here: Syracuse Beer Week 2009.

And if you're truly intrigued, a search of the event calendar will show you several Ommegang events. You might even find me at the Brewmaster dinner at the Dinosaur on Thurs. Would be great to hook up with Ommegang's own brewmaster (Phil .. or maybe for our sake, "Brewmaster Phil") who also happens to be a cycling minded dude.

Weekend race reports coming. Ommegangsters in a multi-state assault this time .. VT, MD, and NY.

Adoration

October 3, 2010 -- CX4@Brewery Ommegang

Tentative date for the 4th edition of CX @ Brewery Ommegang -- October 3, 2010 !!

Ommegangsters Upstate CX Assault

Yup, they were out in force. This past weekend saw Ommegangsters at Richford, NY, Saratoga, NY and Pittsford, NY for a diverse batch of CX action.

Richford, NY -- Red Cross: Saturday ..... Mud, more mud, stupid mud and for the Seinfeld afficionados "his mother was a mudder" mud. The motocross track for the Red Cross at Richford was just mud soup. Lot's of rain made it a pretty challenging course. Ommegangsters included Gordon S, Sean B, "K" in the 3/4 race, Drumroll in the 35+, and Skinny Phil playin w/the elite big dogs. The 3/4 guys all placed in the top half with 2 in the top 10 and another just outside. Drumroll sloshed his way to a 3rd in the "old guys class" (with the 3rd place prize ironically being a 750 ml of Hennepin) and Skinny P finished mid-pack w/the elites. Also a nod to Mrs. Walker for her win in the elite ladies group.
Link to Red CX results at BikeReg.

On to Sunday ...

Saratoga Spa - NYCross: Skinny Phil, Jeff W (w/lovely wife Katina), and Jeremy K headed up to the land of the fast horses and springs. Word has it that it was a good yet tough course for a first time event. In the 3/4 men, Jeremy K finsihed mid-pack while Skinny Phil finished a respectable 5th after another poor starting spot. The Jeffina raced the Men's 45+ and elite ladies with each maintaining their series point lead with a 3rd for Jeff and 2nd for Katina. Saratoga Spa Results Link at BikeReg.

Pittsford, NY -- Park Ave: Drumroll was the lone Ommegangster that went west on Sunday. For the 40+ event, he overcame a poor starting position (lesson learned), a dropped chain (be gentle when setting down your bike after the barriers .. lesson learned again) and a wipe out in slick grass (seems like he'll never learn) to pull up on the tail of his rival Diamond Dave in the last few hundred meters of the final lap for an exciting sprint for the win in the Men's 40+. Props to Ommegansgster bud Joe Mag for his big orange fairy-pumpkin outfit for a 1st in the costume dept. at Park Ave. Park Ave Results Link.

Daylight and the season are both getting shorter -- better get your butt out there before it's gone.

Did Someone Say Clearance?

You know you've looked over at some of the other guys with envy as they hop aboard their sweet Soul rigs. Now's your chance, maybe you can be the one the other guys (or even the gals) envy. (We're still talkin about bikes here mind you.)

Our friends at Soul Cycles have some goodies on clearance. Components at some sweet discounts with frame info coming shortly. Check out the Soul Cycles Blog for more info and keep checking back for clearance frame info.

And if you are an astute observer (like me - ha), you'll also see why we are Soul fans ... these guys not only build some great products, they're "keepin' it real". Need proof ....

(1) Check out the Soul Cycles "Fidel" style logo hat and the intended use: "POST RIDE CRUSTY HAIR HIDER/SUN BLOCKER".

(2) In looking over the clearance component list, you'll see "SHIMANO ALIVIO REAR RAPID FIRE W/ V-BRAKE LEVER" on the list. Under the respective Notes section for this item, you'll see "WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM?"

To paraphrase Larry The Cable Guy ... "Now dat dere's funny".

Syracuse GP Recap & State Champs

Long Branch Park -- the home court of 'cross for a handful of the Ommegangsters. Never thought "home court advantage" mattered in CX but maybe it does. Lotta 'gansters in attendance Sunday including Gordon S, Eric the Bolt, Skinny Phil, Drumroll, King Karl, Jeff W, Anthony R, Hey-Seus (JK), "K", & Bike Shop Brian.

A scan of the Syracuse Grand Prix CX race results shows the Ommegangsters had it going on this past Sunday. The "experienced" guys (aka 40+ Masters Men) field saw the Ommegangsters in spots # 1 (woo hoo), 4, 5 and 11 out of a field of 29. And it should be noted that a couple of the guys even had to overcome tire & mechanical challenges. In the Open Men's field of 54, 7 Ommegangsters toed the start line with finishes of 6, 7, 11, 12, 27, 30 & 52.

It was great seeing all the Team SCARR-Ommegang/Syracuse Bicycle 'crossers in action at the same event -- definitely one of the best team turnouts of the year. And props to Jeff W for the double -- a 5th in the 40+ (after a flat) followed by a 6th in the Open Men's. And Ommegangster bud Wayne B -- holy crap, you are on fire -- congrats.

The day's bonus was when the 2nd place finisher in the men's open event quietly comes over to me during the awards ceremony and asked for a recommendation of which Ommegang brew he should pick from the prize table. Congrats to the OCC for a really great event.

NYS Champs -- On Saturday, Skinny Phil & Jeff W went out to the NYS CX Champs in Troy. Skinny found out at the start that call-ups were by registration order rather than NYCross points -- bummer. So from a crappy starting spot in the back, he clawed his way up to a very respectable 6th in the 3/4 field. Jeff W ended up with a bronze in the 45+ field to follow-up on his NYS Champs podium last year. Nice work guys.

Criss 'Crossin & Humbled

Ommegansters were spread across the state doing their own 'cross thing this past weekend. A handful at Cobbs Hill in Rachacha, a few at the Swandrome and the Jeffina down in the Hudson Valley.

Cobbs Hill: Hate that hill ... Jeremy (the lord) K, Eric the Bolt, and AJ raced the open mens event on a fairly tight course and that long freakin hill. Of the 51 racers in the open men's field, Ommegangsters wound up with an 11th, 13th and 23rd. On the senior circuit (40+ Masters), Drumroll gets a 6th out of 33. (Kudos to Ommegangster friend Diamond Dave F for the Masters win & 15th in the open .. give us a chance man.)

Swandrome: The King & Krew got in the grassroots groove at Swanny's place just up the hill from Ithaca. Karl King of Kross F representing in the Masters with Mike K and Cory P in the open for a 7th & 13th.

Hudson Valley: The Jeffina tandem did the back to back Sat & Sun with stellar results. Both races, both on the podium. Sat & Sun saw Jeff finish in the 2nd spot both days in the Masters 45+. Katina (the lovely wife) also managed a great weekend with a third on Sat and 1st on Sun in the Elite Womens races. Congrats !!

Also gotta note a handful of the Ommegangsters participated in Syracuse Bicycles Trek Women's Ride for Breast Cancer Awareness on Saturday. Always good to be humbled and reminded it's not all about racing and results. Nothing like riding next to a breast cancer survivor to help one keep their perspective on what a real challenge is all about.

CX @ Brewery Ommegang -- Thxs !!

Wow, what a turnout -- 174 racers. First a great big and humble thank-you to all the riders and supporters who came out to the brewery for this event. We really tried to take it to another level this year and hopefully it showed.

Where to start, well, I guess with my list of thanks....

• Brewery Ommegang -- for hosting us in your beautiful setting, the t-shirts and socks and (woo hoo) the recovery beverages
• Syracuse Bicycle -- for the incredible amount of swag (CX tires, jerseys, booties, socks, and on and on), plus the course marking tape
  
• Soul Cycles -- for the Soul Swag and the banner (long live SS)
• ChomperBody -- for the Ballocks chamois cream & Crank embrocation
  
• Endurance Factor-- for the VO2max testing gift certificates
  
• Accelerade -- for the loads of Accel Gels & water bottles
  
• Road ID -- for the race #'s & gift certificates
• Bicycling Magazine-- for the race goodie bags
• The Herbs - for the fine post event entertainment

A last shout out to the Ommegangsters, their significant others, and a few good friends that helped make the day a success.

Below is a list of various collections of pictures and/or others thoughts on the event (including some really kind words from Bicycling Magazine's "Fit Chick").

http://bicycling.com/blogs/fitchick/

http://campyrider.wordpress.com/

http://picasaweb.google.com/skbehrman1/OmmegangCross#
http://picasaweb.google.com/ewenique/2009104BreweryOmmegang?authkey=Gv1sRgCIuU9NiR1MisQA#
http://picasaweb.google.com/PhilRebecca/OmmegangCX2009#
http://blue-mondays.blogspot.com/
http://catskillscycling.blogspot.com/2009/10/just-another-day-at-brewery-ommegang.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43282854@N05/3993905448/in/set-72157622544361102/
http://armandarekian.blogspot.com/2009/10/blood-sweat-and-beerscyclocross-brewery.html

Announcements ....

Announcement #1:  We're working on getting the results up
for CX @ Brewery Ommegang.

Announcement #2:  If you aren't racing Saturday, you should
participate in the Trek Women Breast Cancer Awareness Ride
Sat Oct 10.  The event is being hosted locally by our
friends at Syracuse Bicycle.

Info:  http://syracusebicycle.com/page.cfm?pageid=208
Register: Syracuse Bicycle/Trek Women BCAR

Announcement #3:  William N has been booked for a solo
performance THIS THURSDAY evening in Fayetteville
at Sakana-Ya Sushi Bar  (next door to EMS in the Towne
Centre Plaza... Panera,Target, Red Robin, etc.)
6:00 PM
Free!!! Free!!! Free!!!

http://www.theherbsband.com
http://www.sonicbids.com/theherbsband
http://www.myspace.com/williamnicholsontheherbs

CX @ Brewery Ommegang -- Pre-reg closes 1:30 pm Fri Oct 2

CX @ Brewery Ommegang -- Oct 4, 2009 -- Update:

** NOTE: Pre-reg closes at 1:30 pm tomorrow (Fri Oct 2). **

As of 8:32 pm Thursday eve (Oct 1), we have 99 folks pre-registered. This is incredible as we only had 90 some racers total last year. I think the 100th pre-reg will get to race for free.

The weather forecast for Sunday is for mostly sunny skies, Hi 63 / Lo 43, and a 20% chance of precip.

You'll be sorry if you miss this one -- it will be talked about well into the winter months.

Buck Hill Recap

CX is now in full swing. A few of the Ommegngsters headed down past Ithaca to test out the legs at the Buck Hill CX event this past Sunday. In what appears to be a continuing trend, Jeff W showed strong again with a win in the Masters division -- in fact, someone allegedly was calling him a beast. Meanwhile the beauty side of the equation saw his lovely wife Katina win the open women's event. The power couple rules again. A shout out to King Karl for a top 10 in a fairly strong field in the Masters Men field as well.
In the men's open event, the Ommegangsters rode strong with all finishing in the front half of the 40 person field. Jeremy K with a top 20 and Skinny P and Brian N finsihing top 10 just off the podium.
The big CX action is at Brewery Ommegang this coming weekend on Sunday Oct 4. Get yourself pre-reg'd to save a few bucks and to make event planning easier on the organizers. Pre-reg at: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=8558

Letter to Two Smiles One Hope Foundation

September 28, 2009

Two Smiles One Hope Foundation
PO Box 435
Fayetteville, NY 13066

Re: Donation of Proceeds

Dear Two Smiles One Hope Foundation:

Several weeks ago, the race director for the Cazenovia Hillbender contacted
me regarding the overlap of their bike race event with one that our cycling
team was promoting (The Critz Farms Kermis) on the very same date within
approximately five miles of their Cazenovia Hillbender event. Qickly realizing
that this was not an ideal situation for either event, and further complicated
by neither of us able to reschedule our events, we agreed to co-promote one
another’s event and work together. In the spirit of this cooperation, we also
decided to donate some brewery product for prizes to the Cazenovia
Hillbender as well as donate a majority of the proceeds from our Critz Farms
Kermis event to same the beneficiary of the Cazenovia Hillbender -- the Two
Smiles One Hope Foundation.
Therefore, on behalf of our cycling team (Team SCARR-Ommegang) we have
enclosed a check for $100.00. We also wish to acknowledge some important
folks that helped us to make this donation possible: (1) Critz Farms for hosting
our bike event on their property (2) Brewery Ommegang for allowing us to
donate some product to the Cazenovia Hillbender event as prizes, (3) Syracuse
Bicycle for their support of our team and donation of prizes, and (4) the bike
racers who won cash and refused to accept the money so it would help
increase the proceeds to be donated to the Two Smiles One Hope Foundation.

Kind Regards,

Team SCARR-Ommegang

First One's on the House -- CX @ Brewery Ommegang

It's official!! We have received an official temporary permit to serve some Belgian style recovery beverages (aka awesome beer) at the CX @ Brewery Ommegang event on Oct 4. So let's recap ... (1) if you are amongst the first 90 to pre-reg, you get a CX @ Brewery Ommegang pint glass. (2) If you're there, irregardless if you race or not, you get to hear The Herbs play live under the big tent (and I'm for- warning you, you will be totally impressed w/The Herbs). (3) And if you present your special pint glass to the keeper of the tap, you get the first one on the house courtesy of Team SCARR-Ommegang and Brewery Ommegang. (btw .. we will be checkin ID's so if you're not 21+ ... please don't embarass yourself or we surely will.)

Hmmm ... Bikes, Beer, Belgium ... you do the math. See Ya Oct 4 !!

'Cross & Roads Recap -- Sept 20

Yes -- we're at a Crossroads in the season -- some CX'in it at Kirkland, some on the roads in the Catskills.

So .... let's cut to the skinny ... Phil that is. Skinny Phil won the cat 3/4 CX race at Kirkland. A huge step up and a big congrats. And he had company, Brian N followed him across the line for 2nd. Yes, 2 Ommegangsters on the podium. Also gotta give a shout to the King (KF) as he finished mid pack in the 3/4 race AFTER racing the Masters event.

Masters event? Yup, that Jeff W guy on the podium again with a second place. Drumm & King Karl wheeled in mid-pack. (And a shout to Jeff's lovely wife for a second as well in the elite ladies).

Roads ?? ... Mike (Red Roster) W at the tour of Catskills managed a very respectable finish in his field after the 3 stages held down in Hunter & Windham. Are there some hills down there in them Catskills?

Critz Farms Kermis Recap

A brisk morning greeted the racers as they rolled into Critz Farms on Saturday Sept. 19, 2009 for the inaugural Critz Farms Kermis. As race time approached, it continued to warm up to a very pleasant racing temperature. The Open & 40+ Maters men group went first with the ladies following a minute or two behind for 40 minutes (plus a lap) of off road fun. In the end, Ommegangster Brian N took third in the Open Men with Phil M following in 4th & Sean B in 6th. Bad luck bit Ommegansters Phil B and Gordon S. in the open men. Ommegangsters took the top two spots in the “ol’ guys” 40+ group with Greg D and Emory C finishing 1-2 respectively. The ladies race was won by Ommegangster Jeff’ W’s lovely wife Katina. A fair amount of goodies awaited the top finishers with generous donations from Critz Farms, Brewery Ommegang and Syracuse Bicycle. After the Kermis, the kids charged down a stretch of the dirt oval with all kids being winners on this day.

All results at: http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/09/19-Critz-Farms-Kermis.asp

Many participants noted they enjoyed the race setting at Critz Farms and the concept of the off road Kermis and …. many also noted they’d love to come back and race next year.

Thanks to all who helped out with the various facets of the event; thanks to our friends at Syracuse Bicycle and Brewery Ommegang and a special thanks to Critz Farms for being a great host.

Breast Cancer Awareness Ride -- Oct 10, 2009

On October 10th, Syracuse Bicycle will join hundreds of other Trek Bicycle retailers across the United States and Canada to raise awareness for Breast Cancer research, treatment, and prevention by hosting a casual bike ride.

All registration fees are donated directly to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. We're offering two great ride options: a 10-mile family friendly ride on the Erie Canal path and a 25-mile road ride on a scenic loop north of Green Lakes State Park. All participants receive a free gift and a chance to win great door prizes. We're also having a fantastic post-ride party with free food and live music.

If you're not racing, you should be there to support this event.

Register for this event at www.syracusebicycle.com. Volunteer for this event by contacting trish@syracusebicycle.com.

Apple Festival Recap & CX kickoff

The Red Rooster Race Report from Sept 12, 2009

Ommegangsters Red Rooster (RR) & Cory P flew the Omme pride at the Apple Festival Bike Race down in Montrose, PA. RR noted it started fast, got silly slow and then "it" the fan later on the last big hill. Rooster gritted his (hen's?) teeth and pulled out a 7th overall in his race while Cory ended up 13th in the Cat 4s.

Road season dates starts giving way to the CX events on the race calendar but not before the Caz Hill Bender (9/19 in Cazenovia) and the Tour of the Catskills down Hunter/Windham way on 9/18-20.

Meanwhile in Chittenango on the 12th, Skinny Phil led a group of around 30 in a CX Clinic with some big time backing from our friends at Syracuse Bicycle. The clinic had some pretty experienced folks right on thru to some newbies. Dismounts, remounts, shouldering, cornering, barriers, pedal and tire choices, tire pressure and a host of other basics were covered. Seems everyone had a great time with some even experiencing Nutella for the first time.

Can't forget to remind folks about the Critz Farms Kermis this Sat (9/19) if you wanna brush up on those new found (or possibly rusty) CX skills.

ahhh, and then CX kicks off locally with the Kirkland CX Race at a great venue this Sunday 9/20 in Clinton, NY

See BikeReg.com or Spokepost.com for more info on any of these events.

Big Indian Epic RR Recap -- Aug 29

The Red Rooster Race Director Reports:

We had a total of 17 racers
preregister.  Probably
would have had 10-20 more
if the weather wasn't
going to be what it was.
12 showed to race.  Small,
but a good way to get our
feet wet (no pun) here
in the Catskills.

Drumm emailed me telling
me there is a 88.4% chance he'd be here.  I took this
as a definitely not, but late hours the night before,
Drumm signed up. Honestly I thought he was nuts.  I
imagined him and maybe 2 other lunatics showing to race
in the rain.  Surprisingly, 12 showed.

We had a great race.  A little drizzle in the beginning,
but then nothing for almost the whole race.  The course
was grueling and despite all of my anxiety, no one was
killed on the steep 1.5 mile dirt descent.

Ends up Drumm came in 4th overall.  The three that came
ahead were super strong riders, pulling off on a breakaway
at mile 7 and staying away till the end.  First place
finished almost 3 minutes ahead of the other two (Did
I say super strong?)  Everyone raced incredibly well
considering the weather and the course.  Not one bad
word about the course, in fact, the racers
loved it.  Many said they can't wait for next year.

Wish more of you could have made it.  Next year, I hope
you do.  I know it's far, but between Syracuse,
Cooperstown, and the Catskills, we can really get
some cool things going.


M

Syracuse CX Clinic -- Sept 11-12 -- RSVP

REMINDER:  e-mail your RSVP to trish@syracusebicycle.com

Syracuse CX Clinic -- Sept 11-12

Special Thanks to Syracuse Bicycle & Brewery Ommegang

Chomper Body

Chomper Body? Glad you asked 'cause if you are attending one of the coolest CX events this side of the Hudson (CX @ Brewery Ommegang), you can get a first hand glimpse of the Chomper Body lineup. The Chomper Body lineup includes:

• Ballocks Men's Chamois Cream
• Booty Balm Women's Chamois Cream
• Muscle Butter Therapeutic Lotion
• Crank Embrocation Rub

(http://www.chomperbody.com/shop.htm)


Hop on over to the Chomper Body website to get more info on these products and look for Chomper Body at the CX @ Brewery Ommegang event on Oct 4. A little Booty Balm or Ballocks and some Crank embro before the race. An hour or so of cyclo-suffering followed by a pint glass, Belgian syle ales, The Herbs grooving under the big tent, and a little Muscle Butter to make it all good.

A Pint Glass, Brews . .. and a Live Band !?!

So while you're enjoying a recovery beverage from your cool "CX @ Brewery Ommegang" pint glass after your race, we want to let you know that you can groove to The Herbs. Rumor has it The Herbs and two Belgian style brews will help speed your recovery.
Live music to go along with the days stories of epic battles, mud, blood, and Belgian style brews (if you're over 21 of course!) -- all under the great big party tent. Friends, family, cousins, heck, even your spouse or significant other is invited even if they don't race. We just want folks to come on out, race or watch (or both), ring a cowbell or two, groove to The Herbs, and simply enjoy themselves in the beautiful Brewery Ommgeang setting. This isn't just your grandma's bike race kids, this is CX @ Brewery Ommegang.

http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=8558

Go to this link to preregister for CX @ Brewery Ommegang -- it's all going down on Oct 4 !!
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=8558
Be one of the first 90 to sign up and we'll give ya one of these soon to be a collector's item pint glasses shown in the pic. If you hang out after the races, we might even fill it with some Belgian style recovery beverage.

The shortest CX Season

Dan The Plan's first ride on his new CX rig .....

I'm pretty sure I set the worlds record
for the shortest cross season
ever... a whole 35 minutes.
But if you're going to crash out,
GS is the rght guy to do it with.
I also think he learned the proper
technique for popping an arm back into
its socket.  I'm at home now and I'm not sure what hurts
more, my shoulder or my hip.  Last week's stitches are a
distantthird.  Time for a new Plan.


Tour de Loop report from Sean B:  
5 Ommegangsters came out for the Tour de loop in Oswego,
myself King Karl & Eric the Bolt rode the 30 mile course.
Aaron braved the 50 mile hilly route. In the 30 mile race
a 4 man break got away, The break included Syracuse Bike
mechanic Craig Nichols and Eric Korolewski, who won the
cat 5 Owasco Stage race on a very hilly course. The break
stayed away and ended up finishing 17 seconds ahead of
the pack. About 45 of the 193 who entered made
it to the bunch sprint. I was lead out by two Owasco
Velo Club guys for 2nd in the sprint - 6th overall.
Karl came in 40th with the bunch. Eric was
riding off his wounds and riding with a friend.
Aaron came in 14th in his race.

Get Well Dan (keep healing Katina),
& nice showing by the T de Loopers.

Caz is the Place to be on Sept 19 !!

So what are the chances, two races in the same little upstate NY village on the same day? Well it happened. If you check out a regional cycling calendar (like Spokepost.com), you'll see the Cazenovia Hill Bender (a cycling benefit for the Two Smiles One Hope Foundation) and the Critz Farms Kermis both listed for Sept 19. After the race promoters of each event realized they were too far along to change dates, they did something unusual -- they decided to cross-promote one another's event. The Caz Hill Bender is a road race being held in conjunction with the Ski Caz Mountain Jam while the Critz Kermis is an off-road event held in conjunction with the kickoff of Critz's Fall Harvest Celebration. While some racers may be torn, we just want folks to show up and race. In fact, the Caz Hill Bender folks wanted to formally invite The Critz racers down to the Ski Caz Mountain Jam after they wrapped up their fun at Critz. As a bonus and to celebrate the goodwill between these two events, look for some of Ommegang's finest at either event. Lastly we want to note that the Critz Farms event will also donate proceeds to the Two Smiles One Hope Foundation.

More info on the Caz Hillbender may be found at: http://cazhillbender.com.
Info on the Critz Farms Kermis may be found at BikeReg.com.

Now choose a bike and get to Caz and get ready to ride!

Mud, Blood and Belgian Beer

Mud, Blood and Belgian Beer .... If you're a regular to the SCARR-Ommegang blog scene, you may see this entry title and chuckle. If not, please disregard, get an Ommegang in your hand and read on.

Mud: Drumroll (aka FOAIB) and Jeffina went to Windham. Drumroll got schooled in the Cat 2 XC race on proper gearing for a mucho-climbing type course. A so-so result with a 4th place in division and top half overall in the Cat 2's. It was so hot and plain hard climbing on the (overgeared) singlespeed with the bonus of being called a freak on an idiot bike (Foaib). Jeffina probably had Led Zep's Good Times, Bad Times playing on the car ride home. Bad times for Jeff as he was leading the Cat 1 singlespeed race until a stubborn flat did him in. Good times for Jeff's lovely wife Katina, she won her Cat 1 division, albeit with a little bad times when she went over the bars and got pretty banged up.

Blood: Dan the Plan's race report from the NYS RR Champs .... 12 stitches, lots of blood, two broken spokes on the Hed Wheels, bent derailleur hanger, lots of road rash, and a DNF at Capital RR. Red Rooster toiled at the champs as well finishing in the pack.

Belgian Beer: Well, it's been so freakin hot this past week I strongly recommend the Ommegang Witte. Also Belgie-wise there is definitely a bit more CX chat the past week as well. CX can't be too far away. OH, and a big Belgian style toast to our friends Diamond Dave of Caz and Amos the Kitty for their results at the NYS TT Champs.

Mt. Snow Power Couple & a Mean Queen

Jeffina Race Report from Mt. Snow:
Arrived at the race venue and Jeff had a flat tire which he very
quickly changed out. After warming up, he had another flat tire.
His adrenaline was racing as he frantically worked to get it changed
out and roll up for staging. I'borrowed' a tube from the Kenda tent
on the honor system for Jeff, and after these minor ups and downs,
we were both ready to go.

The single-speeders start in front of all the other
experts. The announcer gave Jeff some air time as he publicly
announced that Jeff was the only individual on a single speed
AND rigid fork and thought that he should have his IQ checked.
Jeff had a great race with  no major spills and finished 3rd!
The SS division is not split up into age groups and as you can
imagine, the #1 and #2 riders were quite a few
years younger than Jeff.

As for me, I had an unbelievable race. They started all the
cat. 1 women together with intentions to score us out by age group.
I had a top 10 overall and won the 40-49 age group. I beat women
who have beat me all season.

Meanwhile Eric the Bolt headed to the Queen City
Crit out Buffalo way ... 
I went to Buffalo and signed up for the 4/5 and the 3/4 races.
Races were on an 8 turn course with the usual inner city broken
roads, potholes, and manhole covers.

The 4/5 race was first and I felt really good and liked my chances.
I took the $25 prime and was counting down the remaining laps until
I would have to make my move for the finish.  Heading into a fast
90 degree corner with a little over 2 laps to go I got taken out
at over 20mph by a guy who got hit by another guy fighting for the
inside line with another guy.His bars hooked my bars as he slammed
into me and I actually did some sort of cartwheel and landed on my
back and back of my head.  I remember being surprised at how far I
was sliding down the road on my back.  Then as I was sliding I
started getting pissed as I knew my brand new Team SCARR-Ommegang
skinsuit was getting shredded along with the layers of skin on my
back.  My skinsuit was jacked, my helmet was jacked, my freakin'
Cervelo was jacked, and my back looked like hamburger.Race over.
I don't think my $25 prime will cover the damage!

After assessing the damage, and some medical attention, I decided
to do the 3/4 race with shredded kit and all.  I tried to work the
front for awhile to avoid the pack in the turns but realized I would
explode if I tried to maintain that pace for the whole hour.  About
half way through the 3/4 race we were strung out in a very long pace
line when somebody touched a wheel and went down.  A rider behind him
hit him square in the back and did a complete arse over head flip
over him with his bike launched as if from a catapult.  The last thing
I remember seeing from that carnage was the second riders Zipp 404
sliding across in front of me with only the fork attached.  The whole
scene reminded me of the movie Days of Thunder and drivers plowing
through the crash scene hoping not to become part of the carnage.
By the end of the second race I was just content to finish upright
and finished middle of the group sprint finish around 15th.

Pic worth 1000 words -- Highland Forest Recap

7 Ommegangsters at the Highland Forest Classic MTB race this past weekend. 5 of us with podium spots with 3 actually winning their respective division and a second and a third. No big write-up though other than it was rather muddy & the 'gansgsters had a great showing!

La Chouffe

La Chouffe you ask? That was one of the wonderful goodies discovered at Belgium Comes to Cooperstown (BCTC). It was also the logo on the bike jersey that Ommegang's very own brewmaster wore during our bike ride around Otsego Lake. Three Ommegangsters (Red Rooster Mike, Jeremy-Jesus and Drumroll) joined Phil the brewmaster and three other new friends for a loop around the lake and then headed back to the brewery where the BCTC tastings opened at 2:00. Once back at a scene you'd imagine a "Beerstock" to look like, we caught up with a fourth Ommegangster (King Karl) and began sampling wonderful things out of our complimentary Duvel tulip shaped glasses like Maredsous Blonde, Rochefort, Southampton Grand Cru, Duvel Green, Biere de Mars, Abbey 6 and the list goes on -- probably around 150 or so brews from over 40 importers and brewers. It was a pretty amazing sight and incredible event -- go if you get the chance -- I wanna camp next year and take it all in -- more sugary sweet Belgian waffles, pulled pork sandwiches and oh yeah, the pineapple delight.

Mid July Race Reports

Someudda boys hit the Owasco Stage Race (albeit a one stage RR) & The Jeffina layed another smackdown in the dirt up in the land 'O Ben & Jerry's and Magic Hat Brewery over the mid-July weekends. Skinny P, The Rotterer, The Plan, Aaron J and The Law Behrman suffered at Owasco bringin in a top 5 and a couple of top 15-20's.

On the dirty side of things Jeff W (and his lovely wife Katina) headed up to VT to do the MTB thing at Mt Snow on a sloppy (with a capital SLOP) course. Once again they came away w/stellar results ... Jeff with a 3rd in the toughman singlespeed division & Katina in 2nd in the supachick division.

Locally we have the Highland Forest Classic MTB race coming up this weekend with the Ommegangsters looking to make a good showing. Lots of mountain bike action for August (Mt. Snow, Windham, Darkhorse 40) with the Big Indian Epic RR at the end of the month for a likely last bit of road action as the 'gansters will have CX on the mind as Sept. approaches.

Race for Sight -- Sat July 11 Race Report

A couple Ommegangters rolled southward to Winsdor, NY to mix it up on the road at the AVRE Race for Sight. 'Gangsters sporting the Ommegang colors included Eric G and Emory C.

Eric G's report: It was a well attended event for the A race with some good quality riders from the Southern Tier. As Emory predicted, there were lots of attacks and break away attempts because of the course. Lots of rollers, but no major climbs. For the first lap and a half all of the breakaways were reeled in. Emory must have just hit the wall sometime late in the race because he was strong in the lead field on the first lap. For some reason, against my better judgement I made a move with about 12 miles to go. The field seemed rather content to let me go and I was able to put some distance on the peloton before the first KOM Prime. Then Glen S (will he ever slow down) and a pretty strong rider from Corning bridged up to me and we worked a three man break for about 7 miles. After racing at Swan speed for 7 miles I knew I was pretty close to being cooked so I said thank you and popped my chute and drifted back until the main field caught me and I rejoined them. The next 5 miles I stayed with the field and tried to recover as much as I could before the finish. As we entered the town and approached the finish the pace picked up pretty good and the field thinned out. I stayed in the top five as we turned to the finishing climb. I started to find a good tempo for the "big finish" but should have had a clue the finish line was approaching as riders started to come around me. By the time I realized what was going on I had about 40 yards to the line and I was able to give it a quick push to regain a couple of spots. I finished 10th, while part timer Mike K took 3rd, and Glen S 1st and his breakaway partner from Corning held on for 2nd. It was a good race with good race support, marshalling, and road markings.

Fireworks Weekend -- 5k's & TKD tournys?

Kind of a quiet weekend for the bike racing scene but a few Ommegangsters did manage to get out and get 'er done. Jeffina ventured down to Jersey for some MTB action with Katina kickin some butt again coming in 2nd. Jeff tried to race w/some serious stomach issues but decided to back it off as he wasn't quite finding his groove. Get well soon dude, we need ya to keep us honest and humbled.

On the road side, Fitchster (aka The Plan) in Fitchburg for a stage race for us "normal" folk. The Plan hang tough and made it through the 4 stages in one piece. Simply put ... The Plan noted, "I made the time cut each day so I got to finish the race."

On a non-cycling note, the Ommegangsters did stay active over the weekend. Skinny P won his age group in a 5k (guessing that wasn't in the training plan but ...). And a big formal congrats to Jim R who won the US Nationals title for his division in Tae Kwon Do. (Hint, if he wants in the paceline, let him in or you could be in trouble.)

The rest of us, drank Ommegang and chilled with a little down time. Unsanctioned race locally this weekend (where even the Creel threatened to show up) followed by the Owasco stage race that is now just a road race the following weekend. Lot's of CX chatter recently but I'm still waiting for a little summer weather first.

Raccoons & The Flyer

G Stevens (GS) headed down to the Raccoon Rally ...

Did the beginners short course (mtn bike) along
with the wife & 7 yr old son on a trail-a-bike. 
The trail-a-bike hitches to a clamping mech on
the daddy bike's seatpost so that it looks
like a three wheel tandem rig.  GS rode his
Soul Cycles Dillinger converted from its'
preferred single speed status to a 1x9 most
of the time in the 32x32!

The boy did a great job of pushing GS up the
hills and the wife kept reminding GS to pedal too. 
It took Team Stevens 1:49 to finish and actually
beat a few people in spite of pee breaks,
warm-up stops, drink breaks, snack breaks... 
The tops was that after pushing Dad around, the
boy went on to race in the kids race too!

Owasco Flyer ... 

Skinny Phil, Dan the Plan, new guy Brian, and
Sean B wore the Ommegang colors with some decent
results from the field of 240+.  Skinny Phil
finished with the lead pack in 15th for team
honors with the rest of the crew close behind. 
Good showing by new guy Brian getting his feet
wet in a road (citizen) event. 

Congrats to Omme friend Ben S (we'll save a cold one
for ya (when your old enuf!)

Dad's Day Weekend - Strawberries & Lot's 'o Mud.

Looks like the action was at the Strawberryfest in Owego for the road crew and down to Stewart for the mudders this past weekend.

At Straberryfest, The Ommegangsters represented in various fields with BB Phil showing a top 10 in the Masters field (& congrats to Ommegansters friend & rival Dave F for his Masters win -- hope you slow down for CX). Cory P and Eric G earned top 15's in their field with Chris S holding tough on a course described as either up or down. A brief write-up with results at our friends at http://www.spokepost.com/.

Again the Walker's decided to mud dog it with a mountain bike event down near Newburgh (Stewarts -- same place as Singlespeedapalooza). Jeff did the single speed race & Katina did the women's cat. 1 master race. The conditions were by far the most difficult they'd seen in a while -- the rocks and roots were covered in mud with water flowing down thru the roots, and at times, the stream crossings came up to their wheel axles. Both finished safe and sound, and completely covered in mud. In many ways, it was a race of attrition. Jeff finished in 2nd! (Wahooo!) and his lovely wife Katina ended up 3rd. Great Job All!!

The One & Only Black Fly Challenge

Black Fly Race Report from one of our own PHILosophers -- Skinny Phil:

Warning, this is going to be a long race report and given a lack of oxygen to my brain during the race, some of the facts may be questionable at best.

Eight Ommegangsters made the trip to the Black Fly Challenge this year. Jeff W., AJ, Drumm, Body Builder Phil, Jeremy, Mike (The Red Rooster), Kevin and myself. For those unfamiliar with the BF, it’s one of those races that you talk about all season. Summer, Winter, Fall, Spring, the BF gets brought up on more Ommegang rides than any other.

A bunch of us drove up the evening before, chomped some Subway, watched some hockey and a few of us drank an Ommegang or two. The BF was one of my “A” races this season, so I can’t say that I slept very well. I had a decent finish last year, and anything less than a top 10 would have been a failure this year.

At 6:50 Drumm, Jeff W., his lovely wife Katina, team friend Fizz and I rolled out for some breakfast. The others stayed behind to eat Cliff Bars, drink hotel coffee, or pack a pint of Ommegang via IV. Friends of the team, Jason and Mike brewed up some espresso in an attempt to offset a night of hockey watching and overindulgence.

After a sweet breakfast, we packed up and made the 40 minute drive to Indian Lake. For the uninitiated, BF is a point to point race and alternates direction each year. This year the race traveled from Indian Lake to Inlet. After waiting in the obligatory bathroom lines, we were ready for a warm up. After a decent warm up, it was time to line up. This year there were over 300 racers. The biggest turnout by a wide margin. The first 9 miles was going to be on pavement, which meant a bunch of MTB’ers and CX’ers humming down the road at breakneck speed. It also meant that those that never road race were mixing it up with those that do. The start of this race was one of the sketchiest sketchfests I’ve ever partaken in. I started out in the front of the pack, but quickly found myself drifting back. At one point a guy racing in the actual race T-Shirt and cargo shorts started to weave all over on a small climb and I thought we were all doomed. I’ve never, not even in a local club ride, seen someone ride so poorly or dangerously. I immediately decided that it was time to burn a match and get right to the front. The second I did, I heard a huge crash right behind my back wheel. Luckily only two riders hit the deck, but it was amazing that was all. Finally we hit the dirt. Now it was time to do work. We started to hit some rollers, and began thinning the herd. Ommegangsters were everywhere. It was really impressive to see.

Eventually we hit our first long sustained climb. After hanging on to a few wheels and working my way toward the front, we crested the hill. When I turned around, I noticed that almost everyone was gone. There were only eight of us left, and 4 of us were decked out in Ommegang kits. We kept riding in a fairly unorganized fashion and I kept thinking, 8th place, I can live with 8th place. Somewhere around 20 miles in, we’re heading down a hill and Drumm asks how I’m feeling. I tell him I’m feeling great. He then asks AJ how he’s feeling and out of nowhere Drumroll’s bike kicks sideways and in a big cloud of dirt, he’s off the road. I see him jump right back into the road, so he’s presumably ok. Then there were 7. 7th place, I can live with 7th place.

Unfortunately Drumm never got a chance to get back on. Right after he crashed, one of the guys yelled, “chasers” and all of a sudden we were in a pace line hammering. No small task on rocks and dirt. From that point forward it was all business. On one of the big down hills my left hand slipped off of the handlebars and I nearly yardsailed it at 30 something MPH. After a very lucky save I was refocused in a big way. The next downhill we were probably pushing 40 when we came across a sharp right turn at the bottom. One of the guys up front took it way wide and barely saved it. Jeff W. railed the turn and luckily I followed his line. AJ had let it all hang out as he was rejoining our pack and unfortunately had an outside line when he realized the turn was coming. Another gangster down. 6th place, I can live with 6th place.

By now, everyone other than Jeff W. was looking pretty beat. Jeff is a manimal and pretty much set the pace for the day. Jeff continued to push the pace and next thing I knew, there were 4 of us. Now I’m thinkin’ top 3. This might be the race of a lifetime for pack fill like me. We hit the pavement and another uphill. I’m glued to the wheel of a CRBC guy from Albany. He’s glued to Jeff’s wheel. We crest the hill and I think my legs are going to explode. Then there’s a sweet downhill and a minute to spin out some of the evil in my legs. Next move is a sharp right hand turn at speed onto what turned out to be sand. After some sliding around, everyone keeps it upright and Jeff starts to pull away. I’m in third position and I don’t want to drag the Albany guy back up to Jeff, so I sit in. Then there’s a 1 mile to go sign and it’s all trails to the finish. Jeff had opened up a decent gap, and I felt like it was now or never so I jumped around the Albany guy and got to within 10 yards of Jeff. From there, I just followed his sweet lines and rolled in behind him for second. AJ and Drumm rolled in shortly after and we had 4 guys in the top 10. We ended up with 8 guys in the top 50. Jeff’s lovely wife Katina also came in first in the women’s race and slayed a bunch of strong dudes in the process. Talk about a power couple.

Sadly, team friend Fizz suffered a bad crash and won a ride in an Ambulance. 3rd degree shoulder separation and a scuffed up face. The good new is that chick’s dig scars.

If you didn’t get out there this year, get out there next year.

Results at http://www.blackflychallenge.com/

... and at the races (June 6 & 7)

Tour DeTykes: The Walkers (Jeffina) ventured to PA for the TdT mountain bike race -- part of the Mid-Atlantic Super Series. They noted it was by far the most difficult race course they had ever done -- gnarly, rocky, & relentless -- 20 miles and 4500' of climbing. Jeff finished 2nd with the winner expressing disbelief that Jeff was 46 and riding a rigid fork on this heinous course. The guy who won was 29. Katina recovered from a flat to take the lead in the last mile for 1st!! We're seeing a crazy trend here -- keep up the great results.

BalloonFest: The Red Rooster ventured up to the Cambridge, NY area for some road racing action at the Balloon Festival Classic and to fly the Ommegang colors. The Rooster more or less noted he was plucked, oiled and deep fried by the end as it too was an incredibly tough course, especially after a week of some crazy training antics.

Schenectady 6-hr Mtn Bike Race: Drumroll & Ommegangster friend the Fizzman decided to enter the 6 hr event as a 2 person team. Drumroll found the course to be really tight and technical with his still evolving mtn bike skills. Drumroll was impressed with the Fizzmeister as (1) he set up the best staging/pit area of everyone, complete with a mini-changing room -- and (2) he kept getting faster lap after lap. Only incidents of note was Drumroll's collarbone vs. tree incident (neither cracked but the collarbone looked to fare worse of the two) and Fizz encountered a surprise when following another guy towards a ramp that turned out to be a teeter-tawter and took the (suddenly) elevated end in the hand & chest. Ended up 2nd in the 2-person categories which wasn't bad for a couple older dudes on singlespeeds.