Ommegangsters Busy Weekend of Racing

The Ommegangsters continued their racing exploits across the region this last weekend of May.

Amish Country PA: AJ jumped into a Cat 4 40 mile circuit race in southeastern PA (Peach Bottom) consisting of a 10-mile hilly circuit with 2 significant hill climbs, two technical descents followed by sharp turns. He held on for 14 of about a 20+ sprint in the 40 or so strong field. He got a little boxed in with about 500m to go but lesson learned for a field sprint that tight and large. "I saw my max HR, a few stars, clovers and other Lucky Charms, maybe even a leprechaun and spent about 40 mins in mid- and upper-zone 5. Even passed a few Amish buggies during the race. I think they were real, though I may have been hallucinating." Results at: http://www.allthatisgood.org/index.php?option=com_results&Itemid=1&task=showResultsAll&raceID=76

Thoroughbred Country Upstate NY: "New Guy" Adam L ventured up to Saratoga for some NYS Crit Champs action. Doesn't sound like the course was terribly rider friendly with unfortunate manhole and pothole locations sprinkled here and there. Throw in a little rain and some sketchy riders and you get to surf the pavement as Adam unfortunately found out. While a little torn up and the bike relatively "ok", Adam will be back at it.

Singlespeed Country Downstate, NY: From Katina .... Ommeganster's Jeff W., Greg D., Karl F. and Ommeganster friends Katina and Fizz participated in the Single-speed Palooza in Stewart, NY (near Newburgh) on Sunday. The course consisted of two, 10 mile loops of rolling single track. We awoke to perfect conditions and were even more pleased to see that the course was in excellent condition. While this was not a highly technical course, it did have plenty of tight single track which forces even the best of bike handlers to stay focused as the course was constantly changing. The pro/expert men started first, and Jeff and Fizz participated in this division. There were no age categories and as you can imagine, there were quite a few young, heavy hitters in the race. There were about 45 starters and Jeff finished 19th and Fizz, 34th. On a less serious note, for those of you who have never seen the start of a single speed race, it's somewhat humorous -- the riders all have one gear and are spinning their brains out, but no one is going any where fast. I noticed that one guy had on a hula skirt, a ukulele hanging off his back, and a beer can strapped to a stick hanging off his handlebars! Gotta love this sport! One of the pro dudes who took a top three spot rode in cut off jean shorts and a hacked up flannel shirt! I was next to go off and will admit that I was extremely nervous as I was riding a borrowed bike (from none other than Anne August, wife of Andy August) and this was my second ride on this bike. The pro/expert ladies field had 8 starters and I was delighted to finish 2nd. Jeff had given me a lot of tips in the car about how to ride this thing and I mentally had to remind myself of his advice throughout the race. The sport division was so large that the race promoter split this large category into two: "NY and north" and "NJ and south" (which I thought was a pretty cool idea). Karl and Greg participated in this division. Greg finished 4th and Karl 14th. Afterwards, Ommegang beer flowed and Greg even gave the promoter beer to pass out to participants during the 'give-a-way' segment of the awards. Promoters blog: http://www.darkhorse40.blogspot.com/ Results at: http://www.darkhorsecycles.com/race-rumblings/70-race-results.html