Deacons de la Dirt

Ommegangsters done got dirty this weekend.  A trio of the boys headed down to the Catskills (ok, so maybe one walked out his front door) for some off road action.  Two hit the Belleayre Mtn stop of the NYS MTB series while the crazy man of the bunch decided he wanted to do a 2-day MTB stage race that covered oh, like 50 miles both days.

From Belleayre, Paul S podiumed in his division while the Rooster (who likely begged, borrowed or stole a MTB to race ) also ended up on the podium in his division. Awesome guys !!  (Props to Omme friends the Jeffina for a demo of dual domination in their respective divisions as well.)

So Jason H (aka Bob in some circles), figured putting in a 100 mi on the road over a weekend wasn't enough and went on to race the Wildcat Epic.  Not sure if ya'll have ever done 50 miles on a MTB at once but 2 days of 50 back to back is, well, kinda epic I guess.  He may still be recovering (that's alot of saddle time on a MTB if ya know what I mean) but deserves a congrats for his efforts.

You can tell the road seasons quieting down as there seems to be a slight uptick in CX talk on the group rides and such the past week or two -- Kirkland CX is just a month away.

Tour of Catskills Horsegate ..... Roostah, is that You?

So the Ommegangsters headed down to Rip Van Winkle land and pulled out some pretty awesome results at the Tour of the Catskills ... a 1-2 on the podium for stage 1 by Craig N and Eric K.  with Dave Y also placing well.  When the Tour of the Catskills was done and over, three Ommegangsters in the top 15 with a 5th, 9th and 14th out of pretty sizeable field.  Rooster flew the Omme colors (who new this Rooster could fly) w/a good result and Fast Freddie H doing the Assault on Devil's Kitchen for a 3rd.

On to the dirt at Highland, The King Karl F and Jason H on the podium in their respective divisions with a 2nd & 3rd.  Drummroll had pulled out a nice lead in his division on his SS until his chain quit and decided to lay on the ground after about 3/4 of his race ending with an unfortunate DNF.  (Props to Ommegangster bud Dave F on a successful foray back onto the dirt with a win in his division).

So back to Tour of the Catskills ... Was it true there was a horse named Cavendish out there .... ya gotta see it to believe it ....

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Zuur !! ?? !!

 

Quite possibly unlike anything you've ever had.  

Zuur – or Sour – is a collaborative Flemish sour brown ale. A beer whose style arises from the mists of brewing history. It uses mixed fermentation, real fruit, significant aging, and master blending. All of these are ancient and revered Belgian techniques. This unique Flemish sour brown ale is complex, tart with a touch of sweetness, lightly malty and gently hopped. Zuur is a unique blend created in collaboration between Brewery Ommegang and Brouwerij Liefmans.

Witte Weather

Been downright hot here in da 'Cuse (& upstate in general) the past few weeks.  Kinda makes you want to sit down in the evening and enjoy a refreshing Witte.  But hot weather be damned, the Ommegangsters still were out in force this past weekend.  Omme colors were flown at the NYS TT Champs, at the Walnut Mtn Classic & Race for Sight.

At the TT Champs, Eric G was just gettin his groove on and ran in to an unfortunate mechanical issue w/his seat -- try riding 30+K of a 40k TT with the seat at a 45 degree angle -- and he still posted a pretty respectable time.  A Rotter also flew the Omme colors at the TT with a respectable showing. (Props to Omme friends Dave F, Derek T, & Famous Amos for some medal action at the TT champs.)

Moving from the TT bike to the MTB, Paul S notched up a second place for his division at the Walnut Mtn Classic down in the Catskills.

A bit closer to the 'Cuse, The King, Cory P, Dave Y & Eric (Cat 3) K had a nice showing in the Race for Sight 'A' field with 2 'gangsters with finishes in the top 5.

Nice work all !!

Tour of the Catskills looming on the horizon as well as the BCTC ride and the Highland (MTB) Classic -- hope to see ya out there.

Waffles & Puppets & umm,? ... Cyclocross?

Yup, a whole new adventure and twist on what has become one of the premier CX events in the Central Leatherstocking region.

On Oct 3, 2010, Team Ommegang - Syracuse Bicycle will be hosting the 4th annual CX event at the brewery ... we have called it CX @ Brewery Ommegang but we just might have to come up with a new name to reflect the new angle.

You see, on Oct 2, 2010, Brewery Ommegang is hosting another edition of their wildly successful "Waffles & Puppets" event.

What this means is that you should attend "Waffles & Puppets" on Saturday (Oct 2) and then race CX on Sunday (Oct 3).  Essentially we have made this a family weekend of fun.

[Read between the lines here family peeps .... a reason to head to Cooperstown for the weekend with the whole family, a chance to do some cool family stuff in and around Cooperstown and the brewery on Saturday and then get in a CX race on Sunday.  You just might impress the non-cycling spouse/partner of yours and get a bit of CX fix without having to pledge to conquer #'s 1 thru 5 on the honey-do list.

Stay tuned for more details ... Brewery Ommegang is really stepping it up for the CX event this year so start dropping the hints now about a fall weekend in Cooperstown.

Last years' Waffles & Puppets .... http://www.ommegang.com/index.php?event_view_id=12&event_view=2004-10-09&mcat=3

The Plan & the E-Squared Show

While some of us hit the BBQ and sweltered in the crazy heat, some of the boys got in some racing this past 4th of July weekend,  Well actually Dan the Plan started a day early with a 4-stage race out Fitchburg way.   A little circuit action, a road race, a TT and crit landed Dan in 15th place overall on GC for the Masters 40 Masters division.  Considering the magnitude of this event, and that he was likely racing some semi-retired pro types (probably 10 yrs younger), this is a pretty big accomplishment.  Great work Dan !!

The E-Squared show (Eric G & Eric K) rolled down to PA and jumped in the Nanticoke crit.  Working together to play the team cards, Eric & Eric each ended up on the cat 4 podium with Eric G taking the top spot and Eric K in 3rd.  Congrats on the podium!

On the horizon .... Tour of the Catskills, Empire State Games, State TT champs, and maybe some MTB action.... (and there has even been an increase in CX rumblings).

Corning Recap From "The Glen"

Cat 5 Report from Hey-Soos:  Was cool to drive down to Watkins Glen again with my dad.  We hadn't been in years.  My dad has a long history there (since the 60's) as a driver, instructor, flagman, promoter, media assistant, and of course, spectator.  Needless to say, it was a bit nastalgic for the both of us, though no tears were shed.  I was already familiar with the track layout, but the warmup lap soothed my fears of any real climbs.  Realized we could "big ring" the rollers and hills.  My other fear was that if it rained that the track would be "greazy" from all the car activity.  Not so.  The Cat 5 race started right after the 4's, precisely at 4:31.  We were immediately instructed that the race would only be 3 laps, and were told that the top finishers would be right around the 30 minute mark.  Lap 1 was pretty uneventful.  Same with Lap 2 until the short straight on "The Boot" where I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.  The group splintered up a bit and separated to 2 groups leaving me a bit behind.  At the first turn of Lap 3 I encouraged the guys I was with to try and catch the lead group.  No luck so I tried to bridge the gap.  No luck again.  The group(s)? splintered even more and I was with 4 guys with about 2 turns to the finish.  Not sure where the lead guys were but I decided to at least get some positions on the guys I was with.  I took 3 of the 4 on the last straight but couldn't get the 4th.  I ended up 12th of 35 per chip timing.  I looked at my computer at the finish and realized that 3 laps (as decided by the officials) was only 26 minutes.  I really wish they would have let us do 4.  Fun race (even though it was short) at a really cool facility.

 Cat 4 and 3/4:  Great racing, lots of Ommegangsters present and great results ....   A big congrats to Eric & Craig with a 1-2 finish in the "4" field and ditto again to Eric w/a podium in the 3/4 event.

Results link:

http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2010/06/26-Corning-Circuit-Race.asp