Non-racing weekend report -- a toast to the good guys

In some ways a bummer of a weekend. We (assorted Ommegangsters & various cycling geeks from the area) got together to say good bye and good luck to two stand up local cycling guys. Plain and simple, these are the "good guys", yeah they could dish out the pain on the pedals but in this case, good guy means more that ... class acts and good men either on or off the bike.
Friday eve a decent sized group of us met up near Green Lakes and rode with AJ as our as a send-off for his new life in MD. After the ride we gathered at Skinny Phil's for some grillin, Omme recovery beverages, and good ol' story telling.
Sat eve found some of us downtown at the Blue Tusk to wish Brian H (Dawg) the best as he heads out Toledo way. Good brews on a nice Sat night downtown with good people.
Best wishes guys and there'll be a cold one waiting for ya when ya get back to the 'Cuse.

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

Memorial Day Weekend Highlights

Corning Circuit Race: Looks like BB Phil was the lone Ommegangster to make the Saturday journey down to Corning. A double-dip event with a top 10 in the 4/5 field and top half in the Cat 5 field. Results: http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/05/23-Corning-Circuit-Race.asp

Shaffer Race 4 Hope: The big news is J Randall came out of retirement to do a race with probably 10 rides under his (black?) belt this year and scored a top 20 placing out of 100+. Other Ommegangsters included Skinny Phil, Drumroll, "new guy" Adam and Aaron J. The event was one of the best we've attended in the area -- great volunteers and support, super fast results, and a fun and challenging course. About 1/2 way thru the race, a Spokeposter rolled off the front with no chase so Drumroll stirred things up w/an escape attempt on a longish gradual hill. A few miles later he was disappointed to note approaching riders at the next hill but suddenly realized there were only about 4 of them including Skinny Phil and "new guy" Adam. We ditched one of the guys and it was a 3 on 1 advantage for what would be 2nd place. The Ommegangsters played it perfectly with continual attacks until we hit the last mile as our stubborn rival was holding on. The rival was left out front in the closing meters with Drumroll on his tail. When the rival jumped, Drumroll went around with him and then around him with Skinny Phil in tow who then came around Drumroll to pick up 2nd place. Drumroll was 3rd with Adam in 5th. Aaron J also rolled in shortly after for a top spot in his age group. Results at http://shafferrace4hope.com/Pages/RACE4HOPE.html

Black Fly Shakedown: Sunday saw some Ommegangsters and friends roll out of the Walker homestead in Tully for 3 hours of dirt/gravel road, a bit of single track and some pavement in between which tallied up as 4500 ft of climbing with some on CX bikes and a few on mountain rigs. Post ride included some good brew, a couple pizzas and some good story telling and conversation in the back lawn.

More Race Recap from the Weekend Part 2

The off-road report .... (JW & crew killin it .. again!) ....

Jeff W., lovely wife, Katina, and friend, Fizz, drove Sunday morning to the eastern part of the state of the 2nd race in the H2H mountain bike series. The race took place at the infamous Tymor Park, for those of you who remember this race from the NYS mountain bike series. With 1200' of climbing per 7 mile lap and a course that was rain soaked the night before, it turned out to be nothing less than an epic day of riding complete with exposed roots, rocks, and slick conditions. Jeff and Fizz did the cat. 1 SS division race which had 10 starters and Katina did the cat. 1 expert women's 40+ race. We all commented that this was one of the largest race turnouts we had seen for quite a while and the caliber of racing was very high. Jeff ended up 5th (and on the podium), Fizz was 9th and Katina was psyched to finish 3rd. In front of Katina were two national champions and on Katina's last lap, she was within sight of the 2nd place gal. Due to the course conditions, we were all out on the course between 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Tough day.

More Race Recap from the Weekend Part 1

Lots & lots of results from Tour De Syracuse -- basically 4 sets (crit, TT, RR, & GC). The Ommegangsters represented fairly well throughout the various categories with some top 5 and top 10 results sprinkled in. Full set of results at http://tourdesyracuse.com/. Tough luck award again to Eric G who was likely podium bound until a double flat in the RR.

Observations from EG on the weekend: From my perspective SCARR-OMMEGANG was well represented at the Tour de Syracuse. Things I remember from the weekend include watching Greg D. battle a strong and very experienced field in Biblical conditions during the crit. After the downpouring rain and high winds I expected to see the race overtaken by a swarm of hungry locust's. I remember seeing Dan the Plan pulling his field around the crit course lap after lap. I remember Skinny taking a shot at the Cat 4 crit title with about 3.5 laps to go and wishing I had been in a position to go with him. Skinny was strong the entire race. I remember almost throwing up after the TT. Then I remember watching the last 1/3 of the Cat 4 RR from the back of the wheel van. From that vantage point I was able to watch Skinny, Cory P., and AJ battle the surviving CAT 4 field. At some point there was some sort of incident and the pack scattered left and right and then I saw AJ do a cyclocross remount at 25 mph without skipping a beat. Strangest Moment: Seeing Rob as a professional, competent, organized, and in charge official. I thought for sure with the large audiences at hand that he would take the opportunity to demonstrate the latest trends in personal grooming techniques. Funniest Moment: Kevin thinking he had missed the start of the Cat 4 RR flying through the start line in a full sprint while the 50+ cat 4 riders sat at the starting line asking each other WTF was that ???

Tour de Syracuse -- alternative recap

From Ommegangster RC:

The Tour de Syracuse was my first race as an official. Oh, let's be honest, this is the first time I've even been on a race course in years. As an overweight, out of shape, wannabe cyclist, I figured getting an official's license was one way to get involved in racing without being too horribly embarrassed by my utter and complete lack of form. I remember as a racer often being annoyed by the cranky officials and their slowness in getting results posted. I learned the hard way after my first few time trials that you simply don't ask an official for timesplits when they are still timing. In fact, you are risking a torrent of profanity if you ask the wrong official at the wrong time for ANY results before they are posted. I used to get very annoyed with things like the yellow line rule, not being able to wear iPod earphones, and other rules I felt were hindering my options as a racer. I mean, it's a bike race,right? We should have the whole road closed and have police and helicopters just like the TdF and podium girls and all that.....right?After two days burning my hairless pate to a crisp in the sun I have a clear view from the other side of the official's stand and it was a bit of an eye-opener- bike racers are annoying as hell. I totally get why we are annoying, but it doesn't change the fact that we are.Of course this is compounded by the fact that some people are jerks. Most of the racers this weekend were polite, respectful, and just wanted to have a good time racing. And by most I mean roughly 99.9%. But a few were not. This is surely in the same proportion to the rest as the general population and is the main reason why I steadfastly avoided any career path wherein I would have to deal with the public. It's always the few that ruin it for the rest.As a racer it's all about yourself or your team. The desire to know precisely how well you did against the competition as soon as possible isa perfectly natural reaction to competition. However, the reality is that there are hundreds of other people racing that feel just the same way you do and figuring out the results of a race can be a technological and administrative feat. Hundreds of numbers and times have to be matched and ranked in various races and categories. The timer for this race was Alan Atwood and he carries around (just a very rough estimate on my part) maybe$5k worth of equipment to record and calculate finishing times. I'm truly at a loss as to how this was all done before technology had these tools available. He's good at what he does, but don't stand in his way when he's trying to watch a finish line. A couple riders I don't think have been yelled at like that since Catholic school.I have to admit that a couple times as I was trying to watch oncoming riders, write down numbers, grab split times off my watch, and be ready for the next rider 3 seconds behind, I snapped at a few people who came up to ask results while I was still timing. It's just not fair to the riders on the course and risk them getting an inaccurate time or missing a finish time completely.Please, please, please do not ask the officials who are actively timing anything at all. They need to concentrate just as much for the other riders as they did for you!When I relegated a rider in the road race to the rear of the pack for a blatant yellow line violation which he used to quickly advance to the front of the pack, I realized that I had had the same thing done to me about 6 years ago on almost exactly the same stretch of road. It might have been the first year the race started from Song Mtn. It felt a littleodd but the view from the back of the pack, seeing the space available,and knowing what would happen if a rider got hit by an oncoming car made me realize first-hand why officials are so paranoid about the yellow line. I know that as a racer there is a certain sense of invulnerability and maybe even a sense of entitlement to the road but the facts are that accidents are unforgiving and I had no desire to watch someone's cerebral cortex ooze out of a hole in their skull. So I called the rider out, had him go the back of the peloton, and that was the end of it. He did as asked without protest, although a couple other riders made a few choice comments. He was back up in front in perhaps another 90seconds and it cost him a little extra energy. I didn't see another line crossing for the rest of the day, not counting the inadvertent wobbles or someone getting pushed out for a second or two by the dynamics of the pack, which always happens, and I ignored. My point was made and the race went on without further hitch. Well, at least tome. The riders still had to climb those bloody hills......The worst part was that over the three races I had to DQ three juniors for roll-out violations. Personally, I think the roll-out is a ridiculous rule but, as an official, I don't get to choose which rules I enforce and which I don't. Had I not DQed those juniors, it would not have been fair to the ones who were riding within the regs. I made sure to re-test every suspected failure multiple times, rolling against a tape measure in every instance, but if it failed the rider had to be disqualified. One parent at the crit was absolutely seething, to the point where another official came over to stand next to me quite literally as backup.I think there is a common misconception among the peloton that the officials are the enemy. We're not. I think I can honestly say that onbehalf of all officials that NO ONE wants to DQ or penalize a rider. We are simply there to keep it fair for everyone under the existing rules. Yelling at us doesn't really change anything except make our day even harder. I can honestly say after clocking close to 20hrs of officiating time this weekend, it's hard enough without the guys we are trying to work for getting angry at us when we're looking out for everyone's best interests.If I ever do get back on the race course on a bike, I'll have a new perspective on just how much work and BS the officials have to go through just to make the race happen. Suddenly, I want to start training again....

Race Recap (another win!) -- Orchard Assault XC & Bristol RR & Brewery Ride

Orchard Assault: Jeff and Katina W drove to the UMASS-Amherst mountain bike race early Saturday morning, while enroute to their niece's graduation party later in Vermont. Jeff was psyched to race in an open single speed category and Katina did the women's cat. 1 (a.k.a., expert) race. Jeff lined up with 9 other guys and said that the start was fast as they headed into an uphill. Not having a chance to pre-ride the course (except for a small portion of it), we could tell that is was tight, rooty, slimey (from the rain storm earlier in the day) with a lot of hilly, switch-back climbs. Jeff separated himself out from his group after the 2nd lap and lapped Katina at the end of my 3rd lap. He was smokin'! He went on to win the SS race by over a half a lap. Katina was the only expert woman who showed up, but her thrill of the day was being passed by Lea Davidson of the now defunk Trek-VW team and teammate to the World Cup women's champion, Marie Helen Premont. She was very courteous and placed well against the pro men. Congrats Jeff & Katina !!

Bristol RR: A few Ommegangsters headed out to the hilly Bristol RR. No real reports from anyone but looks like Anthony R and Aaron J represented. A tough day for Anthony and top 15 for Aaron. Results at http://www.rochesterroadracing.com/bristol.html.

Brewery Ride: 3 Ommegangsters and 3 guests showed up. Two and a half hours of some up tempo riding. After, we were treated like VIPs with some special beverage treatment that included a glassful (or two) of Belgian bliss in an actual glass.