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.