Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Tour de France Pool

No, we haven't forgotten. We're just busy riding our bikes and thinking about riding our bikes.

Now go ride your bikes and check back tomorrow for the biggest vicarious racing event of the year. It may be a holiday, but the FGBC will be open for business.

TNR Report

We rode. It was fun. The Secretary introduced us to the secret northeast passage. The klubhaus was back to its usual quiet self. We appreciated that. Eddie was busy doing what he does--singing along with the tunes (and sometimes his own personal soundtrack), with the occasional air guitar solo thrown in for good measure. We heart Eddie. We also like it that Lisa is comfortable telling him to shut up if he isn't able to sing along with the tunes on the hi fi. She can be a bit abrasive, that Lisa. But she and Eddie seem to have an understanding. If it works for them, that is fine with us.

The tunes were all over the map last night. It was a riveting auditory adventure: Jewel, Edie Brickel, Asia, ZZ Top, Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers, and Mr. Mister. Many decades were covered. And a handful of different genres as well. Eddie loved them all. Which is more than we can say for the Secretary, who had to step outside for a bike check when Dolly and Kenny were making their beautiful sounds. Among other things, we learned that Eddie is not the biggest fan of Burton Cummings. We are with him on that.

Perhaps Eddie is deserving of an honorary post of some sort.

That is all.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

TNR


We will ride some. And then confabulate some. It will be a good evening.

My place, 9:30 pm.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Friday is the new Thursday

Thursday Anticipation will return to its regularly scheduled spot on Thursdays some time soon. Maybe. Fridays are kind of nice, actually.

We turn our attention this week to the Big Idea.

On tap this weekend is a 24 hour warm-up race. It starts at 8am on Sunday at BHP. Join us for some laps if you like. Or join us for a brief media scrum at 8am on Monday morning at Hyland Park, otherwise known as the place where Muddy Waters used to start and finish. This is your big chance to get the sweetest jersey in the world into the paper.

More information at the Team CMU HQ.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

TNR Report


We found no gnomes. Apparently, they are all in Lockport. We did, however, find Juan Eppstein. We successfully coaxed him out for a ride and a visit at the klubhaus. We hit the airplane park on the way back to the klubhaus. Prior to all this, we took in a bit of the Eagles concert. They are lucky to have Joe Walsh.

The Secretary is not a gnome. But he did show up at the klubhaus wearing a very sweet outfit.



We were not the only ones to hit the klubhaus after the Eagles show. It was packed. But at least our table was unoccupied.



And finally, check out this piece of cardboard that served as part of the packaging for a frozen pizza we recently ate at the TNR HQ. I think it's the Virgin Mary.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

TNR


We will go looking for gnomes.

My place, 9:30 pm.

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Honorary Captain is back on his bike


He finished 4th. That is nice. Full story here.

He's got no team, so he was wearing an Arrogant Bastard Ale jersey. We should really send him an FGBC jersey. Any extras floating around?

Friday, June 18, 2010

Del


Tonight. West End Cultural Centre. 8pm.

Thursday Anticipation: Special Friday Edition

Because sometimes Thursdays are just not long enough.


Provisional rosters are starting to be announced. It all starts on July 3 in Rotterdam. Vicarious racing is about to return. Stay tuned for more.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Faster Alleycat Kill! Kill! Report





It has been a long time since the FGBC organized an alleycat race. Halberto got it all started a number of years ago. That was back when he used to ride with us. And then, of course, there was the infamous Burger Cat race. It wasn't necessarily a good experience at the time. But its awesomeness is demonstrated by the fact that two years on we can still remember the details as if it were yesterday. But it wasn't yesterday. Instead, yesterday featured a different sort of race alogether. Six movie theatre complexes were identified and assigned randomly drawn numbers. Our task: identify the movie playing at the specific theatre in question. It was harder than it seemed, in part due to the fact that a couple of the theatres were closed by the time we got there. This led to some quick strategic calculations and, at times, pure guesswork. At least for some. Others were led to bad words or the kind of despair that left them unable to supply an answer at all. This latter approach is not recommended. It was employed by Josh. Though he was the third rider to arrive at the klubhaus, he dropped down to 8th on account of his failure to supply half of the answers. It seems the answers were there to be found. It just depended on how willing one was to look for it.

There were a few incidents. KK and Vic both flatted. And the Cricket had to attend to a broken spoke. This proved sufficiently distracting that he missed the final theatre and got lost.

The arrival at the klubhaus was as follows:

Thomas - 11:00 pm
Chris - 11:01
Josh - 11:10
JP - 11:11
Brad - 11:11
Jonny G - 11:14
KK - 11:21
Craig - 11:21
Vic - 11:21
Rene - 11:25


After the results were adjusted for accuracy, however, things looked a little different. 5 minutes were subtracted for every wrong answer.

Chris - 11:06
Thomas - 11:10
JP/Brad - 11:11
KK/Vic - 11:21
Jonny G - 11:24
Josh - 11:25
Craig - 11:31
Rene - 11:35


One note of clarification: Thomas's friend Rene spent much of the time riding with Thomas. This is what friends do. He assumed that this meant he would be awarded the same finishing time as Thomas. So he went shopping for groceries. In terms of household management, this may have been a wise decision. In terms of racing, however, it was a poor one. In case anyone is confused, let us try to state our assumptions as clearly as possible for future reference: your race finishes when you reach the finish line. We encourage you to ride with your friends, whether real or imaginary. But their finish time is not yours unless you arrive at the finish together with them.

Once the results were tabulated, Vic entertained us with stories of his many near death experiences. It is a long list. And, since he's still with us, rather entertaining.




Good times. We will do it again.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

TNR


Let's try this again. Same plan as last week. Hopefully without the rain.

My place at 9:30 pm.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Vicarious Big Idea

A bunch of us will be on the road with Team CMU in July. But if you can't be there, this is the next best thing.

And don't forget to click on the donate button. We will nag you if necessary. But it would be more pleasant for everyone if it didn't have to come to that.

Let's make this part of the 2010 FGBC - RRR FGD Challenge. The FGBC currently leads in donations by a score of $1300 to $300. Two donations each.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Thursday Anticipation

I am looking forward to a day without rain. And an update on the Back 40. The World Cup might be fun too, especially if Juan Eppstein gets his act together and comes up with a vicarious version.

Beyond that, it's basically just two things, both of which have become rather all-consuming:

1) The Big Idea


More info coming soon, when the new website is ready to go.


2) 24 Hours of Falcon Ridge


It's not too early to register.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

TNR Report

The Secretary and the Impaler got very wet on their ride over to the TNR HQ. So wet that they called for the alleycat to be truncated. Considerably. There was one stop, JP for KFC and the rest of us for cash. And then straight to the klubhaus, where the race ended in a six-way tie.

Our early arrival meant that we were able to catch the last quarter of the basketball game while JP enjoyed his supper.





It also meant that we were there when Cousin Thomas stumbled in, still slightly shaken from his far-too-close encounter with an errant taxi cab that occurred just before the appointed meeting time of 9:30 pm. He declared himself to be fine, although he did point to a wound just above his elbow. With recollections of the gaping hole formerly known as Graham's leg still way too fresh in our minds, this did not garner much sympathy.



His front wheel, however, did not fare nearly as well:




Despite our early arrival, we did still manage to keep the conversation going until close. We are a confabulatory bunch. And it's a good thing we enjoy each others company. Our habit of riding it out to the end as a group came in handy for the Impaler, whose tired old eyes were not up to the task of identifying the numbers on his new combination lock. Jonny G, ever the do gooder, was more than happy to help him out.



The tunes were good. Skynyrd welcomed us in, Zeppelin sent us home, and AC/DC kept us happy in the middle. Actually that is not quite right. On the way out, after the hi fi had been turned off, we were serenaded by the old air-guitar playing dude. Only this time he was not so much playing air guitar as singing a horribly out of tune rendition of a Beatles song whose title escapes me. Still, it was a nice way to end the evening.

Letter from Alberta

It's called Cycle South. It's probably safe to consider them part of the extended FGBC family, or at least friends of the FGBC. Check it out.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

TNR


See that light over there in the south? That is the ABES outshining us in almost every possible way. 200+ km rides, regular alleycat races, and more. About the only thing they don't do is show up at the Spring Ride. It is all a little bit humbling. Last year at this time they didn't even have a logo. Tonight we will have another alleycat race. There hasn't been one since the infamous Burger Cat race that marked KK's first ever TNR appearance. It is time.

My place at 9:30 pm.

Friday, June 04, 2010

Two Challenges, Two Close Races

The JPs fared well in the 2010 FGBC Giro d'Italia Pool to narrow the gap in the Playground Challenge. But the Victors still lead.



In the FGBC - RRR FGD Challenge, RRR has evened the score with a rather dominant month of May. Shall we let them win June, July, and August too and see if we can bring pull off a sweep of the cx season to even the score? That would set the stage nicely for a thrilling windup tie-breaker.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Thursday Anticipation

1) Trouble in Paradise

Operación MUERTO was arguably the highlight of the summer last year. At least for the FGBC. This year it appears to be in complete disarray. Two races postponed so far. And the A Rocha race, a MUERTO exhibition event, has been cancelled altogether. These were among the few races that had captured the attention of the FGBC for the summer race season. Oh well. Maybe we'll just wait for cx in September.



2) In happier news, Spring Ride 2011 is less than 358 days away.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

TNR Report


A leisurely ride. Unger and Jonny G compared their new helmets. Their old ones were Ingolfed. We delivered a card and some treats to Graham, who is apparently still in the hospital. The Impaler got a hunger knock. Fazzo was closed. So was Daly Burger. VJ's, however, was not. I wonder if it ever closes. The dude in the grey slacks and Black Flag shirt probably sleeps there. We had a slurry chat with a nosy fellow whose hunger the Secretary sated with a VJ Special. And then we headed to the klubhaus, where the Spring Ride was thoroughly rehashed and the New Year was rung in with a toast.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

TNR


The debriefing.

9:30 pm at my place.