Falcon Gold Race Report

With the foul toxicity of all the smoke and bad excuses about not biking from Friday night's dogfest still fogging my normally coherent sensibilities, I headed out to Falcon Lake early Saturday morning for the inaugural Falcon Gold Race. It wasn't easy to leave in the midst of the great location debate, but it had to be done. The race consisted of three stages: a 14.5 km time trial, a 25 min. plus 3 lap criterium, and a 53 km road race. Things got kicked off with the time trial on South Drive--an out and back to the Falcon Trails Resort, on a windy and slightly undulating course. I felt alright, not great, but ended up winning the time trial by half a minute. But the euphoria of my first ever race win was short lived, as I lost all that and more in the afternoon criterium. The 30 minutes of racing around the small park in the town square were both faster and scarier than I had expected, but a good learning experience nonetheless. After a brief stint at the head of the pack, I got caught off guard at the halfway point and gave up the 15 second intermediate sprint bonus to the guy who finished 2nd in the time trial. It would have helped if I knew who he was, but I hadn't seen him at a race before and didn't really have the best sense of who the competition was. Not a great move on the tactical side of things. With about 10 minutes left, he and another guy got off the front again, and somehow I ended up a further 20 meters or so behind the chase group. Not really sure how that happened, but now I was stuck on my own having to chase back to the group. Another tactical fuckup in a quickly growing list. I did manage to bridge up after another 5 laps or so, but had to work so hard in the process that there was no hope of catching the two leaders. The revised plan was now to stay ahead of the 3rd place guy and to try and take the 30 second time bonus for 3rd place. This was briefly interrupted by a crash that I nearly got tangled up in. Two riders touched wheels and one of them went down right in front of me. Luckily I wasn't boxed in and was able to swerve around and avoid it, but a few of the others ended up with some nasty road rash and found themselves out of the race. But Mr. 3rd place was ahead of the crash and now had a small gap on me with only a few laps to go. Together with one of the Kids of Mud riders I pushed hard to bridge back up to him and we managed to do that with only one lap to go. Now we had the momentum, left Mr 3rd place in our wake, and fought a hotly contested sprint for third place. KoM guy went out first but I was closing in as we got to the line. Neither of us were sure who took it, but the officials decided it was him not me. We were 15 seconds behind the winner, the former 2nd place guy, and I lost another minute to him in time bonuses. The 30 second bonus for third would have limited the damage to a 30 second deficit, but as it was I ended up being bumped down to 2nd place by a full minute. Not sure how things would have turned out on Sunday for the road race, since I wasn't able to be there. So instead I'll try to repeat my time trial success and try not to repeat my mistakes in the criterium and hope things go better at the next stage race I'll be doing instead of the annual Bike Club weekend event. All in all it was a great day. The weather was perfect and I learned some valuable lessons. Too bad the FGBC-Tinker Creek contingent was so small, but there's always hope--Juan Eppstein and Jonny G both have fully functioning road bikes and would make solid additions to the sport classification. And now that Hal and Dave have acquired some new road wheels, things are looking up. If nothing else, anyone is welcome to come out and ring cow bells along with Miriam and the rest of my personal tifosi on the side of the road.

Until next time . . . ride yer bike!

Latest camping news + Friday evening's dog fest...

Well, a fine evening for a dogfest... and a fine turnout. Juan (hosting), Unger, Bergen, Marls, Jonny G, Chris, Hal, Secretary... Country Meat and Sausages dogs were consumed by some. They are, afterall, the official dog of the club. We'll need to look into sponsorship. The good news is that they are currently available at Harry's Foods. Go support your small town (Blumenort) dog producer. (Perhaps we're not quite in a position to change our name just yet.)

There was a good deal of bike related discussion... what with there being a couple of racers in the club these days. (Hal, you're clearly part of the club, but you're not currently one of the racers. I hope that's OK.)

Attendance at our spring ride did get a bit more airtime... since the technical/race director has decided to race instead of join us, and then there's the whole matter of the Duke...

Unger's arrival, was the key to get down to serious business. Since the whole Morden area thing has hit the skids, location was the critical agenda. After numerous twists and turns in direction, we settled on West Hawk because of the potential diversity in riding options and if that area didn't work, to Spruce Woods with the FGBC.

This just in... an email from Juan Eppstein who was good enough to check into camping options on behalf of the Klub:

I have some news re: the camping arrangements. Group reservations are for groups of 31 or more, so we are limited to reserving a cluster of individual sites. Unfortunately, our favorite spot (sites F-1,2,3) at West Hawk were full. The only cluster there was E-6,7,8, but these seem to be a bit close to the neighbors still. My executive decision was to book at Caddy Lake, where I reserved sites 32,33 & 34 (see Caddy map under the minutes archive), which are at the end of a bay with no sites directly opposite.

Further info: - $27.75 per site for a total of $83.25. Bring cash or cheque to the event to square up the costs. - Sites are reserved under Darryl, Brian, and my name. - 4 people per site, 2 tents/site. - Reservation numbers are 209506, 209507, 209508. - Check-in 4:00 pm, check-out 3:00 pm (Sunday). - Cancellations/changes can be made until 4 days in advance of the booking.

Thanks Juan. So, we're in busines!! Go ride your bikes!

Tinker Creek Website

Looks like our bretheren in Tinker Creek have been doing more than just riding lately. Well actually, since Hal bust up his leg a while back he's actually had some time to work on the Tinker Creek Cycle website. Check it out.

Dogfest moved to Friday

sounds like the weather and attendance issues has moved the dogfest to Juan Eppstein's on Friday. Please let him know if you are able to attend.

Birch Reopened

It's now official. The best place for mountain biking in the province is set to open once again on June 2. See the official statement from the Manitoba Cycling Association. I realize the $50 fee will seem a bit too steep for some, but hopefully at least a handful of FGBC members will pony up so we can do some group rides.

Minutes May 17, 2004; dog fest news; and more

Well, as you've learned, the meetings have migrated to the Cambridge on Monday evenings for now. Since it's an ultimate gathering as well, it's not all bike business, and in the interest of not segregating the whole thing, only the most serious agenda really gets proper discussion, but there is news to report...

• first, the bad news. Hal had an ultimate injury, and last we heard, his ankle was broken. There seemed to be some uncertainty, so we'll update you on that asap.
  
• second, the other bad news. It seems camping right in the Morden area is out. The Stanley Park option will under no circumstances tolerate us consuming any of our namesake beverage... and the general consensus on the campground is that it is not an option. The bit of good news is that Marls has done some quick research, and found us a bit of info on the Stephenfield campground which is less than half an hour from our desired riding area. Here's a link to the pdf. Seems promising. Shall we commission him to proceed with a booking? (This last bit of news is the "more" that the title refers to.)
  
• dogfest. since there is no ultimate game next week, we will move our gathering to Tuesday, and enjoy a dogfest at Juan Eppstein's. Let's gather at 9:30 unless you hear otherwise. The president and I, the secretary, have been on dog duty before, and will have a go at it again. So please RSVP to the bike clube email address: bike_club2003@yahoo.ca
  
• certainly nice to gather with some of the Altona contingent. More discussion of a southern cluster... the latest possible name is "The Old Dutch Bike Club". Very complementary.
  

Present: Unger, Jonny G, Jonny S, Jeff R, Juan Eppstein, Chris, Marls, secretary, and other assorted ultimate folk.

The Norc Redux

The tastefully rusted, blue Norco--my trusty single-speed steed--is back on the road. Winter and spring were unkind to it. But the wonky bottom bracket, which necessitated a month-long mothballing, has been replaced with a brand-new cartridge and now she's (a female steed?) pedalling smoother than ever. Plus, as a reward for her loyalty, I've outfitted her with a new chainring. Now running a 46x16 drivetrain, I can barely keep up with her. Sure would like to spoil her with some shiny FGBC stickers.

May 17-21 is Bike to Work Week. For those of you who don't already, get with the program.

Trev, your quest for a new bike presents you with an ideal and long overdue opportunity to return to Winnipeg. Natural Cycles' Prairybike has Bechtel written all over it. It would suit you well for the annual spring ride.
Chris.

quick update, take 2

well, I just posted a good update and then my MS Explorer crashed and lost it all...

so, quickly, meetings seem to have moved to Mondays at the cambridge because that's where most of the ultimate crowd goes that intersects with bike club. tough to get down to business with such a large and diverse crowd.

Unger is still working on site issues for our June gathering.

We haven't had a chance to talk about Trev's bike recommendation request in the comments of the previous entry...

hopefully there will be something new to report in the next couple of days...

Minutes. May 4, 2004

Present: Chris, Unger, Juan Eppstein, Hal, Secretary

Two riders. No peanuts or chips. Is there more to be said? Oh yah, the dark was fine, and everyone at the table enjoyed one... even Juan Eppstein. We may not keep the company alive by volume, but by persistence.

In discussion:

• lots of racing talk. Unger, Chris and Hal raced at Birds Hill wednesday, and Unger raced at Grand Beach on Saturday. New experiences for Unger which seemingly put a few things into perspective... like, wow, those guys are fast.
  
• some minor concerns for the June ride... Hal cannot join us, so we may not be able to do the Tinker part of the ride, but apparently the riding in the trans-canada trail bit is good too... we just need to be able to find it. Unger is almost convinced that he needs to do a reconnaissance ride. Some club encouragement would be a good idea. Juan even went so far as to suggest a change of location to West Hawk...
  
• on the social scene, turns out Unger was at Olympia this week, and sees this guy in shades and a khaki jacket walking around picking stuff up to buy with little regard to price. As Unger's finishing up at the till, the guy comes up and brings his stuff to the counter. Robin Williams.

Well, there was likely much more, but remembering is not working, so there is little recourse but to hope other attendees will chime in, in the comments to raise other points.

Minutes. April 27, 2004

Present: Chris, Unger, Penner, Jonny, Marls, Secretary

The North Kildonan division of the club showed up on bikes. It only took 30min., which begs a couple of questions: 1) why don't they ride more often; and 2) why don't the closer people ride more often.

Marls brought chips.

Discussion ranged, so here are some of the more Klub oriented thoughts in no particular order:

• Unger will be in his first race tomorrow, at Birds Hill. He tried to register under the FGBC, but we are not registered as a club. For that matter, Chris also registered without a club because Tinker Creek has also not registered.
  
• related to above, Tinker has not registered because Birch is still closed, and apparently it's not looking particularly good for re-opening.
  
• young Ben had a crash. Unger, Anita, Ben and Zoe[sp?] were out for a ride on garbage hill. Ben went vertical (head down) and managed to rip his knee open to the bone and break his collarbone. At first the extent of the injuries was unknown, so Unger rides to the nearest phone, calls Adolf, and waits. Adolf isn't coming, Unger's riding up and down Empress waiting for him, finally goes back to the phone for 911, goes back to find Ben shivering and going into shock, so he gives him his shirt and proceeds to ride up and down Empress bareback, waiting for reinforcements. Must have been quite the sight for the locals.
  
• fortgarrybikeclub.com is now active. As mentioned, no files will move there until a few things get fixed up... but there is a link there to our current site, so if you forget, or want to tell someone about our site, you can start using the new url.
  
• further in the media department, the president is working on the '04 fgbc DVD. It hopes to include member profiles and live fgbc action.
  
• Trans-Canada Trail. Jonny rode the bit from the forest at CMU to Beaudry Park and suggests it's a nice ride... other than having to ride over the Perimeter Hwy.
  
• as there was some question raised over the ability of our humble collective to have two professors as members (see previous blog entry), it seemed worthwhile to hear the humble words of the professor that is able to make it to regular meetings, "it shouldn't be a problem... there may be two profs, but there's still only one Doctor." Apparently it remains in the hands of the other (non-Doctor) prof to test the club's ability to sustain two Dr's.
  
• some discussion of the bike auction, and auctions in general as potential fund-raisers. The theory is that we will buy cheap at auctions and garage sales, and sell high on ebay. Marls seemed ready to go on this work.
  
• iron supplements became a significant topic. The race director takes them because he claims its necessary for a nearly vegetarian... our medical officer claims it's a certain level of blood doping. No resolution here. Then it turns out the nearly vegetarian race director isn't the only one on extra iron...
  
• where the Deevil are Bergen and Luke?
  
• Marls is still on sticker detail... working on a local option
  
• finally, we are still proceeding with the spring ride on the given dates... it is not determined where we will be camping yet. Debate between the Minnewasta Lake site and the Stanley Park site...

til next time.

new job for US rep

Trev just posted on his blog that he will be the Assistant Professor of Ethics at Bluffton College. Is there room for two professors in our humble collective?

...On with the show this is it!

First and foremost, peanuts were absent (again) from the meeting ... the president is making up a schedule, and you will be contacted.

Onto bike news ... Hal stepped up and displayed his battle scars from his fight with a chain link fence (fence-1, Hal-0), but he will be ok. All we know is 61km/hr + corner = bad.

In other bike club news, the technical director has been in contact with Colin Bock about a maintenace session, so a time a place will be forthcoming shortly.

The Vertex is Unger approved ... go Vertex go!

Wax vs. oil - wax is the winner.

No sighting of Melanie.

fortgarrybikeclub.com is ours - it will be coming to a computer near you soon!

On a side note - the Pixies show did not disappoint (trevor, we were thinking of you). A solid 75 minutes of music, 2 encores, and happy fans in every direction - very, very memorable.

Phil was elected the President of the tubing/toboggan club.

We are hoping for a tour of the Fort Garry plant - we are leaving this in the capable hands of jonny.

Present and accounted for: Dave (Dieter), Darryl, James, Juan, Chris, Hal, Jon (Beans) and me.


Until next time.

Mark (Marls)

April 13 Meeting of the FGBC

Much news to report. Let's get down to it, shall we...

First, attendance. Another newish face, as you will see...
- penner, chris, hal, marles, jonny, secretary, unger, and, yes, aiden se ("se" standing for super esquire).

Well, top of the news was jonny's email to the original FGBC, thanking them for their product, letting them know that we've kind of named our club in parallel with theirs, that we sometimes ride bikes and almost always consume their esteemed product. That was a week or two ago. The recent reply was in the nature of "Good show. Let us know about an event and we'll supply some free product." So, that's a fairly huge response to a potentially dangerous initial contact. The idea of a corporate interfacing portfolio was discussed. I suspect jonny's got it sewed up at this point. It's that darn disarming smile that he puts on in his emails... We'll see where this goes... it was never really, actually, pointedly mentioned that we are working with something of a parallel logo...

Marles is still on sticker detail.... thinking that a 1.5 x 5" effort with "fortgarrybikeclub.com" on it might be nice... so, with that thought, and the news that we are closer than ever to coming out of the closet with the larger FGBC, there was some concern about our level of profile. Jonny closed the discussion with the assertion that, "we are exactly what we are". Done.

Next Race: Garbage Hill, Sunday April 18 @ 2:00pm. Meet at the main gate at the SW corner.
A few members have been enjoying the challenge of Garbage Hill, none more than Hal who got his doors (figuratively speaking of course) blown off by some hot shot on a single speed. There is more than one FGBC member who is skeptical of even making one round on a bike with more gears than we know how to use. (Yes, I realize this is a very strong argument for the single-speed.)

Further to single speeding... Hal reported that the winner at the single speed world championships literally gets branded. It seemed like a good idea for us to consider such an honor for some winner at the big annual ride in June.

Birch discussion: The most recent news on the opening of the Birch riding area is that it's a maybe, but we're making plans to be ready if it does open. The requirements are a) membership in a club which is signed up ($150), and then b) at the very minimum, the plain $5 membership with the MCA. The significant option we're exploring is hooking up with the Tinker Creek guys, and thus dropping the per person amount. It is unclear whether we can exist as a "sister" club, or whether we take the Tinker colours to get through the hoops. Unger is working on the details. Stay tuned for a deadline date to submit a few $$$ to be in. Seven FGBC have made verbal commitments to ante up.

There was contact with the Duke in the last week. He seems confident that he will join us for the spring ride. He's also encouraging the beers and bike stands event to get his ride in order. A fine idea around this emerged, where we would pay Colin B (neighbour of Chris' and bike repair guy) for a group afternoon in his garage. The technical director is looking into this.

Finally, there was once again debate on how to measure results at the upcoming catwalk competition at the spring ride... distance or time?

and how do we factor in the all important style points?

... well, that ranks right up there with, "what's the meaning of life?" doesn't it?

Doin' it bloggy style!

Let's check in to see what happened last night on the "Adventures of FGBC"...

Hal and Greg checked into for an evening of bike club, Hal biked, impressive.

Hal also gave another great idea for our stickers ... www.thestickerguy.com thanks Hal.

Ideas were bandied about for future races for FGBC, and the idea of poker derby (or game hat) for the June ride in Morden. This was met with a smattering of opinions. What is a game hat anyways? The future race ideas was quite an intense discussion with Chris leading the charge - with all these potential races coming up, it is going to be quite hard to find enough excuses not to attend, some of us will have to dig deep and give 100% in this department. (man, I wish I had brakes, again).

Some sad news - there is a rumour that Ingulf will be clear cut. We need the VP External to look into this for clarification.

On other race news, there is a 24 hour relay taking place at Falcon Lake. Both Hal and Chris are hoping to do it on their own. Hopefully they will keep us posted on a potential date for this event.

Hey, check out Greg's site www.gregorydahl.com It is FGBC approved!

Quorum was met, and it was decided that our new domain name will be fortgarrybikeclub.com. It will cost us $35 and Jonny Beans stepped up and threw 10 in the pot - that a boy beans!

The potential of us riding the naked bike ride/protest was brought up, and pretty much shot down immediately. The question of seats as an option for this ride was tabled, and met with a few laughs and giggles - oh, those silly boys in bike club!

Finally, preliminary discussions arose of a potential 'sistering up' with the Tinker Creek gang, this was met with optimism. Oh yah, Dave got his new ride - the Vertex has been unleashed and is terrorizing Wolseley as we speak - can hardly wait to see it Dave.

Members attending: Dieter, Juan, Dr. Hubie, Darryl, Jon, President and me. Thanks again to Hal and Greg for joining us - come again.

quick hits ... the dark was good, no sighting of Melanie, and no peanuts.

I'm oot and aboot

Mark/Marls

World's largest naked (cycling) event

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new race page - and thoughts on new web domain

just as a follow up to the race director's prior post. I have begun a new season of race recording. I just need some confirmation on the season's point system from said race director. I know that the yellow needs some work.
race page

there seemed to be interest in us getting a new domain name. www.fgbikeclub.com is available. now www.fortgarrybikeclub.com has been suggested (also available). we will finalize the question on tuesday, and proceed. Assuming there are a few $$ contributions to the effort.

FGBC Cup #1

The 2004 FGBC racing season is off to a good start. Six riders turned out for the first instalment of the FGBC Cup today at Assiniboine Park. I believe that is a record tunrout for a race. Hearing lots of excuses from those who didn't show--stuff like "my bike's got no breaks." The race: 5 laps of the road loop at the park--roughly 15 kms. Unofficial standings below. Official standings are on Barg's photo of the minivan window we wrote them down on. Tuesday we will hold an election for the pen and paper director, just in case there isn't a dirty minivan lurking around. Next race: Garbage Hill sometime before too long. Stay tuned for more details.

Dr Hubie - 29.59
Johnny G - 33.52
Unger - 33.57
Barg - 34.45
Starlene - 39.16
Anita - 44.17

Race Saturday

With the snow all but gone, it's time to get the 2004 race season going. We will wipe the slate clean and start all over again with a new edition of the FGBCC(up). We will meet Saturday morning at 10am at Johnny G's place and likely head over to Assiniboine park from there. I'm thinking of one race a month minimum. Unger and I already have a list of potential race sites, so we hope to introduce a few more venues this season. See you Saturday. No excuses! Will Unger be debuting his new wheels?

Melanie - 4, the Duke - 2

As Darryl attends to his wet basement, here is what happened Tuesday night...

First off, a big congrats to Chris, Rachel and Miriam as little Jonah joined their family early Sunday morning.

Melanie, the pride of New Brunswick, decided to join bike club. This was met with furrowing of eyebrows, but with her being an "excellent conversationalist" we all took it in stride. This was Melanie's 4th bike club event, 2 more than the Duke, and it showed as she remembered everyone from her last attended meeting and was saddened that Darryl was not there to convert her. She left all to soon, and tears were shed ... until next time Melanie.

It was nice to see the Duke out in full force and it was decided when quorum met that Duke is now the President of the Sushi club, henceforth relinquishing his Vice-Presidency of the Dog Club.

Onto actual bike news - Dieter put in his order for a new bike, the Vertex will be arriving to Home St. soon! We were all quite happy for Dieter, especially Melanie.

In other bike news, little M has her new bike at home, the 'little mermaid'. Dieter, Jon and Chris all agree it is very nice. For the record, it has 2 mermaids stickers - this was verified by lil' M. Here's hoping for good sidewalk weather!

It was good to see Bergen out last night, especially after his story of the flu. After a night in Plum Coulee that never really started, Bergen found himself out of commission for 3 days of work. These 3 days were spent lying in bed, staring, as it was to painful to read a book. Things were beginning to look up for Glenn so he decided to goto A & W and get a burger. Happy with burger in backpack, Glenn is on his way home down the back alley when a cop car pulls up to him and begins an intense interrogation. "WHAT IS YOUR NAME", "SHOW ME SOME ID" and "WHERE WERE YOU JUST NOW" are some of the things Bergen first heard from the boys in blue. To this Glenn explains he is on his way home after getting a cheeseburger from A & W. Then they demand to see the burger - Glenn obliges. As he is reaching for his ID, the second cop comes up behind Bergen and checks his belt for a gun. At this point, Glenn is a bit worried. Apparently, the Domo down the street was just robbed, and after this interrogation, the cops realize Bergen is not their guy. They leave with a parting comment of "Don't take this personally". Bergen finally gets home, eats his burger, and half an hour later, proceeds round 2 of this evil flu - no work the next day either!

Swatter sent his greeting via Duke - a consensus was met that Dave is still the dumbest 'dum-dumb' around.

The Dark was tasting alright. As was the Coors Light, that Melanie had

No peanuts this week.

Race this week - meet at Jon's @ 10am - off to the park.
p.s. James (apparently) is a cheater.

I'm out.

Mark/Marls

The big "V", peanuts, and other ramblings on a Tuesday night...

With Darryl out west, I get the dubious honor/chore of taking minutes, so here we go...

First off, a big thanks to the President as he stepped up and brought 2 bags of peanuts for the evening, and as grateful as we are to him, a big round of applause goes Lori, as she was the one who purchased salted, AND unsalted peanuts for FGBC. WE know why the President is really just a figure head in this institution - the real power is behind the scenes.

Continuing on with the President, talk turned to his recent vasectomy, and how the freezing REALLY didn't take all that well. At one point Brian yelped loud enough to merit four more shots of freezing - the surgery continued, as did the episode of seinfeld Brian was able to watch. Sweating profusely, and white knuckling his way through the rest of the surgery, all is done, until the first sample needs to be brought in.

At this point, the discussion turned to others who have had the surgery. Everyone agreed theirs went smoother than Penners, and in a few months, he could bring in his first sample. This is where the FGBC came in - we decided that we could potentially be a courier service for men who need to verify the surgery was done correctly. We voted Darryl to head up a committee to further look into this endeavor.

A wrinkle arose when Dave (Dieter) alerted the group that we would need a guide for our Tinker Creek ride, as much of the course is on private property. We waited for quorum, and when met, we decided to pursue this guide for our ride. Dieter will keep us posted.

Speaking of Dieter, he is still not happy with his current ride, and is in discussions/negotiations with James of Tinker Creek about a new ride - a Vertex (swell name) by Rocky Mountain. We were all excited for Dieter, and wished him all the best in this continued search for a new bike.

A bike maintenance day was proposed by Penner - this was met with great approval and excitement. Dr. Hubie coined it as a day of "beer and bike stands". This also was met with approval.

A discussion on dogs arose...Luke and the Duke are President and Vice President of this new chapter. Good luck gentlemen!

Turning back to bike related matters, our next race will be at Whittier Park on the weekend of April 3 and 4. Time and actual date has yet to be determined. Dr. Hubie will keep us posted.

That concludes this weeks meeting.

I'm OOT
Mark (Marls . . . get the spelling right Darryl)

Attendees: President, Juan, Dave, James, Chris, and Me

fgbikeclub.com or fortgarrybc.com?

Amongst other things, we debated what a new domain could look like, and be named like. The president advocated the latter because it leaves openness to other clubs with the fort garry prefix. Please register your opinions in the comments. It would cost the club about $30/year to go to a site with our own domain name.

Conversation rambled. There was no major agenda, what with the date discussion out of the way. Some of the topics were:

• merchandise. Marles is now heavily pushing the idea of FGBC stickers. Hopefully he will anti up with a little research on this.
  
• bike sale. Unger has an opportunity to purchase a bike for $1600 off. well, that leaves a price of $2400. actually, the deal is available to any FGBC member. Since it seems Unger will not be taking advantage of this obvious deal, you can contact him to get more details.
  
• member Jerry. had a little phone call with Jerry this eve, before the meeting. apparently he's in the club. It seemed like a good thing. He's already been riding. The issue was brought up as to whether there was space for two non-resident Loeppky's in the group. No decision was made.
  
• other regular items were brought up like Marles' single speed brake issue, location of our spring ride, etc.
  
• oh, Luke made it out. nice to see. so the discussion of fixing his bike came up again. Just as a reminder to you, the reader, it was put somewhat out of commission at last spring's ride... yes, that means he hasn't really ridden it since then, although that isn't ususally mentioned in such a forward way when the topic comes up.

Since this secretary will not be at next week's meeting, the decision was that Marles will take minutes. I think this happened because he left before the rest of us.

Present: Marles, President, Secretary, James, Unger, Jonny, Chris, Luke

the date stays! June 11-13, 2004 for the spring ride

With some amount of disbelief, let it be stated here, for the final time, that the date decided upon for the spring ride at last week's meeting stands. As we gathered this evening, there was a note of tension, nay, apprehension, that all last week's good work at discerning a date might be undone in a few simple words, like, "I can't come".
It is my priviledge to report, that even as the President brought out "the book", there was no single person present to throw a stumbling block into the finely tuned plan. While pertinent questions were raised: what about the people who aren't here? is this quorum? the usual... the response was in unison, "too bad, they could have come to the meeting, or sent their concerns by blog comment or email". It is destined to be a fine event.
In other commentary:

• Unger was encouraged to be proactive in assessing options for camping other than the Morden campground.


• Fundraising opportunities spread to the Fort Garry Bike Club Golf Tournament. It was thought that a club some distance from most population was highly prudent. Luke certainly has his work cut out.
  
• new merchandise was the topic of some discussion. Marles favoured many items, but started the discussion off with the thought of a new shirt. Hats (nice caps with mesh back and foamy front, old skool like), socks, gitch, and wrist bands were options mentioned. Stongly affirmed were the MEC long sleeve riding shirts. Members could choose their own colour/style and then we would gather them together to have them screened.
  
• some discussion of a letter to Fort Garry Brewing Company, about how they are infringing on our logo, or rather, how there seems to be some confusion over who's is nicer, took place. The motive behind such a letter was rather vague, but had to do with possibilities of sponsorship in the form of $$s for shirts, or maybe a free beverage. This is not new ground, but now that we have a VP (External) as part of the club structure, we may have the framework within which to begin such discussion in earnest.
  
• the idea of retaining legal counsel, (also not exactly new in the context of the previous point) was taken to a new level after the letter discussion, as names began to be bandied about. (This discussion remains "in camera" because we don't want a bidding war for the job to become ugly.) It seemed that a cap for being able to retain such counsel (not actually to do any work, but so we could say we have legal counsel) settled in at around $5, or a pint of Dark.

Present: secretary, Marles, Unger, Jonny, Chris, Penner, Jimmy

down to business

well, business was the order of the day. not did we hit five members present and the excitement about getting on planning the next "big event" was underway. there is a veritable list of business items.

Present: President Penner (with book in hand), Unger, Bergen, Marles, Juan, Jonny, Chris, James F, secretary.

1. site options. very near a consensus emerged that we investigate the Morden/Tinker Creek area as the primary option. The usual other options were voiced: Ingulf, Spruce Woods, Riding Mountain, Moab.
   
2. accomodations. with Morden as the primary site, Unger stepped up to the camping coordinator role. First choice was some piece of private bush, but it was deemed that the campground would likely be fairly low on guests at the date proposed.
   
3. date. yes, gentle reader, we did tackle the date question head on. Two dates emerged. Middle of May, or middle of June. The President's holidays fall right in the middle of those. At first mid-May was ahead, but, as is usually the case, time to ponder the issues coupled with a heapin' helpin' of group discernment, and the dates June 11-13 rang somewhat victorious. The potential conditions of any of the above mentioned trails, what with all the snow this year, and the area south of Morden's generous dollop of gumbo, made things somewhat more clear.
   
4. fundraising. enthusiasm coalesced over the, at first tongue-in-cheek, but eventually acknowledged, stellar idea of the Fort Garry Bike Club annual curling bonspiel. Leadership to this event was handed to numerous people as they walked in, and yet, it seemed like the idea was not home for each potential potentate. Clarity was ours after the hockey members arrived, discerned themselves out and passed the torch. When there was no one to pass the torch to, stock was taken over members not present, and the name Luke was gleefully proclaimed. "We have a winner!"
   
5. other.
   • club structure. a couple of new portfolios are in place.
     - Bergen: Vice President (Exernal) - we'll still need to work on defining the role, but the title is confirmed. With his upcoming position as assistant to the assistant for the VP (External) at the Uni, it should come into focus over the next year or two.
     - Unger: accomodations task force, and bun baking.
     - Penner and Barg: rediscerned themselves to the dog committee.
     - Fundraising for the next jersey: Luke
     
   • long term goals. - week long trip to Medora in about six years
     - two or three day road trip (ie. carry your stuff on your bike to a determined destination)
     - wheelie competition
     - contact Team Brown ( a job for the VP (external) perhaps?)

Good show FGBC! A fine meeting.

minutes - not really

the biggest action today is in the previous posts. most of that detail was reviewed.

In member news, Bergen blew his chance at a little EI by accepting a job at the Uni that makes him something like the assistant to the assistant to the VP, External. The President and I were trying to determine whether that doesnt actually make him VP, External of the FGBC.

The president also raised the question as to whether there shouldn't be a bit of a cabinet shuffle. General consensus was... no.

The president will also be bringing his datebook to the next meeting, so we will begin discussions of the spring event date in earnest. It may be too much to hope that we could keep this discussion down to five or six meetings...

"i guess you didn't get pixies tickets, i heard they sold out in 3 minutes!"

this is what i have been hearing since around 10:30 saturday morning. well, let me tell you about one of my greatest days ever...

it is about 6:30 am as i look at my watch, this is also the time i jump out of bed, throw on some clothes and run out the door - i have slept in on the biggest potential music-making day in winnipegs history!

wiping sleep from my eyes, i am screaming down osborne after picking up shane (brother-in-law) as we race towards a little known gem of an outlet to buy tickets - the winnipeg goldeyes stadium. as we arrive, we see 4 "dudes" in line...we approach with caution.

"hi" they say - we reply "hello" all is good. i look at my watch - 7:30, not bad, 5th in line, this should get us tickets...or will it! patrick (my new best friend) and zach have been there since 6:30 am, and this has granted them 1st and 2nd in line. we proceed to make small talk ie. weather, getting tix at this unlikely venue, what song will they lead off the set with. it is all good - for a while. then self-doubt begins to set in as we begin to question whether or not our early morning line up will get us tix. this is the first show of the pixies in 11 years! we had all heard the rumours of people calling from as far away as australia trying to secure tix. but no, we had to be rewarded for our dedication. we all decide we have nothing to worry about - we were going to be alright!

fast forward to 9:55am. dennis, the keeper of the gate/ticket overlord is amazed to see this many people in line for tix. he has never heard of the pixies. 9:59am...1 minute till we find out if we leave with smiles on our faces, or chairs being thrown through windows. 10am...patrick gets 4 seats in the 5th row. zach is next - he gets 4. then 2 guys whose names i forget get their tix. then, sweaty and excited i step up to the gate, cash in hand, i blurt out "4 tickets please". dennis then says to me "sold out". to this i say, rather loudly, "sold out...NO". immediately, the 30 people behind me fall dead silent. i feel really sick - i look at my watch, it reads 10:03:09am. then dennis says "would you like single tix". "YES" is my response. i get 4 single seats - i am beside myself...i am going to see the pixies!!!

i look back in line, shane has been able to secure 3 single seats. then ice bergen steps up - he gets 2 single seats. we all smile at each other. then the guy with the mullet behind glenn gets 1 ticket, he saw them in vancouver at their last performance ever. until now.

we go home happy and sweaty - that was really intense.

the pixies. april 14, 2004. burton cummings theatre. holy shit - i am going to see the pixies!

i'm oot
mark (marls)

bike advocacy geek

good heavens. i have just our man. too bad he lives in KW. check out this beauty article on Bechtel's dad on trev's blog!

The other "Mennonite Rider".

Can't Afford Enough Money for the Fucking Bus?

Or something to that effect were the words that came hurtling at me as I stood in the slush on the side of the road in front of my house in order to let the rusty red Taurus drive by. I was caught so offgaurd that all I could do was smile, hop back on my bike, and ride on. A month ago I was accused by a colleague at work of being inconsiderate because I ride my bike to work in the snow. On the one hand, I can't for the life of me understand what it is that arouses such passionate anger among those we are trying to share the road with? On the other hand, I know perfectly well as I almost daily unleash foul-mouthed tirades directed at moronic motor vehicles--though mostly underneath my balaclava.

Yesterday, a Duke University MD/PhD student set some sort of first in US legal history in becoming the first person to be awarded significant damages for an accident that resulted in using his bike as traffic. I think he got a quarter of a million dollars, but unfortunately also some severly broken bones. I suppose that's kind of like a backward step in the right direction.

Wait a minute. I'm supposed to be the technical director and race organizer, not the bike advocacy geek. We need someone else to take up the charge. Nominations will be held this evening at the F&H.

Landis wins in Portugal

Though I'm not ready to declare an end to mourning the death of Pantani, there is some significant reason to be happy right now. Floyd Landis, "The Mennonite Rider" and honourary FGBC member, pulled off a big win at the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal this past week. Floyd looks to be in good form early in the season, losing to Armstrong by only a second in the 24 km time trial, and clinching victory with an attack on the final mountain stage.

a day late with the minutes

Whoa, I'm slipping a bit. It's a busy week.

A fine gathering. Biking discussion did override the noteable concern about Pixies tickets. Of most interest was a turn in the discussion for the spring ride.

Spruce Woods was again mentioned, but then your humble secretary blurted something to the effect of, "but I don't want to go to Spruce Woods". With floor priviledges firmly inhand, said secretary explained that it might be nice if we find a location that might keep the technical level up a bit. This would ensure that the stronger riders would have diversions along the way that might keep the pack together. Without a number of technical stops, the only interesting thing for the strong riders would be to see how many miles ahead they could get from the others. "What about the "south of Morden/Tinker Creek" area?" asked the secretary. So, further discussion began unpacking the options in this part of our fair province. Stayed tuned. We may tackle the date question in the coming months.

Luke spoke about building a single-speed.... perhaps to avoid ever getting his bike fixed from the last spring ride.

Unger did a little show and tell with his new helmut. Original price $150, purchased for under one hun. Not to mention that he was the only member who rode to the meeting.

The race director did a little explaining on the ins and outs of the Tour de France, and brought up the death of the guy in the previous post.

Members gathered: Chris, Unger, Jonny G, the secretary, Marles, Luke, James and then the related hockey collective.

A time for mourning

I think it would be appropriate to have some sort of official time of mourning to honour the memory of one of cycling's great legends. Marco Pantani died this past weekend at 34. Pantani was the last winner of the Tour de France (1998) before some guy named Armstrong decided to make it his personal obsession, and was one of the purest climbers ever--kind of like our very own Luke Snider. Sadly, he was perhaps even more troubled and emotionally fragile than he was brilliant as a rider. While the results of an autopsy are not yet in, it's being suggested he either died of an overdose of anti-depressants or of a heart attack (which would suggest doping). See the coverage at Velo News or cyclingnews.com.

I don't exactly know what would be appropriate in terms of mourning. A black armband wouldn't exactly stand out given the colour of our jerseys. Perhaps wearing bandanas for our next few club rides would be a fitting tribute.

Icebike 2004 pics up

Well, I posted the Icebike pics from Jonny and Charlene. They are there as I received them...

I used a program to very quickly put them in gallery form which is much quicker than the way I've been doing it, but maybe not quite as nice. Let me know what you think of this gallery type.

Chris sent me a link to another picture where he's ahead of some famous cycling guy here in the city, but the link didn't work. Stay tuned. We'll figure it out yet.

little biking news, but the Pixies are coming

there was little news in our biking world. Chris crashed again, on the same corner that's burned him many times. He did show the wound on his knee. He also reported that the Icebike race was a fine experience. We should all be pleased with his results which are a launching the FGBC into new levels of status. I guess he would have had to tell someone that he rides with FGBC.... you did do that loud and proud, didn't you Chris? at least quietly?

I have been promised a few pictures of the Icebike event, but will not hold my breath for them to turn up in my inbox. Rest assured, they will go on the site if they do arrive.

so, the big news at my end of the table was the Pixies reunion tour which kicks off in, you guessed it, Winnipeg. this is significant because it was clear that we would be participating in our first bke club funeral if Marles doesn't get tickets. Torn between the ecstasy of imagining being at the show (which will take place at the Walker, a fine, small venue for such a show), and the debilitating fear of not getting tickets, Bergen and Marles were fairly roughed up.

I think a change in the weather will bring biking more to the forefront of discussions again... not to mention that it should take us a month or two to nail down a date for our weekend gathering...

Icebike

I'll try to write a longer update for the blog in the next little while, but for now let me just say that Icebike was a resounding success. The weather was great, and though the cold temps throughout the week resulted in smaller crowd there were still 100+ riders out on the course, which is the most in any race I've ever been to. 45 riders started in the Abominable (20k) men's category, including me and Jonny as well as a significant contingent representing the Tinker Creek colours. I'm happy to report that I finished first among those two groupings, and 13th overall. While I'm pleased with that, I'm still pissed for a spill on the last downhill section that screwed up my gearing and cost me two places in the standings.

Results are available online. Also, Charlene took a bunch of pictures on their new digital camera, which I told her to send you. But in the mean time, the MCA site has one picture with me and Hal in it. In case it's not clear whose who, I'm 2nd from the top and Hal is closest to the bottom. I couldn't find Jonny in any of the pictures they had up.

Postrace consensus among Jonny and myself was that there is no good reason we shouldn't make this a mandatory bike club event. The race course itself was far easier than what we did in and around Whittier park. So no reason to be affraid from the skills/technical standpoint. Charlene is also looking to make a statement in the womens category, having recognized a few women who finished at or close to the top and feeling confident that she could take them. That's the spirit.

We will give a fuller report on Tuesday. Later.

Chris.

-51 with windchill

sorry, this secretary took no notes last night. Perhaps others can chime in on the comments to remind about a piece of discussion that was significant. With today's temperature, it might be interesting to hear if Juan and Chris actually rode... guys? any comments? do you live?

Bike Club related:

Chris has sort of convinced Jonny to ride this sunday in the Ice Bike race. That will be the extent of FGBC participation in the event. It's a growing phenomenon however, I can feel that next year will be a big year at this race for the club. Results will be posted on the race page.

Marles is thinking about turning his current bike into a single speed and buying something new in spring.

Jonny had a very nice one hour clinic with the Olympia people on Portage. I forget the tech's name, but Jonny was allowed to watch/help change his cables and adjust the derailleur (I can't spell helmut [sic], but I love derailleur). Very nice of the Olympia people.

Other:

The Darkness Website Miss this new rock band at your peril, apparently. I hope to check the site out later today.

work issues continued to dominate discussion. Marles going for an interview today, Unger writing his ticket for a 22hr work week, Bergen doing well with uncertainty, Chris also living with some uncertainty. No work = No $$ for bike stuff.

the stinky dead guy was in the Collective

well, there was a bit of biking discussion, but larger discussions raged about where they found the dead guy who had been dead for quite a while. Marles insisted Ozzies, the general consensus from the rest was in the basement of the Collective Cabaret, just a block away.

Other significant discussions, or rather, ones I found entertaining were:

Marles holding forth on the state of the record industry, having been an insider for many years. The general consensus here is that the state is not, in fact, good. There seems to be a new level of revival in the indie scene, but it's an uphill battle. If he would open a record shop, it would have to be a specialty shop of some sort. Vinyl, or classical or something. In fact, opening a diner seemed a greater interest. So much for the music industry.

James continuing to insist, against a strong majority, that the second Matrix was worth the plastic it was printed on, and that the third Lord of the Rings was really bad. He seemingly was not in tune with the rest of the gathered assembly. The crowd was analytically sharp and condemned almost every piece of the second Matrix, and then in a group switch, went into a softer, forgiving, nearly sentimental stance for the efforts in the last Lord of the Rings.

Attendees of the club included: jonny, marles, the president, james, chris, juan eppstein, and the secretary.

From this reporter's standpoint, every effort at raising the issue of club participation in the Icebike race was almost ignored. I tried (which, admittedly is easy because I can't ride yet) and the technical/race director tried, but with basically no response. The president did at least say something, which is the same as every other time, "I've used up all my sick time for this year." Not really encouraging stuff.
Forge on Race Director. I hope I can be there to cheerlead...

the link for Simpsons and "Breaking Away"

Here's the link Chris was trying to get going in the previous post:
Simpsons and Breaking Away
It's a nice article.

A couple of things

First, it turns out my new helmet purchase was less of a deal than it appeared at first. Yesterday I got a bill from FedEx for an additional $25 for duty, etc. Should have seen that one coming. Just a warning to anyone who might be tempted to order from US online companies.

Had an adventuresome ride into work yesterday. Everything was going fine until Omand's Creek, which I was prepared to hike through. But I was not prepared for Wellington Cresc. to be such a mess. Lots of loose snow, and it was a sheet of ice underneath. It took me about 35 minutes to get in rather than the usual 15-20. There were good stretches where it was simply impossible to stay on two wheels. At one point--I guess I was looking a little bit screwed--a pickup truck pulled up beside me to ask if I wanted a lift. Turned out to be one of my students, who probably now thinks he's set with brownie points for life. But we all know better than that.

At school, one of my colleagues suggested that it was "inconsiderate" of me to have biked into work in those conditions. It seems Charles Adler had a little rant on CJOB on the drive in to work attacking all of Winnipeg's loyal bike commuters for shutting down the morning commute. It seems we staged a critical mass ride without even knowing it. I'm not sure if these sorts of vitriolic responses on redneck radio are a good or a bad thing. In the no news is bad news sense of things, I suppose its not all bad that people are talking about bikes as traffic. But in the good old USA, Clear Channel (a top 40/redneck radio network) is in trouble with the law for having several of its DJs making on-air encouragements to run cyclists off the road. A number of incidents in North Carolina and Texas seem to suggest that drivers were more than willing to heed their advice.

Spain apaprently just passed a law permitting cyclists to ride two abreast on all roads. Still this didn't prevent some pro cyclists out for a training ride from getting run into a guard rail by some overly aggressive old man. Seems the world has it in for us these days. But let's be strong, resist the coffin-driving evildoers, and stay on the narrow path.

Apparently last Sunday's episode of the Simpson's featured an homage to the old classic cycling movie "Breaking Away." Did any one see it or, even better, happen to record it? Perhaps we should hold a screening of the film as a Bike Club even in the near future. This could be the sort of Bike Club event that even the Duke might come to. In any case, see for more on the Simpsons and "Breaking Away."

Starting to get excited about the Icebike race. Anyone interested in in a ride this weekend?

last night's gathering

Nice to see Marles and the President out on a wintery Winnipeg evening. With no specific agenda, conversation went in the usual places... starting with, how's the Dark this evening. It was good.

Chris showed up with a lovely catalogue of cycling accesories. He just ordered a helmet from these folks. www.performancebike.com

There is some excitement building about the Icebike Race Feb. 1. Check the post below for the link to the site and the registration form.

Club members gathered: The president, Luke, Jonny, Marles, Chris, James, the secretary plus some of the usual hockey guys.

For the record, there was some debate as to when we began formal planning for last year's trip. A trip to the minutes archive revealed that minutes were first kept on March 25, 2003. That isn't to say that discussions didn't take place sooner... years sooner in fact.

Icebike Race 2004 website up

The website for the 2004 Icebike race is up. There had been some discussion that we would try to attend as a team, flying our colours, or, in the case of black, the absence of colour.

The Icebike Race 2004 Site

This link should not be confused with the Icebike Site link in the links section on the right which connects to the fine Icebike Site in general.

Fruitful Christmas, delightful gathering

Well, a gathering of the gift laden bike club members... an excellent turnout at the club house (despite the fact that they were out of dark... pathetic) turned into a sharing of Christmas bike riding booty. It seems there were no Buy Nothing Christmases for those attending the meeting. As if Aiden would want to see the bicycle industry collapse.

How's this for a list of goods for those present:
Jonny: helmut (after my "helmet" misspelling in the previous post, i feel i might stick with the slightly revised version... this would not be a bad name for the kid Jonny); bike stand (for cleaning/tuning, not "kick stand" apparently); jersey; bike tool.
Juan: bike computer
Unger: bike computer; socks; under-the-helmut toque
Chris: big $$ racing helmut; shoes; socks; sunglasses
Penner: (not actually present at the meeting due to work commitments) helmut; clipless pedals
Bergen: jersey; back flashing safety light
Luke: winter riding jersey
James: balaclava
the secretary: as mentioned below in the previous post.

Some excitement surfaced about the spring ride. Location was, predictably, the priority. Spruce Woods got some very good billing. It seems many of us were looking forward to another spring ride.

Juan shared about his latest wipe-out in Assiniboine Park, and we heard about Chris crashing because a dog swerved at him. The trials of hardcore winter riding.

In related news.

Unger shared that he's quitting his job. Some freelancing will set the stage for a nice bicycle/wallpaper/drycleaning shop in the retail space that's expected to open up shortly in Wolseley where the two organic foodstores are duking it out for the granola belt's loyalties. (Check out The Meatrix for a nice pro-veggie bit of Flash animation.) There is usually only one winner... and it will be Unger's Bike and Paper Hanging and Cleaning Emporium. The primary news should increase Unger's time for riding bike and coming to meetings anyway.

Not mentioned directly, but strongly inferred was the fact that Jonny and Charlene are great with child. No predictions should be made on how this affects his time riding bike...

The bike club shirt saga is about to come to a close.
The last available bike club shirt should perhaps never really have been considered "available" as such. It is being hand-delivered to the Duke at the Chicken Chef in Altona tomorrow noon. The transaction will hopefully slip under the storey starved vigilance of the local press. Better not to attract too much attention...
While it seemed that Duke was not fielding his physical presence at bike club gatherings, this quote from a recent email makes it clear that he is the rightful owner of the shirt, and not Bechtel, as the pendulum had been swinging...
"As for Bechtel's supposed claims...what can I say? He is on the left
side of right but I can claim better intentions than he so with that
moral authority I claim the shirt as rightfully mine."
Thus saith the Duke. Who's going to argue with that?

As a visual post script, you may want to point your browser to this link to a picture of the inside of my shoulder on the media page of our site. It's a little tough to tell what's what, so I have annotated it. Good luck.

first post Christmas post

well... Merry Christmas to all bike lovers... and the rest of us bike likers.

i am now in a modified typing scenario. both hands, but the keyboard is shifted hard right on my lap. i'm not allowed to move the fixed arm to straight in front of me yet.

actually, there was a Bike Club theme for me this holiday season. i received two helmuts, and a pair of winter riding/jogging tights. (those funny looking things with the reflection strips that the technical director wears.) i'll return one helmut eventually. now all i need is the new bike and time to ride it... maybe next year, or the year after that.

i hope to post the surgery pictures i was given in the next while.

surgery today

so, it's done. i was supposed to have a local block for anesthesia so i could watch the proceedings, but it didn't take. they had to put me under. the local block they put in still isn't out... they told me to expect pain tonight.
have to use the sling for 3 weeks.
should be ready for our big spring event, however...
glad i got yesterday's ride in.
perhaps someone will report from the gathering tomorrow, but i won't be there and one-handed typing sucks.

Night ride this eve

Well, James, Jonny, the Technical Director and I met at Whittier Park this eve at 9:20pm. We decided not to race, but to explore... with my surgery coming tomorrow morning, it would have been poor for me to push too hard and have an incident. We rode til about 11:00.

Check this map which is in the media section of our site for the the Whittier Park ride area. Follow the dotted red lines for our route.

I'll see if I can type (one handed) a few notes about the surgery tomorrow.

Race this weekend

Yes it's cold right now. But not so cold that we cannot continue to be excited about the next race. Yesterday my fingers froze and my freewheel was threatening to do so as well. So now the bike keeps me company in my office during the day. I almost got sideswiped today by some asshole in an Aztec flying around that sharp corner on Wellington before he lost control and took out an oncoming car. This only 200 ft away from where some other idiot in a pickup decided to try and take down the St James bridge the day before. Two crashes in two days. I think I might stick to the bike path for a while, at least for that portion of the trip.

In any case--we do need to have another race before our loyal secretary gets his shoulder rebuilt. He's nearly the bionic man already, so I wouldn't want to have to line up against him once he's healed. The always reliable Environment Canada weather service tells us that it's supposed to warm up during the weekend. -6 on Saturday and -4 on Sunday, with the low only a balmy -11 for Sunday night.

My suggestion: a Sunday evening race back at Whittier park. A slightly longer lap than last time, which will feature mostly trail riding. Johnny G and I scouted out some possible race courses last weekend and we believe we have a few options that would be still more exciting than the thrilling race we held a few weeks back. If we get enough guys out, we might even try James' relay idea and see if it works.

Thanks for the link to the icebike site, Darryl. I think it is based in Alaska.

icebike site

here's the link to the icebike site. It seems to be Winnipeg based. Info on riding technique, dressing, and anything else related to riding bike in the winter, except for the race that carries the name, and there's even a comment about that on the news page.

and for the Great Lakes/Chicago members, there are even winter riding enthusiasts out your way at the Chicago Bike Winter site.

december 9 gathering

no major news. a bit of discussion over the Duke's shirt. Trevor has suggested that it is now his, as the Duke has made no moves toward claiming the shirt he initially ordered.

would be nice to get one more event in before I go under the knife for the shoulder rebuild on monday. the current -30 weather has made it difficult to get excited about the idea. night race at Whittier has been suggested... the technical/race director claims it's no problem without a light. the ground's white, the trees are not. no problem.
there will be an email around if something transpires.

the secretary

fgbcbc #2

It's now a few days later and the dust has all but settled. Time for an update on the second installment of the fgbcbc. Despite some good early indications that had us looking at a possible record number of participants, we ended up with five eager racers yet again. The Wolesely contingent put in a good showing, warming up by biking to the race site at Whittier park and previewing the course while waiting for the secretary to finish his pep talk with the faith and life women's choir. Two rookies made their debut Jimmy and the Secretary. The race: 3 laps aroung Whittier park (river trails and back on the gravel path, including a mandatory trip through Whittier's version of devil's ditch). This time the pack stayed together for the first half lap. Jonny G took his customary early lead, but a bad choice of trails let Chris and Jimmy get ahead. Taking advantage of Chris's untimely confrontation with a tree, the secretary moved into second behind Jimmy. Coming into the first straight, the two rookies are sitting 1-2, with Chris on their tail and Jonny G and Unger not much farther back. As the course became flatter and straighter, Chris attacked and Jimmy couldn't hold his wheel. Jonny G soon caught the two rookies and assumed second spot. Chris's long solo break held for the remaining 2.5 laps, but not without a few more close encounters with trees and nearly sliding down the river bank. Jonny G held onto second place, despite falling on the last straight and giving Jimmy some last-minute hopes for second. This left Unger and the secretary in a monumental battle for 4th place, with the secretary narrowly taking it at the line.

Post-race festivities ensued at 206 Home St., with Juan Eppstein joining the fun after putting in some weekend hours at the office. Our worst fears have been confirmed: Bubbas are no longer being produced. 12 Canadians had to suffice, courtesy of the secretary. Post-race conversational highlights included James's idea that the next race should be a team effort--pairing up and racing as a relay. In addition to possibly keeping competition closer, this would have the added benefit of allowing the traditional post-race festivities to take place during the race itself. It was noted that participation from Altona has been a little on the lax side lately, and that the Duke has not yet been to one fgbc event involving bikes.

FGBC Bubba Cup #2 a success!

I won't give any colour commentary at this point, (except to say that the two race novices were #1 and 2 for the first leg of the race), but want to say that the event was sweet. I'm hoping the race director will comment on the nature of the course and the event.

You'll notice that there is now a Race Standings link from the homepage, and there are pictures of the event under the "Events 2003" heading.

Sad news on the bubba. They are no longer made. Do we change the name of the race series, or do we forge on with the bubba held in our memories?

the secretary

Strong Dave

I still can't seem to get pictures to actually work on the blog, so, if you want to see the pics of Strong Dave (ie. our Juan Eppstein) at work, you'll have to click on this link:
Strong Dave

Meeting Place and more

The secretary tells me I'm supposed to clarify the meeting place for Saturday. While I'm not sure that responsibility is part of the technical director's portfolio, here's the deal. We will meet at the end of Tache (right by the intersection with Messager St.). I can't remember if there's a parking lot there or not, but there will be ample room for parking. Be there at 1pm.

I'm assuming the Wolseley contingent will ride there together. Let's meet at my place at 12:30. Others can feel free to join us if you want to get more kms in those legs.

We do not yet have a venue to host the post-race Bubba-fest. Perhaps one of the mini-vans will have to suffice.

A brief update on my recent visit to Atlanta is in order. Two things of note: (1) I did a couple hours of good riding on Sunday morning. Weather was in the 20's and sunny, and the trails were surprisingly technical for being inside the City. Reminds me of how much the cards are stacked against us here in Winnipeg. But we won't let that discourage us. (2) There was a discussion concerning FGBC that took place--namely Trevor Bechtel indicated an interest in the subject, possibly even membership status. It seems he and Andy have had a conversation or two. The Americans are rallying! Let us not be too complacent. Still, I suggested Trev might want to consider making a pilgrimage to these parts sometime this summer, where among other things we founding (and non-American) members can flex our muscles, so to speak. Perhaps Jeff and Johnny S could lead them on a little night-ride as a sort of hazing process.

Trevor also expressed disappointment in not getting the last jersey, especially since (does this sound familiar?) James swooped in and nabbed it.

If only there was as much interest in the biking side of our operations as in the marketing/promotions wing. But all that will change on Saturday at 1pm.

new race date - Sat. Nov. 29

Well, it's not for lack of trying that we're going to get the second Fort Garry Bike Club Bubba Cup in. Now it's this saturday, at Whittier Park.

Meet at 1:00pm in the parking lot where the Festival de Voyaguer happens. Since those instructions are nearly meaningless to me, I'm including a link to a map of the close vicinity. I'm assuming our technical director, (and by now, race cheerleader) will put a quick post up here clarifying the point of entry to said parking lot.

The agenda so far is to meet, take a gentle ride to scope a course, and then, well, last one home is a rotten egg. (Check the Team Brown Manifesto for more on the rotten egg motivational bit.)




Map of
St Joseph St N At Grandin St
Winnipeg, MB

It was a slightly better turnout at headquarters. Jonny G is back from near death, Chris, Juan Eppstein, myself, James... there was a strong rumour that the president might show, but still nothing.

Oh, and for Chris and anyone else who doesn't know who Strongbad is....
www.homestarruner.com is the site, this link takes you right to Strongbad emails. Scroll right down to the "dragon" email if you want to cut to the quick. I'm hoping we can post the pic of Juan Eppstein dressed up as Strongbad for Halloween sometime...

a couple thoughts from the headquarters tonight

well, the actual FGBC turnout at the headquarters was a little thin last night. Chris, Juan Eppstein and I were the only attendees that were actually at the inaugural ride. James, Vic P. and Lorne B were there, but Lorne had James so mesmorized by discussions on how poorly the commonly held Westgate pension plan was doing, that he was barely with us til the end, until we got into stories about how fast we had ever driven in a car.

anyway, just to clarify a point from Chris' previous entry, the Feb. 1 Ice Bike race is an event somewhat sponsored by Woodcock Cycle. It's not necessarily a highly competitive event, however. the thinking is, it would be good to see the club out, with jerseys stretched out over bulky outerwear...

hope to see better turnout next week.

here's my haiku:

medium turnout
consider the field lilies
pensions don't love bikes

Good day for a ride

For a variety of reasons--some good, many bad--there was no second race of the Fort Garry (Bubba) Cup this afternoon, and no dogfest either. Another Tuesday of big talk last week at the F & H goes for naught, despite some late heroic efforts by the secretary to rally the troops. Postponed, not cancelled. Still a major disappointment. But just as the afternoon was shaping up to be a bit of a dud, I get a call from Hal Loewen--easily the most loyal non-FGBC member around: meet at Tim's place at 2pm if you want to ride. We did the trails in Whittier and beyond, including many of the ones Johnny G and Unger introduced me to a while back, but more as well. Five of us, for about a 2 hour ride. Perfect. Whittier looks like a good venue for a future FGBC race. This was the first time I took the single-speed out on the trails. It performed admirably, though the gear ratio made for a couple of hikes up some of the steeper and muddier hills.

Dates for the Ice Bike race are now set: Feb 1. Put it on your calendars now.

Here's my haiku. A bit on the uninspired side, I admit.

a race that wasn't
greasy Whittier Park trails
try again next week

Fort Garry Bubba Cup #2 on Nov. 11

With the civic holiday coming on Nov. 11, there is no Hummelt Hockey, so it was decided that we should have a go at race #2. (All in good fun of course). Here's the details:

1. meet at Chris' place at 2:00pm
   
2. race at 2:30
   • if it's too slippery to race on the roads, we'll take a leisurely ride to the park, and determine a course there
3. dogfest at Chris and Rachel's for supper around 5:00pm
   • families welcome
   • bring everything, even a couple of pieces of wood if you have
   • Darryl will look into procurring the Bubba. If you hear news of a vendor selling such (even without the fine Don Cherry jacket), please let him know

Some discussion on how much we love FG Dark took place. You never quite know what you're going to get... the first glass was great, the second, so bad that we sent them back... but they opened a new keg for us, so all was well. That's the beauty of loving the home team.

Oh yes, there was brief follow up to yesterday's Haiku entry. (I do hope someone will prepare one for the start of the race...) Chris meant to craft one, but didn't quite get to it... in lieu, we banged a couple group efforts out relating to the eve's hockey game. Enjoy:

stifled breakaway
slewfooted Les on purpose
white takes victory

masklike red straight man
played with passive dignity
not very funny

At this early stage in our development, the careful reader might note, we are sticking carefully to the 5, 7, 5 rule. Perhaps with time and experience, we may move beyond. Please check the links in the previous post for more encouraging info on the rules and state of being one can enjoy in the Haiku moment.

Haiku tutorials

To keep our minds sharp in the off-season... it would be nice if we could all arrive at the weekly meeting with a freshly minted Haiku.

Here's one I just came up with to get things started:

a haiku in snow
tracks from a snake belly run
we must be complete

Check this link for a primer. HAIKU for PEOPLE

Check this link for more in-depth Haiku instruction. Haiku. The "Haiku Rules that have come and gone" article was helpful.

our alter ego bike club in Winnipeg

Yup, it looks like it's for real. They drink beer, steal beer logos, write haikus, race (on any bike you've got), drink beer, have shirts. After you read the manifesto, go to the "olde team brown site" where they have the haikus and race results.

Team Brown

Bike Club Stratification (editorial)

Well, in the course of amicable discussion last night at club headquarters, a certain sentiment rose again, which has not gone unnoticed since our inaugural ride as a club in spring...

It seems some members believe that their commitment to the Club is, well, superior... with all the attitude and tone that goes with the air of superiority. It has to do with the amount some members ride versus the amount some members do not. Dont' get me wrong, I don't begrudge the "committed" riders their little trip down pious lane. In fact, I wish I was in a position to be part of the ueber-faction.

The only points I want to suggest are that, 1. just like the workers in the vineyard, we all do what we can with what we have, and 2. that I hope our communal memory can serve us to recall that the FGBC really didn't start off as a bike club anyway. Well, yes, a bike club, but not one that really rode bikes. One that talked about riding bikes. Without that time, we would not be where we are today. One ueber-member didn't even have a bike, and probably still wouldn't.

So, perhaps this is a natural evolution. Perhaps us lesser members will get a pink triangle painted on our foreheads. Perhaps the greater members will strike out on their own to become a legendary Canadian racing dynasty. But we'll remember the genesis, at least some of us will. And when the great dynasty crashes due to in-fighting, and who gets the interviews on TSN, there will still be a few little people who will sit at the Fox and Hound, happily BS'ing about riding bike, and happily drinking FGBC dark.

Fort Garry (Bubba) Cup #1 Results

The first ever race of the Fort Garry Bike Club was held this past Saturday. After some rules clarification and agreement on the exact route of the race course, 5 riders took to the start line: Juan Eppstein and Dave Unger, Jonny G, Anita, and Chris. Right off the start, Jonny set a blistering pace of 35 km plus, which quickly fractured the pack. Chris managed to bridge up by Omands Creek with Juan only a few seconds back. An untimely puncture by Jonny left Chris alone in front, with Juan still only seconds behind and charging fast. After the mandatory off-road section (Devil's Ditch to the footbridge) Chris and Juan were back together, but still riding way-too-hard. Despite some turn-taking at the front the lead group of two stayed together all the way back to Omand's Creek. Chris attacked on the climb up to the footbridge and again on the hill up to Wolseley Ave, both times gaining a few seconds on Juan. Jonny was still fixing his tire at this point. Though flirting with a heartrate of 187 bpm, Chris managed to hold off Juan for a narrow 14 second win. Dave took a provisional third place and Anita, after an incident with a parked van back in the park, brought up the rear. But things were not over just yet. Jonny protested for a second opportunity, and was granted a chance to ride solo against the clock to see what he could do. Unable to be pushed by other riders in the group, he came in a couple minutes back, but good enough for third place.

Final Results:

Chris - 26.59
Juan - 27.13
Jonny G - 29.22
Dave U. - 32.15
Anita - 38.17

Series standings after race #1:

Chris - 10 pts
Juan - 9
Jonny G - 8
Dave U - 7
Anita - 6
Everyone else - 0

A couple more things:

1) One significant rule issue came up: tires. The question was raised whether "slicks" were a legitimate tire for this race. It was decided that they were not. But that was before Juan showed up with slicks on his bike. We allowed him to race with a "this time only" clause. This will need to be taken up at the next meeting, before definitive action can be taken. Does Juan need an asterisk posted beside his time, like the one beside Roger Maris's home run total in 1961?

2) Bubba? Whither art thou? Sadly, a trip to the vendor by the Fox and Hound yielded no Bubba. Our official sponsor was quick to step in and supply us with a 12 of FGD for the post-race festivities. Do Bubbas no longer exist? What implications does this have for the name of our race series?

3) A few pictures were taken and will be sent to the secretary as soon as possible.

4) Next race date and place to be discussed on Tuesday after hockey. Possible venues include Garbage Hill, Birds Hill Park, Whittier Park.

Chris.

Fort Garry Bubba Cup - Oct. 18

Yes, even though membership response has been limited on this website, it has been determined that the event shall proceed.

Meet at Chris' place @ 1:00pm There will be a pre-race meeting to bring everyone up to speed on the details.
Mountain bikes only - to keep the competition a little more even.

Juan Eppstein and Chris are the route coordinators. There are a few fine details to work out, but it promises to come together as an event. Please see the comments on the previous post to get a sense of what route is being tweaked.

This was the nature of the formal business. Well, that's not entirely true. Since Chris was the FGBC rep to the World Road Race Championships in Hamilton, a report was expected, and duly given. Intricacies of road race strategy were examined and dissected. (James wondered why they wouldn't just pretend that they had a mechanical problem so they could cheat and hang onto the support car for a while.) Outside the integrity question, an excellent report on all counts.

Items requiring membership input

Please hit the comment button below, and post your thoughts on these issues which arise from the minutes below:

1. is Saturday October 18 a suitable date for the Fort Garry Bubba Cup?
   
2. on the flats in the park, or a hilly, garbage hill like course?
   
3. how should the handicap system be implemented?
   
4. what should the name of this event be? is a Bubba (see the Bubba at the inaugural ride at Ingolf.) a good idea?
   
5. should we sue the g4s people for some sort of logo infringement?

Remember to put your name at the top of the comment form so it's not anonymous.

MINUTES of October 8, 2003

Present: James, Juan, Chris, Vic P, Jonny, Glenn, Luke, Darryl

First Hummelt hockey evening of the new year, with corresponding meeting at the Fox and Hound, post-game. Thank goodness that's started again.
Significant disappointment to the start of the gathering. Out of Fort Garry Dark. As Jonny and Glenn will attest, I was cast adrift amongst inferior options. Stunned. It took me a few minutes to actually communicate a concise order. Rickards Red was the follow. A second best. Sorry that these minutes have turned slightly personal. It was a difficult few minutes. Now back to more appropriate Bike Club form.

Some exciting developments:

The Fort Garry Cup!

• The technical director presented the work of a dedicated sub-committee. A bike ride with more than just cameraderie. A spin without drift. A purpose: to beat the clock, (and fellow bike-club members). Yes. A race.
  
• When: Saturday, October 18.
  
• Where: Wolesely -> Assiniboine park and around that region, or garbage hill.
  
• Other details:
  • the idea of a handicap system was included (good show on Unger's part) with the initial proposal. However, that dream wavered when James, usually an upstanding man of integrity, (but it's true, he has been away) suggested he might not try very hard so he would have a stronger handicap. A shocking thought to all the other attending, pure spirited members. Now what? No conclusions have been reached. Perhaps a consultation is in order.
    
  • Fort Garry Cup is a nice name, but does not work out to an FGBC acronym. Along with that thought came the question of the nature of the cup to be won. An awkward silence was broken with the insightful suggestion, "What about a bubba?" Yes. Thus, perhaps Fort Garry Bubba Cup, or Fort Garry Bike Cup, or just Fort Garry Bubba. The members will need to speak on the issue of name.
    
  • of course, if there is to be a prize, be it of liquid nature or otherwise, there will be a small, upfront cost.

World Cup Road Biking Championships (or something like that)

• the technical director will be attending these races in Hamilton on behalf of the club
  
• can be viewed on CBC daily between 4 and 6 pm.
  
• of course, the Fort Garry Bubba Ceg/Cup will need to be monitored carefully in case it turns into a World Bubba Cup. The last thing we want is racers joining our club and spoiling the chances of faithful members who will get burned because someone wants to abuse the handicap system.

Useful link:www.g4s.org

• the new online resource for Manitoba cyclists.
  
• seems well and good, but they have also used a sprocket in their logo. Perhaps legal action would be appropriate.

October 11 ride

• Jonny, Juan Eppstein, and Unger seem to be the only ones who can commit. The rest of us will ride along in spirit. Some pictures might be nice.

a few new pics up on the Medora page

including a close-up of Chris's hospital tag. Proof of medical involvement. We're still waiting for the president's x-rays...
new Medora pics

will we ride oct. 11?

as per the last meeting, in which we almost determined that Oct. 11 would be a possible ride date, is anyone up for a day ride? the bit of the Trans-Canada Trail south of Morden was suggested.

please hit the comment button at the end of this post to respond. make sure you include your name at the top of the comment form.

Another Bike Club event?

Fans of the bicycle,

Here's another event that I think is worthy of FGBC representation. CMU is once again organizing a bike rally in honour of world car free day. It's not an exclusive event. There are always a bunch of other riders that add on to the CMU train. Unger & Co., here's your chance to take back the street. It might not be as powerful a statement as shutting down Portage on a Sunday evening, but it's a start. Meet Monday Sept. 22 @ 6pm in the CMU parking lot for a liesurely group ride to the Leg.

Chris.

FGBC Minutes, to a certain extent...

[Well, faithful minute readers, these will not be in the most formal arrangement... I was too busy eating dogs to take adequate record. the secretary.]

Location: Juan Eppstein's back yard.

Likely present: Chris, Juan Eppstein, Dave U, Jonny G, Dr. K, Glenn B, James F, the president, Luke S, special guest Bram ?, and me, the secretary. [again, dogs happily took the place of accurate record keeping. apologies to anyone missed. please add a comment below if such an oversight has taken place.]

The Wolsely contingent put in a very appropriate showing, arriving early on bikes. Those of us flung further afield had to make do with other vehicles. Little time was wasted before the first agenda was tackled: dogs, and for many, the beverage of our namesake.

No sooner did the first round of dogs get consumed, than did business break onto the scene.

1. Gender inclusiveness.
   
   • yes, it had apparently been on the mind of numerous members. There was a general, and gentle affirmation that it is good for "the boys" to get together now and again. After that moment had passed, it became a shade more testosterone driven, and numerous postures were struck. eg. "there's nothing stopping them from getting together," etc. etc., only to be outdone by, "last time I was in a bar, women were allowed".
   
   
   • as the FGBC is proud of being a self-governing collective, (no vote was taken, nor edict laid by leadership, (figurative or otherwise)), there is no official position, other than what might be perceived as testosterone inspired, peer pressurized consensus: "no f'in way." (excepting certain domestic, task related roles)
   
   
   • this discussion is likely not done... (like most of the bs we enjoy). the unspoken understanding, as precidented by the Medora event, will likely be that some mixed events will take place, but they will need to remain teetering on the edge of "Non FGBC Event Status". Sorry.


2. Next event
   
   • recent casual conversations have led to the place where it seems right and good that another event be considered that actually included some bike riding.
   
   
   • recent experiences on the Trans-Canada Trail, south of Morden, as taken in by Davey U, point at this location as a strong candidate for a fall ride
   
   
   • Hal L, has suggested he might join us as a guide. not all were, well... keen on the implication that the FGBC was internally not able to guide themselves.
     
   • whether we have the wherewithal to actually come to agreement on a date remains to be seen
   
   
   • the strongest date option appears to be Saturday, October 11.


3. Big event next summer
   
   • five day trip to Medora
   
   
   • the technical director asserted that this might be the best long ride within a day's drive
   
   
   • it's clear it will take us a full winter to process the effects of scheduling such an event


4. Next meeting
   
   • no date determined.
   
   
   • Hummelt hockey should start around the beginning of October, so regular tuesday evening meetings will become possible.

Dog fest

Dog fest @ Juan Eppstein's, 9:00pm, Tuesday Sept 16.
BYO-everything. (don't forget chairs)
I expect there will be some minor agenda discussed. Most specifically if we can get another Manitoba chapter ride in, the details of the US chapter ride, thoughts around gender inclusion/exclusion and hopefully a revisit of the story of Chris' trip to the hospital during the Medora event.

first u.s. chapter event

jon neufeld and I biked about 60 k.m. this past weekend to and from an AMBS retreat - maybe not as demanding as medora, but hey, we were dragging kids on trailers so that needs to count for something. we did not manage to consumate the event with a beverage, so you may dispute if this was even an official event, but we may get that opportunity yet!

any feedback on the idea of inviting jon to be an member? i suspect he'll be a more loyal participant than bechtel. its kind of lonely out here in the bike club diaspora.

andy

penner, you've got nothing on this guy

though pres. penner's broken collarbone makes him the only true cyclist among us, let it be noted that he has a long way to go to reach elite status. aussie roadie cadel evans retired from the vuelta a espana (tour of spain) yesterday after having broken his collarbone for the third time this year!

medora update

a short update on the medora event to keep the secretary off my back--though i'm beginning to suspect nobody besides the sec. actually reads this drivel.

medora has come and gone--unlike the foul smell of shit that hovered over our campsite all weekend long. aside from the smell of shit, the fire ban, the lack of grocery store, lousy maps, and the unpredictable hours at the bike shop, i think it is still safe to declare it a successful weekend. there is growing sentiment that we should approach krispy kreme as a secondary sponsor. i don't know about the rest of you, but my jersey still have room on the left shoulder for a supplementary logo.

the riding was delightful. not nearly as technically demanding as ingolf. mostly singletrack, with some moderate climbing and several fast, windy descents. a very fast trail. no serious crashes to report, though unger and rachel did end up going over the handlebars. we probably did less than 10% of the trail, so there is lots more to be done. some preliminary discussion took place concerning the feasibility of a 4-5 day ride of the entire trail as a possible 2004 bike club event.

given the participation of rachel, anita, charlene, and cheryl at this event, there was some serious debate about whether the weaker sex were actually permitted full membership in bike club. no conclusions were reached, though cheryl has been elected bike club wench. she will prepare food and keep the campsite in good order at all future events.

finally, as with all officially sanctioned bike club events, there was a trip to the emergency room. official diagnosis: acute abdominal pain due to partial blockage in the right colon. though the diagnosis has been the subject of some dispute, the good news is that the tech dir. was back on his bike by morning.

pics of the president being loaded into the ambulance

yes, a few nice shots of our president being loaded up, are to be found on page 3 of the Ingulf trip pics. I'm glad I was having a Medachschlop at the time.

Medora event over, check pics

well, the Medora event is over and it sounds like it was a success. Chris will be posting an update here soon. There are a few pics up.

medora event, 2

yes, the medora event is now merely hours away. i have secured a digital camera and will be taking lots of good pictures. there will be no collarbones broken without visual evidence. no shoddy documentary work this time around. but no portable tape recorder, so a haiku might be difficult.

here are the latest plans in as much detail as i can recall: depart wpg 0700 on 29 aug 2003. meet jonny and cheryl at emerson duty free at 0815. coffee and donuts at krispy kreme in fargo at 1030. arrive medora campground at 1600. 1700 - info session at dakota cyclery. party late into the night. saturday ride south part of the maah daah hey trail. sunday ride the northern part of the trail. monday morning get any lingering riding needs out of the system. depart for wpg, with yet another break at krispy kreme in fargo to top it all off.

for those of you who still need to be convinced that north dakota is a worthy bike club destination (or to see what you will be missing), check out these links: Maah-Daah-Hey Trail and Maah-Daah-Hey.

medora event

with a handful of riders about to depart for Medora, I hope care has been taken to appoint someone to document the event. pictures would be nice, a Haiku even better...

bike for sale

bike clubbers,

If anybody is looking for a new bike, here is a good option. Tim Loewen just bought a new set of wheels and so is selling his old race bike. I've pasted in the ad from the MCA webstie below.

Posted Aug 18:
99 Rocky Mtn. Thin Air 18.5" - well used and well maintained. Small dent in top tube and most stickers removed. Shimano XT hubs, shifters, levers, front & rear deraillers. Race Face cranks, bar, stem and XY seatpost. New Mavic 517 rim on rear wheel. Avid 25 single digit linear brakes. $700. contact Tim at 774-2068 or email at: tim_c_loewen@hotmail.com

Next event, new shirt, link on collarbones

In light of Penner's recent experience, and the apparent liklihood that another of us will have a similar experience so long as we remain committed riders of bikes, I think the article below should be considered mandatory bike club reading.

Also, Rachel has now officially booked a group camping site in Medora--not in the park, but in the campground right in town. So the trip is on.

Wore the new shirt to work the last few days. Feels pretty good. Later.

Chris.

http://www.velonews.com/train/articles/4557.0.html

Comments work

Finally got the comments to work. Now when you hit the comments button, you can add a comment to the post.

still waiting for Medora info

Still waiting for info from Chris and Rachel re the fall trip.