Friday, October 30, 2009

Alley Cat Results







I think the winner picture says it all. It was a crappy night but 6 die-hards took to the street of Altona(Lorne, Steve B., Tom, Bruce, Johnny and Shawn). 1 Team finshed all the clues and came back with a sheet of paper that could be read. There were some lost papers, egg covered hands, lost pens and Tom blew out a tire but had time to go home change and talk to his mom on the phone before heading over to my garage. The garage included copious beers and smoke and visits from Steve's dad, Miron and Steven W. Thanks for coming out, it was a fun night.

Thanks Steve for the beer.

Thanks to the folks who contributed clues.


Thursday, October 29, 2009

Thursday Night Alley Cat

Some clues are in. 3 People have a slight advantage but not much. Meet at the regular place at 7 p.m. and the race will finish up at my place 46 4th Ave SE where we can sit in my garage for drink. Bring a flashlight and unfortunately maybe a rain jacket.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Thursday Night Alley Cat


I am trying to put together an Alley Cat for Thusday night @ 7 pm. We were talking about everyone sending in a clue to me at gavinfaurschou@yahoo.com and I will put them together and maybe add some if necessary. If you send in a clue please provide an explanation so I know where it is or what we are looking for. Since Halloween is coming up you can have a Halloween slant on it if you like.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks Gavin

Friday, October 23, 2009

Southern Cross makes the front page


















Check out what the Red River Valley Echo had to say here. It may not be factual, or the first time you've read portions of it, but its good publicity. JS

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Thursday night ride
















Thursday night ride - check.

Halloween massacre alleycat? Could be a good idea. Gavin to coordinate some sort of gruesome fun. Look for details. JS

Southern Cross housekeeping


















Last of the lost and found - The gloves, travel thermos and toque need to find their owners.
Hammer time - an orange handled hammer is missing. Let me know if you have it.
Any items not claimed in a week can be found at the MCC. JS

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Southern Cross report

Well done boys and girls. The day was awesome. 132 riders! 132 freakin riders!! (We had roughly 60 riders the first year and 80 last year). The bar has been set high for next year.


The C race had 11 riders challenging themselves. Lorne H has been quoted as trying to set the bar low in C - atta boy Lorne. Hopefully all the C’ers will find themselves in the B race next year. Tanner Hamm won the C, then rode and won the kids race.


The kids had 51 riders! We had to split the group in two to make the lives of the commissaires manageable. It was a good problem. Next year we’ll plan on two kids races.


The B race had 45 riders. A slight issue with the flagging tape sent the first three riders of the race in the wrong direction. They did get turned around and sent in the right direction. It did not effect their standings but it did make for some tense drama. The best race within the race that I noticed was between Bruce and Paul. They were neck and neck until Bruce wiped out in the mud, lost his chain and enough time that it was too difficult to recover. If it's not the mud its the climbs, or the sand, or the barriers, or the trees, or the some flagging tape that snaps off and sends you in the wrong direction.


The A race had 25 riders suffer for 65-75 minutes. Paul Benson took the gold, Olli Hyytianen was the best in sand, and Luc Antaya was the best over the barriers. These boys put on a good show of speed, power, finesse and endurance. All hail the A racers. You are insane.


The turnout at the curling club amazed me too. It was standing room only. The Southern Cross IPA ran out waaay too soon. We’ll triple the order next year. The A winners received a huge glass/vase of beer, farmer sausage, a trophy from Ken Loewen (the oldest rider at 66 - way to go Ken!), and some cash for their efforts. Cash and/or prizes/meat were doled out to the other race category winners.

BIG thanks to our Triple Platinum Sponsors for making the race possible. The double and single platinum sponsorships were appreciated too, but Back Alley Cycle, Pioneer Meats and Sawatzky and Sons Electric really stepped up to the plate to help make the race the biggest cyclocross event the province has ever seen!


Thanks also to everybody for helping set-up/clean-up, Colin and Arlene for being awesome commissaries (or as Cheryl calls them - connoisseurs), Darryl and Vic for the sound system, Tom and Derrick for registration, David and Duke for serving drinks, Jonny and Charlene for the beer effort, hat display and course work, Hal for hauling barriers/pylons from Winnipeg, Huebner for countless hours of hard work with insurance, course work, creative poster work, advertising and many unnoticed details.



Race results found here.


Deluxe race video by Darryl NB found here.


More photos from a local dude here.


Johnny " not racing felt like planning a kegger and having to be the designated driver" Sawatsky

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Who likes awesome?

The weather is going to cooperate, the barriers have been made, the course has been marked, the cowbells are ready to be rung, the beers are chilling at the curling club, an A race trophy has been obtained and the 6-pack is waiting to be cursed. This is going to be awesome!
The final 10% of the race will be set up Sunday morning 9'ish. Any ABE is invited to come and help get the party started.













Friday, October 16, 2009

Sunday hymnal

Huebner has put together a juicy playlist for the big show. That guy is awesome.

Blackfoot, Train Train
Allman Brothers, Whipping Post
Drive-By Truckers, Let There Be Rock
Southern Culture On The Skids, Fried Chicken And Gasoline
Ozark Mountain Daredevils, If You Wanna Get To Heaven
The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tuff Enuff
Lynyrd Skynyrd, That Smell
Allman Brothers, Statesboro Blues
.38 Special, Hold On Loosely
Little Feet, Dixie Chicken
Georgia Sattelites, Keep Your Hands To Yourself
Two Dollar Pistols, Heartaches and Hangovers
Stevie Ray Vaughn, Pride And Joy
Molly Hatchet, Flirtin' With Disaster
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Freebird
Drive By Truckers, The Southern Thing
Black Oak Arkansas, Jim Dandy
Charlie Daniels, The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Steve Earle, Guitar Town
Robert Earl Keen, Copenhagen
Old Crow Medicine Show, Wagon Wheel
Greg Allman, I'm No Angel
ZZ Top, Tush
Blackfoot, Highway Song
.38 Special, Rockin Into The Night
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sweet Home Alabama
Molly Hatchet, Bounty Hunter
Allman Brothers, Rambling Man
Two Dollar Pistols, H***y Tonkitis
Southern Culture On The Skids, Voodoo Cadillac
Drive By Truckers, The Three Great Alabama Icons
.38 Special, Wild-Eyed Southern Boys
Allman Brothers, Midnight Rider
Fabulous Thunderbirds, Wrap It Up
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gimme Three Steps
Black Crowes, Hard To Handle
Molly Hatchet, Whiskey Man
Steve Earle, Copperhead Road
Whiskeytown, Revenge
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Simple Man
Two Dollar Pistols, Bring the Heartache
Allman Brothers, Jessica
Drive By Truckers, Ronnie And Neil
Molly Hatchet, Gator Country

Thursday night ride report






















A small ABES gathering rode around town and braved the Southern Cross course in the dark. Albert, Shawn, Tom, Jeff, Dan, Brent H (welcome back) and I enjoyed our bikes. The rain made things greasy on the course. We were joined by Myron, David and Derrick at the clubhouse to enjoy our beers.
Sunday is going to be a fun day. Any ABE is invited to help with the course set up on Saturday morning (9am – bring a big hammer) and course clean up (after the A race). If the weather cooperates we could see a lot of people racing and cheering at the park on Sunday. I can hardly wait. JS

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Thursday night ride























Thursday night constitution? 9 bells at the ABES headquarters. JS

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Wednesday night cross lab













The course has been mowed. We should check it out. Meet at my place at 6:30 and we'll give it a sniff.
If anybody wants to help set up the course, meet at the park on Saturday at 9 am. Bring a big hammer or hatchet with a blunt end.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The time is nigh for Southern Cross












Scott Penner grins about the sweet relief his farmer sausage burgers will bring the riders of Southern Cross.

Southern Cross is this Sunday! The course looks challenging. Two hill run-ups, three long switch-backs, one long climb, two shelter ride-throughs, one sand pit, up to 6 barriers, a muddy ditch, and plenty of noodling. 3 km's of joy and pain to keep everybody suffering and satisfied.
1200 flyers went out to the school kids in Altona, Rosenfeld and Gretna. There could be a lot of kids at the race. I've picked up cowbells for the first 60 kids that register.
The weather forecast looks promising. It's going to be a party. JS

Friday, October 9, 2009

People rode bikes- I bet it was fun.
















Sign of things to come for the A/B winners of Southern Cross.

Wednesday night, Thursday night - rides took place. I'm not sure how it all went. I am still off my bike with a sore knee. An MRI is scheduled. My knee and my sprites are bummed. Southern Cross will be awesome. I'm hopeful but not expecting to ride. F!
The course might be mowed by next Wednesday. All ABES should come and check it out.

JS

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Thursday night ride























Get your ace over to the headquarters for our weekly ride. JS

Monday, October 5, 2009

Wednesday night cross lab

























Another pic from Menno Cross.



















Flying Luc at the Bourkevale race on Sunday. That punk is awesome.

Dudes, meet at my place at 6:30. We'll zip around the park and get ready for S.C. I've had some knee issues. I've been unable to play with my new ride and it's beginning to irk me. I'm hopeful that my knee will be ready to ride for the X lab. JS

Friday, October 2, 2009

Thursday night ride report

Duke met us at the clubhouse and we toasted the arrival of his son - Leo Vincent John Dyck. Congratulations to Duke and Julia on their new family! The conversations at the clubhouse were oriented on cross, bike and ABES awesomeness. An upcoming ABES cross race is in order to prepare us for Southern Cross; Keep an eye out for details.
My family was excited to welcome another addition as well. A 54 cm, 21 pound, angel. Her name is Opus Spark. She’s a real beaut. Bruce and Curt at BAC helped bring her into this world. Thanks boys. Can't wait to take the pie plate off.

































Poster extraordinair Chris Huebner put together the poster that will beckon the world to the sweetest X race going. JS