Thursday Night Ride

8:00 at ABES headquarters.  

With all of our recent races (track, alley cat, AD/DC, fun-raiser), it's been awhile since we had a simple ride around town.  A group ride will be a nice change of pace.  I hope the weather cooperates - if not, The ABES always find a way to make it work. 

 

If you want an ABES shirt, David will be selling them - bring 15 bucks and a beer for the pre-ride fashion show. Also, if you want Duke, Swatty or I to place a bet for you in Vegas - give us the cash and the bet details - we're heading to sin city on Friday. 

Grade '88 rules!  JS

The MS FUN-RAISING Experience Report

From the desk of Bruce...

Thanks again to all those who joined us at the Penner Ranch.  The weather cooperated and so did the manure spreaders.  The food was plentiful and it was a real pleasure to see so many eager participants.  Of the 70 people that attended, we had 37 racers!! 

The race track wound around the 10 acre farm and the total distance of the track was about 1.3 kms.  

The golfing option allowed for racers to better their score by chipping a golf ball to a target to better their score.  For one racer, this proved devastating to his competitor! 

Here are the results.

Mens/Womens – 30 minutes, plus 1 lap.

Curt F 9 laps 35:24 Golf bonus 0

Johnny S 9 35:47 Golf bonus 0

Charles 9 35:55 Golf bonus 0

Gavin 9 37:04 (this included a 1 minute bonus with the golfing, getting within 20’ of the target)

Bruce 9 38:03 Golf bonus 0

Shaun 8 36:04 Golf bonus 0

Curt T 8 36:48 Golf bonus 0

Brent H 8 38:01 Golf bonus 1 minute

Jeff K 8 39:17 Golf bonus 0

Cheryl K 7 34:49 Golf bonus 0

Albert F 7 36:34 Golf bonus 0

Cindy H 6 36:32 Golf bonus 0

Phil D 6 37:03 Golf bonus 0

Rachel T 4 32:00 Golf bonus 0

Jason D 4 36:05 Golf bonus 0  

Strategy award goes to Jason D!  Conserving energy and timing is the key.


Kids 9-13, 2 Laps

Rory P 10.47 Golf bonus 0

Connor W 11:07 Golf bonus 0

Matt W 11:13 Golf bonus 0

Ariel K 11:12 (rec’d a 2 minute bonus on golf; within 10’ of target)

Josh D 11:35 Golf bonus 0

Evan K 12:26 Golf bonus 0

Luke D 12:44 Golf bonus 0

Austin K 13:45 Golf bonus 0

Bronson 14:04 Golf bonus 0

Jeremy D DQ (Sawwwry)

Brody T DQ (ditto)

8 and under, 2 laps (kids track)

Saraya K 2:33

Joelle K 2:34

Kemper H 2:41

Tray H 2:53

Mia S 3:22

Lacey T 3:38

Jacob S 3:50

Push Bikes (new category!!)

William S 3:07

Nelson F. 3:30

Kate S 3:55

So the golfing might need some tweaking for next time.  Maybe something that requires less accuracy like golf club throwing.

We raised just over $ 1000.00!

Later.  Bruce.

Moose Lake Report

From the desk of Shaun...

On August 14th ten guys; Bruce, Shaun, Paul K, Jeff, Ben Curt T, Mike, Charles, Walter and Albert (not shown) left Back Alley around 5:30 to ride our bikes to Moose Lake.  Even before we hit the 201, the group had split into two: the moderate and immoderate.

We all rode towards Moose Lake with a decent tail wind.  The immoderates Charles and Curt were held back a few times with Curt's blown tubes.  Luckily tubes and air were in ample supply.  The whole group met in Vita and had (more) breakfast - 70 km in.  It was at this time that Albert had to head back home to attend to some business.  I could see that ride back hurting a little as the already good tail winds picked up to somewhere in the 20s.

After much relatively effortless spinning, riding four abreast on what seemed for most of the time to be a deserted highway and many gootch/water/piss breaks, the moderates sat down again for some lunch and pie at South Junction - 140 km in.  We then continued on through the last stretch of the easterly 201 with the wind at our backs to then turn north on the 308.  Like clockwork the wind shifted from the SW to S to push us to our final destination.  Most of the riders had accumulated the extra 13 km needed to complete the double metric century sometime earlier in the day, so they arrived at Moose Lake, cracked a beer and put their feet up.  Mission accomplished!  Jeff, Ben and I hadn't, so we rode back 6 1/2 km and then joined the rest of the gang at the cabin.  When all was said and done, the moderates averaged around 29.7 km/hr for the first half and 27.5 km/hr for the second half.  In all, about 7ish hrs the saddle - very, very awesome hours.

After arriving, we cleaned up and cool down with a dip in the lake, rested our duffs and sat by the fire.  After cooling down, some had to be pried off their seat to take the group photo shown above.  We were treated to a supper of steak and potatoes.  And it was so good.  Thanks Bruce and Elexis!  Following that there were squares and some kind of lemony delight with lemon icing - yeah!

Many thanks to Bruce and Alexis and others I might not be aware of for arranging this, providing a destination/lodging, food and all the other details that might go unnoticed by those of us who just show up.  It was a great day.

(There were a few animals hurt in the making of this ride: A skunk was run over on the way home.  Luckily it didn't stink things up too bad. And a dog was hit by a car as it came out to chase Mike, Paul and Albert [and maybe others, but I was in the less immoderate group, so I wasn't there]).

Cars are coffins
Bikes are awesome

Shaun 

Cross is Boss

Mike G from Red River Racing
hammers through the sand
at last years Southern Cross

The AD/DC and The Penner family MS FUNdraiser (report and pictures pending) started the Cross season in a very tasty manner.  The Cross wheels keep turning in a more official vein with the MCA.  The schedule of races can be found on the MCA site or here.  If you are interested in racing the MCA Cross season, buy a citizen license for $40.  The citizen license is an attempt to lure novice/curious riders into the scene.  You can only buy the citizen license once, after that you need to buy a regular MCA license.  The citizen license includes free race registration to all cross races - a steal of a deal as most races this year will cost $15.  There are three races that don't require an MCA license - Menno Cross, St. Malo and Altona, but the real deal of the day is the citizen license.  Can I get a witness?  JS

Thursday Night Ride/Race/Supper/Fundraiser/Good times

Everybody is invited to Bruce and Alexis Penner's place this Thusday at 6:00 for their 2nd Annual Fun-Racing Fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis research and awareness. They are offering a BBQ supper at their house, followed by races around their specially groomed single-track in the back 40! There will be a track designed for the little kids and races for ALL abilities.  This is to raise funds for Bruce and Alexis and the MS Society ride on September 11.  Families and friends are all invited for the food, fun and worthy cause.   JS 

From the desk of Bruce...
Supper - Starts at 6:00 (for the racers) This doesn't mean that you need to eat right away.  There will be lots of food.

Racing:

7:00 - 8 and Under

7:30 ish - 13 and Under (course length still to be determined).  1 -2 laps.  It will pretty much stay on the farm yard this year.  The lengthy jaunt down the lane will be saved for another time.
7:31      - 14 - Adult.  (about 30 minutes worth of riding)

We'll wrap it all up with more food and sit around a fire (BYOB).

Directions:  4 miles south of Altona, 1 and a bit miles west.  

more AD/DC photos

Just a few more pics from the fantastic evening of CC fun at Moto Park X...