ALL ABOUT LORNE ALLEYCAT

LET'S NOT KID OURSELVES BOYS...SINCE HE STARTED SHOWING UP HE'S BEEN AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE ABES.  AND THIS THURSDAY WILL BE HIS LAST RIDE WITH US.  FOR NOW.  UNTIL HE MOVES BACK.

SO IN HIS HONOUR I PRESENT THE "ALL ABOOUT LORNE" ALLEYCAT.  THATS RIGHT.  ITS ALL LORNE, ALL THE TIME.  CALL HIM THIS WEEK.  ASK HIM QUESTIONS.  BONE UP ON YOUR LORNE FACTOIDS.  YOU MIGHT NEED THEM.

RACE TIME WILL BE 8:30 PM AT JOHNNY'S PLACE.  BRING A PEN.

Falcon Lake Race Report

From the desk of Bruce...

Rory and I got up at 5:30 on Sunday morning.  This time we wanted to get there in lots of time and ride at our leisure the practice lap.  It was wet and muddy.  I have never seen such a wet course.  Ok.  I haven't seen many courses, but even the grass trails ate half your tire.

Our practice lap prepared us to get dirty.  Rory took a few spills in his race, which I handily beat by losing count how many times I either fell off or got off and pushed.  I do remember that it was only once that I went right over my handlebars into a grassy puddle about a foot deep.  I did not want to do that again.  I felt like I was wearing a ghillie suit when I got up with all the grass in my visor.  

I got eighth! Rory ended with a six place.  Overall, I am in 11th place in my category and Rory is fourth.

Next race is at Rose Isle.  Saturday, June 26.

ThNRR

The 7:00 Rosetown road ride was cancelled due to heavy rains and lightening, but by 8:00 it was nothing but blue sky.  Phil, Lorne, James, Dan, Albert, Jeff, and I spun 21 k's as we sniffed about town.  Albert "hotdog" Falk supplied the wipe out of the night when fell in a puddle trying to fix his shoelace.  He has a bloody elbow and knee to show for it.  Don't worry everybody, his bike is fine.  We checked out James Doell's new house at the north end of town, gawked at the stacked cube house across the street, tried to find Davey Cockett in the village, were briefly joined by Myron, Curt and Mike, and as soon as we felt some rain drifting in we raced to the clubhouse.  We were joined by Paul, David and to everyones amazement, DB.  We watched most of the second half of the NBA finals where the Lakers beat the Celtics in a scrappy game 7.  Conversations floated between Vegas fun, shooting guns, shark tank waterslides, the Walhalla bike ride, the awesomeness of bikes and ABES, Sunday trail riding, Saturday poker at the Hildebrand barn, Wang, Lornes new job in BC (hallelujah), the super-happy-fun CFL pool, and Dan is on track to reach 8000 k's this year.  In lieu of free popcorn we enjoyed servings of Old Dutch products from the vending machine.  David announced he is planning a Lorne themed alley cat race for next week - sweet!  Good times.  JS

Thursday Night Ride

The weather reports are not encouraging.  The Rosetown road ride will be postponed.
Meet at 8:00 and we'll figure it out.  JS

SUPER-HAPPY-FUN CFL POOL

Okay, this is completely non-bike related...

For any ABES (or anyone else) out there who love the CFL as much as their bikes (or at least enough to pony up $15) I'd like to introduce you to the SHF CFL Pool.  Its an adhoc group of CFL lovers who pick wins throughout the season.  Its pretty simple but there are actually a couple of rules.  If you're interested let me know and I can provide more info.  And if you know of someone who might be interested pass it on to them.  We had 36 Poolies last season stretching from BC to Nova Scotia (and including ABES Tom, Shaun, El Duque, Johnny and myself) and are always welcome to new members.

DS

p.s.  My email is   hiebzky@mts.net

p.s.s.  Our blog is at:  http://cflpool2010.blogspot.com/

Family Fun - Cancelled

From the desk of Race Coordinator Colin Braun...

Just wanted to give you a heads up that Moto-Park X will be closed until June 21st. We were given a rain date to replace our may 9th cancelation. The Beasejour race this weekend was cancelled due to rain so we jump up to the opportunity to take the date for our race.  Thank you for your co-operation.

Dang.

Wednesday evening family fun ride.

The local mountain bike park conditions are good so we should ride.

Bring the whole fam damily Wednesday evening to check out the sweetest track in (just outside of) Altona. 

The kids track is a hoot and the adult track is a hellahoot. 

See you there anytime after supper.  JS

Walhalla Ride Report

From the desk of Dan...



It was a nice day for a ride.  Albert, Charles and myself left town at at the leisurely time of 10:00 AM.  We hit US customs and not only did they check our ID, the guy that checks the trunk came out and checked our packs.  We thought better of taking a picture of a man in uniform with latex gloves standing behind Charles (the only one in tights) asking him to open up .... his pack.   After that experience, Charles set a blistering pace and with the wind mostly on our back, we got into Cavalier in just over an hour.  As we pulled into the Bjornson's Gas and Convince we heard from some good old boys in a pickup "What you pulln' into here fo' - your on bicycle - you don't need gas."  Albert was just about to give 'em the old Trudeau Salute but then thought better as the wheels on the 4by were as tall as he was.  After some light refreshments it was back on the road west to the Icelandic State Park.  Weren't we the lucky ones when there was a paved trail from town all the way to the west side of the park.  This was a leisurely pace as we enjoyed the scenic river lots and greenery.  After a picture to show the beauty the trail has to offer it was back onto HWY 5 for a rolling up hill ride of 16 km.  Just as we were beginning to anticipate the climb up the escarpment, the turn north to Walhalla forced us to abandon the winding uphill climb to Langdon.  This was a Walhalla ride after all.  But we were not disappointed.  With Charles and his tree trunks in the lead we pushed for another 18 km on a gradual rolling rise along the scenic 'foot hills' of the escarpment - wind in our face the whole time.  Some of us tried to be Lance Armstrong and power up the hills out of the seat.  While this method worked for the smaller rises, the larger ones proved to conquer the lungs and the smooth spinners came out ahead.  Just as the Masonic Temple symbol (or was that the MCI Logo) appeared on the horizon, signaling out arrival at the top of the escapement it was a 2 km down hill race into Walhalla.  Charles took the lead reaching speeds of 57 km/h while I was close behind.  All the spinning at the front had taken its toll and I passed him on the last curve into town.  Albert had some shifting issues and could only enjoy the hill in his small chain ring.  (I'm sure the he will be on the door step of Back Ally when it opens Tuesday) Charles would go on to say of the long down hill "The ride was worth it even if just for that hill."  After nearly 3 and a half hours of peddling, it was time to meet the locals.  A preacher took interest in us as asked us if we knew about bicycle tours is Ireland. He said the Lilly Endowment Fund was offering $50,000 for Priests to take a sabbatical.  He wanted to spend his cycling around Ireland.  (And I picked preaching in a Mennonite Church - PK if you are reading this take note!) Lets hope his preaching skills are better than his photography.  He took the picture of the three of us in front of the Moose.  As it turned out it was a picture of our legs and front wheels.  After a few more pics of the local's it was off to the Walhalla Inn for refreshment.  There was a nice amber ale on tap but the prize found as I tipped back to enjoy - my eyes caught the sign offering Killian's Irish Red.  It was as good as it was red - and it was red!  (not as good from a bottle as from the tap at the Blue Moose in GFK)  As we were to early for burgers it was down the street to the HWY 32 Drive In for grub.  I don't think I have seen so many Betty Boop posters in my life.  To bad the burger was as small as Betty's Boop is big.  A rain shower wet the pavement as we said farewell to Betty, the Moose, the Irish Priest and the friendly bar tender and headed back into the Nor'wester.  The border guard at Hasket was friendly but she was not impressed with our little jaunt as someone had crossed there last week that had rode all the way form California.  Anyone know who that might be?  Once back on CDN roads we were reminded how much we suffer in the south when the NDP is in power.  The 243 from 32 to 14 is much longer after 100 km and the wind gods didn't smile on us - that Nor'wester was at times more a Nor'easter and it was a slog back into town.  Albert - always the adventurer took the TC trail from 243 to Altona while Charles and I stayed on the hard stuff all the way home and arrived back in town at 5:30 PM  My GPS gave me the following figures. Average pace 27.1 km/h; fastest speed 50.6 km/h; total riding time 5:01:33 total distance 136.2 km.  It was agreed that we would do this again soon - maybe even make it a 200 km route and head into Langdon - but maybe on a day that offered lighter winds and some sun.  Thanks for a great ride. 

Moto Park 10

I just came back from the local mountain bike track.  It is so much fun.  It's ready to ride.  Bring the kids.  Just get out there.  Right now.  Seriously.  JS

ThNRR

The first early edition of the Thursday Night Ride was a gooder.  After a typical ABES start we eventually found our way to Miller for a night of racing.  I finally got to use my stopwatches, and utilized Gavin's abandoned clipboard to keep things extra official. 

We got our blood pumping with the 1 lap TT: 

Charles - 37.72

Gavin - 38.44

Curt - 40.53

Johnny - 40.72

Dan - 41.63

Shaun - 42.00

James - 42.28

Lorne - 43.84

Chaaz, looked like a stud, galloping away with the win while Gavin on his SS mountain bike took the silver.  The world record for running this distance: Micheal Johnson - 43.18.  Sorry Lorne.

We were joined by more riders for the 2 lapper:

Charles - 1:17.00

Gavin - 1:19.00

Curt - 1:19.13

Johnny - 1:22.70

Shaun - 1:24.19

Tom - 1:25.15

Phil - 1:25.97

Paul - 1:29.00

Dan - 1:31.65

James - 1:32.28

Lorne - 1:35.21

World record for running this distance: Wilson Kipketer - 1:41.11.  Lorne wins.

Myron came to the track for a cameo but quickly left to ride at his own pace.  Mike came and was too humble (scared) to compete.  Phil was rocking his mountain bike with bullhorn drop bars and Paul was coerced into riding, but bowed out of the team relay.  He's a lone wolf.

The 20 lap team relay was a lung burner.  While most were gasping, ABES poster boy Shaun Dyck was whooping it up as he powering his way around the track.  His mighty effort was not enough however as Curt and Dan tag teamed it to the top of the podium.

1 - Curt/Dan

2 - Shaun/Tom

3 - Lorne/Charles

4 - Johnny/Phil

5 - Gavin/James

The Last Man Out race was abandoned due to mosquito harassment, aching lungs and the lure of the clubhouse.  DSwat took an early detour on his way to the races, but never made it (probably taking care of his children), so no photos or GPS apps to detail the elevation changes on the track.  He did join us at the clubhouse, as did Derrick and Myron where we watched the 4th quarter of the NBA finals and congratulated ourselves on our fine night of racing.  Clubhouse banter included: the back 40 folk festival disappearing tweener, teachers that forget to close their zippers or wear their dentures, diets based on blood type, Duke's cement project, Nevermind sales disputes were settled/continued, the Bombers, the blackhawks and Jonathan Toews, world cup soccer, ABES shirt complications (Scheiss volunteered to clean up the logo, or at least find someone to clean it up), mistaking texting at the dinner table for prayer, and the adventures of Aunt Sue and Tricky Dick.  Dan won't be able to coordinate the June 24 Alley Cat because of a a Soup and Pie (poop and sigh?) fundraiser.  That's too bad.  A hero is needed to ensure Lorne's last ABES event is a gooder.   Next Week: Rosetown Road Ride - 7:00.  Good times.  JS

ThNR

 

Voting for summer hours preference is almost over and it looks like 8:00 will be declared the winner.  As far as I see it, this will mean more daylight, more biking, more BS and more time to rehydrate.  

This week I thought we'd ease into the new routine with options that may accommodate everybody...

Meet at ABES HQ at 8:00 - track races at WC MIller (1 and 2 lap TT, relay, Last man out).  Late-comers can meet us there for a cruise around town.  The weather might change all this but we have options: race, ride, BS, clubhouse, NBA, agenda topics galore, etc, etc, etc.  We'll figure it out. 

Speaking of good times, get ready for these upcoming ABES awesomeness…

Saturday, June 12, 9am - road ride to Walhalla (see Dan's prior post for details).  

Thursday, June 17, 7pm - road ride to Rosetown - moderate group pace.

Thursday, June 24, 8pm - TT Alley Cat - look for details from race coordinator Dan K.

Colin Braun of Altona Moto Park 10 fame informs me that the track is 95% bicycle ready.  I can hardly wait.  Maybe Sunday?

I'll see my bros from other mos at the ThNR.  JS

This bike club thing is getting crazy

From the desk of Dan Kehler...

G'day

 Albert and I are thinking of doing the Walhalla ride on Saturday even though the MCC event is canceled.  We would be leaving town around 9:00 AM, have a bite to eat in Walhalla and then bike back to town arrive some time around 4ish.  Paul knows a bar that we could stop at on the way back for a brewsky.  It is about a 130 km round trip.   

Thanks.

Post a comment if you are interested.

Saturday Singletrack report

While our more hardy brethren were pacing themselves over 250km Johnny and I were slogging our way through the sandy hills of Grand Beach attempting to find the elusive singletrack. And found some we did!  We wasted a bit of time on misdirections (Squirrel trail?) but eventually found some woody track to ride and then kinda just got ourselves lost for about 2 hours.  Very fun. 

I've tried countless times to upload and edit (i.e. rotate) the few pics I have. I give up.  Here they are.  I hate Blogger.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 249 m Location: Victoria Beach, Canada, Elev. Gain: -21 m Date: 06/05/10 Up/Downhill: [+237/-258] Time: 01:42 PM Difficulty: 4.9 / 5.0   Weather: N/A   -8 C temp; 80% humidity   -8 C heat index; winds SE 10 kph Performance Distance: 14.82 km Time: 1:36:34 Speed: 9.2 kph Pace: 6' 31 /km Calories: 656 Map   Elevation (m)   Speed (kph)   Splits Km Pace (min/km) Speed (kph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 52 +2' 20 6.8 -2.4 -7 m 2 5' 36 -0' 55 10.7 +1.5 -2 m 3 5' 44 -0' 47 10.4 +1.2 -9 m 4 6' 12 -0' 19 9.7 +0.5 +10 m 5 5' 05 -1' 26 11.8 +2.6 -18 m 6 6' 06 -0' 25 9.8 +0.6 +4 m 7 9' 36 +3' 04 6.2 -3.0 -6 m 8 9' 15 +2' 43 6.5 -2.7 +26 m 9 7' 12 +0' 40 8.3 -0.9 -23 m 10 7' 58 +1' 26 7.5 -1.7 +13 m 11 7' 20 +0' 48 8.2 -1.0 -3 m 12 8' 59 +2' 27 6.7 -2.5 -12 m 13 6' 47 +0' 15 8.8 -0.4 +13 m 14 5' 41 -0' 50 10.5 +1.3 +21 m end 3' 28 -3' 03 17.2 +8.1 -66 m Versus average of 9.2 kph

Posted from bimactive.com

Dual Stage Road Ride

Stage 1 - Night Riding: Altona-Steinbach 116 km
Stage 2 - Red Rock Cyclathon: Steinbach-Rennie 130 km

Bruce, Walter Hiebert, Curt Toews and I headed out from Altona shortly after 1:00 am under a clear starry sky.  We managed to see the harvest moon rise over Letellier, the sun rise, and ride through fog which got thicker the closer we got to Steinbach.  The ride was awesome.  We got to see some wildlife (some live, some dead - see the blood splatter on Bruce's wheel) and arrived in Steinbach 20 minutes before Smitty's opened for breakfast.  After a long ride, 20 minutes is forever to wait for breakfast.
Curt T had to head back home for a wedding, so it was just the the three amigos of Bruce, Walter and I to carry on from Steinbach to Rennie.  Curt Falk, Mike Klassen and Jeremy Loewen headed out on their super fast ride (re-claiming their title of Last Out - First In).  Bruce, Walter and I rode a more moderate steady pace (a 116 km warmup ride will slow you down a bit).  We arrived in Rennie at 3:15 pm.  What a great day of riding.  We enjoyed a great supper at Red Rock Bible camp, soothed our sore behinds in the hot tube and all racked up our new longest ride of 250 km.  Whoo-hooo!                           CK

ThNRR

Shaun, Jeff, Gavin, Lorne, David, Dan, Ben, Curt and I enjoyed a spin around our fair hamlet.  Anybody arriving early enough enjoyed a pre-ride warm-up.  Lorne was sporting his brothers Norco road bike so we took it upon ourselves to zip around town to the best of our abilities.  20 klicks later we all had a nice strip of water and gravel up our backsides and were ready to partake in weekly rehydration therapy program.  Steve, Myron and Paul joined us at the clubhouse where conversation included: fathers day plans, poker in the village (twhs), favorite musical misquotes (If I had a broken lawnchair, Someday buddy someday, and Only the good ti-umes), Spring Ride carnage, David's 40th birthday jagermeister experience, biking in Bangkok, NHL playoffs, the "perfect game" blown call, and Shaun resurected the talk of an ABES jerseys (awesome).  No salty popcorn this week so we raided the vending machine for a delicious chip buffet.  I heard that there are a group of ABES that are riding to Steinbach on Saturday and another group that are continuing the ride to red rock bible camp (260 klicks total?).  That is awesome.  Way to go guys.  Speaking of long treks, this was Bens last ABES event for awhile as he and his family are taking advantage of his sabbatical at EMMC to go to Burma and Thailand; nothing says family fun like civil unrest.  Keep your red shirts at home.  Good luck.  David has the pics and the stats to prove it all.  Good times.  JS

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 247 m Location: Gretna, Canada, Elev. Gain: +0 m Date: 06/03/10 Up/Downhill: [+5/-5] Time: 10:14 PM Difficulty: 3.7 / 5.0   Weather: N/A   -9 C temp; 88% humidity   -9 C heat index; winds SE 16 kph Performance Distance: 19.36 km Time: 0:51:59 Speed: 22.2 kph Pace: 2' 42 /km Calories: 744 Map   Elevation (m)   Speed (kph)   Splits Km Pace (min/km) Speed (kph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 2' 18 -0' 24 26.0 +3.8 -1 m 2 2' 10 -0' 32 27.5 +5.3 +1 m 3 2' 19 -0' 23 25.9 +3.7 0 m 4 2' 31 -0' 11 23.8 +1.6 0 m 5 2' 28 -0' 14 24.3 +2.1 0 m 6 2' 31 -0' 11 23.8 +1.6 0 m 7 3' 37 +0' 54 16.5 -5.7 0 m 8 2' 21 -0' 21 25.4 +3.2 0 m 9 2' 36 -0' 06 23.0 +0.8 0 m 10 2' 06 -0' 36 28.6 +6.4 0 m 11 2' 12 -0' 30 27.3 +5.1 0 m 12 2' 44 +0' 01 21.9 -0.3 0 m 13 2' 05 -0' 37 28.7 +6.5 0 m 14 2' 29 -0' 13 24.1 +1.9 0 m 15 2' 09 -0' 33 27.8 +5.6 -1 m 16 2' 35 -0' 07 23.2 +1.0 +1 m 17 2' 25 -0' 17 24.8 +2.6 0 m 18 2' 17 -0' 25 26.2 +4.0 0 m 19 2' 28 -0' 14 24.3 +2.1 0 m end 15' 47 +13' 04 3.8 -18.4 0 m Versus average of 22.2 kph

Posted from bimactive.com

Jesus Loves You

Thursday nights Alleycat had some sweet turnout with 16 competitors looking for the yellow jersey.  Newcomer Phil came out for a spin via a connection through Back Alley Cycle and prodigal ABE Mark figured it was time to start ripping up the streets.  Welcome aboard boys.  But what about that race?  I mean really, it could have been anyone's.  The heavily favoured clergy just couldn't pull it together this time.  Suffice to say, it's a good thing Ben is leaving town and Danny is changing jobs.  While actual race times posed a real nail biter, penalty minutes are what ultimately separated winners and losers.  The unholy trinity of Bruce, Curt and Phil emerged victorious.  Rumor has it there was an unsavory exchange of souls for the podium on this one.  A passionate appeal by el Presidente put the race coordinator on the hot seat after the prize money had been divied up and in spite of his flawless leadership through this year his efforts proved fruitless on this one.  As always the night was electric with some most excellent dudes.  Thanks for coming out guys. LH

rain or shine

See you at the Thursday Night Social Club.

Spring Ride Report

The Spring Ride was fantastic. Despite the less than favourable weather, the weekend was incredible. Great guys, beer, biking, beer, dog-fest, hanging out and drinking beer. What’s not to like?! The weather was soggy, but that made the biking interesting and since we had a lodge, there was warmth and dryness to keep the good times rolling. Friday saw 3 opportunities to ride the falcon trails, Saturday was Ingolf awesomeness with 22 riders enjoying the ride, and Sunday was it’s usual relaxing day. There were movies, one freak (non-bike related) accident, an intense bonfire, tequila, a lot of "that's what she/he said's" and plenty of laughs. I had a great time with a great bunch of dudes. Thanks to the FGBC for making the best bike weekend happen. JS