Eric's road frame - in the nude!

Here she is, ready for her sparkling powder coat finish:

Watkins Glen race report

You know how most of the time during a race you’re working really hard and hurting and saying to yourself “this sucks, this sucks, this sucks” and then you get done and you’re like “yeah, that was awesome!”? Well imagine a race where you substitute the “this sucks” part for “this is fun, this is fun, this is fun!” For me that’s what the Watkins Glen race was like.

First of all, it was just super cool to get to ride on a famous race track like Watkins Glen International, and a real treat to race on a closed course where we didn’t have to worry about cars and yellow lines and whatnot. Secondly, the Finger Lakes Wine Festival was going on there at the same time, and apparently a crowd of tipsy alcohol enthusiasts makes for an exceptionally lively spectatorship, especially when one of them has a bullhorn and another doesn’t have any pants on. We were cheered, heckled, mooned, cracked and sacked. And it was all hilariously good fun.

Since Josh had scored the win at the previous race in Jasper, we decided that we would share the love and work to bring Jared to a high placing, which would also help in his bid to win the Tri-Fecta. Our general plan was to sit in for the first five laps, then try to make something happen in the last five. It was quite windy, which made the first half of our plan easy to stick to. The second half? Not so easy. After a handful of trips around that twisty, hilly track closing down gaps and following the accelerations it was difficult to find the legs to go on the offensive.

We made a few weak attempts. At one point I stomped it as hard as I could going up the hill out of turn 2, only to look back and see the whole pack rolling easily along in my draft. Worthless. Another time I slowed to let a gap open as Jared scooted up to join Josh and two other guys off the front, but that was quickly shut down too. Crap. None of us Oswalds left in the lead pack are good sprinters, and it was looking more and more like this thing was going to come down to a sprint finish.

Our strongman Josh started coming to the front more, rolling easy (for him) on the flats and downhills and jamming hard on the uphills, and it was helping. I could just barely hang on each time he did it, but whenever I looked back there were fewer riders in our group. By the bell lap, though, Josh was still pulling along ten or twelve of the toughest guys. He led for the last half-lap, with Jared on his wheel. At the final corner, as everyone was winding up for the sprint, Josh was starting to get swamped. He’s crazy strong, but he’s only human. I jumped up there to try and help lead Jared out. The rest is all a big blur now, but I remember looking under my left elbow to see Jared with me, then giving it everything I had as the better sprinters streaked past us. I put my head down and kept going and going, and the next thing I knew I was crossing the finish line.

It turns out I finished 6^th, Jared was 7^th, and Josh was 8^th. Not super impressive, but not altogether awful either. Jared won his bracket in the Tri-Fecta. Jimmy and Eric finished together a few minutes later, then we all went down to visit the rowdy cheering section on the backstretch. They plied us with some of the coldest, best tasting beer I’ve ever had and thanked us for entertaining them. But really we got at least as big a kick out of them as they got out of us. We’ll be back next year for more hot racing and cold beverages.

Century photos

Here are some pics from the big day. Thanks to Josh for putting the ride together. And thanks to Ed, Kathy, Sheila, Jared, Jimmy, Eric, Todd, Dan, Charlotte, Christine, Jay, Joe and Kyle for coming out and riding with us. -Tom

Jared showing some skin (?)

Josh demonstrating his latest dance moves.
I think he calls this one "the broken toe".

Dan finishing with a smile on his face.

Is that a smile or grimace on Christine's face?
I like to think it's a smile.

Jimmy and Eric, salty but happy.

Century

Oswald Cycle Works

The Oswald cycle works first century was a big success. The folks that showed up this Sunday were a stellar bunch. Several of the usual Oswald yahoos showed up to ride the 100 miles through parts of Bradford and Tioga counties. We were also graced by the company of some very nice young ladies from way down south in the Williamsport area. I should also mention that these women are tough. They seemed to have no problem with the ride. We started with 15 riders and after 30 miles three of our compadres split off for a more time and body friendly 50-mile ride. Thanks a bunch Sheila for volunteering to lead that group. After a few more miles one of the others split off to make it back for afternoon engagements. The rest forged ahead. The ride was great. Well…. there was one crappy part…. literally, I got pooped on by some malicious fowl. All I can say is thank goodness for shaved legs, because with no hair, rinsing off bird poop becomes much much easier. A few lessons learned during the ride 1) don’t forget sun screen 2) don’t fill your bottles from the tap at convenience stores (especially if the water taste a lot like eggs) 3) The body can only drink so much Gatorade laced with soy protein before it starts to rebel 4) shammy salt margarita jokes are really funny after 90 miles 5) old broken toes get really really numb 6) a long, straight, slightly downhill is a good way to end a long ride 7) and next time Jared loses his money on the road don’t give it back or say anything it might be the closest I’ll ever get to being paid to ride my bike.

Eric's road frame taking shape

It's in the "ugly duckling" stages right now, but soon it will be a thing of beauty.

In the jig, fluxed and tacked

The head tube, fluxed and tacked

The head tube, just brazed

The bottom bracket, fluxed and tacked


The bottom bracket, just brazed

Oswald Cycle Works

Race Report

Date: 7/1/06

Race: Jasper Road Race

Distance: 30-something miles

I found myself bright eyed and bushy tailed on Saturday. Ok….just bushy tailed. My first order of business was to get caffeinated. I had purchased this protein mocha drink just for this occasion. After one putrid swig I promptly recapped said drink and brewed a good strong cup of Joe. After downing a mug of coffee that could have stripped paint I felt like it was ready to go. I drove to Mansfield to meet Jimmy and Tom. We piled into the team micro car and made our way to Jasper. We got signed in and met the other team members. We all took some time to go through the usual pre-race foolishness like going to the bathroom a gazillion times and pushing pins through our beautiful Oswald jerseys. We had discussed strategy and tactics before the race and sorta had a plan….maybe. Even though we didn’t have much of a plane we executed it perfectly in true team fashion. I was super excited because I knew we had a strong group. As we approached the first big climb Tom gave the signal and started moving to the front. My man jimmy made room for Jared and I to slip through to the front. Jimmy promptly closed the hole he had made for us. Tommy set a great pace at the front and eventually it was Jared, myself and two other dudes working our way to the top ahead of the group. The four of us worked together well and were eventually caught by the pack. The pack kept getting bigger as more riders caught the group. I tried to stay up towards the front. As I finished a pull at the front and was drifting back I thought I was hallucinating because I saw Tom, and Jared, and some other dude wearing an Oswald jersey. When I could take a good look I saw it was Eric (this guy rocks!). I was stoked at that point because of the super reliable team members that surrounded me. As we neared the second climb Tom moved to the front again. It was almost an exact replay of the first hill. Jared and I moved to the front and set the pace, much to the consternation of some dudes in the pack. Anyway it ended up being the same four riders climbing ahead of the group. Then disaster struck for Jared in the form of a bad chain link that caused one poor shift. That three-second ordeal caused him to lose contact with the group. After that the three remaining riders took turns pulling at the front. When we got in sight of the finish line it became a crazy fast-scary-fun downhill sprint finish. I won the sprint by half a wheel length. What a great showing by all the Oswald boys. In spite of a flat tire Eric finished a great race, Jimmy cranked out one super solid performance, Jared finished fourth, and Tom finished sixth. Great race guys!