Angry Face?

I finally got some pics from the Smethport race. I thought I would share the angry face pic....or is it the ouchy face pic?

Oswald Cycle Works

Tour De France 2006

Live Coverage:

After a long day of racing the field has been reduced to a final five contestants. As the racers approach the intermediate sprint, the pace picks up. The racers cranks spin faster and faster as if there was no chain connecting their gears at all. Hushovd is set up to take the sprint when the scarlet pimpernel appears from nowhere and steals the victory. The riders regroup after the sprint in order to maintain their dominating lead. Now comes the descent. The riders crest together and gain momentum. They begin to string out. Now comes the final sprint. Hushovd is in the lead. Wait, now Mcewen is in the lead. Hushovd and Mcewen are dueling it out. The speed these racers are attaining is unbelievable. And the sprint goes to……. Hushovd.

But wait,

It’s just Josh and Tom “sprinting” down Newtown hill on their single speeds.

Iron Cross IV

I’ve wanted to do this 60-mile “cyclocross” race ever since it started three years ago. After a typical frenetic summer season though, my gumption reserves are typically pretty low by the time October comes around. Usually all I want to do is eat pie (pumpkin), drink beer (stout), and sleep (any flavor). But since I’m on an endurance roll these days, I decided this was the year to finally roll up my sleeves (err...arm warmers?) and do it.

And what an excellent decision it was. Sheila and I made an overnighter of it, so we got to eat Indian food (in the metropolis of Harrisburg, PA) and sleep in a strange bed (Motel 6). We watched the sun rise over our Sunday breakfast (Waffle House) and drove the rest of the way to the Michaux State Forest.

Sheila planned out a hike and even found someone else to go with while I pumped up my tires and applied chamois cream to my...err...chamois? Suitably inflated and slathered, I was ready to go. The start was crazy fun. Less than a quarter mile in, two goofballs bounced off each other and went down in the gravel right in front of me. Yeehaw! Dodged that mess, then we did a lap around the traditional 'cross course, which was a hoot juking and fighting for position with 150 guys snaking around a twisty grass course. Then it was out onto the big loop of the course proper.

There were lots of gravel roads, a bit of pavement too, and some tasty niblets of singletrack to spice things up. For most of the first half I sucked wheel wherever I could, enjoying the ride and savoring the gorgeous day (low 50’s, crisp blue skies, and autumn colors). Coming into the midpoint there was a “run-up” that was more like a “claw-up”. Parts of it were so steep that, with my bike on my right shoulder, I could reach out with my left hand and grab at stuff to help pull myself up. No running involved at all, just a lot of baby-stepping, scrabbling, and cursing the course designer.

When I finally reached the top, though, they told me I was in 37^th place. And I thought, Dang, that’s pretty good for not really trying too hard yet. I’m having a good ride. I could gain some places if I step it up a little. And so I did. There were no more groups to hide in – the race was now in EMFH mode (every man for himself). So I started leapfrogging my way from rider to rider, pausing long enough catch my breath, maybe snag a draft on a fast section, then set off in pursuit of the next one. I worked my way up to 29^th or 30^th place. I was feeling pretty good, but in my fervor pushed things just a tad too far. On a fast gravelly downhill I came to grief in a corner and went off into the ditch. The bike stopped and I went over the bars and into the rocky bank. But don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine – my face broke the fall.

I got back on immediately. It only took a couple of minutes for my vision to clear and my ears to stop ringing, then I was right back at it. But I wasn’t eating or drinking enough for how hard I was going (or maybe I was just going too hard) and soon the piper was waving his pay stub in front of my bleary eyes. Stupid piper. He was dancing a happy jig and chanting cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-chiiinnnggg! as my legs started to cramp. Or maybe that was just a residual effect from my earlier brainbell ringing. Anyway, I floundered my way through the last 10 miles, losing a few of the places I had gained, to finish 33rd. A decent result on a most excellent day.

Sheila told me all about her hike as we sat in the sun. Then we had about as good a lunch as you can have at an interstate exit (Panera’s Mediterranean Veggie sandwich and coffee), made it home by dark, and slept like the dead (in our own bed).

Smethport

Race Report

Date: 9/23/06

Race: Wheel around the hub

Distance: 50 something miles

This is it, the final race report for the season (at least from me). All week I had been thinking about this race and the best plan of attack. I knew that I wouldn’t have my usual coterie of teammates. We don’t always do the best job of helping each other but there is something reassuring about being surrounded by dudes that you always ride with. I wasn’t all that worried about the race distance after having cracked off a 5 hours something century the week before. What I don’t like about this race is that it is flat-flat-flat. I like a little more character to the landscape. Anyway, race day I picked up my bike at the shop and then picked up Jimmy at his place. It was pretty gray and drizzly at that point and stayed that way all day long. Jimmy and I talked about all things bike on the way down and most of the way back. There is not much to tell about the actual race itself The course is a 7 or so mile lap that you do 7 times. There are some really cools turns and a wooden plank bridge and a metal grated bridge (boy was that thing was scary in the rain). I surfed the back of the pack the entire race with one meager attack that didn’t amount to much around lap 4. Otherwise I just sucked wheel. At the end I sprinted up the only hill and past a bunch of people and then just motored the 150 yards or so to the finish. My heart just wasn’t in this race; once it started I was only thinking about being done. Jimmy must have felt the same way because he was smart enough to pull the plug a little early. I went from 32nd last year to 7^th this year so I was happy with the improvement. I didn’t like the amount of cleaning up I had to do to my bike though. On the bright side my drive train was on the brink of being really shot and this race just pushed it over the edge. You know what that means don’t you? It means new bike parts….Mwahahahahaha. Maybe I will be faster now with the new goods, I hope so, maybe fast enough to win this race next year. Granted, I will have to take out a second mortgage on my tent to pay for the new bike bling, or maybe I can take up mooching as a career instead of a favorite past time. In any case I know where to get my new gear fix. Where you ask? Oswald cycle works of course. Oh yeah if you have the guys at Oswald’s install your new bike parts like I’m going to do, make sure you tip the mechanic with a nice greasy piece of pizza.

1890's ride

Hi y'all,

Get one last good group ride in for the season!! Join us on Sunday, October 1 for the annual 1890's road ride. For all the details click on the following links: 1890's event flyer, 35 mile course map/profile, 65 mile course map/profile.

Sponsorship

Hey team,
We are trying to put a little something together for our sponsors. If you have any race pictures that you could e-mail us we would appreciate it. If you would take a few minutes to browse through the results at the shop and let us know what corrections and/or additions we need to make, that would be good too.


Thanks
Josh

Oswald Cycle Works

Jay Heverly on 100 mile mountain bike races: "It's like eating Doritos. It's addictive, you just can't stop after one". One might ponder whether Jay rides to curb his dorito addiction or does his dorito addiction curb his riding. It occurred to me that some form of this debate rages in every cyclist. Fortunately for Jay it looks like riding is the winner in this battle. Although, I might suggest some doritos anonymous sessions if the cravings become too severe. Otherwise we should all follow Jay's example and ride our bikes.

Attn: Endurance mountain bike racers

Wikipedia-A mountain bike, mountain bicycle or ATB (All Terrain Bicycle) is a bicycle designed for mountain biking, either on dirt trails or other unpaved environments. In contrast, road bicycles aren't rugged enough for such terrain.
Free definitions, what do you know? I even discovered you can ride these things in the rain. Toot,Toot!

Eric, your bike is ready

Ole Bull Midnight Madness 2006

Aah, sweet victory at last. Jim Hepp and I, along with a revolving cast of other teammates, have been chasing the elusive “W” at the Ole Bull Midnight Madness 12-hour mountain bike race for several years. We’ve come excruciatingly close, once even within a few seconds, but have never quite been able to seal the deal, until now. This year we enlisted the twin powers of Oswald Cycle Works fast men Jared Schneider and Josh Beals to bolster our traditionally not-quite-good-enough efforts, and that finally proved to be the ticket to success.

The race starts at noon and ends at midnight. It can be run as a 4-person team relay or, if self-abuse is your thing, you can do it solo. Whoever completes the most laps the fastest wins. This year was a bit odd for our team because I couldn’t get there until after 4:00pm -- I didn’t have anyone else to cover for me, so I had to run the bike shop. Sometimes it’s great being your own boss, sometimes it sucks sweaty anus. Anyway, the three J’s took up my slack impressively, building a strong lead while racing 3 against 4 with the other teams.

When I finally arrived it was like a bomb had gone off. A big mucky mud bomb. Constant rain and drizzle had turned the course into a quagmire. Derailleurs and cables were completely bound up with grit. Shocks were seized. Brake pads were worn down to the nubs. I performed what mechanical triage I could for some of my pals then suited up for my turn to jump into the fray. Waiting in the transition tent, I watched shell shocked solo riders push their bikes through, looking like zombies that had just crawled up out of a muddy grave to croak their numbers at the timing crew as they shuffled past. Poor bastards. Then Jim came flying in from his lap, handed me the baton, and I was off.

Let me just say here that a 29er is a beautiful thing, especially a rigid 29er with disc brakes and a Rohloff 14-speed internally geared hub. And especially in nasty conditions like we were racing in. Those big wheels just keep on rolling and simply refuse to get bogged down. Having gears that always shift and brakes that work helps a lot too, but the biggest key to good performance in the slop is a bike that fits really well and has good balance. When the wheels are in just the right place under your weight you can have excellent steering control while still maintaining plenty of traction for driving the bike forward or braking. Shamelessly tooting my own horn a bit here, but I’m proud to report that my bike performed flawlessly. And Jim and Josh liked Jim’s Oswald 29er so much that they were both using it. Enough said; end of sales pitch.

OK, so -- big mucky mess, the bikes worked well, yadda yadda yadda. Now -- we’re getting toward the end of the race. It’s been a long day. We’re tired, but we’re ahead by like 17 minutes and Jared goes out for our final lap. He was feeling really terrible earlier in the day but thought he had rallied enough to squeeze another one out, maybe off from his usual pace, but still fast enough to clinch it. So off he goes into the dark and it really starts pouring -- hard. We’re all huddled under our campout shelter thinking man, it sucks to be Jared. We wait the right amount of time and head over to the timing tent to cheer him on as he finishes. We wait there a few minutes, no Jared. Wait a few more minutes, no Jared. Our hearts are slowly sinking with each tick of the clock. The team we were ahead of finishes, still no Jared. First we’re disappointed, then we really start to worry about him. To lose that much time he must have had a serious meltdown, or wrecked. We hope he’s OK. Should we go look for him? Crap! This really sucks. What do we do now? Wait some more, I guess. Finally someone comes up and says Jared is looking for us. What? When? Now? Where is he? These nagging questions prompt us out of our stupor and lead to us the brilliant idea that perhaps we should actually go look at the timing sheets. Turns out he had finished just a few minutes before we got there. He was already cleaned up, stuffing his face and grinning like the Cheshire Cat by the time we found him. That sneaky fast bastard. He absolutely smoked that night lap way faster then we expected and inadvertently gave us an emotional roller coaster ride we'll never forget. Way to go, Jared! And thanks to the rest of the team for putting in 3 tough laps while I only had to do 2.

Jim, Tom, Josh, and Jared
First Male Expert Team, First overall
Too bad they don't photograph as well as they ride.

Eric Franck, First Solo Male 50+
As Jimmy G likes to say, he's tough as woodpecker lips.
And he rides an Oswald.

Kyle Mattison, Matt Fuller, Matt Tomb (Justin Avery not pictured)
First Junior Male Team
Kyle and Matt T. are Oswald team members and are fast young guns

Oswald Cycle Works

Race Report
Date: 8/14/06
Race: Kinzua Classic
Distance: 60 miles

It’s been a year since I made my way to the Allegheny national forest for the Kinzua classic for the first time. It was fun the first time. This time I wasn’t expecting a good time. Tom, Jared, and I had decided to step up and do the 60 mile race instead of the 30 mile course. I didn’t figure I would have a chance of winning so I wasn’t at all nervous. Nobody was pushing the pace on the first hill in fact the first half of the race was pretty lame. Just before the second lap started the pace just exploded. Jared and I got gapped along with some other guys. I worked like a mule to bridge up. I finally caught the lead group right before the major climb of the course. I got dropped a few minutes later. Eventually I recouped and caught the group again at the top of the climb. I sat in the group. There was an attack and Jared made it in the break. I was in a bad position and couldn’t latch on. When I could I attacked but nobody went with me. I basically time trialed and I was catching the break and putting some serious distance between myself and the chase group. I never made it, I got caught and then we caught the lead group. By this time I was gassed. Eventually I picked up Jared and we chased, and we chased, and we chased some more. We were held up a little by some cars that got in our way, so we never did catch the lead group. I am not sure we could have any way. On the final climb to the finish I turned the screws as much as I could . I zig-zagged across the road like and idiot so that no one could sprint around me. I am surprised I had the presence of mind to be so devious. So that was the race in a nutshell. I don’t know exactly how everyone placed. However, I must mention that Jared and Sheila graced the podium…..or er…..the grass in front of the registration table. Also representing were Eric, Eric, Todd, Steve, Joe, and Tom. Way to go guys!

2006 Wilderness 101 race report

The 2006 Wilderness 101 took place on July 29th. Eric Franck, Todd Heckler and I headed down to Coburn, P.A. to chafe away our buttcheeks on the most grueling terrain P.A. has to offer. Despite the rain on Friday, the course was pretty dry. This however did not make up for the extreme humidity and lack of air circulation. I think it was about 100 deg in the shade. The course stayed pretty much the same from last year with a few minor detours due to erosion. The field was a large one set at around 300 less the 70 or so that dropped out or DNS'd. Harlan price won the Men's over all and the Woman's overall was taken by Betsy Shogren. Tandem also put up a respectable time. Our friend John Majors won the Men's 50+ but Eric Franck was hot on his tail for the first half of the race. Our times were descent ranging from mid 10 hour to 12+. I will say that Chris Scott from Shenandoah Mountain Touring puts on a first class event and its guaranteed to be motivating and fun. Thanks to all the volunteers who cheered us on at every stop. It was just the boost we needed to keep pushing!

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!

New York State TT, Part 2

Josh's earlier post summed up much of the TT. The course was windy and hilly. It was fast and times, it was slow at times. It was hot. It was painful. To borrow from Francis, I spent over an hour in that "unhappy place" that is the time trial zone. That is, I went to the redline, backed off a click or two, and stayed there. Pushed into the red at the end. Pushed way into the red.

Was my bike fast? Yes. Was I fast? Sorta. Was I happy with my ride? Yes. At the end of the race, I had nothing left. No kick at all. A steady acceleration from the top of the hill at the 5K to go mark to the finish toasted my legs and lungs. I rolled across the finish, my left hammie cramped, and I cooled down by pedaling one-legged for a couple hundred yards.

Some notes:

*There were some super fast folks out there. The quickest time was a little over 55 minutes.
*In our category, Cat 4/5, there were 23 starters.
* Jared finished 5th with a time of 1:03:08.
*Josh finished 6th with a time of 1:03:23.
*Those are smokin' times from OCW's young guns.
*I finished 19th with a time of 1:08:43. (As usual, I was the slowest of the fast guys. While all the racers ahead of (and including) me finished seconds apart, the guy behind me finished about two minutes down.)
*The team time trial was cancelled. That made me very happy.

Dust off your aerobars. We'll be going back next year.

Oswald Cycle Works

Race report

Date: 6/25/06

Race: Owasco Flyer

Distance: 36 miles

I made the trip to Auburn for the second time in 8 days to compete in a bicycle race. The day started out rough when I found myself waking up a half an hour later then I had planned. Fortunately I tend to be anal retentive and planned on leaving a half hour earlier then I need to. This is the only race that I have done more then once so I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into. That is, about 180 people trying to cross the finish line and most of them trying to do it first. Of course I was one of that bunch myself. Last year when I did this race it was my second bike race ever and I placed 20^th. I was disappointed and really felt I should have done better. Yesterday Jimmy called the shop to wish me luck and give me some advice; he said, “ride smart dude”. I knew where I wanted to make my move; it was the first big hill after about ten miles of dead flat and super fast riding. I just stayed five or six guys back from the front until this hill. My place of attack is a place I am going to call chain drop hill. I have so dubbed it because every one is racing through the flats and are in a huge gear. When they hit the hill they have too much torque on their chain so that when they shift down they drop their chains. My chain didn’t drop off so I guess I better buy my mechanic lunch or something. Any way when I got to the hill I knew some people would attack so I made sure I was in every break and gap. The attacks kept on for about three miles and the pack was totally blown apart at this point. A strong team got off the front and opened a gap that I couldn’t bridge. Eventually I found myself in a group of three. We got organized and chased like mad men. Those guys rocked too. We started catching guys that were popping off the back of the lead group. We made sure that we passed them fast enough so they couldn’t grab our wheel. It hurt a lot but the three of us were going together and not slowing down for anybody. Finally our group of three became a group of two. Up to this point I had stayed in the green but I pushed into the red a little too long trying to tack on to the end of the lead group and misjudged the finish. So at the line my sole compadre sprinted and finished before me. He earned it though. I got ninth overall I think, and first in my age group. I would say it was a huge improvement from last year.