I was going to post a nifty write up with a head line about our race in the mud yesterday until I saw the post below. Now I feel a bit inadequate. Anyway, I went coast to coast for the win with only my front brake engaged after being smashed by another racer's front wheel. Does that count for anything? Here is a short video, but be advised the mud is paltry...

Kruger's Crossing CX Classic

Only two Hupster's dared to take on the mud at Kruger's Farm on Sauvie Island today. Rain all week, plus some pretty heavy rain last night and this morning made sure that there would be plenty of mud and pretty bad conditions. In the last couple of years, similar conditions to today have led to plenty of broken bikes. Farm foliage (like corn stalks, blackberry brambles, and pumpkin parts) mixed with mud tends to completely clog up drivetrains and leads to bent derailleur hangars and broken chains.

So it was probably the best decision that Max and AO raced Single Speeds today. No sense risking broken bikes this late in the season, especially with USGPs and Nats just around the corner. There were lots of deep puddles, slick corners, huge mud holes, deep sections of mud slowly turning to peanut butter. Every part of everyone's bikes and bodies was covered in a thick layer of brown mud by the end of the race. In the end, both finished with no broken bike parts. AO was 10th and Max was 13th.

Max and AO pre-race

AO heading through one of the deep puddles right after a barrier.

Max making his way through the same barrier/puddle combo.

AO and Max post race

Singlespeed bike covered in mud.

Belgian blue looks pretty good covered in mud.

Oh yeah, there was also a doggy dash that looked like a lot of fun. There are more pictures of the race and the doggy dash here.

A New Director Sportif is crowned in New Belgium

I'm reprinting this from Chip "New Belgium DS supreme" Baker's blog. Chip, Hupcakes are pretty good, but you f'in RULE! Thanks buddy.

Hupcakes Rule

Those are some happy raffle winners! So much good raffle Karma flowing around all day long!
Why cross rules #167 Hupcakes kick ass! And cross racers are just the most generous band of fun loving bastards on the planet. The fundraiser for Harry Lam at the BRC cross race in Lowell was a huge success! Thanks to everyones support we raised $825 with the raffle and sale of Hupcakes! I donated the money to the online Bikereg fund last night. Alarms may be going off at my credit card company as we speak but come on its a black mastercard doesn't that mean I am a high roller or something? And I swear I am good for it I have all the ones crumpled up in a lock box I swear...
Mark and Mike road a brilliant race in the sold out 4 race! Mark won the race in a incredible display of power coming out of a 3 man group 2nd wheel when 3rd wheel was just about to engage the slingshot at the line. Mark felt it and attacked and made it look easy. But Mike deserves a ton of credit for working with his teammate. Frankly when I saw Mark come around after the first lap leading a train of 4 guys I saw berserker eyes..it was not going to end well. Mike got up to Mark talked some sense into the lad and they set to work ripping apart the rest of the field and bringing home big time Hup glory! Great job boys and congratulations Mark! Man he has worked sooo hard this season. Total inspiration and an incredible kid. Thank you to his wife Gina for all her help and keeping me from losing my mind as I juggled the raffle, the booth, bike racing and socializing...She is so great its not even funny. Thank you to all the Hupcake bakers! The Hupcake has become such a cool part of Hup in New England. I loved that there was so much creativity with this batch. Kerry even introduced us to the bacon muffin and Key Lime cupcakes. All cupcakes and muffins were gone before Adam Myerson could have one! That my friends is a crime...my bad as I should have had a stash for the Pro's that showed up in large numbers for the elite race. Very un-PRO of me but I am learning next time I have a PRO Hupcake stash...who knows I may send our Fidea bodyguard over to pit row next weekend as the Verge series gets back under way with a certain tribute...have I mentioned I can't wait for the last two double Verge weekends? Sterling and NBX coming up fast and furious. Its going to be incredible.
Yash is in the Haus!!!! Oh it was so good to see my brother in arms roll up looking tight! He rode over from Cambridge through some crazy ass urban riding. Deserves major props for doing so...ride to the ride...should be a motto we all adopt. He looked great, brought some great mojo to the Hup tent and intimidated many with his sheer awesomeness and good looks. The fundraiser never could have happened without the help of sooo many people. First of course would be the Boston Road Club and Joe Cady. Joe is the Race Director of Lowell and didn't even hesitate when I asked him if we could do the fundraiser. He was so supportive and Hup is forever in his and BRC's debt.
On to the shout outs. First off the raffle was a huge success. I was amazed at the level of support that our sponsors gave us. This came together in less than a week. It was so short notice but not one sponsor I contacted even hesitated in offering support. And the support they did offer was so generous. So thank you to my friends for that. And seriously we all have choices when we purchase bike stuff. When it comes time please show support for those who support us by stepping up and supporting them.
So a huge thanks go out to:
Pepsi-wow, granted my wife works for Pepsi and she made this happen but seriously they kicked in some serious product. 3 ipods and a ton of beverages. Plus Pam and her friend hand made all the raffle tickets, the poster, the box and the soon to be crafted Hup letterhead for the official thank you notes!
Pedro's-Again what can I say about Pedro's. I emailed my good friend Matt and he was back to me in a moments notice with some incredible stuff. A Super Pit Kit on Steroids! Not just any Pit Kit (which by itself is totally covetous by all cross racers) but one that had such great extras as a demi torque wrench and a carbon multi tool. He also gave us 2 other bike care kits. Incredible. What a cool company that is so 100% behind cycling and just does it right. Give them some serious love next time you are even considering buying lube or bike tools. Thanks Matt!
Mad Alchemy-One of my all time favorite companies. And one of my all time favorite bike racers. Pete Smith is amazing. Love love love his embrocation and his chamois creme. Pete was so cool and got us some great embrocation and chamois creme for the raffle. He even dropped off a bunch of extra goodies to add which were much appreciated. Thanks Pete!
We had some amazing support from some great local bike shops who donated gift certificates, a helmet, coffee, socks...the list is too long. Thank you to:
Belmont Wheelworks
JRA Cycles
Goodales
Landry's
Gearworks
Zanconato-Not only did Mike Z donate a ton of his new woolie logo'd socks to raffle off he had two incredible Swiss Cowbells in the swag bag! The socks are just amazing wool goodness and the cowbells...it was tough letting those go...the runnups are going to be a little louder in the next couple of weeks as those bells are the Thor's Hammer of cowbells. Thanks Mike!
Theo Paul-Who knew Paul could make such incredible wool hats. Do you see that amazing hat in the picture above Theo made that! It is gorgeous and he uses some amazing imagery and designs. Check his hats out when you get a chance they are works of art!
Richard Fries-I am sure most of you know him as the announcer of the Verge series. I have been friends with Richard for almost 10 years. We go way back as Editors of regional cycling publications. Basically we were separated at birth. Except he can multi-task me into the ground. Watching what he pulled off in Providence at his PVD Verge race was nothing less than impressive. But anyway I called him literally last minute to see if he had a PA system I could borrow for the announcer and to play some block rocking beats at the venue. He almost instantly sent me an email back with a how to and an invitation to go pick up all the stuff I needed. Such an amazing friend. Thank you Richard! Your friendship and generosity mean a lot
Thanks also go out to all my Hup teammate and their families for baking Hupcakes and for helping with the raffle and the booth. Thank you to the Cambridge Bike team for all their Support. And thank you to all you amazing cross racers who came by and bought raffle tickets and hung out and supported a great cause!

Dallas, GA CX Race @ Paulding Meadows

My first foray into the 1/2 race was pretty good with a 4th place. Honestly, the masters races are harder than our 1/2 but I wanted the extra 15 minutes (why are masters races 45 min anyway?). Scott Staubach from Alabama came over and got 4th in the masters 35+.

Getting ready to freeze my ass off in Bend. Anyone have a medium thermal skinny I could rent from you for that weekend? I'll pay $50. Let me know (ucapugulator@bellsouth.net).

No pictures because everyone is selling them and they are not Milliman quality.

Fall Pastry ride...

How times have changed.

It’s hard to believe that the first real report coming out of New England this fall is not a race report, re-living some super bitch ass mud fest in New Gloucester or avoiding the crashes on the fast leaf covered backside of Canton, but a pastry ride report.

Now, in my undies, exhausted after only 30 minutes on the trainer, I am finally getting around to writing about a pastry ride while watching Terminator 3 on AMC. How odd and pleasant is it that this ride, filled with pumpkin muffins and strong coffee, was the highlight of the fall season for many of us?

HUP New England is a pretty large and rather diverse group of riders. There are currently more than 35 members. Several of us are very much in the thick of the vibrant cross racing season and have dedicated everything in the never ending pursuit of maintaining fitness. Some of us have never raced, and may never race. In the past 3 years, people have floated into HUP NE and some have also floated on to new interests. There are some guys on the team who have been on the team since the very beginning, and there are guys who just joined last month. I am not sure what attracts people to certain teams. Sometimes you join and its not exactly what you thought it may be, and for some members, the team that it once was, is not what it is today. This is the fate of all teams and organizations I suppose.

For those uneducated in the luxurious and indulgent nature of a Pastry Ride, let me explain. A pastry ride usually occurs on the morning of the day before your big event, be it a race or a hard group ride. The pastry ride begins at a café, where the rider enjoys 1-2 pastries and a small coffee. Riders then ride at a nice pace, no more than 15-16 MPH, for about an hour and end the ride at another café where they can refuel from the arduous ride with another helping of pastries and coffee. There is a lot of “people gazing“, excited talk of the ride to come the next day, and at times talk of family and perhaps job stresses.

　
The Pastry Ride Report:

Prologo…
Sunday morning, 4 riders met at Peets in Lexington to roll up to Londonderry NH to join the rest of HUP NE for the very first HUP Fall Pastry ride. The Icelandic Danish there is absolutely the best. Maybe not as good as some of the tasty offerings at Sofra, but still incredibly good. The weather forecast for the day was cloudy and 55-ish. Unfortunately the weather-man was only 40% correct. There was a fierce wind coming in from the northeast, making the rain come down sideways. By the time of the first flat, 2.5 hours into the ride, everyone was completely soaked, yellow lenses were covered in shitty grit, and everyone wished that they had taken the extra ten minutes to install fenders. There was some concern that they would get up to the ride and it had been cancelled due to the horrific weather.


Main Course…
The fast pace up to Londonderry allowed ample time to undress in the garage and throw everything in the dryer while enjoying a hot coffee, playing with Lenny the dog, and starting early on round two of the pastries. There is nothing worse than having to put on wet cycling clothing. Conversely, there is nothing better than eating muffins and putting on dry warm clothing. Unfortunately throwing 4 pairs of wet socks in the dryer with the kits makes for an interesting smelling jersey.

Within the next half an hour, about 20 riders trickled in to the meeting point. By this time some had already helped themselves to 3 muffins. Miraculously, by the time the last cleat was clipped in, the rain had stopped and the sun was struggling to come through.

They rode for about 2 hours through the constant rolling terrain of New Hampshire’s car-less roads. The slow pace fostered some fun innocent conversation which would eventually, as it often does, turn to more vulgar, and interesting topics. After a long climb, which seemed to end, and then begin again, the 4 riders from Boston broke off to catch the train in Ayer MA. The others on the ride rode on to end their day with more stories, laughs, pastries and coffee. The obligatory final sprint was apparently won by someone on a singlespeed.

Finale.
Unfortunately for the 4 riders, the distance between the break off location and the train station was much farther than they had anticipated. There was a point in which they were TTTing for 35 minutes straight, hammering through the wet and leafy bike path filled with pissed off rollerblades and dog walkers. Unlike in the tour de france TTT, there is no “N-1” rule when catching the train. There was a sense of panic when one of the riders fell way off the pace and there was a very real possibility that they would not catch the 3pm train.

But somehow they did, with only 8 minutes to spare.

The train ride back to Boston was quite surreal. The riders were asked to shuffle to the very last train car called “The lower car”. They had the whole car, as well as an overfilled urinal, to themselves. The train effortlessly flowed through familiar towns, Acton, Concord, Belmont…and finally stopped in Porter Square in Cambridge.

The town always seems a bit different after a day like that, doesn’t it?

2009 Iceman Cometh

There were something like 4000 racers registered for the Iceman on November 7 this year,so of course Hup was there.

It was the 20th annual edition of the"road race on dirt" and we had a beautiful day for it,sunny and mid 60's by the afternoon,no ice but I didnt hear any complaining.

Hup had a great day,many personal bests,results were-

Mike Koetsier-2:07:34-65th Expert 35-39
Jurrien Davison-2:09:56-51st Expert 30-34
Mike Doezema-2:14:22-30th Sport/Expert Clydsdale
Chris Davison-2:16:38-32nd Sport/Expert Clydsdale
Mike Clark-2:21:10-62nd Singlespeed 40+
Kathy Tahy-2:45-20th Sport Women 35-45

KissCross #6 Manhatten Park

It was a tough day for Hup Michigan at Manhatten Park this year,flat tires and mechanicals seemed to be the story of the day,I cut a big hole in the sidewall of my tubie that ended my day and Chris and John both had bike issues,John rolled a tubie in the B race so figured he would race A's instead then had ghost shifting issues that knocked him out of that race too.
Nice day for a race,sunny and mid 50's,challenging course with a big sand pit,a couple of tough steep hills and a rough muddy descent.
Hup results-
Jurrien Davison-25th A's
Chris Davison-36th-B's
Mike Clark-17th-B masters and 20th C tandem
Kathy Tahy-33nd C's
Doez and John Evans-DNF's but tried hard!