Then there was poor dear Tammy Thomas:

but Tammy had the tiniest feet!
I also, when I first met her, thought she was Jamie Carney

Oh dear...those pictures.

I will now use them as an excuse to share a Bertucco-truism (Bertuccoism?) with you:

The braid/cornrow hair style is unique in it's ability to make men look more feminine and women more masculine.

You'll be begging me for girl scout cookies.

Posted By: Marc Bertucco
The braid/cornrow hair style is unique in it's ability to make men look more feminine and women more masculine.

Not in all societies/every epoch.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: John Malcolmson</cite>You'll be begging me for girl scout cookies.</blockquote>

THIS.

And yeah, I was just telling my lovely wife tonight that a) I'd love to be racing at Bear and b) in reality, my time might be better served after this semester going on a long training ride that day and getting my sorry ass back into racing shape.
Don't think I'd be much use in a TTT - if there is consensus to do a training ride, I'm IN.

I would be interested in the TTT. If that falls through a long training ride would do.... with girl scout cookies...please

TTT sounds fun. I am up for it. Likewise, the training ride is a good idea too.

OK, she must be a sprinter and they're not:

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/69731_148652748517446_103512969698091_234852_358612_n.jpg

Is that Steve-O in a green diaper chasing them?

1. If your racing age is 45 or over (and not cat.5), that category is still open.

2. Is the new course posted somewhere?

I don't know if anyone is doing this race except for the masters. Here is a slightly incorrect map of the revised course:

The race director said : "the race won't start down the big hill and then back up as shown. The race will actually go left out of the parking lot towards Lake Sebago. Every race will do the hill one less time than the number of laps."

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/32869590

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/32869590/

So five days ago I emailed the organizers to ask:

- Hi - I'm still waitlisted for the senior men's 4 race; at what point do we
get refunded for the race? Can we keep our names on the waitlist up to
race day and still be refunded?
Thanks

This morning I finally get this email:

- No, for a refund you need to decide today. Otherwise you only get a
refund if you show up and don't get in.

Thanks, guys - way to keep us in the loop. :( :(

Is that true? The event page says that:

"For those riders who receive slots but decide not to race, refunds will be available through May 8th."

And:

"Wait list riders after registration closes will receive refunds only if showing up on race day and being turned away from racing."

I can understand the latter rule if someone knowingly signs up to be waitlisted, but it's hard to believe that they would enforce that on those of us who signed up for a race that was OPEN.

That's what I'm saying!

The onus in this case should be on THEM, since they did the bumping.

It's like, sorry, we had to change the course so you're waitlisted - and sorry, you didn't check in with us and now we won't give you a refund.

Wack. Anyway, I told them to refund me immediately, even though ideally I'd like to be able to wait a bit more.

Posted By: eragotbut Tammy had the tiniest feet!
I also, when I first met her, thought she was Jamie Carney

bwahahahaha1!!!

exactly

also, don't worry about bear

we will be doing an awesome training ride this sunday

there will be hills, pacelines, sprints, coffee and possibly ice cream

Where were my teammates? I missed them, they would have been useful!

Stéphane: How did it go? I wanted to race in the 4's today but it just wasn't meant to be. I will be there in the fall unless they try to pull some shisty business and not give me my refund.

I'm going to start calling the Spring Bear Mountain race, the Blue Balls Mountain Classic. I might be exaggerating but it seems like every third year something happens to cause total or partial cancellation.

Race report please!

Please allow me to give you all some insight, as I have been involved with this race in some form or fashion since 2003...............

This year was the 2nd spring in a row that road construction has plaqued the race. Last year the bridge on top of the Tiorati climb was declared structurally unsound and closed; so therefore the route had to be re-routed in order to continue to have the race. Again this year we had a bridge closure, on Seven Lakes Drive on the south end of Lake Tiorati. Due to this, the new park administration made a unilateral decision that all cycling events in 2011 would take place on the route that was run on Sunday.

I attended a meeting at the park in early April and proposed 2 alternatives; one that would allow us to use the one-lane bridge (and thus the regular course) AND a modified 8.5 mile loop that would have allowed the race to continue with the regular 9 fields that have been run in the past. Our preference would have been to do the former, but that was rejected as the park felt traffic would be an issue. While I didn't agree with it, at least I had a backup plan. The 8.5 mile loop would had used county road 106 to connect Lake Welch Drive and Seven Lakes Drive to make the loop. Despite having the approval of the town of Stony Brook and tentative approval by Rockland County, the park would not permit the event unless we used Sunday's course. They gave no reason for their decision.

After this I has suggested to CRCA that the race should be cancelled; but they felt it was best to at least have the event with fewer racers than not have the event at all. So, despite the knowledge that they were going to lose thousand of dollars running this race, they decided to press on and the event happened on Sunday. Agreed it wasn't the best, but at least some folks got to race.

However, I have already started the wheels in motion to find a new road course for 2012. I don't know whether CRCA will hop along with this or if I have to find some other club(s) to take the plunge; but I feel that the Palisades Interstate Park Commission will not support this event anymore so thus time to find a new place to play. If CRCA want to run Bear Mountain again, maybe the two of us could combine on a wicked road racing weekend in lower New York State; when was the last time that happened? But whatever happens in the near future, I don't see myself being involved in a race in Harriman State Park anymore.

So I hope this provides at least a bit of insight on what really went on here. If you want to continue to flame away, go for it; I've said my peace, and at the same time I'm moving on to other things.

Thanks,
Alan

I arrived after the end of the cat.4 race but was told they had raced in awful conditions (rain). Early afternoon, foggy (spooky start) and intermittent light rain. Mixed field, mostly 45+ and a few 55+. Fast start. Lost contact with the pack because of a crash ahead of me. When you have old guys like Dmitry in front, it's very hard to come back! I wish I had raced with the pack, which would have probably happened with teammates working with me to get back to the pack. Good training ride back to the finish with two 45+ and one 55+ riders, we staged a sprint as if we were not way back. I won the sprint and finished 4th in the 55+ (as we say in French, "Au royaume des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois" (In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king). At least I feel I have started my racing season outside NYC.
One remark: racing for the first time at Bear, I missed a turn because the marshall was on the wrong road at the turn and further up the course I waited for my riding companions for a minute and a half after a climb because there was a fork in the road with no marshall nor sign to indicate where to go. If you're behind the leading car or with other riders you won't have any trouble, but I think the organizers could at least put a sign.

Alan,

Thanks for the insight on the planning and efforts that went into the event. It is a bummer to hear all the hurdles organizers are up against.

"If CRCA want to run Bear Mountain again, maybe the two of us could combine on a wicked road racing weekend in lower New York State; when was the last time that happened?"

--- could be epic!

Alan, didn't mean to personally criticize you or the CRCA with my comment. I'm sorry. I was just commenting/joking more on the bad mojo that has seemed to follow the spring edition of this race. Thanks for the behind the scenes perspective from your point of view. Sounds like as frustrated as some racers may be, you have about 10 times the level of stress associated with pulling off this event!

Good race Stephane! I know from riding with you a few weeks ago, if you got dropped, it must have been hard! I also applaud you for finishing out the race with a strong effort. In my experience, I feel that many riders once they get dropped from the main peloton climb off the next time through the feed zone, so I'm glad to read that Kissena's racer rep this Sunday kept pedaling the complete distance!

alan:

thank you for being involved the way you are. this sounds like a very frustrating experience.

i think a kissena-sponsored road race would be awesome. i know we could get a whole bunch of volunteers out to help.

best,

-william

Nice work Stéphane! Conditions looked interesting to say the least: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY9VDytfJeE

Hats off to Alan Atwood for making this event happen! Down with the Parks for making it Brazil Mountain.

Alan,

Using 106 would have been great. Even if we added 106 to the old course would be great.

Way back when I started racing the spring Harriman race was part of a two-day, three race "festival." Saturday morning, hillclimb up Bear Mountain. Saturday afternoon 10-mile time trial from Sebago circle to Tiorati and back. Sunday, road race starting and finishing at Sebago circle. Few people would probably do all three today, but that was the way racing went back then.

@ Stephane, Sorry about not showing. I was pre-empted by family obligations. Sounds like you did pretty well anyway on your first race of the year.

Congrats Patrick G on 6th in the field sprint Saturday.

(I'll go back to lurking now.)

Joe W.