Aug 18, 2014 at 04:59 PM
Thanks for all of the mentoring and guidance you bestowed upon us lesser riders. Your presence will be missed. See you at the races!
Also this.
Also this.
Farewell, Au Revior, Ciao Baby!
Aug 19, 2014 at 02:04 AM
Eric, Have to say big thanks for introducing yourself a couple of years back when I was riding around PP in the old school KCC kit. Your gentle prodding got me back into Kissena and into racing, so thanks for that.
You'll be sorely missed, your hard work and love for the club over the years (how many years?) has been enduring.
Good luck with the new adventure, but be forewarned that all KCC X-ers have been instructed to hook you into the ditch, take your dollar bills and pour beer on you.
You'll be sorely missed, your hard work and love for the club over the years (how many years?) has been enduring.
Good luck with the new adventure, but be forewarned that all KCC X-ers have been instructed to hook you into the ditch, take your dollar bills and pour beer on you.
Aug 19, 2014 at 02:30 AM
Yeah, put him in the ditch Johnny. Put him in the ditch!
Aug 19, 2014 at 10:38 AM
I'm kind of expecting the hooks...
Glad to have helped out in bringing you back Johnnie. It's been a pleasure riding with you and seeing how you transformed back into a racing monster.
Aug 20, 2014 at 08:58 PM
Eric - you deserve a big standing ovation for all you've done for Kissena!!
As someone who has raced with you, and served on the board of directors with you, I have to say it's always been a pleasure (both!). Your commitment to the club is commendable, and I appreciate your hard work and dedication. Cycling is our passion. It's why we joined Kissena and why we volunteer. You've always been a leader since I've been with Kissena and have made my experience at the club much more enjoyable. Good luck with Sommerville, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Best regards,
Lenny
As someone who has raced with you, and served on the board of directors with you, I have to say it's always been a pleasure (both!). Your commitment to the club is commendable, and I appreciate your hard work and dedication. Cycling is our passion. It's why we joined Kissena and why we volunteer. You've always been a leader since I've been with Kissena and have made my experience at the club much more enjoyable. Good luck with Sommerville, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Best regards,
Lenny
Aug 20, 2014 at 11:23 PM
Team,
As some of you may already know, I have accepted an invite from RBNY to join their squad for the 2015 season.
I have had a great season racing under the Kissena colors and will miss racing and riding with you all. I will always be a friend to you guys in the peloton and perhaps we can coop and use our teams to produce winning results.
Thank you all for being a class act and welcoming me into your club.
Ciao for now,
Mark
As some of you may already know, I have accepted an invite from RBNY to join their squad for the 2015 season.
I have had a great season racing under the Kissena colors and will miss racing and riding with you all. I will always be a friend to you guys in the peloton and perhaps we can coop and use our teams to produce winning results.
Thank you all for being a class act and welcoming me into your club.
Ciao for now,
Mark
Aug 20, 2014 at 11:32 PM
Mark
It's a bummer to see you go, I wish you the best of luck.
It's a bummer to see you go, I wish you the best of luck.
Aug 21, 2014 at 12:44 AM
Good luck Mark. I'll be marking you at races.. ;-)
Aug 21, 2014 at 03:48 AM
Good luck Mark!
Is that the same team Ragot just moved to?
Is that the same team Ragot just moved to?
Aug 21, 2014 at 11:20 AM
Man, oh man, KCC and team Marc/Mark is taking some hits during "transfer season." Best of luck!
Aug 21, 2014 at 12:40 PM
Good luck Mark. RB is a good squad.
Aug 21, 2014 at 01:02 PM
Thank you guys I appreciate the warm sentiment.
John, it's a different team then Eric's.
John, it's a different team then Eric's.
Aug 21, 2014 at 01:55 PM
It was fun, Mark! See you on the road.
Aug 21, 2014 at 05:30 PM
Bummer, Mark, you were great to race with. See you on the road...
Aug 23, 2014 at 09:25 PM
This is the bullshit of all bullshit....we have lost our Gunnery Sgt. Hartman. Who is going to yell at me now during a race when I'm tired, scared and vulnerable? Fuck it all...I'll just loop this clip on my iphone and listen to it when I'm about to get dropped. Good Luck Rag's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNQPLewGR9k
Aug 24, 2014 at 07:34 PM
(merged into the Au revior thread)
Aug 25, 2014 at 01:05 AM
Mark,
Good luck with RBNY, a great team with some former teammates of mine. Look forward to racing against/ conspiring with you and your team.
Sep 10, 2014 at 12:59 AM
This was kind of unexpected and I feel very weird having this happen during the season, but I'm at a point right now where I want as little in the back of my mind as possible. Recently, my girlfriend and I split up. We have an apartment together so that means I'm in the process of moving a lot of things, potentially finding a new place, worrying about my now inflated rent, and just generally being stressed about everything all the time.
I need to channel my energy into something positive or else I'll be on a serious downward spiral, so I'll be trying to do as much of something that has no connection to real life in any way - cyclocross. That said, I want to take a small step back from the larger structure of Kissena for this cross season and just focus on hanging out with a small squad of friends and racing bikes in as relaxing a manner as possible. My friends at King Kog have always been great to me regardless of what kit I wore, and this season they're really doing me a huge favor by taking care of travel and lodging so that I don't need to stress about anything else. They have never pressured my to join their team but I'd like to let them know I appreciate it by wearing their kit while I race. At some point they'll be giving me a skinsuit and I'll start wearing it during races to show my gratitude.
I'll still be on the road with you all through the fall in training and racing (yes, I might still try and hit some of those late season road races) and look forward to some nice, long rides with you all when the racing's thin. Just because I'm wearing some different kit on course doesn't change who I am, so this shouldn't, by any means, change anything (especially since there aren't really any teammates during cross). If we've gotten along with each other, we will continue to do so and I'll continue to support and cheer for you all, just as I hope you'll continue to do for me. I just wanted to let you all know in advance why this change is happening so that it won't be taken personally or viewed as some sort of abandonment.
Thanks for understanding.
Sep 10, 2014 at 01:27 AM
Konrad, sorry to hear about the break-up with your girlfriend. That's rough stuff...and having to move out in NYC...eeeek. Hang in there buddy. We'll see you at the races real soon.
Sep 10, 2014 at 02:09 AM
Konrad, you'll always have a hand-up from Kissena whatever kit you are wearing. More importantly, it's just bikes - if you need a hand with the important stuff you just need to ask.
Sep 16, 2014 at 11:44 PM
I guess this is the place where I tell you about the new clothes I'm buying.
So my friends over at Silk Road Cycles, the bike shop over here in Greenpoint that I go to for most of my repairs, are starting a new club/team. They've asked me to join and I've accepted. I will be wearing their kit at some point this cross season, probably in October. And I'll probably also wear their kit XC mountain biking next year.
Their squad is comprised of the guys that own/work in the shop along with a number of former Cicli Devotion guys plus a few of their customers that they like….moi for example along with the Hatchmap guy(team sponsor) who created the Red Hook Crit phone app. Their USAC license is just for dirt and they dig cross, mountain biking and gravel racing/riding…D2R2 etc. They're pretty low key about the racing results, with the dudes from the shop riding custom built steel bikes (works of art) as opposed to racing machines) and are more focused on fun/beer oriented excursions outside the city over accumulating racing palmares. They also like to combine upstate riding with camping. (I've been needing to hit the NYC eject button w more and more frequency of late), The store is local and they mostly all live over here in Greenpoint as my neighbors.
I'm still going to stay with Kissena for road and for group rides etc. I didn't have a road season this year because I was hurt but have Battenkill ambitions for starters for next year. My friends here are still my friends. Nothing has changed at all in that regard. And I still foresee us sharing cars etc to races/hoisting a pint like we have previously even if we happen to be wearing different colored kit this fall. Good peeps here. Good peeps there.
Sep 17, 2014 at 09:19 PM
Did anyone ever find out if they named the shop after BSNYC's description of the bike lane (2008?) connecting Astoria to the slope as "the great silk hipster route?"
Sep 17, 2014 at 10:17 PM
I heard it was because of all the silk tubulars ruined in the vicinity by hipsters skidding their fixies on vintage rims--Fiamme Red Labels with tied-and-soldered spokes on high-flange Campagnolo hubs.Jeff Owens said:Did anyone ever find out if they named the shop after BSNYC's description of the bike lane (2008?) connecting Astoria to the slope as "the great silk hipster route?"
Sep 17, 2014 at 10:32 PM
Um, I used to build with fiamme red labels and high flange Campy Tipo hubs, swearing by Clement silk del Mundos. That's just what we rode around the Bay back in the day.
They are long gone. Rotted out by the humidity of the eastern seaboard.
They are long gone. Rotted out by the humidity of the eastern seaboard.
Sep 18, 2014 at 07:48 PM
i like to call the Vanderbilt/Flushing/Kent stretch "the Hipster Highway" - I swear I didn't get that from BSNY......
Oct 16, 2014 at 01:45 AM
Dear teammates,
It is with a mix of excitement for the future and nostalgia about the past that I am announcing the departure of a group of Kissena Cycling Club riders who will be leaving the club to ride for the newly formed Sommerville Sports Factory Team Brooklyn.
I won’t attempt to speak in detail on behalf of every rider, but I know I can speak for everyone when I say that we’ve all really enjoyed the ride with Kissena and deeply value the friends that we’ve made. Thanks for everything, and we all hope to remain friends on and off the road.
The list of riders departing is below. Some of these individuals intend to ride enthusiastically for Kissena until their membership in KCC expires at the end of this year. Others will be departing or have already departed to start riding for the Sommerville team.
The riders who will be on the new squad include:
Ride on, KCC - we'll see you in the break!
It is with a mix of excitement for the future and nostalgia about the past that I am announcing the departure of a group of Kissena Cycling Club riders who will be leaving the club to ride for the newly formed Sommerville Sports Factory Team Brooklyn.
I won’t attempt to speak in detail on behalf of every rider, but I know I can speak for everyone when I say that we’ve all really enjoyed the ride with Kissena and deeply value the friends that we’ve made. Thanks for everything, and we all hope to remain friends on and off the road.
The list of riders departing is below. Some of these individuals intend to ride enthusiastically for Kissena until their membership in KCC expires at the end of this year. Others will be departing or have already departed to start riding for the Sommerville team.
The riders who will be on the new squad include:
Jeff ApruzzeseAndy Da SilvaJoaquin De BacaRyan JohnstonRos KnopovKieran LeahyJoseph MuellerMichael PerlbergEric RagotKonrad RatzmannDavid StokesWes TillmanDavid Vollbach
Ride on, KCC - we'll see you in the break!
Oct 16, 2014 at 02:06 AM
I know there have been murmurings going around about this, so thanks guys for nipping it in the bud and getting it out in the open. I wish you luck with your new team and look forward to racing against you next year.
Oct 16, 2014 at 02:59 AM
Sweet Jesus ! A major reshuffling of the deck. That is really exciting. Can't wait to see your new kits. So many questions....can we still meet at Konditori after park races? Or does a change in team beget a change in post race muffin shop? Are you riding carbon frames? (my support for your venture hinges on this answer) Can I get an invite to your vanilla forums so's I can continue to badger and besmirch all of you?
Oct 16, 2014 at 03:03 AM
Yacks, we need your besmirching here.
Best of luck y'all and looking forward to seeing you all on the roads gents.
Oct 16, 2014 at 03:14 AM
This news makes the baptism scene look like a Disney flick...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbYp9oaIT8
