Winner, Winner....

....you know the rest. Besides I think that is trademarked.

We had a pretty impressive 24 responses to the digital heckling contest. It was hard to pick a winner, but we did. We actually picked a couple. Because we know so many of the people who replied, I submitted all the heckles to a panel of impartial Newbury Comic's Employees to judge. Votes were tallied and here we go.

Honorable mentions go to
Chip for "This is the time before the barriers when we dance... ' and
Seth for "Colnago's are notoriously frisky if not properly broken and trained, this one has bucked its rider after catching sight of a young pinarello off course."
Both Honorable mentions will receive a 22oz High&Mighty Fumata Nera

2nd place goes to
Ian for "..and then the guy on the recumbent was all like... "
For this gem, Ian will receive a 6 pack of refreshing High& Mighty XPA. But will he
ever have time to drink it?

1st place for heckle goes to .......drumroll.........

Parke with "He hit the deck so hard even the Newbury Comics logo lost a tooth."
To the victor goes a 6 pack of XPA and a set of Newbury Comics mudflaps!

But that is not all. One entrant really went the distance and unleashed his photoshop skills. So we feel it necessary to reward the best visual heckle by awarding that prize to Matt Roy for this. So he can expect a 6 pack of XPA to come his way.


Thanks to everyone who took part! Prizes can be picked up at Shed Park or another race. Or get in contact and we can figure out another delivery method.

Caption Contest

Apparently the barriers at Northampton brought many people to grief-including Nick.
This photo needs a caption. Submit your caption in the comment section. Winner gets a six pack of High&Mighty Beer and a set of Newbury Comics Mud Flaps(winter is coming!)

Good Luck. Winner will be picked on Friday. Prizes can be picked up at Shed Park.

photo from Spoke'n Shutter Photography

CSI Northampton Day One

Got to Look Park early on Saturday. Set up the tent. Posted up next to the Hup tent to make a sweet duplex. Took a few laps. Was totally chill. No nerves. No stress. Lined up at the back, ready to go. Whistle and we're off..... about 10 pedal strokes in, I am grabbing two handfuls of brakes and flying through the air. Tangled bikes. Deep breathes. Remount and back at it. Look down and I can see a cut on my leg. Catch back on for the lap one traffic jam at the run up. The run up was pretty chewed up this year, but the left side seemed to be the fast lane.
Course was fast and fun. But you were doomed if you let gaps open. The wind and the watts would conspire to leave you alone. I managed to crash at the little pavilion thing on the top of the course and twist my bars about 45 degrees-which I didn't realize til I was flying over them after remounting. Tip,take a second and examine your bike before jumping back on. 2nd to last lap, I manage to stack it in the sand pit, to complete a trio of crashes. So now, I have a face full of sand and a couple more laps to go. Coming into the barriers I hear everyone screaming about a hand up that has just taken place. I look up and there is Nick riding with something in his hand. I was afraid it was food, but dragged myself up to him to see if there was any liquid. BEER! Success. He gladly handed me the remnants of his beer and we enjoyed a mid race drink. He pointed out we were about to get lapped, and I was bummed and resigned.
My lack of form this season, forced me to reevaluate my goals and "finish a Verge race without getting lapped" had creeped to the top of the list. So I mustered my final few watts and managed to get across the start finish without being lapped. Sort of a Pyrrhic victory as that got me almost another 10 minutes of racing. But hey, set a goal and accomplish it. Then feel good.
When I finished up and rode back to our bum village both Nick and Billy looked at my leg and said way too calmly, "You should probably have the medical people look at that.." So I waked over and interrupted the EMTs lunch to get cleaned up. Looked nasty, but NBD in the end.
So that was day one. I turned myself inside out not to get lapped after crashing within 10 seconds of the start of the race. Finished 128th which was better than that stinking race predictor said I would!
As far as day two, maybe one of the other dudes will chime in. For me it was about the same minus the crashes.

I came into this weekend feeling a little burnt out. Not sure if it was the sun, the taco truck,the NECX, or what, but I felt pretty recharged and stoked coming out of it. As a wise man said, CFR! Thanks to everyone that made this race happen.

A Wicked Good Time

Well I'm still awake after the Nacht Weasel. Here's some quick, maybe coherent, thoughts:

1. Boy am I glad that running is part of my cross "training." That was the least riding I've done in a cross race.

2. Chris Zigmont does a great job.

3. The race could have been called "Bog Weasels."

4. "Mudworld no rules!"

5. Way to go Colin and Chip and everyone else who put this together

Suckerbrook

Been pretty quiet on the race report front. We raced Quad and the Green Mountain Weekend. I can only speak for myself, but it has been a tough start to the season.
Suckerbrook is a NE classic with a pretty timeless course. I decided to double down and race the 3/4 Masters and the 3s.
It was pretty humid when we arrived and the course was still wet and pretty greasy after a couple races. 85 dudes lined up for the 3/4 masters race-that is a lot. Had an OK start, but bleed places over the course of the race. Finished up 40th.
The course featured all the classic chicanes and little rollers and off cambers.


The big surprise was in the woods after the fire road. No more little log you could ride over. They had a double stack of telephone poles. I ran it. Some rode it. Sand pit had a new and improved layout, but was ride-able.

Had an hour between races. Did not stop sweating. It was humid, and nasty. Hot enough for feeds and bottles in the pit, and there was more than one bike with a bottle cage.
Lined up for the 3 races. Small turnout for the killer Bs. Rode 2 laps and called it a day. Racing once in the heat is OK. Twice not so much. The course had dried out and it was fast. Billy and Nick hung tough in the heat to finish 29th and 38th.
Suckerbrook is such a good race, but you know this. I also bought a new camera which Nick took charge of. Here is some of his work.
Me going through the barriers.

So in closing the double down was a fail, but the race itself was a blast. And where was Thom? Down in Philly seeing the Descendents! Pretty good reason to miss a race.

The final 2011 sponsor has been found

The last piece of the sponsor puzzle is now in place. We would like to welcome aboard Grillo's Pickles as a supporter of the team.
How does this impact you? There will be 8 gallons of Grillo's pickles for you to sample this weekend. If you aren't at Quad Cross, we will have pickles at most races this season!

Quad Cross... more motivation to go hard!

The Newbury Comics/High&Mighty Cyclocross team is excited to be a presenting sponsor for this years Quad Cross race. We are sponsoring the barrier section. Just to keep it interesting, there will be a prime for the first person through the barriers on the first lap of each race. The prize? A six pack of High&Mighty's Beer of the Gods.
So keep the pace high after the hole shot! That is a lot of beer up for grabs!

Disclaimer
**Must be over 21, Sorry Juniors. Underage races will get a gift card to Newbury Comics.
**Must not be consumed on the Maynard Rod&Gun Club property. Save it for your after party.


Just to be clear, we will have a six pack/gift card for the 1st person through the barriers on the first lap in the Mens 4, Masters 4, Women's Elite, Women 3/4, cubs, 3's, juniors,B masters, Men's elite, SS men, SS women. So that is 9 six packs on the line-like you need any more motivation to go fast!

a hat lost in time

Where did it come from? When did it come from? And most importantly, would anyone want to see an updated version?

2011 Season is right around the corner....

....and we are pretty stoked to be riding Colnago World Cup frames this year!
Thanks to Andy at New England Athletic for making it happen!

Rhonde de Rosey 2

The Pink Beacons reemerged for the second running of the Rhonde De Rosey. It was a cool feeling to think that just a year ago at this event, we were joking about a Newbury Comics Cyclocross team and a year later we had done it. We were a five man team this year with Thom making his debut and secret weapon, Andy E, rounding out the OG trio.
Rolled out at a pretty good clip. Long stretch of pavement over to Belmont before the first trails. I had ridden the first section on a waffle cross ride so we stayed on course. Crossed Mass Ave, dodged the ultimate frisbee games, and headed back into the woods and marsh. We got a little lost rolling through Great Meadow and again into Whipple Hill, but kept it moving. A long time walking our dog in Whipple Hill, made me a little too cocky on the navigation front, and we ended up bushwhacking through a backyard to get back out to the road...... Mid ride photo stop and we were off to the Ride Studio Cafe which was packed on such a nice day. Got our button, refilled our bottles and rolled out.
I think this year's Rhonde was more like it's namesake the RVV as you jumped around from climb to climb. More climbing and maybe a little more pavement than last year. Definitely a lot drier than last year! From Lexington it was another longish pavement stretch to Prospect Hill Park (cue ominous music).The pain that this climb inflicted was offset by the joy of discovering a new place to ride that was right under my nose! The descent down from the water tower was a little hairier than I was ready for and I jumped off and ran down the leafy stairs section. People were going all over the place at this point. We got lost, and we lost Thom. There were enough teams on the road that we figured we would meet back up before long and we bushwhacked again over an abandoned railroad bridge(not the correct one-how many could there be?) into the back of a junkyard and then back onto the right track. Onto the railroad trail and aquaduct paths we went. Groups were coming back together here. We hit the road again and were working with some other teams. After some hard chasing Thom reappeared-that may have been the ride of the day to track us down.
Wellsley center could not come up soon enough as we were all running low on water (who was laughing at the Camel-staches now?) and all a little hungry. How can you not love a "race" where people are stopping to eat and chill?
After refueling we headed out towards Cutler and the grand finale of dirt sections.
Cutler is fun and I should ride in there more. I got separated from Billy and Andy-ahead and Thom and Nick-behind, so I just rolled around an enjoyed the flow. We regrouped and had only a few miles to get back to the Washington Square Tavern. We put or heads down and pounded it out.
Beers,food, and a raffle were up next. There are four other perspectives on our ride so hopefully one of the crew steps up with their side of the story.
Thanks to Rosey, Chip, the Washington Square Taven, and everyone that worked to set this up. Good times for a good cause. I hope we will see a 3rd edition.
I failed to use my camera effectively. Here is the only action shot

Welcome aboard Swrve!

Pretty stoked to announce that we will be getting some support from Swrve this year. They are a very cool company that produce some quality gear. The business casual pre-ride bar has been raised.
I won a gift certificate for Swrve at the Geekhouse Cyclocross end of season party. I got a couple base layers. Merino wool. Very nice. I was impressed by the quality, but more by the attitude I saw on the hang tab on the clothes.

This was an attitude I could support, and with that in mind I got in contact with Matt and Muriel and they were cool enough to want to support the team and have their name associated with ours. So huge thanks to them for letting us represent their company. Deals on kit are cool, but getting to work with a company you like that makes rad shit is pretty amazing. Also a big thanks to #partymarty cause this probably wouldn't have come together without the Geekhouse festivus.
We will post more thoughts on their clothes as we try them out.
So one last time. Swrve. Check them out!

newest master's racer?

Marky Ramone stopped by work today to promote his new Marinara sauce. 10% of the proceeds go to Autism Speaks.
He also was showing off the Grammy the Ramones got for lifetime achievement.
He said he doesn't ride-especially not in NYC, but would be looking sharp in this jersey on his nordic track.

I felt like this