Poughkeepsie Journal
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Bike racers enjoy riding in costume
By NANCY HAGGERTY
Magnus, or rather "Super Magnus," the Vizsla in a Superman outfit modified with a red "M," very much lived up to his billing.
His owner, Rob Kelley, in black and white stripes, was supposed to be a chain gang member. But with a cape and the fastest speed of the night, Kelley could have been called Super Rob.
Kelley nipped his companion to win the sixth-annual Darkness at 909 mountain bike race, held last Saturday at the Taconic-Hereford State Park multiple use area in Pleasant Valley.
Kelley, 31, of Patterson, the owner of Pawling Cycle, also finished second and his buddy, Magnus, third, in the costume portion of this fun competition.
They were only bested by Peter Nimmer and Matt Mento, who pedaled their 12-foot tandem bike dressed in yellow slickers as the Gorton's fishermen.
Those two also gained plaudits for the "chum" they doled out to everyone well, everyone 21 and over. Chum, of course, is the nasty blood and rotting fishgut mixture fishermen use to attract sharks and other large fish.
In this instance, though, while a realistic bloody red, the chum was gin and tonic.
"It was pretty funky," said Kelley, whose brother, Brian, 36, of Pawling downed some of the "shockingly strong" concoction before racing.
Nimmer, an Ulster park resident and geologist who owns Green Star Environmental Solutions in Wappingers, noted he and Mento, a Manhattan resident who works in advertising, have a "long and ridiculous track record" of doing tandem rides in costume.
"It's good, silly fun," said Nimmer, who added, "Around Halloween, things get good."
Locally, Tim Schopen makes sure of that. He's the founder and heart and soul of this race. He not only handcrafts the prizes but takes course maintenance to the nth degree.
Friday, he blew leaves from the eight miles of short climbs, fire roads and single track.
With rain making a mess of things early Saturday, friend Mark Sullivan of Poughquag, who'd planned to race, instead placed a bike light on a leaf blower and started reblowing at 4 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., with the light dead, he required rescue.
But before enjoying a well-deserved chum "recovery drink," he completed the blowing not long before the first rider finished.
"There's nothing worse than having some racers complain they went off course," he said, explaining blowing delineated the course.
With no injuries and no wayward riders, it was mission accomplished.
It was also mission accomplished for Pawling Cycle, whose four racers all won their divisions.
Rob Kelley, who, like his brother has done the 909 multiple times, was the only semi-pro competitor, which made it a "little hard to boast" about winning that division.
But Kelley was happy about recording the fastest time of the day, 51 minutes, 40 seconds a time that was perhaps cape-assisted, he joked.
Dog didn't count
With Magnus' time (perhaps because he didn't actually ride or pedal) unofficial, Brian Kelley ended up second.
"It doesn't get better than that," Brian said of riding through the woods. And at night it's a "blast." Throw in 909's "friendly atmosphere" and Brian, who took the top spot in men's 30-39 expert, wasn't lamenting finishing behind Rob.
Third place, in a time of 54:12, went to Rensselaer's Doug Southwick, 39, an IT manager, who raced a single-speed (and, thus, harder to pedal) bike for the first time.
Proving this was no fluke, the next day he finished fourth in the open male division during a two-hour race in Schenectady.
"To me, it's more pure, more enjoyable. There's less things to think about... and also it's cool because there's less things to break," he said of single-speed riding.
To break, yes, but bruise perhaps not. His bike has no suspension, which means, "You're feeling it. If it's all rooty, you're getting jarred like crazy... There's less in between the trail and the person."
But even that's a plus, according to Southwick, who pointed to being forced to run up a couple of steep hills as the only negative of one-gear riding 909.
He plans to return to the 909, as will many of the 30 racers who competed last Saturday.
Who'll have the fastest time is anyone's guess. But Nimmer and Mento may be hard to beat costume-wise.
Among their many ideas for future races are Space Man and Space Chimp, and Young and Fat Elvis.
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Bike racers enjoy riding in costume
By NANCY HAGGERTY
Magnus, or rather "Super Magnus," the Vizsla in a Superman outfit modified with a red "M," very much lived up to his billing.
His owner, Rob Kelley, in black and white stripes, was supposed to be a chain gang member. But with a cape and the fastest speed of the night, Kelley could have been called Super Rob.
Kelley nipped his companion to win the sixth-annual Darkness at 909 mountain bike race, held last Saturday at the Taconic-Hereford State Park multiple use area in Pleasant Valley.
Kelley, 31, of Patterson, the owner of Pawling Cycle, also finished second and his buddy, Magnus, third, in the costume portion of this fun competition.
They were only bested by Peter Nimmer and Matt Mento, who pedaled their 12-foot tandem bike dressed in yellow slickers as the Gorton's fishermen.
Those two also gained plaudits for the "chum" they doled out to everyone well, everyone 21 and over. Chum, of course, is the nasty blood and rotting fishgut mixture fishermen use to attract sharks and other large fish.
In this instance, though, while a realistic bloody red, the chum was gin and tonic.
"It was pretty funky," said Kelley, whose brother, Brian, 36, of Pawling downed some of the "shockingly strong" concoction before racing.
Nimmer, an Ulster park resident and geologist who owns Green Star Environmental Solutions in Wappingers, noted he and Mento, a Manhattan resident who works in advertising, have a "long and ridiculous track record" of doing tandem rides in costume.
"It's good, silly fun," said Nimmer, who added, "Around Halloween, things get good."
Locally, Tim Schopen makes sure of that. He's the founder and heart and soul of this race. He not only handcrafts the prizes but takes course maintenance to the nth degree.
Friday, he blew leaves from the eight miles of short climbs, fire roads and single track.
With rain making a mess of things early Saturday, friend Mark Sullivan of Poughquag, who'd planned to race, instead placed a bike light on a leaf blower and started reblowing at 4 p.m. At 7:30 p.m., with the light dead, he required rescue.
But before enjoying a well-deserved chum "recovery drink," he completed the blowing not long before the first rider finished.
"There's nothing worse than having some racers complain they went off course," he said, explaining blowing delineated the course.
With no injuries and no wayward riders, it was mission accomplished.
It was also mission accomplished for Pawling Cycle, whose four racers all won their divisions.
Rob Kelley, who, like his brother has done the 909 multiple times, was the only semi-pro competitor, which made it a "little hard to boast" about winning that division.
But Kelley was happy about recording the fastest time of the day, 51 minutes, 40 seconds a time that was perhaps cape-assisted, he joked.
Dog didn't count
With Magnus' time (perhaps because he didn't actually ride or pedal) unofficial, Brian Kelley ended up second.
"It doesn't get better than that," Brian said of riding through the woods. And at night it's a "blast." Throw in 909's "friendly atmosphere" and Brian, who took the top spot in men's 30-39 expert, wasn't lamenting finishing behind Rob.
Third place, in a time of 54:12, went to Rensselaer's Doug Southwick, 39, an IT manager, who raced a single-speed (and, thus, harder to pedal) bike for the first time.
Proving this was no fluke, the next day he finished fourth in the open male division during a two-hour race in Schenectady.
"To me, it's more pure, more enjoyable. There's less things to think about... and also it's cool because there's less things to break," he said of single-speed riding.
To break, yes, but bruise perhaps not. His bike has no suspension, which means, "You're feeling it. If it's all rooty, you're getting jarred like crazy... There's less in between the trail and the person."
But even that's a plus, according to Southwick, who pointed to being forced to run up a couple of steep hills as the only negative of one-gear riding 909.
He plans to return to the 909, as will many of the 30 racers who competed last Saturday.
Who'll have the fastest time is anyone's guess. But Nimmer and Mento may be hard to beat costume-wise.
Among their many ideas for future races are Space Man and Space Chimp, and Young and Fat Elvis.
