4, December 2007

Greetings -

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I am so f&*^ing busy that the updates are now officially behind
schedule atmo*. The Richard Sachs Cyclocross Team had a week off (of sorts) as a team. Me?
I am house and pet sitting as my wife, a.k.a. the lovely Deb, is in Paris for 2 weeks. Pal Justin is
in New Hampshire getting in extra training for the excursion to Kansas City in 2 weeks (for the
National Championships). The A-Team, Alie and Amy, stayed home and raced locally both days.
Jon stayed in his region and did back to back UCI events in the MAC states. And Pookums flew
west to do the last weekend of the USGP in Portland, Oregon. Sorry to disappoint, but this update
will have few(er) of the wacky hyperlinks that most of you are used to. So, in no particular order,
I'll paste in the salient information (big word. needed to get good line break).

In the Northeast on Saturday, the A-Team raced in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and on Sunday,
in Wrenthem (sounds like an act of violence: let's wrenthem, take the money, and run fast), also
in the Commonwealth State. Amy won and Alie was fourth on day one, and Amy was third and
Alie was sixth on day two. Effing ecstatic about these results, I am. Here are some of the images
I mined online:
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=0AI4001W020002&po=2
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=0AI4001W020049&po=49
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=0AI4001W020119&po=119
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=0AI4001W020124&po=124
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=0AI4001W020125&po=125
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/OrderPage.aspx?pi=0AI4001W020197&po=197

Down in Pennsylvania and the Virginia, Jon was racing to win the MAC conference series
overall. After our little team showed all there who's boss in our last foray intothat district, it
was clear that the RS 'Cross Team could walk away with the series.But if we did that, we'd
have to return in late January to collect the spoils, and the MAC cats really know how to throw
them back. No matter. As it all turned out, Jon was third on Saturday and eighth on Sunday, and
missed winning it all by a narrow one point. (Jon - next time trip Pendry in the gallop). Here is a
report from cyclingnews dot com that describes day one:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2007/dec07/carlisle07/carlisle072

And here is a report about day two:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2007/dec07/capitalcross07/capitalcross072

And the part that kills me is this:
With Frattini unable to attend the Capital 'Cross Classic, the door was wide open for John
Hamblen with the prestigious Verge MAC title for his RGM Watches Richard Sachs team. But
his early race mechanical dropped him far enough out of the chase group that he was never
able to rejoin. Hamblen, who has raced every edition of the Capital 'Cross Classic, finished a
disappointing eighth and just one point shy of Frattini in the final standings.

My editorial comment: Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa atmo.

Next topic - Matt a.k.a. Pookums had a road trip to beat the band. He took the company jet
out of Tweed New Haven and arrived in Portland with enough time spare (i guess). Before I
paste in his account, here is what Matt looked like for 48 hours atmo:
http://www.dmroth.com/xcross_07/usgp/mens_elite/photos/photo_11.html
http://www.dmroth.com/xcross_07/usgp/mens_elite/photos/photo_12.html
http://www.dmroth.com/xcross_07/usgp/mens_elite/photos/photo_14.html
http://www.dmroth.com/xcross_07/usgp/mens_elite/photos/photo_15.html
http://www.dmroth.com/xcross_07/usgp/mens_elite/photos/photo_16.html
http://www.dmroth.com/xcross_07/usgp/mens_elite/photos/photo_17.html

Matt is the one with the ick all over him. No matter. Here is what he wrote about it:
I love racing in Portland. I have raced there the past four seasons, twice for natz. The energy
is something to dig on. Crowds, enthusiasts, clowns and supahfans all totally bugging out on
the big dance. Its a little less serious than New England, a little more zany fun and a joy to line
up to. I cant thank my friend Zac Daab and the PDX HUP crew enoughf or all their support
during the weekend: trainers, tents and cheering oh my!

Saturdays course was like the 05 natz course where I placed well. For the third and fourth
time this year I was number 18, a number loaded with kismet atmo. Certainly a good enough
start position to do something. Good mud was happening so I had the Grifo's dialed down to
about 25 lbs to get traction and the cockpit/saddle were secure. I got a great start and entered
the mud in the top 13. Mentally I showed up but my body did not, or was it visa versa, and I
raced backwards all day to a disappointing 40 something. Ugh, that smarts. Not to be discouraged,
I let it go.

Sunday brought temps in the low thirties and sideways rain. We woke up to this and it was
still happening at 3pm for the start of our race. The course was lengthened and the mud
turned to soup, which meant less sticking to the bikes. Same start position but today the holes
did not open up in the first twenty seconds and I ended up hitting the mud outside of the top 25.
I know on a day like today, with the cold, mud and rain that it becomes an individual sufferfest
time trial soon after lap 1. Unfortunately it took me 3 laps to get my stuff together and start
racing well. That is also a tad too late and I ended the day in a mediocre 32nd.

To place well in a USGP you need a good race start to finish. If I could have combined my
start from day 1 and middle to end of day 2 I would have been in the top 20...but thats a pipe
dream now. Cant say I am pleased but I am not carrying this around with me. After 22 races
this season, and doing this cross game for 6 seasons now, I can let weekends like this roll off
my shoulders. It just happens. There are two weekends left of cx racing and I am ready to
tackle them straight up. When I got back feeling guilty for draining team funds for a no results
weekend, I gave pookie the lowdown and he let me know immediately why this family rules!
Happy Chanukkah,
atmo,
pookums

Public declaration: I love Matt Kraus and I love each and every RS 'Cross team mate I have.
The seasons simply do not last long enough atmo.

For those of you image starved readers, I loaded many pics on to the 2007 Flickr site. Click
here to view them. And for those that hold out for the best of the best, I've noticed that Michael Kirk,
a picshooter from the MAC states, has culled his RS 'Cross Team images and deposited them
into a separate gallery. Now here is a blatant commercial pitch: I know that many sponsors and
suppliers are on the many cc and bcc fields that receive these updates. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease,
please look through his catalog and consider a pic or five for your next web page, brochure, or
billboard on the New Jersey Turnpike. Here is the entire link to view Michael's work:
http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/keyword/richard%20sachs#P-1-15
Here is a great pic of Alie that made it into Michael's separate online gallery:
http://www.mlkimages.smugmug.com/gallery/1991458#220277351-L-LB

Next weekend we stay north and do the last 2 races on home turf before we point the Hummer
west for Kansas. We're in Rhode Island both days. On Saturday we race the W.E. Stedman
GP of Cross, and Sunday it's the NBX Grand Prix of Cross.

Thanks for reading.
e-RICHIE©™®
*according to my opinion
______________________________
Thank you for your interest and support.
The Richard Sachs Cyclocross Team is sponsored by RGM Watches,
Rex Chiu, Radix Group LLC, Ozell, Stankus Architects Associates, as
well as by Cane Creek, Crank Brothers, Rudy Project, Oval Concepts,
Challenge, VergeSport, Selle San Marco, JB Custom Paint, Nelly's Deli,
and The Wheatmarket
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