19, November 2008

Greetings -

Words, and maybe one picture atmo. That's how it's rolling this evening. This is a very rare, midweek
RS 'Cross Team entry and it's mostly cut, paste, and mining. To begin with, last week, on the Classic
Rendezvous list, a.k.a. no lug left behind, I saw this post from a pal:

Announcing a Fatmen event. Sunday, November 16, 2008, Mercer County Park, Princeton, NJ

The Fatmen Drinking Club LLC is pleased to announce that we will be at the Cyclocross Gran
Prix cheering on RGM Watches/Richard Sachs and other local racers. The Fatmen, are a well
known drinking club that are into vintage bicycles and off-topic bicycles. Throughout the year
when our spouses are looking to get rid of us for a day, we sponsor an event which consists of
beer, whine, wine, stinky cheese, not so stinky cigars (at least to us), bar-b-que food, cow bells,
and the Fatmen flag. This is one of those events.

I'm happy to write that Mikey, Eric, Ray, Dave, Stevie, Mordecai, Mario, Gabriel, and several other
no so really fat men did, in fact, come to cheer us on. Some of these cats are clients, and all are pals.
And, as our luck has it, this social group will be putting some of their collective financial resources
behind our 'cross team in 2009. Make (more) room on the jerseys, jackets, and bibshorts atmo, the
Fatmen logo is about to be added! I asked them for a few words about what the connection was
all about, and these are two replies I received:

My attraction to Cyclocross is purely an extension of my desire to experience all of cycling. As
a collector / rider I had started many years ago with old balloon bikes, then went onto Muscle
bikes, from there I went into antiques. I went over to MTBs until trails by me began to close. My
LBS (The Bike Stand - owner - fantastic mechanic Steve Willis) got me into road bikes. This also
happen to be Fatman Central Headquarters.
I have collected and have ridden all types of bikes. I still hang onto to some and frequently ride
my 1878, 56 inch Rudge high wheel. I really liked MTBing and now like road. Cyclocross seems
to be an extension of both. I am to old and not fit enough to compete but can still enjoy the
challenge of the dirt, mud and obstacles and hope to experience this side of cycling someday.
It is also great to know a Pro level team and its leader. Not often you get to meet and chat with
someone at the top of the game.
Ray Homiski

and this one too:

"...Attending the Grand Prix of Cyclocross was a stroke of luck and now I'm totally hooked. Earlier this
summer I commissioned e-RICHIE to build a frameset. He sent his Richard Sachs 'Cross Reference to
accompany my receipt. I then received a subsequent email from him to visit the team at Mercer County
Park and SHAZAM 'cross is now my favorite form of racing. While I love all flavors, from criterium, to TT,
to road racing, NONE match the athleticism and laser-focus required to excel as in cyclocross. Autumn
weekends now have a whole new meaning..."
Eric Moberg

Thanks, Ray and Eric. And if you're interested in seeing how fat these cats really are(n't) here's
a link to the day's event as seen through Ray's Instamatic. Looks like they had s great day atmo.

In other news regarding sponsors, we recently received a nice, unsolicted check for the 2008
season, courtesy of a RS bicycle client requesting anonymity. Upon receiving it, I let the riders
know about the client and his generosity, and asked if one would kindly write a thank you note.
What follows is that note, and I am pasting it here because it so touched me that I wanted to share
it with the world. It really expresses the gratitude and humility that typify the fine folks I get to support,
hang with, and race with all season long. Read:

R__, as a member of the Richard Sachs team, I would like thank you for your generosity.
Before the warm fuzzy parts, I would like to make sure you know what type of madness you
are supporting. We are a close knit group of friends who race hard while having fun. While we
are all 1400% committed, we do not place results at the top of the list for life is too short for
that type of shallowness. While we have a well oiled marketing machine (e-Richie) that promotes
our weekly exploits, we are all constantly emailing each other making more fodder. While we
are not a squad of 6 national champions, though we may win some national championship
jerseys atmo, but for some reason industry people give us fantastic equipment to race with. I
say all this because I want you to know what we are and stand for. We are you, you help
make us a team. We race for ourselves, for Richard, our sponsors and for you R__. I dont say
this with fanfare or falsities, I say this with conviction. Thank you so much for helping us
continue to participate in the intense madness carnival traveling circus that is our beloved
cross season. We truly could not do it the way we do it without your help. It means a lot to
me, and my teamates, that someone like you would give us money to support us. I still don't
quite know how it happens, why it happens or what donors expect. But that is less important
than recognizing and appreciating that is DOES happen. Enjoy the rest of our season, for it
now partly belongs to you.

Thank you.
Matt 'pookums' Kraus and the rest of the RS CX team/club/family/movement.

What great emotion atmo. This team has real heart as well as a wonderful support system.

As far as pictures go, I am so glad to write that pal Irfan was in the house this past weekend and
sent me links to almost 200 killer shots of the RS 'Cross Team. He pasted most of them online
and they can be downloaded from this site. I also mined some of these pics and added them
to one of the team Flickr pages, so have a look! And speaking of race pics, Anthony Skorochod
from Pennsylvania bracketed a wonderful group of RS 'Cross Team images and left them at a
dedicated gallery on his Cycling Captured website. Have a look here. And finally,as far as pics
go, it's impossible to love one more than any other, but somehow, when the link to this gem of Dave
McElwaine's came across, I just had to mine it:

That's Amy "I Voted For" Wallace at speed atmo. Forza Issimo!!

This coming weekend we'll all be on the ferry heading to Southampton, New York for the two days of
UCI C1 racing known as the Whitmore's Landscaping SuperCross Cup. Our team is a co-sponsor
of this event so I hope you'll follow the hyperlink and come cheer for us.

Lastly, as the off season approaches and my thoughts turn just a bit less racing and more commercial,
I'll once again be at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. This year it's in Indianapolis,
Indiana. Here's a nice story that JUST went live as I was here blogging, so I think it's worth a link:
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/nahbs-honours-original-six-framebuilders-19246

Thanks for reading, huh!

e-RICHIE