And his house looks so normal. 

Love Song

The Love Song of K. Alfred Doggie

LET us go then, dog and I,
When the evening is sprinting against the sky
Like a patient hugging the curb about to go down;
Let us go, through certain potholed streets,
The mutts calling to us
Of restless nights of rubbing elbows in the pack
And dustbowl trails with baby-heads:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of dog-sidious intent
To lead k-dog to an overwhelming question …
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go to the barber shop.

The yellow dog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow dog that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

--Liz and Art with lots of help from T.S. Eliot

Flame Sightings

Carol has been hitting some of the competitive MABRA races. The best pic I could find was her safely tucked in the pack at Carl Dolan race on April 17. (26th frame down--Conte's/ Tripower flame jersey)

Kelle and Justin have also been racing in MD/ DC lots lately since they both have moved up there. (22nd frame down)

Pulp

This really is cycling related, just doesn't look like it.

Portrait of the Biker as a Young Dog OR
The Love Song of K. Alfred Doggie

The chronicles k-doglicious! It'll be a series. Hairy mongrels fighting to get in shape, while dealing with unfortunate mishaps at every coffee shop he visits. The name of the coffee shop is Stardogs, pre-req. for employment is you must have 80% body hair, and look like wolverine. Beautiful women everywhere, but only 1 really nasty one that is in love with him, and constantly gets in the way of his love affairs. more of the script to come. This hair studded creature is ripped like a wound from a head on collision. Tall, Dark & Hairy.


by: Crazy (Hosang), Writer, Director, Producer

Virginia's Spring Classic

The Jefferson Cup is Tidewater’s anti-race. Local cyclists flock to this hilly race every year wondering on the one hand “who can possibly be in shape in March” and knowing on the other “plenty of people.” I assume race founder and director Ruth named the event after our third president, but the common images associated with Jefferson are “coldy, rainy, hilly, chilly, crashy, and just downright silly” as Kevin would say. It’s Virginia’s spring classic, a time to see what the competition has got. Tidewater's flatlanders like to claim there is little opportunity to train on hills, whereas the western crowd is quick to point out ice and snow that have kept them off the roads half the winter. Up the first hill it becomes clear who has done the miles, hit the gym and kept off the pounds. Everyone falls in behind the tanned racers in each peleton who obviously have been to Arizona recently.

Some happenings in the peleton:

Written by Kelle Ryan and Justin Samuel:

Did you see the Matrix? If so you will know what I’m talking about here. Just as we agreed on our new plan things went into Matrix time. Two bikes went down directly in front of us and caused the two beside and slightly behind them to go down as well. In ultra slow motion I saw and heard flesh slapping pavement at the same time there was metal bending and bike parts becoming airborne. Justin, I assume, went hard right. I considered a bunny hop for a nana second and then saw a possible hole developing to the left. At the same time I noticed a bike coming at me inverted and backwards.

This is the Matrix part. The wheel/bike was coming straight for my head in slow motion and as I ducked and made it through the developing hole time returned to normal. I looked back and saw that Justin had survived unscratched as well. After taking inventory and deciding that we where good to go we started our effort to get back in the break which was now gaining speed with every pedal stroke. In hind sight we probably should have just sprinted the gap and set in until we recovered. But we made the mistake of working with some people that we thought where victims of the pile up as it turns out these guys where being shelled off the back of the break because the speeds where climbing so high. Upon realizing this it was too late. We took the front and soon it was just Justin and me in no mans land. We never caught them and came across the finish; tails tucked, cold, alone, and ashamed. --Kelle Ryan and Justin Samuel

Written by Jeff Lawson:

The weather was quite chilly with drizzle most of the time. That made for some fun conditions with water flying up in your eyes for 2+ hours. As we came up the long uphill finishing straight I was barely able to pedal but made it to the front in an effort to lose as few spots as possible when the sprint started and I was left pushing my legs with my hands to the finish. With about 500 m to go the pack of 40 or so guys began to swarm by me and I saw Dan take off down the left side with Harlan in tow and Tim just behind him. Dan finally got swamped with about 30 yds to go. Harlan ended up 8th in the 40+ and 15th overall because it turns out there were 6 guys off the front despite everyone thinking we had reeled in the break. Tim and Dan were just behind Harlan and I limped in at the end of the field for about 30 or 40 some thingth place. --Jeff Lawson

Written by Ruth Stornetta:

Rain and drizzle didn't dampen the spirits of the 400+ racers who competed in this East Coast Spring Classic. Textbook teamwork by Team Snow Valley presented by Seal-On resulted in a solo win for neo pro Christoph Herby with teammate Kyle Walmsey taking 2nd. Perennial race winner Jennette Williams (HPC/List/Cardinal) made it a 3-peat in the Women's race although Andrea Dvorak (UVA Cycling) put up a stiff fight to finish.
--Ruth Stornetta

Notable Tidewater finishes:

Steve Simet (TBA) 1st
Men 50+

Bj Samuel (TriPower) 7th
Women’s Cat 4 sold out field

Harlan Ward (Atlantic Velo) 8th
Men 40+

Dan Denson (TriPower) 10th
Men 40+

Carol Ennser (TriPower) 12th
Women Cat 1-3