155: 15 things you need to know about Granogue

Is everybody in, Is everybody in ? the celebration is about to begin…

15 things you need to know about the Granogue Race Weekend:

15. L-web makes the best coffee world...


14. Hera Cancer Foundation Pre-Ride leaves Saturday 11:30 promptly. No late riders will be let on course. $5 donation to the Hera foundation and a magic wrist band (which we provide) gets you in. Anyone poaching the pre-ride will be cursed with bad karma for ever or at least 7 years.


13. Please bring water.


12. The word's on the streets and it's on the news: I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you. He's got two left feet and he bites my moves. I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you.

11. Even though Harlan is going to Michaux, we still love him. Just for Harlan we added new sections of single track, but he's going to miss them. :(


10. Thank you very much for coming out to celebrate our good friend Andrew Mein. Andrew was a founder of the Wooden Wheel MTB team version 2.0, (2x MAC Champs, 2001 MASS champs) and man for who many were brought into this sport. His motto was “be an ambassador for the sport”. Andrew was hit in and killed in Newark in 1998, while riding his fixed gear bike home from work. We have this race in his honor, and to celebrate his life. Thanks for joining in.

9. $1 for every rider entered will be donated to the Hera Women’s Cancer Foundation. If you have not bought a raffle ticket please seen our good friend Sam and buy a raffle Saturday at the pre-ride or Sunday before your race or here.

8.Thanks to the Duponts who are kind enough to allow us to play in their front yard. Please enjoy the course, and we will look forward to seeing you here for our cross race, but otherwise please do not ride the trails on the estate.

7. If you ignore our request to stay off the private estate and poach the trails please don’t blog about it, or put it up on facebook, because someone will email it to us, and then we'll think you are a douche. Yes, we are the man that is keeping you down. We like our little race, we hope to keep it going for years, or until we can sell it for a zillion dollars. Any extra traffic on the estate hurts our race. We hate the idea of this race dieing.

6. Don’t worry we really love you, we really, really do…


5. This race is put on not by one team but by a community of people. The following groups are represented in the groups that have made this race possible: First State Velo Sport, Secret Henry’s Team, Deep Blue, Visit Pa, Fast Forward Racing Productions, Bike Line,C3-Sollay.com, Brandywine cyclery, ELK and Sam, Allied Milk, Deep Blue, Delaware Cyclocross Coalition of Delaware, and the all mighty Frank Zappa Kappa.

4. There was a rumor that Johnathan Vaulters was coming to the race to scout talent and give someone a contract. Truth is, it's just some hipster kid on his fixie drawing anarchy signs on the portolets. We have some nifty plaques as prizes today folks and a sweet raffle, but trust me, no one is waiting at the finish line to tell you to quit your day job and take up racing full time. There is nothing that we are offering that is worth hurting yourself or someone else over. Pass nicely, be kind to each other out there. Celebrate don't hate. On Monday we are all back to being Actress/waitresses; stuntman/repairman; bike racers/customer service professional; Mom/plumber; college students/strippers. We all need to be safe out there...

3. don’t cheat, if you do, you suck. It doesn't matter if you are the prettiest and most talented rider in the world. If you cheat, you are pathetic. If you hit someone, you will be banned from all granogue events for life. If cheaters are pathetic, we can't describe what someone who punches someone at a race is. (we call this the baker rule for punching, not cheating)

2. The course is a classic northern Delaware mtb course. There are logs, off camber trial, bridges, tunnels, roots, rocks, possible yetis, things that might cause you to have a flat tire. Come prepared for a very challenging event. The loop is 7 miles long (really), have a great time out there, enjoy the great single track… apply the golden rule of mountain biking: when in doubt dismount.

1. The race is on Diane’s birthday weekend. She has been working very hard with all of us. If you see her please wish her a happy birthday.


respect
fatmarc, Tom and Lauri