Sweets & Bitters

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Rhode Island Race Weekend (cupcakes)

The annual Rhode Island cylocross weekend takes place this weekend. I won't be there, but my cupcakes will. These are my favourite races, right in my home state, and put on by great guys. I'm sorry to miss it, but I'll be partying with the stars in LA. Buy a cupcake, and think of me.

New Work

I've just finished new posters for two events on the same day. If only I could be in two places at once!

On the left is an advert for the NBX/NArragansett Beer Gran Prix of Cyclocross in Rhode Island. You can reserve one at BikeReg.com, or buy one at the event if they haven't sold out (or contact NBX to make special arrangements if you can't be there).

On the right is a screenprinted gift for guests at my cousin's wedding, and letterpressed invitations and envelopes.

Below is my expert assistant Meg Tuner celebrating with me by the Vandercook letterpress at AS220, where we editioned these invitations.

Busy, busy

I've been doing some of this, and a lot of that (10/22/08 entry).

Hurricanes and Heartatack

By the time Hurricane Hannah precipitated on the East Coast, she was only a tropical storm, and soon she was eclipsed by Ike's devastation and then the imminent threat of Sarah Palin. But I will remember my Hurricane not only because we share a name. The weekend she dumped sheets of rain on Providence, I rode my bike across town through streets like rivers to spend my first night in an empty apartment, my own storm of activity gaining momentum. The moment the tropical storm blew away my brother blew into town to help my haul my belongings from my old house of chaos to the new apartment.

The beginning of August was the eye of my storm. A deceiving week or two of normalcy between the end of my road racing season and the beginning of cyclocross racing. With the new racing season and the new living situation also came some wonderful design and printing jobs–if I always had this much freelance work I could quit my dayjob. When it rains it pours.

Bikeworks/Hallamore/Swansea Velo club present the BLOUNT SEAFOODS FALL RIVER CRIT

My racing club is putting on it's annual criterium around the seafood factory. It will be fun.

So far I am the only person signed up for the Women's 1-2-3 category. I beg you all (that is, you who are of the appropriate gender and racing category) to sign up! If there are less than twenty of us it will be lame, if there are less than 10 it will be cancelled.

I offer my thanks to Bikeworks/Hallamore for their generous support of my road racing season!

Fried Clams

In some bike races, I suffer so much that I wish for a flat tire or mechanical problem–a shameless reason to quit. Today was not one of those days. Coming off a week of rest (that included a little relaxing, and not just buzzing around doing everything I don't have time for when I'm training), I felt strong and relaxed riding around the three-mile circuit at the Yarmouth Clam Festival. Coming into the hill before the last lap, I was excited to try to put myself in a good position to sprint like crazy, and finish in the top ten–undeterred by the funny noises coming from my drivetrain.

That drivetrain was my undoing. Crunch! Crash! road rash and a broken chain. The good, or at least not bad, news is that I took no one with me, and walked away (pedalling doesn't get you far without a chain). Ice cream, a Lime Rickey, and then fried seafood were some consolation.

I enjoyed the race (until my chain took me out of contention), the hokey carnival surroundings, and the excuse to spend a weekend at my uncle's harborside home in Maine; I hope for a better outcome next year.