The Bulldog Romp! Kittatiny!

ah kittatiny! it sounds so much cooler when you say it like groundskeeper willie!

so the boys from Darkhorse, and lady, saddled up this weekend to head on down to kittatiny state park for team bulldog/campmor's bulldog romp. this race was not only on the AMBC calender but also served as the NJ state championships. so if you were able to prove you were from dirty jersey and possessed a norba licence you could get yourself crowned king or queen of the garden state! thus big crowds were to be expected, and big crowds there were. while checking out the pre-reg list the sport singlespeed class looked like a darkhorse training session! a veritable whos who of the 1 gear crowd with el hefe himself, big george, ditching the gears and joining the pain train!
i hitched a ride down with our westchester representative, voodoo tony. we arrived a bit early so we saddled up for a pre-ride/warm up. the trails were in excellent shape. swoopy and fast! with just a few roots and log overs to keep you awake. one of these log overs had its way with tonys rear wheel and he burped a bit of stans and some 02 back to the atmosphere! pre-ride abridged and back to the car. after a quick tube insert back out we went to scope out some more of the singletrack. we ran into rasta paul, a fellow singlespeeder and eventual member of the darkhorse ss syndicate, and spun around the singletrack. with the exception of some sweaty rocks the course looked primo.
the rest of the crew trickled in and we all held court under a tree awaiting the start. eventually we lined up and resigned ourselves to the fact that we would indeed have to do a bit of racing. they sent us one gear folk off the front and we all fell into pace. i grabbed rossi's 650b wheel and let him run crowd control. the first few miles went by in an anaerobic blur. bobby and sal were off the front with the big boys, tom was my pace man and tony came up shorty to take over. george was letting his internal diesel come up to speed a little ways back.
the next lap and a half or so went by smooth. i was enjoying the singletrack and getting into a good rhythm. i would see a flash of a darkhorse jersey from time to time and was working my way up. riders passed me and i passed a few. all in all it was a good singlespeed course. there was one rooty climb the needed to be dismounted for but other than that, if the line was clean it was all rideable. coming into the last few miles i came up on none other than the distinquished mr rossi and quietly sat behind his wheel. i eventually announced my presence and he let me know that tony wasnt far up the road. we paced together and spun out the last few miles. when we entered the field i thought i saw tony and we agreed to make chase. of course it wasnt tony and so tom backed off and i spun ahead. now here things will get a bit snarky. you see there was this little climb to the finish and it had some rocks and roots and you had to pick your line. i hit it in front of tom and he claims he called the left. i drifted left and may have blocked him out. we will have to consult the video for a play back. i can only console tom with the immortal words of Harry Hogge, Cole Trickle's crew chief in Days of Thunder.
Cole: he bumped me!

Harry: he didnt bump you. he rubbed you, and son rubbin is racin!

so i concede that i "may" have impeded tom's line slightly. i may even have rubbed him. but "rubbin's racin!

all in all the darkhorse crew had a strong showing. i didnt stick around for official results but i believe bobby was 5th, sal was not far behind 6th/7th, followed by tony, myself, then tom, and george sliding in not long there after.

if anybody has official results for the other guys send them our way and we will get them up. as well as anybody with ride reports from those classes that they allow to run gears! send them this way!

the series takes a break for july and august. there's plenty of action in the area and we will be busy in the lead up to the 40! start getting those endurance miles in!

Webb dominates the 12hrs of round top solo!

Well it started out at 60 degrees with 100 foot visibility do to the over night rain, which made for some real interesting greasy singletrack. Notice I said singletrack because the course was 90% singletrack and 10 percent duo track, which made for real slow going, especially with the 800 plus feet of climbing and descending per lap. Tymor would be the closest course I can say it reminded me of, with strong climbs and awesome single track. Well, correction, being out on a course for 11:13 minutes, nothing is awesome.

I raced in the 30-9 SOLO geared division which was kind of cool, being that all 11 of us were sport riders, so we did not have to race the super powers of the experts, like in the other solo age divisions including SS. There were lots of riders from our area and h2h series, that made the 160 mile trip up to Pennsiltucky (Pennsylvania), which made me feel at home. That's till the gun went off and these guys took off like it was a 15 mile sprint, I was like wow these guys must be team riders. No, I was wrong they were solo guys and 47 minutes later when I crossed for the start of lap 2 in dead last place in my division and 20th overall, I realized it was going to be a long lonely day of suffering. All the early bird sprinters started to die out around lap three and started pitting, right about when the 85 degree temps with blazing sun appeared. So I just kept it consistent, navigated the course, bombed the downhills and creeped up the climbs, and stayed out till lap 5 before I made a pit. Just before my pit I heard the announcer say that I had the lead in the division and made my way up to 9th overall. That really excited me, and when I pitted I prepped the bike which was nasty with petrified early morning mud, refueled and ditched the stupid camel back. Twelve minutes later I was back on the bike. At this point the east side of the mountain was dry and fast, funny how it still had those nasty climbs though, which at the end of the day, I death marched! By the end of lap 6 I had built up a 36 minute lead on the group behind me, consisting of three riders chasing . I was averaging about 51 min laps, and know the mental games started, why I was here, this bike sucks, life sucks, I should be home with the kids, I should pull money out of the spiraling market, my ass is sore , my balls ache, will I ever be able to get a stiffy again??? all that stupid mind crap. Then I remembered I was in the lead, wow this is pretty cool, that was till the rains came at like 230, then back to the mental crap again. Its like a private Mental soap opera out there, up, down, up ,down etc. Just as the sun came out again and the temp went back up to about 75 I pitted on lap 8, ditto of the first in and out in 17 minutes. The course was getting fast again till the monsoon came with wind, 60 degree temps and lots of scary lightning. The trail know became very tough with slippery roots, rocks and peanut butter mud which quickly became little streams. There was one climb that you went straight up a power line for about a 1/4 of a mile and a gain of about 160 foot vertical, and it was in the wide open and besides the waterfall coming down the lightning scared me like a little boy. I climbed that pretty quick to get out of the open and back into the thick canopy that the rest of the course was under. There were riders and spectators slip, sliding ,falling and study Geography all over the place. I pitted for my last time on lap 10, put my 60 lb. Titus in the stand, blasted it with the hose back down to 25 lbs, rested up all for a total 20 minutes and went out into the absolute torrential down pour for 2 more laps. I caught second place and just rode his wheel thinking that he was a whole lap down, to my surprise he was almost 2 down. So as George says I do so well, I just half wheeled him. At hour 10:20 I started out on the final farewell lap. The monsoon stopped and the course was like a war zone, but juiced and confident with victory, I managed not to fall , and actually rode a good lap. I came through at 11:13hr mark and I could of gone out for another, but the promoter said there was no reason, that second place was on lap 10 and he only had 17 more minutes till cut off. So trusting their judgement on the bad conditions, and not wanting to abuse the bike or cause any bodily harm I called it a day. Second place came through with 11 laps in 12 hours 6 minutes I believe, so he was about 2 hours back.

I ended up, I was told 4th overall with the winner doing 15 laps in 12hrs ,second doing 12 in 10:45 hrs, third 12 in 11:06, and myself with 12 in 11:13. The post race meal was awesome, sausage and peppers, chicken penne, ziti, pirogue cheese pie, hot dogs, hamburgers, beer, soda, vitamin drink, and a awesome band. I think I ate two helpings of everything. That day I used (3) 24oz 1300 calorie perpetum cocktails and 128oz of heed, 3 pb&j's, a good breakfast, and huge post race meal and I went from 194lbs-186lbs....crazy! I got a bottle of wine, really sweet floor pump, and a 35 pound polished engraved granite trophy, for my suffering..... very cool. Oh yea and our sponsor at the shop says if we win we get our entry fee back......is that so Bobby?????

Its funny, that in the gallop the week before under perfect conditions on a hard tail single speed I had all sorts of problems. If I did not have Steve Prushki and all his tools I would have never had completed the 15 mile race. But this race in horrible conditions with gears and all the suspension pivots, I had a great race, and besides alittle chain suck, no mechanicals/ flats for 12 hours......again crazy. In all it was a great race, nice course, great food and cool awards. So will I go back .........????

see you on the trail
CWEBB

get your gallop on!

well the gallop is in the books!
we had a great turnout over the weekend and team darkhorse was well represented!
preparations for these races begin months in advance and actual course prep begins in the spring. george got down to the nitty gritty at the beginning of last week by getting out to mark the course. using many many arrows and leaving a considerable amount of blood, sweat and tears out in the woods the course was looking real good.
saturday afternoon we set about assembling registration and scoring, placing banners and the specialized arch, and assembling the "chute". while thunder and lightning threatened and apparently pounded some of the surrounding areas we stayed dry! barely a drop fell in stewart. a quick pre-ride tape check proved that the course was in stellar form. fast, flowing and extremely fun! with all the hardware set for the am we headed off to darkhorse headquarters to feed ourselves and tie up a few loose ends.
race day started early. it was around 4am when i heard george wandering around. it was 5 when he poked his head in to tell me coffee was ready and it was time to get our game on. we stepped outside to a perfect morning. cool, little overcast, but dry.
by 7:30 registration was getting cranked up for the beginners and the usual cast of characters were starting to arrive.
the beginners set off on time at 9:00am and they had quite a field. there were many hard fought battles for the hill climb preem and the spectators got into it cheering on the riders!
the sport class was huge! a great turnout and a very large womens field! its always good to see the ladies coming out to these events. this wasn't always the case and its nice to see that aspect of the sport growing! the sports went off without a hitch and a pile darkhorse racers were in the mix. the singlespeed syndicate was in full effect with all the usual suspect as well as a few guest appearances from some darkhorse racers who decided to shed their gears for the gallop! overall the team did very well in sport and a huge high five goes out to them!
the experts and pros waited very patiently during a slight delay while the emts tended to an injured sport racer. once the green light was given the pros took off like they were shot from a canon. the expert singlespeeders went next and our own mike rave grabbed up the hill climb preem only to be delayed by an untimely puncture on the trail that he helped build!! our darkhorse experts put in a good fight. battling for 3 laps in the increased heat and humidity for solid finishes all.
in the end a good day was had by all! now its time to begin focusing on the 40! couple pictures below of the guys stolen from the web! if you guys have pics or race reports send them this way and we'll get them posted!!!
Rossi climbs with his game face on!

Webb brings it home. he seems to be in a spot of bother!

Gallop preview/course sneak peek!

alright boys and girls here it is, the 08 gallop course! yeah we are putting it out there and letting everybody have a good look at it. george has been scratching his head since there was snow on the ground to come up with a fresh course. the ravenator has been grooming some new trail for this years addition and it is fixin to be sweet with a capitol S baby! yeah you still get to climb the hill but they have fixed the road so it is nice and smooth! new singletrack includes "dumpster", "major mike", "pinwheel" and "skipnbill"
so check out the map and as soon as you are done stomping Marty's get your tails up to stewart and check it out!
********special offer********
in an effort to offset our carbon footprint we are putting out a special offer!
carpool to the gallop with 3 or more racers and you will receive a special prize!
hint....this special prize may come in handy in quenching your thirst after the race......

so there you have it! new course, less carbon, more fun! remember kids beer is cheaper than gas so drink up and dont drive! support your favorite micro brew not big oil!

Tymore Rce report from "El Capitan" george

Team Dark Horse....first let's welcome ElCid Cabangon to the team...newest member to rail the dirt at the races...sport rider 40-49...welcome ElCid.

Nice representation at Tymor with Tom Rossi, and Tony Bright ripping it up single speed. Also in attendance were Ed Burgess, Mike Rave, Walter, me, Manny, Kevin DeClerck who in his second race ever moved up to sport, and Bobby Swart who won his class...sport 40-44...congratulations Bobby.

Alta did the Longest Day Adventure race Saturday, and we need to hear how her team did...meeting time was 4 am, and I'm sure it was cold, and wet, and perhaps some second guessing going on.

Next race in the H2H series is Marty's down in Morristown...not a bad idea to get a head count, and try to carpool. Walt, Bobby, and myself drove together to Tymor, and I am driving us next time to Marty's...easy way to save on gas.

Wednesday night rides continue, and if you are in the market for a real spectacle, I have challenged Brian Petzold to a pizza eating contest after the ride over at Johnny's. Even if I win, I lose as the extra calories might temporarily deform my boyish figure!!!

We'll post official results as they become available...George

Wawayanda Spring cleaning or the black bear duathlon!

Consider your spring cleaning done!

So the h2h race series kicked off this weekend out at wawayanda with the black bear race. There had been a few other silly races over there in Connecticut, but they don’t count! We were kicking it Jersey style this past Sunday and launching right into the Campmor h2h series.

Team Darkhorse Cycles Racing was out in force and well represented in the beginner and sport ranks. In true springtime Jersey fashion it rained most of the week prior and threatened to rain on race day. The ominous forecast may have kept some of the racers home in their warm beds but by the looks of registration and the parking lot most brave souls ventured out to do battle with the course. The course was interesting to say the least! The weather having been fairly dry in weeks prior and then seeing a consistent and soaking rainfall last week took all the little nasty bits on the course and made them just that much more exciting. There’s a little climbing, there’s a little fireroad and there’s lots of singletrack which has lots of rocks! The rocks were extra special! The beginners may have seen the worst of it as it was foggy and damp when they started in the am. This didn’t seem to slow down the Darkhorse boys as a podium placing was grabbed in the beginner 50 plus! By the time the sport riders took the line it was starting to clear up, however the rocks and roots now had a nice greasy peanut buttery mud coating! Yummy!

Sports took the line and they let the singlespeeders go off first. Apparently best not to get in the way of guys too, um, something, to run bikes with only one gear! Darkhorse jerseys were a plenty in the singlespeed class. The gun went off and so did we, up the road and into the woods at the standard beginning of the season pace. Too fast too soon, I knew this was coming and as we got into the doubletrack a few of the boys went a little hot onto a bridge only to find themselves rubber side up. After that things began to settle down, a line of riders formed and a pace was sent. Some moved forward and others moved back thru the line. Some miles later the geared boys began to catch up and mingle with us. It was here that things started to get a little sketchy. I dropped my chain on one of the many rock gardens and had to stop to fix it. “You good” yelled Tom as he rode past, “yeah all good I’ll catch back up.” Chain back on, a few geared guys go by and I’m back on the bike and moving. Make my way thru the crowd and catch Tom. Go around and tell him to catch on. We get caught in traffic and ride/run/walk some of the sketchy sections. Lap one goes by pretty quick and the course is wet, slick, and technical but still pretty fast. I’m pleased with were I am and go into the second lap feeling good.

Maybe a little too good, just before the slippery bridge I hear the dreaded whoosh. Front goes all squirrelly and I’m off and changing the flat. Make fairly quick work of it but it still takes time. Tom comes by again. “You good, oh man you and your flats!” “Yeah, Yeah, I know I’ll catch back up.” Flat fixed and about 3 minutes lost. Back on the bike and making my way back up thru the group. Catch a couple singlespeeders and a bunch of geared guys. Come up on Matt pre-riding for his expert race and he lets me know that a couple of singlespeeders are just up the trail. Carrot in front of nose and pedals turning, I can see them now and will be on them shortly.

Whoosh! A few expletives later and I’m off the bike with the front flat again. Stupid rocks! It’s not the rocks fault, user error. Argh! “Race over” is the first thing the brain says but I stop to collect my thoughts. I have half a co2 and only need a tube. Nobody around, I’m in no mans land. I start to run with the bike. I figure I can catch up to somebody or somebody will come up on me and I can bum a tube. About a mile or so later Roger rolls up on his pre-ride. We chat and of course he has no tube. I keep running and he rides off. Then there is a savior! Mark rolls up and offers a tube. I gladly accept and he rolls off! Sweet, wheel out and new tube in, George rolls up at this point. “You need anything?” “No, I’m good” he rolls off. Thirty seconds later I push the button on my co2 and get absolutely nothing! It must have bled out in my seat bag. Argh! Back to running. Couple of guys catch up and one of them (who’s name I can’t remember) throws me his co2! Sweet! Were back in business, I proceed to fumble the co2 head and let the majority of the compressed gas out into the atmosphere!!! Thankfully another one of my singlespeed brothers sees this go down and lends me his pump! Sweet salvation, I have never been happier to use one of those mini pumps! Tire full, back on bike and riding! Race is pretty much over at this point for me but I feel good and want to keep pushing. Make my way thru a few guys and ride some of the rock sections I was forced to walk in traffic on the first lap. Get about a mile from the finish and the course lets me know it isn’t done with me yet. Nice big endo in a rock garden.

Cross the finish line and see all the boys hanging out. Explain some of the gory details and accept that sometimes you’re the Louisville slugger and some times you’re the ball! (Thanks Mark Knoplfer!) Hang with the boys for a bit and try to redistribute all my borrowed goodies. (I still have your co2 head and tube man! See me at the next race!) We all get cleaned up and changed and tell stories of the day. No official results but I think Bobby got 3^rd, Tom should be somewhere around the top ten with Tony and George not far behind and myself somewhere in arrears.

It’s good to get the season back underway. We have Tymor coming up and rumor has it there might be some changes to the course. After that is Marty’s which is always a good time and then it’s the Gallop! So keep those pedals turning.

Southern fried miles

COHUTTA RACE REPORT

Its 12:00 o’clock and I’m standing on top of a mountain off a forest service road next to a tent shivering and eating peanut m&m’s, they are the greatest tasting thing I have ever had! There is a guy cleaning and lubing my chain which had been crying out in agony as I climbed the last few thousand feet to get here. It’s freezing up here but at least the rain has stopped. I have mentally and physically turned a corner. I remount and head back up the road. Up being critical word. If in doubt of course direction head up!

The family saddled up and headed south on Thursday am. The drive was as uneventful as a drive with two 7 year olds can be. I actually slept a couple of hours on the way down which is odd for me as I usually am a pretty alert shotgun rider. We arrived in Alabama at about 8:00 and proceeded to get to relaxing!

Friday am I was up at 7:30 or so with the kids and hung out a bit while they played. We all had breakfast and I started pacing around the house, checking bike stuff and directions to the whitewater center. After about an hour of this Michele told me to just get going and be back later. So I saddled up to make the ride up to the Ocoee whitewater center. I wanted to pace it out to see just how far I would be driving in the am to get to the start. The ride once off the highway was pretty cool as it ran along the Ocoee river and offered up some cool scenic vistas. I arrived and picked up my race packet, maps, t-shirt and three one gallon zip lock drop bags. After loading up the drop bags I started to see some of the heavy hitters arriving. Rich Dillon of bad idea racing fame was hanging out and Harlan Price and his gang from Philly pulled in a couple cars down from me. I dropped my bags and chatted with Harlan, Topher, Elk, and Chris about the race course and them coming up for some Darkhorse events this summer. They left to pre-ride and I left to drive back to home base.

The rain started sometime in the middle of the night and I was awake listening to it hit the roof for a while. Sleep, well it was fitful at best when it did come. The alarm went off at 3:30 and I was already awake. Clothes on, breakfast eaten and in the car and on the road by 4, they had said the lot fills up fast and I didn’t want to end up in overflow parking. It rained on and off on the drive. It was probably a mix of the rain and the early hour that caused that little voice in the back of my head to start saying, “turn around, go back to bed”. In the lot in the dark misty rain I had to find a flashlight to be able to find the bathrooms. That business taken care of and suiting up it was tough to decide on what to wear. Some guys from North Carolina next to me were debating tights, tights? Tights were out for me but I layered up good knowing that I could drop clothes along the way.

I found myself at the start line next to Matt Davies, Christian Baks, and Chris Wurster. Chris took the edge off by telling us about drinking beers with Floyd that night. They called the big boys up to the line and eventually off we went up the paved climb. I rolled up on Ryan Heerschap from Campmor/Team bulldog and we chatted as we climbed. The road tilted downhill and I let him ride off as I spun out my single ring. I fell in line and rode the first 20 miles or so with a group of about seven riders. This was smooth fast flowing singletrack that just rocked. Of course it was muddy and raining on and off so it made things a little more interesting. The pace was good and I was pleased with how I felt. My stomach was a little off but I chalked it up to nerves although my brain started doing the math and came up with the fact that I had been real tired on the ride down and couldn’t shake the butterflies for the last couple days so it might be more than nerves.

We hit aid station 1 and I refilled my bottles and headed out onto the gravel road section of the course. This cuts a large loop thru the big frog wilderness area and lasts for roughly 65 miles. Talking to Elk the day before he, very appropriately as I would find out soon, described this section as a real mindf@@k. This also started the big climbs of the day. I rode along with a couple of guys who chatted about average speed and such and from the numbers they were talking all looked good. I didn’t let myself look at elapsed time or mileage. I only looked at speed and at the clock. It was here that the stomach began to say bad things to me. I found myself coughing into dry heaves on one of the climbs. That was exciting! I just kept turning the pedals and moving forward. I dug into a pocket and pulled out an oatmeal raisin clif bar. These are one of my favorite snacks. However, shortly after putting it in my mouth it turned to pasty concrete mix! I washed it down with some perpetuem and tried not to throw up.

At aid station 2 I shed a long sleeve base layer and left that and my jacket in a drop bag. Reloaded my bottles, grabbed another clif bar and kept going. I was not feeling great and just wanted to keep going. I kept telling myself to make it till noon. Then make a decision what you’re going to do. The road went up, and up and up and up. I rode a lot of climbs and walked some as well. The last little push up to aid 3 was steep and hard. It was just after 12 and I had 50 miles under my belt. The volunteers at the aid stations were super nice, very helpful and really made things much easier. I dropped my bike and handed off my bottles for a refill. When I turned around a guy asked if he could clean and lube my chain. Sure! Thanks, man did it ever need it. I saw a number of mechanicals due to the conditions. While struggling up one of the climbs I passed a rider who looked over and said, “hey at least you don’t have chainsuck!”

Maybe it was the peanut m&m’s, maybe it was turning the corner on 50 miles. I left aid 3 feeling better about this whole adventure. The ride from there to aid 4 was up and down and up and down. I rode most of it and walked some of the steeper climbs. The legs were feeling it. Before aid 4 there was a long gravel decent. These gravel forest service roads were no joy. They contained a mix of compacted wet gravel, sand, mud and loose gravel. Yeah had to watch your line and they had some sweet stutter bumps that if you weren’t attentive would send you over the edge and out into oblivion! I basicly cooked my front brake on the way down. But hey, the rain had stopped! It was even warming up!

Aid station 4 comes up out of nowhere! Sweet! I drop the bike and a volunteer hand me my drop bag. Awesome! She takes my bottles and asked what I would like. Another volunteer asks if I need anything on the bike. “can you check out the front brake? I think I cooked the pads.” Before I can even unwrap a clif bar it is in the stand and adjusted. “Here try this” he says as he hand it back to me. I squeeze the lever and its perfect! Sweet! “Dude, if you were a chick I would kiss you on the mouth!” he laughs and I ride off in delusional excitement.

It’s supposedly 10 miles to aid 5 and then 10 more to aid 6 where its all downhill singletrack. Yeah, well over the last 7 or so hours I have learned that in the south they apparently tabulate mileage differently. Because lots of 15’s became closer to 20’s and 10’s well they were a little longer as well. 6 false flat miles later and we start to climb again. Its steep and I walk. Some geared guys walk to. One says to me, “singlespeed eh?” “yeah I’m dumb like that. It’s just how I roll I guess.” We laugh. It is around this point that I realize I am going to finish this thing. It makes me a little giddy. I think I may have even yelled out into the mountain silence. I push on to aid 5.

Aid 5 I hook up with another Mike who is riding a niner singlespeed and a guy on a seven sola who's name I apologize for forgetting. We ride and chat and walk and eventually Mike falls back a bit as the two boys aboard seven’s, his geared, mine single ride on. We get to aid station 6 and I am fired up. 10 miles of downhill singletrack to go! Lets rock! Mike catches us at the aid station and heads straight for the woods. We follow.

Downhill is apparently all relative as well. We ride some singletrack and then climb more busted up doubletrack. Argh. Legs are toast now. I lose Mike and the seven rider. They maybe have a minute on me but I can’t get into the rhythm. After so many miles spinning and climbing the gravel the legs are having a hard time adjusting back to singletrack. About 6 or so miles from the finish I case a rock thru a turn and hear the hiss. “Seal up, come on, seal up.” No joy. Flat. I have to say that for as completely blown as I was it was the easiest flat change ever. Back on the bike and now finally that downhill singletrack. It’s rooty, rocky, and after so many miles just downright hard. Make it thru and onto the forest service road, past the TVA station and into the home stretch. Spin as hard as I can along the road and thru the lot over the bridge and see the finish and the clock. 11:11 and some seconds, done, really wanted sub 11 but hey that’s what next year is for.

What a great time. Epic riding with a whole bunch of great people, everybody who worked the event was great and all the other riders were all really great people. I have to give much respect to any body that finished.

I got back to home base and looked like a zombie. I showered, ate everything put in front of me and fell asleep in a chair. Yeah, it was a good day!