The latest update is more of a digest, but it is winner and is coming to you from Reach The Beach team captain - The New Guy
It all started (well, at least the second group of legs started) when Van Flatbush roused at 2:30a after a brief nap. A couple bowls of Cheerios later, we were on the road as the fog briefly lifted to reveal a gorgeous moon rising over the Hampshire hills.
Duke Steph, who was to lead the Flatbush charge, had suffered a race-ending stress injury to her right shin during her first leg.(This next section has been removed to protect the innocent, we shall accept it and move on. Nothing to see here)
The Captain got off to a smooth start and covered the 5.5 in just over 8-min miles. Jenn then took the baton for what is certainly the most difficult leg of the entire relay — 9.1 miles with a grueling uphill first 6. Jenn’s a kicker, though, and with a smile on her face she crested her last hill to the deserving sight of a rising sun through the mist, pink streams of light poking gently from behind the clouds. She’s our Van Flatbush MVP, for shizzle.
John took the torch as the day truly broke, knocking out 7.1 in just over 58 ticks, despite a strong desire to pull over and throw down seven hunnie for a sweet motor boat with 80 horses in the rear…would look mighty sweet in the Shelter Island waters…
Kristin threw down a speedy 5.5 in 44, gaining on other teams left and right. The New Guy then came back with a take-no-prisoners promise, laying down a straight 10k in 51:44 despite only a brief reprieve from the unexpected 5.5 pickup.
Kevin brought us home for this set, storming a number of hills on a 7.1 in a low 56:00. He had earned the home stretch on his leg, cruising down a tree-lined street over smooth blacktop for the transition back to Birch and Van Dukes.
To suggest that the Dukes are killing it on their virgin RTB outing would be an understatement on the scale of Kaiser Sose having a limp (who, incidentally, we spotted in the back of a truck just outside the township of Sandwich).
This report is coming to you live as I am on the phone with Birch and he is mumbling his way through the recap of the last few hours. I may have heard the same story 3 times in the last 10 minutes, but loving every minute of it. The Reach The Beach transition areas sound insane over the phone and again, very jealous that I am not there. Now here is our young cub reporter with another update-
Birch live and direct:
Apparently Charlie does surf, the squad is duct taped together and the The Stick is in use. One person has resorted to a marble rolling pin as their stick has evaporated due to overuse.The papier mache designs on the vans have been destroyed and the sun is starting to come up and baking the place.
The next few sentences came through garbled but I can tell you there was a story about queuing up for food and then being denied as their turn came up. A sad story but one of the harsh realities of Reach The Beach.
For all of you in the GJ fan club, I spoke to him, he is doing well and cannot wait to soak in a barrel of beer, or was it drink a barrel.
Sorry for the long pause between updates, but command center Seattle decided to re-purpose the radar system for blending margaritas and 6 hours later , here we are.
The two posts below come from Birch and Jon 9. The confidence is oozing, and the team seems to relish the night, but the spelling seems to deteriorate.
Birch writes in at 4:20am ET
Christina just came steaming in and fifi is on the course with a 4am start. I’ve een the white witch do alotta things at 4am before but I can promise you it’s never involved running except perhaps from the law or to afterhours!!!
Strong finish to christina who got a little more than she bargained for with the inky-black darkness and nh wilds on all sides…..strong stuff for a city-lady.
Temp is droping but Van Dukes is ON-ON and holding down the graveyard shift with aplomb.
Then Jon 9 comes back at 5:30am ET
Smooth transition at checkpoint two. Rain done moon shinin warmin up by the minute. 526 am sun about to come up. Super jenn 2.5 into a 9+ mostly uphill. Lookin forward to a sunrise 10K..
Well it is past midnight here in Seattle and yours truly is in trouble for jumping on the computer to update everyone, but my little commitment to keep tabs on team Dukes is nothing compared to the effort being put in by our intrepid runners.
Here are the last two notices via carrier pigeon from Birch as they are truly experiencing the New Hampshire motto of Live Free or Die
Pigeon 1 reports:
Van dukes just completed first leg of our second tour….night vision gear met deffensive reqirements. …charlie everywhere but avoided thus far. I turned in a fast 3.8 w/ sub sevens and a serious rumble in the belly jungle. Maybe the steak sammy and fries at horsefeathers was not my secret weapon after all?
Van duke logged one hour of rack time at HQ before suiting up for second shift. We should be seeing the bats soon; a savage journey to the heart of the endrance dream. What ever happened to the days when we just got a sixer to enertain ourselves on a friday night?
Laura layin down the beats on da streets as we speakz.
DOFB makin it look mean; over’n'out!
Pigeon 2 reports two hours later:
So a note about horrible. Gj is half way into what can only be described as a seething, smoke belching mean motherfuckin collection of runner-consuming hills. 7 miles of hell; the spines of a dragon is the only explination.
We shall name this leg Fanfir - consumer of dreams and hope. God speed johnson. Oof.
As nightfall starts to settle over The Granite State, the Dukes of Flatbush team sends in this report from Jon 9.
Rain starting to pick up. Just in time for my leg! Hopscotching every mile to keep an eye on Jenn. Exactly how many creepy cemetaries are there in NH??
Each post is like a dagger in my heart that I am here in Seattle and not NH.
Birch reports:
Fayth on target and totally kitted out with flashing vest, headlamp and all manner of sexy-tron action. Not slowing her down though—she’ motoring. The end of her leg marks the van transition and where our van-o (van Duke) will hand off running duties to the earstwhile and (hopefully) well rested Van Flatbush.
Weather is overcast b ut an excellent operating temperature. Comraderie is equally awesome…300+ teams, so nearly 600 white rental vans all decked out with wild shit painted on them, stuff like giant flip-flops wired to them …..duudes in cow suits, women in fake moustaches and tuxedo shirts…… Cats and dogs living in harmony. Sweet swet beautiful anarchy.
Photo transmition incomming after van transition. By the wat - christina smooooked her leg!
The updates are really making me jealous as I sit here in the command center. I wish I was out there with the team mowing down hills but like the rest of you I am a casual observer and along for a ride.
This time we have two updates from Dukes of Flatbush Chad and then Birch:
Van Flatbush reporting from Chocorua HQ. Team members enjoying brief reprieve from van travel, resting and fueling legs, eagerly anticipating rendezvous with Van Dukes (in approx two hours) and our first leg. The running gods are shining on us for this one, kids. At 10:45p tonight our team captain will pickup the baton less than a mile and a half from HQ, allowing much-needed mid night rest and recharge for the entire contingent. The Dukes will kill it out there!
Laura pulled into TA 2 dead on her predicted 9 mile pace and looking like she had more in the tank….leg two complete and the van stink is commin on like a pro squad……laura finished at 3:40 and now sean about to steam into ta 3 and make the handoff to gj. For record - sean is scalded-dog fast..
The reports are flying in. Here is a report from Leg 1 runner - Birch
First leg completed in 53 minutes…7.8 miles. Laura almost at halfway point of her 8 mile second leg. Weathered has cleared a bit…not raining and good.
This effin rules. More laughs, suffering and fart jokes to follow
Allright folks, Reach The Beach relay has begun with Leg 1. Here is the report from the start
Birch off and running at an amazing start line. Chilly and light drizzle but spirits are high and overall vibe super cool (ed. note: Hippies). Van Dukes en route to first checkpoint.
Ladies and Gentlemen, sitting in here in the command center in Seattle WA, I am going to update all the folks following at home on the
adventures of The Dukes of Flatbush they compete in the Reach The Beach relay. I will just be a conduit for the posts as they fly in to the command center via all means of communication, so please bear with me as updates may come at uneven intervals as they destroy the roads of New Hampshire.
Our first missive is from Chad, the new guy as our team from NYC travels in a van that I believe is pictured on the right
Dukes converging on Chocorua from all points. The Portland, ME contingent reports successful pick-up of 12 pax van, currently employing evasive ‘loose moose’ measures in the hampshire countryside. Meanwhile, the NYC contingent is packed shoulder to shoulder in a 15 pax trolley that has more vibrating action than a quarters bed in an hourly roadside motel. Are we running coal fired under the hood or is it the consequence of four different tread patterns on our radials? We may have to detour to our Goodyear friends over at New Hampshire Int’l Raceway for a mount and balance. Heh, heh. Mount and balance.
A good friend of mine celebrated his 35th birthday last night by hosting an epic dinner at Momofuku Ssam, one of David Chang’s restaurants in New York City.
I had never been to this restaurant before, but had heard exceptional things about the pork that flowed freely from the kitchen. I can tell you that they did not dissapoint.
We started off with a few different plates of thinly sliced ham and crusty bread, accompanied by a sauce that I mistakenly took for mustard. A closer inspection revealed it was mayonnaise cut with Sriracha and Red Eye gravy (coffee, pan drippings). Really interesting and quite tasty. The ham was bolstered by a few orders of lardo which is cured strips of pig fat. It’s a fairly subtle dish and a little unnerving. It’s not something I’d order every day, but I found it quite satisfying. Next was crispy lamb belly. I am a huge devotee of lamb and can honestly say that I have never tasted anything quite so “lamby”. Baaaaa humbug. But on to the main attractions.
Ssam means “anything wrapped” and one of the stand out items on the menu is a pork bun, essentially a flour pancake filled with braised pork belly, topped with a few dabs of Sriracha.
I can’t say I have tasted anything so good this entire year. I can see myself visiting this restaurant time and time again, slipping in for a few pork buns and a glass of wine. It’s pure magic.
But on to the main event. My friend had called the restaurant exactly one month before to get a reservation required for Bo Ssam. They have a 5:00, 6:30 and 11:00 seating every day for this special meal. But what is Bo Ssam? It’s a 6 lb pork butt that has been cooked for 10 hours. You shred the pork at the table, place it in a lettuce leaf, top with a fresh shucked oyster and your choice of accompaniments like rice and kimchi.
Although I had already eaten a great deal of swine, I managed to scarf down six of these delicious little packages. I found it equal to the pork bun in flavor, but it was a lot of fun to sit around a table and eat a communal dish.
I hard heard about Momofuku Ssam from a number of friends, but somehow it slipped off my radar. Don’t let this happen to you. If you like pork, get yourself over there and enjoy the fruits of their labor. You won’t regret it.
As anyone who follows this blog is aware by now, the Dukes of Flatbush are competing in tomorrow’s Reach the Beach relay. We head up to NH tonight and will be rarin’ and ready to go for our 1:20 pm start tomorrow. It looks like the hurricane gods are cooperating with us; we seem to have dodged Ike and hope to remain gale-force-wind-free for the whole weekend.
Supported by our trusty west-coast Mission Control, we’ll be doing our damndest to live blog the effort. Expect up-to-the hour reports with all the latest on conditions, DOFB feats of strength, churlish rants and NIST certified chafe ratings. So check here early and often, and keep your fingers crossed for our intrepid squad of running reprobates.
9/9 RTB Update
9/8 RTB Update
9/3 RTB Update
8/20 RTB Update
8/15 RTB Update
8/6 RTB Update
Radiohead absolutely slays live - end of story.
Having recently had our doors blown off by them on back to back nights at APW, I can’t tell you how thrilled I was to stumble on the free podcast made available by NPR’s awesome All Songs Considered through iTunes. It’s from the last show of the tour at the Santa Barbara Bowl and it’s fuerte.
If you don’t have iTunes you can also stream it through the link on the afore-linked article page. Serious thanks Bob, who appreciated this show as much as we did, to the rest of the NPR/ASC team and to Radiohead for agreeing to make it available. Made my day.
Although it’s still officially Summer, the weather is turning cooler and my thoughts are drifting towards comfort food. I made Stuffed Peppers the other night which really hit a chord. Here’s how I make them…
The base of my stuffing is sausage - sweet italian, hot italian or a mixture of the two. I then add breadcrumbs, parsley, red onion, parmesan, salt, pepper and an egg yolk to bind the mixture. A lot of recipes call for grated zucchini or squash, and you can experiment with herbs - a little rosemary works well. I can’t say there are particular ratios - add what you like, in the amount you like, just make sure it accents the sausage.
Now on to the vessel. I usually use green peppers, but there’s no reason you couldn’t mix it up - red, yellow, orange, purple, poblano or cubanelle. Just make sure they are firm, which denotes freshness. Cut them lengthwise and remove the stem, seeds and ribs. Stuff them so they have a mound on top - just like so.
Put them in a 350 degree oven for an hour or until they are browned. Serve immediately.
The forecast is sorting itself out for the end of the week in NH and the DOFB team is in the final, nostrils flared in anticipation, stages of preparation. Bags have been packed, night-gear tested, anti-chaffing salves concocted and distance mantras honed. Not a whole lot left to do but hop in the van Thursday evening, head north and hope Ike doesn’t change his mind!
For those who may be in NH and inclined to come out and witness a spectacle, the Dukes are slotted for a 1:20pm Friday start and expect to finish on the coast sometime around 6 the following evening. Check out the course info for the nearest segment of the route & and do come out to properly heckle the teams.
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In totally unrelated 24 hr racing news, I recently came across another race that would likely appeal to a number of us - the 24 Hours of LeMons:
Each LeMons race is for cars purchased, fixed up, and track-prepped for a total of 500 dollars or less. But before reaching the grid, you’ll have to survive trials like the Personal-Injury-Lawyer Anti-Slalom, the Marxist-Valet Parking Challenge, and the Wide Open Throttle Rodthrowapalooza. Twelve hours into the race, the car voted People’s Choice is called in and awarded a cash prize; simultaneously, the car voted People’s Curse is called in and summarily destroyed. At the end of 24 hours, a gala awards ceremony plies the survivors with trophies, plaques, and four-figure purses in canvas bags full of nickels. What’s not to like?
This video of what happens to a cheater’s car is not to be missed - genius. We’ve already missed the East Coast season’s races, but I suspect you’ll be seeing a menacing DOFB beater entered in the years to come.
DOFB
