Merry Christmas

photo by Duane Johnston

We thought that there could be no better Christmas card for our friends than this snappy group portrait of the obviously elated Eldorado Cycles Mid-West Vintage Trials Series Champions of 2005.

Bob says, "Please note, this photo was taken after dinner which made us all sleepy, after all it was at least 7:30pm! And we had rode a trials all day!"

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year From B&J Racing!

Trialsrooster

photo by the Capt.

Three-time championship winner in 2005, the Trialsrooster gets his just deserts from the Crew at B&J during the year end ITSA Banquet in early December. Here he is seen smiling while all are laughing, but we're sorry, our P.G. rating on this blog doesn't permit us to share his comments.

His three championships were won on his venerable BSA Bantam 175, a.k.a. "The Chicken". His first and most prestigious championship was of course the Pre-Historic Intermediate class of the International Twin Shock Association (ITSA). His other championships were AHRMA's Premier Lightweight Intermediate and the Eldorado Mid-West Vintage Trials Premier Lightweight Intermediate.

The ITSA Banquet was a rousing success as class winners and runner-ups and other sundry award winners were honored, or ridiculed, depending on their individual needs.
The food was good and Wayne was surprised with a birthday cake. It was large enough to supply desert for all the banquet attendees, although the local fire marshall wouldn't let us put the 73 candles on it.

A big THANKS to all who attended and to all that rode our ITSA series in '05. And also a special THANKS to The Lunchbox for putting up with us and feeding us.

We'd like to again Thanks Silkolene for their support and the goodies they provided.

The Nubbie

photo by the Capt.

Oh god. Where should we start with this......

There was mention made of Scott's misfortune HERE on another blog a few months back.

To recap, Our buddy Scott had a slight tip-over at about one mile-an-hour in a fairly difficult section. He stuck his hand out on the way to the ground and placed it on a rock and the left handlebar caught his thumb between rock and handlebar end and severed off the tip of his thumb. OUCH!

Now, if you don't think we got some major mileage out of his misfortune then you just don't know us very well. And, if we didn't like him we definitely wouldn't mess with him about it. And, trust us, we did mess with him about it!

So......we have decided here at ITSA Headquarters to make "The Nubbie" an annual award in honor of Scott's nubbie thumb (or lack thereof). "The Nubbie" will be awarded based on some unforgettable event during a trials endeavor. It is not going to be neccesary for the occurence to be laden with misfortune or the loss of an appendage. It will however have to be unforgettable and worthy of mention many times over your favorite libation.

Of course Scott had already had the honor of winning the Alice Conklin Loop Riding Award for a really amazing crash on the loop on his TL125 that looked like a train wreck.

Scott, you've definitely done your part and we'd like to Thank You and also to Congratulate You on the dubious honor of being the recipient of the inaugural Nubbie! Thanks for the inspiriation of the award and also Thanks for taking all our harrasment over the year.

One-and-a-half Thumbs Up!

ITSA Banquet News #1

ITSA over now and if you didn't come then you missed it.

Here we see the happy inaugural Twin-Shock Novice Champion Dick "The Capt." Septer. Can you guess what type of bike The Capt. rides? Leave us a comment with your answer and we'll be sure to ridicule you.

We all seemed to have a ball at the banquet and the twelve ITSA class champions received their awards, along with the first and second losers, er, ah, we mean the runners-up.

Silkolene was kind enough to toss some swag our way and everyone that was at the banquet and that braved the cold to ride on Sunday (BRRRRR!) got either some chainlube or pre-mix or Pro-Prep. A big Thanks to Silkolene for their sponsorship.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to voice our appreciation to all the folks for above and beyond help in clearing the loop and rebuilding the sections after our recent inclement weather.

And a special warm Thank You goes out to Miss Nanuk (aka The Parts Bitch) for braving the cold (with her Carhart overhauls, generator and heater) and keeping us organised and tabbing all the scores.

Stay tuned for info about our special annual award. This is a rather dubious award, and it is an award that any one of you could win next year, but might not want to......

More to come from the banquet.......And also a report on the 2-day ITSA Trial.