Catskills – Pottery in the woods!

by Randy Hadzor
Fri Aug 6th, 2010:

This past weekend, Sarah and I headed down the scenic way of route 80, 13, and lots of other random route numbers that took us South and East to the Catskill mountains. The destination was chosen for the bicycle stage race – the Tour of the Catskills.

Our main camp was made at a quiet little hotel in Windham, the race Friday (a 2.3m uphill TT) was in Tannersville just a bit South of there. Then Saturday the 51.3m road race called Stage 1: The Catskill Epic started out in Windham. Then Sunday the final stage was another road race ~58m called Stage 2: The Mountaintop Classic ‘Featuring the Assault on Devil’s Kitchen’ which was a beast of a hill around 3miles long and boasting grades of mid-20%’s…

Between races taking in the view and exploring the peculiar off season ski towns and the meandering side roads that dribbled off into the wilderness there came a sign. Sarah and I are fans of pottery and off in one of the mountains was this sight I share with you here:

a sign of pottery

Notice the awesome little potteries hanging out on top of the sign no doubt secured in some clever manner.

So, off and completed the race, hurried to scope out results and then went back to scoop up the Sarah to scope out the potential place of the potter.

As we made the turn off of the road of the initial sign it seemed very promising in a super off the beaten path way.

Pottery, in the woods!

Here are a couple snapshots I took with my telephone, pardon the grainyness, there was some excellent stuff in there. Particularly of interest were the mugs, very nice bowls (which we ended up purchasing 2 good ones), as well as a lemonade/orange juice making device, interesting things called garlic dishes – which I thought would be nice for safely harboring cookies, berry bowls were the water could drain, and a need flower/bamboo watering contraption.


The proprietress had put in her time for 17 years in Manhattan living the busy life, and curiously got into pottery instantly enamored and driven to create. She’s been working the wheel thrown pottery out of the little studio called ‘Herbs and Pots‘ since 2006 creating functional and interesting pieces.

This place was an excellent unexpected find. The Catskills are filled with artists, hanging out in the mountains, taking naps under trees with good old local legend Rip Van Winkle. It just goes to show you never know what may be down that meandering road.

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New site: Absolute Blackout

by Marcus Lewis
Thu Aug 5th, 2010:

*Photo by Josephine Kenney

A few months ago I received a message from Matt saying a friend of his was looking to have a website created for her upcoming clothing/accessory store. We went through a couple of  layouts an kept things moving forward on the build. I got an email with the first few images for the site and knew right then it was going to be a pretty fun project to work on. It ended up being fairly tough with all the coding and tweaking needed to get it right, but fun none the less and I’m happy with the results!

Let us know what you think and go and buy some sweat stuff from Absolute Blackout!!!

Congratulations Maddy, very nice work! and to the rest of the Absolute Blackout crew, awesome stuff!

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Syracuse Bike Polo

by Marcus Lewis
Wed Jul 21st, 2010:

After the Tour de Syracuse, we invited people over and were introduced to Bike Polo. They meet at Berry Park (corner of Westcott and Broad Street) Syracuse, New York on the tennis courts every Sunday and Monday, 4:30, 5:30 respectively. There’s a great turn out of riders each week and they are always looking for new people to join in on the fun. Bring a beater bike and good attitude and great balance!

Each game is pretty intense when you first start, but after you get used to it, it’s incredible fun, so if you’re ever in the area stop by Sunday or Monday and have a good time. You can meet the Syracuse Bike Polo group on Facebook and don’t be shy to leave a little something if you’re interested.

Take a look at some photos of what you missed this past Monday.

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Race 4 Hope – 2010

by Randy Hadzor
Mon May 31st, 2010:

A warm Sunday morning, May 30th, racers rolled to an easy eight-thirty start. Geared up to race through the rolling hills of the Borodino countryside for the 4th annual Race for Hope.

The Race for Hope is in honor of local cyclist and triathlete Dick Shaffer, a Borodino resident and triathlete, who died of cancer in 2006. Race for Hope seeks to find a cure for cancer, all race proceeds go to support research at the Center for Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital.

The race was a ~25 mile citizens race, so all categories of cyclists were welcome to ride and compete in one combined field. More information about the race can be found at the Skan Races website.

Variety Studios would like to congratulate all the competitors for putting out an excellent effort on Sunday. Big thanks to all the volunteers involved.

I decided to get another good effort in this past weekend, telling myself that depending on how my legs feel after the Fly by Night duathlon on Sat. evening I may go down and check out the race in Borodino on Sunday. It’s just around the corner and Mello Velo / Middle Ages teammate Brian Nilsson was racin’. I felt good so I signed in and raced it, ended up finishing first, after working with a little break away pack that went off after some of the more decent of the hills catching up to one dude with sweet glasses who made a very solid break with about 8 miles to go. A good time was had by all, I continue to learn bits and pieces of cycling tid bits, this time around was sprint etiquette.

To check out the photos of Race 4 Hope Click Here!

Good job all!

Have a great Memorial Day!

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