TEAM RIDE THIS SUNDAY SUNDAY SUUUNNNDAAAAAAYYYYY!

Hey guys!

As promised here's the scoop on the Team Training Ride set for this Sunday, June 5th:

Where - Eldean's Marina in Macatawa. (http://tinyurl.com/eldeansride)

(Parking will be across the street as per usual)

When - The first ride (20 miles) is @ noon, the second (30 miles) is at 1:30, food oughta start about 4:30.

Who - You! Your fam (there's a pool and playset on site) & anyone you are still trying to recruit!

Why - Because it's time to ride!!!!!!!

JD says that he's grilling brats and chicken and cookin' corn on the cob. Feel free to bring whatever you want to add to the feast.

Please RSVP to myself or Coach Derek so we can give JD an idea of how much food to get!

I think that covers it - spread the word, pump the tires, slather on the sunscreen & join us this Sunday for a great day!

Rock on y'all - you know how!

Coach MC

mike@velo-citycycles.com

diddidit@gmail.com

Memorial Weekend Ride Options

Hey Team!

Just in case you're lookin' for a chance to get'cher ride on a time or two.......here's a quick peek at some options:

Saturday - the usual ride from the shop (Velo City) @ 8am. There's also rumors that Kaat's looking for folks to ride w/ later that day....get ahold of her!

Sunday - Luton Park ATB ride @ 8:30.

Monday - 50-ish miler from the shop @ 9am.

Sure hope to see you!

Remember - next Team Rides are Sunday 6/5 @ Eldean's Marina in Holland & Sunday 6/12 hosted by Nathan, Stewart and Cindy in GR. Look for all the details soon!

Ride on you rockstars!

Coach MC

TEAM RIDE REPORT MAY 22. (Where were you guys?!)

So - an absolutely perfect day awaited the members of the World's Coolest Team as they gathered in Muskegon for another chance to train, ride and hang together. And when I say "perfect" it's not 'cuz I'm indulging in my oft-maligned tendency to.....ummm.....overstate things!

It.
Was.
Perfect!

75-80 degrees, not a cloud, not too windy. Yep, perfect!

We had 8 for the 17 mile "pre-ride-ride" - 2 Dykstras (D & K), 2 Allegrina-Bowes, 2 Johns (Jasker & VandenBerg) and 2 Clarks (Lin & I). We rolled south outta the park and did a delightful loop that took us along the coast of Lake Mich, up-n-over Blockhouse Hill and back around to the park. Upon arrival we were greeted by Team Scheidel (all 3), Tom "Grillmeister" Miller, New Burlington Ride Mark S (w/ his stoker daughter Abbie) and a pleasant surprise in the form of Amy F2!
After greetings and intros this time we rolled north, enjoying a tailwind as we rolled past Duck Lake, White Lake and Other Lakes That Shall Remain Nameless on great roads w/ light traffic. Eventually we found ourselves back along the lovely shore of The Big Lake as our route took us back along the roads we'd ridden earlier in the other direction. After a stop to fix Heather's flat (best quote - "Hey John, if you have grease on your forehead after helping /w a flat you're doing it wrong!" courtesy of Coach Did) we gave Blockhouse Hill another whuppin' and found ourselves back @ the park w/ either 30 or 47 miles in our legs.

The post-ride picnic featured burgers n' dawgs from TM, Team-Issue Rainbow chips from HAB and various ither munchies and libations.

All in all - 'twas a great day! (One might even say "perfect"!)

NEXT TEAM RIDE IS SUNDAY 6/5 @ ELDEAN'S MARINA IN HOLLAND.
Times and details will be annouced soon but mark your calendars! Hosted by JD and Maggie Stone I'm told the menu will feature JD's famous brats and grilled chicken. Don't miss it!

NEXT TEAM RIDE AFTER THAT IS SET FOR 6/12 - WE COULD USE A HOST FOR THAT ONE - SOMEWHERE IN/NEAR G.R. PREFERABLY. Contact Coach Did or myself if you're interested.

LOOKING AHEAD..........
3rd Annual Allegrina 100 on 6/28.
100 Grand on 6/4
Holland 100 on 7/16 (Fund Raising Opportunity)
Ride Around Torch on 7/17

Lots more to come!

I sure hope you guys are getting some riding in (and fund raising too!) 'cuz the Rides are comin' up fast! Remember that there are still spots open for every Ride (we have a few reserved for DV) so keep recruiting!

9 weeks 'til VT!
11 weeks 'til Wi!
15 weeks 'til Tahoe!
20 weeks 'til DV (!!!!!)
25 weeks 'til AZ!

See you all soon I hope........keep rockin' like you do!

Coach Mike

Energy Drinks are on the way

Please welcome back long time sponsor XS Energy Drinks. This year they are donating a pallet load of Energy Drink and a pallet of H2Ultra water. We are also getting 12 ounce cans of the new Naranja flavor and old favorite Citrus Blast. All this should all arrive in the middle of next week. The drinks come free to us and then we sell them and put the money toward our ride accounts.

Here's how the system works:
Let Tom or Mary Scheidel know how many cases of drinks you want.
Energy drinks are $15 for a case of 12 - 8 ounce cans, $20 for 12 - 12 ounce cans, and $30 for a pack of 24 - 8 ounce cans.
You can sell the drinks or enjoy them yourself. The cash goes to Mary at the JDRF office and is entered into your ride account.
Cases of 12 bottles of water are free. You can use these at golf outings, rides and other events. That saves you having to buy water or get another donation.

Several of our ride team members have made hundreds of dollars through this program in years past. In short, I will have a garage full of product next week and I want to move it out as soon as possible so I have a place to park our cars.

Ride on and drink up!

Reporting and Announcing!

So, it wasn't THAT bad out today, despite the forecast, and despite the fact that for a mess of the day, it WAS that bad out. So, given the apparent sucktacular potential, the turnout for today's ride really was pretty decent. Of course, it was also pretty much who you'd expect:

Coach MC rode-to-the-ride

Linda C

Host Tom M, whose house I love because everything is set up for tall people

Tom's friend and neighbor, who rode with us last year, and who's name I'll probably remember sometime next month, but not right now, dangit

J2

Heather AB

JD

Chris R

And me.

We did a total of about 35 miles, split between a 10 mile starter loop and a 25 mile main loop; we didn't get rained on at all, but there was enough wetness on the road to make for some fine racing stripes!

Now, for our next attempt to have a team ride in conditions that are warm AND dry AND not too windy AND maybe even sunny, we'll try something new - a ride from North Muskegon. Our start point will be Mullaly Park (http://tinyurl.com/mullalypark for da map - we'll meet back by the playground equipment, where there are bathrooms and a picnic area), and we'll continue the double-loop format.

Loop 1 will be about 17 miles, with a 12:15 rollout time (i.e. be there at noon), and will include the much-loved Blockhouse Hill on newly-repaved Scenic Drive.

Loop Deux will be about 30 miles, with a 2 pm sharp rollout time. This time we'll hit the very nice Duck Lake State Park bridge, and I'll see if I can jigger things so you can choose to do Blockhouse Hill (this time from the other direction), or go around it.

Post-ride, we'll hang out, and hopefully we'll be able to grill up a bunch of the burgers and hot dogs that Tom has left from today - bring something to pass, if you want.

And, last things last, JUST in case you have some odd need to see MC, Kaat, Pea, and did suffering in the high desert, here ya go.

Team Fiona loves you guys, 'cuz all y'all rock!

Lots going on...

Hi team. Lots going on and to update you on...

•  Team Ride on Sunday, May 15th at Tom Miller's house in Grand Haven.  Ride distances 35ish miles leaves @ 1 & 25ish miles leaves at 2.  Burgers, dogs & drinks after the ride will be provided. People are invited to bring a dish to pass. Tom promises he WILL be at this ride.  

• Nathan Kooi is looking for volunteers to pour drinks from 3:30pm -7:00pm on Friday May 20th at 9th Bridge Market JDRF fundraising event: Barbeque, Brews, and a Bike Ride.  They are looking for volunteers for beverage pouring so that they can make as much money for JDRF as they possibly can.  They need 2-3 people for this shift.  Contact Nathan directly via e-mail or on his cell 231-206-2465.

• Dawn Miller-Meister & Linda T. Poeder are throwing a golf outing on Saturday June 18th at Braeside Golf Course in Rockford.   Call Dawn at 293.4443 to reserve your Foursome or Sponsor a hole.

• Get your t-shirt design into Katie Clark ASAP.  clarkkat @ gmail.com 

That's about it.   Hope you are getting miles on.   

Katie

Team Ride Two Report and News and Stuff

Hey, a team ride that featured pleasant weather! How About That?!?!?! OK, maybe it was a little bit windy, but compared to team rides Zero and One, this one was positively supercalafragalistic! Not surprisingly, we had pretty dang awesome turnout. The roster:

Cindy

Clarks:

Jack

Katie

Steve

Linda

Mike

J2

Stewart

N2

The Scheidel Trifecta – Ian, Mary, and Tom

JD

LTP

Chris R

Kaat

We were thrilled to have returning riders:

Diana S (Whitefish Summer ’07)

Jeff W (Whitefish Fall ’07)

Heather A (Killington Deluge ’09)

And we were equally thrilled to have NEW riders, all showing up for their first team rides!

Maggie S

John V

Danielle S

Paul B

Cliff L

Kirsten D

Me, with SuperStoker and Ultra Super Awesome Guest Star Dane

And Patti Bills, O.O.B.F.! *

It’s worth noting that Kaat & Kirsten were both fresh(ish) from the Steelcase Duathlon and thus each having an epic “run bike run bike” day! Yowza!

Also cool: 3 tandems! Sweet!

Also also cool: no flat tires! I’m sure Cindy can recall a certain repeat of this route a few years ago that set a record for number of flats on one ride by one rider.

28 riders – that’s pretty awesome! We covered either 23 or 28 miles, and I think I pretty much saw folks riding well together and being good road citizens – good on’ya for that. Maaaybe a couple of map-reading oopsies, there, but, hey, with my UltraPower Stoker on the job, we had it covered pretty well.

Now, our next team ride will be on May 15, hosted ably by our own Tom Miller on the south side of Grand Haven. We’ll have more info on that soon, including whether or not Tom will have a moat that needs crossing. In the interim, ride together, ride safe, ride lots – in short, be JDRF rock stars!

*that’s “Order of the Original Bike Face”, perhaps the highest rank in JDRF lore and pageantry…