TEAM JERSEY: ORDER NOW!

As promised, it's now time to order our brand-new West Michigan team jerseys! Here's the deal:

1. These are NOT the ride day jerseys. Those are included as part of your fundraising. This is a special jersey just for our team (+ past team members/family/donors/friends of the team/etc.).

2. Cost will be determined by how many we order. For now, plan on $55 per jersey. Could be less. Notta bad deal.

3. We strongly suggest you refer to this size chart (Men's Club, Women's, and Kid's) for your sizing. Based on sizes we've already received, they run small (especially the women's ones).

4. HOW TO ORDER: Send an email to Nicole with your size preference and quantity by THIS THURSDAY JULY 28, 5:00pm. We will be placing the order on Friday. If you wrote down your size/quantity at Sunday's team ride, consider yours ordered. We do not anticipate ordering a lot (or any) extras. Order what you need now. For those of you who rode in 2010 and are taking the credit option (you know who you are), be sure to confirm your size choice to Nicole.

5. Your payment will be TBD. We have to see how many are ordered and how we'll handle payments. Stay tuned.

If you want to double check that yours is ordered and size is right, you can see the list here.

(S)team Ride Report

Yarp, 'twas a steamer indeedie! But, by the standards of the last few days, it was relatively pleasant. Of course, the real pleasentry came from the company we all kept, in one or the other or both of our 30 and 40 mile loops:

Superhosts Nicole & Cliff

Jasker

Tom S.

Cupcake Mary

JD

Maggie

Tom M.

Jason

Mike H.

Katie

Steve

Chris

Becky

LTP

Linda C.

John VDB

Diana S.

Stacey O.

Dawn R., previewing what "Trikin' Dawn" would look like

Kevin C.

Transportation hero Joe K.

Kirsten

and Me, with my ultra-super little dude Dane, who is closing in on 800 miles of riding this year!

I'm gonna keep this short, as there's gonna be a fair chunk of info coming your way shortly regarding, well, other stuff, but, this was an awfully nice way to spend 70 miles! I saw a lot of you folks riding really, really well today; we're inside 3 months to Death Valley, and I think that in general we're in a good place on the bike.

Sure would be cool if we could have walk-in coolers to hang out in in DV, eh?

Special thanks to Cliff, for opening up his very new house to us (and letting us use his showers, which felt so good that I'm pretty sure must have poured forth unicorn tears), and to the ever-awesome Nicole, for the delish pile of kebabs that greeted us after the showers!

Next team ride will be in 2 weeks, on August 7, in the East GR area - details, as always, will be here.

The rocking, today - it rocked!

(S)team Ride: Sunday 7.24

The FAQ:

What is it?

Team + friends + past team + whoever ride. Two loops around Saugatuck/Douglas/Fennville/Hamilton. Food afterward.

RSVP here or on Facebook is greatly appreciated.

When is it?
Sunday, July 24
10:00am roll - Loop 1, 30ish* miles
12:30pm (approx) roll - Loop 2, 40ish** miles

Where is it?
Cliff & Nic's place. Huge bummer, the bridge & ramp at US-31 & Blue Star/Washington/58th in Holland (if you're coming from the north, this is the way the directions will say to go) is closed. Follow posted detours and you'll find us. Just plan on an extra 5-10 minutes of driving. If you're coming from anywhere but north, this won't affect you.

Where can I park?
So, we're kinda new to this hood, and we don't want to bum out our new neighbors with cars parked all along the road. So, we'll ask that the first six cars' worth of people use our driveway, and then we're gonna ask you to park about 5 houses away (our cars + a sign will be there) from our house in this common area thingy. It's a teeny walk/bike ride to our house from where your car will be, but not too bad. Promise. Thanks for understanding.

I've got kids. Is that a good enough excuse not to ride?
Not this time, friend. You're on your own for Loop 1, but there's little reason why you couldn't do Loop 2. Nicole is gonna hang back for the 2nd loop to get food ready and is happy to watch kiddos. She might make them work, but hey...it's good for 'em. We've got a play room for younger ones, and TV for bigger ones.

What's for food?
Nic's gonna doctor up some tasty grilled chicken/veggie kabobs, and probably something fun for the side. It'd be awesome if you wanted to partake in something pot-luckish. Even if that means a package of Oreos or whatever. Bring your own drinks too.

Can I un-stink?
Yep! We have showers that'll be available. Bring your own towel if you can--we don't have enough for all of the stink that pours off this group.

What's the forecast?
Look! It'll cool off on Sunday to a relatively chilly 89 90 degrees. Better dress in layers. Heh.

* - You know what this means.
** - Seriously, don't take Derek's mileage estimates too literally.

Extra Team Shirt(s)?

We're ordering our team shirts this week. We are planning to order only enough to cover registered team members. However, if you would like to order extra(s), you may do so.

Cost is $11 per shirt, payable to the Chapter upon receipt.

You must let Nicole (nicole.nelles@gmail.com) know by Wednesday, noon if you're interested. Please include quantity and size.

Shirt front and back
Shirt color - Evergreen at this link (likely with gray design)

Thanks!

RIDE REPORT 07-10-11 (and more!)

Wow!
What a great day for The World's Coolest Team! It was almost warm enough to serve as effective DV training, our hostess w/ the mostess Sarah Andro was the bomb, the routes were.......umm.....interesting & we had a great turn-out for both loops!

There was even an Ice Cream Sag Wagon! (If you were riding at the right place @ the right time)

So - on to the details.................

Ride #1 rolled @ 9am - possibly the earliest non-Ride-Day roll out ever for this team & covered 25 pretty hilly miles. Roll Call:
Coach Did
Tom M
SGS John (Tom's bud)
Sarah A
SGS Barb (Sarah's co-worker)
BikeFace Patti B
Kaat
Rob A (!!!!!!!!!!)
John "Big" Jasker
JD
Nick Coury - on his 1st ever Team Ride stokin' w/ MC on the tandem and
Spencer Coury - on his 1st ride and rockin' the lead pack on his hybrid!

Everyone rode great and we were back @ casa da Andro in plenty o' time to re-fuel and meet up w/ the group for Ride #2.

That ride rolled @ 12:10 and covered 36 also hilly miles. There was a bit of...shall we say....adventure? as Google Maps left Map-Maker Derek hangin' more than once.

Oh well! It's all good, right?

Ride #2 Roll Call:
Did, Kaat, Pea, MC and J2 from the first ride
Steve and Katie C
Becky and Chris M
Cindy A
Nic N
Stewart M
Linda TP
Kevin P
Jason S
Chris R
SGS Chad P (friend of MC, J2, JD)
SGS Chris (friend of Sarah's)
Replacement Stoker Deluxe Linda C
Chris R
Tom and Ian S

Post Ride festivities featured grilled burgers n' brats, pasta salad, Nic's Killer Salad, fresh salsa, various sweets and a surprise appearance from Mike and Teresa Howard.

Many calories were consumed, much laughter was shared and fellowship was observed breaking out all over.

In other words - 'twas a typical awesome day and a reminder to this reporter as to what a blessing it is to be part of this Team!

Massive thanks to Sarah and Phyliis for the hospitality!
Extra props to Nic, Cindy & the Grandville Clarks for racin' Saturday and joinin' us Sunday!
Extra massive props to Team Coury for rockin' the way they did on Ride #1!

Remember - the Holland Hundred is this weekend. Yesterday Tom Miller announced that there might be some hours left if you still wanna earn some $ in your Ride Account.

Also - a few of us are headin' up to do the Ride Around Torch Lake on Saturday night after the HH. Contact Kaat for more info.

Next Team Ride is from Cliff n' Nicole's just south of Holland. The date is 7/24 and the details wil be announced shortly.

So - to wrap this up.......great day, great time, great food. This Team rocks, you guys rock, diabetes is gonna wish it never heard of us!

See you soon - Coach Mike

VT - 18 days
WI - 31 days
Tahoe - 60 days
DV - 90 days
AZ - 127 days

More Holland Hundred opportunities

The volunteer spreadsheet for the Holland Hundred is full. Thanks Tom Miller for putting that together. We do have an additional opportunity to raise some cash at the HH. We would like to sell Energy Floats again this year. Root Beer XS and ice cream. Yum!
The pay out will be different than the other volunteer positions, but the shifts aren't as long, so this is great for someone who wants to ride in the morning and work the afternoon. Looking for two people between 12 and 5 p.m. This could be broken into two shifts, so we'd need four people total. If you are interested please email Tom Scheidel for all the details.