Looking ahead - July & August!

Can that headline be right?!?!?!? Can it possibly be time to talk about the 7th and 8th month o' the year already?!?

(I know - we just put away the arm warmers and toe covers, right?)

And yet - the calendar tells no lies - so discuss July and August we shall!

Dates - let's talk about dates, huh?

7/8 - Next Team Ride! Location will be Mullaly Park up in N Muskegon. Times and details to be announced soon. (Watch your e-mail and/or FaceBook)

7/14 - Team Ride hosted by Kim Monk in Ada. (a pool! a pool!) Again - specifics to follow.

7/20 - The Holland Hundred. I've waxed poetic about the generosity of the Macatawa Cycling Club and their efforts on our behalf elsewhere on this forum but suffice to say that any JDRF riders get to ride for free and will be eligible to win a $300 donation from the club!!! Let's make a big showing and turn it into a team ride and JDRF jersey festival! We're planning 2 group starts - one for folks doing the 19 or 36 mile routes & another for the 67 milers and century riders. (The oft-mentioned coming e-mail will fill in the gaps)

7/28 - Team Ride! (Details blahblahblah)

8/3 - 6 and 12 Hours of Pando!

8/4 - Team Ride - Tour de Taco! Our annual celebration of grilled fajitas and fellowship @ case de Clark in Holland.

8/10 - ODRAM!!! (and MARDO!)

Dang! Is that a rockin' list of chances to git'cher BikeFace on or what!?!?! (Looks like 7 more pieces of evidence that we're the Coolest Team Ever to me!)

Okay - it's time to wrap this up. I can't wait to ride w/ you again at some (or all!) of these upcoming chances to get together - 'cuz Type 1 needs to know that we are coming and its goose is COOKED!

Thanks for all you do - you all ROCK w/ a capital R and I'm prouder n' proud to ride alongside you!

See you soon, Ride on!
Coach MC

TEAM RIDE 5 REPORT AND LOTSA BIG NEWS!

We had a pretty good ride today. Our traditional Father's Day Team Ride is never a huge one (lots' going on after all) but 10 of us gathered @ Scheidel's and headed for the hills! (Literally!)

Roll Call:
All 3 Scheidels
2 Dykstras
2 Clarks (Lin & I)
Tom Miller
Chris Radford
LumberKaat

As has been often mentioned - Coach Did, Kaat and I were in various stages of duress/recovery following our 100 mile ATB race yesterday so it might not've been the FASTEST ride in the team's history but we covered 30+ miles on a perfect day. Plenty of hills on one of the best loops yours truly has ever ridden in Kent County!

Afterwards we put a SERIOUS dent in a variety of snacks while enjoying the company and the patio.

Please read on for details on the next Team Ride AND a couple of other REALLY COOL THINGS comin' up!

Next Team Ride - Next Sunday - The Allegrina 100! Our good friends and past teammates Heather & Brian are throwing a ride to celebrate her father's life and raise $ for the scholarship that they've created in his name @ GVSU. The A100 has been referred to as the best ride in the 616 and I'd concur 100%! There are loops of 33, 66 and 100 miles - as well as a "Family Ice Cream Ride". All the loops leave at scheduled times so we can all ride together regardless of your desired distance.
The 100 milers roll @ 8:00am
The 66 milers leave @ 10:30am
The 33 milers take off @ 1:00pm. (As well as the Ice Cream Ride)

There will be a SERIOUS after party @ the Felt Mansion sponsored in part by the New Holland Brewery.

All the details @ www.allegrina100.com where you can also pre-register if yawanna.

Hey team - let's make this a BIG DEAL, huh? It's a great cause (much like JDRF's!) it's a great ride and Heather and Brian are great folks.

JULY 20 - THE HOLLAND HUNDRED! There are a couple of really cool things happening w/ the HH! This is a great ride and many of us do it every year. Here are a couple more reasons to do so:

FREE ENTRY TO JDRF RIDERS! That's right! Show up in your JDRF jersey (Ride Day, current Team jersey, Herman Miller version, they're all good) and ride the HH for free! (Only applies to riders registered for a 2013 Ride to Cure event)

 BE ENTERED IN A DRAWING TO WIN $300 FOR YOUR RIDE FUND!!!! The Macatawa Cycling Club has stepped up HUGE to support our team! Every registered rider attending the HH will have their name entered in a drawing. At the end of the day 5 names will be chosen to receive a sweet $300 bump to their fund-raising efforts! How ever-lovin' cool is that !?!?!?

All the answers to your questions are at www.hollandhundred.com Again  - this is a great ride and the MCC is being MORE than generous!

AUGUST 3 - THE 6 AND 12 HOURS OF PANDO! Sure - it's a ways off yet but you KNOW this summer's gonna fly by. Mark your calendars now for this fun day! This is a solo,  2 or 4 person relay race on a great lil' 4-ish mile singletrack trail that you can't ride any other time! (It's only open for races). Coach Derek and I wanna eliminate all of your objections right now.....

I don't have a mountainbike - we'll find you one to use!

I don't really "do" off-road - This trail is a blast and you can do as few laps as you'd like!

I don't race - It's not really a race as much as an all day festival. We'll hang out together ALL DAY having fun and being together!

I don't have any lights - Either race on a 6 hour team or ride only during the day on a 12 hour team or borrow some!

Here's the thing....Brent Walk (the race promoter) has been a huge supporter of our team and JDRF over the last couple of years and it'd be GREAT to see a BUNCH of teams out there comprised of our riders and their friends. It'll be a blast, I promise!

Interested? (I sure hope so!) Contact me with your team details OR if you want me to put you oin a team. (I'll just need to know 6 or 12 Hour and 2 or 4 person)

www.funpromotions.com

AUGUST 10 - ONE DAY RIDE ACROSS MICHIGAN! This ride is gonna be bigger and better than ever this year! The easiest Century-And-A-Half you'll ever do and a fund-raiser for some of your teammies to boot! 152 miles, lunch and dinner included and the option of riding back the nexy day if yawanna!

More on this fanTAStic day @ www.odram.com

Okay - enough for now! (Good lord!) Needless to say there are PLENTY of reasons to get'cher ride on as we prepare ourselves to give T1D another punch in the neck!

Speaking for myself, for Coach Derek and the entire Ride Committee....it would please us to no end to see all of y'all out @ the Felt Mansion this coming Sunday....as well as all of these other great events and the other Team Rides on the calendar. (Tour de Taco - 7/14!)

In the meantime - keep riding, keep fund-raising and keep rocking!

I love you guys,
Coach Mike

Team Ride 5 is tomorrow

I know it seems like we just had a team ride last week. That's because we did. We're having another one this Sunday (as in tomorrow). Coaches Mike and DID are doing the Lumberjack ride today and wanted to add to their weekend suffering by scheduling another team ride, with hills. So here are the particulars. The ride leaves at NOON from Tom and Mary Scheidel's house in Rockford. There will be loops of 20, 30, and 40 miles. (please add an -ish to each of those distances). This is a hilly ride. The 40 mile route has almost 1,000 feet of climbing. Before you start whining, that's considerably less than you'll be doing in Nashville or Death Valley. There will be a post ride patio party with whatever snacks you all decide to bring. There will be some of my mom's famous dill pickles. (Just for you Linda Clark.)

Location: 6184 Archer St. NE, Rockford, MI
Date: Sunday, June 16, 2013
Arrival time: 11:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Introductions and the ceremonial handing out of tip sheets: 11:45 a.m.
Clip in and roll out: 12:00 p.m. SHARP

If you have questions or need directions please contact Tom Scheidel as the coaches are busy today. "Oh, I'm a Lumberjack and I'm okay..."

TEAM RIDE 4 REPORT! (The day the weatherman lied)

The forecast for Ride day (Sunday 6/9) was all over the map - all day rain (that was Thurs), chance of rain all day, especially afternoon (Fri), rain in the evening (Sat) etc etc etc. What they NEVER called for was "delightful sunny awesomeness, w/ just enough clouds to break it up, a bit too much wind if you were riding a bicycle south and a few sprinkles just as you were packing up to make you feel kinda smug for squeezing alla the juice outta the day."

So - naturally (this being the Mitten n' all) that's EXACTLY what we got!

We had a decent turnout, in light of all the graduation parties, vacations and other challenges out there:

Coach Did & Kirsten
All 3 Scheidels
Vern V
Special Guest Star Patti "Dr Professor Captain" B
J2
Kim M
Brad S
Host-With-The-Most JD
Chris R and daughter Kristina
Scott W
LTP
Tom M
Paul B
Michelle "Please don't gimme anymore nicknames!" C
Special Guests Bill & Sue G (Fam of JD's) as well as John D from GR
Coach MC & Lin

Not to mention our "Ground Crew" of Maggie & Donna - keeping it real on the grill!

It was a fantastic ride - one that my buddy John D called "the best group ride he's ever done" - we rode together down to New Richmond and across the old bridge. After that we split into a 30 and a 43 mile group and went our merry ways. Both groups rode well together (Hey, I'm the coach - I hear things!) and the goodly assortment of ups were dealt with in style.

Back @ the lake much consumption of brats, chicken, cookies, cupcakes and other critical elements of an athlete's recovery process was observed - along w/ laying in the grass, laughter and general group awesomeness.

A fine day indeed - that's all I'm sayin'.

Our next Team Ride is a week from today - on 6/16. Yes - that IS Father's Day and we certainly understand that family matters may well intrude. It's ALSO the day after Did, Kaat and I attempt the Lumberjack 100 mountainbike race so if you've been lookin' for a chance to put it to us - here ya go!

The details will be sent via e-mail ASAP - but you can count on the location being on GR's east side. (Yes - where the hills are - sigh)

Okay - enough for now........thanks again to everyone that made today special and an even BIGGER thanks to everyone on the team - 'cuz y'all are ALL making everyday special and keepin' T1D looking over its shoulder!

You guys ROCK - you know that, right?

Coach Mike

TEAM RIDE FOUR A-COMIN'!

HEY TEAM!

Here are some numbers for ya:

51 days 'til Burlington!
72 days 'til La Crosse!
93 days 'til Tahoe!
107 days 'til Nashville!
135 days 'til Death Valley!
170 days 'til Tucson!!!!!!

In other words.....time is slipping by! I trust that your riding AND fund-raising is in good shape as I type these words on a sunny-if-kinda-cool Wed morn.

This Sunday brings us a Special Team Ride - hosted by long-time teammate JD Stone out @ Eldean's Shipyard in Macatawa. This be-YOO-ti-ful spot is right on Lake Mac, offers a pool and picnic area and we ALWAYS have a blast!

The deets:

We ROLL at noon. Not 12:10. Not 12:18 after we see you roll in @ 12:10. NOON. Please arrive in time to kit up, pump your tires, fill your bottles and roll at NOON.

(Did I mention that we roll @ 12:00?)

There will be 3 lovely route options of 43, 32 and 20(ish) miles. Those of you who ride in these parts often are well aware that there are limitless options to add (or subtract) a bit if need be.

The post-ride repast is will be anchored (a boat reference - har!) by GrillMeister JD's brats and chicken. Please bring something to share (if you are so inclined) and we sure hope to see you there!

You should have an e-mail w/ location details - holler if not.

See you soon, keep it rolling and keep on rockin'!

Coach MC