Whole lotta stuff going on!

Hey, whoa, hey there now! This week is dangerously close to getting away from me, here!

First off, we had a redonkulously good time doing the Pando relay race last Saturday, and we've got a couple of notables to report. First off, and Lindsey S. and mine-own-Kirsten both did their first ever mountain bike races (and Lindsey was doing her first ever mountain bike ride on a bike she'd never seen before!). Kirsten and JD Stone teamed up to do the 6 hour race, but K ended up doing the bulk of the lapping herself after JD's chain did a fair impression of a genade after only a lap and a half, and actually finished with her most miles ever on a mountain bike and the bruises to prove it!

Lindsey was joined by Tom Miller, Roy Logan, and John Jasker for the JDRF 12 hour team, and pulled off 23 hard-fought laps for 3rd place in their division. And, finally, Patti "bikeface" Bills, Jan Toscano (of the cookies at VeloCity), Coach MC, and li'l ol' me staged a come-from-behind victory in our "Open Veterans" division, somehow pulling off 30 laps in only 9 minutes less time than the second place team. More importantly, organizer Brett Walk was giving JDRF all kinds of love over the PA system, and I think we even got a few donations!

We really, really need to do that again next year, big time - we need multiple 12 hour teams. It's just batty fun; my throat was kinda raw the next day from all the screaming, and maybe a little from the gasping for breath after riding up the tubing hill. And maybe from barking at the deer that appeared on the trail ahead of me in the twilight. Big thanks to those who came out to watch - Tom and Ian, the whole Grandville Clark clan, and the long-suffering Didlet - and especially to the Nearly Healed HellKaat, who stayed until the bitter end!

THEN, Sunday, Paul Brown opened up his really, really cool house to me, Kirsten, MC & Lin, Heather A, Michelle C, Katie & Steve C (along with Ellie & Anna riding 15 miles!), Chris & Becky M, Paul and Nick C, Tom, Mary, & Ian S, JD Stone, and the irrepressible Linda TP; we rode some new-to-us roads east of Saranac and through the Ionia state recreation area.

Fast-forward through the blah blah blah of the work week - we had the LaCrosse ride on Saturday; MC will no doubt have a report in the works, but with over 400 riders and over a million dollars raised, it was a smashing success. At precisely the same time, the One Day Ride Across Michigan sported some 275 people rolling from Montague to Bay City; we don't have numbers yet, but with more than double the people we had last year, and people buying jerseys, and people raising hundreds of dollars to earn a jersey, and nothing but positive comments rolling in, it's safe to say it was a smashing success! Rolling across the state were our own Roy L, Kaat, Lindsey, Jasker, Michelle C, Heather A, and mine own Kirsten.

Now, we're in the home stretch for the Tahoe riders; our last pre-Tahoe team ride is this coming Sunday. we'll have a separate blog post and Facebook event and email for the details, but please, if you're going to Tahoe, try to make that ride. We're going to have a lot of information coming for you, so make sure you read everything carefully.

It's gonna be great!

Tahoe Tales.....

Hey Team!

Man - even as we load the van for La Crosse (435 riders = a TON o' Bike Room Stuff!) I'm wonderin' if anyone is gettin' pumped for Tahoe?

Nice article in this weekend's USA Today about just exactly that place..........worth reading but here are a few quotes:

"This noble sheet of blue water is so clear the boat seems to be floating in air" and the air "bracing and delicious...the same the angles breathe."  Thus spake an enamored Mark Twain after his first visit.

"I call it the "Big Blue Pill" because it cures whatever ails you" Tahoe City local Todd Smith.  "I live in the most beautiful place on Earth". (Now - I don't know about that - there's a deplorable lack of desert for instance - but everyone's entitled to their opinion!)

Twain again, in his 1862 travelogue "Roughing It"..."As Tahoe lay there w/ the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface, I thought ift must surely be the fairest picture the whole Earth affords."

Well then - perhaps we shoud go see for ourselves then, eh?

Feel free to make the trip out to the Pando Ski Area in Belding on Saturday - Coach Did, Lindsay, Tom, Roy, John J, Pea, JD, Kirsten and lil' ol' me will be representin' & racin' the 6 or 12 Hours of Pando. The "fun" commences @ noon and goes to (strangely enough) either 6pm (JD & Kirsten) or midnight. Feel free to bring cowbells, pizza, cookies etc and cheer us on for a lap or three! (The "relay team" format of the event means that at any given time there'll be lotsa of folks you know hanging out)

And don't forget the Team Ride on Sunday! I sure hope to see you there!

Okay - Coach MC, over n' out!

TEAM RIDE REPORT - 8/5/12

Wow, what a fine day!
The first Team Ride of August was a good'n and for those of you that couldn't join us.....we missed you!

6 riders convened for the early "Loop Zero" option - lookin' to tack on an early 30 in search of a century - Coach Did, Kirsten, Michelle "These Boots Are Made For Ridin' " Carpenter, Lindsay "Happy Anniversary" Stacy, Kaat "I'm Baack And I'm Baad" Taahy and yours truly rolled out @ 8am to check the wind (there was some - but not nearly as much as there would be later!) and got back to the park About 10:30.

There we lost Michelle - her summer cold got the better of her - and added Paul Brown, Team Scheidel & Cindy. This time we went north - up around Cedar Springs (ICE CREAM STOP #1!!!), Sand Lake, etc. We blessed a bit of the White Pine Trail w/ our presence, climbed a lotta rollers, kicked Fisk Knob in the teeth and in general handed out some booty-kicking. The weather was perfect - especially after the steambath we've been livin' in - but there WAS a bit o' wind outta the West/Northwest to contend with.

And contend with it we did!

1:45 or so saw us back @ Long Lake Park - where we added the irrepressable LTP, John "It's not purple, it's eggplant!' Jasker & the ever-popular Linda Jo. After re-fueling on diet root beer, RC, watermelon, chips 'n salsa, peanut butter cookies and giant mutant raspberries - and a bout of "who's ridin' what tandem?" we rolled again - this time lookin' for 40 miles and the promise of more ice cream.

By mile 15 or so the endless rolling hills and stiff headwind was havin' some of us re-thinking our day. At the ice cream joint in Cedar Springs (ICE CREAM STOP #2!!!) we split into 2 groups - one heading directly back to the park (and equally directly into the wind) and the rest grabbin' the WPT again up to Sand Lake, back up n' over Fisk Knob from the other side and finishing up by riding much of the race course from the March TT.

Soon thereafter we were "reunited and it felt so good." Back at the park we commandeered the best picnic table down near the lake (yep - there's a lake at Long Lake Park - who woulda figgered?!?!) and more snacking and feasting commmenced.

All in all - 'twas a dang fine day!

Next Team Ride is Sunday, 8/12 from Paul's place in Ada. 'Tween now and then we also have the 12 Hours of Pando ATB race/party on Saturday the 11th. Details on both to follow!

Remember - we have 2 riders (Laura Brandt and Paul Brown) leaving for the La Crosse Ride next week! Keep 'em in your thoughts!

Also - ODRAM is comin' up fast! Saturday the 18th to be egg-zact!

And - Tahoe Riders......you have a month before your Ride! You gonna be ready?

Let's finish this season strong, huh? Let's show T1D what a loser it's gonna be for messin' w/ the World's Coolest Team and show the rest of the JDRF Universe just how cool we are!

You guys rock, have I mentioned that lately?

XO
Coach EmSi

Team Ride Details for Sunday, August 5

Start Location: Long Lake Park on Krauskopf Drive - map here: http://goo.gl/maps/2xQ8a

2 loops, 2 start times, plus more if ya want it:

Loop 1, 30 or so miles, rolling out at 11 am
Loop 2, 40 or so miles, rolling out at 2:15 pm

Early morning "gotta getta century" Loop Zero: 8am rollout time for 30ish miles.

Post ride snacks and hangin' out time, naturally! And there's a nice lake to jump in, so bring your suit (or swim in your kit, or whatever - there are bathrooms there you can change clothes in).

See ya Sunday!

A note about what we do

A few years ago I was at dinner before one of the JDRF rides. We had made our way from Michigan out to Death Valley. The 100 mile ride through the desert would start early the next morning. A variety of people spoke that evening. They talked about how much money we had collectively raised. They told us to be safe out on the road. And they gave awards to the top fundraisers and recruiters. One speaker, unfortunately I don't remember who it was, said something that has stayed with me ever since. He said "What you're doing here is important. You never know whose life you are going to impact." That lesson was made very clear this week.

Every year, as part of our fundraising, we send out a donation request letter to our friends and family. One year we also put a notice in our church bulletin. That year we received a donation from a woman from church. We knew who she was, but she was barely an acquaintance. She was one of those people you say hello to every week, but it doesn't really go any farther than that. In subsequent years we would send her a letter and she was always one of the first to send a donation. And every year the amount of the donation grew. We were perplexed. Why was this woman being so generous to the cause? Yesterday we found out. Included with her check was a note card that said this: "Best of luck with this year's ride. Appreciate your commitment to JDRF. It was 25 years this summer that I lost a sister to J.D. She died at the age of 34. God bless. Mary Ellen" You never know whose life you are going to impact.

Team Ride This Sunday!

HOT ENOUGH FOR YA?

Har. If you’d like to smack me for saying that, might I suggest you come to our next TEAM RIDE?

This SUNDAY, April JULY 22, we’ll roll out at 10am from Grand River Riverfront Park near Lowell – map is here: http://goo.gl/maps/VSPg. We pass this park all the time when we ride from Ada Park, so it’s nice and easy to get to. We’ll ride about 56 miles with some shortcuts available, and then Lori Huver has offered up her house for some of the usual post-ride hangin’ out and eatin’! Her place is just down the road from the park; we’ll have directions to her house at the park for those who show up to ride, or if you can only make it to the post-ride festivities get in touch with me and we’ll get you there.

So, deets:

• ·         Sunday,  April JULY 22, 10am rollout time (be there early, please!)
• ·         Rolling from Grand River Riverfront Park, here: http://goo.gl/maps/VSPg
• ·         Up to 56 miles, some hills (but we’re not going up Snow, so don't freak out!)
• ·         Post-ride eats! Bring a dish to pass and something to sit on
• ·         PLEASE RSVP by Friday, July 20!

Hope to see you this Sunday –

Y’all rock!

Tour de Taco - in the bag!

Ahoyhoy, rockerinos!

Interestingly, the "rockerino" is a force-carrying particle predicted by the Standard Model of physics, like that Higgs boson everyone's all twitterpated about. The rockerino, however, is responsible for awesomeness.

Clearly our rockerino field is unusually strong.

OK, nerding out aside, we had a fantastic ride this past Sunday - many thanks to Coach Mike and Linda for opening up their house and yard, and to John Jasker for providing us with the flat tire demo that we neglected to do before rolling out.

In attendance:
Vern VH

Lori H

Tom & Donna

Heather & Brian

Pea

UberStoker Kaat

Michelle

Heather A.

(Hmm. Both of our Heathers are "Heather A's". Interesting.)

Tessa

MC & Lin

did & K

Jasker

Nicole & Cliff

Paul B

Perpetual New Guy Rob A.

Chris & Becky

JD & Maggie

And we were joined by Tom & Mary and Diana S after the ride to help us with the chicken taco preparation and consumption, while House Canines Max and Jasmine provided numerous sweaty leg licks and longing stares at overflowing plates of food. Much hangin' out goodness was had, much love was felt!

This coming weekend, bend your thoughts eastward to Burlington, Vermont as Ride to Cure Season kicks off! I believe I saw that the Vermont ride was sitting well north of $800,000 raised - how kickass is that? It's worth noting that, while the BikeFace is certainly strong with us, ultimately it's about that number with the dollar sign in front of it. That's the number that lets JDRF fund research, and that research has made remarkable strides even in the last few years - improved insulin pumps, continuous glucose meters, and greater understanding of what causes this disease are making lives better, and bringing a cure into sight.

And that's what we're here for.

Next team ride will be July 22, most likely in the Grand Rapids area - watch this space for details. Thanks, y'all!