Tulip Time Ride Report

So, the day dawned, 70 and sunny as had been forecast. A glance at the radar revealed a rather substantial amount of 70 and sunny was occurring in the Holland area, and some light 70 and sunny occurring in the Grand Haven area. This may have explained the very large initial turnout for the ride, which, including me, totaled 1 person. Now, I had heard from Tom Miller, who was dealing with his THIRD flat tire in two miles, and figured we might accumulate some additional throngs of people when the one of us made it down to Tom's house.

So, we got myself organized and toodled through Grand Haven, getting 70 and sunnied on the whole time. I found a huge throng of people, consisting of, including Tom, Tom. So, tire dealt with, Tom and I and the peloton, which had grown to, including Tom and I, 2 people, continued south. The light drizzle continued. Er, I mean, 70 and sunny. With some breeze. Out of the southeast, so it was a bit of negative tailwind.

Anywho, we continued south, and the light 70 and sunny got kinda hard, and kinda, y'know, horizontal, on account of the breeze getting more assertive. It was kinda Killingtonish, right down to the road grit accumulating pretty much everywhere. Only not as warm. A left, two rights, and a couple of shakes later, we were warming up with Berger and Aaron and a pot of coffee. And no carnie food for us, no sirreebob, we went to 84 East Pasta for some of the best hot soup I've ever had.

Finally warmed up, but still quite saturated with all the 70 and sunny we had soaked up, we cruised north. It was much drier, much faster, and much, well, generally less craptalicious. Tom peeled off a bit north of his house, and I moseyed on back to Spring Lake (with a detour to go up 5 Milf Hill a couple of times).

Now, the important part - the awarding of the Hardcore Points. After much careful theorizing, Coach Mike and I have come up with the following equation:

Distance X (|Avg. Temp-74|) X WindSpeed/Number of Riders

Then, after more theorizing, we decided that was silly, and we would simply follow USA cycling's Hardcore Points guidelines. It's in one of the subsections.

So, after a certain amount of consultation, and after watching Pulp Fiction on AMC, I have decided that Tom Miller is to be awarded the sum of twenty-one (21) hardcore points for riding in the 70 and sunny 46 and driving rain conditions AFTER getting 3 flat tires.

Cinco de Mayo Team Note!

So, it's May, and things are picking...

Hey! Put down the margarita and pay attention! This is important!

Things are picking up as summer approaches, and we've got news, opportunities, and instructions for ya!

First off, riding - are you? We do team rides roughly twice a month, but that's nowhere near enough training if you're planning anything like 100 miles at your ride destination. You need to be riding at least 2-3 times a week, and building up the distances you ride too. There are lots of opportunities for group rides organized by local shops and clubs, and most of them have multiple groups and distances and are always happy to have more people show up! There's a list of local rides on this page, as well as links to training plans that Coach Mike has put together.

AND, because our team is big and awesome and spread out over the West Michigan area, there's probably someone on the team who lives near you and would love to ride with you! The best place to make contact is probably Facebook, but if you get in touch with anyone on the ride committee or either of us coaches we'll hook ya up!

That said, our next official team ride isn't until May 16, but if you can drag yourself away from work on Friday the 7th we'll have a group riding from Spring Lake to Holland and back, for roughly 60 miles total. It's a fun, easy ride, pretty much completely flat, with a good junk food stop in the middle. Rollout time will be 9am from the Herman Miller Spring Lake 171st Street Plant. If you want a shorter option with the same junk food stop, we'll go through the Pigeon Lake area, where there is a parking lot. I don't know if it's a public lot, or if you'll have to pay to park, or what, but there ya go. I think that'll make for about a 30 mile ride. If we leave at 9, we'll probably go through there between 10:15 and 10:30. Looks like it'll be a wet, not-very-warm ride, so, well, there ya go. Extra hardcore points will be awarded, and the hot funnel cake in the middle will taste extra awesome.

Another upcoming ride opportunity is the very nice 100 Grand tour, on June 5. As they did last year, the Rapid Wheelmen are offering FREE entry to any registered members of the JDRF team. There are 17, 35, 65, and 105 mile routes, so there's something for everyone. It's a really nice ride, and I highly recommend doing it. If you want to sign up, please email me by May 21 to be put on the list.

Now - Team Jerseys (the pink ones, that is)! The order has been placed, so we'll have them, uh, soon, I guess. Thus, it's time to pay up if you ordered one. Unfortunately, we didn't hit the quantity we wanted, so the cost is gonna be a little higher than originally advertised. Your cost will be $40 per jersey. They are very nice jerseys, and you're still getting it for way less than cost (thanks Herman Miller!). So, if you ordered one (or more), send $40 per jersey to our team treasurer (Tom Miller) at 11881 Mistral Lane, Grand Haven, MI 49417, or just bring it to our next team ride.

Finally - did ya remember to vote for your favorite T-shirt design?

Ride well, rock stars! See ya soon!

did

Wanna play hookey on Friday?

First off, didja vote for yer favorite T-shirt down there? You, yes, you, can influence just how we present our rockin' awesomeness to the world this year!

Bike Ride Opportunity this Friday!

As we did last year, we're gonna start from the Herman Miller 171st st. plant in Spring Lake, ride down to Holland, say hi to the folks at our favorite bike shop, eat some deep fried something-or-other, and then ride back. Distance will be right around 60 miles - we'll probably make sure we get 62 and change so we can call it a metric century - and I'm thinkin' we'll ride some more after in case you want to flesh things out a bit, and go visit Amy and Mel at their annual epic yard sale.

Start time? Oh, let's say, 9 a.m. That ain't at all chiselled in stone, though we won't want to leave too much later than that. And if you want to ride less, but still with the group, lemme know and I'll figure out a rendezvous place and time...

2010 Michigan Great Lakes West t-shirt - vote now!

Below are the entries for our team T-shirt this year. Use the poll on the right to vote for your favorite. (note: t-shirt color and screen print colors can change). Leave in a comment to this post what color t-shirt and screen print color you think would look best.

T-shirt A

(example of icon)

T-shirt B

T-shirt C

T-shirt D

Money makin' opp-or-tunity

Welcome back long time sponsor XS Energy Drinks. They have once again sent us a pallet of energy drinks and a pallet of H2Ultra water. XS Energy Drinks have no carbs and no sugar. They are loaded with B vitamins and taste great. For those new to the team, or just as a refresher, here's how the program works.

A case of energy drink (12 cans) cost $15. You pay that much to the JDRF office and the money is credited to your ride account. You can then drink the XS yourself or sell it to friends and family. All money raised goes to the ride account of the person who sells it. This promotion has generated over $3,000 a year for team. This year some of the flavors are available in 24 packs. These will sell for $30.

We have lots of great flavors:
Citrus Blast (24 packs)
Cherry Blast (24)
Electric Lemon (24)
Root Beer (24)
Root Beer - caffeine free (12 pack)
Cola (12 and 24 packs)
Tropical Blast (12)
Wild Berry Blast (12)
Cranberry-Grape (12)
Black Cherry Cola (12)

The H2Ultra water also comes in 12 packs. It is for use at your events, like golf outings or Family Fun Days. Call Tom or Mary Scheidel for more info. Making money for the ride was never so refreshing.

RIDE REPORT FOR TEAM RIDE #2!

Well - the weather threatened but never delivered on its promise of rain and wind so 6 (only 6!) members of the World's Coolest Team gathered @ Johnson Park in GR and enjoyed a great ride. For the rest of you - here's some of what'cha missed:

A sweet 29 or 38 mile route on the NE side of Grand Rapids.

Coach Did and I performing the rarely seen syncronized dual front flat as we descended into Tallmadge. Yep - 2 flats @ virtually the same instant! (Not that anyone's keeping score but I had mine changed first - jus' sayin'). Some of you might recall that Cindy set the Team Flat Record on this same ride last year (or mebbe 2 years ago?) w/ 4. I took a half-hearted shot @ her record by riding into the park on a slow leak yesterday but fear not Cin - you still de (wo)man!

The sight of Tom Miller, Kaat Tahy, JD Stone & Linda Clark riding strong and displaying the value of doin' some winter training miles.

A considerable spread on the tailgate of the truck back @ the park - chips n salsa, various cookies, gummy teddy bears, yummy cold beverages, etc.

The no-doubt stunned and wondering look on my face as Derek explained to us that the bunch of weird dudes in the green facepaint were in fact "L.A.R.P. ing". (You HAD to be there!)

Lotsa "advice" (probably zero of which will turn out to be of any use whatsoever!) from her teammies as newbie-duathlete Kaat made the mistake of admitting that she was stressing a bit over the tranisitions in her upcoming duathlon.

So - we had fun - lotsa fun - and we missed you! The next Team Ride on the schedule is set for May 16th up @ Tom Miller's place near Grand Haven. (Hopefully he won't need the drawbridge this time!) I sure hope we see you there!

That's a decent amount of time from now - as we set up the schedule we were tryin' to miss Mother's Day and other stuff - and there is some talk of an "unofficial" Team Ride 'tween now and then so stay tuned for info on that as well as All Things Team Related by checking back to this here Blog every once in awhile.

Ride Summation:

Tom Miller, JD Stone, Kaat Tahy, Linda Clark, Coach Derek, Coach Me.
3 flats.
38 miles.
Lotsa hills.
A few drops of rain.
Lotsa food.
L.A.R.P.ing

Thanks for reading, thanks for riding, thanks for being a part of our Team, thanks for rocking like you all do!

See you soon!
Coach Mike

TEAM RIDE THIS SATURDAY!

Hey Team!

Coach Derek, myself and the rest o' your Ride Commitee sure hope to see your smilin' faces @ Team Ride #2 this Saturday 4/24! Here are the pertinent details:

Where? - Johnson Park on the west side of GR. We've used this park for the past 2-3 seasons. A map to it is here http://tinyurl.com/johnsonparkride

When? - We roll @ 10:00am sharp! A coupla reasons for the earlier start, folks have lotsa social and family stuff goin' on and a goodly # of us will be working @ Van Andel that evening. So - please be there w/ tires inflated, jersey pockets stuffed and ready to roll @ 10:00.

What? - We'll have 2 routes to chose from - one of 28.5 miles and a "long cut" option that'll tack on 'nother 7-8 miles. The cool thing is that you don't hafta decide 'til near the end of the main loop 'cuz the long cut isn't until near the end. It's sort of a roll-y part of the world - no massive climbs but it ain't flat either.

Who? - You! As well as your team mates & any friends you wanna invite along. Remember that exposure to one of our rides has been proven to cause folks to test positive for JDRF infection in the near future. (It's a good way to recruit - that's all I'm sayin')

What else? - There will be the now-standard post-ride social gathering, calorie replacement & mutual admiration society meeting after the ride. I'll bring your basic snacks and everyone else is welcome to do so as you see fit.

I think that covers the basics - feel free to contact Derek or myself if you have any questions.

What's that? You're lookin' for more miles? Read on!
Some of us will be looking to get our "April Century" in on Saturday as well, feel free to join us for some or all of it. We'll be rolling from Riverside Park (basically the South end of the White Pine Trail) @ 6:30am (yeah - I said "6:30am"!) to roll up to the end of the paved trail and back before headin' over to Johnson Park. After the post-ride festivities we'll go back out to get whatever miles we need to check April off the "Century a Month" list. Shouldn't need more than 15-20 at that point) It'd be great to have you join us!

Sunday Stuff - Our team mates Kirsten Dykstra & Cathy "Kaat" Tahy will be competing in the Steelcase Duathlon Sunday morning so wish them luck and send some good vibes their way. Here @ the shop we're hosting the Pineapple Bob Classic Ride - featuring as many dirt and gravel roads as we can link together after rollin' from the shop @ 2:00pm. It'll be do-able on a road bike but a 'cross bike would be best. Food afterwards? You hafta ask?

Looking ahead - The next Team Ride (after Saturday 'natch) is Sunday 5/16 and then again on the 23rd. Sarah Andro is having her "Barbeque, Brews and a Bike Ride" Fun Raiser on 5/21, and you really oughta sign up for ODRAM and ride across the state on 8/21! There are still a few Van Andel gigs coming up (contact Cindy Aley if you wanna get on that train) and as we roll into the season for real there will be more rides, events, fun raising projects, etc. We'd encourage you all to make a habit of checking this blog as well as using it to communicate w/ your team mates.

Okay - to sum up - hope to see y'all Saturday, ride more w/ us if you wanna, bring snacks if you are so inclined, lots going on Sunday & soon, life is good, diabetes sucks and we're out to kick it's ass.

Thanks again and forever more for all you do and for what each and every one of you mean to this Team and JDRF. (And me!)

See you soon - hopefully Saturday!

Coach Mike for the Ride Committee. (Coach Did, Big Cheese Nicole, Katie Clark, Tom Miller, JD Stone, Cindy Aley & Cathy Coury)

By the way - howzabout a HUGE TEAM HOO-RAH for Derek showing that silly little cancer germ just who it was messin' with, huh? Best news I've heard in a l-o-n-g time!