CFT Cycling Team Tuesday Night Ride

Ride summary: sunny and 80, 18 riders. How can something so painful feel so good? The weather was stunningly beautiful; sun, great temperature and no wind. To some dismay I had a prime for ‘most aggressive rider’ and everyone seemed to be trying to win it. In the end Chris took top honors with Cary a close second, the prime was an all expenses paid trip to Tahiti for two make believe (actually a hat), but it made things interesting. You can tell everyone is getting stronger.

KOM: we are going to add KOM to the mix to break things up and keep it more interesting. My KOM ideas are (please let me know if you have different ideas), we have sprints, we should have KOMs! Regroup… YES!
 KOM I: Annis Road (where we head east off of Edgar)
 KOM II: E Race road (appropriately) which is just outside of Leslie
 KOM III: M36 first hill once we turn west off of Meridian

Race results West Branch Road Race:
 Cat 5: 1st place Rhone (outstanding Rhone), 4th place Jeff Chapin, 11th place Craig Newell
 Cat 4: 16th Wade
 Cat 1/2 : Greg Christian 6th, Adam York 12th. Outstanding men.
 Masters 45+: yours truly 5th
 Women cat 3: 2nd Leslie

Race results from West Branch Crit (don’t have MBRA results yet, here is a stab at it):
 Cat 5: 2nd place Rhone and he had to have won the ominium
 Cat 4 not sure yet
 Masters 35+: 5th place Cary, outstanding, fast group, nice work.
 ½: Greg top ten, Adam 18th

Forecast: Sunny & 80, if you lived near the equator this is an average day for you, but for those of us from the 45th parallel sunny and 80 is a rare animal, let’s enjoy it, we have waited a long time for this (maybe since 2008).

PRIME NIGHT: Tonight is PRIME night, the prime goes to Most Aggressive rider tonight.

Overview: This will be our 11th ride this year. We are getting pretty good at making sure we keep everyone together and at the same time let those who want to, ring it out. It’s satisfying to see many get stronger & become better cyclist. Some of it is subconscious, but I see people learning about position in the group, they are smoother in the Paceline and have a more efficient pedal stroke. I don’t have all the race results yet from last weekend, but I know the TNR group finished strong and WON some races, a few of us said without TNR they could not have done it. Race results coming in later post.

Racing:
 Waiting for MBRA update, want to get it right so stay tuned
 Frankenmuth race is this weekend

Spread the word!

Weather: Started cloudy, ended sunny, 65 degrees

Summary: We had so many cars at the Secretary of State’s office that people kept pulling in because they must have thought they were open, instead they found only “The Church of the Bike” open for business, and we were flossin & flyin all over the county and definitely open for business. And business was good. The weather looked bad all day and even at start time was all overcast, but by the time we hit the 3rd sprint the skies were all blue and the wind was all but gone. We had 19 riders. Bo broke a spoke, bummer. Dan Hofstra from Traverse City (one of my teammates) joined us and fought Todd for the first sprint. Cary (MSU professor, and I might add professor of the bike) joined us for the first time on a steel lugged bike and took the second sprint, outstanding. Cary had a Tuesday class and was unable to join us before, but game on now for the summer, glad to you have you Cary. Chris joined us and is training for a race from San Francisco to Washington, DC. Kemp was not there and I did NOT give him a hall pass, blood pinning coming for you Kemp. Loren, thanks for coming out. Steve, riding strong! Emily is the Queen of positioning and strong too, it was not an easy night but that girl just knows where to be. We set up a strong Paceline in what is becoming a tradition to chase Banky down on M-36, we hit 40 MPH and caught Banky at the bottom of the last hill before the Mason sprint. Todd got the Mason sprint, we had so many contesting it which is great to see. Hard to mention everyone but great night, outstanding ride, very good work on everyone’s part.

Forecast: Partly sunny, 65, there is a 20% chance of rain.

Summary: hard to believe it’s only May and tomorrow will be our tenth Tuesday Night Ride! I think we might have lost some bodies, please don’t give up on us, we have the regroup plan working well, everyone is making it. You will become a stronger cyclist and have fun doing it on the TNR, so come out and ride!

Mason Barker Farm Daze Ride this Saturday: Being part of a community (cycling in our case) means getting involved, we did that Saturday and raised some money for Mason Barker’s recovery. He can’t ride because of what happened to him, we can ride and we did ride, it was a magnificent day, thanks for participating. Tim Potter, you are hard to the core. Tim must have had about a 1989 Nishiki cro-moly steel lugged frame, and this might have been the lightest single piece of the bike. In fact it’s possible my frame weighed less than Tim’s kickstand, nevertheless, Tim went to front and put the hammer down on many occasions, I like the way you roll Tim.

Parking: Remember the good “Christians” at the Church of Christ do want us parking at their church so park across the street. A lot of people are upset about this but I suggest we let it die, nothing to be gained from pursuing it, let’s focus on inflicting pain on each other instead, it will be more fun and more productive.

Summary: it was a cold, dark, night, East wind. If the weather didn’t help, changing the night probably didn’t help either. Also, graduation may have meant we lost some of our group. Despite all of these challenges it truly was a great ride, I know that seems odd. We had twelve at the start and everyone made it. the crosswinds made it challenging and every sprint was contested. Dean wins the ‘born again hard award’ which will be presented next Tuesday Night by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman himself. Life is good.

Mason Barker Farm Daze Ride this Saturday: I am going and many others are in too! Please come out and make sure you register at http://www.msutriathlon.com/events/farm-daze-tour We are rolling at 9:30 AM from the MSU Pavilion in the NE Corner of the parking lot, there may be a lot of people there, but this is where the TNR group is meeting to start. This is a great cause, do it for the fun, do it for the cause, do it because you can! Come on!

Racing: If I missed you please let me know, I looked through the results and here is what I found
 Kensington – it was a brutal day with 40 MPH winds, just finishing was a victory
1. Adam York 7th in the 1/2 race! Outstanding!
2. Leslie Gaines, 1st in the women’s cat 3 race, best result of the weekend for our group!
3. Craig Newell, in his first race back in 8 years he nearly got it but finished with a fast group in the cat 5 at the line for a 6th place finish, only 7 seconds off the lead.
4. Yours truly, 3rd in masters 45+; we took 1st, 3rd, 4th & 8th great day tactically for us.
 Cone
1. Fast Freddie 5th in the masters 45+ race after fighting back from a flat and he got me at the line. This was West Michigan’s day tactically, they took 1st, 3rd and 5th.
2. Yours truly 6th behind Fast Freddie in the field sprint. Our team got 2nd and 6th.
 Collegiates: I know Greg went but I have no results. try http://mwccc.org/sp10/

Ride Summary: Sunny, 70. What does not kill makes stronger. Crosswinds & fast people = fun mix of pain and suffering. 24 riders, not bad for finals week. Someone suggested we stop after sprints & wait an est. 10 seconds to regroup. What happens now is five guys are hitting 36 MPH then roll @ 17 & those who can’t go 36 are trying to get back on. We can keep it together, work on finishing speed and make everyone stronger, by just stopping ten seconds, we all win. Greg… I saw HR 192 in your draft last night, how do you do that? Kemp, get Greg a TNR hat to wear on some of these podiums he will be occupying. Fast Freddie, great to have you out, I was pulling 1200 watts on your wheel and you were still accelerating, heaven’s to Murgatroy. Kemp, lots of great attacks last night. But my favorite was Steve Smith, I could tell you were having a tough night but you hung in there and made the ride, outstanding. Chris, I hope you are getting this, please email me, thank for joining us.

September 25 Lansing Race:
1 We are forming a committee called the RACPAC (which stands for Racing Punk Ass Committee), Webb, Kemp, Doug, Wade and Steve are in it, I volunteered you.
2 The venue is the Healthy & Fit Magazine Expo.
3 We already have some great ideas; win and out, urban obstacles, open to all citizens like Iceman, etc. ideas welcome, please help.

Forecast: Sunny, 70, breezy

New Developments:
1 We have been asked to help organize a race in Lansing on 9/25/10 around the Capital by Healthy & Fit Magazine, we can and will help to make it happen, we certainly want to foster racing in our area. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you have ideas about the format of the race, making it fun, etc. please let me know.
2 Remember the MSU Triathlon Team is sponsoring a ride to benefit Mason Barker on May 15th, riders can start between 8 & 10 AM at the MSU Pavilion. For info, visit www.msutriathlon.com It’s a great cause, I am in, there are no road races, let’s support them.