Tuesday Night Ride Summary June 29th 2010

We were reminded of why we tolerate six months of cold and darkness last night, the temp was 72, no humidity & the sun was shining, stunningly beautiful night. We had 20 riders some battle worn from the SBF race weekend and some chomping at the bit. It was the fourth and last night in the series of Sprint Night’s sponsored by Capital Area Bike, and it was blistering fast and fun. We saw some new faces and some old faces who rejoined us. On to the competition, with the Minnesota State Track Champion Brian Crosby with us we knew it would be a hard night. Brian attacked over ½ mile out from the first sprint, it was everything I had to get up to him, then he hit me again and go the first sprint. Brian took the 2nd sprint too, Cary got 2nd. With the west wind we were flying east and Cary got the jump to take the 3rd sprint ahead of Kemp. I took the fourth sprint and on the fifth attacked at the crest of the last hill and barely held off the charge at the line. Chris was awarded ‘most aggressive rider’ he pulled the entire group from Leslie nearly all the way to the next sprint and attacked at least ten times last night. Please take the time to thank Mike Williams (aka Doogie Houser) when you see him next, this series was highly competitive and super fun and we all got stronger and faster. Until next time boys and girls, I am up and out.

Tuesday Night Ride June 29th 2010

Forecast: Sunny & 71, NW wind.

Format: This will be the fourth in the series of sprint competitions in June sponsored by the Capital Area Bike Association. So far Craig Newell, Greg Christian and Brian Crosby have won competitions, who will be the fourth and last? I have seen Todd and Jeff both with glazed eyes and some mobine perspiration on their upper lip areas at the end of the last few competitions, or will it be Kemp who like the Viet Kong tries to weave a series of interconnected tunnels through the field, there are others, ride smart and you can win.

Going Forward: We are looking for suggestions to keep the ride fresh for July, put your ideas in the comments of this post below so everyone can see them. We have sponsors and interested party’s we just need some ideas.

Superior Bike Fest Summary

In predictable fashion riders from our TNR performed well at the State Championships in Marquette this weekend. Here is a short summary.

Womens Cat 3: Leslie Gaines got 2nd in the State Road Race Championships, nice work Leslie.

Cat 5: Jeff Chapin WON the Cat 5 Omnium, which includes the criterium, road race and circuit race. In addition he won the criterium on Friday night in a pouring rain. He attributed TNR to part of his success, and we have been doing this since March. Working on finishing speed and riding with fast people in general will make you fast. Jeff, outstanding work my brother, you are born again hard.

Cat 4: Ben Cox finished up 9th overall for the cat 4 Omnium and Cameron Marshall finished up 10th overall in the Omnium. They both finished consistently in the front of the field of over 30 riders showing their racing acumen. Great job men.

Cat 3: Todd Davidson in what I believe is his coming out party to cat 3 got 10th overall in the stacked and strong cat 3 field. Todd got 8th place in the crit in a downpour then followed it up with and 8th place in the state championship road race the next day. Nice work Todd.

Masters: yours truly had a great weekend, 2nd in the crit, 2nd in the road race, 4th in the circuit race, wrapped up the Omnium and won the 50+ state championship. Also, Fast Freddie who won this Omnium before placed 7th overall.

A total of 14 TNR this year certainly played a part in the results across the board in each category. Outstanding!

News from Superior Bike Fest

Jeff Chapin won the cat 5 race today in a pouring rain. Outstanding!

TNR, 6/22, “What a long strange trip it’s been”

Weather sunny and 78, low humidity, low winds, stunningly beautiful, 18 riders. I assume numbers were down due to school being out and State Championships this weekend, but still a great group. You could tell who was saving their legs and who was chomping at the bit from the start. Jennifer was the first to attack two miles out from the first sprint. Brian got the first sprint and started a pattern for the evening. Jennifer, who races for Kenda, had an out of the ordinary night on her first TNR. First with shifting, then a flat, more later. Cary got the second sprint, he won this one before. Todd took the first KOM. Brian took the third sprint and fourth and wrapped up the points to win the 3rd sprint competition. After the third sprint I rolled up to Brian who was holding a kitten, no I am not kidding, look closely at the picture above, Brian has the Sprint Competition prime in one hand and the cat in the other. Brian and Jennifer rode that cat all the way to the end of the ride, Brian even won the 2nd KOM with the cat in his left hand. Alan said “we’ve taken care of any bad karma that might be coming our way for the rest of the season by saving that cat.” Cary nabbed the coveted Mason sprint to wrap up 2nd place. And the long, strange trip was over. Sayonara until next time boys and girls.

Tuesday Night Ride June 22 - 3rd Sprint Competition & KOM

No chance of rain until after our ride tonight according to the weatherman, and since the weatherman is always right and never wrong, see you all tonight.

This will be our third in the series of four sprint competitions in June sponsored by the Capital Area Bike Association. Newell and Christian are out of the competition (you can only win once). We discussed a series winner for the month, and we are tabulating the points so stay tuned.

We dropped some brothers last week, this will not happen this week, apologies. This ride is about finishing speed and sprinting and don't forget breakaways (Hmmm, that might be our July competition) but it is not about start to finish overall speed. Bottom line the ride is for all of us, don't get discouraged.

Tuesday Night Ride June 15th - Sprint Competition & KOM Summary

Weather - beautiful. Attendance - great (19). Speeds - fast. Ride - hard as hell.

The second in the series of four sprint competitions was tonight. I was unaware of this but apparently not only does MSU have a cycling team but the MSU Astrophysics Department does too (Greg Christian and Brian Crosby), forget about any visions you might have in your head about nerdy scientists, these men are tough as nails and love to go fast and suffer. Greg got all but one sprint and Brian was just being nice because it was his first TNR but got mostly all the other points leaving yours truly with black eyes (see picture, yes scientists throw punches, I felt every one of them) but a third place. The astrophysicists allowed Doug Derdowski into the first sprint and Kemp in the 4th but that was it. By the way, good luck to Doug in the 24 hour challenge this weekend, he is shooting for a PR with help from his brothers.

Craig Newell had no competition in the KOM taking both.

Todd was the first recipient of the tube replacement program on TNR thanks to CABO. He flatted before we started and got a brand new tube.

That's all from me, I need to go, I have a doctors appointment to see if any bones are broken in my face and to reattach some ligaments and muscles from my butt to my legs.

Tuesday Night Ride June 15th

It’s difficult to know if it’s going to rain tomorrow afternoon so all we have is the ability and desire to plan. Plan we will. See you all tomorrow. This will be the second sprint competition and of course we have our own Michigan version of KOM.

Wednesday June 9, 2010 Ride Summary

Stats: Sunny, 75, west wind, 12 riders

Summary: this was the inaugural Sprint Night Sponsored by Capital Area Bike Association (CABO). The devil would have been proud of the looks on these boys faces as they fired their pistons in an attempt to win honors for the sprint competition. It was a tight competition, Craig Newell won with 11 points, second was Jeff Chapin with 9 then Mike Kemp with 8. The photo shows the angst and bitterness Jeff and Mike had for having to settle for ‘not the winner’, while Craig was gleaming. Better luck next time boys. The good news is there is a next time for Jeff and Mike, but Craig, you are out! You can only win once. Yours truly won the both KOM’s. Thirteen rides so far, two had to be rescheduled to Wednesdays due to weather, this was one of them. Last week we had 24, this week half that. There was a strong crosswind coming from the west, but once we headed east we were flying. The night was stunningly beautiful otherwise, warm, sunshine, in Michigan you have to enjoy these days, we only get so many. Thanks again to Mike Williams for donating the gift certificates from Denny’s Central Park Cycle, and for the tubes and CO2s. The tube/CO2 program will work this way, if you flat on the ride you get a new tube and CO2 at the ride, compliments of CABO. I am up and out, until later, ride on.

Wednesday June 9, 2010 Ride - Sprint Night

We got rained out yesterday, but game on today, should be clear and 73 at ride time, see you all at 6:00 PM. Not sure what the day change will do to numbers, but if we have a critical mass we will have Sprint Night sponsored by Capital Area Bike Association and Mike Williams. If you know Mike please tell him thanks, he really went above and beyond here and to top it off CABO donated Tubes and CO2 so every flat on TNR is free.

Spread the word!

Tuesday Ride Cancelled - Bummer

Latest News for TNR

Forecast: Sunny and 75, are you kidding me?

Overview: This Tuesday will be an exciting ride for us, why? Read on…

First: Capital Area Bike Association www.capitalareabike.org & Denny’s Central Park Cycle are sponsoring a New Sprint Format. Here is how it works:
I. The sponsored nights are 6/8, 6/15, 6/22 & 6/29
II. The winner gets a gift certificate to Denny’s Cycle thanks to Michael Williams and the Capital Area Bike Association (also they have the CABO / Kodak kits)
III. There are five sprints on TNR, the top 3 place in each sprint; first is 3 points, 2nd is 2 points and 3rd is one point. Most points wins. Consistency is rewarded.
IV. You can only win once so there will be four winners in June!

Second: The Capital Area Bike Association has donated tubes and CO2 cartridges to our ride, so if you flat, it’s a free fix! Mike, knows we like to burn rubber.

Third: Zach Berridge, an MSU Journalism student, wants to do a story about our ride! He is going to show up at 5:30, if you can come early and tell him some war stories about our ride great!

Fourth: I have it on good information that a guy named Brian who has been racing track in Europe will join our ride. He showed up at the Thursday ride and ripped everyone’s legs off, Rick said Round Lake Road looked like a Monty Python movie after he was done, hmmm... I shall call him “Life of Brian”

So come on! Get Outside! Game on!

Tuesday Night Ride Summary June 1st, 2010

Help Needed: If anyone has done anything more fun than last night’s ride in the past month please tell me so I can do it. I was simultaneously unable to catch my breath or wipe the smile off my face the entire ride.

Reloading: We had three new cuts of meat for the grinder last night. If my memory was better I would tell you all of their names but it’s not so forget about it. I do remember the MSU Triathlon team youngster who just returned after an internship in Indiana, thanks for coming and attacking from the gun. One name I do remember is Jamie (sp.) who was invited by Mark Warner (Mark get me Jamie’s email), Jamie if you can read this… nice work, it was a hard and fast ride, you made it my brother. Bottom line, we keep reloading, we can’t be stopped.

The ride: what kind of a ride was it? I don’t know I am not a ride scientist. What I do know is the ride was the hardest and fastest ride yet this year. I know that everyone made it, everyone! I know that everyone left the ride feeling salty and hardcore, like a seasoned Marine with tons of trigger time. And there were bullets flying all over that mo fo. Todd started it off by getting away near the first sprint, only to be caught by Craig and Cary. Then Todd again attacked two miles from the second sprint with Craig in tow, we thought we could hold off that pack of wolves but it wasn’t to be… Fast Freddie hunted me down and then ate Todd raw within sight of the sprint line, bones and all. Chris was feeling left out after winning ‘most aggressive rider’ last week so he started firing too. Todd got honors for the first KOM with a blistering attack. Heading out of Leslie twenty four fire breathing dragons were flying over the countryside, everyone was in on it, it was fast. I took the 2nd KOM with Jeff a close second, but no one was interested in any gifts and they attacked, game on, were doing forty down the back side now, everyone is still there. About a mile out from the Mason sprint Mike Williams must have been using the seatpost motor Cancellara used to get a 100 yard gap, or he is really that strong, but this group was not letting him go. I could literally hear Cary breathing down my neck but nipped him at Mason city limit line. Life is good.