The fifth and final round

It's been a busy week, so right to it.

Racing: Many Tuesday Night Ride alums were at Cherry Roubaix this past weekend in Traverse City. I might miss someone but this much I know. Emily Flynn won the Cat 3 criterium, wow! Craig Newell won the Cat 5 mens race on a hard and hot course in an uphill field sprint! And finally I won the masters race, good weekend for people named Craig.

TNR: Tomorrow is the fifth and final in the August Sprint series. Everyone is salty and feeling hardcore so it should be fast and frenetic. The winner of tomorrow's sprints will get a $40 gift certificate to Bravo Italiano Italian restaurant in Eastwood Towne Center. And as an extra added incentive Brian, Alan, Todd and Rhone are out of the running for the certificate so you can win but you have to be there.

Sprinting advice from a pro: sprinting is 50% instinct, 25% patience, 15% acceleration, and 10% top speed, this information might help you tomorrow!

Time Trial series: The final results for the series are posted, 29 people participated, what a great series. Too bad it's over but this Thursday marks the start of the new "Hill Climb Thursday", more to come.

Tuesday Ride 8/24/10

I was as ornery as a Taliban insurgent being forced to listen to Afternoon Delight last night. Then I realized something… I was ornery because we could not get away, and we tried! Believe me, we tried! and we could not get away! See chart at bottom of blog if you still do not believe me. So why? Because! Because! Everyone is rolling so fast right now, it would not have been possible to roll, scratch, claw or cheat your way off the front of that herd. So don’t waste those race legs, get up to Traverse City this weekend and annihilate some mothers at the Criterium and Road Race. Back to last night… we made two corrections which changed some outcomes last night. First, sprint 3 was tighter than a sumo wrestler trying to squeeze into a Smart Car so we decided to award the “W” to Jeff Chapin. Second, because of the change to sprint 3 Rhone ended up with 2nd overall & since Brian already won a weekly prize Rhone will take home the $40 gift certificate to Dusty’s Cellar compliments of Capital Fund Title and our benevolent philanthropists Steve and Stacey. Nice work Jeff and Rhone. It’s not mathematically impossible to beat Brian at this point but it is realistically impossible, Jeff you still have an outside shot.

We had our very own roving photographer present for most of last night’s ride and we should have photo’s of the podium and sprints coming soon. For now, here are some shots from last week.

Administrivia: Daylight is getting shorter, we need to start on time next week. We were asked to not relieve ourselves in the parking lot, it’s a logical request, we have enough stops to work these 'comfort' breaks.

-Zach, after having a rough night on his first trip to TNR last week, was ripping peoples legs of this week, nice work Zach.
-Brian went to a big track event in Minnesota where over twenty teams competed. Do I need to tell you who won? Ok, 2nd place was over four laps behind them and 3rd was... well... let's call it Uzbekistan behind! Nice work Brian.
-Craig Newell took 3rd at the State Championships this past weekend, I saw the finish, he was the strongest, but went a little early and still only two could come around him.

Don’t forget to make it out to the TT Thursday, this will be the last one before venue’s are changed to the hill climb TT which I do not plan to miss as it will be great training for Iceman.

Thursday Time Trial Series Ice Cream and Country Club

The great weather was not a deterrent last night as we saw ten people line up for the fifth round in the TT series. More than bragging rights were on the line as our local "Bike Philanthropist" Steve Smith put up a reward for anyone who could break the course record and Ice Cream for the top 5! Well a new course record was set and will probably last a week until Rhone, Alan, Brian, Todd and a list of others decide enough is enough and show us how it's really done. Twenty-Six different riders have come out to try the TT series so far, can we shoot to get this to forty? Good Goal, come on! Starting in September (September! Yikes! summer is gone?) Doug is moving the TT to a new venue, the course will include a hill repeat that will be great training for mountain bike season, more to come.

Also, Doug has set up a site for the TT, check it out. http://weeklyttseries.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Night Ride Summary August 17, 2010

Holy Humanities! The recipe last night was equal parts fun and pain, put it in a mixer and spit it out on the fly. We had seven people in the points last night for the 3rd installment of the August Sprint Series sponsored by Capital Fund Title Services. Todd Davidson took home a $40 gift certificate for Stillwater Grill by winning two of the six sprints and placing in three others, nice work! Webbcorp & Jeff Chapin tied for first loser to finish the podium. The entire night was, well... just fast. The competition has changed the complexion of our ride in ways no one anticipated. We are all stronger for it, thanks Steve! Brian took the night off but on the strength of the first two installments of the series still leads the overall followed by Webbcorp, then Jeff, 23, 21 & 18 respectively.

Tyler & Emily had a rough night on 8/10 but they were back in the saddle last night. Tony reappeared after a long absence along with Cary. And, we had two new faces in David and Zach from the MSU Triathlon Team. Zach, nice work toughing it out. David, strong riding my brother.

TT series: Don't forget the time Time Trial series tomorrow. The top 5 times this week will get a gift certificate to Maggie Moos and if a new course record is set that person will get dinner for two at the Lansing Country Club thanks to Steve Smith and 808 Lake Lansing LLC. Steve what are you some kind of bike philanthropist? Cheese and rice!

Rito Reminder: Don't forget, every lovin mother that shows face on 9/7, even the sinners, wheel suckers & Arizona graduates, get a gift certificate for a FREE burrito at Panchero's. Try to tell Rick Oberle thanks if you see him, here is a picture of Rick from his younger days.

Good evening ladies, see you tomorrow.

Panchero's Burrito Night September 7th

Are you Kiddin me? No it's true! Everyone who comes to the Tuesday Night Ride on September 7th will get a coupon for a FREE Panchero's Burrito.

Your gonna need it after you get a case of whoop ass opened up on ya at TNR.

Tuesday Night Ride August 10, 2010

Hot Damn Tamale: We’ve had some warm nights but this one takes the prize and with no wind and high humidity it was good thing we were moving as fast as we were. We started with twenty even though a lot of the brotherhood was not present.

Slip N Slide: No not the kind they do with beer at the frat houses, this was serious. Luckily no one was seriously hurt. One door closes, another opens… that door opened for Todd who was running late and caught us, game on for Todd as others were leaving the ride.

Sprinting?: After we tended to the wounded the remainder of us set out to wound ourselves internally. With no break occurring Brian had no problem dispelling with us for the first W. Then Alan, Webbcorp & Greg took off to take the 2nd sprint in a breakaway. Alan and Greg again rode away before Leslie and held off for the 3rd sprint in a breakaway, very nice. Brian took the 3rd sprint which was all together, remember that boys, look at the details, if you plan to beat Brian you need to be in a break.

Animal Conspiracy: not sure if you heard of this hypothesis, but some believe animals are rising up to attack humans and claw their way back up the food chain. This happened to us a year ago when a goose chased a rabbit across the road right into our path, not good, people got hurt, goose chuckled. Last night a dog the size of shoe decided he would attack all 22 of us and it almost worked, but I have to hand it to everyone, we kept our cool and pursued with the job at hand. Brian took the next two sprints and sealed his 2nd win.

The picture of Michigan Racing: not sure how many noticed but Brett Robinson joined us last night near the 5th sprint. Brett is a mentor of mine and as well as one of the strongest cyclist in Michigan he is tactically the best I have seen. Brett’s been ill, but he is back on the bike! It would be easier to name the races Brett has not won in Michigan, here is a picture of Brett in action.

If at first you don’t succeed: Banky after years of trying finally had his day at the Mason sprint with a strong break companion in Wade, son he is riding good.

Final podium shot: Brian, Alan, Craig. Alan went home with the dinner and a movie coupons, nice work youngster. Yes, for the tenth time, this is my wife's jersey!

Ok, my brothers and sisters, I am up and out, Webbcorp

TNR - Tuesday 8/10/10

Administrivia: Hard to believe but tomorrow will mark our twenty-first bout at Tuesday Night Ride which started on March 23rd. We’ve come a long way this year, last year it was possible to show up at the Church of Christ for TNR and not even the Lord would be there, much different story this year.

Sprint Series: Tomorrow marks the second of five Sprint nights sponsored by Capital Fund Title Services

The winner tomorrow gets dinner for two and two tickets to Celebration Cinema. Also, if you have aspirations of going to Bellaire for a two night stay at the Stone Waters Inn and drinking $300 of Huma Lupa Licious at Short’s Brewery in September you will need to come with a plan and ride from the neck up or our resident track star will leave with all the goods.

Other rides: the Thursday Time Trial series will resume this week, come out and try to beat Alan’s time of 21:39 @ 25.64 MPH, cheese and rice, that’s fast.

See you all tomorrow for worship services at 6 PM at the Church of the Bike ladies.

Webbcorp

8/3/10 – Be careful what you ask for, you might get it

August Sprint Series - Sponsored By Capital Fund Title Services
We’re not sure if this was what Steve Smith had in mind when he came up with the idea to donate over $1000 in cash and prizes for the August Sprint Series, but we know what we got! Banky, Brian and Jeff went off from the gun to try to secure bonus points for a breakaway. While they were still away Cameron got the idea he would try to bridge. Well, nothing ventured… I snapped this shot of Cameron when we passed him.

Banky was the first to go in the break then Brian dispelled of Jeff. Well, as strong as Brian is we played it perfectly. He was on his own for over 20 minutes and when we caught him Alan hit him hard and got a gap. We gave Brian no help and in fact I sat on his wheel and endured five attacks but he could not cover and Alan won the first sprint. Mark took off early for the 2nd sprint and held off the group for solid breakaway points, nice work Mark! Jeff just nipped Alan at the 3rd sprint line with a tailwind. Then Brian shut down the carnival and took all the other prizes for the day. It was hot, and it was fast. Start to finish it may not have been our best elapsed time, but the dynamics of the competition made it the hardest night of the year to date. So Brian walked away with a gift certificate for dinner at Eastwood Towne Center and two tickets to a movie at NCG.
Yo, Brian, I think Conan the Barbarian is showing next Tuesday at 6:00 PM. Podium was 1st Brian, 2nd Jeff, 3rd Webbcorp.

State Track Championships

Brian Crosby, Webbcorp and Joe Fulsher (who has visited our ride before) went down for the Michigan State Track Championships this Saturday. Brian won the elite kilo pursuit and the local boys were not happy about getting spanked. Webbcorp won the 3000 meter pursuit and Joe had a great time of 4:20. If you want to waste four minutes of your life you will never get back here is the video of Webbcorp's 3000 meter pursuit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQjKLOCQf3A

Ride Summary 7/27/2010

Conditions: Sunny, 85 degrees, winds out of south; perfect

Rider count: 14

Flat Tires: 1

Dropped Sunglasses: 1

Mysterious Black car with tinted windows taking pictures: 1

Numbers were down this week, no doubt due to vacations and other summer travels. Noticeably absent were our ride leader and other big sprint guns. Most likely they were plotting the punishment they would dish out for the August festival. That left the remainder of the group to grab some sign glory. Who that glory went to, I have no idea, but you know who you are.
A good time was had by all.

Signing out.
Steve