May29summary/Frankenmuth

The gales of November returned for our May weekly ride and they were  straight out of the West, proving to be a formidable opponent for 20 riders.  But, thanks to Cary, with input from Rick and Mark, they provided an excellent training moment as we headed South.  After a demonstration at Barnes road, we learned the fine art of an efficient echelon in three separate groups.  Some of it was pretty and at times ugly, but the concept was embedded into all.  We need to continue to hone these techniques and skills in the coming weeks so that we all ride more efficiently.

As for the scoring, the suggested change by Cary was welcomed by all.  Our two team concept will stay intact, but each rider can only score once for the night.  In a duplicate win for one rider, the scoring will default to the second rider across the line.  This worked out well with six different riders taking sprints.  The scoring for the night ended up 16 white and 5 black.(someone double check this)
Totals to date are:
white 43
black 27
eots 6

Frankenmuth
"there are a thousand stories in the Naked City".... great movie... there were also many stories from a Frankenmuth weekend.  If you want the cold hard numbers, the results are posted on the MBRA site.  If you want the rest of the story, here is some of it.  First off, I knew nothing about the goings on of the Dog Bowl, now I do and I am still traumatized.  As for the racing, 15 CFT riders made the journey with many fine showings.  In the cat 5's Tanner had his inaugural RR experience. Thanks to a course marshall snafu, I am sure it did not turn out as planned, but he has the bug now.  Joe Kennedy had a good showing in the 5's, Bryan Waldman and Kevin Gamper had superb showings crossing the line in 1st and 4th place, only to be told otherwise,  (see aforementioned comment about the course marshall snafu).  Both took the disappointing news in stride.  In the 4's, Craig Newell and John Gracely had nice showings and both finished in the points in what proved to be a very fast field finish.  Also in the 4's Brad Neagos suffered through a mechanical issue at the start and watched from the sidelines.  But, as one passer buyer stated to Wade as he saw the issue unfold, "your rider handled the situation with class".  Nice thing to hear about a teammate.  In the 45m's, Mustapha and Mike Williams (good to see Mike racing) finished in the field as did Mark in the 55's.  In the 35 masters the ZACADOWA train (my new acronym for wade, doug, zack and cary, get used to it)  was a major factor in the race.  Although each of them said separately they were a little disappointed in not getting Cary to the line first, the ground work is laid for the future.  In talking with Cary he said it was an "awesome sight" seeing 4 black CFT jerseys come to the front of the field with 1 mile to go and take control of the finish.  End result 3rd place for Cary and a superb effort for the team.

Hope to see all at West Branch, until then, later.

Brad Neagos tell his tale.

WMSR summary by Brad Neagos

West Michigan Stage Race was a great weekend of weather and of racing.  The mystery man John Gracely put CFT on the center stage of the Midwest racing scene with his performances. John had an impressive victory in the crit coming from about 15 riders back to take 1^st place and win the field sprint. He followed this up with another 1^st place finish in the road race. John finished 8^th overall in cat 4. Craig Newell also had a strong performance this weekend finishing 5^th overall in cat 4, and dominating all 3 events. In the time trial department Dave Joos put in a strong effort taking 2^nd in 55 plus category, For the other 3 CFT riders, John Draminski, Joe Kennedy and Brad Neagos, WMSR proved to be a great learning experience and will certainly help as our racing careers start to take form. 

May 24

Lots to write about.  First the summary of last nights ride.  The weather keeps on getting better and better and our stretch of rainless Tuesdays continues on.  26 riders last night, of which one of them was Dave Jessup, showing no ill effects from last weeks mishap.  Also on the ride was an out of towner from the Fort Wayne Outfitters race team.  Of course I cannot remember his name, but that is to be expected.
As for the scoring, by executive decision, with no objections, last nights scoring has been ruled a "bye" week.  I think we are all in agreement that we are accomplishing all we want to accomplish with the scoring and the two team concept.  We are learning tactics, team riding and enhancing our finishing efforts.  But, we think we can make it better.  Currently the brain trusts are huddled in a darkened cave and pondering some variations.  We will have a conclusion by next Monday and will then unveil it to the masses.

WMSR results.

A solid weekend of racing for the CFT participants, here are the results for the 4/5

Overall Results

5. Craig Newell
8. John Gracely
26. Brad Neagos
56. John Draminski
61. Joe Kennedy
 

75 man field started the race

John Gracely won both the Crit and the Road Race.

The week before had some outstanding results also.

Greg Hughes took 5th in his age group at the 6 hours of Stoney Creek

and

John Wlodarczak (TNR regular, racing for Einstien Bagels) took first in his age group in the 12 hour race.

Well done.

thats all for now.  See follow up entry with Brad Neagos' weekend summary.

May 22 point allocations

this week will work the same as last. 

Annis Rd.     6
Blackman Rd.  1
Kinneville Rd.    2
Catholic Church  4  DOUBLE POINTS,, TOTAL OF 8
Potter Rd.    5
MCL        3

see you at 6pm

West Michigan Stage Race

Remember to get your results to Doug on Monday, good luck to all that are racing.

Helmets for Kids is Saturday, see details below

We have mentioned it a few times and this will serve as a final reminder.  One of our sponsors, the Sinas Dramis Law Firm is a proud 10 year sponsor of the "helmets for kids" program to be held tomorrow, Saturday, May 19 at the Marshall Street fire station in Lansing.  They have asked the team for our help.  Its a great cause, so that is reason enough to come and volunteer.   But as a bonus, they want to introduce the team as a group and also help promote our race in June.  So, here is our plan.  Pay attention because it is early.
1.  A group ride is leaving at 7:30 am from the church parking lot right across from the fire station at corner of Marshall and Saginaw.  If you drive your car,  park in the far easterly end of the lot, as the west end is reserved for the event.  This group will do roughly a 3 hour ride and end up at the Beaners (biggby if you prefer) on Grand River in East Lansing at 10:20am.
2.  A second group ride will leave from the church at 8:30am from the same church.  Same drill, this group will do roughly a 2 hour ride and rendezvous with the first group at 10:20am at the Beaners.

So, pick your group, first group will probably be riding a little faster overall than the 2nd, and yes, you guessed it, they will be riding for an hour longer.

3.  Once we rendezvous at the Beaners we will then ride as one group to the fire station.  At the station we will be introduced and then continue on with helping with the event.  If you can't stay for the whole event to help, then just stay for as long as you can.  Your time will be appreciated by all.

Note, to best of my knowledge there is no existing route planned for the above rides, but end goal is to be at Beaners at 10:20.

All should wear your kits.  Black.  See you tomorrow, its suppose to be sunny and warm.
later

Cone Azalia Category IV Race report

Alex - flat tire, Nikita - flat tire, Loren - flat tire, Jay - crashed out, 2 riders slipped off the front and were gone.  Now you might think this is a story with no happy ending, but despite having no teammates remaining Craig came to the finish with a group of twenty and pulled out 2nd in the field sprint.

It's a team sport, sometimes it does not go your way.  With Alex, Nikita, Loren and Jay the break could would have been brought back, we get a chance to try it again this weekend.

Masters 55+ Race Report - Cone Azalia

They ran the 45+ and 55+ groups together at Cone.  CFT's Robin Allen was with a group of ten for the first 2 laps but like all Cone races that got whittled down.  This time thanks not only to flats but one 45+ rider pushing the pace to get back on terms in his race.  Coming into the final paved section leading up to the finish Robin was sitting third wheel. The two ahead were both 45+ including the guy mentioned above, the remaining four were 55+.  That meant with Mike Kryanski and Loren Simons (from our very own TNR) away for the 55+'s Robin was racing for the podium, however with 3 other 55+'s behind could have ended up in 6th.  The two 45+'s were motoring along toward the finish but had another lap to go.  Robin sat in, patience.  Finally a 55+ sprinted from behind Robin on his left side, it was too early...  Robin jumped on his wheel,  waiting to get within a hundred or so meters.  Turns out it was the perfect lead out.  As they approached the finish with about 100 meters Robin heard the familiar sound of a chain stretching coming up on his left side so he jumped to the right, planning and thinking done now, game on.  Within sight of the finish Robin fully unleashed and was able to get to the line first to win the field sprint.  

After the race Robin was quoted as saying - "I was happy to win the sprint, but it was so cool to have the sprint work like a dream. We've done it a hundred times on TNR when it's just for fun and bragging rights, but to do it in a race was great!  I'm glad I could help the Capital Fund Title team with a result. We got mentioned several times Sunday with the performance of our guys."

NOD's, May 15.

May 15, 2012 will forever be known in TNR history as Night of Dave's (NOD).  If you were one of the 19 that started the ride, then of course you know I am referring to Dave Jessup and Dave Joos.  Both Dave's decided it was their night to do a little soul searching on the pavement.  Dave Joos kicked it off by leading a break on sprint 4, the break got caught, but Dave was not done. He countered with the pursuers to the top of the little rise before the sign, (right across from the last barn on the left, with a sweet garage band that serenaded us while we picked up the mess), then he decided it was time to take a nose dive onto the soft grass.  It must have been due to the lack of oxygen to the brain.  Thankfully it was a fairly soft landing for him and he was back up and riding.
For Dave Jessup, it was not the same soft landing.  Dave was part of a 3 man up break on the run into Mason.  The break was just about to get caught as we cleared the final hill and Dave thought it was a good time to see how well his helmet worked.  His helmet bounced pretty good after smacking the pavement.  Luckily, one of Ingham County's finest was passing by and we waived her down.  One hour later Dave is in Sparrow Hospital making sure he still knows what city he is in.  The report this morning form Dave's wife is that he has a concussion, but all else is well.  Dave and his wife wanted to let everyone know they are very grateful for the response from all teammates on getting Dave taken care of.  Well done!  Hopefully we will see both Dave's back out very soon. 

To think years ago we never even considered wearing helmets, and didn't.  Maybe that is why so many of us over 50 guys are so warped.

As for the sprint totals for the night.  It went white, black, white, white and black,, with no score on the Mason run.  3 week total now is.

White  37
Black  22
eots 6

I promised some new twists this week, but all I came up with was the double points.  Next week though,,we will really have a new fresh twist,, I know you can't wait.

DO NOT FORGET ABOUT THE RIDE OF SILENCE TONIGHT,, RICK (ONE OF THE OVER 50 GUYS) SENT OUT A REMINDER.
ALSO, THE HELMET FOR KIDS THIS WEEKEND, I WILL SEND OUT A DETAILED INFORMATION BLOG BY TOMORROW MORNING.

later

MAY 15 TNR POINT ALLOCATIONS

Below are the sprint allocations for this fine sunny Tuesday evening.  Note the 3rd sprint has double point value.

Annis Rd.      4
Blackman Rd.  5
Kinneville Rd.    3  DOUBLE POINTS AVAILABLE 6 TOTAL
Catholic Church  2
Potter Rd.    6
MCL        1

later

May 8

"Solid", that is what my son says when you ask him how something is going and it is going well.  This past TNR was a solid night.  The weather was solid.  The rider attendance of 28 was solid.  The pre-ride rehash of the past weekend's racing was solid.  The ride safety was solid*, and the lack of mechanical delays for the most part was solid.

The night was part 2 of the black/white/eots team sprint competition.  It proved to be close to even with the sprint wins, white took 3 sprints, black 2 and eots 1.  The difference in the point totals were the value allocated to each sprint:  the numbers played out as follows:

white  pts11
black  pts 7
eots    pts  3

2 week total
white 25
black 11
eots  6

next week we will throw a little wrinkle into the scoring.  Stay tuned to the blog for details.

Weekend CFT race summary.  Below are the results we know of. 

Cary Roseth, 2nd M35
Bryan Waldman 3rd cat 5
Robin Allen 3rd M55
Craig Newell 4th cat 4
Eric Phreed 16th M45
John Gracely 9th cat 4
John Draminski 10th cat 5
Doug Derdowski and Wade Burch, top dozen of M35, lead group, but we did not see result for final placing.

Well done.  Cat 5's  time to upgrade and help the 4 effort!

later

*I saw one blatant yellow line violation, not just a violation, but a violation to advance position. Not cool! Think twice next week, you know who you are.

TUESDAY MAY 8
Below are sprint points allocation for tonights ride

Annis Rd.      3pts    
Blackman Rd.  4pts 
Kinneville Rd.    1pt
Catholic Church  2pts
Potter Rd.    5pts       
MCL        6pts

2 EVENT REMINDERS
FARM DAZE THIS SATURDAY 8AM AT THE PAVILION

"HELMETS FOR KIDS" SATURDAY, MAY 19, 10AM MARSHALL STREET FIRE STATION.

see you tonight           

May Day 2012

Attendance. 23
Temp 59
Overcast
East winds @ 8mph
Let me first say a few things about the weather. All day long the forecast for the afternoon was 70 degrees, sunny and zero chance of rain. Well the sun was not seen all day, it may have cracked 60 for a few moments and we got sprinkled on. All this leads to further proof that there is no science to weather forecasting, it is a crapshoot done by idiots. Ok, I am done whining, now for the ride. It was the first night of team scoring for the May/ June shoot out.  Maybe there was some "hangover" legs from the weekend for black, and if so, white showed no mercy with a dominant performance.
Annis Rd, white (cary) took the sprint for 5 points.
Blackman Rd., when the field snoozes, someone will react and that is what happened on the next sprint.  An EOT rider ( and I am sorry I do not know your name, but I put in a name disclaimer many blogs ago, and for the purposes of this posting you are the unknown to Steve EOTS rider) took a lone flyer with Joe Kennedy (black) trying to latch on.  In the end EOTS got the 3 points.
Kinneville Rd, was another 2 points for white.
Black came back to grab the Catholic Church Rd., sprint (Craig) and get on the board for the night with 4 points.
Potter road, although only worth 1 point tonight proved to be a nice team effort by all squads.  Five or six riders got away after the big sweeping right turn.  White had Zach and Wade, black had Jay and Craig in the mix.  At the line Zach took the sprint for white and the 1 point.
The roll into Mason with the wind at our backs turned into a white train after the last hill.  Numbers can rule the day when you have them and that proved to be the case as Cary was delivered to the line for 6 more points for white.
Hopefully I have all my facts straight regarding the scoring, let me know of any corrections.
Tally for the night
White:  14
Black:  4
EOTS: 3

later.