May/June team competition is here

Tuesday will begin the official team competition:  Black vs White vs EOTS
We will tally the points through the last Tuesday in June.  Winning team will get bragging rights and a pizza dinner:

Let us adhere to a few simple rules:

1.  Safety first
2.  Neutral zone until Columbia Rd.
3.  Ok to test your legs between Columbia and Barnes
4.  Game on after Barnes

Point allocations this week are as follows:

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

SEE YOU TUESDAY AT 6PM

Willow results

Willow Time Trial:
8 CFT riders participated below are the results

Cat 5
Brad Neogos                         12th

Cat 4
Craig Newell                         12th

M35
Cary Roseth                          7th

M45
Eric Phreed                           9th, riding for the infamous Tuesday Nighters
Mustapha                              14th,,, (note, rode 7 laps, 6 was just not enough)
Keven Gamper                      15th

M55
Mark Warner                        8th

Also congrats to TNR alum Adam York;  2nd place overall, just 13 seconds out of first.

Willow TT

good luck to all at Willow tomorrow.  Leave comment to this entry if you plan on riding so we know who to expect results from.  Also, many local riders starting in close proximity, look for car pooling opportunities.

Here it is!  The unofficial, unsubstantiated, unreliable, for the most part unknown, results from the April scrimmage series.  The real games start next week!

Until then, check out the video from last Tuesday's ride HERE

4/24/12/ quick exit for one

temps  55ish
winds nw 20ish
partly cloudy

We started with 25 this Tuesday evening, but before we made the first turn we were down to 24.  Steve Halstead had mechanical issue and was done for the night.  We feel your pain Steve, the pain of getting geared up to ride and then not....worse than any pain we felt over the 40 miles.  Next week we will give you a place of honor at the front of the whole ride.. 
The team tactics taking place now seem to have further enhanced the ride.  In case you have missed it, CFT Masters are in white, CFT 4/5's in black and the remainder are now known as Enemies of the State, or in brief the EOTS. 
Black (Craig) took the first sprint this evening, but then white (Cary) went into "shut them down" mode, however the EOTS did edge a wheel in at sprint 4.  Kudos to Dave Joos on sprint 2 for the white, his move forced a chase by black that left them tapped out with any sprint legs.  Also, Dave, Ralph Heidl and Eric Snider got away on the lead up to sprint 5 and refused to be caught.  With a black jersey and white jersey up the road, the pack was neutralized...until the EOTS (MSU)had enough and initiated the chase...the break was doomed..but not until the final few hundred yards.

Next week will mark the end of the "scrimmages", then we will shift to tracking team points for May/June team competition.  Complete rules will be posted soon.  Also, look for correspondence coming this week that will outline procedure for reporting weekly race results.  Finally, it was suggested that there be a posting notifying team mates on who is intending on racing the upcoming weekend.  I think an easy way to do this is as follows:  There will be a blog entry posted pertaining to the upcoming weekend race.  Those that intend on racing can indicate so by doing a "comment" entry to that posting.  That will enable others to see who is racing.....until next week.  later

WILLIAMS PRODUCTION CREW

SEE LINK BELOW FOR RIDE SUMMARY FROM 4/17

THANKS TO MIKE WILLIAMS


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7_kAm_jCI8&feature=youtu.be

Game on 6pm

Reminder:  start time 6pm this evening.  2nd week of "scrimmage" leading up to our May/June team competition.   35/45/55 masters in White  cat 4/5 in black.  all others mercenaries in your weekly garb.

teams will be known from this point forward as:

Black
White
Enemies of the State  (thank Webbco for this entry)

we will keep scoring tonight.  points are only allocated to the winning team at each sprint, black, white or EOTS.  Here is how scoring will work  (I will get these rules down in detail for the start of competition but tonight will give you the flavor).  I will draw the sprints randomly out of a hat before each weekly tnr and assign points 1 through 6.  The team that wins that sprint gets the points assigned.  Tonight the point assignments are as follows:

sprint 1:  1point
sprint 2:  4points
sprint 3:  2points
sprint 4:  3points
sprint 5:  5 points
sprint 6:  6 points

see you at 6

REGISTRATION GOES LIVE APRIL 23, SIGN UP EARLY

REGISTRATION ON USACYCLING.ORG BEGINNING APRIL 23.  SEE WEBSITE BELOW

www.festsuncriterium.com

DANGEROUS RIDING IS NOT WELCOME!! PERIOD!

This past TNR ride was a great ride in many aspects. But from a safety perspective it was
the worse ride of the year. It is time to get serious about riding safe. We are not on a closed course. We are in Mason, Michigan, sprinting for street signs. There is no glory and whatever little prizes we may be sharing, they are not worth going home in a body bag over. It is time to take a harsh and serious stand. Yesterday evening and today there was much discussion with about 10 TNR members on the matter. It was unanimous that the following stance be taken:

TNR has two simple rules to keep everyone safe & ensure TNR & CFT Cycling
team are not compromised. Break these rules and you will not be welcome on
the CFT Team and will not be welcome on TNR, period.

Rule1:

Never cross the yellow line. (if you inadvertently get pushed across it
because of the ebb and flow of the group, correct it immediately)

Rule 2:

After each sprint make a 180 before the stop sign, do NOT pass the stop
sign for any reason until everyone has regrouped. (see diagram above)

It is up to all of us to make breaking these rules unacceptable under any
circumstance & communicate these rules to anyone who does not know them.

If you place a value to being on the CFT team or attending TNR do not break
these rules, if you do you are no longer welcome.

Thank you all for acknowledging the seriousness of the above content.

NEW ATTENDANCE RECORD!, I THINK

APRIL 17, 2012

TEMP. 58 DEGREES

WINDS LIGHT OUT OF NW

TYPICALLY THIS IS A RELIGIOUS FREE BLOG. BUT, TONIGHT I AM GOING TO START WITH SEVERAL BIBLICAL ENTRIES CENTERED AROUND THE NUMBER 40.

40 IS THE NUMBER OF DAYS IT RAINED WHILE NOAH HUNG OUT IN HIS ARK;

40 IS THE NUMBER OF DAYS THE CARPENTERS SON SPENT IN THE WILDERNESS; 40 IS THE THE DOLLARS IT COST THE SECRET SERVICE FOR EACH COLOMBIAN PROSTITUTE IN THE LATEST GOVERNMENT EMBARRASSMENT AND 40 IS THE NUMBER OF RIDERS THAT SHOWED UP FOR THE LATEST VERSION OF TNR.

THIS BLOG WILL WILL SUMMARIZE THE LAST ENTRY. THE OTHER 3 YOU WILL HAVE TO SEARCH OUT ELSEWHERE FOR MORE INFO.

THE NIGHT STARTED OUT WITH JAY AND MIKE WILLIAMS SYNCHRONIZING THEIR VIDEO EQUIPMENT. THE WILLIAMS PRODUCTION CREW CURRENTLY HAS THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOR IN THE CUTTING ROOM AND WE SHOULD SEE THE RESULTS ON THIS BLOG IN THE NEAR FUTURE. UNFORTUNATELY, JAY HAD SOME TECHNICAL ISSUES THAT WERE DISCOVERED POST RIDE; HE WILL BE BACK WITH THE CAMERA NEXT WEEK.

AS FOR THE RIDE, IT WAS AN IMPRESSIVE SITE. THE CFT TEAM WAS OUT IN FORCE IN THEIR NEW KITS, THEIR WAS ALSO A SCATTERING OF MSU AND OTHER REGALIA. THE NIGHT MARKED THE FIRST "SCRIMMAGE"FOR THE CFT RIDERS. BLACK VS WHITE, SIMULATED RACE TACTICS. FROM SEVERAL VANTAGE POINTS IT WAS A HUGELY SUCCESSFUL FIRST NIGHT. TEAMMATES ASSISTING TEAMMATES IN BREAKS, TEAMMATES TRYING TO KEEP THE FIELD IN CHECK, TEAMMATES NOT CHASING DOWN BREAKS WITH TEAMMATES ALREADY UP THE ROAD. IT WAS FUN TO SEE AND FUN TO BE A PART OF. IN THE END IT APPEARS THE KIDS (4/5) SCHOOLED THE MASTERS 4-2, AND THE SMACK TALKING HAS ALREADY BEGUN.

NEXT WEEK WILL SERVE AS ANOTHER WARMUP FOR THE MAY/JUNE POINTS CLASH. REMEMBER MASTERS RIDERS (35,45,55) IN WHITE THE KIDS (4/5'S) IN BLACK.

CHECK BACK IN A DAY OR SO FOR A VERY IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ON SUBJECT MATTER THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED. UNTIL THEN, LATER

4/17: START TIME 6PM

6PM WILL BE THE NEW START TIME FOR OUR WEEKLY TREK FROM ALL THAT IS BANAL. CLEAR SKIES FORECAST, SO LIGHT SHOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE. BUT BRING TAIL LIGHTS TO BE SAFE.
ALSO, REMEMBER CFT MASTERS IN WHITE JERSEYS AND CFT 4/5 IN THEIR HOME BLACKS.
THE REMAINING 3 RIDES IN APRIL WE WILL MONITOR THE BLACK/WHITE SPRINT RESULTS TO MAKE SURE TEAMS ARE EVEN. THEN IN MAY/JUNE WE WILL BEGIN THE TEAM POINTS COMPETITION.
RULES AND MORE DETAILS WILL FOLLOW.

LET THE REINDEER GAMES BEGIN

TNR, 4/17/12 WILL MARK THE BEGINNING OF CFT CYCLING'S WEEKLY "SCRIMMAGE", WITH AN EMPHASIS ON LEARNING TO RIDE AS A TEAM. CFT MASTER MEMBERS SHOULD WEAR THEIR WHITE JERSEY AND WILL FORM ONE TEAM. CFT CAT 4 AND 5 MEMBERS SHOULD WEAR THEIR BLACK JERSEY AND THEY WILL FORM ANOTHER TEAM. ALL OTHER TNR RIDERS WILL FORM THE 3RD TEAM.
POINTS WILL BE TALLIED FOR THE USUAL SPRINT LINES. ONE POINT TO THE WINNING TEAM AT EACH SPRINT.
FOR REMAINDER OF APRIL WE WILL SEE IF THE TEAMS ARE EVENLY MATCHED, THEN MAKE ANY NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS.

IN MAY WE WILL START A POINTS COMPETITION AND CONTINUE IT THROUGH JUNE. AT END OF COMPETITION, THE WINNING TEAM WILL BE AWARDED SOME PRIZES.

ALL USUAL TNR SUGGESTIONS/RULES APPLY...WITH EMPHASIS ON YELLOW LINE RULE AND SAFETY. ALSO, THERE WILL BE A NEUTRAL ZONE UNTIL COLUMBIA ROAD, AND IF THINGS HEAT UP BETWEEN COLUMBIA AND BARNES, THERE MUST BE A RE-GROUPING AT BARNES. THOSE INTERSECTIONS ARE TWO DANGEROUS TO BE BLASTING THROUGH THEM. SEE YOU TUESDAY.

4-10-12 supplement

THANKS TO KEVIN GAMPER WE HAVE A PICTURE FROM THE 4-10-12 RIDE

4/10/12-WIND-COLD AND CATHARTES AURA

TNR tonight was really a tale of two mindsets. Those that showed up to brave the elements and those that opted out. For the 13 that showed, I am sure they were glad they did. For those that did not, they were most likely just as glad they did not.

Howling winds and 38 degrees greeted the 13 as we assembled at the speedway. We broke bread and shared in the discomfort of the cold..and then the ride began. I have no sprint reports, as my brain was lacking oxygen and my mouth could not form words. I have no pictures, because I was wearing lobster claw gloves. This much I do know, some guys are meant to motor in any conditions and there were a few of them there tonight. To those that showed, well done. For those that decided on a more pleasant evening, we will see you next week.

One more thing. Cathartes Aura has discovered the ride. Four or five of them were feeding at the end of the 4th sprint. There presence now is a warning sign for future rides. Remember, there is safety in the herd. For those of you that are not sure what Cathartes Aura is. She is pictured above. Have a good week, see many of you on Saturday at the team meeting.

TIME TO GIVE BACK.....TIME

CFT TEAM MEMBERS AND DEDICATED TNR ENTHUSIASTS;

WE ARE ABOUT 10 DAYS AWAY FROM LETTING THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOW ABOUT OUR LANSING USCF RACE ON JUNE 23, 2012. AT THAT TIME OUR WEB SITE WILL BE GOING LIVE AND THE FLIER CIRCULATED.

PUTTING ON A SUCCESSFUL RACE REQUIRES THE HELP OF MANY VOLUNTEERS. WE ARE COUNTING ON CLUB MEMBERS TO ASSIST THAT DAY; WE ARE COUNTING ON RACE MEMBERS TO ASSIST WHEN THEY ARE DONE RACING. WE ARE HOPING ALL TNR ENTHUSIASTS WILL WANT TO ASSIST ALSO.

AT THIS TIME WE ARE BUILDING OUR VOLUNTEER DATABASE. PLEASE EMAIL ME (STEVE) WITH YOUR COMMITMENT TO ASSIST. YOUR TEAM THANKS YOU!

IMAGINE @ 5:30

WE WILL STICK TO OUR 5:30 START TIME TONIGHT; IMAGINE HOW THAT NORTHWEST WIND IS GOING TO FEEL HEADING FOR THE MASON/DIXON SPRINT LINE. IT SHOULDN'T GET AS BAD AS SHOWN ABOVE, BUT WE WILL BRING THE DE-ICER JUST IN CASE...SEE YOU THEN

David Beckham was busy/but we found another bum to model the new kits

April 3, Rolling with the goats

Tnr 4/23/12 by the numbers
temps 61ish
winds NE 8ish
riders 28
average speed 19.67
top end 36ish

It was an odd weather night that greeted 28 riders. Seems like it was as dark when we finished up as when we left, but no rain, so all was good.

"Sustained effort" was how Cary described it, and I would agree. That effort cranked up once we made the turn East and never let up. Cary grabbed the first sprint and then proceeded to break away with Herr Rolfe on sprint 2. The group scrambled to organize and chase, but the damage was done and the break held. Once reorganized, we rolled through Leslie, fast, the KOM, fast and lands further East, fast.....Then things got a little weird. Mark Warner shredded a tire on the final turn heading into sprint 3 and magically out of thin air appears Mustapha in a car (he took the night off from riding and was feeling a little empty by then) and a camera. He picked Mark up, insisted on taking our picture in the middle of a cornfield, snapped a picture of the guy with the goat passing us (see pics), then disappeared again.
After the photo session, the beat continued with Cary, MSU boys, Craig and Dave Joos pushing the pace into the next two sprints.
Rolling through Mason usually becomes a warm-down. Not tonight, I must have missed the memo regarding sprint 7 which took place somewhere just before the parking lot at Spartan Speedway. It was a good night!

RIDE TIME 5:30/ALSO CHECK OUT THE CFT CYCLING ARTICLE