Rides, rides lotsa rides!

Man, there have been a ton of good rides this month! Great weather, the trails are in good shape and I've been ridin' w/ my buds. What else can you ask for? Sometimes I get to brooding on what exactly it is that makes a ride "great" instead of just "good", y'know? I'm not sure what "it" is, but I'm pretty damn sure what "it "isn't............it's not the route, or the trail, or how fast we went, or whether I achieved a PR, or any of that crap. Mostly it's who I ride with and whether our (mostly) unspoken ideas about the criteria for ride greatness pretty much match up. As I get older and more crotchety I have less and less patience with dudes ( and it's always a dude) that sees every ride as a chance to whip it out and show it off. Hey.......I race every dang week all summer long and that's a great place to show off what'cha got y'know? There have been way too many potentially great rides blown up, messed up and otherwise pissed away by someone w/ a little too much testosterone and apparently no where else to use it. Sure there's a time and place for riding like that......our Sprint Ride for instance, but if you think that every ride is a chance to beat someone.......might I gently suggest that you might wanna enter a real race now and then? Maynard Hershon said it best, in an article that I first read many years ago............" A good rider can hold a ride together with his or her strength, not blow it apart". ( I'm paraphasing like mad there, but Maynard's a bud of mine and I'm pretty comfy that he'd be okay w/ it).

Just my 2 cents worth, y'know?

But lest you think that I'm just gonna bitch...........I started this out talking about all the good and great rides that I've enjoyed this month..........Yankee Springs w/ Dennis and Mario, C-Burg w/ Sarah and Max-the-dog, all the mornings @ Bass River w/ Ted and Lee and Rach and Max, a whole month of Sprint Rides, mostly w/ Elizabeth "Turbo" Bocks on the tandem, Monday Night Club rides, Lotsa miles w/ Lin on the tandem, rollin' the fixxie around at every opportunity, man.............it's been a great month!

And now it's almost freakin' May! Grattan! Tuesday Night Shop Rides! More club rides! Rock-n-Road's Thursday Night Ride in Grand Haven! Holy Crap! Lots' to be pumped about, that's all I'm saying.

Shop's been busy. Not 100%+ crazy madness full-tilt-boogie hot-damn-tamale busy, but busy. Ted and Lee are cranking repairs, Rach and Da've and Jaq and I are tryin' to keep everyone's questions answered, Doez is around some, Alex is wrenchin' a bit and Tom keeps tabs on the whole dang deal.............that's how it's supposed to work.

It's so cool to listen to Ted go on and on about his race last weekend @ Yankee and his infatuation w/ the Salsa Dos Niner demo that Dennis @ QBP sent us to try out! I don't think I've ever seen him this pumped up! Does my heart good, y'know? Sounds like he and Lee are gonna be doing the whole ATB Time Trail series now.......how cool is that?

Anyway...........come and ride w/ us sometime, eh? We're kind of fun, can carry on conversations about several topics outside of the sport, are usually clean and polite....all in all.......not bad company!

'til next time..................ride safe, ride lots and be strong!

'Nother Great Ride!

Man, today's "Fun-Raiser" was a hoot! There musta been 45-50 riders gathered at the shop this afternoon for the "Pearl Ride". We had racers, we had "newbies", we had fixxies, we had a tandem, we had riders from 10 to 76 years old! We also had a ton of food for the post-ride bash! I'll hafta remember how well the "bring a snack and double your chance to win the drawing" ploy worked! Sure beats runnin' to Family Fare w/ the shop credit card every time! Thanks to everyone that rode, double thanks to everyone that fell for...........err........graciously brought food to share! We did a 28 mile route that Lin and I mapped out last night: east from the shop, down PawPaw and around the Country Club, south up past Ridgepoint Church, around Overisel and then west over to 60th. Lots of sun, plenty of wind outta the west, but it was warm enough for knicks and a l/s jersey and that's warm enough for this boy! It's always nice to look around the shop after one of these rides and see 30-40 people standing around, enjoying the beer that Dave from The Curragh supplied, sampling everything from homemade soup to fresh salsa and talking about the ride and bike life in general. Makes me feel like we're getting our point across, y'know? That Velo City is more than just a place to buy cool bike stuff.............it's a place to celebrate just how damn cool it is to ride w/ your friends and soon-to-be friends.
There were lots of great rides this past week...........I managed to get in on the first Monday Night MCC ride of the year, did Yankee / Lee and Ted one morning, C-Burg w/ Rach & Max another morning, rode the first Saturday Sprint Ride of the season......'twas a good week!
I also went to the MCC meeting and failed miserably to avoud getting stuck w/ any official responsibilities.........alas, I got "elected" the club's V.P. Rats! Oh well, I plan to model my administration after our current national VeePee.........so I'm gonna do whatever I damn well please and not answer to anyone! Can't wait!
Then there was the Rapid Wheelman meeting in GR this week. I did a little song and dance about JDRF and also dazzled 'em w/ a little peek @ what VCC has goin' on this season. I got the vibe that the folks there were suitably impressed, especially w/ that dang bamboo Calfee that I just hadta bring along! I like that club...........they're active and growing and doing cool stuff. I got to talk to a buncha cool folks too.
I think I have everything finalized w/ the decals for the Sofa King frames, thanks to our Graphics high Sorceress Amanda N. I talked to the Big Guy @ Waterford on Thursday and he said that they have the tubes and are gonna start cuttin' and weldin' and such next week and that we oughta be seeing our frames by the end of this month!!!!! I am so pumped ! I can't wait to see these babies and get mine on the road! If they get here this month i can ride mine on the Spring Pineapple Bob Classic next month on the 21st. That'll just be too cool! I hope we actully sell a couple of these, y'know? I'd like to do a second run for the late summer and then do a 'cross frame for the cyclo-cross season. I wanna call it the el Zorro. We'll see.........gotta find out if anyone besides Velo-Citizens thinks these are cool first!
Rach finally got her Seven on the road..it's bee-yoo-ti-ful! She's diggin' it big time. Lee's been riding his new Cannondale hardtail "see how light I can get it" project bike a lot..........says he likes it fine. Ted's going fast and smooth on his Gunnar 7 speed rigid rig and everyone @ the shop is gettin' their miles in.( Well....Jacque G's been outta town for Spring Break, not sure she had a bike w/ her)
In other words.........all is well and like it's supposed to be @ good 'ol Velo City. Our plan is to keep it that way and keep on spreading the groove!
Sorry to be so long-winded, if you made it this far..........thanks for reading!

Oh yeah......that's why!

Gonna let'cha in on a little secret here.......the bike biz gig is not a blast 100% of the time. I know, I know........you're shocked to hear it and I'm sorry to be the one to harsh your mellow...............but 'tis true. Sometimes it's just a job, and once-in-awhile it's kind of a drag. Now, don't take this the wrong way.......short of leading tours in the desert for super models and bikini teams there's nothing I'd rather do for a living and no one I'd rather do it with.........but still..............sometimes it's less-than-great. There were a couple times like that this past week....we lost a Velo-Citizen to the realities of life-n-such and that's always a drag. ( See ya Drew. Ride on!) I didn't get as much riding in as I want and need either and that's always an issue. Not a crappy week, just not a great one, y'know?
That's why it was so cool to fire up my old steam-powered computer here @ home and find, after waiting the obligatory 20 minutes for it to warm up and tell me how many viruses it's contaminated with, a great little e-mail from a young lady in France who just wanted to thank us for helping her pick out the Bianchi Volpe that she's riding all along the coast. Just kinda wiped all that other whiny crap right off the screen! Thanks Callista!
Not to bust all mushy on ya'll..but that is the point of the whole exercise and I think I can speak for all the Velo-Cits when I say thanks to everyone that's ever made VCC part of their cycling life. We are much obliged and truly do appreciate it!

Off to meet Dennis @ Yankee Springs in an hour or so. We've known each other for years but this'll be the first time we ride together! I'm kinda excited about that. There's tons of stuff going on....the Monday Night Ride and the Saturday Sprint Ride both start this coming week, there's a Fun-Raiser next Sunday, the JDRF rides start this month...........man! It's gonna be a great season and I can't wait. Just gotta remember whereinthehell I left my fitness, I haven't been able to find it anywhere!

I sent out the newsletter yesterday, if you don't get one e-mail me (velocity587@hotmail.com) and I'll get'cha on the list. It'll be archived on both websites too.

Gotta go! Ride lots, ride safe, ride happy!