Pineapples, the desert and the Santa Ana winds!

Yep, thisis what happens when I don't keep up w/ all the cool sweet BikeStuff that's goin' on around here...........I get behind and hafta cover a buncha stuff all at once. You'd thing that I'd learn...but not so much.

Anyway, one of the coolest Fun-Raiser Rides we have every fall is the Pineapple Bob Classic, a ride usin' as much dirt road as we can find and a ride that pre-dates the shop's very exsistance by 5 years or more. (Not to mention the Crazy Bastards!) We have a spring edition as well and if you were here for that one you might have figured "no way the weather'll suck as bad as it did last spring, what with the 25mph headwind we hadta ride back into to!" Well.....you'd been wrong. Not just wrong, but General Custer wrong! The captain of the Titanic was this wrong! In short.....the weather sucked. We left the shop in a steady rain and I was amazed and impressed that we had 16 riders show up at all. Needless to say, the dirt roads were mud roads and the rain stayed for the w-h-o-l-e dang ride. We cut it a bit short, but we still got in about 35 miles and there were some cold, wet and weary folks hangin' @ the shop while we got the pasta ready.

The food and drink wqent down good and everyone recovered. The bikes were filthy and the floor was covered w/ wet muddy footprints so I knew 'twas a success. Next Fun-Raiser is the Chili Chilly Ride on 11/11 and you DO NOT wanna miss that!

4 days later I found myself on a plane headed to Death Valley by way of Las vegas for the finalo JDRF Ride of the season and the 3rd one for me in the last 3 months. We had a team of 32 riders, a "mascot" (Ted-n-Sarah's daughter Sophie) and my wife Linda as our support crew. We got to the Furnace Creek Ranch in DV about 4:00pm and quickly got into the groove of yet another fascinating and fulfilling Ride to Cure weekend.

Damn I love the desert! The austere surroundings, the huge sky, the stars at night........I dig it all. I totally understand why not everyone does........but it's the place for me!

On Friday morning we kitted up for the traditional shakedown cruise up to Zabrieskie Point. When I say "up to" I mean exactly that.......it's a steady 5 mile climb from the ranch to the Point. The view from there is kinda surreal and I heard about some funky / sleazy movie shot there in the 70's that I'm gonna hafta dig up. We hung there for a bit, then coasted back down to the Ranch, grabbed some lunch and split up for the rest of the day. Some rode a bit more, some hung by (or in) the pool and some joined Lin and I for a guided hike back up near the Point.
Then it was time for dinner in the Palm Grove......nothin' like al fresco dining w/ 300 other folks! (And the occasional coyote)

Saturday dawned nice and clear........and calm. Too bad it wouldn't last. We rolled out, bound for the turn around @ the top of Jubiliee Pass, 52.5 miles and 3000' feet of climbing away. There was a nice little cloud cover on the way out, when you don't really need it 'cuz it's cool in the am and you're in the shade of the the Funeral Mountains to the east. The team split up right away, there's no way to keep 32 riders of different abilities and goals together in a ride w/ 250 others and we didn't try, but we had a nice group in a long pace line for a bit. My grop arrived @ the bottom of the climb to the Pass about 10:30, almost an hour ahead of the cut-off times that they use to make sure everyone gets in before the sun drops behind the Panimint Range on the west edge of the valley. We started up the climb.....Pea, Carmen, Steve, Melanie, Amy, John, Tom, Mary and myself but again became seperated as everyone found their rhythm for the incline. I was w/Amy when she started to struggle and feel sick to her stomach. We dealt w/ that for a while then she rallied and we resumed the climb. At that point Joe came along and I entrusted Amy to him so I could go down the hill and find Katie 'cuz I'd promised her that I'd ride w/ her to the top. (She didn't quite make it to the top last year and was determined to do so now).

It took a while but we finally rolled up to the sign marking the top of the pass, posed for pix and re-aseembled the group for the return leg. I was worried about the wind and the fact that the clouds had burned off and the temps seemd to be rising as we hung around the top. The descent was the all-out blast that any 7 mile downhill would hafta be but right before we got to the Rest Stop @ the bottom a young lady wiped out in front of my group and I stopped to help her up. (Gotta do the Coach thing y'know!) By the time I re-joined my riders Amy was feelin' kinda punk again and the nexy thing I knew the med-folk had grabbed her away from me and had her in the back of the ambulance /w an IV in her arm. By this time the wind had whipped up and I knew we were in for a l-o-n-g day.

And so it was...........we had 45 miles to ride and the wind got worse for the rest of the day. Basically we were "blessed" with the tailend of the Santa Ana winds that were causing no end of trouble for the poor folks in San Diego and by mid-afternoon we were dealin' w/ full-on 30mph headwinds w/ gusts in the 40's and a temp of 104. Lovely. Needless to say we did our best and an amazing % of the Team managed to ride all the way back to the start/finish. I was amazed and impressed w/ all the riders on the team.....they ride so hard and they care so much and they are so good for each other!

The last of us dragged in just a bit after dusk........so the final count was 11 1/2 hours or so for the day and the wind was so strong that all the night's post-ride festivities were shut down by the resultant sandstorm. That was a drag too, 'cuz several of the staff told me that our team had been the topic of discussion all weekend and that a tribute to the West Michigan Team was planned for dinner. We deserve it.......the folks on "my" team are a special breed and are a class act all the way!

Sunday we split up , w/ half headin home and the rest of us to Las Vegas for a day (or 2) or R & R and just being together. As much as I despise Vegas it was great to extend the wekend by another day so we could spend some more time w/ our team mates. It's ggood to be home though.

So.......what's up 'round here? We have a bunch of folks signed up for Danielles' Dirt Skills Camp this sunday, the last Tuesday Night Road Ride is next week, Ted's on his honeymoon in Mexico w/ Sarah, 2 sweet Sevens go home this week and my wife's here to take me to dinner so I gotta go!

Man, whatta a week!

So....I came back from the extended JDRF bike work fest/Interbike show w/ dead legs and a fat gut. Too much time in planes and airports, too much bad food (and too much food in general!) and not nearly enough saddle time makes Mike a s-l-o-w boy! So......in typical Clark fashion I tried to flog meself back into some semblance of condition by riding my ass into the ground last week. Not sure that I succeeded with the first goal (the fitness part) but I for damn sure accomplished the latter!
After doin' a Cyclo-cross presentation for the Macatawa Cycling Club meeting on Tuesday (by the way....it's startin' to get to me that I miss the Tuesday Night Ride 'cuz I hafta go to the Club's Board Meeting and talk about rides!) I rode w/ Da've, Aaron and Jeff Wed. before work onthe fixxie. thur night I did my first Crazy Bastard ride of the year.......forcing that 25# glow-in-the-dark fixxie over 38 miles of hilly dirt roads out there jusy outside of nowhere. What a hoot! The the Friday Morning bagel Ride w/ Jeff, Da've and JJ, then Jess and I did the Sprint Ride on the tandem on Sat morning, then Lin and I did the JDRF ride on the tandem Sat afternoon, (40 hilly miles in the Ada area) and then, after the gig Sat night......I met CD and his bud Dan-the-tri-guy-that-wants-to-be-an-all rounder @ Yankee Springs for some hot trail miles. I finally got to ride my Seven w/ the new wheels and fork and brakes. It's awesome. Ted built up my wheels w/ the pink King SS hubs and DT rims and I got a schweet Pace carbon rigid fork. I'm runnin' a 33 x 16 gear and it felt okay, given that my legs were kinda blown.

Things @ the shop are good. It's still been plenty busy, what w/ the weird "August in October" weather. The rides are still well attended and we have lots goin' on for the winter.

One development for '08 is that we are pretty much officially done w/ Bianchi. It's been coming for years as we do less and less w/ them and I think it's time, you know? It's always a drag when you make a change, but we're pretty dang determined to offer the best "menu" we can find, and I think we can do better. Stay tuned!

So..........for the most part Bike Life remains a rare and wonderful thing. The shop is rocking, the Death Vallet Ride is less than 2 weeks away, there's a 'cross race nearly every weekend, the Pineapple Bob Classic is this coming Sunday, new bikes and frames are rolling in almost every day..................it's all good. Lots of really cool project bikes have happened or soon will too; Gunnar Crosshair 'cross bikes for Bob L, Frank Y and Brian W, a sweet Gunnar Roadie for Maria V, Sevens for Matt B and Luke N, Co-Motion tandems for Paul T-for-Texas and a couple in GR and a freakin' bee-yoo-ti-ful Co-Mo single for one very lucky young lady right'cher in Holland. Lotsa cool stuff goin' on and goin' outta here!

(Note: the preceding paragraph should in no way be construed as an indication that we think that only way-high end bikes are cool! All bikes are cool!)

Can't wait for the P. Bob! Can't wait for Death Valley! Can't wait for the Chilly Chili Ride! (11/11). Man..............life is good.
MC