Sunday, August 31, 2008

Whitefish Wrap up.

So..............Sunday night. Time to go home, my work here is done. I've ridden a total of 25 miles while I've been here.......slept hardly any at all, eaten WAY too much and pretty much set my 'cross season back in any and every way I can.

So what?

The Ride was awesome. 3 for 3 this season so far. Great weather, riders, stories...you name it - we had it!

Just in case you ever get asked to be the Bike Room Guy for a JDRF Ride...here's an idea of what you're getting into:

Tuesday - Fly to Whitefish (or wherever). Check out the room, unload the truck if need be. Eat too much. Get a decent night's sleep. (For the last time!)
Wednesday - Set the Bike Room up......start assembling the DHL-shipped bikes that have arrived. Stress about the 16-19 bikes that are late and in the clutches of the morons @ DHL. Grab lunch on the run,get a quick ride in, dinner downtown, start figuring out where you're gonna get the rear wheel you need for that C-Dale that got smashed, get as many bikes assembled as possible. Eat too much. Go to bed late......midnight or so.
Thursday - Riders are arriving through out the day so the job shifts from 100% Wrench Dude to Wrench Dude/Bike Consultant/Host/Coach/Bike Fitter/Personal Shopper. Get the rest of the bikes ready, except for the 4 still missing from DickHeadLosers, eat too much, sleep too little.
Friday - Get up early to help get bikes ready for the "tune up ride". Pump tires, help riders find bottles etc. Weather the storm of post-ride complaints, need for adjustments, etc. Work on bikes all day, installing recently purchased computers, H2O cages, clipless pedals and the like. Basically stay in the Bike Room from about 8AM 'til midnight. Somehow find time to eat too much.
Saturday...Ride Day - Up @ 4:45, breakfast @ 5:00. In the Bike Room by 6:00, help riders get rolling 'til Ride Start @ 7:00, pack SAG van w/ tools, stand, spares and hit the road by 7:15. Patrol the Star Meadow route 'til about 10:30, then to the Whitefish Lake loop......fix 7 flats, a tight chain link, a loose saddle, etc. Haul the Glimmer Twins around for a bit, show them the course, co-ordinate Coaches and riders, etc. Come off route @ 4:30 to get a couple rental bikes back to the local shop, then spend some time hangin' around the finish line and wishing that you were a coach and out on the road where you belong. Sort bikes, head to the dinner then back to the room until midnight.Load the truck. Eat too much.
Sunday - try to sleep in but be foiled by your damn internal-set-to-Eastern-Time body clock. Too much breakfast, the into the room. Truck is gone so "only" 24 bikes to deal with. Start packin' them @ 9:00 or so........takes about 25 minutes per. Break for lunch downtown, then do some more. Run downtown on t-shirt run, then back at it. More bike packing all afternoon nd into the evening. Abandon plans to get a ride in. Finish the last bike @ 8:30, pack up tools, stands etc and load into storage unit. Fend off many offers for drinks and such from grateful riders (too tired). Quick dinner, (eat too much.) then back to room to bask in the feeling of being done and homeward bound. Post blog, read e-mail, take shower, plan to sleep in. All in all......a great, if tiring, week!

It'll be good to be home, good to check out the shop, good to trade tales w/ Ted, who's been wrenching for the Kenda/Titus team in Utah all weekend. I'll be back here for Ride #4 in 10 days.

Can't wait!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

JDRF Ride, Take 3

So. Whitefish MT again. 4th time in the last 3 seasons. I'll be back here in 2 weeks too. This time I have my "Bike Room Guy" hat on....which means that 'tween now and friday morning I have 150 bikes to get ready for the weekend. It's not as full-tilt-boogie-crazy as that sounds since a decent majority of them are packed in the trailer of that semi that's sittin' in the parking lot and will just need a gentle goin' over. (Hopefully!)

There are a bunch en route via DHL, FedEx and such and they'll need more work.

The Ride is Saturday, then I'll have until Monday noon to reverse all the work and get them headed off back to wherever it is that their riders hail from.

It's awesome here at the edge of the Rockies-it's cold enough after dark that we needed fleece jackets just to sit around the "fire" pit behind the lodge. (It's a bunch of gas jets surrounded by a pile of big rocks.) I brought some cool temp riding gear but I'm gonna give it a while to warm up before I head out for a spin.

I can't wait to tap into the whole JDRF Vibe that keeps me comin' back for more.....I reckon that'll start to be more apparent as more staff and riders arrive over the next 2 days. I love being involved in this program and as long as they keep asking me...........I'm in!

I'll keep you posted! MC

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Damn! Did it again!

When am I ever gonna learn? The LAST time I included a list in a blog post (and I guar-an-damn-tee it WILL be the last time!) I left someone out and then I had to post an apology. Now - the fact that said apology gave me an opportunity to take a gratuitis shot at Billy Joel eased the pain somewhat but still....................it was still an apology.

So. With that said allow me to state, with all appropriate humbleness and shame, that Da've Pa've was ALSO amongst the fallen after our little pavement-kissin' party @ Grattan last Wednesday.

That's D-A-'-V-E P-A-'-V-E.

Aka Dave Page, soon to be ex-Velo Citizen, Grand Valley student of no small aclaim, bartender of distinction @ the Lakeshore's coolest brewery (You can tell 'cuz they like to have Last Call play there).

Yep.......THAT Da've Pa've.

He of the fast hair, smooth pedal stroke and lightning black Cannondale.

He of the goats.

He of the "married to Linda".

He of the "Lives on the MNR route".

Yep. THAT guy!

He was there. Racing. In a VCC jersey. There, at Grattan. On August 20, 2008. I saw him myself. Right there next to me in the peloton. Not at the back. Not off the back. Off the front for a bit, as a matter of fact. Yep, 'twas him.

Allow me to be perfectly clear and on the record. He was there.

I missed him.

'Twas my bad.

No more lists.

Billy Joel still sucks and "We didn't start the Fire" is a crap song.

There, I feel better.

MC Listmeister

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Well...I shoulda been "that guy"!

So..........last race of the year (for me at least) @ Grattan last night. We had a great turn-out and the peloton was fairly shining w/ VCC jerseys - A-ron, Greg, Ross, Bull, Aaron and I were all flyin' the colors along side our MCC Brothas M2, C-Rad, Bob, Tom and Tator. It was a beatiful night and I was having a ball.

That's where today's lesson comes in. (Alas)

There was a new guy in the field............he was kinda squirrely, like first time riders tento be. I figure that's part of the deal and if I wanna avoid new riders I need to man up, ride faster and race in the "A" class, y'know? You see a guy like that, you make a "note to self" about keeping your distance and you deal w/ it.

But.............w/ 3 laps to go I notice that his handlebars were so loose in his stem that he was movin' his bars up nd down and back and forth as we blasted around the track at speeds of up to 30 mph.

"Sub-optimal" as my friends @ Seven Cycles might say.

So..........did I say anything to our errant hero? Did I put my "Elder Statesman" hat on over my helmet and politely-yet-firmly convince him to retire before he killed himself (or worse yet...me!)?

I did not.

I pussed out. I didn't want to be "that guy", y'know? I thought that we only had 2 laps to go, I was having fun, he was having fun...what the hell, right?

Wrong. WAY wrong. Custer was this wrong. The captain of the Titanic was this wrong. 'Cuz w/ one lap to go and the whole damn pack thundering down the mainstraight w/ a tailwind and the bit between our teeth Mr Loose Bars crashed his brains out and started the biggest pile-up I've seen for awhile. I thought I was gonna get out of it for a sec......I was on the brakes big time and was a-l-m-o-s-t stopped @ the edge of the carnage when 2-3 dudes piled into me from behind. When the dust settled I was all tangled up w/ Tom and his arm was pretty much crammed into and through my front wheel. (There's blood and chunks of his arm on the spokes.......it's cool and gross.)

Final tally - at least 3 ruined front wheels, including mine, The instigator's bike is totaled and the local med guys used a lotta gauze and tape. Coulda been worse............way worse. No one went to the E-room and bike parts can be replaced.

Still................next time it occurs to me to be "that guy"........you can bet that I will be!

Oh well.............now it's 'cross season! Can't wait!

Off to MT this tuesday for JDRF Ride #3 . I shipped my fixxie out there so I can ride in the mornings so I don't loose the fine-tuned edge that I have oh-so-carefully honed my fitness into. (We'll pause here for all my riding buddies to recover from their laughing fits. Okay now? All right then.)

Hard to believe that summer's almost gone. KW and I were talkin' about that very thing on the ride this morning. The older we get the faster time goes by. Is that gonna always be the case? Hell...at this rate 10 years from now a whole damn year will slip by while I'm shaving my legs!

That can't be good.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Catchin' up!

Man...........this blogger gig is more work than it looks! It sems like oit was just a coupla days ago that I was postin' up from my hotel room in Asheville on the eve of the big ride and here 'tis a wek later and I'm off the back yet again!

Dang!

The buzz from the Asheville experience is just b-a-r-e-l-y startin' to wear off........I'm so proud of the Team and what we have going here in West Mich that it's easy to forget that it's been only 3 short (but way full!) years since the whole long strange trip began. I'm off to Whitefish to run the Tech Support for the next JDRF Ride in 9 days, then home on Labor Day, back to MT a week later for Ride #4, home or a week, then to LV for the bike show w/ Ted, Aaron and Greg, then home for 2 weeks then Death Valley!

So much for maintaining any fitness for the 'cross season!

The shop is kinda crazy busy too. Ted's been gone on vacation, as well as Saandy so the rest of us have been hangin' on for dear life. School starts soon so that means new schedules for KP, Matt and Sandy and Da've's last day as a Velo-Cit is 8/26. What a drag! Still....he'll be around and I'll see him @ the Saugatuck Pub for sure.

I'm excited to get the Fun-Raiser Ride sereis started again - I miss having them every month. We'll hafta wait 'til October though....no open dates in September!

'Cross season is right around the corner.....I gotta decide what I'm gonna ride! My Gunnar's on loan to one of my JDRF riders 'til a week after Death Valley so I'll need to figure that out. I gotta jones for a Salsa Chili Con Crosso or mebbe a Redline. We'll see.

I hope this weather holds..............it's been off-the-hook bee-you-ti-ful all week and I'm not even close to sick of it!

Ride on!
MC

Thursday, August 07, 2008

ASHEVILLE REPORT, DAY 1

The drive down was a huge drag.........I'm not exactly a pro @ driving the shop truck w/ that big-as trailer on it and it was kinda nerve-wracking. I missed our 1st exit like a damn fool and while looking for a good place to turn around I managed to get in a little fender bender in Niles. What a lame move....there's nothing I hate more than pulling a dumbass move when there's no way I can think of to blame it on someone else!

Still.......on we pressed, w/ thoughts of how much worse it could've been giving some scant support. The rest if the trip was only an improvement in the sense that we avoided any more accidents......lots of traffic, lots of construction, lots of stress. The fact that I enjoyed it despite all that is a testament to just how much I like hangin' w/ Lin........we really oughta do that more often.

We hit town about 8:30 last night, had pizza @ the Mellow Mushroom w/ Trish and Aly (aka the JDRF "Glimmer Twins") and called it a night. Today we spent working on unloading the bikes, getting the door posters ready for the riders and in general helping the staff get ready for the arrival of the riders. That's happening as I type........w/ most of the West Michigan folks within a few hours,

Tomorrow I have to get ready to lead the pre and post-ride Dinner presentations and run several meetings. I guess the work will start then!

It'd take a far better scribe than this one to describe the feelings that being @ one of these rides gives me...........every time I come to one I'm reminded of how powerful a thing this can be and I am so glad to to be allowed to be a part of it.

I'll try and post a report tomorrow night, otherwise it'll hafta wait 'til after the ride on Saturday.
Stay tuned!

Saturday, August 02, 2008

el Flop-o grande'

So...got my ass dropped @ Grattan this week. Dropped! That hasn't happened in awhile......since my "comeback" from the ruptured Achilles a few years back.

Sigh.

How do you go from finishing in the top 10 or top 5 all month to doing the "ride of shame" past the spectators in one short week? Well...........lemme tell ya - I'm pretty sure it was a nifty combination of chutzpah, carelessness and general fatigue. It was supposed to be a Big Night - we had 6 or 7 VCC jerseys out there, it was the first time ever for Greg and Aaron, I was gonna bag it after Juoy to get ready for 'cross and I wanted to go out w/ a bang.

More like a whimper.

The pace was hot, if kinda erratic. I spent more time than usual up near the front, expecting there to be the constant breakaway attempts that made the last race so volatile and I got kinda gassed w/ about 6 laps to go. I had done an extra-viscious workout w/ Jess and John that morning and my legs were kinda dead anyways, so that didn't help. There was a split (I guess) and I was kinda hangin' on the rear of the lead group for dear life and when I sat up to drift back and take a break........there was no one there. Oops. I looked around and the pack was up the road 30 yards and I couldn't chase back into the wind.

Game over.

So.....now I'm gonna hafta go out there again this month, dang it. No way I'm wrappin' it up on a pitiful showing like that. 'Cross prep will hafta wait.

Rats.

Other than that.............things are crazy still. Ted's over in Wisconsin w/ Danielle @ Nationals, Asheville is next week, the shop's still nuts..............Yee-Hah!

Gotta get to it............see ya later,
MC