GR Festival Winner

We just got word that the documentary won an award in the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts Film Competition. That means it will be shown each day of the Festival. The exact schedule hasn't come out yet but the Festival dates are June 5, 6 & 7 in downtown Grand Rapids. The screenings take place in the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

A new loop

I had a great ride at lunch today. Started by going west on Rogue River Drive to Post Road. It's a nice mile long climb up Post to where you cross over the highway. Then north on Pine Island for a short way to House St. That road is like a roller coaster, lots of rolling hills. Then west on 10 Mile for just a little bit to Jewel. North there until it makes a turn and becomes 11 Mile which also makes a big turn and becomes Edgerton. I turned east on 13 Mile and took that to the White Pine Trail which brought me home. Just a shade over 20 miles in length with an average speed of 16 miles an hour.
There was very little traffic and I only saw 4 other bicyclists on the whole route. Of course the fact that it looked like it was going to storm at any second probably kept people inside. I did get sprinkled on a couple of times, which felt good as I was dealing with 94% humidity.

Muskegon Film Festival Info

Our documentary, "More Than 100 Miles: Riding to Cure Diabetes", will be showing this weekend at the Muskegon Film Festival. Follow this link to their web site for detailed information. On the top of the page click on "Schedule", then on "Saturday's Schedule" on the next page. The doc is showing as part of Documentary Session #2. That runs from 4:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. in the Starboard Theatre, one of the two viewing rooms at the Harbor Theatre. And the fun doesn't stop after the movie is over.
Join us for the after-party at the Muskegon Film Festival Beer Garden, located right next to Harbor Theatre. It is strictly cash only and you must have a valid ID with you. The Beer Garden is open Saturday and Sunday during the Festival until 10:00 p.m.
So please join us on Saturday to watch the film and tip back a few.

Puttin' in the miles

Wednesday was the Ride of Silence. This is a memorial ride for all the cyclists who have been killed or injured by motor vehicles. The ride takes place at sites across the country. The Grand Rapids event started at Riverside Park, worked it's way through downtown to John Ball Park and then back. It was a very solemn ride complete with bagpipers playing "Amazing Grace". There were seven of us from the West Michigan Ride Team participating, plus I saw several other riders I know. After the 12 slow miles I sprinted the 8 miles back home for a 20 mile day.
Thursday I did a quick lunchtime ride with my neighbor Craig. We just went to 12 Mile Road and back along the White Pine Trail. It was absolutely perfect cycling weather. Sunny, warm and only slightly windy. We did an easy 15 miles.
Today Mary rode her bike to work. I have some errands to run this morning and I'm going to do those on my bike. Mary gets home from work early today because of the holiday weekend. We then pack up and head to Canton, Michigan for Ian's soccer tournament. That means no riding for a couple of days but we'll be okay.

Great Team Ride

We had a fantastic West Michigan Team ride on Sunday out in Grand Haven. There were 35 riders on a beautiful sunny day. It was a little cool but not too windy so all in all a great ride. There were two routes, 26 miles and 38 miles. While both were relatively flat, 38 miles is the most I've ridden this year. It felt good.
It's amazing the number of people who showed up for a training ride. Our first couple of years we didn't have this many people on the entire team. The kind of turnout we had Sunday speaks volumes about the commitment of this group of cyclists.
There are more photos posted on our Google photo site. Click here to follow the link.

ACCEPTED!

We just got word that the documentary has been accepted by the Muskegon Film Festival!!!!!
The dates of the festival are May 30 and 31. The location is the Harbor Theatre in Muskegon. The final schedule has not been released yet, but when it is I'll post the show times here. If you'd like more information on the Muskegon Film Festival click here.
I'm very excited that the film was accepted. We've gotten a lot of very positive feedback so far. But most of the people who have seen it are either involved with cycling or JDRF. Not exactly an unbiased crowd. The film festivals accept movies based on how good of films they are, regardless of the subject matter. It feels great knowing that people outside of our team and friends also see how special this group is.

The reviews are coming in

The documentary is starting to make the rounds of people outside of West Michigan and the response so far has been very positive.

"This is so inspirational. Very well done. You've captured with video what is so difficult to capture with words. I'm brought back to my first RTC in '03 and why I'm with this program. Thanks for doing this. Very nice. Great work."
-Tim St. Clair, JDRF Ride National Head Coach

"That was absolutely unbelievable and I've already watched it three times. I'm still blown away by how you were able to capture the "goose bump" effect on video. Amazing job, just amazing."
- Alyson Levine, Development Coordinator, JDRF Ride Department

We also just got a nice write-up in the media arts industry magazine Michigan Vue. Check out the May/June 2009 issue and the "Behind the Scenes" section.

This week's rides

This was a good week. I got out four times, none of them real long but the total was almost 60 miles. On Friday Mary went with me and we rode south on the White Pine Trail all the way to the south end of Riverside Park. Although lately it should just be called River Park. At the beginning of the week most of the park was underwater, thanks to the overflowing Grand River. By Friday the water had receded enough to let us ride the bike path, with only one tire cleaning spot.
With the sun staying up longer we'll be able to get in some longer rides after work. Also, soccer season is about half done, so that will open up weekends in another few weeks. Mary is even talking about riding her bike to work occasionally this summer. Love the warm weather. Let's ride.

Happy Cinco De Mayo

I've gotten two rides in already this week. Sunday evening I took the White Pine Trail south to the ballpark. In a couple of places the river had encroached upon the trail. In one spot the water was deep enough that my shoes got wet on the down stroke. It was a nice easy 15 mile ride. Yesterday was a different story. Only 10 miles, but all hills and sprints. We have quite a few good sized hills where we live. A couple years ago I mapped out a 10 mile route that incorporated five climbs of various lengths and grades. You were either going up hill or down hill, there was very little flat terrain. Yesterday I modified the route a little, dropping one of the hills but adding some sprints. It was a good work out.
Today Mary and I are celebrating Cinco De Mayo by taking the day off and enjoying the sunshine. Back on the bike tomorrow.