Three days, three very different rides

Let's begin with Thursday. It was a beautiful warm spring day. I had an evening event to attend so I jumped on my bike after lunch and knocked out a quick 13 miles up to Rockford and back. Then on Friday Ian and I planned on attending our teammate Sarah Andro's JDRF fundraiser at Grand River Grocery. We were going to ride to Ada, do the fund raising ride and then ride home. It would have been 35 miles. However it rained most of the day, so we got a car ride down to Ada when the rain stopped. Then we started the fund raising ride and the rain returned. It was quite reminiscent of last year's Killington ride. Very hard rain, but luckily about 10 degrees warmer. We ended up only doing 10 miles. After the ride we had some good food (and I had a tasty Magic Hat Wacko) as we tried to get dry in the event tent. Best of all our teammate Chris Radford gave us a ride home.
On Sunday we had an official JDRF team ride that left from our house. We did a large loop the crossed the Rouge River 3 times, went around Meyers Lake and past Pickeral Lake, and through Townsend Park. There were 20 folks in attendance and we did the 40 mile route in 85 degree heat. Well, actually only 7 of us did the full route. Mary and about half the group took the 26 mile short cut down the White Pine Trail. A few more cut off the last loop that took us down Egypt Valley and Pettis to avoid the last few really big hills. The entire route was quite hilly with almost 1000 feet of climbing. Just getting us ready for Death Valley in October. And that makes over 60 miles in the saddle this week for me.

Separate but equal

Mary and I ended up at separate rides today. She went on the team ride in Grand Haven and I took Ian to his soccer game and then went on a solo ride.
Mary's ride was 37 miles in very windy conditions out near Lake Michigan. She rode with about 25 members of the West Michigan Ride Team. It was her first ride in a couple of weeks because she's been so busy at the cake shop. (www.iloveConniesCakes.com)
After we got back from Ian's game I went out to check out the second half of the route for the team ride we'll be hosting next week. I put in 27 very hilly miles. Some of the hills were caused by backtracking when my original route turned into a dirt road. Still our team is in for quite a bit of climbing next week.
Oh, and Ian won his soccer game 2-1.

Connie's Cakes

A little over a month ago Mary purchased her aunt's cake shop Connie's Cakes -n- Crafts. The shop has been around for 15 years. Mary's aunt wanted to retire and Mary wanted to own a business, soooo...
Mary has has dropped the "-n- Crafts" part of the name and has developed a whole new image for the shop. She's been busy getting to know the business and I've been helping her develop a web site. Today the web site has gone live. Here's the link. Check it out and then pop over to FaceBook and let us know what you think.

A perfect ride day

Another great day for riding in West Michigan. This has been a fantastic spring. Warm. Sunny. Just down right pleasant. Ian and I took a little jaunt today when he got home from school. We went north on Post Road to Pine Island and then back east on House. This is a great twisty, rolling hills kind of road. We jogged back west at 10 Mile to Jewell which turns into 11 Mile which turns into Edgerton before it crosses 12 Mile. More twisty turny hilly fun. Then the easy part, 12 Mile east to the White Pine Trail to home. A 20 mile round trip. It will also the first half of our team ride route on May 23rd. I now have to get out and figure out the second half of the route.

Friday Ride

Several of my JDRF ride buddies decided to take yesterday off from work and do a century ride. Cindy, Linda TP, Brenda and Trike Mike (on a two wheel bike) started on the Musketawa Trail at 7:00 a.m. New rider Kisten joined them for that leg of the ride. Kirsten turned around when the group headed down 6 Mile bound for the White Pine Trail. I joined the group near Belmont, when they already had over 35 miles under the tires. We rode the WPT almost all the way to Sand Lake before turning around. There was a bit of a head wind to fight and since I wasn't going the full 100 with them I was elected to ride the lead as a wind block. I was only too happy to oblige.
We stopped at the Corner Bar in Rockford for lunch. After a lovely, quick meal it was back on the bikes for just a few more miles for me. The Fearsome Foursome however had to ride all the back to Marne. They did end up completing their century and I finished with 40 miles. This is the only group I know of that would call me a slacker for riding only 40 miles. :)

A nice afternoon ride

I got out on the bike for a solo training ride this afternoon. I started by heading up 7 Mile hill. It's a pretty tough climb and only one mile from the start, so you're not really warmed up yet when you hit it. But you are certainly warm by the top of the hill. I then rode north on Blakely to Kies. East on Kies to Meyers Lake Rd and then south to 9 Mile. That took me back to Blakely and then back down 7 Mile hill. It's a whole lot more fun going down and about 30 MPH faster. In all it was a 15 mile loop in about an hour. Lots of hill climbing which is really good at this point in the season.

In other news, Jake's Music Festival this past Saturday was a big success. We had more people in attendance, more sponsorship money and more donations than ever before. If you'd like to see some photos from the event click here.

Jake's Music Festival is this Saturday!

Jake's Music Festival takes place this Saturday at the Wealthy Theatre. We'll have some of the best local musicians performing from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. There's also going to be a silent auction, adult beverages on tap, and free cake samples. So come on over for a great time. A full line-up and more info can be found on our other blog. Just click here.

First Team Ride

What a great day to be out on the bike. Today was our first JDRF West Michigan team ride of the season. We had about 25 team members there and rode 29 miles. We started in Grandville and then headed south through Jamestown and Burnips before turning east and then riding north to complete the loop. There were quite a few hills to negotiate but the weather made for a good time regardless.

Ian did a fantastic job. He pulled away from his Mom easily and finally dropped me about 25 miles in. He ended up finishing with the leaders. Must be all that soccer building up strong legs and good wind. He is going to do great in Death Valley.

Welcome to April

The weather has now turned more traditional April-ish (50s and rain) but the first few days were beautiful. I got some miles in and also got a bike for Ian. Well, it's just a loaner from Coach Mike until May, but it will help him get used to riding a road bike. By the way Mike, thanks for loaning him a bike that puts mine to shame. You are spoiling my kid!

We got Ian all kitted up; new bike shorts, a 2005 vintage red and yellow JDRF jersey,matching socks, my old Shimano shoes and some cool shades. With his red helmet he looked great on the orange, red and yellow Cannondale from Mike. We rode 16 miles on the White Pine Trail. I wanted a nice easy ride for his first time on a road bike. Ian couldn't get over how easy it was to pedal and how responsive the handling was. Way different than his too small hand-me-down mountain bike. He will be looking good for our first team ride this Sunday. By the way, if you'd like to donate to the little guy click on the link to the left or right here.

In like a lamb, Out like a summer day

Hard to believe today was the last day of March. It was sunny with temperatures in the mid 70's. In other words, nicer weather than most of last summer. Now we all know that Michigan weather can be a bit . . . unpredictable. No one who has lived in this state for more than a year would be surprised to see snow next week. So when the weather turns this beautiful, regardless of the month, you just gotta hop on your bike and go!
I went out today. Just a little jaunt north on the White Pine Trail and back. 22 miles round trip. I felt so good on the way out. I was surprised I was riding so well so early in the season. The reason was that I had a tail wind, as I found out when I turned around and started to head home. 20 MPH gusts straight out of the south. Luckily a large percentage of the WPT is tree lined and that helped knock down the wind. However in those areas where I was riding past farm fields my average speed was drastically reduced.
It's supposed to be nice for the next several days, so I'll have to get out again. Who wants to go with?