Two weeks and counting

Yesterday was our last team ride before the big JDRF ride in Lake Tahoe. It's 72 very hilly miles around Lake Tahoe, so in preparation, yesterday we rode 72 very hilly miles in West Michigan. It was a good ride with over 25 of our team mates participating in two loops that started on the shores of Barlow Lake. The first loop was just shy of 30 miles and featured the rolling hills of Parmalee Road. 

The team assembles before the start of  30 mile Loop 1.

The second loop was considerably longer. It clocked in at 42 miles, which gave those who did both loops the 72 we needed to match Tahoe. This loop started with a long flat stretch of Patterson Road going north. We may have even had a tail wind considering our group was riding along at 20-23 MPH.  Once we turned east and then south the existence on a southerly wind was confirmed as our speeds dropped by almost 10 miles an hour. We also hit a few more hills and our cohesive group got splintered all to heck.

Our pace-line jamming along at 23 MPH.

Eventually our team ended up in groups of 2s, 3s and 4s as we took various routes back to the cottage at the start/finish. Even though it was a difficult ride I felt good and the reward of swimming in the lake and a big cookout afterwards made it all worthwhile. When it was all done we packed up our bikes for the trip to Lake Tahoe. The bikes leave this week, we leave on September 7th. And on September 9th we conquer one more challenge on our rode to find a cure for diabetes.

The lead pack on the Paul Henry Trail, about 10 miles from the finish.

Busy ride weekend

Saturday was the One Day Ride Across Michigan. It's a 150 mile ride from Montague to Bay City. Since I was one of the organizers I didn't actually ride in it. Instead I drove the route to offer support and take photos. Then, after the ride, I hauled bikes from the finish line back to the start. We had over 260 people who participated and all the proceeds are being donated to JDRF.

On Sunday Mary and I rode from my parent's house north of Lowell back to our house in Rockford. A leisurely 16 miles. Tonight I went out by myself on the White Pine Trail and knocked out a quick 20 miles. Actually I wasn't by myself because I think the entire city of Rockford was out enjoying the trail tonight.

Got to get the miles in because we leave for Lake Tahoe two weeks from Friday.

Riders enjoying a beautiful day during ODRAM.

Thank you to our donors

It takes a lot of people to make the Ride to Cure Diabetes a success. Sure Mary, Ian and I are riding the miles, but the real thanks needs to go to the people that are financially supporting our ride. We have a family goal of $12,000. While we are not quite there yet (hint, hint) we did want to thank those people and organizations that have already donated. Because of people like you we will find a cure for diabetes.

Aaron Brown
Chris Radford
Christine Davenport
TruVue, Inc.
Daniel Flynn
David Pasciak
Kim Summers
Leo Isaguirre
Mark Shirey
Mary Jelsma
Michelle Bassett
Mike Klosner
Thomas and Florence Scheidel
Paul Schab
Brian Mogg
Cheryl Cammenga
X-Cel Chemical Specialties Co.
Craig Gietzen
Derek Dykstra
Leo Isaguirre
Rick Wylie
The Scheidel Group
Ruth Haverkamp
Clay Grueber
Glenna Hennip
Henry Wieten
Kerry and Amy Bean
Mary Koziol
Michael Walenta
Stewart Morrisey
Tim Sundt
Christine Behrens
XS Energy Drinks
The Awesome Foundation

One month to go

Four weeks from today we will be participating in the JDRF Lake Tahoe Ride to Cure Diabetes. We prepared for that by doing a fairly long team ride. 61 miles from Ada to Ionia and back. A few hill climbs and lots of rolling hills. We also had several straight flat stretches where our little peloton was keeping a consistent 18-20 mph pace. With today's ride I am now over 1000 miles for the season. Based on previous year's training numbers I am right on schedule. I've been riding about 1500 miles a year so I'm on pace to do that again. The JDRF rides are quite intense and require that much training to ensure a "safe, sound and smiling" finish.

Our coaches, MC and Derek, strategizing during the ride.

Paul Brown, our host for today's ride, waves to the camera

JD Stone and Mary Scheidel enjoying a beautiful day of riding

Longest ride of the year

Yesterday we had a JDRF West Michigan team ride. There were two loops that started from Long Like Park near Cedar Springs. The first loop (which you can see here thanks to Map My Ride) was 30 miles and we traveled in a clockwise direction. The second loop followed the same basic route but we rode a little farther south and east and we went counter-clockwise. That loop was 42 miles. So taken together we ended up with 72 miles yesterday. Coincidentally, the same distance as the the Lake Tahoe ride. Although we only had about half the climbing we'll have out there. Speaking of climbing, I finally got the chance to ride up Fisk Knob. It's a pretty large hill on Algoma Avenue. While riding north you gain about 100 feet of elevation in less than a mile. Not Tour Du France but not too shabby. Ian, of course, beat everyone to the top. Mary also made it without having to stop. Our bike fitness level is improving. I'm in my late summer training range of riding 60-100 miles each week. Which is where I need to be since we ride in Tahoe in a little less than 5 weeks.

Mary and Coach Mike after the descent from Fisk Knob.

The team makes an ice cream stop in Cedar Springs on loop 2.

More than 10,000 miles

Tonight was the night. I rolled over 10,000 miles on my Cannondale SR500. This journey started late in 2005. I had been riding my old mountain bike as I prepared for my first JDRF ride in Death Valley. By August of that year it became obvious that riding 100 miles in the desert on a mountain bike, while not impossible, was not in the best interest of my overall health. So in early September I bought the Cannondale. I put about 300 miles on it before we got to Death Valley in mid-October. I completed my first century ride on that bike in Death Valley on my 48th birthday. Many more miles have rolled under those tires since.

Almost to 10,000 miles, along the White Pine Trail

Tonight's ride was kind of special. I rolled over 10,000 on the White Pine Trail. This has been my main training route over the last eight years, so it seems fitting that this milestone was achieved there. I also decided to wear my JDRF jersey from our first ride in 2005. Lots of history on tonight's ride. I rode up to Rockford and then home for a total of 15.5 miles. I hit my goal on the way home.

I rolled over the odometer on my way home from Rockford.

A funny thing happened when the odometer rolled over to 10,000. Apparently that number doesn't exist, too many digits for the little bike computer. So after 9999.9 the next number I saw was 0.0. That was a little disappointing but now I can resell the bike as a "low mileage" vehicle.

To paraphrase the Proclaimers "Oh, I will ride 10,000 miles. Then I will ride 10,000 more."

Riding and watching riding

It's been a great few days in the ol' world of bicycling. On Saturday Mary, Ian and I rode into downtown Grand Rapids to watch a little of the Grand Cycling Classic. We got there in time to see several of our ride team mates who rode in some of the earlier races. We also saw the start of the Pro race. The route was a 1.4 kilometer loop around the VanAndel Arena. The pros did 66 laps.

The pro racers take a corner tight.

When they had 59 laps to go we decided to do a little more riding of our own and rode out to Millenium Park. The city of Grand Rapids has really done a good job the past few years of designating bike lanes and adding multi-use paved trails. We rode back downtown and arrived in time to see the last 5 laps. We were right near the finish line and it was pretty exciting to watch the pros sprint to the finish. After the race ended we did on lap on the track and then headed home. We ended up with 37 miles in total.

Ian and Tom near the finish line of the pro race.

Today I did a quick loop riding past Rockford High School and Luton Park and then coming back along 9 Mile and finishing going down 7 Mile hill. It was just under 14 miles and gives me 9988 miles on my Cannondale. So the next time I ride I will roll over 10,000 miles.

Three ride recap

Saturday I decided to go for a short mountain bike ride. There is a nice trail near our house that follows the Rouge River. The trail connects with the White Pine trail head in Belmont and also passes by some DNR fish ponds. It's a short loop, under 2 miles, but it's a lot of fun to ride. And it's nice that I can just ride to it from the house. I rode a couple of loops in the morning just to break up the road cycling workout regime I've been on lately.

On Sunday there was a scheduled team ride out in the Ada/Lowell/Saranac area. Part of this route follows the Grand River so it is used as a time trial road for a couple of local bike teams. Our plan was to ride a little of that but also climb up out of the river valley and ride some hills. Because I had to work in the afternoon I wasn't able to get the full route in, but did manage almost 19 miles.

Yesterday I took off on the WPT and headed north all the way to 16 Mile Road. I'm been fighting some kind of bug since Sunday so the first part of the ride was more difficult than I was expecting. But once I turned around, and had the advantage of the slight downhill slope going south, I felt a lot better. That is until I got a flat about a mile from home. While I had all the stuff to change the flat I figured that I could walk home in about the same amount of time it would take to change the tire. That way I could change the tire in my garage instead of by the side of the road. So I hoofed home, bike being pushed instead of ridden. I ended up with 23 miles riding and 1 mile walking for yesterdays workout.

Lake Tahoe, site of our JDRF Ride this year. The ride circles the lake and features over 3,100 feet of climbing.

Moving closer to 10,000

I recently downloaded the Map My Ride app for my cell phone. This keeps track of all kinds of detail about my rides; distance, elevation, average speed, graphs comparing speed to elevation, calories burned, speed for each individual mile. In other words, way more information than a cyclist of my ability needs. One really nice feature is that I can link you, the reader, with my ride workout log here. That way if you're really interested in my 18 mile ride today you can get all the info. And since I don't have to give a turn by turn description of the ride I can instead wax poetic about cycling.

My bike
It has been with me for many miles
In 100 degree heat
and driving rainstorms
On mountain tops
and the lowest spot in the western hemisphere
On quick jaunts to the bank
and epic adventures for a worthy cause
My bike

Eh. The real news is that I am only 105 miles from rolling over 10,000 miles on my black and red Cannondale SR500. Should happen before the end of July.

Bikes, bikes, everywhere

Saturday was a cycling day. Ian and I started the day by watching stage 13 of the Tour De France. It was an exciting finish along the Mediterranean Sea. After the stage finished we hopped on our own bikes and headed out for a ride. We rode a 22 mile loop that I've ridden many times, but this time we rode in the opposite direction. We started by taking the White Pine Trail through Rockford to 12 Mile Road. We turned west and rode to Algoma Road and then picked our way west and south until we got to the corner of Division and 10 Mile. Going south Division turns into 9 Mile and we took that to Pine Island Road. Then it was a left on Post and a nice downhill after we crossed over 131. We ended up at home after 90 minutes for an average speed of 15 mph on what I consider a moderately hilly course.

Another bike ride going on yesterday was the first JDRF ride of the season in Burlington, Vermont. Many of our West Michigan team mates are there coaching and working in the bike room. We also had a few friends participating in the ride. Congratulations to all the riders and thanks for your contribution to the fight against Type 1 diabetes.