Last Ride of 2009

DH does some New Year's Eve single-track.

Happy New Year!

Team Strong Heart needs YOU!

Seasons Greetings! from Team Strong Heart and the Silent Sports Foundation.

If you have not heard Team Strong Heart has once again registered a team to participate in the 2010 Race Across America (2010 RAAM). Exactly what form this squad will take is yet to be determined.

This is where we need to hear from you! Ideally we would like to see a 4-person relay team take shape. To date, two riders have expressed strong interest. Tim Case, TSH and RAAM (soloist & team!) veteran, is tentatively heading up this effort.

So what this means is ANYONE who has interest in participating in this epic event, either as rider or support crew, here is your opportunity!! Spots are open right now and we would like to hear from you if you are interested. Anyone who is interested should reply within a week or so as we try to get a good idea what form the 2010 will take.

If you are interested please let us know by sending a response here: 2010 TEAM STRONG HEART

The date for this year's Race Across America team start is June 12, 2010. The race itself takes around 7 days. With travel days to the start in Oceanside, CA and return home from the finish at Annapolis, MA the entire adventure takes about two weeks. And guaranteed... this will be two of the most interesting and exciting weeks you'll ever live!

So for anyone who is interested, please give it some thought and get back to us soon. We look forward to hearing from you!!

Please feel free to respond with any questions you have, we would be happy to answer inquires you might have regarding Team Strong Heart or RAAM.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jay Thompson - President Silent Sports Foundation 2007 Team Strong Heart Member

Prairie Roubaix 6 (12/12) 2009

Two Pair Tuesday

It was a pair of Daves and a pair of Jays on hand for this past Tuesday's Ride.

With no snow cover yet we opted to ride over to the Foley ramp vs. driving over. We arrived shortly before 7PM and did a few laps to see if anyone else would show up.

After no one else showed to break up this hand we headed back west to finish out the ride.

If you are itching to ride watch your email for any upcoming outdoor rides OR join the Tues/Thurs Spin Groups at Trailhead in Champlin.

Also, don't forget about this Saturday's Prairie Roubaix!

Trailhead Cycling's Black Friday Deals

Get a jump on Black Friday with savings from your favorite bike shop!

Great gifts for the "cyclist" on your list. Niterider, Kinetic Trainers and computers, Sigma HR and computers, Park Tools and Repair Stands, cool weather apparel.

$15.00 gift card with every $100.00 purchase

Savings start NOW - no need to wait!

Trailhead Cycling and Fitness 763-712-0312

Closed Thanksgiving Day

too cool...

Trailhead Cycling to offer Spin Classes

Trailhead Cycling in Champlin will once again be offering Spin Classes over the 09/10 winter season. Two formats are available this year. Sessions begin in early November!

Starting Nov. 10th

Tuesdays at 6:00PM : Traditional (as in the past) Spin Class. $5 per night or 12 nights for $50

Starting Nov. 5th

Thursdays at 5:00PM: Advanced WATTS Spinning with Instructor. $75 class registration.

Click here for complete details!

Directions to Trailhead Cycling

Ichabod's TTT Recap!

More photos here

The 2009 inaugural Ichabod's Twisted Two-man Time Trail is in the books! The day proved to be twisted start to finish. The first unexpected twist came via an early pre-race crash. Larry S. had the unfortunate experience of touching wheels with Neil and going down hard. This happened before the race was underway. I am happy to report that after being checked out and diagnosed with a concussion Larry has said he's doing OK.

The weather also threw in a twist and at race time the temp was in the mid 30's and the wind was stiff out of the west. A few snow flakes even flew early in the day.

After things where sorted out three teams of two were on hand for the race. Team Claflin/Connell featured 29er rigs to tackle the course, Team Eerdmand/Hemstad chose a mtb/road bike combo, and Team Will/Thompson picked bikes with a cyclocross set-up.

Each team was required to guess what their finishing time would be and the race was on! A LeMans style start was choosen with riders starting out on foot and running over to their bikes to start.

When things where all settled this is how it shook out. Finishing third was team Eerdmans/Hemstad with a guess margin of 1 min, 54 secs. In second place was team Claflin/Connell with a guess margin of 1 min, 40 secs. The team with the closest guess margin was Team Will/Thompson with a margin of 1 min, 3 secs.

Many special THANK YOUS are in order. Carol and Jorge both showed up to cheer and brought treats. Carol ended up bringing Larry home before the event even got started. Amy and Melinda also showed up to cheer, but ended up ferrying Larry truck and bike back home to him. These were special acts of caring and kindness. We are blessed to have such caring friends. Thanks also goes out to each of you that came to participate just for the fun of doing it!

Stand by for another Ichabod's Twisted Two-man Time Trail next year. A few new twisted ideas were floated assuring that next year should be even more fun.

Ichabod's Twisted Two-man Time Trial

Halloween day! Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

You can't miss this one, grab a partner and get ready for fun! This two-man time trial is meant for nothing but fun!

Ichabod's Twisted Two-man Time Trial will feature a variation of the familiar Fletcher Time Trail Course with a couple of twists!

The first twist will be the route. The start and finish will be the same as usual, BUT the course will be altered to feature both pavement and gravel!

The second twist (making every team a potential winner!!) is this; each team will have to guess their finishing time prior to starting the course (no timing devices allowed during the race). The team that has the closest guess to their actual finishing time will be declared Champion for the day!

So as you can see, your current fitness level, bike choice, partner choice, does not really matter. What matters is coming out fur fun and a little more riding with friends before the cycling season comes to a close.

Click here to see a map of the route. The course is approximately 10.4 miles in length.

Registration is $FREE$ and participation is recommended!!

This is just an opportunity to have a good time!

Here are the details:

• 9:00 to 9:44AM registration (Fletcher: Territorial Rd & CR116)
• 9:45AM Pre-race meeting and announcements
• 10AM Start: Teams start every 5 minutes.

This is truly going to be fun. Partner up and come on out!!

RAAM: team budget cost cutting ideas...

Hey now... maybe stumbled onto a way to minimize expenses for a RAAM team.

Wadda ya think?

Group Riding Skills to work on...

Something to work on for next season! Don't throw your helmets away!!

CC Summer Series TT #5 Wrap-up

What a night to end the Summer Time Trial Series! Once again we were blessed with very nice conditions and a good turn-out. Light (5mph) NE winds and temps in the mid 70's greeted riders on this season finally night.

9 riders participated and turned in some impressive times. Sorry about the couple of first timers that took a wrong turn while out on the course. Even with the navigation errors the times were good!

That's to Amy for being the official time tonight and THANK YOU to everyone who participated this season. Look for the Cyclist's CycleLIST Summer Time Trial Series to return next season starting in April.

September 24, 2009 Results:

Larry--24:03

Dave--24:27

Jay--24:33

DaveH--24:34

Melinda--24:39

Kenny--26:06

Mike--26:09

Amy--26:39

Quang--26:49

One more TT and Ride Time Changes

Just a note:

One more Time Trial has been schedule for 5:30PM on Thursday Sept. 24th on the Fletcher course.

And..

Weekday rides have been moved up to 5:15PM to gain a little daylight.

CC Summer Series TT #4

Conditions were prime for some good times tonight and that is what happened. Thank you to Madonna for being the timer and thanks to everyone who came out to time trial!

August 27, 2009 Results:

NE--23:44

DW--24:26

LS--24:58

MS--25:09

SD--25:18

JH--25:54

J?--26:09 (again Jeff, I don't know you last name!)

CR--26:31

KS--26:38

AX--27:10

2009 Le Tour - Contador

The following was stolen from the Cozy Beehive. I found it very interesting. Hats off to Mr. Contador!

Cozy Beehive: Here are some few items of interest you may not have known about our era's champion of pro cycling, that kid from Pinto named Alberto Contador. I gleaned them from my range of readings. I'm very sorry that most of you won't find this in the western media here as most are busy chanting for Armstrong or writing the 200th biography on him that we hardly need on Amazon.com.

1. Brotherly Love : Alberto Contador became a cyclist through his elder brother, Fran Contador. When Fran passed his Spanish entrance exams at school, his parents bought him a new bicycle. The old one, an iron Orbea that weighed like a tanker, was passed onto the scrawny little Alberto, who couldn't have complained that he now had a bicycle as well.

Riding with Fran and his friends through the wind swept corridors of Pinto, Alberto would always keep up with the group on that heavy bike, even though the wind blew his tracksuit top open like a parachute. Now Fran enjoys being his champion brother's main PR guy, secretary and financial manager. When he's not busy, Fran himself defends the family name in the Nissan Titan Desert across the scorching sands of Morocco. It is also known as the toughest MTB Marathon in the world.

2. First Team : Javier Fernández, who signed the teenage Contador up for the neighborhood team of Embajadores, said the following to El Pais about the young rider, "He was about 15 the first time I saw him, with that iron bike, which was completely outdated. He had a natural talent and strength, and broke away from the pack in a race that included Madrid's best young cyclists. It was obvious he had no technique, but also that he wanted to be a cyclist. Alberto had nothing. His parents couldn't even go with him to the races because they had to stay with his younger brother Raúl, who has suffered from brain damage since he was a child. Raul was always in his wheelchair."

The lack of money motivated Contador to value the little things he had in life. Whenever he did save up some money, he would spend it on new equipment to improve himself.

3. Brain Condition : Contador missed his first Tour de France due to an aneurysm in 2004, which, just two months before the race, almost killed him. While racing in the Tour of Asturias, he collapsed to the ground almost like Tom Simpson with severe convulsions. Doctors said that he had a congenital problem with an artery in his brain. This balloon like bulge of the blood vessel can kill you if it ruptures, as it causes subarachnoid hemorrhage.

He underwent immediate surgery to prevent irreversible brain damage and this event has permanently marked him through a large scar and titanium plates on his head. How he survived the face of death is extraordinary, leave alone winning the Triple Crown of cycling and his 2nd Tour de France this year.

Contador has no special memories from that day, the coup de grâce for that entire season. But when asked, he does recall that the people who first attended to him on the road where he lay unconscious laid him on his back, a complete mistake as he could have swallowed his tongue and choked to death.

When doctors told him that he could start cycling again, on November 27 2004, it was 3 degrees and raining buckets outside. Yet. he still picked his bike and went out to train with new life because it felt like a privilege when before he might have been lazy to ride because of bad weather.

4. Health (A Ticking Timebomb?) : The internal scar left in his head makes that area of his brain so hypersensitive that he often has epileptic fits. Contador takes medication daily to prevent those fits, and pays regular visits to the neurologist. Pedro Celaya, the doctor at his past team Discovery reported that as he remembers, Contador was absolutely obsessed with not doing anything strange about his health.

Perhaps Lemond and other Contador grillers in the press may like to think twice about "firing" pressuring questions at this youngster in front of cameras and the whole world. Perhaps this is the reason why he tries to avoid needless questions that try to take his mind off racing. He remembers hospital too well and does not want to end up there again.

Meanwhile, ignorance about his condition among his detractors abound and they chose to do things such as labeling him a "doper" or asking him to account for error prone "VO2 max" calculations when he had a race to take care of. Others, such as Armstrong and Bruyneel, were happily applying both psychological and political pressure on him through means of Twitter propaganda and press media. An astute observer will have noticed that these two individuals, with the help of media, were trying to manufacture a certain tension out of the team, while Contador was coolly trying to save the situation by reporting back that everything was quiet, friendly and normal at the dinner table and that the ambiance in the team was very good. Is it too hard to guess certain elements around him were trying to mentally break him from the inside while he was trying to concentrate on his career? It didn't work as planned, although Contador stated several times that this year's Tour was very difficult mentally for him.

5. Riding And Attacking Style : Contador is an all-rounder. He has been a proven time trialist. He was Spanish Time Trial champion in the under-23 category in 2002 and in this year again. Plenty of other ITT wins range in between. He has won nearly 50 professional wins, so he has plenty of experience and wins to prove it.

He is dark skinned and thick skinned, with long legs and a skinny upper body. He has a high level of muscular strength and endurance, while offering little frontal area for aerodynamics. He has been observed by Phil Liggett and others to time trial with similar abilities of Miguel Indurain.

Contador seems to launch his best attacks when he knows there’s a headwind and he can get five or six meters of gap between him and rivals. He snaps forward to try and break another rider's rhythm. Then he steps on the gas and continues to drive solo at a very high pace on the climb. Something about his effortless cadence up the climb just tends to psychologically dampen the riders behind him even more. Intelligent people on Science of Sport have calculated his vertical ascending speeds up mountains and the numbers that come out are like nothing the Tour de France or any other cycling event has ever seen before. Armstrong agreed in the press in the final days of the Tour that even he in his prime may not have been able to match the performance of Contador.

Contador loves to attack at the right moment and he trains to keep his speed up for a long periods of time. His rapid acceleration up climbs is virtually unmatched. The best battle to date where this was displayed was the man-to-man, balls to the wall racing between him and Michael Rasmussen on the slopes of the Col de Peyresourde in July 2007. This also happens to be his favorite climb.

Contador keeps his focus on the Tour, but unlike Armstrong, he keeps sights on wins in lots of races throughout the calender. He really enjoys his racing. He has also told the press that he would like to win one day classics in future.

6. Income : How much does Contador earn? Well, for the 2007 Tour de France winner's prize, he received an on-the-spot 600,000 dollars. Add to that similar amounts for the other three subsequent Grand Tours, myriad endorsement deals (eg, Sidi), contracts worth a million or two and air time on tv shows and all that...and you would bet he could buy a lot of fancy bike parts, or let his fiance pick two, maybe three designer handbags on her next mall visit. Or maybe he would like to help in treating his physically challenged younger brother? Whatever he decides to do, he has enough stash to repair all his flat tires with Euro bills for a long time.

7. Love life : Alberto goes out with a 23 year old, slim brunette named Macarena. She is a staple in Alberto’s lifelong gang of friends. She was fifteen when she met Alberto, who was seventeen. Nine years later they’re still together and now frequently travels to see him race and win the big ones.

Folks from Pinto are ordinary people who keep their friends and have faith in them. This concept has lost its meaning in America.

8. Hobbies : Contador loves hunting in his spare time. He has a fascination for birds, keeping personally bred canaries and goldfinches at home. He is reportedly careless about organizing his room and personal things but loves to clean his bike and keep it in great condition. Apart from cycling, he also likes to play soccer.

Contador has a blog. He has also been profiled by several of his fans who have seen him in person to be a very careful writer. He takes great care and exhibits a need for perfection to sign an autograph or write a few words for a fan.

It must also be mentioned that he loves hanging out the beach.

Which comes to the now famous tale : he was enjoying his vacation on a beach in Cadiz, Spain last year when he got a call on his phone just 5 days in advance to go and ride his bike in the grueling 3 week Giro d'Italia. He wasn't even in his peak form and had hardly touched the bike during that vacation. It turned out he didn't just ride that bike race. He took the title along too for a few memories.

CC Summer Series TT #3

Part III of the third Thursday Summer TT Series was held tonight. This time around there was no messing up anyones time. We had official officials in official referee strips!

Conditions tonight were challenging with the wind blowing out of the WNW at 18mph with gusts up to 27mph. Race time temp: 66F The fact that the wind was blowing did not scare anyone away, eight racers turned out to face the wind and the clock!

Madonna L. turned in a very impressive time for the top female spot at 25:30 and Andy C. nailed down the top male spot with a speedy 24:34.

July 18, 2009 Results:

AC--24:34

BE--24:52

JT--25:01

LS--25:06

ML--25:30

DW--26:04

DM--26:33

J?--26:42 (sorry Jeff, your last initial escapes me!)

Thank you to Amy & Melinda for officiating and timing tonight's event and thanks to everyone for coming out!

Mark you calendars for the next TT in the series to be held Aug. 20th.

Apples and Bananas?

The 2009 Team Strong Heart just completed the 2009 version of RAAM (Race Across America). The team finished with the fastest time among the ten teams competing on conventional bicycles. In other words... they won!

The odd thing is when you look on the RAAM web site, TSH is listed as placing 2nd behind a 4-man team (Team RANS) that raced on recumbent bicycles. Congratulations to Team RANS and no doubt they put in a great effort to complete the RAAM Race, but it does strike me as a bit odd. Why does RAAM lump the four-man teams together, regardless of what they are riding, all the same bracket?

It only seams fair to compare apples to apples (vs. apples to bananas, pinaples, or fig nuts).

Lumping together conventional bicycles, recumbents, HPV's, unicycles, whatever... strikes me as silly. In most sporting competitions, brackets are set so peers compete against peers.

None the less the 2009 Team Strong Heart set the bar a little higher in their successful completion to the 2009 RAAM Race finishing in 6d, 10hr, 30mins. for an average speed of 19.56mph. That is awesome!

Hats off to team leader Andy Claflin and the rest of the Team Strong Heart team and crew. Each of you had a very important part in making the TSH RAAM race happen and successfully completing the mission for Camp Odayin.

Anybody up for 2010?

WE WON!!

The Great Alexandria Bike Race! Well, actually Dave H. and Melinda S. won but we really did win as a team. I have never been in a race where the team has worked as a team from beginning to end! I have been in a number of races where it really never gels but today we worked it about as well as we could and we came away with the win! That was a lot of fun! Next week, the Paul Bunyan Double Century!! For more of the story click here.

RAAM: Team Competition Starts Saturday

The RAAM team competition begins tomorrow. Look for daily coverage at www.teamstrongheart.com

Random pre-race photos from California:

Inspection Time

Shopping

Tim Case and his electronic mini-me

Costco stock-up

CC Summer Series TT #2

Part II of the CC Summer Series TT was held tonight with very favorable conditions. The temperature was in the low 80's and the wind was south at about 9mph. Once again I managed to botch up the times, but with a little self timing help we managed to straighten out everone's time but mine. The best I can figure is DW's time plus about 30 seconds.

Thanks to Dave Hemstad for operating my screwy timing system and a big thanks to those of you who came out to Time Trail. The next date for the CC Summer Series TT is July16. Don't be shy, year end prizes will be based on participation. Come on out and test yourself.

Results (in order of start):

CR--26:58

AX--26:52

MS--25:31

DW--25:45

JT--26:15*

*estimated

Team Strong Heart Arrives in Cali!

10:10PM (Central time): Andy Claflin, Team Captain for the 09 Team Strong Heart just reported in after arriving in Oceanside California. He is checked in to the hotel TSH is staying in and reports that the next set of TSH arrivals are only ten minutes away.

The remainder of the squad will pull in in tomorrow to begin final preparations. The race for the team competition starts Saturday. The team has very little time to relax while they get everything ready. Tomorrow (Thurs) they will have to prepare their vehicles and bikes for the upcoming pre-race inspections. That's only part of their preparations. They also have to shop for food, change oil, organize the RV, assign chores and duties, and the list goes on.

Stand by for more as the '09 Team Strong Heart prepares for the 2009 Race Across America!

Coffee Ride #1

The first coffee ride of the season will be this Saturday. This is a great ride because it has so many options. You can start at 7 and do the 144 or wait until 9 and join the group for the coffee express that heads downtown. From there the group will split again with some heading for home and others going for the 100 miles. Anyway you slice it, it comes up peanuts!!

By the way, Melissa is in the main pack with the pros right now in St. Paul and she is doing GREAT!!

Wanna Race?

Here's news of a race in Alexandria, MN on June 20th & 21st.

This information comes in from Mike Delaney (LSC Prez):

The Great Alexandria Bike Race June 20th and 21st is a race for citizens and licensed riders from Canada, Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin. The city of Alexandria is welcoming the cyclists to their city. Their slogan is "Alexandria-It's easy to get to...hard to leave".

Unlike the majority of the races in Minnesota you won't need a license to race. This would be a great opportunity to try bike racing and not letting all that fitness you've been working so hard on to go to waste. It's kind of like doing the Headwaters 100 race without the cold wet temperatures and a little less mileage. You'll be racing on the same roads as the elite riders.

There will be medals three deep in each gender age group. You can try the road race on Saturday and stay for Sunday's race against the clock (Time Trial).

All these races will be timed using chip timing. For more information travel to www.endurancepromotions.com

Hope to see you in Alexandria,

Mike

Another top podium spot for Hoglund!

Cory Stuhr and Dave Hoglund #1 & 2 at the 2009 Afton Avalanche

The Afton Avalanche MTB Race was #2 in the MNSCS MTB State Championship Series.  After his first place score in the Comp Class (age 45 to 49) in the first of the series, Dave followed with another first place score at Afton.  Well done on a tough course known for big climbs!  Actually the Loons were well represented with Cory Stuhr nailing down second place in the same class!

Good work guys! 

Weekend: On Tap

Saturday: Century Ride (100mi) starting from the Trailhead Cycling location at 7AM

Sunday: St. Paul Ride.  7:30AM - Meet at Cedar Island Elementary School located on Hemlock Ln across from Maple Grove Jr. High.  The route will be over to the hills of St. Paul and back.  Milage should be somewhere in the vicinity of 80 mi.

Trailhead 2-Day Sale

Print this flyer and bring it with you to claim your savings during the 2-Day sale at Trailhead.

Inaugural Cyclist's CycleLIST Time Trial

At the finish line: (L2R) Melinda, Amy, DaveH, Andy, Jeff, Steve, DaveW, Carol, and TT timer JayT. Photo credit to Perry.

Not to be outdone by the Giro de Italia stage 12 TT the CC group staged the first of the Third Thursday Summer Series Time Trial today with a nice turn-out. Nine individuals participated. Weather conditions were about ideal for the course. Temperature was 71 and the wind was WNW at about 9mph. Individuals were started at 1 minute intervals.

Complete results will be up soon.

DH--24:18

AC--24:49

SD--25:14

JS--26:12

MS--26:14

DW--26:46

JR--26:59

CR-- 27:33

AX--28:24

Following the TT we finished the ride home looping west then back through Dayton and down the River Road rollers. Here are a few random photos from Dave H. Thanks everyone for coming out!!

Time Trial This Thursday (May 21)

This coming Thursday will be the first in a monthly Time Trial series that will be held every third Thursday throughout the summer.  

We'll start at TH at 5:30PM and ride out to Fletcher.  The TT will start and end in Fletcher.  We'll finish up by riding back to the shop.

Come on out and give it a try. Establish a base time and then return next month and try to beat it.

Congrat's to Dave Hoglund!

Congratulations to Dave Hoglund on his first place score in the opening round of the Minnesota State Championship Series (MNSCS).  

Dave beat the field in the 45-49 Comp Class finishing #1 at the Erik's Spring Cup in Inver Grove Heights.

It truly is amazing.  He does it all with his front wheel never touching the ground!!

Good job man!

Photo Credit to: SkinnySki.com

Couple o' Cool Web Sites

Being it is bike to work week here are a couple of useful links for you commuter types.  Actually the Cyclopath link is useful for anyone planning a bike route.  

Check 'em out!

• Cyclopath.org
  
• Metro Transit: Commuter Challenge
  

Twin Cities Bike Walk Week May 10-16

Twin Cities Bike Walk Week May 10-16, 2009

Join up with your friends, neighbors, and colleagues on Thursday, May 14 for Twin Cities Bike Walk to Work Day, an event encouraging commuters to celebrate biking and walking in the Twin Cities.  Metro-wide activities will include free neighborhood or route celebration locations, downtown celebrations, Bike Walk team competitions, and Biking and Walking Buses. Once registered, participants will be eligible to win prizes including brand new bicycles!  Bike Walk to Work Day is a part of Twin Cities Bike Walk Week, a week-long celebration from May 10 to 16.  For more information on Bike Walk Week and registration, please visit www.bikewalkweek.org.

CC Summer Time Trial Series

Announcing the CC Summer Time Trial Series... Every Third Thursday Starting in May.

What this is - is an every-third Thursday Time Trial throughout the summer. We'll start at 5:30PM at Trailhead as any typical Thursday group ride. We'll proceed out to Fletcher and run the same Time Trial course that we have used in the past. After the TT is complete we'll return to Trailhead finishing as any typical group ride.

For those who are not familiar with the course, it is an approximately 9 mile course beginning and ending in Fletcher. See a course description here.

Time Trialing is a fun and challenging way to measure fitness and performance. This event is not meant to pit rider-against-rider but rather rider-against-self. At the end of the season prizes will be awarded! Prizes will be awarded primarily on a participation basis. Everyone is encouraged to give it a try!!

This event will be loosely organized with no fee$. Some nights might have a timer and some might be self-timed. Participation is optional. There will be four regularly scheduled TT's (May, June, July, and August) and a season finally TT to be scheduled and announced in September.

As in the past when the group has done the course ala DIYTT style... anyone is invited to go out and give it a try on their own. We didn't really do any DIYTT TTing last summer (not sure why?) but if anyone wants to do it DIYTT style and have times posted please feel free. DIYTT times and participation will not count towards CC TT participation. Time Trialing is called the race of truth. For the DIYTT this has a dual meaning... please be honest. Also, please note the beginning and end points for the course. The course does not end at the "Fletcher" city limits sign. The finish is at the white "DO NOT PASS" sign 200 meters pass the city sign.

First TT night will be Thursday May 21

Come on out and challenge yourself!!

God's Country 100K/100m

We will be leaving from the shop tomorrow at 7 AM to ride north. There is a 65 mile option on this ride. Some have asked of pace. The term 100 seems to mellow things out in a nice way. Come on out and give it a whirl!!

Marty Bike Race

Saturday, May 2, several of the riders from the Trailhead group road in the Marty Race in Marty, MN. Andy Claflin raced in the +35 catagory. Brian Ericson raced in CAT 4, Greg Sandberg, Dan Podoll and Jay Huemann road in the CAT 5 race. Madonna Lindgren road the women's race. She finished well and the results are linked below.

We may have missed a few riders who were there. If we did, it is not on purpose. Please let us know who you are.

Andy was doing well in his race until tire flats caused him to DNF. Greg, Dan and Jay's first road race went well. Greg finished in the first group and road strong as he helped several people during the 2 lap race. Jay and Dan finished together toward the back of the group. They felt good about their effort but also realized that much more training is needed by both of them.

Link to the Women's results

Link to the CAT 4 results

Link to the CAT 5 results

Weekend Update

Saturday/Sunday Rides

Saturday May 2: rides starting at 7AM and again at 9:30AM  

Start at Traihead Cycling in Champlin.

Sunday May 3: #1 Chili Dog Ride of the season

Starts at the Stone Arch Bridge (Mill Ruins Park) in Mpls at 8AM

Ironman Report

MN Ironman Bike Ride - Sunday

Good luck to those riding the Minnesota Ironman Bicycle Ride tomorrow.  The forecast looks like typical Ironman weather.  Bring plenty of clothing for cold & wet riding!

Forecast - Sunday (4/26)

6am 42°F Feels like 35°F	8am 43°F Feels like 36°F	10am 44°F Feels like 36°F
12pm 45°F Feels like 38°F	2pm 48°F Feels like 42°F	4pm 53°F Feels like 49°F
Sunrise: 6:10 AM     Sunset: 8:14 PM

Sounds like a call-out to me!

Hey Schoneman!

SaturdayRide: 7AM at Trailhead.  Rain, Shine, or Whatever...

Weekly Rides Underway

Weekly rides are happening from the Champlin area Monday through Thursday and Saturdays*.

Rides depart from the parking lot in front of Trailhead Cycling located behind the Dairy Queen located on the east side of Hwy 169 & 114th Ave.

Rides start at 5:30PM each weeknight (M-TH) and Saturdays (*as announced until something regular gets established).   Any changes to times or routes are typically announced via the mail list.

Best Wishes to Paul!

Best wishes to our friend and fellow cyclist Paul Sarver who in an earlier message to the mail list stated: "I will ride in spirit only this year as I am out of town for a while".

Well, in this case "out of town" means Iraq.  Paul deploys with other MN Guardsman later this week.

Be careful, be safe, and we'll miss you Paul.  Hopfuly we can get a blog update from Iraq!   

Minnesota's Red Bull Infantry heads to Iraq

Early Season & Group Riding

For everyone who is getting ready for anotrher cycling season OR their first cycling seasn here is my best advice on early season training and group rides. 

DO NOT be intimidated by how you think you will do or your perceptions of what you think the group will do. It's not a competition. There is no performance expectations, NOBODY is there to judge your performance. Group rides are for gaining fitness & skills and to enjoy doing it with each other. The most respected rider is always the one who keeps trying.

If you are very early in your fitness development for the season I would still encourage you to take advantage of a group ride. Even if you know you are not going to complete the ride with the group, make a point of starting with them. Challenge yourself by riding as long as you can with the group and then peel off and complete the ride on your own. Just let someone in the group (group leader) know of your intentions.

Don't wait until you think your fitness level is good enough to keep up with the group - start riding with a group as early and often as possible. As the season goes on the fitness level of a group progresses as a whole, the group, as a whole, will begin riding faster & faster. Trying to join a group ride later in the season is actually more difficult than doing it early in the season, regardless of your fitness level.

It's a fact that everyone is at a different level of fitness at this time of year. Contrary to what you might think a group can benefit all fitness levels at the same time. All riders in the group do not need to be of equal abilities. Riders with higher fitness levels can lead (pull) longer and gain benefit, riders still developing their fitness levels can benefit by taking shelter in the group yet gaining the fitness they need.

Early season group rides should make a point of staying together. This will work to benefit the fitness & moral of everyone. If (when) the group strings out, make a point of regrouping. Use road intersections or direction changes to do so. Hammering a section of road is fine, but not when you never look back and explode the group, remember, we are riding as a group for a reason.

And as always, things to remember:

* Dress for the weather
* Bring water & food
* Bring tube, patch kit & pump
* Cell phone
* Have fun

Best wishes to everyone for the upcoming season. Have fun & BE SAFE.