MS150 -- T-MINUS 10 DAYS and COUNTING

MS 150 Riders. The jerseys shipped as per our timeline on Friday, the 26th, which should get them here some time this week. I will let you all know as soon as they arrive. Below is a list of the riders that have 'officially' joined Team Courage via the MS web site. I'm going to list after each persons name whether or not they have transportation. I can take four people and four bikes to Cranberry Saturday morning but still hashing out getting car from their to Erie for Sunday.

Chad J -- has ride
Amy J -- has ride
Tom P -- has ride
Jay -- has ride
Mark B -- ???
David G -- ???
Paula L -- has ride
Len L -- has ride
John M -- can take 2 more to Cranberry

Both Gus and Jim had to withdraw from the ride.

There are a few others that signed up for jerseys but haven't officially signed up for the MS ride. If any of you talk to them, give them a heads up and let them know what's going on. There are many more rides throughout the summer and it would be nice -- specially since we'll have matching jerseys -- to team up again for those. Keep your eyes on the blog -- 2wf.blogspot.com -- for upcoming news.

John

B Ride Tuesday Evening, 5:45 at Park

Easy 32 mile ride, ride fast, ride slow, your call.

Jay

Great Ride Sunday, see map for next Sundays ride

Mark, Paula, Len and myself rode about 62 miles. Excellent weather, course had some nice grades, mostly paved and in good shape. Coffee was great in N.W. stopped again at the Country Fair in Mercer. It was definitly a two water bottle ride.

We will be riding again next Sunday, from the Park at 8:00 AM. Route will take us into Grove City, then into Mercer, should add about 8 more miles for a total of 70 miles. This will the the last big ride before the MS150.

BTW, pace over all was 15 MPH,

See link for next weeks ride:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=205875.

Jay

SATURDAY 'CRACK OF DAWN' RIDE

Saturday's early ride will be taking off at 6:30 from the park. We'll be doing around 65 miles at a moderate pace. I will have maps before the ride. This will be a great training ride for the MS150 and for those just looking to get in some long slow distance (LSD). Here is the link to the map:

PULASKI / NEW WILMINGTON RIDE -- 65 MILES

Again, wanted to apologize for the short notice on the location change for Thur night ride. I will make an attempt to give at least a days notice next time.

jm

B Ride is Sunday, 8:00 AM at Park

We will meet at 8:00 AM Sunday at parking lot across from Country Club, leaving at 8:15, see previous post for route. Pace will be 12-15 MPH.

Jay

Great Turn Out at Tuesday's ride

Had over 12 riders, all levels, nice evening, great ride. Thanks.

John is riding Sat at 6:30 from Park AM, I'll being riding either Saturday or Sunday, 8:00 AM from Park. Not sure yet what day, but will post by tomorrow. Here is the route, plan to stop for coffee at least once.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=192253.

Jay

MS150 Transportation REVISITED!!!!

Hey all, didn't get much feedback from previous post regarding transporation (who needs it and who can give it) to Cranberry and home from Erie for the MS150 on June 10th and 11th. When you get a moment, clic kon the 'comment' button at the end of this post to tell me your plans. I'll post the roster later tonight if I can with all of your names and whether or not i've heard from you. Hope you all have been riding. If not -- check the post just beneath this one -- there are a lot of good rides coming up. The Mercer County Trail ride offers a number of distances you could use as a warm up!!

Keep the wheels turnin!!
jm

Upcoming Rides!!

Here are a few rides coming up this summer. Check them out!!!

Mercer County Trails
Saturday June 3rd (start at Greenville Area Sports Complex)


Ride & Stride
Father's Day June 18th (starts at North Park Boathouse, Pittsburgh)


Tour De Cure
Sunday June 25th (starts Seneca Valley HS -- Harmony PA)


65 Roses Ride
Sunday June 4th (starts Settlers Cabin Park, AlgonquinGRove)

Tuesday Evening Ride

Easy 30 miler, 13-15 mph, should take about 1.5 hours. Little rollies at start, then flat.
See link: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=195957
Leaving at 6:00 sharp.

Jay

Mercer County Trails Ride

2WFers, here's a ride a little closer to home if anyone's interested.

Tour of Mercer County Saturday, June 3rd, 2006.
Tour of Mercer County. Greenville, Pennsylvania

Within a ninety minute drive from Erie, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the Tour of Mercer County is a full service bicycle tour with routes of 25/62/100 miles highlighting the beautiful countryside, rivers, lakes and historic features of Mercer County. Proceeds benefit Mercer County Trails Association, Inc. which is establishing multi-use recreational trails in the Mercer County area. Application and details can be found at www.mctrails.org

Event deadline:
Pre-registration by Sunday, May 21st, 2006: $15.00
Registration Sunday, May 21st, 2006 and after: $20.00


Pedal the Lakes Saturday, 9/16.
Pedal the Lakes. Greenville, Penn.

Just across the state line find a full-service tour in the beautiful Western Pennsylvania Amish countryside featuring four lakes—including one where the ducks walk on the fish! Routes of 32/62/100 miles will be offered. Proceeds benefit Mercer County Trails Association, Inc. which is establishing multi-use recreational trails in the Mercer County area.

MCTA – Stephen Theiss; (724)342-2520.

Application and details can be found at www.mctrails.org

Event deadline:
Pre-registration by Sunday, September 3rd, 2006 $15.00
Registration Sunday, September 3rd, 2006 and after $20.00

Contact Information:
Stephen Theiss
91 Jefferson Avenue
Sharon, PA 16146-3304
Telephone: (724)342-2520
Email: hamxguy@infonline.net
Web Site URL: www.mctrails.org

PEDAL PITTSBURGH

PLEASE READ DETAILS BELOW -- A GROUP OF 2WFers ARE DEPARTING FROM MCCONNELL'S HOUSE at 5:15 AM SHARP (that's in the morning -- Registration is at 6:30!! see below) FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN CARAVANING IN YOUR OWN TRANSPORTATION. PLEASE POST A COMMENT TO THIS POST OF YOUR PLANNING TO ATTEND!!!! AS YOU SEE BELOW -- ENTRY FEE WILL BE $25.












2006 Entry Fees

	Individual	Group	Family
Postmarked by May 8 After May 8	$20 $25	$18 N/A	$45 $50

NEW! Join us for Pedal Pittsburgh 2006 as we introduce our new 6-mile all-trial ride, sponsored by Highmark. It's a perfect way for families and recreational cyclists to enjoy the day!

Pedal Pittsburgh is the region's premier cycling event celebrating design, health & fitness, and urban lifestyles. This fun, educational bicycle ride draws over 2,000 riders annually, and highlights the neighborhoods and design landmarks that make Pittsburgh unique. A ride, not a race, Pedal Pittsburgh offers a variety of course options ranging from 6 to 60 miles to accommodate everyone from recreational riders to hard-core fitness enthusiasts.

Our six courses provide the oportunity to see first hand how good design improves the quality of life in the Pittsburgh region.

Proceeds from the event benefit the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh (CDCP). The CDCP is a non-profit organization that improves the quality of life in the Pittsburgh region by encouraging good design of the built environment. We do this by investing in strategic projects, helping individuals and communities access architecture and planning resources, and educating the public about the impact of design.

Parking
Station Square will provide complimentary parking passes to pre-registered riders. Parking fees, up to $6.00, will be waived for pass holders, Passes will be issued to pre-registered riders at packet pick-up locations on May 18, 19, 20. No parking passes will be available on event day. Pre-registered riders must pick-up their packets in advance to receive free parking.

Event Day Schedule
All rides start and finish at the Amphitheatre at Station Square

6:30 Registration Opens
7:00 - 8:00 50- & 60- Mile Riders Depart
8:00 - 9:00 25- & 35- Mile Riders Depart
8:30 & 9:00 25-Mile Guided Tours Depart
9:00 - 10:00 15-Mile Riders Depart
9:30 & 10:00 15-Mile Guided Tours Depart
10:00 -10:30 6-Mile Trail Riders Depart
11:30 - 3:30 Lunch & Entertainment at the Amphitheatre at Station Square

For Everyone's Safety
Helmets are required. Medical support, links to emergency medical services, marshals at key intersections, plus en-route support vans will be available.

Riders are required to fill out the emergency information on the back of their rider number.

Participants are required obey all traffic regulations. Streets are NOT closed and riders share the road with automobile traffic.

Each course will be marked with directional signs from start to finish. Cue sheets noting course turns will be available at pre-registration and packet pick-up.

There will be rest stops with water and/or light snacks at Pittsburgh Children's Museum, Riverview Park, Highland Park, and Schenley Park. A rest area will be available at SouthSide Works for the 6-mile Trail Ride only.

Accommodations
The Sheraton at Station Square and all downtown hotels are convenient to the start/finish at the Amphitheatre at Station Square.

Check back in the spring for more event information.

QUESTIONS Call the Pedal Pittsburgh Hotline at (412) 232-3545 or e-mail us at info@pedalpittsburgh.org.

Saturday 8:00 AM from Buhl Park

Got to go, rain or shine as I need miles in saddle for MS ride. We'll leave by 8:15, see this link for route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=185854. We can do 4o or 50 miles, easy pace, stopping at 25, 35 again at 45 or when ever. Bring some food, money for food, at least one extra tube, 2 is better. Pace will be 13-15, anybody wants to go faster, go, anybody wants to go slower, we'll wait, won't loose anybody. This is a flat ride, and I do mean flat. Next Saturday, we ride some hills, again, need to get 50 +.
We meet in the parking lot across from the Country Club. That entrance is always open, though the other park entrances open at 8:00. If you're not there by 8:15, see ya next week, or print out route and catch us.
Any questions, email or call me.

Jay
jaycohe@gmail.com
724-866-1228

Pittsburgh Wheelers

Hey all, I hope that this post finds everyone dry and in great spirits. I myself am in good spirits despite the great weather that we consistently have in our wonderful area. I wanted to send a brief message to everyone (all viewers and riders) that there is a 60 mile ride going on in Pittsburgh this coming Sunday. I am not really sure of all the details on the ride, but I do know that it is going on on Sunday and most likely will kick off early. I will speak with the other Jason and get more of the details this evening, but I just wanted to put this out to everyone after reading John's post about doing some longer rides. I dont think that it will be a crazy hard ride, but nevertheless it will be fun. Should be lots of other "freaks" there to experience the city riding with. Hopefully if everything goes well with a turnout for a ride tonight we may be able to discuss this at that time. But for those who dont attend the ride I will try to do my best to inform everybody of the details for Sunday. I think that it is like 20.00 dollars for entering.

On another note, the weather stinks, and doesn't seem like it is really going anywhere fast. Hopefully it will lighten up for tues and thurs. The weekend I am hearing is supposed to be pretty good. We'll see when it gets here, but it almost seems as though that catchy little phrase may be in play again......."I hope that when summer gets here, it is nice and it will be on the weekend."

I also just want to give everyone a little weight loss facts. Please dont take this as bragging or whatever it could be misconstrued as, cause it would never be meant for anything other than factual information that could be used to anyone's advantage. With a proper diet and excersize you can shed weight (if that is what you are after) in a small amount of time. Increase the amount of fruit (only natural sugars) and vegetable in your diet, and dont eat meats with starches, they dont digest together because of the acids and bases that your stomach secrete's to digest those foods. Also lose all the sugars, they are junk. Here is the factual info....about three to four weeks ago I was tipping the scales at or around 200 lbs, after a good hard consistent effort of riding weekly (with about 1-2 days off/week) I am down to about 185-188. It just goes away. There was an article in Bicycling magazine sometime last year, that said "Bicycling is the BEST form of excersize for weight loss. It truly is....... I really dont know if that is usefull to anyone but when I got on the scale two days ago I was really amazed, because it is really not something that I pay alot of attention to. Once the mtn. biking season gets closer I do watch it, but dont live by it because I know that if I am consistent with my training and riding it dissappears. Lastly, the one thing that could be important to one, is that the more weight you carry the harder you work. So with a little loss and consistency you can get faster, and ride a bit easier.

Well I hope to see as many of you as possible this week. Heather V. keeps telling me that she is coming out to ride.......where is she? Sorry to put you on the spot, but you are a big player in getting people out there......so bring your indoor crowd out for recess.

Talk to you all soon.

Jason

ALL TEAM COURAGE MS 150 RIDERS!!!!

Well, the MS150 is a little over 3 weeks away and I hope everyone had been getting in some decent saddle time. We would like to have at least a couple longer rides in the next week or two (60-70 miles). The most obvious days for such a ride would be Saturday and Sunday. Would like to have comments to this post as to what days would work best and who is looking to ride.

On another note, we need to start getting our transportation sorted out. As you know, the ride begins in Cranberry and ends in Erie -- so we have to have a way to get bikes and riders to the start and then have transportation home from the lake. If you have already planned out your transportation, great. If not, please take this opportunity to either 1) offer your vehicle and or a driver, 2)ask for a ride to or from, 3) volunteer to be a member of the 'Team Courage' support crew (if you're not planning on riding but want to help out by driving, loaing a bike rack etc). Right now, we just need to know of all the riders going, who already has a way to and from, who doesn't, who has a car and wants to drive (how many you can take -- both people & bikes).

Jerseys are scheduled to ship May 20th (per our timeline) and I will notify everyone upon their arrival so you can have plenty of time to stand in front of your mirrors admiring how good you (and the jersey) look. Just about everyone has got me their money -- thanks. One last thing -- don't forget your $200 fundraising minimum. I think you have up to 1 month after the ride to get MS the money, but let's try to have it all by the 10th if we can.

And lastly, I am not 'cancelling' any of the weekly rides on account of the weather -- it is just too hard to predict, and there's usually not enough time to 'get the word out' at the last minute to cancel a ride, . If you feel you need to get in a nice wet-weather ride, show up. If you'd rather stay dry and aviod possible illness and injury, stay at home. You may find there are others who share your desire to peddle thru some puddles, or you may find yourself alone. Either way, enjoy yourself and the time spent on your bike.

jm

NEW RIDING LINE-UP STARTING WEEK OF MAY 15th

I would like to take a moment and introduce you all to Jay Cohen -- our new "B GROUP" ride leader. Some may already know him from his Saturday morning 'Boot Camp' and his Advanced Spinning Class at the Sheltering Tree. Others may know him by reputation alone. Regardless, he will now be leading (starting the week of May 15th) a less-aggressively paced, lower milage ride on Tuesday evenings leaving from the park at the usual time of 6:00pm. He will also be doing a Saturday morning ride starting at 8:00am (for those of you too lazy to make the Crack of Dawn ride).

jm

Mountain Biking Weekends

Although this group is ‘roadie’ dominated, I’d like to invite everyone to mountain bike rides. You never know who might want to explore their adventurous-side. Both road and mountain riding have it’s own lure. I originally resisted road-biking in order to be a pure mountain biker, but the two compliment each other completely. The road bike allows you to get more miles in with no wasted drive time, and increase your endurance. Road biking has an uninterrupted cadence and flow. Mountain biking has all the elements: mud, rocks, roots, logs, switch-backs, and water-crossings.

Sunday rides might be best so they don’t conflict with the “Crack O’ Dawn” rides. There are many locations to choose. Most are 45 min. – 1 hr. away. Kennerdell is very scenic and the trails are never ending. Moraine has some good technical sections, great flow, and you can go for a swim afterwards on hot days. There are a variety of great trails around Pittsburgh including Brady’s, Hartwood, Schenely and Apollo.

It’s nice to get an early start. With drive time, parking-lot time, and ride time, you are looking at 4-6 hours. We can set a departure location and time in order to share rides. If you have an interest, you can e-mail me at paula_bittler@hermitage.k12.pa.us. As with road riding, everyone is very thoughtful and groups make ‘check points’ to collect and check on everyone. There are a few riders outside of our area that are interested in getting together. If we have enough interest and variety of ability levels, we can branch into two groups.

Crack O' Dawn

Hey all, just wanted to get to everyone about the Crack of Dawn ride on Sat. the 6th. Today's ride was yet another success story. Initially it was looking as if we would get precipitated upon, however the route was leading us away from any inclimate weather. After a couple of hours had passed that good ole "MR. Happy" showed himself to help us out with our dreary day. We headed out route 258, yet again getting a little Hill Jacked, all the way to mercer. Then took the route 158 to New Wilmington and you guessed it, stopped at Muggsie's for the great morning "Java". For those of you who enjoy a great cup (or three) of coffe, this ride is more than well worth it. I know that not everyone can make it for the early start time, but my goodness, if someone where to tell me that after an hour and a half of riding time, you can grab a cup of joe and do a couple more hours, i would do it every day of my life. In any case from Muggsie's it was business as usual. Headed out the tues and thurs of recent route, and up passed McConnell's "Poo Corner" and then back towards the CEO headquarters. On the way back things really started to clear up. All except that ruthless "wind".

Personally I hate the wind, however last year I took a different approach to the wind. After many conversations with a great friend of mine, I will call "Fred", he informed me that I need not make the wind my enemy. Now I must say that even after this conversation with him, I still find that I get extremely upset at the end of a ride when I have to face this beast. What Fred had told me was that, I must use this to my advantage and let the wind be the force that makes me stronger. Just as it would be in riding the hills, Wind only makes you that much stronger. Hills can just demoralize an individual as does the wind. Usually I like to take the wind in the front on my way out, and not always does this force remain constant when you are in the saddle for a couple of hours. Sometimes it turns on you and you have to face it no matter what. What we all have to come to terms with, with this nasty so called enemy is that it is there to help us improve in all capacities of riding. As with the hills you almost have to convince yourself to love it. Knowing that every time that you face these winds or these hills it is only making you that much better of a rider. After all if we all lived in Ohio and had the wind at our backs at all times, we wouldnt be able to improve unless we all interval'd ourselves to death. So take a different approach with this beast and let it improve your abilities "Naturally". One other thing is that when you are at a deficite and riding with a group the ability to draft and "suck a wheel" (that is how they say it in cycling) can save your behind on a day when you are really not up to par.

I really want to mention to all who have been consistently participating in these weekly rides that I am definitely seeing massive improvements with everyone. I am so very pleased to see these results. Everyone else may not be seeing them but I am definitely seeing so. I have to tell you that the best thing that anyone can do to get better, more fit, and faster is to be consistent with your training. If you all keep this up, I am definitely going to run out of terrain to challenge you all. I am very excited to see where all of this goes, and to see at the end of the season, just how much these rides have benefited everyone. Congratulations to all of you who have been toughing it out week in and week out. I also want to let you all know that those of you who have come out for these "rainy day" rides are impressing the hell out of anyone who hears that you have done so. When people hear that normal average every day people who primarily have been spinning are out there training in the rain, and "poo", i feel as though they feel guilty for not even going out there and getting some time in when it is nice. Seriously pat yourselves on the back for really training and riding like real true champions.

I know that John and I spoke breifly about possibly riding from the park on tues and then riding from his casa on thursday. Please look at the schedule posted on the blog to find the final on where we will be departing from. Also just want to mention that I am currently trying to get a ride together with the group of riders that depart from Lakeside Bicycles and our group, so that everyone may make even more connections of people to get out and ride with. Who knows this could turn out to be a really awesome thing. Also want to mention that over the next couple of weeks there may also be a ride that will depart from Frankford Bicycle shop. As soon as I hear something about that I will make sure that something is on the blog so that all know when where and how the ride will be conducted.

Take care and keep the wheels turning........

Have a great weekend, see ya tuesday.......

Jason

FW: COD ride and other news

Greetings fellow Cyclists!

Just a quick note to remind you all of tomorrow’s COD (crack of dawn — actually the sun is coming up much earlier than that theses days — I just can’t get anybody to show up an earlier — but we’ll stick with the name). As always, we’ll be leaving from my house —see directions below— around 6:30-6:45am. Last week it was a little cold, 40ºF, but we warmed up quickly. Depending on the route, we may make a stop at New Wilmington’s best coffee shop, Mugsies, so bring a few bucks (Jim and H., I got you two covered). We should be pedaling back into town by around 10:00am — which usually makes for about a 35-40 mile ride. I know it may be early for some of you, but once you’ve done, this ride gets a little addicting. Nothing like seeing that sun rising while pedaling through Amish country with the fresh smell of manure tickling your nostrils. Remember, if you could park in the grass along Robertson Rd by the brick yard I’d appreciate it.

I’ve re-invited those of you who haven’t joined as members of our new Blog. A membership entitles you to not only make comments on the blog but also post your own messages. Regardless of whether or not you join, please remember to check the blog (2wf.blogspot.com) regularly for ride times and other info.

On Another note — jerseys are due to arrive around May 25th. I will keep everyone posted. We may get them a little earlier since we’ve kept to all our deadlines. For those of you who’ve turned in your money already, thanks. For those of you still waiting for your income tax return — no problem.

Last note — if you’ve got a dust cap for your water bottle, bring it!!!

Ride, Ride, Ride!
--
John McConnell
two.wheeld.freakz@verizon.net

"Inclimate Weather Maintenance"

I was thinking last night around 11:00 PM, when I began to maintain my Bicycle that I should display to everyone the importance of bicycle maintenance after riding in inclimate weather. Now this could be muddy days on a mtn. bike, rainy days on a road bike, and wintery snowy days on the road and/or mtn bike. The reason that I want to let everyone know the importance of this topic is that I am "Truly" a mountain biker at heart. I use the road riding to increase my physical fitness levels for mountain biking. As a mountain biker, if you have great technical ridiing capabilities you need not ride the mountain bike everyday. But you must ensure that you have the fitness levels to play with others. In any case having said that, in mountain biking "Maintenance can make you or break you". If you dont take care of your mountain bike it will not take care of you. The same stands true for a road bike, however the rate at which it deteriorates is far less. But the basics remain the same. With a mountain bike and all those moving metal parts, dirt is like sandpaper on a way different level. It gets in everything and everywhere, ultimately wearing out parts extrememly fast. So here are a few post inclimate weather riding maintenance tips that should ensure your longevity of your road bicycle.

When you are finished in crap weather, you should always rinse off the dirt and make sure your chain has a light coat of something (WD-40, Tri-Flow, White Lightning, etc...). Your chain is your lifeline, without it your bike is useless. To clean the chain you can use a rag and run the chain through the rag in your hands. The best way is to back pedal the cranks, while running the chain through the rag. You will have to continually change spots on the rag to you can see what you are removing. And in doing so you will see that the amount of black gets smaller and smaller as you go. You can purchase a chain cleaner, found most likely on most webs for gear and what not, but this is the cheap way. Once you have cleaned it really well you may then re-lube it. Chain cleaning tools do the best job because they have wheels with brushes on them that get in between the links which you wont be able to get with the rag unless you are extrememly meticulous like me. Any dirt on the chain accumulates and thus wears the chain out fast. Now this is not as fast as it is with a mountain bike, but since it is not ensuring that is clean will keep your chain in good standing for a lot longer.

The second important cleaning issue with inclimate weather is your brake pads. When you are out on the road and all the dirt and leftover from winter salt (there is probably still some, and in the new wilmington area who knows what else) gets into the grooves on the pads and on the face and acts almost like sandpaper on the rim surface. What does that do, well it reduces the amount of material on the sidewall over time. My father is 6'3" and had raced mountain bikes by my side for almost as long as I have raced. He also has a bit more weight than most of us due to the height, and was always under heavy braking. Well like I said in mtn bikes wear happens much faster. We we warming up for a race one morning in southern ohio and about a quarter of his rim just blew right on the rest of the wheel. This made his 6 hour drive to race absolutely worthless. So you can see that over time, the damage can be rather significant. So clean them brake shoes/pads. Household soap and water does the trick, you need not use any solvents or anything really corrosive or whatever, if it is tough......go to "walmart and get some ELBOW GREASE".

The other things are the front and rear derailleurs (the things that shift your chain for you) and the rear cogset. If you use some type of scrub brush and soap and water you can do the trick for getting these two things clean. You want to keep them clean and the cable that attach to them to ensure that things are shifting properly. Since there are little moving parts in there it is important for them to be clean. The rear derailleur has two pulleys (the little wheels that guide the chain) that must be clean as well. The can get an accumulation of grease on them which collects dirt and dust and yes sometimes the "poo", which will get back on your chain and cause the wear again. The same holds true for the teeth on the chainrings on the cranks. As far as the cogset is concerned you can clean this with a scrub brush as well but you wont get all the grease and grime. What you may do to accomplish a thorough cleaning, is to use a straight section of rag and run it back and forth in between the cogs to get it all. Once again using a clean section constantly to determine how long or how much you have to do this. Make sure that you go in between every cog. Now you may be thinking what about the teeth on them, well it is difficult to get them all, usually if you use a scrub brush you can get most of it off.

I am not sure that anyone will have the time to read all this, wow its long. O.K., as far as the rest of the bike is concerned, that is just up to you. I like my bike to be clean, but if you dont at least you know now what parts are important to keep clean. There are others, but without writing a book on this, you should be o.k. for the most part. When I do a thorough cleaning it usually takes me about three hours. To do what I just told you about usually takes me about 1/2 an hour or 45 mins, it just depends on how I want to treat my baby. Yes I can call it my baby cause I dont have any children and I spend most of my time with it.

I hope that this helps you all out in maintaining your equipment and helps you avoid any future issues that you may have. If any of this seems too intimidating and you dont want to do it, you can have a shop do it, and I can probably guess that it will come to you at a significant cost. If you let me know what that cost is and you still dont want to do it, I will beat that cost and do it for you. I am not trying to create a business for myself I just want to help everyone out and understand that you dont always get what you pay for. I had a friend that came to me once and asked me to go over his mountain bike. He told me that someone asked him, "why don't you take this to the shop?" He said, "if I take this to Jason, he is going to go over this bike like it is his own, and they will not do that at the shop!"

Parting Note: In inclimate "new wilmington" weather, you dont want to forget to wash those water bottle too. The poo, regardless of whether we eat the meat, corn, or whatever that they use that Manuer (sp) for, is something that I dont think is really ideal for consumption.

Rember to "Pimp Your Ride"

take care,

Jason

As I had stated in the previous post, I would have the information available to you all about the rides that take place on Monday and Wednesday out of Cortland Ohio. At a request here it is so that all may partake in their activities as well. If you have any questions please see there website.

The Lakeside Bicycles Mon and Wed ride will begin at 6pm from the shop in Cortland OH. www.lakesidebicycles.com There is an A and B group. The B group averages 14-18 mph and does about 15-25 miles. The A group averages 18-22 mph and does btwn 25-38 miles. No one will be dropped. Please check the website for address and phone number if you need directions.

If there is anyone out there that would like to join a group of folks for a very fast paced, 30-35 mile ride on Wednesday's, please let me know and I can direct you to a time and location for all to go and play with the "Cheetas" of the area. These guys are very fast and relentless at the same time. The terrain is the same every week and everybody takes a stab at being the fast guy in different areas of the entire route. There are some good hill climbs and some great decents as well as some good stretches of road to wind it up. Let me know if anyone is interested.

Take Care all...............!

Days of "R__N", Shades of "POO"

Days of precip. sometimes can be unavoidable, and some cannot. Its seems as though we could have another this eve. As we experienced this past Tuesday, it can still be a good time and a great workout. We had six hardcore members join in for the first ever "2wf" precipitation ride. All left and all returned safely so pat yourselves once again for a ride well completed. Although we dont like to talk about it or mention it, it may do it again this eve. Hopefully all those who intend on showing for the ride, do, unconditionally. If it should happen to do it, we will try to go a route that will yield far less "POO" than the last. Our fearless "CEO" had a personalized handprint that he left somewhere out in New Wilmington. I personally think that he was doing a taste test, or just wanted to get a quick facial while out there basking in the mist. But all had a delicate dousing of "POO", which seemed as soothing as a moderate MUD BATH.

I wanted to let all know that there is a shop in Cortland, OH., that has rides that will commence at 600pm on Monday and Wednesday if anyone is looking for additional riding time or groups. They will be hosting two rides on both of these days and the reason is to have two different riding levels. There is an A group and a B group, i dont really remember what order they go in, but the jist of it is that one group will travel at 13-17 miles per hour and the other 18-22 miles per hour. Now riding in Ohio is a little different due to the lack of aggressive terrrain. So miles per hour may be significant to you and may not be. I have gone in the past and it was a good time, so if you are interested let me know and I will let you know how to get there. In mentioning that I am hoping to coordinate in the very near future a day on a weekend where that shops riders and the riders that have been meeting for "2wf", can all get together and have an all out "Tour de Somewhere". This should allow us to maybe grow in numbers both on our side of the border and thiers.

The MS ride is getting closer, so lets see more and more of everyone over the next couple of weeks to get them legs all geared up and ready for that long distance. Keep in mind when training on the cycles that when you ride for more than one hour, you should be drinking at least one bottle per hour and you should have eaten something every hour. Even though it is great to lose weight while on the bike, if you do not replenish those stores that you are using you run the risk of "BONKING", and trust me on this, it is not a fun situation! When one bonks, the possibilities of strang things are endless. I have seen people look and talk like someone I have never experienced before, and your ability to function becomes severly impared. So drink up and eat on.

Hope to see you all tonight for the "ride"..........take care and "Happy Trails"