Thursday, September 05, 2019

The World without Heros, in a War without guns..

MMMMaaaaaaan this is just a worthless rant...

Dont bother wasting your time........was it me or was it juts a kinda a funky kinda scene this summer..and i dont jist mean the warm months...

MMMMaaaaaaan
I mean more like the whole dam thingy from March to September

MMMMaaaaaaan
I was get alittle weepie come these days..maybe its the thought of nother winter coming....the end of another road season..the coming of cross..the whole shin dig always gets me on gully..

MMMMaaaaaaan
we to used think we could compose proper grammar any fool could understand...but since we here haven't matured our writing skills past the 4th grade short bus level...(yea hate us for pickin on the special needs)...its never happens...

MMMMaaaaaaan
We are just having a time wrapping the velvet cloak of motivation around the scene...We often wonder how you get the wide eyed super impressed with your ability's Cat 3 motivation back...?

MMMMaaaaaaan
heres a list of random shit we just thought of in the lousy fifteen minutes we wasted our time rating and debating this state...

Waterford

still the safest pasture for the aging and the perfect breeding ground for those yet to seek the truth

Gratten

see above

Dan Shamburger

like Sampson his hair gets longer and he goes faster..

hope doesn't know a chick named Delilah

Dam Yankus

cross?

KIDA

sticks around enough to race a Waterford here and there
and lending street cred to some

BASE MEDIA

what happened? hope its not over we where just diggin the vibes

The Detroit Cycling Championship

I dunno..seems to have lost its sheene

wow..a year without DC is like a Christmas without Santa Clause....

Zeeland Crit

at the last moment...gets thrown back on the schedule and doesn't miss a beat

The ALMA GP

Sandpits,

pontoon boats
photographers

stairs

great announcing..

live updates,

circus tent,

and quiet possibly a jam session by Kid Rock

The ADA

nice edition
hopefully its sticks around

Shrek

the Dude owns goats like folks have cats...no contest..he took all your KOMS away

Lil Shrek

dam that kid got big...and fast too...

the Lil Pony

he's still here..

That Quiet and insanely Fast chick that doesnt drive...

Hess

building an Empire and giving Mcbride a chance to win some field sprints

Alex T

he ditched the flo yellow and red specs for some cool white with red lenses and slick white lid

The Novi Tree Farm relay

more fun when you've been drinking

Joseph Foy

aint no party until this fool shows up wearing your girls strap on

Wanley

takes a break

smart cookie

Kolo TC

man said it before its what TMS always wanted to be

The Grayling Giant

duuude

Colin Snyder

takin care business

The Roadking

there are some serous questions looming in the cross worlds

Junge

wonder if he ever met the Bunny?

Masters racing

seemed veered

Johnny Utah

C-YA

Kinetic Training systems

the builder of great plans

Everwaisting

riding up the same hill to gain the elevation of the highest mountain on the earth....

Single chainrings cross bikes

Phhh the The Wiz and the Evil-dude did dat shit back 06..

The WIZ

turned 50, and contrary to popular rumors..

he isnt coming back..

Swatloski

MIA

but never count him out

Street Cred

some folks need it

The Eagle

missed a good part of the season to exercise more, and hang out in T town for the weekend with a few hundred other athletically fit humans, and a few hot chicks too...

Pappa T

wow how old is that guy?

Kroske

never forget that summer when he destroyed the midwest

Dybo

still can

Corktown

never again

Detroit

it aint that great

Mad Anthony

oh sure you can park cars on dead guys but you cant ride bikes..i see how it is Motor city

BRX

counting the days

Lowel

Now legit

That Runner guy from Ann Arbor

WTF

that dude is insane

oh yea i remember those bikes

Al McDouble

this guy has more fun than all of you

The Evil-Dude

space-lord mutherfucker

ICEMAN

Is this the year the Michigan wins it

The end of Radio

bummer dude

Skrocki

coolest dude around

Donnelly

props doing the job most wouldn't

SIMONSTER

Now n Zen

Catlin

that dude can still hand your ass to you

The Death Crit

we need more

Team O2

back from the dead

My Two dollars

whatever happend to that guy?

The State Championships

Bleh

that Vanderslagmorlan Kid

fuc that kid is sudden

The Mcdouble

The GG Allin of ride food

Leadville

Randy Guymer completes his 15th..fuuc

Selle

needs new glasses

Team Fraser

OH yea they are now motor-city bikes..no wait they sold out..um ask Massey

B-Rad

still cant figure it out

ScottyA

seemed to be on the right track

SPACELORDMUTHERFUCKER

Stravain
weight work outs

Zwift

in the summer

crazy

Kevin Collins

de-tuned

Steve Bromiel

wasnt that guy flying in April?

Ritter

racing 3 races at Debates?

Jeff Johnson and his Album Brushfire fairy tails

wonder if he took Eagle to Leadville

This Blog

Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.

Wednesday, September 04, 2019

The Death of Road Riding

The Spandex-clad "roadus velocipedus"
species is being subsumed by the "adventure bike" category. Has the sun finally set on road riding?

hrinking USA Cycling membership numbers, rapidly expanding tire widths, "adventure" bikes, and gravel everything...

Sometimes it can seem like good old-fashioned road riding is, like, totally over.

Oh sure, the species roadus velocipedus hardly belongs on the endangered-species list: the Walton brothers wouldn't have just paid eleventy billion dollars for Rapha if it did. Nevertheless, the composition of cycling is rapidly changing, and while they may gather in large herds (sorry, "Gran Fondos") and stampede across the countryside, traditional roadies are no longer the dominant form of cycling fauna.

As with any cultural shift, there are many factors at play here. No single one in isolation can account for the change, but when taken together, there's a sort of synergistic effect that's conspiring against your garden variety stretchy-clothed road warrior. These factors include but are not limited to:

Road Riding Is Not Family-Friendly
There are lots of things you can say to get the kids fired up for a family outing, but Who wants to go to a road race? is not one of them. I'm not talking about painting your faces and cheering on the riders at the Tour of California or something, which might actually be fun. I'm talking about making your kids stand around so they can get a glimpse of mommy whizzing by once every hour and a half and then sit in the back seat for another 45 minutes while she does a cool-down on the trainer.

This is why cyclocross is waxing as road riding is waning. Not only is cyclocross more fun, but it does a much better job at including everybody else in the fun. It's vastly more entertaining to watch mommy ride around for 45 minutes and fall face-first in a mud puddle to the sound of cowbells and trombones.

Also, there's beer.

The Roads Are Getting Worse...
Maybe it's just the abundance of caution that comes with age, but if you've been riding a long time it's hard not to feel as though the roads are more dangerous than ever. Not only does the number of registered motor vehicles in the United States increase annually, but distracted driving is an epidemic. According to the NHTSA, it kills over 3,000 people a year. Sure, it was never uncommon to see a driver scarfing a bag of McDonald's while driving with their knees, but now that same driver is also engrossed in a Twitter flame war and playing Pokemon Go at the same time.

Don't get me wrong: As a dedicated cyclist, I would never advocate ceding even an inch of our public roadways or yielding to the Automotive Industrial Complex. At the same time, when it's been a hard week and you need a few hours of contemplative saddle time to find your spiritual center, the last thing you need is a run-in with a phone-addled suburban SUV pilot or a pickup-driving coal-rolling alt-whatever doing his part to to Make America Great Again by asphyxiating cyclists.

Given this, seeking out and riding car-free trails becomes an increasingly attractive alternative.

...But the Bikes Are Getting Better
When the whole gravel bike craze started taking off, many long-time cyclists harrumphed. (Harrumphing is what long-time cyclists do best.) After all, plenty of riders had been fitting wider tires and taking lengthy off-road detours for years. Now all of a sudden you need a dedicated "gravel bike" with a two-millimeter difference in bottom bracket drop and a one-degree difference in head-tube angle to do the same thing?

Please.

Even so, there's no getting around the power of marketing, and making a bike specifically for a certain kind of riding means more people are going to do it. Not only that, but modern bicycle manufacturing techniques mean companies can react to trends almost immediately, and new bike concepts can go from the marketing department to the bike shop floor with unprecedented speed.

It was decades before most bike companies offered a stock cyclocross bike, whereas the gravel bike arrived seemingly overnight, sprung fully from the head of Zeus.

And while most standard road bikes could fit a pair of 28mm tires and handle dirt trails just fine, that never occurred to the typical roadie, whereas today's "adventure" bikes make it a no-brainer.

Let's be honest: Roadies especially have never been good at thinking for themselves.

More People Are Coming to Cycling from Commuting
With bike commuting up in cities all across the country, "urban cycling" is serving as a point of entry for more and more riders. It makes sense then that younger people venturing out of town by bike on the weekends and embarking on longer rides would prefer to pack a bag and seek out some trails rather than slot into a pace line and take pulls at regular intervals.

Indeed, there's really not too much difference between a typical office environment and a paceline, right down to the bossy older person yelling at you.

So Is This a Good Thing?

If you think riding a bike should be an enjoyable activity then yes, the diminished influence of traditional roadieism and the concomitant dirtification of cycling is a good thing. But let's not forget the indispensible roles road cycling continues to play.

Firstly, it teaches fundamentals. You really only learn the dynamics of drafting, crosswinds, and tactics (not to mention how to ride close to people without crashing) from classical road riding. Also, without putting in some solid road miles you'll never get that cyclocross fitness in the first place.

Secondly, it's accessible. Depending on where you live getting to trails or gravel can be difficult or even impossible, but unless you live in the wilderness and printed this out during your biannual trip into town odds are you live somewhere near a paved road.

Finally, it preserves tradition. Roadies are like the Amish or Hasidic Jews. Sure, most of us don't live like that, but without them, who would keep track of all those arcane rules pertaining to sunglass temple placement and sock height?

Hey, someone's got to preserve all this stuff in amber.

The World without Heros

tomorrow night

Fall Races and Rides: Planning the Road to Iceman

Read This from the folks up at KOLO TC
cuz its well written, not like all TMS crap...

and there cool folks

Believe it or not, leaves on my street are changing, the girls in TC have already broken out their UGGS and North Face jackets, and inquiries for Pumpkin Spice Lattes are spiking at Breakaway Cafe. The slight chill in the air means Out and Backs are here, and it’s time to think about your goals and training for Bell’s Iceman Cometh.

Ask any experienced rider and they’ll tell you the same thing; winning your age group in November is decided by your training and racing in September and October. The events you select in the eight weeks prior to the Big Dance will factor heavily in whether you place as high as you’d like to on November 2nd, or you end up being pack fodder and, worst of all, last back to Timber and all the beer.

SELECTING YOUR RACES AND RIDES
We’re so lucky to have a veritable feast of races and rides in the fall, so choosing which races to do might be more difficult than the races themselves. From the Alma GP of Cyclocross to the Gravel Grinder, it can be tough balancing training, racing, and recovery. Here’s what I have tentatively planned as my race and group ride prep.

Why am I not racing more? Well, life. Work. Money. But fortunately, no matter where you live, you’re likely to have an event or two to get to to hone your form before November 2nd.

OUT AND BACK KICK-OFF PARTY WITH KEEN TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS - TRAVERSE CITY, MI (9/15)
The dudes and dudettes at Keen Technical Solutions are way into this whole bike riding thing. They’re also into food, which has time and time again proved to make for one hell of a fun time. On 9/15, they’re organizing three different groups to do the first “official” Out and Back of 2019. No matter your fitness level, there will be a group for you to ride and vibe with. We’ll meet and regroup at Timber Ridge for brats, beers, and war stories and get ready for our best Iceman yet.

Get the full scoop on their FB event page.

BEAR CLAW EPIC - CADILLAC, MI (9/28)
The Bear Claw Epic is one of my favorite races of the year. The course is the Cadillac Pathway, which has seen a dramatic change for the better over the last few years due to the tireless effort of the NMMBA folks based in Cadillac. The course is the perfect mix of climbs, descents, fast two-tracks, and some super fun, twisty singletrack.

Each year, there are almost as many volunteers as racers, making this easily one of the most well-run and organized races on the calendar. All the proceeds from the race go right back to the Cadillac Pathway, so it’s as much a good cause as it is a good workout.

PEAK TO PEAK - THOMPSONVILLE, MI (10/19)
Peak to Peak is sort of a last chance dance for folks to check their fitness prior to Iceman. The course is almost pan flat for 10 of the 11 miles per lap, with a massive ascent of Crystal Mountain to keep things spicy. This is a great race to learn how to play your hand in a group, know when to pass and when to draft, and with a race time for Expert/Elite at 2:15 and over, it’s a great test of fitness prior to Iceman. Since this year’s Iceman course is especially hilly at the finish, getting smacked in the face with a 450+ foot ascent at the end of a long race is a great dress rehearsal.

OTHER BIKE RACES IN MICHIGAN IN 2019
Want more? You crazy little sadist, you. Here are a whole host of other races to help you prep. These races are worthy of being season-defining goals in their own right, so get after them and take home that $5 trophy. Remember, racing is about getting the best out of yourself. So train hard, eat right, and you’ll be surprised just how fit and fast you can be.

Uncle John’s Dirty Ride - 9/8 (St. Johns, MI)

Luton Park TT - 9/8 (Rockford, MI)

Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival - 9/14 (Hayward, WI)

Lord of the Springs - 9/14 (Middleville, MI)

Marji Gesick - 9/21 (Ishpehming, MI)

MMM Gravel Grinder - 9/28 (Boyne City, MI)

Custer’s Last Stand - 10/5 (Augusta, MI)

Hart Hills Gravel Road Race - 10/5 (Hart, MI)

Virtue Gravel Fondo - 10/6 (Holland, MI)

The Lowell 50 - 10/26 (Lowell, MI)