4th Of July Festivities

Just a reminder to all you Hot Doggers out there that this Sunday from 12:00 to 1:00 on ESPN is the Nathan's Famous 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Big news this year is that Kobayashi isn't scheduled to compete this year. Should be interesting to see who gives Joey Chestnut some competition.....Jrad? Shaun? Timmy? Hot Dog? Anybody???

- Steve

Wheeee!

Team Hot Dog is proud to announce the second annual

Bike, Beer and Beef Festival

July 5, 2010 @ 9:30am
Waterford, MI.

Bike: The plan is to roll from Shaun's house shortly after 9:30 and roll the beautiful backroads of SE Michigan out to Holdridge, hit some singletrack (west loop?) with Kidd Rock, stop by the world famous gas station for snacks on snacks and head back

Beer: We love beer. If you would like to bring some beer, we'll have a cooler with ice for your recovery beverages to chill while we ride. If you're running late or are just plain lazy, we'll be stopping at a store on the way back (see photo awesomeness above) to pick some up.

Beef: What better way to celebrate burning a few thousand calories than putting them all back on? The grill will be lit, BYOBeef or pitch in a few bucks for burgers or dogs. Bring a side dish to pass and get fat with tHD!

Questions? Post up to RSVP so we don't leave you behind!

- Steve

Pigs in a Blanket

It's not everyday that you pull into the parking lot of Pontiac Lake Rec. Area and are greeted by two giant Hot Dogs on bikes, but such an event happened on Saturday. John and I had been waiting for the right moment to unleash our wieners to the rest of tHD and thought that this would be an opportune time to whip 'em out. Some laughed, some cried, some people drove by us and didn't even notice! (WTF JRAD?!?!)

After a few laughs, we all suited up and planned to head north towards Rattalee Lake Road. Once we got there, we would decide from if we wanted to head back for an easy 30 miler, or push to the infamous gas station on Grange Hall Rd. for some snacks on snacks. The route would take us up some of the biggest hills in Michigan and seeing as how this would be Crash's longest ride of the year, if not ever, we weren't sure how we were going to hold up.

Julie and Crash climbing "the biggest hill in Michigan"

The dirt roads were in pretty good shape, making the trip pretty pretty easy to roll on. We were all sad to see that the home of the Attack Basset Hound was up for sale, but filling that void was a gigantic St. Bernard, who was all too excited to bite on my 29er tire. With a little squirt of Cytomax, he backed off and we pressed on towards Rattalee Lake Rd.

When we arrived at our planned bail-out point, none of us wanted to turn around. Our plan was to make it to the gas station and refill our bottles and our stomachs. A few more miles and we passed the familiar "Home of the Bronchos" and on the home stretch towards the king of all gas stations. They must have known that Team Hot Dog was on their way because they had the ultimate meal waiting for us...Pigs in a Blanket.

With our guts full and our legs starting to get tired, we decided to head back home. Along the way, we took our time and snapped a few photos. All in all, my garmin register red a little under 38 miles. Nice day for a bike ride....

- "Coach Steve"

(from left to right) Crash, JRAD, Hot Dog, Julie and Myroo

HD Tearing up the back roads

PLRA 9am

Kind of late notice here, but I know a few of us are meeting at Pontiac Lake tomorrow morning at 9am. Goal is to do at least 30 miles with Steve, and then decide from there if we want to go farther to Holdridge, turn around, or go eat hot dogs at a gas station somewhere.

Guess we'll figure it out on the dirt roads tomorrow. See you all then!

Sunday, Bloody Sunday!

Sunday's adventure took us to the Mid Michigan Community College trail in Harrison, MI. I was looking forward to this trail in particular after hearing so many positive things about it from other riders. So once again, we spandex'd up, loaded up the bikes and headed out to the trailhead.

The first few miles were filled with real easy flowing singletrack, kind of like a larger pump-track. The foliage was similar to Hanson Hills but with one HUGE difference....NO SAND! But the lack of sand did nothing to prevent the wife from spending a good amount of time off her bike during this ride. Crash #1 happened a few miles in. We all heard a funny noise come from the back of the pack and then an "I`m alright!" Bike vs. Stump....The stump won.

Crash #2 happened almost out of nowhere while making a sharp right turn with a tree on the left side of the trail. Somehow she managed to go wide and run right into the tree with her front tire. I was directly behind her when she hit the tree and it looked much worse than it was. The impact forced her off her bike into the standing position. The tree fortunately took the brunt of the force and while they were both shaking it off, I did what any good husband would do....I took a picture!

Crash #3 was probably due to fatigue and feeling a little too comfortable. We've all been in that situation when you`re just pedaling along, feeling great, your brain shuts off for a brief moment and then WHAM, you're off your bike and you have no idea WTF just happened. Her back tire washed out on an easy right turn and tossed her off the bike onto the ground. For a brief moment, I thought it was going to be pretty bad but she got up, we looked over all the new blood and scrapes that she just earned, checked the bike for any major damage and then got right back on.

Once we got back to the parking lot, my beautiful wife looked like she was mauled by a bear. But after a Hydrogen Peroxide bath and a nice soak in Higgins Lake, she was back to beautiful and we were talking about how to get her ready for Ore 2 Shore!

Click here for the Garmin Profile

Props to JRAD and Julie for hosting an awesome weekend....We had a blast!

- Coach Steve, "Crash" and the Girls

For the Ladies!

Biggest Hanson Hills in Michigan!

After seeing our hopes and dreams of racing the Lumberjack 100 fade into oblivion and having nothing else to do with that open weekend, the Geriatric division of Team Hot Dog, along with our lovely wife's, descended upon tHD's "Northern Lower Michigan Training Facility" to log some training miles and strategies the rest of our season. Our plan was to hit Hanson Hills on Saturday morning and then the Mid-Michigan Community College trail on Sunday.

Since tHD's team nutritionist was off for the weekend, we decided to head up to G's pizza to carb load for all of the miles we were about to log. After a mean pie, some broccoli "nuggets" and a few pitchers of beer, we hit Wal Mart for some rations and then headed home for a night-cap of Fat Tire (gore) Ale.

The next morning came and I apparently had too many "carbs" the night before and felt a little "flu-ish." There was no sign of Doug and I think I was missing a tooth. The details were a little fuzzy but I also think there's was a tiger in the bathroom. Anyways, I medicated myself with an assortment of Gatorade/Water/Advil/One spoonful of Cereal/Chocolate Milk/PowerBar Bites and by the time we hit the foothills of Hanson Hills, I was ready to take on whatever lied ahead...or so I thought!

We spandex'd up in the parking lot, mounted our trusty 2-wheeled torture devices and hit the trail at a moderate to slow speed. We quickly encountered a gentleman who, as he was heading right for us, informed us that it was apparently a two-way trail! After he passed and we determined he was mentally unstable, we resumed our pace and winded our way up the many hills that Hanson had in store for us. Besides hills, it also had one thing that would prove to be my lovely wife's kryptonite....SAND!

At around the 2 mile mark we encountered our first crash of what would be a LONG weekend of crashes...I personally don't remember all that happened but apparently a sand-monster reached up and grabbed Melissa's bike and tossed her off. After a few moments to clean up the blood and tears, she got back on the horse, I mean bike. As the trail winded on, we made sure to warn the sand-monsters that tHD was coming by yelling "SAND" every time we saw a pit, which I think the wife appreciated. :)

At around mile 7 (I think...) when we got to "Napper" bridge, I wanted to take a video for the blog for all of our adoring fans! (Hi Mom and Dad!) Thanks to Julie, this video is brought to you in true tHD fashion....Wheeeeeeeeee!

It just took a few more miles of sweet northern Michigan singletrack and we were back to the parking lot for a group photo. Snacks on Snacks, as they say! I really enjoyed Hanson Hills and am hoping to make it up for the 12/24 Hours of Hanson Hills if my knees cooperate.....

Link to my Garmin Data

To Be Continued...

I think I grew chest hairs 4 and 5 this year at Lumberjack...

My Lumberjack race didnt exactly go as I wanted. First lap I was feeling good until about mile 30, started getting a little upset stomach. Came into the pits with a great lap time of about 2:47, headed out for my second lap and was feeling like total, well I wont curse but you get the idea. I kept heaving up the only thing that I was eating, the sustained energy. I have used it in the past with good results, but not today. The only thing I could think of was I mixed it a little thicker for the longer lap. Either way I made it to the aide station on lap 2 which was about 50 miles into the race at this point, and was ready to quit, but I hung out there for 5-10 minutes, had some fruit, a small cup of coke, some water, and finished up lap 2 painfully slow at 3:21. After a break after lap 2 I felt "ok" to go out and finish it up. Finally started feeling better after the aide station on lap 3, and rode the last 17 miles like a cross country race, all out. Rode most of the hills, which were torture, put 11 minutes on a fellow racer I knew at the aide station, and passed about 15 people, total time 0f 9:27. My moving time was about 9:04. Stupid breaks!

I learned alot this year, being my first time on a geared bike. A 1x9 with the smallest gear of 32x32 is a horrible setup on hills that are longer than a mile. Was way too big of a gear. Talking with Chris Maltby he was spinning a 22x32 on the hills he said. (His time was 8:25, awesome time). So next year I will be running a full 3x9 setup. Would have been nice at the end. And also I will be going back to the basics of bananas and power bars in my pockets. They never seem to do me wrong. Also, mental toughness. I wanted to quit, everything hurt but I suffered through, miles 30-80, and was glad I did. I finished strong.

Time to rest my sore everything. Is this supposed to be fun? Hmmm...

Sorry, I have no pictures.

Peace out.

Good Luck Shaun!

Just wanted to post up and wish tHD's very own Shaun good luck at Lumberjack tomorrow! looks like a little rain tonite to soften up the sand....hopefully no lakes to carry your bike through! anyways, wish i was out there with you tomorrow! give it hell and break 9 hours!!! Roadhouse!

- Steve

Published with Blogger-droid v1.3.4

Tree Farm Relay 2010

Well, last year we skipped it, but it looks like it's back... and I'd like to go and do this sucker again. In 2008 we went, and I really had a blast. Was one of the highlights of the season for me, and it wasn't so much about just racing your bike.

In talking with Coach Steve, he seems to agree. Maybe, we can even get enough folks rounded up to form two teams?

The race is July 24, and is $100 per team. For more information, please visit their site:
http://www.teamtreefarm.com/wordpress/

If you want in, please post up and say so. We figure out how many are in, we could perhaps enter two squads of Team Hot Dog.


Myroo at the start of the 2008 edition

Too much time with Remy?

While strolling through Target (said with your best foriegn accent), I found this gem of a shirt on the clearance rack. Priced to sell at $1.98 and calling my name, I could not pass it up. But, unlike Cinderella`s glass slipper, it was not meant to be worn by me....It was much too small for my "fluffy" figure.





After spending the night pondering over who the rightful owner of this shirt shoud be, assisted by several glasses of the finest Sangria $10 could buy, I decided it needed to go to the original Hot Dog himself. That Saturday, I planned to present this gift to him as a token of my appreciation and man-love. He very gratiously thanked me and appeared to be really happy with this little slice of heaven...








Then he threw it right down on the parking lot of Island Lake and whizzed on it...




Well Hot Dog, If that's the way you're going to act...NO MORE GIFTS FOR YOU!

Roadhouse!

tHD Rolls On!

Just got back from a great day with the guys. What could be better? Island Lake, Buffalo Wild Wings, and the A-Team! We experienced a bit of everything out there today... very humid conditions, 30 uni-cyclers, and a British invasion! Thanks for a good time guys, today pretty much summed up what it's all about.


Coach modeling the goods


Jrad leading out


Steve entering some singletrack


Obligatory pic of me to prove I was out there

The British are coming!

An A-Team(hd) Saturday...!

I pitty the fool who don't show up at Island Lake at 10am! After that, strap it on... it is Buffalo Wild Wings followed by a tHD showing of the A-Team in Novi. Why am I all excited you ask? Jesus kids, look who also stars in this flick:

For all you n00bs out there, it would now be appropriate to pull out your favorite catch phrase, and repeat after me... "SNACKS ON SNACKS!"

how come?

The new arrangement in the new team pic has all the guys on the bottom row and all the women on the top row?

Tour de Cure

Spent a lovely 25 miles out there in Brighton today with the boys in red, black, and yellow.... well, some of us anyways, thanks V-Gear. We rode and raised $1,240.00 for people battling diabetes in the Tour de Cure. What was supposed to be a 100 mile epic, turned into a quick out and back due to many of us getting old. Coach Steve's knee held up to get out there, and we all had fun. The Carraba's at the end was a good way to cap off the day.


@ the start


Starting off in formation


Shaun showing off his pedal stroke


Proof HD was out there

Coach Steve hams it up

Cresting a little hill

The Post Ride Meal from Carrabbas!

WTF Happened?!

It's been a weird weird spring. Lots of miles... than boom! Nothing. Bad knees, a bulging disc in one's back, a badly sprained ankle, soccer accidents. What's going on dudes!!?? How come we're all jacked up? I think we all feel like the storm trooper in the above pic. At any rate, we start to change that tomorrow at the Tour de Cure ride. Looking forward to it.

If you enjoyed this photo, then check out this flickr set, titled "Stormtrooper 365" for some creative good laughs.