What's Up, Dog?

Wheeeeeee!

Merry Christmas Hot Doggers

As the holiday season is upon us I wanted to extend a warm holiday message to my fellow hot dogs out there. I would also like to add a few wishes for that jolly ole guy in red.

1. May Steve get himself a new pair of knees.
2 May Shaun get himself that well deserved Jet Nine.
3. May John get all the beer he wants.
4. May Tim not get eatin by that Knight Rider truck of his.
5. May Jared's Felt never need anything done to it, since it worked right out of the box.
and finally
6. May Myroo finally get a new chain.

So as we head into the next two days of eating and drinking and spreading the holiday cheer with our famlies lets keep our goals in mind and have one heck of a Hot Dog season in 2011.

Merry Christmas

Myroo

RoadID and Team Hot Dog

I'm pleased to announce that Team Hot Dog is officially part of the RoadID affiliate program. What that means for the team is that everyone who clicks on the link to the right (or below) and orders a RoadID, 10% of the profits come directly back to us so that we can buy more hot dogs!



I recently purchased the RoadID Wrist ID Elite and had some fun with what to engrave on the actual ID. I ended up going with "If Found, Return Me To" and then put the wife's contact number on there. The strap itself is light and comfortable. It comes in a really nice storage tin with instructions on how to cut it to your proper size. If you order the Elite, just make sure you measure twice and cut once. If you're like me, you will have to order a new strap! :)

Anyways, if you're thinking about ordering one of these, and I advise you to go for it, please remember to click the link on the right side of the blog!

Stay Safe,

Steve

Happy Holidays

I know this could be a busy week for some of us, so I wanted to get it out of the way. Hope all you wieners out there have a fun Christmas. Hope your stockings are full of chamois butter. Hope you get whatever bike shit you asked for.

Here's hoping for an even better 2011. One where we stay healthy and are more successful on our bikes. Happy Holidays guys! Let's keep the rubber side down this coming year.

Sock It To Me

Words can't describe how excited I am to post this announcement....It looks like Sock Guy has become a big fan of Team Hot Dog! Ok, maybe he's never heard of us, but at least he was kind enough to spare us the expense of putting in a huge order for Team Socks this year. May I introduce to you....The Wiener $9.95

I hope TheSockLawyers don't get upset with me for re-posting their stuff but this is too-good-to-keep-secret!!! On the bottom, it says "Play with your wiener"...So whip it out (your credit card, I mean!) and order up a few pairs. I know I`ll be sportin' them!

- Coach Steve

P.S. I did contact them about a possible bulk purchase to save a few bucks...So I will let you guys know as soon as I hear back!

tHD Annual Meeting and Jersey Design Conference 2010

Much like any serious Mountain Bike racing team, Team Hot Dog held it's annual 2010 meeting to reflect on the ups and downs of this season and also to focus our attention on planning for the upcoming 2011 season. On the agenda was the following:

Drink Beer
Eat A Ton of Marco's Pizza

Drink More Beer

Reminder that Barry Roubaix Sign-Up is coming up in a few weeks

Get the Crayons Out and design a jersey for 2011

Drink More Beer

Talk about our upcoming trip to Pisgah, NC

JRAD's Derailleur Adjusting Clinic (Basement)
The Sampling of the Hammer Endurolyte Fizz and Perpetuem Solids

tHD Jersey Brainstorming Session

The good news is that we actually came up with a few excellent ideas (see photos below) of which we will be having our graphic artist tweak and we'll post for final comment. The bad news is that Perpetuem Solids are the absolute worst product we have ever tasted. I'm not entirely sure how Hammer Nutrition developed this un-edible death pill and how they expect us to consume these on a long ride without needing to be rushed to the nearest emergency room.

With all of the liquid confidence in the air, at some point, I agreed to race in the final Tailwind Cyclocross race of the season. Despite the fact that I`m now regretting even considering lining up in the C Class tomorrow, I'm still going to follow through with my promise and fly the tHD colors to victory (or total failure!)....

As the evening drew to a close, a fight broke out between Hot Dog and Tim. I think there were a few bad words being said about Mo-dex and Tim delivered the final knock-out punch to put a cap on tHD's 2010 annual meeting, Roadhouse Style.

Stay tuned for jersey updates and all sorts of Shenanigans! (wheee little shenanigans...)

- Steve

Happy Turkey Day, Hot Doggers!

Ahh, Thanksgiving. A time where my fellow Hot Doggers join me in a celebration of Gluttony as we watch our beloved Detroit Pussycats embarrass themselves live on National Television. Some of us will be taking a time-out from our Weight Watchers, South Beach Diets and Training Bibles and enjoying this special day with friends and family. It's a day of rest and relaxation where we can reflect on what we're most thankful for and start to set our sights on the real important question: "What bike stuff do I want for X-Mas?"

Don't eat too much turkey and pumpkin pie. But if you do...The Spandex Will Always Stretch!

Happy Thanksgiving to All,

Coach Steve

Everybody is talking about Team Hot Dog

I like this one too...

This is cyclocross

November Weekend Update

The season is slowly coming to an end, but we sure did enjoy ourselves a pretty decent little hot dog weekend, didn't we? A beauftiful Saturday at Island Lake in gorgeous weather and trail conditions was awesome. I say it was the best ride of the year for me. It was fun cheering you guys on at the cross race at Stony today as well. A little cold, and my hamstring kills from pulling it as I was running along side cheering Jrad on, but whatever.

Here are some photos of the weekend that was:


Shaun is all thumbs regarding our ride


Chugging through Island Lake


A hot dog train

Myroo climbing

Jrad at the start of the Stony cross race

Shaun in the pain cave

Jrad flying up a small incline

Coach testing out the new Specialized Epic full suspension @ Stony

The Iceman Goeth

Just a quick CONGRATS to my fellow tHD brothers and sister on their successful Iceman Cometh finishes. Always a great weekend to spend with good friends! Here's a few photos I was able to dig off the Camera...

Coast Guard Helicopter on a flyover

Tim and I made it to Williamsburg Rd. just in time for JRAD to roll by

Hot Dog hammering it up the Williamsburg Rd. hill before some douche stopped in front of him

Julie heading to the finish line

Tired bikes leaning up against the tree

Bring on 2011!

- SB

Thats a Wrap!

It was a good way to end the season. Cold but nice weather, lots of good food and beverages, good company with a little race thrown in.
I had a little different plan this year. I wanted to start off a little easier, and save some energy for the part of the trail past Williamsburg road. It backfired a little. The first part of the trail was faster than its ever been. I kept a decent pace, kind of out on my own. The first section of singletrack was really icy. Luckily I was about the 5th back in a group of about 10 going in. The first guy went down on the ice, big pile up that I was able to get around and ride it out cautiously. Back on the fast two track I was feeling good, cruising along when I noticed my stomach hurt. Pulled up my jersey to see purple skin! Tucked my jersey in my shorts, pulled them up a bit to cover up what looked like frost bite and continued on. Hit some snow and ice before Williamsburg, but nothing major. It was after Williamsburg that it got really slick, and I decided it was in my best interest to take it easy, keep it upright and enjoy the ride. The traffic started getting a little heavier and people were going down, so I just rode along. I didnt need to crash and get hurt again this year. The last 3 or 4 miles is where I started to hurt a little on the climbs. I imagine due to not having any fluids for 2 hours as my bottles were frozen from the start. I spun a small gear up them, rode through the finish with a time of 2:12:18. Slower than the last couple years but the conditions were pretty tough. I thought I was pretty slow, but seeing the results I was 15th in my age group out of 113, so it wasnt so bad after all. I didnt really push it on the ice. Had I known it was there I would have dialed it up a bit on the first half. Either way it was a great to end a crazy 2010 MTB season bonk and crash free. A cross race or 2 in the weeks to come and it will be time for some frozen dirt road rides and putting the bike on the trainer for the winter. Dosent that sound like fun?

The Ice Dog Cometh

Well. It's pretty much here. In a few days, tHD will be closing the curtain on the 2010 cycling season in good old Traverse City with about 4,000 of our closest mountain biking bretheron at the grand daddy of them all, the Iceman.

I hope all of you are making your final preparations. This includes tire pressure, tire selection, race tactics, last minute nutrition tweaks, clothing options, as well as what the heck you are gonna drink to get drunk off your ass!! I hope North Peak is ready for us!! Wheeeeeee!!

This is one excited hot dog! Looking forward to seeing you all up there once again. This has always been my favorite event of the year.

Cross dresser update

Been doing a little cross racing the last few weeks. I can see why JRAD loves it so much. The races are torture.. In a good way, but its the atmosphere that is the best. Great to finish up your race and watch the others suffer, usually while consuming some free food or beer! The free brats, burgers and Jolly Pumpkin yesterday at the Vets park race were awesome!

As for the race, I had the smart idea to race both "C" and singlespeed, and JRAD followed suit. The "C" race was pretty un-eventful for the most part, from the start I was disconnected from the leaders, and racing a guy who was about to blow up, he crashed, never seen him again. From here I would ride alone for a couple laps, until the last when I was racing hard to keep a couple guys behind me. I held them off and it turns out they were 40+ anyway. Ended up finishing 11th of 23 or so I think.

Then came the singlespeed race. Changed numbers, warmed up in the Element, and froze standing on the start line waiting for it to start. Had no power on the first 2 laps, watched 3 of the 6 singlespeeders ride away. After lap 3 or so I warmed up a bit, caught one of them and finished third. I was closing in on Jay Jones but he was still a long way ahead of me. I was glad to get lapped by the eventual "B" winner toward the end of the 6th lap. The course had a long run-up and a couple of short steep climbs that were wearing on me, didnt really want to do the 7th.

After, it was brats, beer and spectating. The weather was cold but sunny. The wind was horrible while riding but the free beer more than made up for it!

Until Iceman...

Jrad Does the Barriers

Jrad shows us all how it's done:

Mad Anthony Cyclocross Race

Good job Shaun, Jrad, and Myroo!

I posted a few pics on my fickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdx26/sets/72157625102021523/

I will add to that set in the next few days. I also snapped video of the start:

Bye Week

It's a bye week for the Lions, but that won't stop a few of your favorite hot doggers from cheering on the old honolulu blue & silver! Pay special attention to the shout out at the end.



- Love, John

Massive Fall Out

Well, I'm fat, and I'm getting old. That ride kicked my ass. The weather was beautiful, the trails were in great shape, and the ride was fun. My favorite part was the hot dogs at the turn at Addison Oaks.







Good luck at the cyclocross race tomorrow Shaun and Jrad!!

- John

6/12 hours of Addison Oaks

Ahh Addison Oaks. One of my favorite endurance races. The trail is just fun, and the weather being perfect this year made it that much better. Last year it was cold and damp. I woke up, got the rest of my stuff ready and went out to load the bike on the car and noticed a flat. Stupid Moab thorns!!! Fixed that and hurried to the venue, only to arrive late. The registration line was long! The weather brought everyone out. Got registered in time to slap my number plate on and get ready to roll. Had a good pace on lap 1, until toward the end when a guy crashed on an uphill in front of me. There was nowhere to go so I stopped, waited for him to get up when some dildo that couldnt wait 10 seconds tried to ride off trail around while telling us to move, ends up crashing and his bike cracks me in the anke. Douchebag. Hope he broke his carbon frame. Started thinking this is not the way for my day to start, but settled into a good pace for the first 4 laps. Sometime toward the end of my 5th lap I started cramping up. Bad. Gravel grinder like cramps. Stopped after number 5 for about 30 minutes, layed on the ground, drank alot, popped some endurolytes, rolled a painful 6th lap, 7, 8 and 9 were a little painful but ok, rolled the 10th with some slight cramping to finish in 3rd. The 1st place guy did 12 laps, just flying, think the second place guy was maybe 20 minutes ahead of me. Was a really tough day. My cardio feels great, my legs have been an issue. Still, weather was perfect, seen alot of familar faces. Chris Maltby was in good form as usual, seen him eating soup and reading a book about mid way through. Even so he still rocked 100 miles, including a scaling of the fence to get cider and doughnuts mid race!
I ended up with about 70 miles of singletrack. Not bad for as bad as I was hurting. Need to ride my bike more!

Shaun

Anybody Interested?

I will be placing an order in the next month for a RoadID and a mew set of 2010 Awesome Straps. If you have any interest and want to go in on an order with me, let me know!



- Sb

TDT Video

Cool video on the tour de troit I found on you tube. The guy did a great job:

Johnny D Busted for Tour de Troit Doping Scandal

(HDN) -- Reigning Tour de Troit champion John "Hot Dog" D. has rejected the findings of a positive doping test taken while the cyclist was competing in this year's race, blaming it on tainted Hot Dog meat.

"Hot Dog" was provisionally suspended from competitive cycling by the sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), on Thursday following the results of the test.

The Macomb Township rider, a three-time winner of cycling's showpiece event and one time winner of the coveted "Ore 2 Shore Hot Dog Award", had traces of the banned substances lipsum and assholeum in a test sample he gave on July 21 -- which was a rest day (which isn`t uncommon for him). However, in a press conference held in his home town of Macomb Twp, which HDN attended, Johnny D said he was innocent.

Tour de troit 2010 is in the books

Well, that was fun! It far exceeded my expectations. What a cool event. 3,200 people take over downtown. I got to see parts of Detroit I never had seen before. I will be back for more next year.

Here's an article about the ride today. Thanks for all the fun everyone. Enjoy a few pics below. I will post more on my Flickr site later.

UPDATE: I've added a few more pics, and put them up on my photo site. Check them out here. Also found another article about the ride on the Detroit News.

UP NEXT? Massive Fall Out, Saturday, October 16

Out of Shape+New Job=Slow Cyclocross Racer

Tis the time of the year when the weather gets a little cooler, the leaves start falling and I spend a lot of my time thinking about donuts and cider!. I didn't have time for cider and donuts today because I hit day 2 of the Tailwind Waterford Hills Doublecross. I knew I wasn't ready to do any racing. Heck... with the new job, I have ridden twice since Ore to Shore in the beginning of August. One of those rides was to the Cider Mill so you know I didn't gain any fitness there!

Last night I spent a little time Converting My Quiring 29er Singlespeed over to cross duty. I changed the brake pads, which I have been meaning to do for 2 months now and mounted up my trusty 35mm Maxxis Mimos. The only thing I didn't do was actually clean the bike up which it needs badly.

This morning I raced in the C class and the weather could not have cooperated more. It was a nice sunny morning with temps in the lower 60's. After about 3 warm-up laps (I usually do 1)it was time to Rock and Roll. The gun went off at 10 A.M. and I was off with the gearies on my way under-geared singlespeed. It wouldn't have mattered any because I had no gas in the tank. My whole body hurt from head to toe from beginning to end. I spent most of my day taking up the rear of the C group and thankfully I didn't finish DFL.

Even with the pain and placing it was still a positive day. My lap times were consistent, I stayed upright and most of all had a nice lunch with the Hot Doggers at BW's over Wings, Beer and Football.

Please disregard my beer belly in the pictures. I am working to remedy the situation!

Next up.... Tour De Troit.



WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

30 minutes? Piece of cake... Crappy cake.

Decided to do something with my Sunday and hit Waterford Hill for a little cyclocross action. I have a love/hate relationship with the cross racing. Love it when I am not racing, hate it when the gun goes off.

Raced in the C race, sat second wheel into the first corner and was content hanging there for a while. Stayed with the couple leaders for about a lap and a half, maybe 2 laps, then quickly started fading, finished 6th. Out of gas. My brain was telling my legs to go, legs were telling my brain to F-off.

Gave it a go, not too bad, will probably hit a few more, I feel like total ass right now, just beat. You wouldnt think 30 minutes would hurt so bad... Time for an Oktoberfest and bed. Oooff.

Looking forward to the next one though. I feel they make me stronger on the bike. After I get back from Moab, I want to hit the one in Linden on the 17th of Oct. Not sure why...

-Shaun