No one notices me!

I have rode around with a hot dog in my shorts to try and represent the team but alas I only get stares. Oh how I with I had a Thd jersey!

Hills, heat, and more heat.

Went up for the 12/24 hours of Boyne last weekend. Not a big turnout, 55 poeople or something. Most people were on teams, and I would soon why. It was hot. Not just hot, crazy hot with little breeze. What made it worse? The hills. When you are climbing a 2-3 mile sandy hill, in 90 degree weather, you dont get enough speed to generate a breeze over you. The loop was about 8.5-9 miles. The first mile was a cross country ski trail that was quite sandy. After that, maybe a half mile of sweet single track, then you come to a sign that says "climb time" a little over a mile in. Its 2 back to back crazy steep hills that I walked the top of every time. They were sandy too. Between miles 2 and 4, nothing crazy climbing wise, some fun down hills. Then at mile 4 you see "the grind". Its was brutal. A LONG climb, with lots of roots, turns, just things to slow you down. Just when you think its over it dumped you out on a paved rode that would be the last, extremely steep 1/4 mile to the top of Boyne mountain. After that it was some downhill single track, then it dumped you out on a paved cart path to rocket down the ski hill and eventually across the face of the hill back to the start finish. I hit over 33 and even 38 on this downhill everytime riding the brakes, it was crazy fast. If it werent for the turns who knows how fast I could have hit. I did 3 straight laps, then found out I was the only one in my class, rested a bit, did another, hung out with some relatives that were over and did 2 more for good measure. Rode a total of 6 hours, 53 ish miles. Won by default. I drank 150-200 ounces of fluid during the race and still lost 4 pounds. Not good. Maybe tHD can put together a team for this even next year. Solo, it would be a Mutha F-er!

Little elevation chart. The downhills are even hard, roots, rocks and dropoffs. No rest....

All rest and no biking makes Steve a Dull Boy...

It's hard to believe I survived a whole month off the bike. Thinking back to that day when it all went horribly wrong for me, I never would have thought I'd be in this rough of shape one month later. Weeks and weeks of Ice Packs and Ibuprofen, a Cortisone shot and plenty of rest did nothing to fix me. But today was supposed to hit 80 degrees and I think the wife knew that I needed some major cycle-therapy or else I would end up like Jack Torrence from the Shining.




So against the advice of my Physical Therapist and against my better judgement as well, we donned our sausage casings, put the bikes on top of the CR-V and headed out to Indian Springs for an easy roll down the paved trail. Naturally, the "brainiacs" at the Metro Park are doing their annual idiotic-closing-of-the-trail-for-the-summer so we could only ride about 1 mile before being forced to turn around. Instead of being law-breaking Hot Dogs and blowing through the "Trail Closed" sign, we decided to hop on the road and head out to the dirt roads.



Since this was the first ride of the year for the wife, and my knee was questionable at best, we stuck to a slow and steady pace. Heading up the last hill in The Springs, we passed up an older gentleman who asked me for a lift to the top and I guess he dug the tHD jersey on the wife...Can't say I blamed him!




We rolled down Cuthbert Road and hit Hillsboro road (got to see Elvis for the first time in a month!) before turning around at Shaffer Rd. and heading back. The knee was giving me some difficulties on the hills and I didn't want to get greedy and push it too much. Hit the parking lot and packed it in with a little over 9 miles in us. So far, so good!

- Steve

tHD invades Boyne Mountain

So its not really a mountain, but the climbs feel like one. Was really an awesome trail. I wish I had remembered my Garmin when I rode it, the elevation I was told is over 1200 feet for the 10 mile loop. There is actually 15-16 miles of trail, but the race course is around 10. I hope they dont include a couple of those monster climbs, or a couple of the downhills for that matter. Seemed like I was climbing for 9 miles to the top of the hill, then was trying to slow down on a 1 miles downhill that was full of roots and drop offs. Was a good time though, and the climbing in the race should break me good for Lumberjack.

All in all a decent week of riding. Managed around 200 miles. Time to eat cookies.

6/12 of Stony Creek

First race of the season for me is in the books. 6/12 hours of Stony Creek. The endurance cup series is a great race series in Michigan that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to race. Solo, 2 and 4 man teams, husband and wife teams, some people with their kids. Its just a good laid back atmosphere.

Its also a way to see how much physical pain one can endure. 12 hours on a bike is a LONG time, and feels even longer on dirt. The course was 11.3 miles long, with around 1000 feet of climbing per lap, and bumpy. Lots of rocks and roots on the singletrack. It was tougher than I anticipated. As I was signing my life away on the waiver form, I see some local pros in my class. Mike Simonson and Tim Finkel were racing 12 solo also. They KILLED everyone. Next I run into Chris Maltby, another really fast guy I used to race with, also in my class. I knew it was going to be a tough day!

At the start I got ahead of the main group for the first section of singletrack. The pro guys were way ahead of me, the main group way behind me. It would be like this for the first 4-5 laps. I rode with nobody around... Gets kind of lonely. After my sixth lap I started getting really tired, joints were sore, legs were dead. Took about a 10-15 minute break to eat something, popped a couple endurolytes and headed out. Lap 7 was painful, although the IPOD was a lifesaver. I seen Steve and wife, used them as an excuse to rest a bit. Popped some motrin for my aching joints and did lap number 8. After lap 8 I noticed I broke a couple spokes, and that my rear wheel was all jacked up. Switched over to my singlespeed for lap 9, felt great at this point, rode lap 10 with Bratney who was fighting through the pain on lap 11, finished about 7:35, 5 minutes after the cutoff. I had enough in me for the 11th I think. If it wasnt for the 20 minute breaks after laps 6-8 I might have done better but I was hurting at that point. Ended up in 5 place out of 11 in my class. Not bad considering who I was racing against. 113 miles, maybe 10 hours of ride time.

Everything hurts right now, from my knees, elbows, neck, back. I think even my hair hurts.

Until Boyne.

The Weekend

As I look back on my weekend sitting in my chair on Monday night I think of all of the great things I accomplished. From visiting the Beer Silos of Mid Michigan on Friday night, cleaning the house on Saturday, the one event that stands out is the 60 miler I did in my Team Hot Dog casing on Sunday morning/afternoon. As I stepped outside Sunday morning I knew it was going to be a bit chilly and I was on the fence of whether or not to ride in the team gear. I said what the hell so I slipped on the arm and knee warmers with the rest of the team gear and off I went for a wonderful ride up the CRT over to Bloomer and then back home. The fit of the kit was great the jersey fit nice my only complaint is that it is not full zip. The shorts were great. Nice chamois padding kept my unmentionables happy on the four hour ride. I could see the look in people's faces as I rode by. I could tell that they were completely jealous of the THD kit. The highlight of the ride was seeing the girl in a bikini (I really did not think Sunday was swimsuit weather) in Rochester scraping off her grill. Besides that Bloomer was in surprisingly good shape for the amount of rain that we had. Sorry guys no pictures. I need to get one of those smart phones.

Motor City Hot Dog, Yo!

While rollin' out of the Buffalo Wild Wings the other night, we had to lock up the brakes on the family truckster to get a shot of this beauty. Had I not drank several Summer Shanty's and completely forgotten this was on my camera-phone, this little gem of a photo would have been up here much sooner!

Roadhouse!

- Steve

Team Hot Dog shorts beta test..

Initially I wasnt going to ride tonight. My back was sore from diving on balls (soccer) last night, but after working on my builds for a while, and with the temp being 72 degrees, I had to do it. As I dug into my dresser of nothing but spandex, I decided to give the new tHD shorts a go. Pulling then on I noticed the legs were nice and tight, just how I like them, yet the crotchial region was just right. Not too firm, not so loose, just the right amount of sqeeze and support. Like a good handshake. From there, admiring them in the mirror, anyone who has ridden behind me in the champ sys shorts will be happy to know that tHD shorts cover my crack completely. You will no longer feel like you are behind a plumber after recieving his 2nd DUI, being forced to ride a bike. Full coverage.

From there I hopped on the Niner, rolled out to PL for what was going to be a moderate lap. Then it happened. Rolling through the lot, I see the normal 10-12 people doing more talking than riding, gasping at the awesomeness that is the tHD shorts. 2 attractive young MTB girls were shouting rather inappropriate but welcome phrases my way (hey its my fantasy) and instantlyI felt like Superman, only in a cooler outfit. After clearing the womens underwear (and one pair of BVD's, not cool) from my face I hit the trail. I noticed over the first few bumps the gooch pad seems exceptional. A different covering than I have used in the past, but very gentle. No sliding what so ever, which should eliminate chafing, but the real joy came from how well they protected the taint area. Not stinging on the sharp bumps, no awkward bunching, just good support you would expect in a very high dollar short, at the fraction of the cost. Kind of like Filet Mignon at the cost of a hot dog.

At the end of the ride I was feeling good, no pains, chafing or discomfort, just good clean support. Not to rough, not too gentle. They helped me throw down my fastest lap of the year, 42:51 after eating 2 cheeseburgers, so it must be the shorts. Wasnt my skills, I hit everything!

Shaun