Milford Trail Challenge

Hello fellow Hot Dogs. I received a facebook event invite from the MMBA for the Milford Trail Challenge. It's June 4th, the weekend before Tour De Cure. Sounds like a good time to me. Here are the details.

http://www.milfordchallenge.com/

Me thinks I'll be partaking in these shenanigans.

Florida Is FLAT

Well, since this is my first post be confident that I may mess this up.

Anyway on with the show. Recently the family unit went on vacation to lovely Sanibel Island, Florida.

This Island has no street lights (Traffic Signals) and when you first get on the island via a 3 mile causeway cost $6. The first sign you see is that if you don't yield to pedestrians or cyclists you will get a $80 fine.

Well this is Friendly I thought, but after running around the island in a subcompact car that seats 6 people and gets about 30 mile to the gallon, I realized that this was extremely cyclist friendly (yes I used the word extremely).

On an island that only 7 miles long it has 26miles of paved cycling paths.

If i sound like i am bragging, Forgive me, bit more history so hold on:
this Island is 2/3 Nature Refuge, with abundant wildlife, including Alligators, Manatee's, occasional Team Hot Dog Cyclist.

The Nightlife is Loud and crazy, swear I heard what sounded like a monkey laughing at me, in the dark.


Coolest part was the Alligator that greeted us every time we went down the street. I noticed there were no feral animals around anywhere huh?
When we got in to the house on the first day there was a 5' Black racer snake getting a drink from the pool in the middle of the afternoon sun, my girls were like nah we'll swim later.

Again crazy wildlife!, Its everywhere down there.

I got to ride a mountain bike (loaner) a total of 16miles on the island and there was a lot more to explore, if you looking for a low key unwind cycling destination try Sanibel Island.

There are 2 bike shops on the island, another on Captiva, and the best part is that the lack of chain restaurants allows you to pursue adventurous cuisine, mostly seafood.

Oh the fishing was effortless if you like that sort of recreation, I know a great fishing guide.

By the way its FLAT and the only hill was on the causeway coming over to the island, the greatest challenge was trying not to run over the Box Tortoise on the paths.

Enjoy the fun of cycling this spring, Wheeeee!

Gravel Goodness Jr.

So last night I took off on a ride that was posted by fellow biking friend Brian Bratney. I decided in the beginning to cut some mileage off of the ride due to the head wind that I would be facing on the way home. I invited my other Hot Dog teammates to join me but alas I had no takers so I went it alone.

On the way out the ride was fun and spirited. Saw a lot of area that I have never seen before and found some new gravel roads to appreciate. Not a lot of climbing on the route but I rode some well groomed gravel roads. Then I started to head north. I knew this would be a problem from the start of the ride. As I made that fateful left hand turn onto I was met with a strong head wind. At times a gust would hit me and it felt as if I was standing still. I would then pick up speed again and it would start all over again. Looking forward to this ride again, maybe next time I will do the entire route.

I am thinking ILRA tomorrow nite if there is any interest.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78892973

First Single Track Ride Of The Season!!

Well, I was sitting at work today and was thinking I definitely wanted to go for a ride today. I was thinking of hitting Paint Creek Trail (which has the biggest hills in MI by the way) but I received some last minute motivation from Coach Steve to hit the single track at Stony Creek. He said "you cant get better on the PCT". So after about a few minutes of debating I decided to pop the season cherry.

A 2 mile ride from my apartment to the hole in the fence trail head and I was ready to go. I started my trek through the Pines and I felt like I owned the place. I felt fast cause I passed a few people, yes they were older woman and they may have been on their 4th lap but that's neither here nor there.... The Snake was a little tough but I pulled through to reach the top of Mt. Sheldon.

After a short rest I started my way on the roller coaster which was really fun. I actually fell one time as I was climbing a hill and just turned the wheel to much and just fell over (Damn Clipless). Reaching the last hill at the end of loop was the easiest part. Maybe cause there was a group of people at the top and I wanted to look cool Roadhouse Style.

All in all it was a great ride and it felt good to get out and hit the trails. Now its time to power up with some steak and the silver bullet, that's Coors Light to all you perverts thinking something else.

WHeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

Truth, justice and "A Whole New Way..." (TM)

Yes, it's TEAM HOT DOG... strange visitors from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and cycling abilities far beyond those of mortal men! TEAM HOT DOG... who can incapacitate mighty livers, bend steel bike frames in their bare hands, and who, disguised as people such as Larry, mild-mannered reporter for a great weekly newspaper, fight a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and "A Whole New Way!" ™

## Okay that may be a bit of an exageration for the ride I took to Trombley Mountain/Ford Michigan Proving Grounds on Sunday but tailwinds gusty sure did make me feel like a super hero from time to time as I accerlerated up to 30 MPH. Headwinds were like kryptonite. My current schedule has not allowed me to participate in a few of the early season Team Hot Dog events and rides but I plan on soon. It looks like I will be riding Tuesday evenings after 5 p.m. in the Stony Creek Metropark area and the same place and Bat Channel on Sunday afternoons if anyone cares to join me.

The Bratney Ride

I saw Brian's post this weekend and it made me a bit curious to do a gravel road ride out Novi way. My plan is to leave the Bureau Veritas (my work) parking lot and head off on the route posted below. This ride will happen Tuesday hoping to leave NLT 5:00. Planning on a spirited pace to get us back in 3 hours. Lights may be needed so have them charged. Post up if interested. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78086164

Finally!

Ok, so the Kid Rock ride didn't exactly get off the ground last weekend. Thankfully, today we were allowed to get out and roll a few back road miles. Not exactly ideal conditions, but I think we were all as excited to bike as Buddy the Elf was to see Santa! (I know Him!) Yeah, so it wasn't Santa...It was JRAD's sweet new Red shorts that he was sporting. They looked pretty good until we hit the real muddy sections of the back roads then all bets were off. Eventually, all of our bikes, waterbottles, Awesome Straps and spandex started to look like this: We made it out to the Holly Gas Station in around an hour and a half. As you can see by this photo, Cooper was so excited that nothing busted off his bike at this point that he just wanted to shout it out to the world. We're not exactly sure if he was excited or if it was some form of "Roid Rage" based on how he was pedaling today. Second half of the ride was soupy and hill-covered. Somehow we made it back in one piece and called it good at around 37.5 miles. Let's do it again sometime...maybe when it's warmer and less muddy!


- "Coach" Steve

The Neon Couch

If you would have told me @ 6am this morning that I was going to be out riding two laps at Hickory Glenn later on in the day, I would have slapped your face and called you a liar! Driving into work, I had to fight the brutally frigid arctic winds just to keep the poor CR-V on the road. At noon, on my way to Famous Dave's for a protein sandwich and fries, I was greeted by more wind and everybody's favorite four-letter-word....SNOW! After some post-lunch emails with Shaun, I was dead-set on not riding this evening.... Well, I guess you know the rest of the story since you already read that first half of the blog post. It's been years since I rode Hickory Glenn and even though it's not one of the more challanging trails in SE Michigan, it perked up my heart-rate and caused me to say "Wheeeee!" a few times. It was my first Singletrack ride with the Neon Couch, as I`m now calling the new Specialized Epic since it feels like I'm on a couch when I ride that thing. I almost felt bad for Shaun, who was riding his Rigid Niner Singlespeed with some ungodly huge gear ratio. I even offered to let him test ride, but the skulls (see photo) would not let him. Anyways, it turned out to be a nice day to get a few miles in! Roadhouse! -Steve

Sh!tty Weather Got You Down?

Fear not Hot Dog Nation. Pretty soon, the weather will improve. The trees will once again grow green shit on them (as seen above), flowers will bloom, birds will chirp, Charlie Sheen will disappear from the media, and tHD will be back in the saddle on a more consistent basis.

Keep it real.