Tour De Cure 2012

I am excited to announce that once again, Team Hot Dog will be joining the American Diabetes Association for the 2012 Tour De Cure. On June 9, 2012, I will be riding 62 miles for this excellent cause. I know that participation has been dropping over the last few years and that it's most likely due to the fact that some of you just don't like the fundraising portion, but I urge you to reconsider. For all of the debauchery that Team Hot Dog gets into, I think this is a perfect opportunity to balance ourselves out with Karma.

The route I chose to ride is a 62 mile stroll through Brighton, Chelsea and the Potowatomi. The traffic is always light and the pace is about the same. There are mountain bike routes and shorter/longer road routes too if you would like. Oh and there's always that cool trip to hell...I mean, who wouldn't want to experience the thrill of rollin' in a Wiener Jersey down the Highway to Hell? Or a Sasquatch sighting?


Last year, Team Hot Dog was one of the Top Fundraisers for the Tour De Cure. I would like to repeat that this year, but more importantly, I'm hoping to see more of you guys out there with me! It's a great cause, a great day on the bike and they serve Carrabbas to us afterwards!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. The link to join the team is here: http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/MichiganArea?team_id=532741&pg=team&fr_id=8043

Thank You!

- Steve

Barry-Roubaix

Well that was fun! I'm sitting on my couch in the fetal position morning after the big race. Nice job everyone! I was too slow to post up a race report, so maybe one of you fast guys will do that? I did include some photos though.

My poor snatch

Today I went for a ride on the old bandersnatch. I was pretty happy after breaking 40 minutes on a Maybury lap last night. So, I decided I'd go back for another run today. I had a goal set in of 38 minutes. I started off great. Was really moving. I climbed the first hill with little effort. The second large hill wasn't much of a problem and I started picking up steam on the first major downhill. I took the first couple turns pretty fast. I handled them great. That new front suspension really does the trick. The next set of turns after another climb was coming up. I decided to push it. I hit the second turn a bit too high and lost it. I caught a root, a rock, and part of a tree and most of me went over the handle bars. However, the front wheel didn't like the part of me that didn't.

It's not a total taco, but it still is a bit on the wobbly side. My scraps aren't worth the picture. I barely even bled. Anyway, I'm placing my order with Biker Bob for my Stan's Crest ZTR, my new brakes, and a set of racing ralph's. My snatch will be back in action before you know it.

Group Ride Sunday

Time to raise the curtain on the 2012 season. This Sunday, Kensington Metropark, 9:30am… ride takes off at 10am . We’ll meet at the same main parking lot we did last year for this ride.

Last year’s invite can be found here capturing what the ride is all about. Hope to see you there.

The Rebirth of the Bandersnatch

A few years ago I went to the bike shop to buy a water bottle, tube, bottle cage, or something else under $10 and left with a Vassago Bandersnatch. It was pretty and I heard 29er's were all the rage. Well, I rode it here and there. Mostly dirt road rides. It's a steel frame with a steel fork. Heavy and mean. It was a fun ride. However, I still found myself going back to my faithful Stump Jumper. The Bandersnatch's steel fork was murder on my arms while riding the trails. Maybe if I had a suspension fork I'd ride it more. I just never pulled the trigger on the purchase. That has now changed.

About a month or so ago I was talking to coach about upgrading to a suspension fork. As luck would have it he was upgrading his current fork. The price was right and he'd help me install it. By help I mean, I'd watch while he installed it.

Well, yesterday was the day of the forking. Things came apart in quick fashion, however we needed to go to the bike shop to remove some magical rings and do a switch-a-roo. During the car ride coach and I had a conversation about tubes vs tubeless and what's involved in doing the tubeless conversion. By the ride home I was convinced this is the route I should go. Maybe I'll pick up one of those fancy Stan's tubeless kits. That will be ticket. They're pretty cheap and I'll turn my existing wheelset into a tubeless one. But my tires were off a bit. They were too knobby in the back. Coach had a remedy for that too. He gave me a small block kenda tire to try for my rear wheel. It rolls better and will make me at least 3% faster.

We're now back at coach's pad and the forking has resumed. Well, it resumed after he retrieved his grips from his dogs. They mistook them for chew toys. Anyway, as we... he finishes installing the fork and puts the front tire back on, coach sees my rotor is bent. I have no idea how that happened. I'm so careful with things. Coach gave me a spare rotor to swap out. But he also mentioned that I should consider upgrading my BB5 mechanical discs to some hydraulic. Maybe upgrade to some Elixir 3's. He told me about this Biker Bob character and said he could get me a heck of a deal.

Today I emailed this Biker Bob. Sure enough, he can get me a heck of a deal on some Elixir 3's. Well after the good news, I decided to give my bike a bath and admire the pretty new fork since my knees still hurt from Friday's ride and that's all I could do bike related. Well, as I marveled at my clean Bandersnatch my gears really got grinding. Why stop at the just the fork and the brakes. I do have a tax return on the way. I decided to go to the coach for advice. After a little motivational speech which was pretty much "Why buy a Stan's tubeless kit when you could buy a Stan's ZTR Crest wheelset. Biker Bob can get you a heck of a deal."

Well, as it stands now, I'll have a fancy Bandersnatch all ready for Georgia. I have a new suspension fork, and I'll be ordering groovy hydraulic Elixir 3 brakes, and a snazzy Stan's ZTR Crest wheelset. Now I just have to figure out what color spokes and nipples I want. I'm thinking I'll go red on the nipples. And maybe I'll throw down some yellow hydraulic hose for the brakes. Maybe yellow derailleur cable housing too. Hot Dog colors in affect!

Thanks coach!