Keep on rollin'

Monday was a hill work day. Only 10 miles but it took about 45 minutes because of all the long extended hills we rode. Near where we live there are a lot of hills if we aren't riding the White Pine Trail. That's the nice thing about the converted railway lines, the hills are very gradual. But that doesn't help get us ready for the nasty hills in Death Valley. So we submitted to a little self inflicted pain.
Yesterday was a leisurely ride up the WPT to Rockford. Listened to some live music (a local group called Organissimo) and had ice cream. An easy 13 miles.
And finally here's a photo from last Thursday's Jake's Music Festival. See more photos at the JMF web site.

Whew... what a week

This has been a very busy week. Between work, Jake's Music Festival and Mary's garage sale we didn't get a lot of riding in. But what we did was fairly long. We had a great ride yesterday. We went west out Post Road to Pine Island Drive then over to 9 mile and continued to Division. We followed that north to 14 Mile Road and picked our way around some lakes before we hooked back up with the White Pine Trail and headed south to home. 28 miles in all. With the weather predicted to be cooler this week and a lot of our busy stuff out of the way, this coming week should see lots of miles.

This weeks ride totals:
8/4 - 20.2 miles: WPT north and then south
8/5 - 28.2 miles: loop west and north of home
Total: 48.4 miles

Links and things

First the things...

A banner week of riding, the best week so far as far as total mileage, over 80 miles. Yesterday was the big ride, 32 miles. Started north on the White Pine Trail until the pavement ended at Russell Road. Then headed north on the street all the way to 20 mile and took that east to Northland Drive. Rode down thru Cedar Springs, hooked back up with the WPT and was home is just a shade over 2 hours. Today, we took a leisurely ride with the boys up to Rockford for hot dogs and ice cream. This Thursday night is Jake's Music Festival, a benefit concert to support our ride team. Check out info on the concert at the link below. Only $10 to see four great bands.

Now the links...

For more information about Jake's Music Festival, click here.

Derek Dykstra took some great photos of the ride team in action last Sunday. See his photos here.

To donate to Mary click here.

To donate to Tom click here.

And to see some photos from our Europe trip click here.

And finally, the Sunday night roundup...

7/25 - 16.2 miles; Myers lake to 11 miles to WPT south
7/27 - 22 miles; WPT south to Riverside Park and downtown GR and back
7/29 - 32 miles; WPT north to 20 Mile, loop thru Cedar Springs
7/30 - 11.9 miles; Rockford and back for ice cream
Total: 82.1 miles

More photos

First off the ride report. We rode 16.2 miles today, north on Myers Lake Road to 11 Mile, across to the WPT and south to home. Nothing eventful, except for the truck that almost ran over Tom, just a training ride. Now to the pictures...












The West Michigan Ride Team getting ready to head out from Ann O'Conner's.




















Rachel and Nicole somewhere near Fennville.



















"Rookie marks" on someone's leg. Someone with a brand new bike. Hmm...

What a great ride

Today was a perfect day for a bike ride. It was also our big team ride in Pullman at Ann O'Conner's house. We had over 20 riders there and about 40 people for the pool party afterwards. The weather couldn't have been better. Sunny, warm, a light breeze and great people to ride with. After the 40 miles we had a cookout around Ann's pool. Lot's of people brought their kids and we all had a great time. We'll post pictures later on. For Mary and Tom, today was our longest ride of the year. This was also the most miles we've done in a week so far this year.

This week's ride totals:
7/18 - 18 miles: WPT north
7/20 - 16.2 miles: Holland loop
7/23 - 40.5 miles: Pullman to Douglas and back
Total: 74.7 miles

Bike Lust "parte due"

Tom got a new Cannondale bike last year so this year it was Mary's turn for a new ride. She purchased a pearly white Bianchi. Mary selected the Italian bike either because she loved Italy when we were there last month, or because Mike Clark was having a great sale at Velo City. Either way it's a great bike. We broke it in with a 16 mile loop around Holland. The big test will come this Sunday when we do our major team ride in Pullman. Mary loves the new bike, especially the granny gear. "The better to get up a 6 mile hill at a 6 percent grade, my dear." And it's much lighter than her antique Schwinn. So if you know anyone who wants an old bike (with $150 of new parts from last year) please let us know.

Thanks to our donors

We'd like to thank those people who have sent in a donation to help find a cure for diabetes.
Tim & Gloria Buist - Kentwood, MI
Jim & Connie Hennip - Byron Township, MI
Mike & Michelle Kenney - Dewitt, MI
Marc & Jane Longstreet - Hudsonville, MI
Ed & Nancy Reed - Grand Rapids, MI
Michelle Reed - Rockford, MI
Chris & Collette Smiley - Rockford, MI
Kim Summers - Belmont, MI
Pete & Kay Timinskis - Lowell, MI
Hank & Mari Wieten - Grand Rapids, MI
Larry & Dorothy Scheidel - Wayland, MI

It's easy to donate on-line. Just click here or follow the DONATE link to the left. Or you can support us the old fashioned way, by mailing a check. Make it out to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and mail it to Thomas Scheidel, 6184 Archer St. NE, Rockford, MI 49341. Thanks to all who have helped so far.

The Sunday Night Update for July 16

On Saturday morning we rode south on Coit Ave. to North Park, crossed the Grand River on the North Park bridge and then came home north on the White Pine Trail. It was about a 13 mile loop. Then in the afternoon we were driving in the Saugatuck area and saw fellow Death Valley rider Derek Dykstra riding in the Holland Hundred. He was looking fine in his new Herman Miller bike jersey. You can check out Derek's blog here. Or click on the link on the left of this page.

This week's ride totals:
7/12 - 15.4 miles; part of the Holland 100 route
7/13 - 21.6 miles; WPT north to the end of pavement
7/15 - 13.5 miles; Coit to North Park to WPT
Total: 50.5 miles

A new bike is coming

It seems that Mike out at Velo City Bikes in Holland is running a Tour Du France sale. So we went out there to check it out. Mary ended up test riding a new Cannondale. We did a 15 mile loop in Holland, basically following the Tuesday night Macatawa Bike Club route. It was a great ride and Mary really enjoyed the C-dale after all the time on her "antique" Schwinn. We decided to get her something and we pick it up next Thursday. We'll post photos of the new ride once we get it home.
Yesterday we rode the White Pine Trail north to where the pavement ends (for now) and then back home. That's a 21.6 mile out and back. Not a lot to report on that, just a basic training ride on our usual trail.

ITALY WINS!

Okay, I know the headline has nothing to do with biking, but we got hooked on World Cup Football (Soccer here in the States) while we were in Europe. Italy defeated France in the finals 1-1. That may look like a tie, and it was after regulation and overtime. But Italy won on penalty kicks 5-3, so the Italians win the match and the World Cup. We were happy. We liked Italy when we were there, and it is fun to know how crazy there are going to be over there tonight.

In biking news we had a good team ride yesterday. We had a group of 12 that left from Ada Park and rode out Grand River Ave. toward Lowell. Five of us turned around there because of other commitments and the rest of the group continued on for what they said was going to be 40 miles. It was a good week of riding, we got out four times for the first time this summer. None of the rides were especially long, but we are building stamina.

This weeks ride totals:
7/5 - 17 miles; east of Rockford and WPT
7/6 - 14 miles; Myers Lake and WPT
7/7 - 13 miles; Cannonburg Rd.
7/8 - 15.8 miles; Ada to Lowell and back
Total: 59.8 miles

Riding and music

We took a short ride this afternoon. Started out on Meyer's Lake Road near Cannonsburg and picked our way north and west until we ended up in downtown Rockford. Then we took the white Pine Trail south until we got home. 14 miles in all. There is a team ride Saturday that we are also going to try and make.

In other news, get ready for the second annual Jake's Music Festival. This is a major fundraiser for our Ride Team and features four great West Michigan bands. The show takes place on August 3rd from 6:00 p.m. until midnight at the Wave Room at Celebration Cinema in northern Grand Rapids. For more information check out our website www.jakesmusicfestival.blogspot.com.

Happy Blog Anniversary

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of our Ride Blog. It was also the 230th anniversary of the founding of the United States. We celebrated by taking a 17 mile early 4th of July morning bike ride. We rode north on Courtland drive to 12 Mile, then over to the White Pine Trail and then south to home. Great trail news! The State of Michigan accepted Fred Meijer's donation to the White Pine Trail and soon it will be paved all the way to Cadillac. Woo hoo! 90 miles of paved trail from Grand Rapids to the north country. The Russell Road to Sand Lake portion is supposed to be paved by this fall. Let's hope the remainder follows quickly.

Happy Summer Holidays

The Sunday night update is a bit late this week due to Independence Day holiday. Between getting back from vacation and going away again for this long weekend we did get some riding in. North on the White Pine Trail on Tuesday and south on Friday. We've got a couple more team rides coming up in the next few weeks. It will be good to catch up with the ride team again.

This week's ride totals:
6/27 - 10.9 miles; WPT north
6/30 - 18.4 miles; WPT south to Ann Street in GR
Total: 29.3 miles

We are back

We haven't had a lot of posts lately because we've been out of the country. We took a family vacation to Europe. Don't worry, I'm not going to link anyone to the 700 photos we took. I just included one of Mary and I in Sienna, Italy. We rented bikes at our hotel one morning and went riding around that very old city. Sienna is between 2500 and 3500 years old. It was very cool. The whole trip was cool, but that's information for a different blog. This blog is about preparing for the Death Valley Ride. So even though we only rode once in the last two weeks, we walked a LOT! Our legs are in great shape. We are really looking forward to putting in some serious miles now that summer is here.




Tom and Mary on Piazza Il Campo in Sienna, Italy.

Busy time is finishing

It has been tough to get out and ride this spring. With school getting done, our daughter graduating from high school, graduation parties and getting ready for vacation bike riding hasn't been a high priority. We are getting out some, and today was beautiful. We did a team ride on the Musketawa Trail, a rails-to-trail conversion that runs from Marne to Muskegon. Logged 31 miles with a big group. We had 16 people along for the ride, which is the biggest group for a team ride this year. And it's actually more people than rode for our team in Death Valley last year. We are really looking forward to some serious training once we get back from vacation. And boy will we have some photos to share from that. More in a couple of weeks.

This weeks totals:
06/06/06 - 10.8 miles, WPT north
6/11/06 - 31.2 miles, Musketawa Trail
Total: 42 miles

It's Sunday night, time for the update

We didn't get a lot of riding in this week, but what we did do was good. Today was a team ride. 10 folks from the West Michigan Ride Team took off from Ada Park and touring the "rolling" hills of the Saranac/Lowell/Ada area. We rode just a shade under 28 miles. Coach Mike was there along with one of our new assistant coaches, Patrick. And we took some photos. It was a lovely day and we're going to share photos of a couple of lovely ladies.

This week's ride totals:
6/4 - 28 miles; Ada to Lowell loop

Mary Scheidel, south of Lowell.















JDRF Executive Director Stacey Chase crossing the Grand River.

A good week

Got out three times this week. Wednesday was just a quick ride around the neighborhood of about 7 miles. This weekend we went down to our friends cottage on Lake Paw Paw and took two trips around the lake. 12.8 miles on Saturday and 12.2 miles on Sunday. It's nice to have nice weather.
This week's totals:
5/24 - 7.7 miles; the neighborhood
5/27 - 12.8 miles; around Lake Paw Paw
5/28 - 12.2 miles; around Lake Paw Paw again
Weekly total: 32.7 miles

Who's swinging down the streets of the city...

...everyone knows it's Windy.
To steal a line from an old 60's song. It has been very windy this week, so not a lot of miles, but they were hard miles baby. Against the wind. Uphill. Both ways. I'm tellin' you.
But seriously folks, Wednesday was a quick 11 mile jaunt between rain storms and today was 21 miles on the White Pine Trail. All the way to where the pavement ends and then back home again.
And we are holding Jake's Music Festival again this August. Check out the website www.jakesmusicfestival.blogspot.com for all the details.
This week's totals:
5/17 - 11.2 miles; WPT north
5/21 - 21 miles; WPT farther north
Total: 32.2 miles

I can't stand the rain

What a crummy week for bike riding. All that nice weather we had earlier in the spring has deserted us. For the most part this week has been cold and rainy. Thursday it was raining sideways! So we only got out twice this week. A short ride around the neighborhood on Wednesday and a longer ride between rainstorms today. Today's right was south on the White Pine Trail, past the ballpark and through Riverside Park, all the way to Ann Street in Grand Rapids. A 19 mile round trip. More rain in the forecast for this week. Yuck.

This week's ride totals:
5/9 - 6.5 miles; the neighborhood
5/14 - 19 miles; WPT south to Riverside Park
Total: 25.5 miles

Busy week, some biking

It was very nice outside, this first week of May. However, work was very busy, so we didn't get a lot of riding in. However the little we did was relatively long for this time of year. On Wednesday we rode a little hill route that Mary found and then went north on the White Pine Trail for a little over 17 miles. On Sunday we took a trip from our house out to, and around, Meyers Lake. Round trip total of 21 and a half miles. Hopefully we'll be able to grab a few more rides this week.
Weekly Ride Totals:
5/3 - 17.25 miles; hills and the WPT
5/7 - 21.5 miles; Meyers Lake
Total: 38.75 miles