Great turnout G2 Saturday April 24

This morning started of good with a 5 man G2 team showing for "Mikes ride" Jack (comeback), Morris, Norm, Ed and myself where looking sharp with the 2010 G2 jersey kit. The question was though could we represent?? I have to say for me it was one of the hardest Mikes ride I personally did with a average wattage output of 315. With only a few riders left hanging on for dear life approaching the well know Spanish River hill one rider (Greg Cousin) decided to go for it. I had done so much work in the front, reaching my red zone 187 HR and could just not follow his sudden acceleration' Gus who just joint "Mikes ride" being fresh accelerated and I got on his wheel with a few other riders,, Yelling at him Gus Go, Go. With Gus blowing up onto of the hill I could only hold my steady pace not be able to get closure to Greg in front of me. Suddenly a few riders past me on the right including G2 riders Morris and Norm managing pulling and passing Greg at the end. Also right behind there was Jack...yes Jacks Back. Awesome job guys G2 looking good out there. Unfortunately missing Liz who is out with back pain and Eric almighty having some issues with his alarm clock. I will make sure to give him a wake up call next time. (Eric later joint us riding back around Lake Worth)



As the G2 riders approached the light a large G2 group was waiting for us to continue our G2 ride to West palm. I believe we were with at least 15 G2 riders holding a nice steady page of 20-22 mph. We had a slight south east wind and it was a beautiful ride. The G2 girls represented by Helena and Cristine doing a excellent job.



The way back,, it looked like the wind chanced from a South East to a wonderful head on Southern wind slowly increasing to close to 15 miles hr strait in our face. We were in for a fun ride back. Still being with a nice G2 group we all managed to get home. G2, Great ride, Great job, Great fun, Great pain but it all feels so good after. Again a very impressive ride by the two G2 girls Cristine and Helena.

Rain, rain go away, come again another day….

When I got up at 5.30am to the sounds of Norm ‘fueling up’ that’s what I thought. The second day of the MS ride started out wet!! But before I start this commentary of this weekend’s MS ride let me make it very clear that I am a beginner rider. Anything over 20mph and I am tired!! Did I make that clear? Beginner. Me. Day one we rode the 75 miles stopping only twice, around 40 miles and then just 5 miles before the end. Luckily for me Willy and Norm had decided not to hammer it down to Key Largo which meant that I could keep up. Sure there were times when Willy and Norm had to express their ‘manly hood’ and take off to pull a group of riders….fast! And times when they had to exercise their testosterone by racing to red lights but overall they kept me on track and pulled me to the end. However, they didn’t pull me over Card Sound Bridge. Why didn’t I know about that bridge? It was definitely intimidating at first sight but I made it over while others ‘walked’ over. We spent the rest of the day sitting by the water, telling stories, eating ice-cream and basically doing nothing. So nice to do nothing every now and again isn’t it!!

Day two was wet. The organizers had announced in the evening that the ride was changed from a 75 mile to 35 mile route. I was bummed out. This was my first over night, back to back, ride and I was intent to cross it off my list! In the morning we cycled back to the camp ground only to find out that the ride had been canceled due to projected thunderstorms. How were we going to get back I thought? Willy and Norm said we should ride back even though we would have no MS support. What the…. in the pouring rain?! In the dark?! “Ok” I said meekly. We rode at a steady 19 mph hour pace, all agreeing just to get back safely. A straight shot. It turned out that the rain was not as bad as the organizers thought (no thunderstorms beating down on us, no dark clouds hovering over head, no lightening striking us at every turn). The only challenging thing for me was being pulled along with a constant flow of dirty puddle water thrown up in my face. Was really very nice....

Rain rain go away, nah just stay. Weekend was fab and I wouldn’t change any of it if I could. I had the best company and the best kit!! We got lots of compliments along the way so nice job Willy!

I learnt a lot this weekend; packing the right way for an over night stay (I brought too much crap so my bag was heavy on the ride to and from the camp), about my heart rate and how I should train using that (I was checking my watch more so on the ride back), lactate acid build-up and how to manage it (isn’t lactate something to do with breast feeding?), how to share a room with a man who is not my husband (only G2 cyclist see this blog right?!) and that Willy like Cookies n’ Cream ice-cream (a lot of it) and that Norm really shouldn’t really eat it ;-)

Thanks guys for watching over me. I really do appreciate it.

Didn’t achieve my goal of 150 miles but I’m just a beginner right? MS ride 2011 anyone?

Helena

Small G2 showed Big on MS ride 2010

Even with the limited number of G2 riders we made a Big impression on this past weekend MS ride. We all arrived at the Miami Speedway Homestead on time to stand in a traffic jam for over 40 min to arrive late for the start. I just didn't get it why it took so long to get 3000 riders parked but for some reason approx 1500 riders ended up having a late start. Mark (cool bean) had suggested to ride with the cool beans group and UM group at a easy to moderate pace. G2 riders Kyle, Christine, Jenifer, Helena, Norman and I gathered together waiting for everyone to arrive. I was so ready to leave that at 7:40 am I said "lets go" with only Helena and Norm following me starting our 75 mile ride.
Norm and I pretty much set a steady pace of about 20 mph and took turns with Helena following on our wheels. Many small groups formed but as you all know I prefer to stay upfront controlling to group and keep G2 riders safe from potential inexperienced riders. Throughout our ride multiple comments were made about the wild and cool looking all new 2010 G2 uniforms. We sure stood out in the crowd.
About 35 miles into the ride the sound and sight of sirens and ambulance ahead of us. There was a group of riders on the side of the road with a lady strapped on too a stretcher ready to be taken. We all slowed down try to block out what we saw and continued our ride. She looked to me she was going to be alright. I really enjoyed our small 3 man G2 group, well 2 man and one girl riding safely with only 2 short stops making it to Key Largo. I was very impressed how Helena who has been riding for less then one year managing to keep up with Norm and I and finishing the 75 miles under 4 HR.
We lucked out we kept it dry but our luck was going to run out for the next day. Norm and I had planned to ride back with the first fast group the next day but our plans where soon to be changed.

Sunday MS ride WET, WET, WET.
That Saturday night we heard that Sunday morning ride was going to get cut short, riding strait to Homestead Speedway because of the potential thunderstorms and rain.
I was hoping we would keep it dry but when I woke up to the sound of pouring rain outside my room, making me think SHIT, this is going to be a wet ride. 6:15 AM, Norm, Helena and I were meeting in front of the hotel as the pouring rain was coming down. We had 3 miles to ride to the start at Pennykamp. My shoe were soaked within 2 min of riding and it was dark and wet. I said lets just ride all 3 together and keep it safe stay away from other group or riders and that is just what happened. When we totally soaked arrived at Pennykamp to drop of our bags, a friend of mine said you better change in some dry clothes for you bus ride, they have canceled the ride he said and are bringing everybody and bikes with buses back. What, I said, now way! I am ready to ride, I am already soaked and do not feel like putting my bike on the truck. I looked at Norm and Helena and said what do you guys want to do? I am going, I heard a Z motion group also left earlier. Lets go. Yes G2 small 3 man group dropped of their bags and went for it. We rode nonstop with the occasional nature stop for the boys (god bless Helena) seeing only 2 other riders that decided just like us crazy or insane to go for it. I had a hard time seeing riding in front only thinking how bad it would be for Norm and Helena getting the constant shower spray of riding behind my wheel.
We Arrived 9:30 AM in Homestead Speedway seeing the first groups of riders that were dropped of by buses looking at us saying Wow! you guys rode, Yeb, we went for it. I think only less then 100 riders went for it. When we hung out under the tent for awhile the chills started to kick in. Lets put on something dry, load up the bikes and go for breakfast while we wait for the bags to get here. It stopped raining instead started pouring buckets. I was ready to get into my car only to find out I left my light on and my battery was dead. Norm couldn't get into his car because he left his key in the bag that was still in the UPS truck. Man, talking about being WET. Luckily a nice rider with a truck had some jumper cables and got my car started.
Once we finally got our bags and got into some dry clothes we realized that this was still a great G2 adventure to look back on.

My thanks to Norm and Helena to be such great sport doing this ride with me.

G2 Easter weekend rides

We had a great turnout last week with the weather being more tolerable. Again hope to see more of all G2 riders out there this weekend.
A riders will meet at "Mikes ride" this Saturday. We will gather back at "Spanish River" 7:45 ish. If you do not like to wait there please spin south for awhile until you see "Mikes ride" coming. We will then continue north to "Lake Worth"
B-C riders you can Meet at Atlantic Blvd 7 AM and AIA parking lot. Head over to Boca and wait for the A riders at Spanish River.

See you all there.

Sunday 7:30 Atlantic Blvd AIA.