g2cycling

Gayle’s and Rorie’s fine adventure to the Withlacoochee

2010-09-15T06:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a report of Gayle’s and Rorie’s fine adventure to the Withlacoochee State Trail. Or a Food Trip that included cycling.

Now Gayle furnished the diary of cuisine and I have added my account of things including the cycling part.

Departure date: Time around 6:00pm. So we were ready for dinner.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Dinner – Port St. Lucie

Cracker Barrel (can’t miss with Cracker Barrel – known for good tastin’ but somewhat unhealthy viddles)

Gayle remembered that the Thursday night ’s special is:

Roasted Turkey w/ sage dressing (enjoyed by both Rorie and Gayle) the potatoes and dressing look better on Rorie than chubby Gayle. (I’m trying to gain back the weight from Megan’s and my 300 mile trip last weekend.)

We arrived around 11:30 pm very tired to find the Central Motel very nice and clean. It has a refrig, micro and coffee maker. No hair dryer, ok by me since I have curly hair that hates hair dryers. We decided not to set the alarm, we have no schedule!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Breakfast – Inverness

Swiss Bakery at the Central Motel

Rorie enjoyed and lapped up a HUGE bowl of homemade Muesli and one fried egg. Swiss style with lots of fruit.

Gayle was in “be good mode” only wolfing down 3 scrambled eggs, a sliced tomato and a slice of homemade whole grain dry toast

The hotel is located in Inverness which I highly recommend for this trip to the WT. It sits right on the trail like (ski in and ski out) about the halfway point so you can decide which way to go each day. We chose the shorter route since it was the first day. There is even a very nice bicycle shop located on the trail . If you ever wanted to try a recumbent bike this is the place. They rent them there.

Lunch - Hernando

Chicken King!!!! Damn it was fine! Parked our bikes right outside. We didn’t really like the looks of the place but there was no where else to eat. The chicken tasted like chicken….no cheap chicken in sight!

Rorie lapped up a pulled chicken sandwich with BBQ sauce and some greens steeped in bacon.

Gayle was somewhat sensible and scarfed up a grilled chicken salad with no dressing – only lemon

We rode back to the hotel and cooled off in the pool. Clean pool.

Then we decided to drive to Rainbow springs State Park only 17 miles away we heard. After a wrong turn we ended up driving almost 60 miles. We took a quick dip in the most beautiful clear cool water, and noted “good use of tax payer’s dollars” and took the 17 mile trip back.

It was a little too early for dinner so we found a place called The Front Porch where we tried the Key lime pie Gayle says the best she has eaten and I had pecan pie almost as good as my daughter makes.

Dinner - Inverness

McLeod’s Bistro –

Rorie’s eyes kept a rollin’ back into her sockets as she savored each and every bite. She had scallops served on a spinach, Asiago cheese and white wine sauce. Either she was famished or she experienced the best meal she ever had! (Very fine dining in a beautiful setting.)Gayle was in the mood for fish. (An extremely rare occurrence) She had the poached salmon with oranges and fresh dill served with summer squash and jasmine rice. Perrrfect!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Breakfast – yummy muffins from Whole Foods courtesy of Rorie

The guy at the bike shop told us about a club ride that starts there at 8 so I had to meet up with them. GayleGail l rode the south route of the trail to get in 52 miles for her long ride. The club rode the country roads that criss-crossed the trail from time to time. It was a 45 mile route with gently rolling hills amongst huge oak trees and a nice bunch of folks. After each persons pull they got a hearty thank you from each person in the pace line. I then rode up to the Shamrock Bar (on the Trail) to meet Gayle.

Lunch – Shamrock Bar, Floral City – We met there to use the loo, but once we opened the door and smelled “burger” that was a no brainer lunch stop. Gayle was thirsty as an old camel, so she knocked back a quick Amberbock and Rorie was well behaved with a sweet tea. The burgers really hit the spot! We had the regular burger. You hungry guys can order the Shamrock burger. Gayle played her favorite country tune , (several times) Broken hearts ille by Joe Nichols . . We rode back for another dip in the pool.

Dinner – Enrico’s Italian, Inverness – this place looks like a dump on the exterior, and only slightly better on the interior, but the food is a different story!!!! We had a three course dinner with wine. It was really good.

Rorie enjoyed a huge stuffed grouper with crab and Gayle a huge plate of veal piccata. A massive slab of peach cobbler cheese cake was shared by both “ladies.” Gayle tried to let Rorie eat most of it…which I did.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Breakfast – Blueberry muffins from some semi-healthy local grocery store bakery

Gayle had heard from a couple on the trail about another trail the Chiefland just north of us. So we headed up there and found it. It wasn’t as nice as the WT . We ventured over to the Fanning Springs State Park which was fairly crowded. The water was crystal clear and cold. We didn’t swim there ‘cause we were on our bikes.

Lunch (about 10:30AM) – Huckleberry’s BBQ located on the highway outside Fanning Springs

Both carnivores had pork sandwiches but Gayle had a side of beans (they came in handy later in the day) and Rorie’s side was some bad tastin’ mustard greens.They probably thought putting sage and thyme would make them gourmet, no leave southern cooking alone. We have to note that the bad greens were the only morsels planted in front of us that didn’t disappear the whole trip…not bad considering.

Dinner – Cracker’s – Crystal River – We ended up here after discovering the town of Inverness was closed on Sunday night except for Stumpknockers’s. Gayle already knew that one was grim! We hopped in the SUV to discover a delightful place unknown…and not to be disappointed we cruised to Crystal River( Because Gayle had filed this in her Food Brain on our “wrong turn” to Rainbow Springs) and chose Cracker’s because the parking lot was chock-a-block. We grabbed a booth right next to Lee, the cutie that runs Sun Cycles in Inverness. As it turned out, he and his buddy were looking to ride the Chiefland Trail, but couldn’t find it. We rode the Chiefland earlier in the day and decided it wasn’t as nice as the Withlacoochee trail.

Monday, September 6, 2010 - a no alarm clock day, at last!

Breakfast – McDonald’s Egg McMuffin…processed cheese and all..very yummy and some cinnamon deals that Rorie thought would be okay for Gayle to eat….she thought wrong! One bit e was amazing…who know McDuck’s would have such tasty, drenched in sugar, cinnamon rolls!

Lunch- Winter Garden – Moon Cricket

Both had fish tacos and they were great!

Then we cruised home through Clermont and made a quick (ha) stop at the Cycling Hub, got more loot and hit the dusty turnpike for the trek home after a fine 4 days!

Megan and Rorie our G2 Longdistance heroes!

2010-08-30T07:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a little report of our ride to Palm Bay.
It all started because I am training for a 1000K ride in Sept in Tennessee. I met Megan about a month ago and mentioned this ride I was going to do to Palm Bay where my daughter lives> She was new to road cycling but wanted to try. I said I think you need to do a 100 mile ride before you try a 300 mile 2 day ride. But then she did a 12 day trip down the California coast(camping with her daughter) on a 50 pound bike so I knew she could handle this.
We left my house at 4:50 on Sat morning, met up with a fellow named George who used to race so he paced us from West Palm up to Port Salerno. I had a cue sheet from RUSA , the org. I belong to so most of the trip was on A1A .We had lunch on Hutchinson island , then the road got rough (Ft. Pierce)and it got hot. Megan was a real trouper, not one "when are we going to get there". There were some beautiful areas around Sebaston then the last 30 miles on US 1 in the late afternoon sun were very tough. We got to my daughters house around 5:20, 152 miles later. She welcomed us with plates of cold watermelon.
The next day we left at 5:15 feeling a little tired. The cool darkness helped us breeze up US 1 so we were in Sebaston by daylight. Then by the time we got to the rough roads it started pouring , we were driven to the side walk at one point for safety. We crossed many bridges in the rain and Megan did well especially considering she had never ridden in the rain. It took us 12 hours to get home.We celebrated at the Outback, the best meal after such a ride.
We are looking forward to the g-2 trip around the lake O.
Rorie

around the world in 80 days (well, almost)

2010-08-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

hey everyone, I hope your enjoying your midweek - whatever that may have brought. some of you may have read the email from megan mccracken. megan is a relatively new G2 member, but has not been around as she has been out west. her daughter, bryn, has just completed a 5000 mile coast-to-coast self-supported bike tour! megan flew out to oregon to meet up with her and ride the final leg down to san francisco. I know you'll all join me in wishing them both well and congratulating bryn on an incredible journey! here, here!

bryn in oregon. happy to be able to lift a bike

without 100 pounds of gear on it

megan and the oregon coast

from megan, "This is a Thorne Nomad touring bike from England. Kind of cool that a guy on my daughter's tour brought it here and loaned it to me when they got to Oregon, to be returned to him 2 weeks later in San Francisco. Turns out it fit pretty well. Lucky for me huh?"

addendum, or news from the pack

2010-08-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

oh, the myopia of one's own perspective! I just received news from Ed, who was in the main field of Mike's Ride yesterday. it seems that which appeared to be our own power and good luck, also owes a debt of gratitude to at least Ed and anyone else who blocked for the breakaway. my sincerest gratitude and apologies! at the very least I hope the end justified the means.

the weekend for one, twos

2010-08-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

image for entertainment purposes only.

G2 is not represented at the tour of denmark

well, along with matti breschel and jakob fuglsang, matt goss and mark renshaw, G2 had it's own 1-2 finish on Mike's Ride™ this morning. your humble author and Willy van Gent™ (team captain and chief counsellor) managed to time a breakaway to perfection today and roll in 10-15 seconds ahead of the main field of mike's ride. the winning move (if you can call it that in a non-race race) came just after hillsboro avenue. I rolled off the front and was quickly joined by a Bike America rider (well, a rider in BA kit). we got a small lead, but I was fairly convinced that we were just seconds away from getting caught and sat up. no sooner had I committed to being caught and willy came up from the main field and together we closed the gap back up to the BA rider. the trio worked together and managed to get a gap that seemed like it might stick. the only real mar came when we decided to blow the light at palmetto park. while we very seldom run lights (and indeed slowed quite a bit for this one), the thought of a breakaway victory was too strong. the BA rider decided to stop and willy and I rode the golf course section on our own. thanks to willy's calming influence ("dude, don't blow up"), I did not blow up on the long uphill to spanish river. I was concerned that we were just about to get caught, but we kept it steady and powered up the last incline before the long straight to the finish. the spanish river hill is always a deciding factor. unless there are very strong riders in the main group, you can pretty much count on no one being willing to pull hard up the hill. because of this and our steady pace, willy and I were in a perfect position. willy led over the top and we powered along the long straight. I took over the pacing at the mid way point and we held on to cross the line a bit ahead of the lone BA rider and a good distance ahead of the field. it was the kind of finish that just sort of happened. there were no hard attacks, but we just sort of got things right.

in other news, it was very good to see norm out again - the links having only briefly lost their allure. look for more appearances by norm and mo nearer to fall when the greens fees increase. it will be best since we could use their horsepower - and their company -at the front. also making a return was clements venderwerf. straight off of the boat still with hints of sea salt on him... although that might have been sweat, come to think of it... anyhow, he traded his sea legs for cycling legs... which may need another ride or two to return. another shout-out goes to helen mckenzie who, like the helena before her, came out to give mike's ride a go. other than some misunderstandings about where and when the group stopped, she survived quite well. and, for all who are interested but haven't yet come out, riding mike's isn't like being chained to an oar. you can always slow down and finish the ride at your own pace. riding with faster riders, however, is the key to becoming faster yourself. if those are your aspirations, come on out, it is always good to see large numbers of G2s on the ride - front, back, or middle...

although, I daresay we are often in the front!

lord have mercy!

after mike's the reassembled group rode north to lake worth with everyone riding well and taking turns with pacemaking. kevin, rené, kyle, danny, norm, clemens, and jim dusek all did a great job getting us home against a headwind. kevin rode especially strongly today - well done!

a special thanks to clemens for giving me a ride from atlantic. the thought of riding the rest of the way home had lost it's appeal about 3 blocks north.

another weekend, another triathlon

2010-08-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

happy monday folks! and you know what monday means... monday means that it's time for the weekend report! saturday's ride was an easy spin for most of G2 owing to sunday's Huntington's Triathlon in miami. I caught up with the group on their southbound leg just a bit north of spanish river. and, as usual, because of my, as usual, tardiness, I received a mild comeuppance. the easy spin portion of the ride lasted until somewhere just south of hillsboro ave. when someone decided the time was right to wind things up. not sure who it was, but I, for one, am getting tired of our easy rides being spoiled by riders who seem to only have two speeds...

wait a minute...

I think that was me. well, sorry about the disruption of the easy spin. I'll be better next time... I promise.

Huntington's Triathlon

helen, helena, and christine looking good after stomping the competition

sunday came very early for several of us. G2 entered two relay teams: christine manna, helen mckenzie, and helena redshaw comprised the women's team while willy, swimming sensation john acton, and 5'10" of deadweight filled out the men's relay. kevin peranio competed as an individual and vi-an showed up for a good deal of moral support and embarrassing photographic documentation. I'm not sure how athletes on TV manage to continue to look good even when they look bad, but that is sadly not the case with all of us...

john and christine hit the water for their respective teams. john is a very, very good swimmer (and runner, and...) and regularly competes in more extreme events around the country and internationally. we were lucky and grateful to have his volunteer support sunday. despite very warm water temps, both john and christine posted very good times (all individual time available here just follow the link to the "relay teams long course" results). helena and willy took over from there and completed the bike portion. willy managed to better his last 40K average speed. it felt as though there was a bit less wind than our earlier olympic distance back in the spring, but the bridge is always a challenge. helena rode strongly despite not having aero bars. this may not seem like much, but over a course like this one - in both character and distance - aero bars can make a significant difference.

the run portion was left to helen mckenzie and myself. because of john and willy's efforts, I was given a very good head start over the next relay... unfortunately, a combination of my own overdoing and under preparation caused me blow the run - losing almost 4 minutes to my last 10K time. making matters worse was that those 4 minutes would have been the difference between first and second place. my apologies to my teammates. it should be noted, however, that I would have needed every bit of those 4 minutes a the guy chasing me down was running 5:30 miles... uh, yeah. helen, on the other hand, ran strongly and gave the women's team an outstanding finish time. while there were no other women's teams registered, their time put them into 4th place overall with the men's team 2nd overall out of 14 relay teams.

kevin peranio, once again being our resident true triathlete, competed in all events and significantly bettered his times from last year. kevin is doing exceptionally well and we're glad to have him (yo) representing. this race's field, while a little smaller than the publix one we competed in earlier in the year, was far more competitive. in both the relays and the individual races there were some very, very fast people. hats off to all G2s and volunteer G2s who made the weekend fun and competed well! a special thanks to vi-an le for coming out to cheer everyone on and to take the pictures.

I'm hiring an aesthetician and some professional handlers to make sure my next appearances are more... pleasing.

the whole bunch of us

surviving frank stark

2010-07-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

another great weekend of riding with G2! well, another great weekend of very fast riding with G2. a quick recap... well, okay, a pretty lengthy recap, but what else are you doing?:

saturday: saturday's ride started with Mike's Ride™. a surprise starter was helena! who ventured out to see what all the hubub was about and generally test the waters. also starting was Willy (captain and King Mixer), Smilin' Jack Gottlieb, and your humble author. we also picked up (All Go) Mo along the way who provided much needed horsepower at the front. G2 did a great job and had several riders in the front all morning. Jack, Mo, Willy and I were among a front group of probably 8 riders as we approached the long drag up to the spanish river hill. Greg Cousins and The Helmetless Dude™ were both ahead having blown the light at Hillsboro. they got a 20-30 second gap that never quite closed, although we got close. Jack and Mo did excellent work splintering the group near the top of the hill leaving just Willy and I ahead. Willy pulled hard with me glued to his wheel and finally pulled off launching me to my best finish on Mike's just behind the two breakaways... although I might have been nipped by a surprisingly strong older rider atop a vintage chromed steel bike... oh, he'll pay... oh yes.

as per the plan, we waited for everyone to straggle in and met the group who were starting at spanish river (Kevin, René, Clemens, and a not-as-yet-a-member Joe, and continued north to the boynton beach inlet. Helena, I am please to say, did very well and now knows what's up. we hope to see her and more of G2's cyclistes feminine on Mike's Ride in the near future. The rest of the ride - minus Mo's flat - was largely the usual fun ride with moments of speed. everyone took turns doing the work. Clemens came to the front at one point to administer a smack down to an impertinent rider who had gone forward in a big show only to fade in the strongish east wind. our tall dutchman moved quickly to the front, paused for a stare down, his deep voice intoning the rhetorical "hoe gaat het, be-otch?" before steaming ahead with Mo and I on his wheel. on the way home I took an ill-advised flyer that lasted from just south of atlantic in del ray until the fountain. ill-advised because I didn't realize at the time that I was expected to ride the next day's Frank Stark Ride

pre-race... er, ride. standing tall in a sea of Zs

frank stark: well, what's another 5am morning? I awoke in the pre-dawn dark to get my dogs walked - which I barely did before Clemens arrived to pick me up for frank stark. apparently, willy didn't trust me not to bail and sent the dutch mafia. at least I had my coffee.

Clemens and I arrived shortly before the start. I stayed clear of the start area having gone commando... well, I suppose it could apply to an absence of underwear, but in this case I mean an absence of a paid entry (I know, the shame). anyhow, I didn't feel entitled to any pre-ride goodies and was fairly convinced that I was going to get busted. once the ride began it stayed rather tame. the number of lights and number of riders kept things pretty well in hand. while this was supposed to be the "A" ride, I saw a good many people who I would not have placed there and there was certainly some nervous energy in the group. the beginning, though, was without incident.

once we hit A1A all hell broke loose... well, sort of. somehow willy and I had made it to the very front and bridged to three riders already hauling ass northward. Greg Cousins was (as usual) among the three. willy and I stayed with the group taking hard pulls at 25-28 miles per all the way past spanish river. somewhere in the blur of speed and pain, we picked up Gus who got into the rotation. even though G2 was now the majority in the break, we decided to back off and regroup with the other G2s who were coming up quickly in the next and much larger group. let me tell you, it's a lot easier sitting in the middle of a large pack at 25 and I enjoyed the total lack of effort. chapeau to the three riders up the road, though. they may have slowed at some point, but that is an enormous amount of strength and they would stay ahead the rest of the day.

Gus questions his sanity before the next surge.

somewhere north of lake avenue, the large field began to hot up... and then break up. somehow, I think it was coincidental with willy going to the front, but I'm not sure. at this point what remained was a fast group of about 30 that included pat patregnani, and the much storied Graham Potter™ along with the usual suspects from mike's ride, the always present paparazzi and finally various hollywood stars urging us on from the trailing caravan...

okay, so the paparazzi weren't really there.

we regrouped at the rest stop and gladly took the chance to rest and refuel. the trip home started reasonably enough. the earlier hard efforts and the wind conspired to keep the pace low. somehow, Willy and I slipped off the front and were surprised to be alone until most of the way back to lake avenue . we were finally caught by a group of three others and we tried to get some kind of rhythm, but I was pretty cooked and couldn't hold the pace they were looking to do. I finally surrendered and told willy to go ahead. there were enough people behind that I knew I could ride with someone back to palmetto park. I was caught by a group of about 6 more riders and managed to make it back to willy's group before falling off again. I finally ended up with the Gruppo Potter/Patregnani and was grateful for potter's willingness to pull us all back home. what none of us realized at the time was that somewhere behind, there was a major crash with one poor soul hitting an oncoming car. I heard that they suffered a broken pelvis and other injuries, but I imagine it could have been much worse. other G2s were right in the middle of it, although thankfully none were hurt. Jim managed to avoid actually falling even while hitting the rider in front of him. Clemens was a little ahead and I don't remember hearing where Danny was, but he too was uninjured.

most of G2 after the ride.

the rest of the ride was a reasonable spin back. I, for one, was right knackered (as the brits would say). most of the participating G2s gathered at the start/finish area. the lucky registered ones got to eat and hang out with impunity whilst I remained vigilant and hungry - still convinced I would be exposed. while unfortunate aging hip hop blared through the PA system, the organizers tried somewhat fruitlessly to give away prizes based on entrant's numbers. surrendering to the fact that many had already left, they began to throw out random requirements for receiving a prize. our own Clemens Vanderwerf narrowly edged out a competitor as the "tallest guy at the ride". see? there is an advantage to just showing up. in all a great and fun weekend. certainly, I know you share my relief that no G2s were caught up in the accident and we certainly hope to see more of you out there next year... where you'll find me registered and with a plate full of food.

G2 participants: Willy, Clemens, Jim, Danny, Bob, Gus, Rorie, and your humble author.

tradewinds

2010-07-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

yesterday evening, Smilin' Jack Gottlieb™ and your humble author competed in the weekly training race at Tradewinds Park in the wilds of western Pompano. we arrived just before 5pm and were greeted by the particular bouquet of Tradewinds. despite its more malodorous characteristics, the Tradewinds course is a very good one. I had spent the better part of the week fretting over my first real race, but, as with all fear, it was for naught. this is a great course for anyone looking to get into racing. it is not very technical with only two 90º turns and very wide, closed-off roads. after a good warm-up and good words of advice from jack - who was also participating in his first race after some time away - we lined up with about 20 riders. there were some familiar faces from Mike's Ride as well as several racers Jack knew from G2's racing days.

with little ado, the race began. a slowish roll out gave way to a couple riders heading up the road and into the first turn. I stayed close to Jack, and Jack stayed close to the front of the main pack. the wind was out of the north and the whole of the northwest section of the course was difficult going and that's where, against better judgement, I took off and brought the group up to a lone rider who was dangling between the main group and the early break. after the contact, the field worked to reel in the other two and it stayed together largely through the next few laps. on probably the 6th or 7th lap, a Bike America rider jumped hard on the left followed quickly by Jack who called for me to follow. I accelerated, but a larger gap had formed than I expected. I had to chase very hard to close the distance... in fact, I think this is where my speedo hit 31mph at around 800 watts. in addition to bringing a good deal of pain on myself, I also brought everyone else with me for a low cost ride. I think it was at this point that my legs started to rebel. for anyone used to Mike's Ride, this kind of race in entirely different. the speed isn't any higher, but there are more surges and the group is much smaller so you don't get the benefit of the pack. the constant accelerations definitely start to take their toll and you need to be much smarter about how you spend your energy. the two hard efforts I put in really burned a lot more energy than I expected and the wind took what was left. on the 9th or 10th lap with about 15 more minutes to go, I eased off the gas and watched as the group moved up the road. it was a little disheartening, but I was cooked. even when I began to recover and decided to try again, the group stayed too far ahead to bridge up. at the start/finish, I coasted to a stop and took on a new role as cheerleader for Jack as he continued to be competitive.

through the next couple laps I noticed Jack was also losing ground even as the the guy who would eventually win began to gap the field. the final lap saw two riders come in each separated by several seconds and then finally a bunch sprint contested by those who still had the legs. my friends, it is a very long half of an hour and even the lowest category is surprisingly difficult. Jack gamely finished out the race and we took a little time to watch the pro 1-3 field race. in all it was a very good time and I feel great about going back and giving it another shot. I hope that more G2 riders take advantage of this. it comes at a perfect time in the week to recover before saturday's ride and it will definitely make you a stronger rider.

for those who are interested, the B race goes off at 5:45pm at Tradewinds Park. it is 35 minutes plus 2 laps and costs $15. you will also need a USCF license (either day or yearly). I would try to get there by 4:45 so that you have decent time to get registered and warm-up. I encourage everyone to give it a shot and hope to see more G2s out there soon.

Jack tests out our race radios before the start

big weekend for G2

2010-07-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

well... and, you know, the country I suppose. but enough about them, what about us? well, I'll tell you. it started with a great showing at the Independence Day Sprint Triathlon/Dualthlon at tradewinds park. several G2s participated in both the co-ed relay and individually. and, in typical fashion, we managed to do quite well:

Helena Redshaw: shook off jet lag and family obligations long enough to participate in the dualthlon where she placed 4th in her division. very well done, indeed! Time 1:04:44

New member Kevin Peranio: kevin cranked through the swim, bike and run and was enjoying the spoils of a record time when it occurred to him that... well, it was a little too much of a record, so like a true champ, he re-chipped and finished his run. well done kevin! next time we'll post someone to be the official lap counter. Time 1:04:02

Vi-an Le: vi-an is also a new member and is doing a great job competing individually. what can I say, she killed the whole thing didn't have jet lag and looked good. Time 1:04:49

Jennifer Wilder: jennifer also competed in the dualthlon and did a great job. she was slowed only by the knot of supporters in the transition area (including husband kyle) and fielding questions from the media. Time 1:10:14

G2 Relay Team: Christine Manna, our fearless leader Willy and your humble author competed in the co-ed relay on sunday. christine, while usually competing solo, graciously agreed to swim a very hot 400 meters. willy crushed the bike portion despite having his heart rate pegged at 181 the whole time. he even managed to better some poor woman who had managed to put her teardrop aero helmet on backwards in the manner of a large beak. despite not really feeling it beforehand, I managed a personal best in the 5K. and we were first among all the relays and 8th overall. Time (S/B/R) 6:25 / 22:42 / 19:26

5 of us made it out to a rather indulgent breakfast afterwards. unfortunately, it wasn't a long enough event to justify the food intake, but it was all good, nonetheless. the race was a good and social event. a special thanks to those who weren't participating, but came by for support! everyone competed admirably and it's good to be on a team like this that shares community and a will to kick some ass.

Monday

monday, despite the early morning showers, was the scheduled ride up to West Palm™. the group gathered at Atlantic... well, I mean, I assume they gathered since I was running late. as it turned out it was a very good day for a ride. the weather cooperated by staying dry and a little overcast keeping things cooler than normal. at the gas station in we picked up a group of Z motion riders and headed back south with 20 or so. the sun made a mid-ride appearance and heated things up for a short time, but ducked into the clouds again for the finish... which occurred shortly before the rain that would mark the rest of the day. several riders completed their first or among their first long rides yesterday. new member Megan McCraken, Vi-an (gamely riding after her performance sunday in the tri), and Christine all completed the long ride. well done ladies!

and a warm welcome to all of the new members. it looks as though this will be a good year for G2!

How to survive a crash in the Nevada desert?

2010-06-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

As I am lying down with my knuckles bleeding sand in my face and breathing shallow because I got the wind knocked out of me, I am thinking,,, "oh no not again".

Fri morning I made reservations for 3 mountain bikes rental to explore Red rock Cannon in Las Vegas Nevada. Joanne her brother David and I are getting ready to ride in 100 degrees heat on one of the beginners mountain bike trails. A funny looking cycling dude who runs the lonely store by himself shows us a quick basic map how to do a fun loop after he has set us up on our bikes. It should take us about 2 hr but somehow we didn't get back until 5 hrs later.
Since I felt in good shape I started to go ahead to explore the trail. Soon after climbing some hills came the fun part flying down bringing back memories of me dirt biking as a teenager. I was very impressed with Joanne and her brother David who never had been on a mountain bike before following me trough the rugged terrain.
We where prepared for survival as we carried about 2 gallons of fluid with us knowing dehydration would be easy in this environment. I just watch a survival show couple days ago where was mentioned that you need a gallon of water per person per day to survive in the hot desert.
I was somewhat surprised about the difficulty of the beginners coarse soon realizing we got lost since we took a wrong turn earlier. Oh well if we continue this direction we must end up back where we started from. It was hot, super hot but the fun trail trough the beautiful mountains made it well worth it.

There I was lying on the ground, it happend so fast, a split secound.
I quickly stood up checking myself, at least I fell on my good side, the opposite side of when I crashed last year and broke my collarbone and 4 ribs. My collarbone looked OK but when I took a deep breath I recognized the same pain and crunchy sound, thinking O no, I broke another rib. I was glad however my all new 2010 was still intact which I couldn't say about the bike. The rear derailleur got bend.
At this time Joanne and David had arrived and checked out the rest of my damaged body. It looked like some gravel rash, possible broken pinkie finger and rib, big bruise on the right upper thigh.
I tried to bend back the derailleur as adrenaline was still flowing and as I did, it broke of in my hand. Great we are miles away from the shop and I was in no shape to walk back to the highway.

As I was thinking how to take the rear derailleur of and possibly make this into a single gear with only a basic toolkit, 3 moutainbikers stopped and asked what had happened. The only 3 mountainbikers we had seen all day. The one guy offered his help and had a better tool kit with a cable cutter and chain breaker. Shortening the chain I decided to put it in the middle so I at least could ride in the single gear. Unfortunately the chain was also beat up pretty bad and kept derailing every couple feet forcing me to place it in the big ring in the front and the small ring in the back. Luckily most of the way back was downhill with few elevations.
We all managed to get back to the store 5 hrs later with me standing on the pedals with my full weight at 30 rpm. luckily we had enough fluids and a nice mountain biker that stopped to help with having the right tools for me to improvise to get back.

The bicycle store dude was very impressed we all made it back and told us we unfortunately missed the nicest part of the trail. He did mention that if we wanted to ride and rent road bikes next time, there is a 37 mile loop around the lake with hills and no cars aloud just made for road cyclist.
This might be something to consider to do with some G2 riders next time.

I tried not to let the crash spoil the rest of my Vegas vacation to much but maybe next time think twice by flying down a trail I never been on before and realizing I am not 20 years old anymore.

Took a Xray yesterday at work could not see if ribs were broken. Pinkie finger starting to look better. The popping sound and soreness is still there especially if I take a deep breath but I tolerated spinning for 45 min today.

So this weekend G2 rides, Saturday I will be starting from the usual place Atlantic Blvd AIA parking lot. Waiting at Spanish River at 7:45 ish for all G2 riders to get together to ride North

Sunday 7:30 am Same place.

a fine saturday ride.

2010-05-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

today's ride was another in a long line of most excellent G2 group rides. the usual suspects gathered at A1A and Atlantic and headed north the the del ray inlet. we managed to pick up a few independents... and a flat at spanish river and continued northward. at the turn around, rené was advocating strongly for a continuation up to WPB, but his canadian-inflected french fell on deaf ears and we headed for home. no sooner had we started when we were almost run down by a passing train of mixed cyclist taking advantage of the tail(ish) wind. rené gamely leapt on and represented (yo) and only his strong loyalty to the group prevented him from staying with la course en tete. with a few minor breaks here and there, the group wound up back where it started - although much happier to have returned somewhat with the wind. here are some images from the day's ride:

the group rolls out

cesar enjoying a laugh at someone's expense

clemens explains to rené why canadians shouldn't speak french

helena representing all G2 women everywhere

the group gets pensive before the push off from Nomads™

clemens wonders why he has to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous cesar.

May 2 ND G2 Tri relay Miami.

2010-05-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

Hey the run swim run was lots of fun, I made a few mistakes myself but manage to make the women's top 7th swim split, next time I'll fix the mistakes ;-) Helena really did a great bike split, and Helena not only great for just starting cycling great in comparison with other "veteran women cyclists" and Ari-Ana closed our first place with a very HOT run. We had a lot of fun and Willy now you have great pics for your website!! See you on the road!
Ines

Thanks for the shout out Ines. You and Ari-Ana were great!!

And so another fun day out with G2 however this one started a little early for me. 3.45am!! This was my first experience of a relay and triathlon, and I have to say it was a little overwhelming. These tri athletics are psychos!! But I must admit if I could swim I would do it too. One day. The bike portion was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the competitive aspect of it all, and the fact that you could just ride fast in a safe environment. So with Norman’s sexy sounding HEDs and his bullet helmet (very star-trek indeed) I waited anxiously for Ines to finish her swim. I saw her. My heart raced. And off I went. Was thinking as I rode that I should keep my heart rate at 160 bpm to pace myself but I just couldn’t. …the adrenaline was pumping. The wind, heading towards the Rickenbacker Causeway was in my favour and I was flying. Hammered it over the bridge and flew down at 32 mph. I loved it. What a great feeling. That buzz didn’t last too long as you had to do a U turn almost immediately and head back over the bridge with the nasty wind blowing you back. Ugh. Heading back my speed dropped down but I continued to just stay focused and tell the wind to ‘get stuffed’ (as we say in the UK). Second time around the course I felt pretty good and really enjoyed taking over a lot of the riders. Sure they were tired from the swim so wasn't really fair….but….well... it felt great to speed pass some of those big guys on cool bikes ;-) Coming into the finish I saw a friend of mine on her bike and was so excited to see her that I forgot to dismount at the right spot. I heard some guy yell very sternly “dismount”. I have never gotten off my bike so quickly. Lesson learned! My average speed for the race was 19.10 mph and I’m very happy with that. The next goal for me is simple…..to get faster and stronger.

Thanks again for the fun time G2. See ya this weekend.
Helena.

G2 First relay teams race.

2010-05-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

G2 first relay teams showed up on the Olympic distance Triathlon this past Sunday in Miami. None of us really didn't know what to expect. Unfortunately there weren't to many relay teams but we were here to have some fun and do our best in each individual leg. After Jose (our swimmer) almost gave me a heart attack by showing up late because the package pick up would not give us our numbers unless all 3 relay people were there in person, they did still allow us to start. I was about to tell them I would do the swim and the bike not to waste the $180 entry fee and us not racing. Good lesson to learn for next time , make sure all 3 relay people drive up together. Or even better yet if you do show up late and the team is not able to race you are responsible for the entry fee. (new G2 rule)
Jose did get in the water and put out a great swim time of 20.42 for the 1500 m. I guess we will keep him. Because of all the excitement and rushing around I had a starting heart rate of 155 and no possible warm up. Adrenaline driven I started of at a 27-28 mph pace with a nice tailwind. My heart rate pretty much climbed up to 175and stayed that way for the entire hour. My legs felt great, the TT bike and the Zipp disc in the back and the 808 in front gave me the sound and feel of riding a formula 1 bike. What a rush, I was happy to know that on my left calf I had a sharpie writen letter R for "Relay" so other riders could see I was on the relay team. I remember when I was doing the full triathlons myself how intimidating it was if some guy blows by you like if you are standing still. My final time including transitions running and getting up and of the bike was 26 miles 40K 1:01 speed 24.36 not bad.
After looking for a relay runner for awhile I realized Eric told me he runs to cross train, not knowing he can ACTUALLY RUNNNN.
What a great finish for having another close friend and G2 member ending the run 10 K at 42.14 6.48 min miles, putting G2 men relay team on top having the fasted time overall. Yes I know we didn't do the whole Tri and belief me I have done them and know how hard it is. I have a great respect for triathletes, I just can't get myself to do the run anymore. Still doing the relays I realized what great G2 camaraderie and fun it is to be at these events.
The girls team also did a great job if any of the girls feels like writing down your experience for that race please do so.
You can check the result in more detail on this link.
http://www.multirace.com/AllResults.aspx?Race=408

Great turnout G2 Saturday April 24

2010-04-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

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….

2010-04-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-02T05:21:00.000-07:00

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.

G2 A-B-C Group rides.

2010-03-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

With the weather finally warming up there is no excuse anymore to get out and ride. I know a few of you have been riding trough this cold weather but lets try to get G2 riders back out together. I have spoken with Gayle Reed and she is very happy to ride and lead a C group (16-18 mph avg depending wind direction). Yvonne volunteered last year to be the leader of the B group but unfortunately never really developed. I hope some of you take it upon yourself to create your groups. For now just meet all together and see how the groups develop. We have 33 active members.

Also I would like to see our breakfast rides again. I feel like the google group is still the only way to communicate with each other so I am encouraging to start using it again. I might start a G2 face book group but since I just starting to mess around with face book I am not sure how to make it a good and functional way of communicating (maybe in the future).

Hammer Fest.

To bad it was just me Gus and Ed, out there yesterday on the Bike for Bucks ride. It was pretty much all the fast riders out there including Grand potter. I managed to stay up with the group at 28-32 mph and being one of the 5 riders left when turning around at the Boyton inlet. Unfortunately Eric showed up to late missing the ride. The Boca ride is a fast A+ ride but there was also a B ride yesterday with about 25-30 riders. Danny Cline I saw later on his new Cervello with a matching jersey.

This Saturday ride.

So I hope to see all G2 riders A-B-C this Saturday at Atlantic BLVD and AIA Beach parking lot. A Group ride will go to Lake worth Fast pace. B and C group decided together how far to ride depending who shows.

This Sunday ride.

Meet as usual 7:30 Atlantic Blvd and AIA beach parking lot. ( I will be riding later in the am with a friend from Puerto Rico that is visiting, so I will see you out on the road later)

Pro fuel does work.

As more and more of you starting to experience to benefits of Pro Fuel I just wanted to post this last email I received from Gayle Reed. (Raspberry powder Pro Fuel)

Hi Willy,

The supplements are going great. I take the "ugly looking" capsule from the package with the DHEA with no food first thing, then chow the rest with a nice fruit shake after a shower. I seem to feel less sluggish, already.

The Melatonin is working great, at one pill one hour prior to bedtime and 2 when I'm ready to hit the rack. I am sleeping better and waking up easier.

So, I'm a believer! I'd really like to get a meal replacement protein powder when you have on in stock.

I love the raspberry powder in my water bottles! I road like a maniac (20 to 24 mph) to Mt. Trashmore on Saturday and into a head wind at 16 to 18 on the way home and the only part of my body that was sore was my butt. This is after 8 weeks off the bike! I am impressed that my muscles (or what's left of them) were not sore.

The check was mailed on Friday. Have you received it? Thank you, again for your time and counseling!

Cheers,

Gayle

Rorie Anderson

2010-03-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have ventured into the world of distance cycling known as randonneuring. You do a series of 200K 300 ,400 and 600K then you are a grand randonneur! What does that get you? A chance to ride in the most grueling event for cyclists Paris Brest Paris, a 1200 K held avery 4 years with 5,000 participants. I recently completed the 400K 252 miles in 20 hours in Clermont.It was very cold 32 degrees and riding Sugarloaf in the pitch dark is scarry. It was tough, mentally tough.
These rides are unsupported. They arn't a race but you have a card that is stamped at checkpoints and there is a time limit. If you want to read more about them go to RUSA.org.
The 600K is April 10. I plan to take a 3 hour sleep break in order to finish in time.
PS that is why I am riding by myself alot.

G2 rides March 20/21

2010-03-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend rides. It was fun for me last weekend to ride in Mike's ride again. After a month of recovery rides I wasn't really planning to put out the effort I did but I am ready for this Saturday. Hope to see some G2 support again, Norm and Mo hope you guys can make it this time I could sure use some extra help in the front. I assume most of you are not interested in having your profile on the G2 website since I only received 1 profile. I know everybody is very busy including myself but I would sure appreciate it if you all would show little interest in OUR club. (after all there are not to many cycling club choices out there and I can see why)
I am sending this message directly since I feel many of you unfortunately are not taking the time to read the G2 blog. It looks that Jerry is going to win the $50 give away for most response to the blog. Following in 2 ND, Ines.

Sunday ride 7:30 am Atlantic Blvd and AIA parking lot. ( I will not be there this Sunday)

PS. Some of you might have seen this announcement but if you did not. Next Tue night 5:30 PM Charity ride meeting at the Cove for Flaco. I will send out more detailed info later on this.

Members Profile for the G2 website

2010-03-10T05:46:00.000-08:00

G2 members, Eric and I are trying to update the membership profile on the G2 website. If you are interested we would appreciate it if you could send us a picture and in a few words a small paragraph why you joint G2, and what you are about as far as cycling and or triathlons.

Also we are trying to get back on track as far as G2 rides. Even though I rode for the last month at 8 am. I was somewhat disappointed to see G2 riders all scattered over AIA. The communication is still very poor as far as trying to get G2 groups together. I know we are at different levels but I did see a lot of A and B riders out there this past weekend. I encourage you to please use the G2 blog. Everyone should be able to comment at the end of each announcement. If you can't find the G2 blog link just go to the www.g2cycling.com website and click on the blog, it is on the first page. While you are there check out the G2 profiles. If you can't comment please let me or Eric know. I did notice you have to sometimes click twice before it goes through.

So for this weekend rides: A group start 7 am "Mikes ride" Commercial AIA. We will regroup at Spanish river (approx 7:45 am Boca) and continue our ride north.
B group it is up to you to announce your ride in the comment option on the blog or if you want to announce something please feel free to send it to me or Eric and we will post it.

Sunday 7:30 AM Atlantic AIA parking lot. easy to mod ride 18-22 mph.

Last thing, If you are a triathlete and are interested in racing individually or be on the G2 relay team on May 2ND Key Biscayne please contact me asap.

Thanks.

Jerry's cycling haiku

2010-03-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

I'm battling a cold which got really nasty over the weekend and prompted the following:

My (sob) cycling haiku for the day:

Damn- sick as a dog

Antibiotic kicks in

As my bike gently weeps

My aplolgies to you purists out there- the final verse has an extra syllable, but I'm blaming it on the fever...

Looking forward to riding again one day.

obviously, we all hope he gets better...

I mean, at more than just haiku writing.

G2 UPDATES

2010-03-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

OK G2 riders, First of all I would like to thank you for helping me with getting the orders and down payments in within the requested deadline. Everybody from the 33 G2 members has ordered (except for 2). Thanks it looks like the all new G2 uniforms are going to be another great success and I can't wait to see them out on the road. As you know it can take up to 8 weeks for production and I will keep you informed about the arrival date. Unfortunately I could not order the long leg warmers since there in a minimum of 10 for each one. So I will keep the names that ordered them and maybe when we get some more riders interested I can place a separate order.

Now the MS ride, I initially was not planning to do it this year but I have decided to register anyhow. Some G2 riders had ask me if I was going to register the G2 team so I went ahead and did it. So it is easy if you already register individually to request to add your name under the G2 team. Just email the ms150bike@fls.nmss.org or call 954-731-4224 and ask for Jessica Birch or Cathy Mc Carthy. As far as I know the following G2 riders are going: Morris, Norm, Helena, Kyle, Jen, Christine, Jerry and myself.
I have one more weekend of active recovery. It has been nice especially since it has still been cold lately to start at 8 am. (very surprised not seeing Cesar out there since he really loves starting at 8,.. Cesar were are you!) So next weekend March 6-7 , I will be doing my last weekend of easy riding starting at 8 am usual G2 meeting place (Atlantic BLVD and AIA Beach parking lot). After that weekend the serious workouts will start again.
OK last announcement for now. I decided to start teaching spinning classes again at LA Fitness. I am teaching at 9 PM Monday night LA Fit in FT Lauderdale US1 between Commercial and Oakland. Even if you are not a LA Fit Member I can bring two guest. So if you are interested send me a text or call me.
PS I had another massage on Sunday at Spatopia and took advantage of the 10% discount that was offered to us for the whole last week. I really prefer deep tissue and usually for me the more pain the better. Well this time I got almost tears in my eye's,.. I didn't want to sound like a wimp after I said to Jane.. I want a real DEEP TISSUE massage. It looked like Jane was trained by Tarzan. Man! if you think a women can't be strong enough was I wrong. She is a excellent therapist and I you ever need a DEEEEP tissue massage I highly recommend her. Afterwords I feld great, she is troughly amazing. If you prefer a somewhat more tolerable massage and pain isn't really your game for therapy than ask for Ruth. She is also a very good therapist.

We welcome our new G2 rider Gustavo Vila.

Active recovery rides this weekend Feb 27 and 28 TH

2010-02-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

After I announced my 8 am active recovery ride last Saturday we ended up with a nice turnout. Some other G2 rider decided to do "mikes ride" while yet some decided to just ride alone. Unfortunately I must have not be clear enough and it seemed that I had upset some riders by my 8 am announcement and had created some confusion. I apologize for this confusion so let me try to make this weekend G2 ride more clear.
Here we go..... I , me , Willy van Gent , G2 team Capt, will be riding at 8 am this Saturday and Sunday for a active recovery ride approximately 2 HR. Any G2 rider is more then welcome to join me including the 6 pleasant riders that joined me last week. If for some reason, you have a family or a dog, cat or any other commitments that forces you to be back earlier, or active recovery ride does not fit your schedule, then please feel free to do your own early ride or join "mikes ride" at 7 am.
You can click on the comment tap on the bottom of this announcement and asked if any other G2 riders would like to join you at your preferred time. Again I apologize if I hurt someone feelings and I hope this message will prevent any future confusions.

2nd Annual Southeast Florida "Tour de Cure"

2010-02-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

OK G2 riders, I know some of you are already registered for the MS ride and are trying to raise money for that good cause. I also realize that is is difficult to make a choice in what charity you are willing to support. There are many to choose from and we usually pick one or a couple that we most relate to because of a family member or even yourself being effected. I am posting this since I received this email and thought you might be interested. Please let me know who would like to do this. I will register the G2 team if I get some of you to commit.

Thanks,

Willy G2 Team Capt.

My name is Erica and I am a volunteer at the American Diabetes Association.
I would like to invite you and G2 Health to participate in the 2010 Tour de Cure on Sunday March 7, 2010 at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines. I know that your team participates in the MS150, and I want to invite you to train at our fully supported ride, including full motorcycle escort from Broward Sheriff's Office, providing a one-of-a-kind experience for our riders.
We have a special promotion for new teams in which you and all of your teammates will receive FREE REGISTRATION .Each rider must raise the minimum of $150, but each new rider you recruit gets $25 credit towards the minimum making the minimum fund-raising goal $125 .
This offer is only valid until February 22nd, so don't hesitate to register today.

Event Details
Sunday, March 7, 2010
CB Smith Park, Pembroke Pines
10, 35, 62 and 100 mile rides

Organization Details
The American Diabetes Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. Funds raised at the Tour de Cure will support research for a cure, as well as programs and advocacy for South Floridians affected by diabetes.

Diabetes Facts
23.6 million Americans have diabetes.
57 million Americans have pre-diabetes.
1 in 3 children born today will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
The total annual economic cost of diabetes in America is estimated to be $147 billion.
Thank you and have a nice day.American Diabetes AssociationVisit us at http://diabetes.orgOr Call 1-800-DIABETES (800-342-2383)

Posting a report.

2010-02-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

For now all G2 members can only comment (very simple). If you want to post something send it to me or Eric and we will be happy to put it on the G2 blog for you. www.g2willy@att.net or elandes7@gmail.com
PS don't forget Eric and I will keep track of all the comments by G2 members and by the end of March we will announce the winner of the $50 give away towards a new G2 jersey.
Thanks.

Massage G2 Special discount Spatopia

2010-02-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

Hey, G2 riders, Spatopia (one of our sponsors) has offered a 10% extra discount on their already super low prices, from Feb 21 st until the next Sunday. So if you are riding the 100K this Sunday or just need to treat yourself to a great massage go visit Spatopia. www.spatopiamassage.com/ .
(Must show a valid G2 VIP membership card)

2010 team/club uniforms

2010-02-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

hey G2s,

here are images of the 2010 team/club uniforms. there are some great options for tri suits and running singlets along with the usual range of cycling apparel. willy has asked that all orders be placed by the end of this week so we can get this thing rolling. I guess all of the main kinds of cycling clothing types will be available, but if you have a particular request, please email willy directly to check on availability. some pieces require too large a minimum order.

G2 rides this weekend Feb 20/21

2010-02-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

Ok G2 the rides for this weekend. As I mentioned in my previous email I am taking it easy for awhile. So this weekend I will start at 8 am on Saturday Atlantic BLVD and AIA usual place Beach parking lot. I will be riding active recovery Zone1-2 for a 2 hour ride. I was ask when are we going to do breakfast again, I am came this Saturday if it is nice weather. We can have breakfast at Athena By the Sea after the 2 hour ride. Sunday I registered for the US27 ride and again I will be doing the 100k at easy pace Zone 1-2. I know some of you are already registered but if you have not and your are planning to go here is the link.
http://bicyclerun.eventbrite.com

photos from PR

2010-02-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Puerto Rico 380+ miles, 3 days.

2010-02-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

I tell you one thing, after riding 150 miles on Fri, 93 on Sat and 140 on Sun including climbs, I have gotten a whole new perspective and respect for the riders on the Tour The France. After 3 days of riding and being on my bike for over 20 hr, my body said "what the hell are you doing". I know, stop the whining, let’s talk about what a great experience it was. I am not from PR so I am not sure if I can be as excited about the island as Ines is but I can tell you one thing the Puerto Ricans are the nicest people to be around. Ines nice report by the way, so here is my few of the ride.I arrived in PR a couple days before the ride with my brother to check on some property we bought about 20 years ago. As we drove our rental car I was thinking, " man riding my bicycle on these roads and in this traffic is going to be a bitch". Hitting big potholes and avoiding the aggressive drivers with the car was already a back breaker. So Friday morning, approx 480 exiting riders with blinking, flashing lights met in the dark old San Juan. We were so ready but the once never done it before not knowing what really to expect.
3-2-1 and there we go, in the dark escorted by a army of police on motorcycles, it was unbelievable site. I soon learned the word "HOJO" and shortly afterward the word that rimes "CONJO" what ever that means. It was going to be a rough ride even though most roads were paved. After about 20 miles was our first stop for breakfast, great I was very hungry already and could use some food (pretty much every 20-25 miles there would be a feeding station including lunch.)
After breakfast the massive group of riders could make a choice in riding A-B or C group. A group would be pretty much hammer fest, which I wasn't really in the mood for but Liz and Hans (a new G2 member from Ohio) decided to start with that group. Inez, Mark, Jim and I decided on the B group. As we rode at a pretty stiff pace I felt like being in the Tour the France. We were riding with about 200 riders on the highway and some roads we were taking up all the lanes. The police escort was amazing, with flashing light and loud sirens stopping all the cars as if the president was being escorted.
Also racing along with us was the camera crew on a scooter. It looked like they were on a suicide mission flying past us in upcoming traffic and at one point scraping their engine on a curb sparks flying right in front of me. I thought they are going down and taking a few cyclists with them but luckily they stayed up strait. It was somewhat hard to keep site on the G2 riders but the G2 jerseys stood out as usual and were easy to spot. I kept keeping a eye on Ines who was most of the time in front of me. She road like she had done this ride many times before (as we know she did it last year). I couldn't’t believe how focused she was and I was very impressed and proud of her being one of the G2 girls on this ride.
We were told that soon the steepest and longest hill 1.5 miles would come up. I had never done hills myself so that was another reason I had decided to stay with the B group. The B group was pretty much controlled be a local staff rider and his teammates. So far I had been OK with the shorter hills since I could power up them and recover on the way down. There it was, O boy, I was optimistic and glad I had a 25 in the back. I had my power meter on my bike and so far keeping the wattage under 400. Now though I am pushing 400 plus watts going only 8 miles per hr. Just to give you a example 400 plus watts on the flats I be going 30 plus miles per hr. No way I can hold for 1.5 miles climbing. I now realized that my 205 lbs body was going to really challenge the gravity forces of nature, thinking any moment I am going backwards. Looking up didn't help much either but I refused to get of my bike and walk.
About half way ahead I saw my rescue a restaurant on the left with a flat parking lot. With a heart rate of about 190 I cycled around 3 times recovering somewhat and continued my climb. At this time Mark passed me on the left. I stayed in the zone finally making it to the top. Once going downhill I managed to bridge up back to Mark and some other riders. I though this was it but NO! There was another steep hill staring us right in the face. I took a deep breath and said, “OK Mark here we go again” just a few feet into the climb Mark started to cramp bad. Again I got visions of watching the Tour on TV and continued with my own pace up the hill. When I reached the top I realized that I had passed a lot of riders and actually was one of the first riders up there. I felt very proud of myself considering I do not necessarily have the build of a climber.
With some continuing smaller climbs we finally made it to Lunch only being half way and 75 more miles to go, Man, I was done. Lunch was a great break for everyone and by this time we heard that Liz was the only girl left in the A group. Some riders started to place bets if Liz was going to make it to the end of the day with the A group. We all finished the 150 miles that day including Liz representing G2 as being the only girl that was left in the A Group. Wow! (G2 girls where shinning)
The next day was going to be a short ride (ONLY 93 miles!) with not to many steep hills but more rolling hills and flat toward the end. By this time some of the riders including me started to feel the effects of the hours in the saddle and bumpy roads. Yes the saddle sores were becoming an issue. Especially when the organizers decided to direct us to the next scenic lighthouse for lunch over what I call a 3rd world sand road with holes, puddles and I have no idea what to call it, but at the end two, one foot concrete strips going to the top of the hill where the lighthouse was. The concrete strips were broken up in places leaving only a couple of inches to balance on. Now it became a Cirque Du Soleil act. This road did not help our very delicate behinds very much and as riders starting to fall and walk, I was thinking this lunch better be good. Also there was only one way back, the same way as up, Great. Even though it was a beautiful spot most riders agreed it was not worth the pain of getting up there.
As the group continued the roads got less hilly. I was also happy it was less then 100 miles. Couple more miles to go the Group B had kept a pretty stiff pace, on the fats we were going 21-24 mph, we averaged about 18 mph with climbs. The group leader decided to have no limit towards the end and this was my chance to shine. He said to me after we picked it up to about 26-27 mph, "you can take a pull, I know you are strong" Even though my legs were burning this was right up my ally. Flat as a pancake and a headwind. I took the pull and picked it up to 30 mph. Looking back only 2 riders left, Mark being one of them. We continued into town where there was another steep climb and mark rear derailleur cable broke. He did manage to finish. As most of the B rider and local PR team and leader came in after me I had gotten the nickname "The Hammer". Out of 480 only 6 G2 riders managed to represent the FL flats pretty well. Luckily Mark managed to get his derailleur fixed so he could join us still for the final 140 miles the next day.The longest 30 miles ever were yet to come.
At least the next day we started of when the sun was up. The day before we left at 6 am pitch dark just hoping that you would not hit a huge pothole since you couldn't see anything. The organizers plan was to have the C group leave first then B and last A. this way we would all meet together for breakfast and later that day have all the riders as one group escorted into San Juan. Liz by now had also decided to join the rest o the G2 riders in the B group. By this time we all started to feel the aches and pains from holding on tight to our handlebars, bumpy roads, climbs and the long miles. I was sitting now on some extra padding, yes it was a fluid filled 2.5” blister ouch! I did not know how to sit comfortably and I kept sliding back and forward in different positions to ease the pain. No such luck, every HOJO, I cliched my teeth and just wishing to get of my bike at the next rest stop. The only person that didn't seemed faced by anything was Ines. She was just riding like a pro and kept going and going like she were out on a leisure ride (must be the Puerto Rican in her).
With about 150 B riders reaching about 100+ miles we were getting close to the point where all the groups would gather together to ride in as one big group to San Juan. The speed started to increase and the B group scattered. I was almost all the way in the back not realizing the final race was on. I had some more adrenaline left to put out one more final effort. Passing many riders working my way to the front a small group was left pushing 28-35 mph using the camera truck as a draft. Al hell broke loose flying trough turns and traffic. I was thinking man how far and how long will this keep going when I saw the school ahead, which would be the end. My final effort sprint, and once again I ending in front. Jim said he managed to hang on for dear life but also made it in with the top riders.
All riders A, B and C groups would meet here to be escorted as one big group into San Juan. I thought this last day would be 130 miles and we only had 20 more miles to go. Since we were all together now we had close to 500 tired and exhausted riders taking up the road. Almost everybody was wearing the jersey we were given so you couldn't recognize anybody anymore either. Jim asked me what would it take for me to not wear a G2 jersey. I told Jim, the event jersey was to tide and did not fit, I guess a good excuse. By this time I was so sick of being on the bike that the end couldn't’t come soon enough. On top of that it was not 20 miles but close to 30 more miles to go, man I am in pain, hungry and crabby. I also had to focus twice as hard since we got this far without crashes and I was not planning to be taken down toward the end. I have to tell you though I was extremely impressed by the bike handling during this ride. I surely thought there would be more crashes but surprisingly only a few had gone down that I heard of. I guess in order to do a ride like this you must have a few miles under your belt.
When we finally arrived in San Juan it was a amazing site. Hundreds of people were clapping and cheering us on and the feeling of making this unbelievable 3 day challenge and beautiful ride made it all worth it.

I would like to say, that it has been a pleasure to have done this event with wonderful friends and G2 members and I hope to do many more rides like this in the future.

If any of the Puerto Rico riders like to comment please do so, Liz or Hans I was not in the A group so it would be nice to hear your experience.

Willy van Gent
G2 team Capt.

no news is bad news

2010-02-13T06:14:00.000-08:00

hey G2s, I hope there were some hearty enough to get out this morning. I'm afraid the whistle of the wind and the cold made me opt for sleep. if anyone has a ride report, just send it along and I will be glad to post it. personally, I am a tiny bit tired of the wind.

speaking of postings, while G2 obviously has our Official™ weekly rides, if you will let me know your ride plans for the upcoming week by the prior sunday evening I will put together a list and post it by monday morning. please include your preferred contact and your planned route and ride type (e.g., interval workout, long slow distance, etc.). I know that most of us find sometime to ride during the week, but don't often think to ask others along. if you do post a ride, please let those who have rsvp'd know directly if you decide to cancel. I may not be around to post the cancelation. likewise if you have previously committed to go on a ride that you can no longer make.

thanks and I hope everyone had a great ride!

Weekend Rides

2010-02-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

Hello G2s, sorry about the late post. from the patter of drops on my window, I'd say it's raining already, but tomorrow's rides go like this:

Saturday
anyone looking for an easier Saturday ride, cesar is looking for a group to meet at Atlantic and A1A at 7:30. if you're interested, I would phone, text, or email cesar and let him know you're in. I will probably do Mike's Ride along with anyone else who shows up. I need to get home earlier tomorrow so I will probably only be going to the spanish river light. I would imagine that a compromise on the easier group's start time might allow both rides to regroup and decide where to proceed north to as a group.

Sunday
sunday's ride will meet same bat time same, bat channel... which, for those of you whose pop cultural references don't extend to cheesy 60s TV shows, means Atlantic and A1A at 7:30

of course, all bets are off in the event of rain.

have great rides whichever you choose to do and we'll see you on the road!

thoughts on puerto rico from ines

2010-02-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

hey G2's, Ines emailed about posting her thoughts about the PR ride. I am happy to post this and any other thoughts that you want to share as a post. Please just send them via email to me. Thanks Ines for a different view of the same event:

La Vuelta de Los Nueve Faros, Puerto Rico 2010.

I have to say that no matter how I look at it, this ride always takes my breath away. Last year I did the ride with my then 19 year old daughter, needless to say that I came back with a new found respect for this beautiful creature that I raised. The experience was brutal but beautiful, going around the awesome island where I was born and raised with my first born was an experience that very few people get to experience, and I am one of the lucky ones. This year my daughter couldn't make it but my G2 friends along hundreds of other new and old friends could. I had a blast again, I enjoyed every inch of that ride with a smile. Sharing the ride with beautiful people from different places in this world, but with one common goal: have a great time! Jokes were told, some I was able to translate for my friends, some had no translation one of those cultural things... Climbs were done over and over and over, breath taking views were the rewards many times at the top, other times just the satisfaction of "I did it!!", we developed the art of hole jumping, every time you heard the word "hoyo" you had to expect anything from a little hole on the road to a crater that can take you down, we also felt what some of our gears feel like, you know the ones we never use in our flats roads ;-) But at the end of each day we all absorbed and enjoyed this experience in our own personal way and at the end of all three days we walked with another adventure, another experience that nobody can take away from us: Puerto Rico, La Isla del encanto seen from one of our favorite places; our bikes!! Eso es asi!
Ines

Puerto Rico 380+ miles, 3 days.

2010-02-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

380+ miles, 3 DAYS, Climbs, hills, pot holes (graters) cobble stones, 20 degree steep incline and saddle sores. All G2 riders made it and we represented very well in this brutal event. As we are trying to recover a full report will follow in the next couple of days on the G2 blog. I just would like to send out a quick note, saying that we are all safe and I am very proud of the following riders finishing this tough cycling challenge.
Our girls especially Liz and Ines kick butt and showed that training on the flat FL roads did not take away from their amazing effort climbing the Puerto Rico hills. Also doing a great job was our out of state new member Hans from Ohio. Jim and Mark where riding very strong and it has been a pleasure to have done this event with these great G2 riders.

Willy G2 Team Capt.

Sunday: weekend wrap up

2010-02-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

the weekend ended the week well for G2. the sunday ride gathered in the chilly morning at the usual spot. your humble author, perhaps expectedly, being the last to arrive. the wind was once again a factor and before the sun got over the trees, it made for a very cool ride... and not the good kind of cool. it was a quiet start - cesar having preferred the company of his pillow more than that of his fellow G2 riders. indeed, until I warmed up, I found his perspective oddly attractive.

the ride continued north to spanish river with the only disruption being my insistence on pulling 22mph into the wind. my apologies to my fellow riders. being a classic perfectionist, it is all or nothing with me and I tend to want to go really slow or (self-) punishingly fast. order was restored at the spanish river light and we began to anticipate Nomads® and the promised tailwind.

Nomads gave us all a chance to see what bike upgrades are available to anyone who is willing to get struck by a car in exchange. Mauri's restored ride is now sporting Campagnolo Super Record™ 11 speed ™ and some very nifty Zipp 404's. as his strength returns, we will all be glad to see the new equipment put to good use... of course, right now he's playing the sympathy card and applying to the city for a handicapped sticker so he can ride and park wherever he wants. and in a classic abuse of social service programs, he shouts his claims of handicapped status whilst surging ahead of the group.

today, the tailwind (mostly) fulfilled its promise and we sped back to atlantic with a few spirited surges along the way. of course, in a blatant disregard of peloton etiquette, I was attacked while heeding the call of nature... but, it was only fair given my earlier antics - touché, mes freres. on the final approach to lighthouse point jerry launched a well-timed attack taking everyone but his obviously pre-arranged pickup truck accomplice by surprise. he effectively used gravity, aerodynamics, and sarcasm to gap the group and was only reeled in when he felt his point proven.

another good weekend of riding closes its books. thanks to everyone for making it fun, tough, and interesting. have a great week G2s!

Mike's Race, er... Ride

2010-02-06T13:59:00.000-08:00

ahh... another saturday, another drag race up A1A. despite the Puerto Rico Ride™, there were a good number of riders at the corner of A1A and commercial this morning including 6 or 7 G2 jerseys. as cesar will point out, however, once the ride starts, everyone is expendable. perhaps more delicately - and less hobbsian - once the ride starts it's difficult to keep track of one's companions and thus one is compelled to get by as one can. as happens at least once a ride, I found myself pulling too hard for too long on the front and was admonished (and rightly so) by Mike. quoting Top Gun, he said "son, you ego's writing checks your body can't cash"... or something to that effect. I am now foresworn to ride smarter. and certainly his advice was born out in practice as he surged past near the end finishing with the last 5 riders or so.

after the spanish river light, a loose group containing myself, rené, cesar, mike, and yaniv along with some other riders headed north toward lake worth. in all, it was a very good ride, although the much looked-forward-to tailwind shifted ever so slightly to the west becoming an ever-so-slightly tiring sidewind. the reduced group (mike having turned around near the delray inlet) remained in good spirits (although, I was reminded by cesar several times that once we had a tailwind, I was expendable). thankfully, I remained useful through the remainder of the ride!

another good ride and another good showing by G2. thanks to everyone for the good riding and companionship... well, you know, unless you're expendable.

Hi from Puerto Rico

2010-02-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hi there from Puerto Rico. Man I just drove around PR and San Juan with my brother in a rental car the last few days. You think FL drivers are nuts wait until you try to drive and get around in the San Juan city. I decided not to ride this am in San Juan for that reason but I know Mark and Liz did and I guess they survived the ride. I am sure they will give me or you guys report about it. Anyhow, tomorrow will be the first long ride and I am pretty excited. I did not ride for almost a week so I should be nicely rested. I had a chance to few the final G2 jersey uniforms designs and I have to say they look quite awesome ( offcoarse I am somewhat biased).
Just a reminder we have pretty much everything available as you know. The jackets look really cool and the trisuits came out great. I will send you some more images when I get back.
As you can tell I am checking up on you guys so don't forget about the $50 blog give away. It would not make sense for me or Eric to win the price. G2 have fun this weekend,
Willy G2 Team Capt.

club rides this week

2010-02-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

hello all,

in the absence of The Captain™ (and several other G2s who are off the the lush sunny island of Puerto Rico - and a lot of climbing), there won't be an official G2 ride on saturday. those who are interested can join Mike's Ride® (my own intention) then head up to whatever point north seems appropriate. I am going to try to get to WPB since I haven't done a long ride in a while. in any case, if there are enough of us, we can roll as a group (yo) and if just a couple, we can go whither we will go.

sunday will be the same as always. 7:30 at atlantic and A1A.

willy has entrusted me with membership cards for helena, norm , morris, and yaniv. if you're there on saturday, I can give those out. otherwise they can also be sent if that's your preference.

oh, and if you have any news for the group or a great story, email me and I will get it posted.

okay G2s, until this weekend, have a great week!

knackered

2010-01-30T11:26:00.000-08:00

as the brits would say. meaning right tired.

in fact, I surprised that I'm not falling asleep at the computer trying to describe the day's ride. in a nutshell, it was a great day out for G2 riders. the first part of the day had us well-represented and stepping quite firmly on the gas pedal during Mike's Ride®. special recognition goes to mike and willy for being in on the sprint to the spanish river light with willy nipping The Pro™ (graham potter) at the line. I believe cesar was somewhere behind making a lot of disruptive comments, pushing people around and creating diversions. all kidding aside, though, the group rode exceptionally strong and, personally speaking, it is an honor to ride with the good people of G2. thanks to everyone for getting out and making our presence known. after the customary regrouping at spanish river, the ride continued north; smiles and jokes accompanied an effortlessly high pace and all was well with the world...

of course, citing newton, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... which is to say, the bright, shiny, feel-good wind that was at our backs up to lake worth turned rather ugly for the return trip. while there was much made of the desire to "take it easy" and just "spin home", G2 is a competitive and ambitious lot and soon the pace rose and conversation stopped. thus it went until an extra long stop at the camino real bridge. there was something of a half-hearted drag race to the fountain, but by then reason began to reassert itself and the pace home was brisk, but tempered.

kudos again to everyone who made it out and who made it a good day of riding - wind or no. the sunday ride shoves off at it's regular time barring rain... and perhaps at an ever-so-slightly less painful clip.

G2 Rides this weekend

2010-01-27T09:23:00.000-08:00

OK G2 riders, last weekend we had some successful rides but after Sundays ride in Miami I really realized how lucky we are riding north on AIA. This weekend I hope the weather is going cooperate. My personal rule if it rains before I am on the road I will not go. Otherwise lets meet at "Mikes ride" on Saturday 7 am Commercial BLVD AIA. Again we will regroup and meet other G2 riders at Spanish River Boca at approx 7:45 am. If the weather looks good, we will ride to Palm Beach and back. Some of us are leaving for Puerto Rico next week and we are trying to put some extra miles in. Sunday 7:30 am meeting at the usual spot Atlantic BLVD and AIA beach parking lot. Depending on the group we will decide what the average speed will be. Most likely ride to Boynton Beach inlet and back.
PS I will bring the G2 VIP cards with me for the members that just signed up.
I also would really like to see all the 2010 G2 uniform orders in when I get back from Puerto Rico.

Thanks,
Willy G2 team Capt.

new club wear!

2010-01-26T06:13:00.000-08:00

hey everyone,

here are the new club/team kits for 2010. a few changes all for the better including the addition of Jaxson's Ice Cream as a new sponsor.... after all, we're all running a calorie deficit right? the Jaxson's logo will be on the right sleeve.

please note that this year we will have a wide selection of items including new tri suits. to paraphrase al capone, make your choices early and often. willy is asking for $40 deposits for any order and please be sure of your sizes and choices. I'm sure willy would be delighted to not have anything left over this year.

scenes from miami (thanks rené!)

2010-01-26T06:04:00.000-08:00

here are some images from the ride to miami. and I don't think future historians ever have to worry about incomplete documentation.... of anything.

the joy of a distended abdomen

2010-01-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

hey everyone, it was a great ride down to miami - even if the occasion itself was somber. it was really amazing to see so many cyclists gathered in one place, especially once we started to ride over the bridge where the incident happened. it was just a sea of helmeted heads taking up the road side to side and as far ahead as one could see. it seemed as though every bike club in south florida was there as well as a lot of regular folks, tattooed fixie hipsters, families with children.... the works. what was important about that, I think, was that it showed the issue of safety to be of a much broader concern than just amongst those of us who ride regularly. while I doubt if the political will exists to do what is necessary to make the roads truly safe, at the very least it may make people be a little more attentive.

the ride itself was different than our usual club rides northward. the roads were a tad rough and even more urban, if that's possible. the police did a good job of getting us down there. the ride was escorted, safe, and pretty much non-stop. the return trip, however, was agonizingly slow. between the shifting wind and having to stop every ten feet for another light, everyone was quite ready to be done.

the big finish came at Jaxson's where we enjoyed a much welcomed meal (courtesy, by the way, of clemens' and willy's generosity; thank you both very much!). jerry disappeared about as soon as we got there and the reason was clear. the place was packed already and they had just opened! while we were able to bask in the afterglow of a good ride, jerry had to sling hash and generally make the kind of things happen that keeps a place like jaxson's viable even in this world of corporate knock-offs. and certainly a huge thank you as well to jerry for providing us with a table and complimentary ice cream.... which, on top of the gigantic meal was almost too much...

almost.

and thanks finally, but no less, to all the G2 riders who could make it out today - as well as some new folks, and... you know, some folks who decided to dress in red instead of blue and green:

Cesar, Mauri, Rori, Gayle, Jim, Clemens, Mike, Mark, Rene, Jerry, Kyle, Liz, Your humble author, Willy ( captain and benefactor), and Kelly - who is considering becoming a member. way to go, Kelly!

ps. photos will be posted as they become available

a good ride... well, the part I was awake for

2010-01-23T16:11:00.000-08:00

today's ride was another great G2 ride... I mean, what I saw of it. your humble author slept in until about 10 minutes before the ride was to leave from commercial and A1A. when I caught the ride they were on the return leg from lake worth. the group seemed to be in good spirits having survived (willy most successfully) the larger-than-normal Mike's Ride®. In what was a very pleasant surprise, coming along with the regulars today were two new riders that willy informed me were also new members!

Norm Major and Morris Carstarphen are two of three new members that we would like to welcome to G2. they are strong riders and the first time you see them they will probably be flashing by on a sprint to atlantic blvd. in Delray. the third member, Helena Redshaw, I have not yet had the pleasure to meet but we are glad to have on board. please take the time and initiative to introduce yourselves to the new folks and make them welcome.

something to consider - and stemming very directly from today's news (and my own experience) - is that there are a good many unattached riders out there who are only an invitation away from enriching our club with their membership. it was only a couple weeks ago that willy did this for me and I have enjoyed very much being a part of the club. if you talk to people on rides who would make good members, you should issue them an invitation and direct them to the website. three good people joined our ranks today for this very reason. while no one necessarily wants to be One Thousand Strong™, inviting others to join our group of... mmm... varied personalities helps the club grow and makes the rides even more fun.

okay, that concludes today's Public Service Announcement. hope to see you all tomorrow!

Thanks Eric

2010-01-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

I would like to thank Eric for doing such AWESOME job on the G2 website and setting up the G2 Blog. Some of you have already met Eric on some of the G2 rides but if you haven't I am happy to introduce him to you. He has a mountain bike background but sure shows his power and bike handeling capabilities on the road. He is interested in racing and will probably join our 45+ master race team and do some road races with us later this year.
Eric, welcome to the G2 cycling family.

saturday's ride

2010-01-22T04:47:00.000-08:00

hello G2s, please see the second post for information regarding the sunday memorial ride to miami. saturday's ride will begin with Mike's Ride® and regroup (after the customary thrashing) at the stop light just north of the spanish river park. the group will then decide how much further north to go. hope to see you there!

please click here for saturday's weather

welcome and sunday ride

2010-01-21T07:34:00.000-08:00

hello all! first, welcome to G2's new blog. This will hopefully allow us to all share information and comments without the mass emails. please check back often for ride updates and reports.

this first post comes with a note of sadness as our ride sunday is in memoriam. thanks to all the G2 rideres who have thus far responded. we know that those who cannot be there will do so in spirit. certainly a note of gratitude to jerry jaxsons for opening the ice cream shop for our use. and thanks to willy and the others of keeping appraised of the larger cycling community's plans. it should be a great turn out. solidarity is always a stirring and powerful thing.

currently, the plan is this:
please assemble at jaxson's ice cream parking lot no later than 6:25. jerry has asked that those who are driving, please park near the south end of the lot. we will then ride east on dania beach blvd. to pick up the larger ride at 6:45. after the ride we are meeting again at jaxsons for lunch and we hope that everyone's schedule will allow for this. it's always good to see everyone assembled!

welcome again! and please contact willy with any questions.