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Last week marked a page in Spidermonkey history. Our first annual Spring training camp in Las Vegas! A quick summary:
So the 2011 season begins.For some reason Michael Berman, Geoff Scott and I decided to head up to a verycold Pleasant Prairie Wisconsin for some early crit action. Also on hand was L’il V who raced earlier in the day getting a 3rd place. Very cool!I think the best lesson learned would be not to park next to someone play very loud, very bad techno-pop music. Lesson two during early season races bring all your warm weather gear. You will need it.Nothing very exciting during our race round and round no breaks, although a few folks tried. Most of the group stayed together and with 3 laps to go we came around and suddenly had one to go. Michaelmoves closer to the front and is the first to come through the last turn to the finish. Unfortunately he was nipped at the line but still got third place. Mr. Scott was able to come across with 6th and I was able to make my way from the very back to sprint pass for a 14th place.Feeling good about the week before we all again decided to race in Joliet. A nice race that takes place on a car race track, so a smooth surface with easy turns, joy!Other Spidermonkeys on hand were again L’il V and Steph, who I believe was doing her first race in a long time. This one was a bit a a reality check as all that winter weight (at least for me) came to a head..ouch. During our Men’s 4 race we got lucky and the rain stopped and the sun made it’s first real appearance of the day. Not much to say really. Round and round again, this time we became more pack fodder then anything else, but hey it’s only March. Thanks to the South Chicago Wheelmen putting this one on and the Joliet Autobahn for opening their doors, indoor changing area and bar to us. We’ll be back next year!Let’s hope for drier and warmer days for the rest of the 2011 season.Congrats to Stephanie on her 7th place finish!!!!
It all began with a short trip to visit Dean’s parents in Las Vegas and a visit to J.T’s Bicycle Shop. Next thing we knew 8 spidermonkeys were embarking on a trip to Vegas for spring training. What followed was an epic 5 days of nonstop riding, eating, drinking and FUN!
After taking our private shuttle from the airport to the Fiesta Casino in Henderson (aka blue-haired-oxygen-tank-loose-slots-we-love-locals-hangout), we checked in and then hit the $4.99 all-you-can-eat buffet. We thought that would be the last we’d see of the grand buffet. Next, we picked up two necessities for our trip: player’s cards (aw yeah) and our bikes. We wanted to be fresh for the ride in the morning, so this was our first and last attempt at a good night’s sleep.
Day 1 (link to garmin): up bright and early and on our bikes. J.T. led us to the start where there were about 30 local’s from Green Valley Cyclists and Las Vegas Bike Club ready to show us what Vegas riding was all about. Pretty quickly we were doing lots of climbing and going down massive switch back hills. We were thrilled when we finally reached the Hoover Dam. At this point, we had covered almost 40 miles and 2000 feet of climbing. Hoover Dam was a beautiful place to stop and take pictures and admire the new access bridge recently completed. Little did we know, we were about to climb up another steep climb to admire it from ON the new bridge! It started to occur to us that the Vegas crew might be trying to rip our legs off! We crossed both Hoover Dam bridges twice before finally heading back home. 4 hours, 60 miles and 3750 feet of climbing on our first day! EPIC!
Vegas Strip here we come! This was Rebecca’s first time! Our experiences included seeing the mall in Cesar’s Palace, mall in Planet Hollywood, Trent gambling, crazy expensive drinks, photo-hand slapping dudes on the street, scantily clad dancers, and dancing water fountains. When it was time to head home, we did it vegas style and stretch limo’d it.
Day 2 (link to garmin): We hit the bikes again vowing that we would not eat at the buffet afterwards. This time, we did the same route but not all the way to Hoover Dam. It was beautiful! We loved it and we loved the group we were riding with. J.T. was the best ride leader ever! He took us on a ride around Las Vegas Lake where Celine Dion lives. We love you Celine! We hope she heard us. This amazing ride was 50 miles and 2500 feet of climbing. Cake!
We just couldn’t resist the all-you-can-eat $4.99 buffet AGAIN! After repeating the ice cold pool, we got ready for our big night on the town. We headed to T(reasure)I(sland) to see the Cirques du Soleil (Mystere). A lot of firsts and the show did not disappoint…incredible! Afterwards, we got into party mode, forgetting that we had to get up for another grueling ride in the morning. Before it was too late, our voice of reason stepped in to save us from ourselves. Thank you voice of reason.
Day 3 (link to garmin): As Liz says, the next day was our “best idea ever!” ride. We drove out to Red Rock and started the ride with JT and a few local riders. It started out uphill…and we were feeling rough. It continued uphill for at least 10 miles. We did everything to try and keep moving. Songs, pushes from Josh, Dave Noda in our heads telling us to pedal full circles, etc. Once we made it to the top of Red Rock (4700 feet), we stopped for a mini celebration. It was downhill from here into Blue Diamond. This ride was such a treat!
We had so much fun, we didn’t want it to end. Alas, it was time to leave and what a sad flight home. But what a terrific group of people and a great group of rider’s! Not only did our legs hurt on the way home, but our mouths and stomach’s from so much laughing. You are all amazing people and we can’t wait to do this trip again! Epic!
I wanna go fast!
With winter coming to an end soon (we hope!), several Spidermonkeys were anxious to get outside. 12 of us rolled out of Roscoe Village Bikes last Saturday for our first outdoor group ride of 2011. Start time called for 9:00am by John Castro, who showed up late of course! (guess he hit snooze button on all three of his alarm clocks) The coffee shop in Highland Park was excited to see us back for another season! Hot coffee and Orange muffins warmed our hearts while we warmed our toes. Lots of new potholes on the route but only 1 flat! Dean showed off his flat changing skills that he learned while riding in Alaska. “Can’t take longer than 3 minutes or you get frost bite” he said. Clearly everyone has been working hard over the winter months to stay in shape. Look for Stephanie Levin to have a great race at the Spring Super Crit…she looks in good early season form!
This week is the start of the Spidermonkey “taste of” Vision Quest third and final session of this season. Our performance test this past Thursday night proved what we all expected….Nate Iden is a beast! Look for him to dominate the early spring races, including our co-sponsored race with Burnham Racing, the Spring Super Criterium. Everyone of us, 20 in all, improved from our last performance test. Thanks to Dave “Frank the Tank” Noda of VQ. Seems the Spidermonkeys not only like to socialize together, we also like to suffer through training together. Thanks for making the winter months fly by!
4 years and we keep getting better (looking)!!! With 69 of us wearing the 2011 kits, we are sure to brighten up the streets of Chicago. Look (out) for Ken Mitchell sporting his skinsuit. A huge thank you to the 312/Goose Island designers for their help with this years design. Look for our new 312/Spidermonkey tent at upcoming races too!
A HUGE welcome to our new sponsors for 2011. Get A Grip Cycles and Bike MS!!!! Already both new sponsors have shown us what a great partnership this is going to be. Our goal is to raise at least $10,000 for MS this year. Already 15 Spidermonkeys have committed to riding the Tour de Farms Bike MS ride in June!!! We hope many more of you will join us for this amazing experience. 2 days of beautiful roads. Beer pouring for 312 at the finish of day 1. We quickly become everyones best friends!!!! You won’t believe how well organized this ride is. Don’t miss out, sign up today!!!
A Huge thanks to Get A Grip Cycles for putting together a series of Spidermonkey Clinics. Last weeks Basic Clinic was a huge success! Only one tube exploded!!! Ken showed off his dust removal technique. Kim found out that even Ken can’t get some bikes clean Next week maybe he will show us how he keeps his bar tape so clean. This Wednesday, March 2nd at 6:30, will be the second in the series. Intermediate Bike Maintenance Clinic. Hope you can make it.
Spring Super Criterium! 25 Spidermonkeys have volunteered to help us make this the best race of the season! Already 8 Spidermonkeys are planning on racing too!!!! This is a great race to get your feet wet if you are new to racing. Wide course, no potholes and sweeping turns. If you have racing questions, please let us know and we will put you in touch with our “I wanna go fast!” group of race leaders who include Vanessa “Lil V” Buccella, Brandon Diffenderfer, Geoff Scott and Ken Mitchell. We encourage everyone to give it a try. Racing is not for everyone…but who knows, you might be the next Cat nothing at all to a Cat 1 racer. Boogety, Boogety, Boogety, Lets Go Racin!
In the coming months look for “Spidermonkey of the week”, “Sponsor of the Month” and several new Spidermonkey Blog contributors. If you are interested in writing the weekly wrap-up, please let us know. So far we have 5 volunteers that will alternate.