New Club Stuff!

Look what the club just got in the mail!

this should make traveling a little easier...

Two Saris Bones 3 (nearly) universal car racks, each holds three bikes. Best used when attending races, traveling out to distant mtb trails, holding bike-shaped items (especially those that come in threes), etc. The possibilities are endless.

We might pick up a third or fourth (budget allowing) because I'm not sure what next year's bike-carrying capacity will be after a few folks graduate. If all else, that may be up to next year's class.

What are some other things you think the club could use in the future? Is there any gear (equipment, tools, etc) that you think could make the club better? Write it in the comments.

You must watch

the last 30 seconds of this video. It is beyond epic.

Relay for Life

Case's Relay for Life is April 15th and while that might seem like that is far away, we need to get fundraising so that we reach (and hopefully exceed!) our team goal of $1,000 for the American Cancer Society. We'd really like it if we could get as many members as possible to join the Relay team and for those who can't participate to still help us reach our goal.

Here is the link to the team page for donations and to join the team: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11OH?team_id=867164&pg=team&fr_id=32680

Thanks!

Wind

No words can do this video justice:

First Ride of the Season

So a few of us intrepid race-bound folks decided that, well, screw trainers, and we did a nice 40 miles on the road today. It went pretty well, if a little dirty. Members in attendance: Matt, Evan, Ron, Kevin, Me.

Click here for my ride data.

Go team! Oh and if you went today, don't forget to put in your miles on the right.

Putting The Shop To Good Use

Since we now have a shop space to call our own, Ian and I decided to break it in the right way by building up his new frame. Three and a half hours later and after searching for missing tools and some head scratching when installing the fork, we got the bike assembled and in rideable condition.

Despite being a little flimsy and awkward to handle the stand did pretty well with this frame. Once the cables were on, it was a hassle to work on the bike because we couldn't clamp the tubes and steady it. But then again at least one of us didn't have to hold the bike up while the other turned the cranks.

Drafting

Dear club:

This is how to draft properly.

Just a few more weeks and we'll be doing the same out on the roads.

First Annual Off-Campus Indoor Training Session

On Saturday, after picking up the club gear from Patricia to move into Olin, 6 of the Cycling Club racers got together in our living room and suffered through two Sufferfests (Angels and The Hunted). If you're not familiar with Sufferfest, check it out here: http://www.thesufferfest.com. The guy that puts these videos together does a great job, and we're happy to help him out by buying a few training videos every now and again. They're aptly named too, and setting up two of these in a row made for a brutal evening.

Anyway, check out the photos from our three-hour training epic:

I would show you what we looked like while we were actually training, but it just wasn't pretty... definitely not something you'd want to post for all to see.

Hope we do this again soon!

Its Friday!

Just taking a break from all of the business related posts with some fun stuff.

Lear Going Slow from lear miller on Vimeo.

And for those of you who like Danny MacAskill...

Finally, a video from Ray's MTB Park with Aaron Chase (one of the pioneers of trials riding on a 26" wheelset)

Cycling Club Workspace!

Interesting story...

Some of you might remember hearing about a mythical space that we were supposed to be able to use as a workspace. For what seems like years, the story has always been that there is a room, somewhere in Olin, that the club could use, but that no one had any idea about whether it was real or whether we actually could get inside.

Up until 7:20 tonight, that was still the case.

The backstory goes something roughly like this: A few weeks ago, Jim Drake (the professor in charge of the space) reached out to last year's president, trying to locate the key to the space and see if we were still interested in using it. Dave Lansberry (last year's president) then reached out to Patricia and I to figure out what the hell had happened and if we were going to use it. One thing led to the other and the space was again ours. Jim's only request was that he meet with the people who would be using the space. We decided to bring 10 folks with us.

The good news is that we can still use the space. The great news is that it's awesome.

Here is a picture of just about everyone (minus Eric Young and Evan, who had to leave before the camera came out):

(left to right: Patricia Waiwood, Garrett Sprague, Matt Demarest,

Ian McCurdy, Ryan Link, Audra Horomanski, and Katelyn Gerber)

...and here's a picture of our tiny basketball hoop:

Followed by some awesome counter space and a vice:

Lastly, here's our Cycling Club version of "tagging" the space and claiming it as our own. Credit to Audra and Ian for their artistic contributions:

As far as how we'll use the space, we all envision it as a place where we can work on bikes, build up projects, clean things without destroying our bathtub here at the apartment, etc. It's also a great place where club members can hang out. Jim has already said that we can decorate however we'd like.

The only rules are that we have to clean up when we're finished. As you come by and visit the space, folks that met tonight can explain in more detail what we have to do to stay in Jim's good graces, so to speak.

Here's to another exciting development for the Cycling Club! Now, if only we could post some race wins in a month....

Election Results

The election results are in. Meet your '11-'12 Executive Board:

President-elect: Garrett Sprague
Vice-President-elect: Jenna Tomasevich
Secretary-elect: Tyler Young
Treasurer-elect: Erika Stelljes
Safety Officer-elect: Ryan Link
Webmaster/Race-VP: Eric Young