Remodeled Head's Store

Just for a matter of information for those of you who get out to the Head's Store now and then. John J and I were out there today (loved those crazy hills and headwinds, and 65 fun miles), and found since last fall a bit of remodeling has been going on. There is new area in the back of the store with tables to sit down and enjoy food purchased from the counter. We were told eventually there will be table service. The bathroom has been moved inside and is not a delight to use (read clean and modern). I suppose on the nostalgic down side is other then the exterior look, its not the same place as years ago .

Roark

Weekend Rides 3/1 & 3/2

Folks,

Looks like the gods are with us for riding this weekend. I still plan to spin Saturday & Sunday Morning. So I am available to ride earliest 10:30 am. We can hook onto one of the Meetup St. Louis Biking Group Rides.

Another option is start from my house around 10:30 am, and do Mike's and My Kaldis - Marshal Hill - Grants Trail Ride. That would be 40 - 50 miles with some hills.

I am open for suggestions

Roark

Blue Ridge Cue Sheets Now Available

Folks,

I just finished posting onto the blogger links to the Blue Ridge Cue Sheets. You will find the links to the daily cue sheets in the upper right hand corner of the blogger. Each sheet contains the sights and highlights referenced against the mile markers on the Blue Ridge. You will find additional links on the cue sheets taking you to more information on the different sights along the way. If you want to be familiar with what to be looking for along the way, here is a good place to start.

At the bottom of the cue sheets is the elevation profile for the day. I am sure I will tweak the cue sheets a bit before the ride, but expect these to pretty well cover the information provided each day.

For ease of use the links are also below. Note: Day 5 is a non-riding day.

Roark

http://www.geocities.com/rdweil@sbcglobal.net/BlueRidge/BlueRidgeDay1.html
http://www.geocities.com/rdweil@sbcglobal.net/BlueRidge/BlueRidgeDay2.htm
http://www.geocities.com/rdweil@sbcglobal.net/BlueRidge/BlueRidgeDay3.htm
http://www.geocities.com/rdweil@sbcglobal.net/BlueRidge/BlueRidgeDay4.htm
http://www.geocities.com/rdweil@sbcglobal.net/BlueRidge/BlueRidgeDay6.htm
http://www.geocities.com/rdweil@sbcglobal.net/BlueRidge/BlueRidgeDay7.htm

Weekend Riding 2/16 and 2/17

This Weekends Weather Forecast:

Tomorrow: A mix of clouds and sun early, then becoming cloudy later in the day. High 44F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow night: Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers late. Low 37F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall may reach one inch.

Sunday: Rain showers early mixing with snow showers later in the day. High near 45F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precip 60%

Looks like Saturday will be our most ridable day. I plan to spin first at the J from 8:30 to 9:30.

1. So the options are a ride from my house starting lets say about 10:30 maybe with a slow grind up Marshal thrown in.
2. We join the Meet up St. Louis Group Starting at 10:00 am from the Starbucks on Manchester. A link this new group is now on our blogger page. This link will take you to the ride info once you have joined the group, http://bike.meetup.com/289/calendar/7300731/

Let me know your thoughts tonight.

Roark

Ride Sunday Feb 10?

I don't think we are going to get a ride in on the 10th - it looks pretty cold. Roark and I talked about riding over to Kayak's from our houses. It's about 6 miles one way for each of us, so we figure how bad can it be, and then we'd be inside drinking coffee.

I'm still game, but I'm thinking maybe in the afternoon - like 3:00 or something, but I'm game for about anything. I'm also game for nothing.

Anyone, feel free to call me and see what I might be doing. 314-239-6229. I have homework and chores to do, so I'll be doing that, and then maybe at any given time I may go for a crazy short ride like the one above. So call me and we'll see what's what.

Mike

Blue Ridge Update

Blue Ridge Participants:

First with the van rental here is the new budget per person for the Blue Ridge before we add any additional riders.

A couple of upfront notes:

We will still be taking the Lopatin's car with trailer on the daily route. The non-riding Lopatin and kids will have the rental van during the day. So if we all need to sag it will be done in shifts. The only drivers for the rental van will be the Lopatins and myself because it's $50 per extra driver who is not a spouse of the primary renter. I will let Brian or Cheri be the primary renter, and I will be the add on.

In the past with a much smaller group, and with less variety of expenses we just all payed a portion along the way and evened up at the end. I am not sure that will work for a number of reasons with this large a group, and with new participants I don't know well personally.

I am mulling over ways that we can work out the expenses and distribution, so that no one has to put out $3000 by the end of the trip and worry about reimbursements.

My initial thought is that a few designated (could be one) individuals cover different expenses. Every partipant would pay up-front their estimated expenses, with a small adjustment made at the end for actuals.

Here is another option. I am making room assignments, and they are mostly fixed for the entire trip. Without room assigments it would be caos each night we check into a new hotel. It could be up to the individual sharing a room to figure out how to even up each night. The van & trailer rental could be payed up front, with gas evened up at the end. In order for this to work, one individual in each room must be an AARP or AAA member, those are the rates I have gotten.

Let me know if you have another option that would work, or your comments on these options.

Once we have some consensus I will let everyone know how we are going to do this. Remember I am not a professional tour operator, and am sharing my portion of expenses like everyone else.

On that note: Please send me $100 to cover the deposits being made for rooms ect at your earliest convenience.

Weekend Weather & Ride Plans Feb 9-10

Ok you non-tri folks here iss the weather forecast for this upcoming weekend.

Saturday: Windy with a mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the low 40s and lows in the mid teens.

Sunday: Sunny. Highs in the low 30s and lows in the low 20s.

If there is anyone up to the 40s I was thinking of riding on Saturday. Sunday might be too cold. I will be spinning if I can get a spinning bike at the J due to the indoor triathelon on Saturday at 8:15 am and Sunday at 8:30 am as my backup regardless if I ride outside.

Saturday I could be convinced to go for a ride outside starting between 10 am and 11 am.

Sunday will take more convincing, and definately a coffee city ride if its in the 30s.

Let me know your thoughts as always.

BTW: Keep Training the Blue Ride is Coming!

Van Rental Option

Blue Ridge Tour Folks;

I found information about renting a twelve passenger van with unlimited miles and states for our Blue Ridge Trip. The cost would be about $1020 for the week. Dividing this by nine riders ( Lopatins are bringing their car so are not included in van cost) it would be an additional $113 per cyclist.

The good points to this option:

1. No one needs to supply a van.
2. We open up the option to adding up to 4 additional cyclists (which brings the van and possibly hotel costs down a bit)

I need your feedback soon if you know of a different option then renting a van, or know of additional friends who would be willing to commit to join us to bring down the van cost a bit.

Roark

Blue Ridge Trip Expense Update

Folks,

Directly above you will see the estimated expenses for our Blue Ridge Trip this summer. You will notice in the last column the allocated expenses and that everyone expenses are not identical. This of course reflects the number of individual assigned to specific hotel rooms.

All gas expenses for both cars are allocated to the cyclists. Trailer rental is also allocated on a per cyclist basis. I hope I have made everything as fair as possible. Bottom line is we are at about $400 per cyclist for non-food expenses. This again is an estimate from the information I have to date.

On another note, one lodge on the Blue Ridge has required an up front deposit for the five hotel rooms. I will have to pay this on my next charge bill so I would appreciate a $100 per rider to help begin covering deposits that need to be made. At this early state all deposits are refundable.

Thanks,
Roark

Ride Sunday Feb 3 - maybe?

Hello all,

I am still hoping to ride Sunday. But it does look a little iffy. I'm not too worried about the temp, or the slushy roads, just not too sure about the wet, or even the chance of rain in the afternoon. I'm thinking it will be a bit messy, but not too dangerous if we try what I've outlined below. I am dying to ride, so I'm going to get out. I don't think the route Roark and I rode last week will work though. Probably a bit too busy / messy / wet.

Anyone want to try this:

I'm thinking if we do want to get a ride in we might want to center it around Forest Park. I'm sure the streets in the park are pretty clear, and there is usually not too much traffic in the park, so it should be a bit safer. We can use the roads or the trails for some of the ride if the trails are clear. I don't know for sure, but I'm betting they sweep the trails in the Park, or maybe today's sun cleaned them up. Anyway, I'm thinking maybe we could try and meet at Kayak's coffee (on the Northwest corner of the park) and then wing it riding around the park. We could then see if we want to venture East into the city and see what comes of it. I'm thinking we can get some riding in. The streets in my neighborhood are "clear" in the main lane (the whole lane, not just the tire swips), just slushy on the very edge, and of course wet and puddly. I'm going to go ahead and give it a shot. With a little luck we can get in 10-15 miles in the park, and maybe another 10-15 around the city, maybe on the Riverfront trail, or south down Broadway, whatever. Worst case we run around the park for awhile. The park does have at least a few hills if we work them in a few times it would still be a good workout.

Meet at Kayak's at 10:30 - rolling at 10:45. If you want to nurse coffee or have breakfast, you need to arrive earlier. I figure a little later start may be good for the temp, and maybe a bit more melting of snow.

I'm planning on riding to Kayak's from my house. And probably even go back with the group, and then work my way back to my house for hopefully a decent amount of riding.

If things look like total crap at 9:00 when I'm more or less getting out the door, I'll post an update to the blog. No update - then I'm out there riding to Kayak's.

Mike
314-239-6229

Road ID Group Order

Folks,

I have contacted Road ID about putting in a group order. Road ID are Id bands that one wears while cycling in case of a mishap. One cant be sure that each time they hit a dog, they wont go down! I beleive this is a good idea to have when we get to Blue Ridge, and of course when we ride here.

Take a look at the different styles at https://www.roadid.com .

Don't order because we will be doing that with a group and at a discount. Just take a look and let me know if your interested.

Roark