Your Pedal Bicyclical – July

Hello!

Well. That was an incredibly rainy June, but fun nonetheless.

Despite the fact that wet trails forced us to cancel fully 75% of all Monday Night Mountain Bike rides in June, the ride last Monday was great. Super bunch of folks hustling through the lush countryside on bikes. Come join us. We try to get started at 5:45, but loop back to the parking lot for a 6:00 pickup. Two effects of all the recent rain: mosquitos & bountiful poison ivy crop.

Shop buddy and all around great gal Teri Olbrot started a road ride from the Romence Road shop on Tuesday evenings. It’s a women’s fitness ride averaging 12-15 mph. Meet at the shop at 5:30 and start rolling no later than six. Fun!

Shop ride Thursday night at 6:15. Is it time to change the route and go up 6th St. hill? Probably.

Miller Energy BTR Crit on July 11th. 10th year! Holy smokes. Something must be going right.

Race for Wishes is the next day, July 12th, in beautiful downtown Lawton. In the event that you aren’t into racing the thing, it might be (read: is) pretty fun to ride out there and watch other people turn themselves inside out on a bike, then ride home.

The following weekend brings the Holland Hundred in, you guessed it, Holland, MI. This event is known for a beautiful route, great organization and very nice amenities.

Once upon a time there were two semi-local XTERRA races, but now there are none. Sigh. However, you can travel just a little way and participate in the Ionia XTERRA on July 26th. Tri and Du options available and more data here.

Some people look at a fat bike and say, “Yeah. That looks like fun.” Others say, “Nope. Please remove it from my sight.” Regardless, these things have spawned quite a bit of fresh thinking in the mountain bike world. In the Portage shop we have two “plus” bikes: the Trek Stache is 29+ while the Specialized Fuse 6Fattie (I could not make up this name) is a 650b/27.5+. Both of those things have (as you might guess) fatter than usual tires, but not as monstrous as a fat bike. These bikes have lots of traction and a bit of passive suspension without the weight penalty of a bona fide fat bike. Is this exactly what you’ve been looking for? I cannot say, but they are neat and different, and each represents original thinking.

Knowledge is power! Let’s talk about flat fixing and bike maintenance at the Portage location on Saturday, July 18th. Space is a little bit limited, so please RSVP at 269-324-5555.

We’ll be closed on Independence Day. We don’t observe that many holidays — especially holidays on a Saturday in summer — but this is a big one. Thanks for your understanding.

Our website received a massive facelift a couple of weeks ago. I think it’s pretty fun, and I hope you find it informative. We’re also making changes to Facebook, Google + and other social media in an effort to bring everything under one big happy Pedal umbrella.

July doesn’t need a ramble. July is the pearl, the brass ring, the thing we Michiganders crave all winter long. I hope you can punch a hole in your schedule/calendar to enjoy it, to live in the moment and soak up the experience. And I hope you’ll stop by the shop and share it with us.

We thank and appreciate you.

Hail summer!

Tim