This song could be considered my anthem for the Tuesday night Hub spin this week.

I got to the Hub early to get a spot in the very front to set up my trainer. I was, for
the record, the closest to the TV and fans. As time went by, the rest of the group
showed up and began to assemble behind me.

With a click of the remote, the Chris Carmichael DVD began to play and we all began
to pedal.

My mind began to wander. Stevie’s song “For Once in My Life” filtered in…..

For once in my life, I was off the front instead of off the back on a Hub ride.

For once in my life, I did not flinch when someone near me crashed. One of those
talented folks on rollers bit it. But I didn’t care because I knew that I wasn’t going
down. I am on a steel stand! Ha! No skin off my bod!

For once in my life, I welcomed the head wind. It wasn’t slowing me down man. No
way. Bring it on! Cool me down! Yeah buddy!

For once in my life, the fact that I pulled the whole way and others sucked my wheel
didn’t matter. F it! They weren’t going to pass me at the finish line!

And finally..for once in my life….at the finish line…I would be ahead of those
who had drafted off of me and be able to throw up BOTH arms…not just one…in
victory…YES!!!!!!

Dream your dream definitely more than once in your life.

BR

Big thanks to these shops that have stepped up to sponsor Team Rev and the Mountain Bike Frostbike Series!

When you’re gearing up pre-ride or warming up post-ride, stop by and say hey at the shop nearest your MTB location.

The Cyclery |2472 Troy Road Edwardsville, IL 62025  |  618-692-0070
(Map!)

Ballwin Schwinn | 15340 Manchester Rd, Ballwin, MO 63011 | (636) 391-2666
(Map!)

TREK Bicycle Store of St.Louis (Ballwin) | 13922 Manchester Road, St. Louis, MO 63011 | 636-394-2453
(Map!)

TREK Bicycle Store of St.Louis (Arnold) | 2194 Michigan Avenue, Arnold, MO 63010 | 636-287-6700
(Map!)

Big Shark (West) | 17233 Chesterfield Airport Road, Chesterfield, MO, 63005 | 636-534-8080
(Map!)

Yep, it’s Frostbike time. Go to RideFrostbike.com for the information and to register.

The quick gist is that we’ve switched MTB and road Series this year, meaning singletrack in January and pavement in February. We’re still brewing on the road routes, but trying to offer a good mix of locations. While you’re contemplating whether or not you want to hang up your bike until the tulips start popping up again, consider this infographic (produced by Healthcare Management Degree) on the benefits of biking. Rev on, my friends!

Created by: Healthcare Management Degree

While we cannot get these delivered before the holidays, its a great belated gift to yourself or a family member who wants to ride in Team Rev colors!

We are offering an expanded list of items this time, including jackets, vests, and arm and knee warmers (among other requested items).
Sizing charts can be found on the Champion Systems website: http://champ-sys.com/custom/cycling/size-chart

Order all of your favorites HERE. Only taking orders until Nov 21st, so don’t delay!
Don’t miss out, we do not order extras because of the cost to stock these items and we only order about once a year.

NOTE: Prices have changed slightly from those advertised at the meeting on 11/7. We miscalculated some costs and apologize for the change. For those who ordered at the meeting, we will still honor the lower prices you paid that night. Additional items will be charged at the prices now advertised.

email Suzanne Renner with any questions: suzanner@teamrevcycling.org

Members, now is your chance! Make your vote count. The winning design will be unveiled at the Team Rev Happy Hour on Nov 7th!

Taking votes for only one week: Oct 25th – noon on Nov 1st.

You should have received voting instructions in your email. Votes will only be taken in this manner. Votes posted on Facebook or under this post will not be included.

VOTE NOW!!

Will it be design “A” or “B”?

It’s time for another FANTASTIC REV HAPPY HOUR

When: MONDAY, November 7, 2011

Place: Café Ventana, 314-531-7500, 3919 West Pine Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108

http://cafeventana.com/index.php

Time: order dinner on your own at 6pm
meeting starts at 7pm and goes till 9pm-ish

Things to expect:

1) The NEW Team Rev Jersey Design for 2012 – YEAH Chris!

2) Announcements for upcoming activities for the rest of 2011 including:

* Wed night (Afterdark) ride info

3) Door Prizes

4) Paula MacMann from Chainspirations will be there showing her unique bicycle jewelry http://chainspirations.com/

Also Plans for 2012:

Frost Bike & Membership deets
Chocolate Ride

AND MUCH MUCH MORE

Hope to see you all then.

It was a cool autumn morning when the Team Rev riders began to assemble on the Ameristar parking lot to do the Trailnet Ride the Rivers Century.  This star studded group consisted of:    Amy McClintock- a very strong  new Team Rever rider from the Wednesday night ride,  Lisa Glad-another very strong Team Rev newbie ,  Dessa Paris-12 hour endurance champion,  Amanda Hassner-24 hour endurance champion, Susan Kloha- Team Rev veteran rider and mountain bike bad ass, Randy Love- an amazing 62 year old rider who does weekly centuries and prefers to ride in sandals! Holy, Janet Bassel -one of the founding members of Team Rev who is a Senior Olympic gold medalist and just all around good bike rider, Alice Butler- a member of the Team Rev board and 2011 Froze Toes champion, and myself-okay so maybe not everyone in the group was a star.

The ride started out in a very surreal setting as we rolled across the Page extension bridge into the Creve Coeur valley. The sun was on the horizon and there was a dreamy layer of fog covering the fields. I have often been in the fog mentally but I have never ridden through it. It was quite literally cool.  As I rolled through the clouds, they gripped my bare arms with cool dampness of a moist towelette.

We made our way up Marine Rd. and out of the valley. The cool morning gave way to a gorgeous sunny day.  As we proceeded towards Forest Park, heady topics were discussed….”Why do dead possums smell worse than other road kill?”….”Do they smell worse when they are alive?” …”Is their odor stronger because they are bigger than squirrels?”…No one seemed to have a definitive answer but it really didn’t matter.

The route took us through Forest Park to the CWE to downtown where we made our way to the glorious Riverfront Trail.  The Riverfront trail is known for it’s cool urban art, fishy looking fisherman, industrial aromas, and penetrating pavement.

We made it across the RFT without opening a single CO2 cartridge. Miraculous!

The RFT took us to the Chain of Rocks Bridge where me and Amy put on a bunny hopping show that would have made Bugs proud. Amy stole the show with a gravity defying hop that brought her rear wheel at least a foot and a half above the bridge deck. Impressive!

The Chain of Rocks Bridge was followed by a trip up the levee trail where cx skills were tested to get through the overlapping gates. All but myself made it through with catlike agility. The levee trail took us to our lunch destination in Alton.

After lunch, we made our way up the Great River Road. The Mighty Mississippi rolled by on the left. To our right it looked as though someone had put a stick of dynamite under a Crayola 64 pack. The trees along the bluff exploded in burnt sienna, maize, maroon, orange-yellow AND yellow-orange!  The tail wind at our backs made 23 mph effortless.   It was the kind of stuff that cyclists dream about.  We made our way through Alton and the quaint town of Grafton where we boarded the Brussels ferry to take us across the Illinois River.  Upon exiting the ferry, we were greeted by stunning golden rolling farm fields. This beautiful roller coaster ended at the Golden Eagle Ferry.

The Golden Eagle Ferry took us back across the Mississippi to Missouri. We were back in Missouri and ready to tackle the final leg of the journey.  A formidable head wind was waiting for us.  The Team Rev peloton pulled together and helped each other to the finish.

The odyssey ended in the Ameristar parking lot with a flurry of fist bumps, cheers, and a few beers.

What a ride. What a group.

I am going to avoid using the “e” word here. I do not want to be considered cliché.  This may, however, have been the Ride of the Century.

It has been two days since the ride. I am still smiling.

Rev on!

BR

What did we think we’d do? What have we done (well)? Where did we fall shorter than expected? I spoke to many women this past weekend at the Pedal the Cause event–and frankly many of whom didn’t feel like we have a good offering. Not for lack of want or awareness, but simply out of lack of capacity. We are run by a board that operates this in our free-time. And if the rest of the board members’ schedules mirror mine–which is unlikely, we’ve got about 12 minutes of free-time a day. After working, getting kids to and fro, leading or jumping in whatever ride fits within our hectic work (and training) schedule, checking homework, policing kid showers, dinner, etc. we can allocate time to planning and executing Team Rev events.

I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m unabashedly looking for support. It’s time to reach out to this community we’ve started and ask you guys to prioritize what you get out of Team Rev. And then figure out how you can build it. Have you been on nearly every Wednesday night ride since June? Wish we had another one some other night of the week? Start it. We’ll promote it and you can have other women getting you out there some other night of the week. Sometimes we ride just because we know someone else is riding.

Can’t make the Wednesday night ride? Never could because of location or timing? What works for you? Let’s start it. I likely can’t be there, but I’ll venture that someone wants to ride that night from that place. I’ve had a handful of people asking about Katy Trail rides. Who wants to do that? We’re constantly caught in the cycle of  ”That would be fun, now who can do it?” and the answer at board meeting is always a shuffling of papers and calendars and the realization that we’re all tapped out. We’ve built our rides around what we can personally do–but we’re only a tiny part of the community that I know can and wants to support more levels of riding in different parts of Greater St. Louis. The levee in Chesterfield, the Katy Trail, the Illinois trail system, more mountain biking (how about a weekday early morning ride?).

It’s not about ignoring or not listening. It’s not about disregarding. But what we have consciously or subconsciously done is stuck to our strengths. And we’ve paid the price for being tagged as “too race focused”…but we’ve had a lot of women stick that out with us and realize the foundation on which Team Rev was built is that we’re encouraging–no matter what your goals, age, speed, discipline. And we’ll help you get to where you want to go–through clinics and community support.

If we’re not doing that, please let us know. We can’t be everything to everyone without contributions from our community. That contribution comes in many forms: fruitful criticism and suggestions, ride attendance, leading rides, fund-raising, and ultimately helping us shape where this organization is going. We are currently run out of our free time and we’re at a plateau of  what we can effectively do at this level. And the board is actively addressing this–either by engaging with more volunteers or seeking professional services for current activities (like bookkeeping, accounting).

So if you have a criticism about how effective we are, please know that we’re more than willing to hear it (and we also hope that within that feedback is the avenue for a solution). http://www.teamrev.org/?p=2312

Beginning NEXT week (October 5, 2011) we’ll be hitting the road at 7pm from Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. Keep riding regardless of the sun setting a bit earlier every day.

More info will be up here soon, but here’s the quick info:

This is not our typical “No-Drop” ride, we strongly encourage you to bring a friend or two. Along the route there are places the group/ride can reconvene, but we won’t have our usual “sweepers” to ensure everyone has a ride buddy. We plan to have printed route maps available and the group will decide how often and if there will be re-grouping along the way.

Bring lights! While you won’t need one to see where you’re going, you’ll need them to be seen. Have a white blinky for the front and red blinky for the back (at a minimum). Also, helmets and flat-repair stuff should be a given, but make sure you’re equipped with them too!

The route can be found at mapmyride.com!

We hope to see you soon!

Yesterday, my hike up Gray’s Peak lead me to re-think this timeless truth.  Gray’s Peak is a peak standing 14,270 feet high.  It was my goal to make it my first ”fourteener”. Fourteeners  are somewhat of a milestone for those of us who hike.

As we pulled into the parking lot at the trailhead, I looked up at Gray’s Peak in it’s snowy, glimmering glory.   “Yes. This is my goal!”  I eagerly embarked on the trail. My pace was ambitious. Shortly thereafter, I began to feel the effects of the 10,000 plus altitude.   My heart raced. My head began to spin.  I looked up again at my glimmering goal. It seemed light years away. “I feel like crap. No way I am going to make it.”

I had to make it. I was bitter about failing at last year’s attempt to summit a fourteener.  How was I going to make it?

By focusing on the trees that made up my forest!

I made it a point not to look at the summit.  Instead, I focused on each cairn. A cairn is a small pile of rocks that mark the trail. They are usually about 500 yards apart. I was no longer working towards Gray’s Peak. I was working towards each cairn. In addition to the cairns, I embraced other, even smaller trees.  As the snow deepened, I reminded myself that I liked to play in the snow. “You are not hiking. You are playing in this deep fluffy stuff.”  ….”This frozen cookies & cream flavored Power Bar is delicious”….”Man I love fruit punch Gatorade”…”Look at that cure marmot.”….”What a beautiful rock”…”Mike looks hot in his wind pants”…  I focused on every little positive tree that I could find in the forest.

Finally, I was at the final frosty cairn. I looked up and could see the summit.  “Hell man! It’s only 200 yards away. Let’s do this!” The once far away summit was in arm’s reach!  I rallied and made my final ascent  to the summit.  The sense of accomplishment and breath-taking views were overwhelming.  I was so happy that I wanted to cry. If I was more agile, I would have done a back flip.

My trees had come together to make my forest!

100% of truths are not true 100% of the time.

Life is a game of true or false. Follow your heart and you will pass the test.

Yours truly,

BR