Thursday, April 26, 2007
Wells this sunday
wells ave has been cancelled for sunday (29th). it seems we need to check the brc page each week to see if they're having the race or not.
drat!
t
drat!
t
Tales from Camp
what a weekend! we don't know how three months ago Mark could've known that the 30 degree and downpours would give way to sun, warmth, and temps in the 70s for this weekend, but he did. everything else he had planned for the weekend turned out equally perfect.
on friday, Mark, Al, and I packed up Mark's suv and headed to the Cape Wind Motorlodge in Falmouth, MA for the 2007 Van Dessel training camp. the three of us got there around 5pm, quickly changed and hopped on the bikes for an hour and a half ride. Mark's excitement showed as he did the entire ride in his 53x12! Al didn't even bring a 53x12!!!
later that night, after the ride, we went to Betty's Diner. the place looked good, but we were promptly yelled at by the waiter to stop reading the menu and order, cos they close at 8pm sharp. it wouldn't have mattered if we took three days to order, it was all bad. thankfully, Dairy Queen was just down the road, and some large chocolate shakes were able to fill us up and make us happy.
at 6am saturday morning the sun came over the horizen, the birds chirped, and Al and I snored. Mark, meanwhile, was already on the road doing a 20 miler. Al and I finally arose at 9:30, ate stole some breakfast food that Mark brought down, and then the three of us hit the road for a 2 hour ride.
the roads around Falmouth are beautiful. a good portion of our rides were on the route of the famous Falmouth road race, the foot race that has runners from all over the world coming to Cape Cod to contest. the roads followed the coastline, along the beach and climbing up the cliffs along the shore. ideal training, especially as the tourist season hasn't begun yet and traffic was minimal.
after our morning ride we fired up the grill at the at the motel and cooked some burgers and dogs. while Mark slaved over the barbie, Al and I tossed the frisbee around the large lands of the Cape wind. Shawn showed up just in time to get a plate and chow down before Al and I headed to our rooms for a siesta. Mark, however, decided time would be better spent taking Shawn out for an hour ride, further putting his sanity in question.
by the time Al and I woke up from our nap, Kieran had shown up with his bike securely seat belted in the frontseat of his audi TT. and Ryan, just getting done from an 8th place finish at the Turtle Pond RR, arrived with his fiance Grace. so the six of us headed out for another beautiful 2 hour ride, with Mark and Ryan riding like they had something to prove.
once back to the hotel and showered, we were off to the local sushi bar. you'd never see has many sushi rolls at one time than you'd see at a table full of hungry cyclists...and not one roll survived our chopstick attack.
as we were ready to leave, Bob rolled into town and picked up some food to go. you know when Bob shows up, the party has officially begun!
after sushi we hit the local beer store to pick up some recovery beverages. we sat around the motel telling stories all night, each story becoming funnier as we became more "recovered". a good time was had by all.
9am wake up call sunday and six of us hit the road for another 2 hour smackdown. Ryan and Grace had already left to do the Myles Standish RR twenty miles away. Mark finally discovered he had a 13 on his bike, but just spun faster, if only as a reminder to Bob that even CPA's can't take 3 months off the bike during tax time. but Bob hung tough, if only as a reminder to Mark that he is the man. we all got a nice sunburn during this morning ride, but compaired to death, it was nothing to complain about. going up one of the shoreline cliffs, Mark had a squirrel run right under his bike and become smooshed by his real wheel. the poor little fella did a death roll off the side of the road and into the ditch, much to the audible horror of the rest of us.
back to the motel for lunch and frisbee. after a hard 2 hour ride in the unseasonably warm weather, lunch was very much enjoyed and slow to finish. however, the tossing of the frisbee ended quickly, as Al launched the disc way over the head of Shawn and stright into the window of one of the rooms, smashing it into millions of bits, much to the audible horror of the rest of us. the rest of us headed to our rooms for our afternoon nap while Al, like a child going to see the school principal, headed to the motel office to explain his actions to the manager.
4pm and photoshoot time. Ryan had just returned with news of his 3rd place finish, giving him enough point for his cat 2 upgrade!!! so happily we did some team pictures and some individual shots (Mark seemed to pick out for publishing the ones where we each look the fattest...he'd better do some serious photoshop work on them!), then mounted the bikes for our final ride of the training camp. thankfully, nothing happened to cause any sounds of horror, but there were sounds of lament as we returned to the motel, realizing that our weekend was over...but not without one final stop at DQ first. 9,000 calories of ice cream later, we said our good-byes and each headed home.
it was an absolutely fabulous weekend. the riding and training were great, but what makes the camp such a success and fun times is to have the rare occassion to get together with a bunch of your team at one time to really get to know eachother and hang out with eachother in clothes made of material other than lycra. all of us vets got to meet Shawn for the first time. he's a super nice guy and his riding over the weekend was proof that he'll be winning races and moving up the categories very quickly.
a huge Thank You goes out to our sponsor, Mike Bedard, for putting us up in his motel for the weekend. the place was wonderful (right on the water, pool, paddleboats, etc). so if you or anyone you know is going to Cape Cod this summer, make sure you recommend the Cape Wind to them as their choice of lodging.
a huge Thank You also goes out to Mark for setting this whole weekend up and making it possible...and for hurting everyone just enough to feel it, but not so much that we couldn't get around without the help of a walker today.
next year's camp will be bigger and better, so when the date is announced, make sure you mark your calender!
Thad
on friday, Mark, Al, and I packed up Mark's suv and headed to the Cape Wind Motorlodge in Falmouth, MA for the 2007 Van Dessel training camp. the three of us got there around 5pm, quickly changed and hopped on the bikes for an hour and a half ride. Mark's excitement showed as he did the entire ride in his 53x12! Al didn't even bring a 53x12!!!
later that night, after the ride, we went to Betty's Diner. the place looked good, but we were promptly yelled at by the waiter to stop reading the menu and order, cos they close at 8pm sharp. it wouldn't have mattered if we took three days to order, it was all bad. thankfully, Dairy Queen was just down the road, and some large chocolate shakes were able to fill us up and make us happy.
at 6am saturday morning the sun came over the horizen, the birds chirped, and Al and I snored. Mark, meanwhile, was already on the road doing a 20 miler. Al and I finally arose at 9:30, ate stole some breakfast food that Mark brought down, and then the three of us hit the road for a 2 hour ride.
the roads around Falmouth are beautiful. a good portion of our rides were on the route of the famous Falmouth road race, the foot race that has runners from all over the world coming to Cape Cod to contest. the roads followed the coastline, along the beach and climbing up the cliffs along the shore. ideal training, especially as the tourist season hasn't begun yet and traffic was minimal.
after our morning ride we fired up the grill at the at the motel and cooked some burgers and dogs. while Mark slaved over the barbie, Al and I tossed the frisbee around the large lands of the Cape wind. Shawn showed up just in time to get a plate and chow down before Al and I headed to our rooms for a siesta. Mark, however, decided time would be better spent taking Shawn out for an hour ride, further putting his sanity in question.
by the time Al and I woke up from our nap, Kieran had shown up with his bike securely seat belted in the frontseat of his audi TT. and Ryan, just getting done from an 8th place finish at the Turtle Pond RR, arrived with his fiance Grace. so the six of us headed out for another beautiful 2 hour ride, with Mark and Ryan riding like they had something to prove.
once back to the hotel and showered, we were off to the local sushi bar. you'd never see has many sushi rolls at one time than you'd see at a table full of hungry cyclists...and not one roll survived our chopstick attack.
as we were ready to leave, Bob rolled into town and picked up some food to go. you know when Bob shows up, the party has officially begun!
after sushi we hit the local beer store to pick up some recovery beverages. we sat around the motel telling stories all night, each story becoming funnier as we became more "recovered". a good time was had by all.
9am wake up call sunday and six of us hit the road for another 2 hour smackdown. Ryan and Grace had already left to do the Myles Standish RR twenty miles away. Mark finally discovered he had a 13 on his bike, but just spun faster, if only as a reminder to Bob that even CPA's can't take 3 months off the bike during tax time. but Bob hung tough, if only as a reminder to Mark that he is the man. we all got a nice sunburn during this morning ride, but compaired to death, it was nothing to complain about. going up one of the shoreline cliffs, Mark had a squirrel run right under his bike and become smooshed by his real wheel. the poor little fella did a death roll off the side of the road and into the ditch, much to the audible horror of the rest of us.
back to the motel for lunch and frisbee. after a hard 2 hour ride in the unseasonably warm weather, lunch was very much enjoyed and slow to finish. however, the tossing of the frisbee ended quickly, as Al launched the disc way over the head of Shawn and stright into the window of one of the rooms, smashing it into millions of bits, much to the audible horror of the rest of us. the rest of us headed to our rooms for our afternoon nap while Al, like a child going to see the school principal, headed to the motel office to explain his actions to the manager.
4pm and photoshoot time. Ryan had just returned with news of his 3rd place finish, giving him enough point for his cat 2 upgrade!!! so happily we did some team pictures and some individual shots (Mark seemed to pick out for publishing the ones where we each look the fattest...he'd better do some serious photoshop work on them!), then mounted the bikes for our final ride of the training camp. thankfully, nothing happened to cause any sounds of horror, but there were sounds of lament as we returned to the motel, realizing that our weekend was over...but not without one final stop at DQ first. 9,000 calories of ice cream later, we said our good-byes and each headed home.
it was an absolutely fabulous weekend. the riding and training were great, but what makes the camp such a success and fun times is to have the rare occassion to get together with a bunch of your team at one time to really get to know eachother and hang out with eachother in clothes made of material other than lycra. all of us vets got to meet Shawn for the first time. he's a super nice guy and his riding over the weekend was proof that he'll be winning races and moving up the categories very quickly.
a huge Thank You goes out to our sponsor, Mike Bedard, for putting us up in his motel for the weekend. the place was wonderful (right on the water, pool, paddleboats, etc). so if you or anyone you know is going to Cape Cod this summer, make sure you recommend the Cape Wind to them as their choice of lodging.
a huge Thank You also goes out to Mark for setting this whole weekend up and making it possible...and for hurting everyone just enough to feel it, but not so much that we couldn't get around without the help of a walker today.
next year's camp will be bigger and better, so when the date is announced, make sure you mark your calender!
Thad
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Training Camp
The Van Dessel Factory Team - New England training camp at CapeWind in Falmouth is just over a week away. I am meeting with our sponsor tomorrow to finalize some details. Hopefully the weather will be cooperative and Mother Nature will dish out some warmer weather for us. As of today the following VDFT-NE team members will be attending:
Bob Fineman,
Thad LaVallee
Shawn Walsh
Jack Brumm
Mark Stockwell
Kieran Lynch
If you plan on attending please e-mail me back with the day and time you will be showing up. The directions to CapeWind are pretty straight forward. It's about 17 miles from the Bourne Bridge. Detailed directions will be forthcoming.
Also, if anyone wants to bring a non-riding friend/spouse that would like to volunteer to drive a support vehicle carrying extra wheels, food, tools, etc during our rides they too can stay free.
Remember, the lodging is complimentary courtesy of our sponsor, Mike Bedard. The only expense on your (our) part is food.
This is an informal weekend for us to get together, meet one another, share race stories, eat, ride, more eating, more riding. So please let me know soon if you will be attending.
If you have any questions please let me know. I have never organized a training camp before so this is a learning experience for me.
Mark
Bob Fineman,
Thad LaVallee
Shawn Walsh
Jack Brumm
Mark Stockwell
Kieran Lynch
If you plan on attending please e-mail me back with the day and time you will be showing up. The directions to CapeWind are pretty straight forward. It's about 17 miles from the Bourne Bridge. Detailed directions will be forthcoming.
Also, if anyone wants to bring a non-riding friend/spouse that would like to volunteer to drive a support vehicle carrying extra wheels, food, tools, etc during our rides they too can stay free.
Remember, the lodging is complimentary courtesy of our sponsor, Mike Bedard. The only expense on your (our) part is food.
This is an informal weekend for us to get together, meet one another, share race stories, eat, ride, more eating, more riding. So please let me know soon if you will be attending.
If you have any questions please let me know. I have never organized a training camp before so this is a learning experience for me.
Mark
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