Sunday Ride - Sept 2

Sunday Ride - 6am - River Front Trail - meet at Luther Statue. Perhaps do some pace line work to prep for the century ride and probably keep a pace around 18mph, give or take.

Weekend Rides, Labor Day Weekend

Got this message from Dr. Madosky, a good fried of cycling in St. Louis and Concordia Seminary. Anyone else got the legs yet?:

"On Saturday September 1st I will be riding an 80 mile course from here (Richmond Hts) through Illinois via the Chain of Rocks bridge. It is a relatively flat course and I would like to average 16-18 mph (depending upon the wind). I anticipate leaving no later than 6:30 am and would enjoy the company of any other Concordia riders. This is an MS 150 training ride for me."

Post here if interested and I can forward you his e-mail.

New at this . . .

Alright, this is my first time with this blog thing. Apparently the newst posts display first. So start at the bottom and read your way up. Any suggestions are welcome.

Tour of Missouri

Ever seen a professional bike race? The first Tour of Missouri is coming to town, the final race of the six day event on Sun, Sep 15. The St. Louis leg will be a circuit race, meaning the race will do several laps. It will pass pretty close to Concordia, following Forest Park Parkway from downtown and then heading north on Debaliviere, the street that heads up from the History Museum. Top pros will be there, like George Hincapie and Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. Speed, color, all the thrills of NASCAR but these guys are actually working. I'll be helping out as a course marshal for the race.

Group Rides Starting in September

Once classes start we'll set up some other times for regular rides. Sunday afternoons and Wed afternoons have worked well. We stay off Tues for IMs. Any preferences?

Group Rides, Week of Aug 26 to Sep 1

Before classes start we're doing Sunday and Thursday rides. All rides meet up at Luther Statue, underneath the bell tower. Here is the plan:

Sunday, Aug 26. Meet at 1:00. Plan on 1.5 - 2 hours. Bring lots of water. We may split into groups so everyone feels comfortable.

Tuesday, Aug 28. I've got faculty meetings, so I'll head out at about 6:00 am for about an hour and a half. Others might want to hold off until 7:00. Post your preferences below.

Thursday, Aug 30. 7:00 am. A one hour no-drop ride, then another hour or so at a faster pace.

Next weekend (Aug 31-Sep 3) are the Gateway Cup races (follow the STL Biking link at right for info), so I won't be in on the group rides. Post below if you want to connect up with others.

Let's see if this works . . .

About Cycling@Concordia Seminary

Just to get things rolling, a little bit of history. About three years ago (Fall of '04) some students formed the "Walk - Bike - Run" Saturday morning session, which encouraged people to meet up and then head out for their various workouts together. The cyclists kept on going, organizing the first "Tour de Sem" in the Spring of '05. This ride goes from Columbia, IL down to the original seminary site in Altenburg, MO, about 94 miles away. The following Fall, we set up the first "Concordia Century," a ride from Concordia down to the Arch, then up the Mississippi to Grafton, and back down again to historic Holy Cross Lutheran Church, south of Soulard in the city. The rides have grown each year; the '07 Tour de Sem had 26 or 27 cyclists.

In between these "major events," students and faculty meet up for group rides. These get bigger as we gear up for the big events, but you can find people going out pretty much all the time. Most people ride for fitness, to get or stay in shape, and for the fellowship. A few students and faculty also race in the local circuit.

This blog will hopefully be a way to get information out quickly and painlessly (for me, that is), and to help coordinate group rides.