Concordia Century Registration

Come and Join us for a day of family fun and fitness! Be a part of the Concordia Century and ride 100, 60, 30, 15 miles, or whatever you are able along the picturesque Mississippi River Trail and Confluence Greenway up to the Chain of Rocks Bridge and out to Grafton! The route is an out-and-back, so you can ride any distance you want. Most of the riding is on paved paths, the rest on roads. Join the whole group of riders afterwards for food, prizes, and fellowship across the street from the former location of Concordia Seminary at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 2650 Miami Street (just a few short blocks off of the trail) from 1:30-3:30pm. What are you waiting for? Get out and ride!!

Click here to download the registration form. Please turn in your forms and money to Russ Troester (Campus Mail - Box 397 - Checks made payable to Concordia Seminary) no later than Wednesday, October 10 (if you want a T-Shirt). Late registration deadline is Monday, October 15. Post a comment here if you have any questions.

Clayton Plans Bike Trail Study

The latest "Cityviews" newsletter from the city of Clayton announces a study to examine a trail system connecting Clayton, Brentwood, Maplewood, and Richmond Heights. This would obviously be of great benefit to both bike commuters and recreational cyclists on campus -- especially if it helps us avoid Big Bend and Clayton Road as much as possible. There will be a public forum held at The Heights (Dale Ave east of Hanley in Richmond Heights) on Nov. 29 at 7:00pm. I'll send out a reminder later, but if you live in any of these communities you should plan to attend and support this effort.

October Beard Contest

For all who can grow a beard, October will be official beard and 'stash month. All who are participating are to start with a clean pallet by Oct. 1st. Awards for best beard or 'stash will be handed out at the Post Century Feed and Fellowship. Participants reply to this post if you are "in".

Rogaine, Propecia and other such hair tonics are illegal. Use of such topical hair growth formulas is akin to doping and will result in immediate disqualification.

BTW, Kloha can grow a mean 'stash

Weekend Rides + Food!

Concordia Century is just a few weeks away. Training rides this weekend will meet up again -- Saturday women's ride, all levels, no drops, meet at 7:00 am at Luther Statue. Sunday Long Ride, meet up at 2:00pm. Plan on 3.5+ hours.

After the Sunday ride we'll meet up for a barbecue at the Kloha's. Have your families meet us there between 5:45-6:00, bring along meat for yourself and a dish to pass. Before the ride you can drop clean clothes off to change into later at the Kloha's.

St. Genevieve Road Race

Concordia had a great day at the St. Gen road race today, a tough, very hilly route on a warm day. Russ took 7th in Cat 5, his first race ever. Marc took 10th in Cat 4. Susan took 2nd in the Women's Masters category, her second race. Anyone who's ever raced knows how tough a top 10 finish is to earn, and we got three of them today! The old man, unfortunately, isn't quite right still since Gateway. Road racing season is over now until February, though cyclocross racing fires up in a few weeks, and there are still a few mountain events

Bowling Alone and Cycling

Concordia Seminary hosted the annual Dellinger Lecture last night, this year the speaker was Harvard Professor Dr. Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone. This was an interesting, at times funny and at times frightening lecture about the loss of community in America and its consequences. As a sociologist, Putnam had lots of statistics about lots of things. One surprising conclusion was that the more groups you belong to, the more friends you have, generally the more you hang out with other people, the longer you will live. In fact, a person living an isolated life apparently has the same chance of dying in the next 12 months as a lifetime smoker. In contrast, those with a large network of friends live longer. By quite a bit, he said. So, the obvious conclusion (not his, but mine) is that if you cycling, that's good for you. But if you cycle with others, then you'll live a lot longer. So hop on the bike! Join in on the rides! Meet someone new!

Weekend Rides, Sep. 22-23

Looks like a great weekend for riding. A few people will be participating in a race on Saturday in St. Genevieve. Saturday, the women's ride has been gaining momentum. This ride leaves at 7:00 am, and is intended for all levels of cyclists, including beginners. The Sunday ride will leave at 2:00, plan on 3.5+ hours (assuming no shredded tires again).

Compton Bridge Open

Just thought y'all might like to know that for the next time you ride the Riverfront Trail, the bridge on Compton has been reopened. Eric Estes and I went down this morning and it certainly makes for an easier route.

CSL Cycling Bike Clothes

Time for another order of CSL cycling clothing. Stylish, comfortable, makes you look fast.

Orders are due Sep. 19, for order form contact Prof. Kloha (e-mail link on this page)

Concordia Cycling Club -- Organizational Meeting

We'll be meeting over lunch, at about 12:00 in Koburg Hall. Come when you can. Topic is the forming of an official USA Cycling club. We'll also discuss details of the Century Ride on Oct. 20 and the order for CSL bike clothes.

Weekend Rides

I think the majority of the guys are planning to head out for another group ride on Sunday at 2pm. At least a couple of us plan to ride on Saturday instead because our wives are attending the SWA event on Sunday afternoon so we'll be watching our kids. If you're interested in joining us for a 3 hour, 50 mile ride on Saturday, post a comment and let us know if you'd prefer morning or afternoon.

Hills in the Park...

I've done this a few times and it gets the legs and lungs burning...

Rides in the Park

Here's a flat loop for intervals...

We Are The Cyclists

Prof. Kloha and Marc Engelhardt had talked about this video on our last group ride, so I Googled it and thought I'd post if for your enjoyment.

Sunday Ride Report

Had a great group yesterday, nine of us rolled out at 2:00. We rode down to the Riverfront trail, although in a roundabout way because of construction, and through the Rams game. Beautiful weather, but I got a slice in my tire (might be a leftover from my crash) and flatted through tubes. Limped home with a dollar bill barely holding things together. Thanks to the guys for making sure I made it back. I'll post some info on rides this week, looks like the weather is turning in our favor.

Potluck

Would anyone be interested in doing a family potluck after one of our Sunday rides? This week could work or we could wait 'till next Sunday so there's more time to prepare. I see it's something that's been done in the past and it would be a nice way to meet one another's families. Comment if you're interested or have any suggestions.

The Conway Way

Hello all,

Here is a map of one of the more popular routes from campus. It's chock full of hills.



Just a reminder: There are a few of us who ride at 6:00, M-F. We try to go a little faster due to time constraints, but we don't go Kloha speed. Feel free to join us at the bronze Marty.

Women's Rides

If you check the Daily Announcements, you'll see some info on a women's ride on Sat mornings. My wife is organizing these. Any skill level welcome, this is about getting into cycling. Last week they had four women out!

Sunday Ride

The Sunday Ride tradition continues. Let's call it 2:00pm at Luther Statue. Hopefully 2.5-3 hours, moderate (18-20 mph) pace.

Wednesday Ride

Planning on a 2:30 ride today (Wed) from Luther Statue. We'll figure out route and time based on who shows. Weather permitting, of course. And I might not ride, depending on what the doc says about the shoulder this morning.

Daily Rides

There's a group of us who plan to do daily rides (at least M,T,R,F) at 6am leaving from Luther Statue starting this Tuesday, September 4th. We'll probably do about an hour, give or take, with a couple of those days being some interval work. If you're interested or have any questions, feel free to post a comment here.

Tough Weekend for CSL racers at Gateway Cup

The Gateway Cup is the World Series of STL racing every year, four races on consecutive days. 90 guys in the Cat 4 races, squeezing into the STL streets. Unfortunately, this year has been rough for the CSL guys who race. Marc had someone take him down on the last lap on Friday night, ended up virtually destroying his bike (he can save the seatpost and stem, cassette, that's about it). The tires blew as he tried to hold it, saw sparks coming from the rims as they ground along the pavement. He got thrown pretty hard into a concrete light pole but hit it square so only a bit sore. His racing was done for the weekend, though.

I went down yesterday, about 100 yards from the finish at Washington Ave. The guy in front of me went down hard, directly in front of me, I smashed head-on into his back as he fell and went flying over the the handlebars, him, and probably ten feet of pavement. Checked my bike computer, said I was going 32.4 mph at the time. My right shoulder took the brunt of it, then the helmet, and somehow my left ribs. Fortunately, the x-rays didn't find any breaks. Hopefully they're just really bad bruises. The bike wasn't so lucky, I've never seen a fork break the way this one did, and the front wheel is destroyed. Thanks to Marc (who was there watching) and Lauren for getting me and my family home.

All in all, it could have been worse for both of us. The frustrating thing is that you can't really control stuff like this. Someone makes a mistake front of you or next to you, and you're down. Hopefully it won't be too long before we're back out on group rides. BTW, this is why we ALWAYS wear helmets, racing or non-racing.

New to Cycling?

If you're new to cycling, the best way to get into it is to start riding with others. A couple things to get together:

We ride on roads. This is not always fun in this part of town. Some good tips are available on the Bicycle Safe site.

Make sure your bike is in decent shape, tires in good condition, shifters and esp. brakes working properly. Don't mess with this on your own, take it over the The Touring Cyclist across Clayton Road in the Schnuck's plaza. Two sem students are employees, and they really look out for sem students. Ask for Marc or Eric, or Chris, the manager.

If you plan to ride more than 10 miles, get cycling clothes. Yes, its spandex. Yes, your wife and friends will make fun of you. But your sit place will thank you. The stuff is not cheap, you're looking at a minimum of probably $40 each for shorts and a jersey. We will get together an order for official "Concordia Seminary Cycling" gear in the next week or two, this is decent quality stuff and runs about $55-60 each.

Always carry two water bottles and, if you're out for more than an hour and a half, some energy drink or food. Again, ask others on the rides what they use and try a few things out before attempting a ride several hours in length.

The key thing is: Ride. Often, long, and fast.

Posting to the blog

I hope this blog works to get everyone on the same page. I'd like lots of you to be posting your rides and suggestions, if you want rights to post I have to send you a link, so e-mail me and I'll set you up.

Group Rides -- Weekdays, Fall Quarter

Looks like Wed afternoons work for a lot of people, so let's just say, beginning Sep 5, Wednesdays at 2:30 (Luther Statue) for 1-2 hours. Post a reply if interested.