Prologue

In early March, members of Leadout Racing Team embarked on an extended weekend training camp in the beautiful green hills and valleys of northern Kentucky.

The lucky participants included Peter Beels, who scouted terrain for us a number of days ahead of time thanks to his spring break from GVSU. The Dans, Socie and Korienek, in an effort to be more eco-friendly travelers, teamed up for the trip in the former’s Prius hybrid vehicle. The remaining five, including myself, Chad Everts, Tom Linck, Bryan Kuyper, and Paul Havens fit with surprising comfort into Paul’s extended cab pickup, including 5 bikes and 5 duffel bags full of gear. The truck itself would prove to be equal parts steady highway warrior and rally-style racing machine. Departing Wednesday evening, we settled on a hotel just outside of Cincinnati before making our final approach to base camp.

Stage 1 – The Rain

We awoke Thursday morning to a steady downpour. Unfortunately for the hotel staff, this gave us plenty of time to invade the ample continental breakfast selection. With a waffle maker, eggs, and biscuits with sausage gravy added to the standard fare, the complimentary breakfast was about as complete as one could hope for. Team opinion was divided on whether or not to venture out into the unfavorable conditions, but through good natured ridicule and coercion, it was eventually agreed upon that we would in fact turn the pedals through the persistent precipitation.

Upon reaching the lovely Cynthiana, Kentucky, we wasted no time heading for the Wal-Mart Supercenter to stock up on provisions before venturing out of town to our cabin. “Cabin” does not begin to describe the luxury and size of our weekend residence. It was a great place with tons of room, set on a hillside in the midst of mostly empty Kentucky backroads. We owe the great setting mostly to the diligent research of Peter, who set up our reservation.

After taking a few minutes to get settled, we kitted up and were ready to hit the road, except that our excellent cabin was set about a half mile from the road along a (muddy) gravel road. With none of us wanting to soil our sweet Trek Madones before we even started, we crammed 7 bikes and people into Paul’s truck to drive us to the end of the driveway. Once past that obstacle, we really had a great ride of about 35 miles, along many roads not much wider than one would expect for a bike path. A healthy dose of Soigneur embrocation to our legs helped us enjoy the rain that much more. It was ironically our warmest ride of the weekend. A quick trip into town for some Mexican food capped off a great first day.

Stay tuned for part 2 in the next couple days.

by Mark Hotchkin

The cabin living room

Madones at sunset

 The people are also unbelievable as about 90% of them waved and were friendly, even when they had to wait to pass us.  We finished with 91 miles in just over 5 hours the first day and we were all pretty destroyed.  The next day, Saturday, we planned a race with about a 25 mile ride there and back.  Chad, Mark, and the Little Unit had signed up for the 3/4 race.  Their field was about 75 people and in the end Chad was able to stay with the main pack and finish 12th.  Peter, Lupe, and I were in the Pro/1/2/3 race that was stacked with Texas Roadhouse guys.  In the end I was able to stay with the main field and finished 6th.  The ride home was sort of a death march as we were all pretty tired and just wanted to be done riding.  Saturday night was spent relaxing and a few guys (mostly Peter) indulged in a few beverages that made for interesting and loud conversations.  Sunday morning rolled around and the 35 mile route planned was exactly what we needed.  It was enough to stretch the legs out, but not enough to destroy our already weak legs…at least until Jeff had a little mishap.  On one of the many large hills his derailleur got eaten by his rear wheel.  We either had to leave him for dead or push him the remaining 12 miles. 

After a close vote we decided to push him.  The last 12 miles were a lot more fun than they should have been as we used teamwork to get Jeff safely back to the cottage.  All in all, a great weekend of riding, racing, relaxing, and hanging with friends.

Dan K

On Sunday, January 17, 2010, Geoff, Dan K, Jimmi, Scott, Mark, and I met at the Georgetown Ice Arena for a group ride to Grand Haven and back. The weather was 35 degrees, overcast, and just a hint of wind out of the south/southwest. It doesn’t get much better than this in Michigan in January.  We rolled out shortly after 1:00pm.