A DONATION BIKE TREASURE HUNT
As you probably remember, Hometown Bicycles is proudly supporting this year’s 10th Annual Tour de Livingston by DONATING TEN BICYCLES. Everyone who registers for our favorite charitable community ride has a chance to win and – happy days! – your odds of winning are up by a factor of TEN!
Recently, we’ve been enjoying a whirlwind of field trips to key Tour sponsors to place the donation bikes around town where they can be seen by the Community and encourage Tour de Livingston registrations.
Our mission? To maximize participation for this much-loved, Howell Rotary created and run, local ride, which fundraises for the Livingston County United Way. In other words, those dollars stay in our Community!
If you’re up for a challenge, we invite you to travel the County to see how many of our donation bikes you can spot. FOLLOW OUR FACEBOOK PAGE FOR LOCATIONS! They’re not all delivered yet, so we’ll post ’em as we place ’em. First one to report back with selfie proof of visiting ALL TEN wins a special Hometown prize and some newsletter/Facebook fame!
TOMORROW (8/19)!! DOC MAY MELON RIDE
Hometown’s been proud to be the ongoing sponsor of this charming and delicious, Doc May Memorial Melon Ride on Saturday, August 19th at 9am.
Our Team and Crew marks off the route, leads and mans the ride, provides on-site SAG support, and also offers bike valet service until 2pm, so you can enjoy the Festival without worrying about your two-wheeled babies! T-shirts, melon and ice cream for participants!
Lock in your registration now – which puts you in the running to win the sweet Jamis cruiser bike that we’ve donated to the cause! REGISTER NOW!
LABOR EVENT POSTPONED
A quick note on behalf of an event that promises to be all-out incredible… next year:
A combination of our service crew’s scholastic and competitive endeavors has inspired us to postpone our 1st Annual Pre-Labor-Day Labor Event until next season, when you can meet the FULL compliment of Hometown’s exceptional service peeps.
Wipe that tear out of your eye! There’s a whole host of amazing events coming up to keep Hometown your Happy Place, starting with…
TOMORROW (8/19)!! SATURDAY SINGLES RIDE
FOR SINGLE CYCLISTS, 18 AND OLDER… On Saturday, August 19th, we’ll meet at 4:30pm at the shop for a conversation-friendly, recreational road-mantic ride over the well-loved roads of Island Lake. (Crummy weather? No problem! We’ll switch it to movie night at the shop!) We’re manning this “no drop” ride with (single!) Team members and Hometown crew. Be sure to pack a lawn chair and beverage for a post-ride, campfire, singles mingle behind the shop!
Details can be found HERE. Please be sure to share our Facebook event with all of your single friends – the more cyclists who come, the better everyone’s odds!
(Image courtesy Steve Wortley – that’s the Mackinac Bridge a-WAYYYYYYYYYYYY in the back!)
TEAM NEWS: HOMETOWNIE ON MACKINAC ISLAND
Quick shout out to Steve Wortley, who blazed a brilliant yellow trail of Hometown glory around Mackinac Island (arguably one of my favorite places on Earth) in his Team jersey. Way to color the island Hometown, Steve!
(Image courtesy Jean Steinberg)
ORE-TO-SHORE: IS IT A RACE OR A RIDE?
Talk about entertaining! This rollicking adventure of a story from Hometown’s Ride Coordinator, Jean Steinberg, gives you a lively overview of her and her family’s Ore-to-Shore cycling exploits:
I can honestly say I have experienced racing Ore to Shore from both ends thanks to my family over the years. The scariest was dangling a water bottle out for the switch to a family member in the top 5 elite pack going a bazillion miles per hour! I’ve raced it myself and now, thanks to my sister’s bucket list, I’ve “ridden” the race.
In January, we all got the invitation that we WOULD be registering for the Ore to Shore race in honor of Lynn’s 50th birthday (and living daily with MS) – it seemed like a good idea in winter from Arizona. Our husbands and a friend accepted the invite and the planning began. Camp in Marquette’s Tourist Park, ride Marquette North, Marquette South and then Valley Spur or Hanson Hills depending on weather or time. Don’t forget the bike ride to Donker’s in town for candy and ice cream! A race was a reason to explore on the bikes.
In the end, it was the most wonderful race we’ve ever ridden! No real rush to hammer down breakfast, let the stress get to your stomach and watch the heart rate elevate before even taking the first pedal stroke! We took time for pre-ride photos in front of the water and then found a place near the back of the start. Our party of 5 realized from the early miles that people must participate not just for the podium, but just because they can.
We got log-jammed as the broad range of people came to narrower paths and the riding skill levels became apparent. Didn’t matter to us – we weren’t racing the clock, just checking off the bucket list item. The climbs were still climbs, but there was time to breath in the beauty of the surroundings. At this pace, they weren’t a mere blur! There were bikes stopped on the side for mechanicals and people stopped on the side to recover from the climbs. A unique aid station – water, bananas and Coor’s Light! And then there was the guy who’s bike just needed to be shot and put out of it’s misery – that derailleur was totally shot! Another impatient rider 
decided the slower single passage right of the HUGE mud swamp wasn’t the only way around – he blazed left into the water and all I heard was pedal, pedal . . . and then a big splash! I smiled.
We did encounter racing speeds down the steep two-tracks and thankfully bounded in the correct direction after encountering the slick rocks at that speed. We passed and were passed as time ticked by. As we hit the end of the trail and headed out the two-track to the pavement, the pace increased a bit – kind of like the horse headed back to the stable (my sister’s signature move). As we rounded the last curve before the finish, we were all where we needed to be – we heard the announcer proclaim “Synchronized Team Racing, 2nd place finishers”. We were perfectly spaced, 5 wide, with the Birthday Girl in the center!
AMY’S BLOG: AUGUST 18, 2017
Every week, Hometown’s Amy Gluck – former All-American IRONMAN triathlete, survivor of a horrific accident, and now ferociously determined to return to IRONMAN – shares a piece of her ongoing story. In the latter half of this week’s blog, Amy gets real with an inside look into the mind of a top-tier, to-the-core athlete… and it’s not what you’d expect!:
… people ask me “what do you think about while you’re doing your long, solo runs and rides?” That’s a tough question to answer. I’ve honestly had so much trouble concentrating on the bike in an Ironman, I’ve actually started singing the alphabet to distract my mind! Usually, the best thing to do is… READ ON
Amy’s full blogs are posted HERE on our website.
(Images courtesy Joel Rushlow)
MEET YOUR CREW: JOEL RUSHLOW
Joel is our newest crew member, but has been a regular of our group rides for some time now. He’s hard-working and undeniably passionate about the sport of cycling. You won’t want to miss his write-up on his solo bike expedition (see section below)! As Joel says it:
I’m not sure why I continue to love cycling, or even what made me want to start coming to group rides, but what I do know is how I got into bikes. I got my first new bike in spring of 2016, it was a heavy hybrid, I rode it every day all summer, until I decided that I wanted another bike. My next bike was a Lemond, I rode it every day and as I rode it, the more I got to love it.
After a while, I decided to go for a group ride, so I went to Hometown for the Wednesday night [Hammerfest] ride. I got dropped so quickly, I never thought that there were people that fast locally. That is where my love for bikes accelerated. I began doing hill repeats and eventually, I got fast enough to go on the “Son of Hammerfest”, and I continue to go on these rides whenever I can. I am always thinking about where my next ride is going to be, or what bike I’m getting next, or how I can get faster on the road.
JOEL’S BIKE TRIP TO THE “THUMB”
Now that you’ve met Joel, you’ll enjoy his story about last weekend’s cycling adventure – where this intrepid teen traversed the state on a solo bike trip to Port Sanilac, MI:
As a road bicyclist, I have always dreamt of doing a large ride, and when I heard of the DALMAC, I was very interested. However, being a minor from a family that”s not into bikes, I did not have an adult to accompany me. When registration closed, I quickly realized that I would not able to do this this year, so I decided that since we were going to my uncle’s cottage in Port Sanilac, I may as well ride there. So I did exactly that, I packed my bags and rode my bike 27 miles to a family member’s house in Linden, so I could sleep there for a night then head to Port Sanilac the next day.
Despite a flat tire and a brake problem on the first day, and getting lost in a bad area the second day, the trip was great. I was 3 miles away from the cottage when it got dark, so I continued my ride until I got there. Nearly every road I was on, I stayed on for at least 10 miles as that is the kind of riding that I enjoy; not too many turns, no bike paths, and not too populated. However, during this ride, being that it was 105 miles, I was just wanting the next turn to come and 
I was ready to be off of the busy roads and away from the smelly farms. By the end, my legs were surprisingly okay. They were stiff but I stretched before I went to bed and they were fine for the jet skis the next day.
Flying home was probably one of the best parts of the weekend. We flew by Lake Huron and by the time we were 15 minutes in, we saw Canada on the other side of the lake.
The ride turned out to be 132.8 miles from both days, 27.0 the first and 105.8 the next. I will definitely be doing this again when I have the opportunity, and hopefully, I will be doing even bigger tours in the future.
(Images courtesy Joel Rushlow)
OPTIMIZING OPTIMISM WITH THE OPTIMISTS
Everybody loves a little recognition for a job well done – but you can’t top the Brighton Optimist Club for smiling and sincere appreciation!! We got the plaque for helping rock the 4th of July Kids Bike Decorating Contest and Parade, but we should have given the Optimists one for letting us be a part of something so fun with such an amazing group of big-hearted locals!!
Special thanks to President-Elect, Gary London (pictured at right), for giving us the reins and encouraging us to do something awesome. Can’t wait ’til next year, Gary!
POSES, PEDALS & PINTS: FALL EDITION
The uber-successful yoga-bike-beer event that we supported this past Spring has been resurrected for a round 2 on Saturday, September 30th.
Based out of Downtown Brighton’s beautiful Brewery Becker, this event opens with beginner-friendly yoga, courtesy of event coordinator Tocca Massage & Yoga, follows up with a scenic and recreational bike ride with Hometown Bicycles (new route!), and ends with a long, cool pull from the taps of Brewery Becker.
Registration is limited to 50, so sign up NOW!
REGISTER NOW FOR POSES, PEDALS & PINTS – FALL EDITION
HOMETOWN BICYCLES UPCOMING SHOP RIDES
SATURDAY – NO TOUR DE LIVINGSTON PREP RIDE THIS WEEK (8/19)
JOIN US INSTEAD FOR THE DOC MAY MEMORIAL MELON RIDE!
Details can be found HERE.
**NEW POP-UP RIDE!** SATURDAY SINGLES ROAD RIDE (8/19)
RAIN OR SHINE! If it rains, we’ll simply switch to movie night at the shop!
4:45PM (arrive at 4:15 to meet your fellow singles!) from Hometown Bicycles
This ride is all about making connections, so we’re keeping it conversation-friendly with a recreational road ride leaving from Hometown Bicycles, and traveling over the well-loved roads of Island Lake. Expect approx. 14 miles round trip at a 10mph pace. All bikes welcome. We’ll have this ride well-staffed by (single!) Team members and Hometown crew, so no one will get left behind. (NO DROP RIDE!)
Pack a lawn chair and beverage for a post-ride, campfire, singles mingle behind the shop. We’ll keep the shop open for helmet-hair damage control and calls of nature. MUST BE SINGLE & OVER 18 TO PARTICIPATE. Be sure to follow our Facebook event page for ride updates and weather-related info.
SUNDAY HARTLAND GRAVEL GRINDER (8/20)
9:00AM (meet at 8:45) from Hartland Township Hall
We’re up to nearly 36 miles with approx. 2,000′ of climb (which, for MI, is a TON of climb!) on beautiful and EXTREMELY hilly country roads (and limited pavement) – all with wonderful ride companions! This is an intermediate/advanced ride (check out Tuesday’s Gravel Grinding 101 for a less grueling option.) Expect several long, tough climbs at a MINIMUM 14-15 MPH pace. Cross/Gravel, Mountain, and Fat bikes are welcome. Meet in the lower parking lot (turn right once in the drive) 2655 Clark Rd, Hartland, MI 48353.Click here for this Facebook event.
SUNDAY EXPLORING TRAILS MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE (8/20)
4:30PM (meet at 4:15) from Hometown Bicycles
This is a Beginner Friendly mountain bike trail ride which will encourage riders to visit new trails as their skill level increases. This week, we’ll be exploring 9 – 15 miles of the Island Lake Mountain Bike trails. Save 1.5 hours of your day to ride with the Hometown crew. All levels of riders are welcome – NO DROP RIDE. Mountain and Fat Bikes are encouraged to join this ride. You can find this Facebook event here.
MONDAY BEGINNER FRIENDLY ROAD RIDE (8/21)
Sponsored by Pro-Motion Physical Therapy
6:30PM (meet at 6:15) from Hometown Bicycles
Come join the Hometown Bicycles crew for this NO DROP ride. Road bikes only please. We’ll ride Island Lake roads to the well-known “Green Dumpster” and back – approx 12 – 15 miles. Those ready for more will group up to take on more mileage! Expect a 12 – 17+ mph pace to accommodate riders’ skill levels. All levels are welcome – we’ll split into groups according to experience and speed, with a sweep to bring up the rear. Stay tuned to Facebook for ride updates!
Please make sure you have some experience riding the bike you bring to this ride and are comfortable with the way it handles, including basic shifting and braking, for the safety of all. Beyond that, our friendly ride support are delighted to share tips on how to make the hills easier and the flats faster – just ask!
**NEW-ISH RIDE!** TUESDAY WOMEN’S ROAD RIDE (8/22)
6:30PM (meet at 6:15) from Hometown Bicycles
Ladies, this one’s just for you! This weekly, women-only road ride is for gals of all ability levels. We’ll ride the well-known “green dumpster” loop at Island Lake – about 14 miles of road – at a conversational, 11+mph pace. Road bikes recommended, NO DROP RIDE. Afterward, relax, connect, and rehydrate at a behind-the-shop, BYOB bonfire with your new cycling buddies! Stay tuned to our Facebook events page for ride/weather updates.
TUESDAY GRAVEL GRINDING 101 WITH ‘CYCLODAN’ TRIBBLE (8/22)
6:30PM (meet at 6:15) from Hometown Bicycles
Join Hometown service guru, Dan ‘CycloDan’ Tribble, for this unique, gravel grinding adventure ride. **It’s time to start bringing lights!!** We’ll tackle road, singletrack, and gravel, including portions of Island Lake, hopping a guardrail, sand “puddles”, and a few hills just for fun! Plan for just over an hour, covering 13+ miles at a 12 – 13 mph average pace. Gravel, adventure, or mountain/fat bikes required (not appropriate for skinny tires). All levels of riders are welcome – NO DROP RIDE. Check here for ride updates.
WEDNESDAY HAMMERFEST (8/23)
This is a DROP RIDE!
6:30PM (meet at 6:15) from Hometown Bicycles
HAMMERFEST:
Bring your “A” game, and see if you can stay on this crazy train of talented individuals as they push each other to find new limits. You’ll want the fastest road bike you own, as the pace averages 20 mph through 2 laps (40 miles) of Island Lake roads. Expect the flats pace to range 24 – 28 mph! Check Facebook for ride updates.
SON OF HAMMERFEST:
**For those that would like to build up to the original Hammerfest** Also rolling at 6:30 from Hometown Bicycles, this ride includes 25 miles (1 lap of ILRA & the Kensington Loop). Average pace targeted at 17 – 18 mph, with flats of 20+ mph.
WEDNESDAY SLOW ROLL (8/23)
6:30PM (meet at 6:15) from Hometown Bicycles
6:30PM (meet at 6:15) from Hometown Bicycles
Dial it back on this social, slow paced road ride (~ 8-10 mph). If you have a need-for-speed, this is NOT the ride for you! Bring your cruiser or whatever you like as we Slow Roll down sidewalks and streets. Expect to cross Grand River, possibly a couple climbs/descents, and beautiful park landscape. May not be suitable for young, unseasoned kids. Parents, please decide what is safe for your family, as there are no lights or designated crosswalks for Grand River or Academy. This is a NO DROP ride. Check HERE for ride updates.
THURSDAY SOCIAL MORNING ROAD RIDE (8/24)
9:00AM (meet at 8:45) from Hometown Bicycles
This conversational morning ride will find us exploring Island Lake’s beautiful park roads. The plan this week is to ride 1-1.5 hours at a 10 mph average pace. Ride whatever bike will work for the pace and your desired exercise level. This is a NO DROP ride. Check Facebook for ride confirmation/changes due to weather.
For ALL SHOP RIDES, be sure to FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK for ride confirmations and updates!
(Photo cred: Yoga pic at left courtesy Ashley Knuth of Tocca Massage & Yoga)
FITNESS CLASSES AT HOMETOWN
Hey, Hometownies! Mark your calendars for these fantastic fitness programs running right here at your favorite bike shop:
CARDIO DRUMMING | Tuesdays & Wednesdays at 6:45PM
$5 class fee / $5 equipment rental – With Martha Soraruf
Click to learn more
DYNAMIC YOGA | Fridays – August 4, 11 & 18 at 9AM
$10 drop in – With Ashley Knuth of Tocca Massage & Yoga
Click to learn more
ZUMBA | Mondays at 6PM & Thursdays at 9:30AM
$8 drop in or “10 classes for $50” punch card – With Leslie Barrett
Click to learn more
Happiness is the highest form of health.
– Dalai Lama
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