No more excuses. Register today so we can get an accurate shirt count for Margarita Ride VIII on September 12th.
Details and registration at http://www.margaritaride.org.
Credit Cards now accepted through Google Checkout!
The simplified Margarita Ride information:
When: September 12, 2009
Why: Because you love to ride and we love to support the MS Society.
Online Registration: http://www.margaritaride.org
Registration Deadline: August 25th, 2009
Day of Registration Time/Packet Pickup: 0700-0800, September 12, 2009
Ride Time: 0800-????
Start Place: Eagles Club,114 W Main St, Vermillion, SD 57069 (across from Court House)
Afterwards: A full Mexican buffet and a tasty margarita!
More Margarita Ride Info to follow!
Vote early, vote often for the t-shirt design you think should represent the 2009 Margarita Ride on September 12 (voting on the right side pane). Also, in the comments section, a few of us have been talking about the plethora of t-shirts we own and have talked about making cycling socks for the event in years to come. What do you think? Is the t-shirt just too classic or would you rather have cycling socks with a cool Margarita Ride logo?
This is going to be a short recap of Saturday's ride with more details to come later.
I rolled out of bed at 5:30 to the sound of a pretty steady rain. Not good. I went straight to the TV to the digital weather station which kindly showed that there was no rain in the area. Hmmmm...must be my imagination then. The wonderful world of the internet showed such little in the way of radar echos that there seemed no way it should be raining this hard. As I loaded Fordzilla the rain started to lighten up.
By the time I hit Pro's, the rain had become more of a heavy mist than rain, but still annoying nonetheless. We had 104 registered going into the day, and although I haven't touched the papers since getting home, I think we registered 28 day of the ride. We had a few no shows, but I think we were right at 130 riders.
We added a 75 mile loop this year, but due to the weather we only had about five takers on that route, which was probably good due to some nasty chip seal that was happening on Hwy 19 from Centerville south to Vermillion. The 45 milers hit it as well, but the sweeper had knocked a good deal of it off the road for that group.
It was different being on the SAG/Support side instead of riding. There were a few people that I want to yell out my window and say "SHIFT UP!!!!!!!" as they pounded along at about 50-60 RPM's. It was painful for me to watch. Other than that, everybody seemed to be doing great, the temp was right and there was literally NO wind during the ride. That in itself is a minor miracle for the plains of South Dakota.
Many recaps from other bloggers are out there. The Hooterville Mayor, CDV, Cathy Jo, Tez, Bald-n-Surly, all have already blogged about the ride much better than I could (especially since I didn't actually ride!).
I'll update the totals once I figure out. Early estimates, thanks to a couple very generous donations, is that we are going to have around $1300 to give to the MS Society! Thanks to all who rode and helped support the MS Society as well. Watch for potential changes next year as we continue to try to make the ride a top notch bicycling event!
The winner for Margarita Ride VII T-Shirts: Red with White Lettering
Okay, so it was as democratic as I could be without doing a whole new poll to include PINK for Cathy Jo.
WARNING: RANT AHEAD!!
We live in a rural area. Regardless of how big Sioux Falls is getting, we are a rural area. Many of us in the bicycling community are constantly traveling in the summer time on what seems like a weekly basis to each others rides. This makes for a great time, seeing fellow bicyclists often during the summer and fall.
For the most part, there seems to be an unwritten rule that if you are planning on starting a new ride that you not compete against an existing ride, especially an established ride. Last year we had an issue (and a bit of bickering) with a club close to us who discussed doing a ride on the same day. We came to an agreement and they willingly chose a different date. No blood was shed and everybody is happy because there is yet another ride to go to!
Then it happened...even against the wishes of a person I know on the ride planning committee, a new ride chose the same date in Sioux Falls. Initially I was a little upset because, as we go into our 7th year of the Margarita Ride, we have blossomed our ride into 180+ riders. All this done strictly by word of mouth as we have done no advertising for the ride at all (except an email last year that Bicycling.com sent out). The LBS's in the area all post it on their website which is a great boost for us.
The sad part is that we are both doing a ride for a great cause. The other sad part is that we are stealing riders from each others ride. Again, instead of two great rides raising money for two great causes, we are probably ending up with two 'decent' rides. I think if it was a bike club organizing the ride we could have hashed it out. But this ride is by a "big business" and seemed to not care that we have an established ride. With a friend/employee of said business on their committee and friends in the bike club that is helping them out, hopefully we can "help" them move it next year.
Disappointed...yeah you could say that. I've had time to calm down about it and we will just move on. Has anybody else ran into rides on the same day extremely close in proximity or do you feel as I do that most people will stay away from competing rides on the same date?
All that being said, sign up HERE for the most fun you can have with your clothes on!
LATE EDIT: I was asked if you HAD to keep your clothes on for the ride. There is nothing in the registration waiver relating to clothing. There ARE potential South Dakota Laws that MAY come into play however. Clothe as much or as little as you wish and enjoy!
Tonight is going to be one of commuting around town (on bike of course) hanging up flyers for the Margarita Ride. I'm going to try to get more people in the community involved this year. Should you want one of the flyers to hang up email me or leave a message in the comments and I'll get it to you.
DO NOT MISS THIS RIDE!!!!!!
It's the stuff legends are made of: Food, margaritas, and all money raised goes to the MS Society. What else could you ask for!!
Stuff on your calendar? Tough! move it to another day. THIS is worth it! Somebody getting married? Tell them how selfish they are for choosing the date that has been reserved for years by the Lane Hogs annual Margarita Ride! Send no gift either as none shall be deserved!
REGISTER NOW!!!!
Always the 2nd Saturday in September!!
Well done Ham(m)er! Check out the initial drawing HERE and mark your calendars for September 13th. Margaritas, Mexican buffet, a great ride and awesome fellowship of riders. Be there!
Saturday was the Sixth Annual Margarita Ride here in Vermillion. I'm not sure I have ever truly blogged about the Margarita Ride in detail so I'll give you a little background. Our first two rides started out from Holly S's house with mainly area cyclist/people on our listserv riding and I think the first year we had about 15 riders and the second year we had about 25. From there we moved out to the Winery for the next two years and that is where the ride really started to grow. By the time we left the Winery we had around 75 rollers. Year five (last year) seen us hit about 100 riders on the nose which was a major accomplishment for us, considering our "marketing" of the ride was pretty much exclusively word of mouth. You are now caught upon the "History of the Margarita Ride". I'm thinking that it should be a Wikipedia entry..hmm..might have to work on that.
Nine days before the ride, we ordered our shirts. At that point there were 92 riders signed up. We guaranteed a t-shirt if you signed up two weeks before the ride and we even gave five extra days on that since we didn't order until nine days before. We ordered 135 shirts to have a cushion for "day of" registrations. Well, after The Owner of Spoke-N-Sport pushed the Margarita Ride out to his list of email-ees, our numbers jumped...fast...So, our 135 shirts ran out about about 3 days prior to the ride. Since we didn't order them local, we were pretty much out of luck. There was no way to get more shirts in. Another 45 or so rollers pulled in on Saturday morning pushing our numbers over 180 for the ride. It was almost overwhelming as we really didn't plan for that many nor did we probably have adequate help. EVERYBODY who was helping did an incredible job and for the casual observer, we probably looked like we had it all together!
My 9 year old daughter Marissa rode on the Tandem with me and we did the 30 mile loop. We even rode for a bit with a lady who went to med school at USD a few years back, read about our ride and came all the way out JUST FOR OUR RIDE from Rapid City. It pays to get free pub! It was the first time Marissa has ridden 30 miles (32.01 to be exact) and now she has her sites set on riding the MS Bike Tour next summer. I think that she will be fine too!
Most people rode the 30 or 50 mile loops with a few riding the 15 mile option. Some even did the 30 and the 15 together to create their own ride. Whatever tripped their trigger, everybody seemed to have a good time, followed by margaritas and a Mexican buffet! It was a great ride for a great cause (The MS Society). As soon as I get over my "organizing the ride" hangover, I'll get the accounting side of this down. Quick math in my head tells me that we should be handing over about $1000 to the MS Society which is pretty awesome!
Mark your calendars now from now until I can't pedal a bike anymore. The Margarita Ride will ALWAYS BE THE 2nd Saturday of September. Make a recurring appointment and be there. Sign up early, you'll want this shirt too! This year's shirt had an upside down bicyclist still clipped in with the bike above them and a margarita glass to the side. The caption (of course) was: "I've fallen and I can't clip out...or reach the Margarita".
