This weeks’ MCC Cross Clinics will move from Ridge Point Church to Ransom Park on Holland’s northside. With the rains likely to make Ridge Point Church grounds a muddy mess, we will move to Ransom Park. Ransom Park is located just east of 168th St. on Ransom Street in Park Township, on Holland’s northside. The park offers a large, flat grassy field to practice getting over barriers along with a short trail through the woods where we will offer additional barriers training and a run-up section to practice on. This weeks’ training course will include various riding surfaces including grass, pavement and dirt. See you Thursday evening, 6:00pm at Ransom Park.
Tom Ayres
Looking for ways to extend your riding season into the cold weather months? One of the best ways we know is to cyclocross. For those of you unfamiliar with this sport, cyclocross is kind of a steeple chase for bicycles. Sound fun and interesting? Well, the MCC has gathered together some club members who are veterans of the local cyclocross racing scene to help introduce fellow club members to this unique sport through weekly MCC sponsored cyclocross clinics. Here are the details:
What: MCC Cyclocross Clinics
When: Every Thursday evening, September 25-October 23
Where: Ridge Point Church, 340 104th Ave, in Holland
What time: 6:00pm until dark
Our cyclocross experts will be on-site to answer all of your cyclocross questions, demonstrate techniques for properly dismounting and remounting your bike, show you how to get over barriers, and offer advice on ways to safely navigate difficult terrain. So here’s your chance to get in on this fast growing form of cycling. See you next Thursday night at Ridge Point Church!
Tom Ayres
This has been a great year for the MNR and we would like to thank all those who joined MCC’s most popular weekly ride. The MNR will continue through September until the last Monday in October which is Oct. 27.
The start time will be 6:30 p.m. Distance will be determined by groups and when the sun sets. The idea is to have all riders in the parking lot shortly before or after the sun goes down. As of Sept. 1 the sun set is 8:18 pm, Sept. 30 7:27 pm.
Please wear or mount blinking lights. They’re inexpensive and could save your life. The more we have the safer the group.
Usually the Hutchin’s Lake group turns at 126th Ave. and the Sport group cuts off at Old Allegan Road and adds some miles on the north side of the Kalamazoo River. The Tour group will also shorten their route, TBA.
Some frequently asked questions:
Didn’t the MNR use the Daylight Savings time schedule before?
Yes, in years past we used the Daylight Savings Time dates for the start and finish of the MNR. But, since the Federal Government has added weeks to that and is now earlier and later in the year, we switched to the end of October instead.
Why not move the start time earlier so we can keep riding the same routes?
Done in years past, but we switched to one start time to keeps things simple. Start time is 6:30 pm for the first group. As someone said last week, “If you want more miles, do them before the ride.”
What about poor weather?
How do I know the ride is on or canceled? The MNR is only canceled if the there is an official Severe Thunderstorm Warning in effect for Ottawa or Allegan county at 4:00 pm and continues until through the MNR ride time. We will try and post this to the MCC website and send out an e-mail. Sometimes we might not be able to do this so please pay attention if poor weather conditions exist. Otherwise the MNR continues even if the weather is raining/windy/cold or any combination of the three. Show up and see what other brave souls will ride with you into a gusty wind with sleets of rain.
Marshall