Wed

Hey Comp Edge world, what,s up? Shout out to Scott for hooking me up with blogger thing! It's almost as fun as riding my bike!?!?! Anyway, hope all you all are doing well, I'm sure everyones glad to see spring showing it's true colors. Managed to get a few miles in tonight with the grandson....he's a little ripper! His Mim (not mom) is training him well! Looking forward to Sunday, it's the big NYC ride....But before that, there's the rest of the week to figure out. I'm thinking Mountain Bikes at Greyville tomorrow after work. Any interest call or text me...(860)989-6552

Peace.

J E F F

GROUP RIDES START NEXT WEEK!

Good morning everyone!

First off, the group rides are about to start up again. Next Monday (May 2nd) is the official first ride of the season. We are going to be continuing the Monday rides from the East Longmeadow shop(A&B Groups). We will also be adding a women's specific road ride(No Drop) on Wednesdays, as well as a group ride leaving the Hadley shop on Wednesdays(A&B Groups). Thursdays will still be our mountain bike group rides(No Drop). We'll be starting at Robinson State Park & moving all over western mass throughout the season.

We will also be asking everyone who will be riding on the group rides to sign a waiver(DOWNLOAD IT HERE) and bring it with you on your first ride.

We have a lot of great stuff in the works for this season, but it all starts with making sure that everyone is an official member of the club. What does that mean? How do you sign up? Does it cost anything? Here are the details:

CEC Club Membership Details:
1. Cost of membership will be $30
2. You will be able to sign up for memberships starting on May 1st
3. Please visit your local shop to sign up
4. Membership benefits are as follows:
• 25% OFF: Competitive Edge Cycling Branded Gear
• 20% OFF: Cycling Accessories & Apparel
• 10% OFF: Complete Bikes, Frames & Forks
5. Memberships will expire on February 28th 2012..which means that your benefits will take you throughout the entire season and beyond

What else do we have up our sleeves? Well...let's just say PLENTY!!!! We have brand new CEC kits on the way, t-shirts, stickers, water bottles, demos, trips, events and so much more it will blow your minds!!!!

In addition, we will be having a CEC Club intro night at the East Longmeadow shop within the next couple of weeks. We are waiting for the new kits to come in and we want to tie the club intro night to the release of the kits so that CEC Club members will get first dibs on the new gear. On that night, we'll all get together to chat about the season, sign people up for the club, have some food and drinks and just have a great time. Stay tuned to the blog for the final date and time. I will also be emailing everyone as soon as we know, so make sure you're on the email list.

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I also want to congratulate CEC team rider and ambassador Jen Audia (on the left) on her amazing 1st place win in the second stop of the Route 66 mountain bike series. Jen and her husband Nathan (CEC Team Rider) braved the elements and went out to race in the rain and mud. Nathan raced the single speed category and managed to hold strong coming in 5th in his race. All I can say is CONGRATS to Jen and Nathan. You guys are amazing and thanks for holding it down for the CEC crew!

-Scott

HAPPY EASTER!!

Morning Everyone! I just wanted to wish you all a happy and safe Easter. Hopefully you'll be able to enjoy a little time in the saddle.

While sipping my coffee, I was reminiscing about a ride we went on the other day. The CEC ambassadors and myself went out for a nice 32 mile loop from the East Longmeadow shop and we managed to climb every hill that we could find along the way. Anyway...the point of my story is this....

CEC rider and East Longmeadow employee Rick Hartman absolutely MURDERED the climbs! It was impressive to watch. I'm not 100% sure what he was doing over the winter, but he is riding the strongest that I have ever seen. Now if any of you know Rick or his dad Jim, you know that the Hartman clan are some of the best bike riders in western Mass. So, it was no surprise that Rick was riding as strong as he was. However, he did have a pretty nice looking machine underneath him. He is riding the new Felt AR3. It's a pretty awesome looking bike, but it has got some serious technology built into it as well. Check out this video from Felt talking about the bike that is helping Rick make us all look like fools! HAHA!



Now swing on by the shop and check them out for yourselves.

-Scott

Something for a rainy day...

Well, it's pouring out & that means no bike ride today. So instead, I did what every bike rider should be doing...

1. I woke up and made a pot of coffee
2. Went online to look at bike parts...started drooling
3. breakfast
4. went to the bike shop and ordered said parts
5. came home and read Velo News

Anyway, here's an oldie but a goodie to pass the rainy day away.



Enjoy! It's a funny one.

-Scott

Route66 XC Race Series: Stop #1

This past weekend a couple of the CEC crew went to Farmington, CT to race the first stop of the Route 66 Mountain Bike Series.



Royce was looking pretty muddy, which is always a sign that you are having a great ride!

And our very own Jeff Landry MURDERED his category and finished first with about a 5 minute lead. Yup..FIVE MINUTES! Don't worry, he didn't sandbag on purpose. This was his first mountain bike race. We already gave him a ton of crap, so he will definitely be moving up a cat or two before his next race. Either way, feel free to bust on him a little...he can take it! HAHA!!! GREAT JOB, JEFF!!!!!



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On a side note, here's what's coming up...

We will be most likely having our CEC Club Kick-Off Meeting on Sunday, May 1st. Stay tuned to the blog for all the details.

I just talked to Sean and it looks like we are going to organize a Felt/CEC event in conjunction with the D2R2. We'll keep everyone posted with the details.

The roads are finally getting better & the woods have been pretty amazing, so get out there and ride! See everyone out there!

-Scott

CEC Mountain Bike Ride: Saturday April 9th

let's start with this photo...

what we have here is CEC ambassador Jeff Landry's front chain rings. You can see from the photo that Jeff has gathered a wonderful collection of mud, dirt, leaves, sticks and whatever else he managed to pick up. Keep in mind that this is BEFORE our ride. All I can say is that there is something to be said about riding so much that you don't even have time to clean your bike (or at least pick out the shrapnel from around your chain).

So, this Monday is Nathan's birthday. To celebrate, we went to Nathan's old stomping grounds in Burlington, CT for some mountain bike adventure. Needless to say, it was nothing short of an adventure. This is how the ride started...

Yup...that right. NO MOUNTAIN BIKING! Apparently, it is illegal to ride your mountain bike on the mountain bike trails. HA!! Well, we went into the woods anyway. I think we managed to pedal about a tenth of a mile before we came across our first obstacle...clear cutting! There were downed trees, tank treads, etc. It was a mess. But we wanted to keep moving, so we started walking. We walked for about a quarter of a mile uphill until we popped out into someone's backyard.

We pedaled down this road until we ran into some nice people that pointed us in the direction of the trails. Thankfully, we got into those trails and it was on!! They were awesome! It was a mix of the fast flowing trails of Robinson & the rocky technical sections at Bachelor St. We had such a great time!

Nathan was riding his new rigid single speed 29er. HE KILLED IT!!! I can honestly say that I haven't seen very many people that can ride a bike as well as he did. It was a pleasure to watch!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN!!!!!

Here's our route...


-Scott