2023 AAVC Board of Directors

KARI ALSAGER - PRESIDENT

I grew up in the triathlon scene but other sports were my primary focus. I really got into cycling when I moved to Ann Arbor in 2013. I bought a bike to commute to work, learned was a gravel/cyclecross bike and started using it to race. Since then I’ve bought a few more bikes and tried nearly every type of racing there is. I really like biking with friends, making friends on rides, and all the adventures I’ve had on two wheels. 

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BRAD HUMPHREY-STARK - EXECUTIVE VP

“Howdy! Bradley Humphrey-Stark here! Avid endurance gravel cyclist these days, but I’ve raced in road, tri, and fat bike events in the past. My wife, Lauren, and I have two orange cats, Hobbes & Zucchini; a wall of board games; and we grow a huge garden of tomatoes & spicy peppers during the summer. I’m a mechanic over at Sic Transit Cycles and have lived in Ann Arbor since 2007. Two big races on my calendar this year include Polar Roll 100 and the Moran 333, but I’ll try to get to as many of the MGRS gravel events as possible. See you out on the dirt roads! Have fun & ride safe!”

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PATRICK FORD - TREASURER

My family moved to Ann Arbor in 2020 from Boston in order to raise our toddler closer to family. These factors combined to reallocate my time from sailing, rugby, and rock climbing to various cycling disciplines (and golf). I spend most time locally on the MTB and am looking forward to participating more fully in next year’s CX season. When not cycling, I provide financial advice to life sciences companies.

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MARC EPSTEIN - SECRETARY

Howdy! I began working in bike shops after I moved to Ann Arbor in 2005 and have been so happy to be a part of the bike community ever since. I am currently the General Manager at Sic Transit Cycles and I have been looking for a chance to volunteer more with the AAVC to help it grow and make cycling more accessible for all levels of riders. I don't race much but you can find me out early mornings on the dirt roads and on all the single track in our neck of the woods and beyond.

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NICHOLAS STANKO - VP OF SPONSORSHIP

I grew up in Southeastern Michigan playing a lot of different sports, but one of my favorite things to do was riding and racing my BMX bike at the Waterford Oaks BMX Track. Throughout high school, college, and for about 10 years after college I primarily focused on distance running. As my competitive running days started to wind down, I dabbled in long-course triathlon for a few years, but quickly found out that I still love riding my bike a lot. Now as a cyclist, I enjoy riding and racing off road (gravel, cyclocross, and mountain biking). When not riding my bike you can find me running around Ann Arbor Running Company or helping to put on events for the local running and cycling community.

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LAURENS DE JONG - VP OF MEMBERSHIP

Born and raised in the Netherlands, bicycling and all facets of it are ingrained in my belief system. Really, for a Dutchman, I have a moderate amount of interest in cycling. In Michigan, that translates to being nearly obsessed with the sport. I’m glad I found the Ann Arbor Velo Club, it makes me feel a little more normal.

My son Ansel was nine years old when I realized the sport of competitive cycling would be a good fit for him. Soon after he joined the club in 2018, the then-President and Juniors coach left. I thought that if I wanted my son to have a cycling club, I needed to step up and take the positions of both President and Juniors coach. The rest, as many of you know, is history. For five years I have loved being Chair of the AAVC Board, overseeing our Juniors program grow beyond expectations, and take part in … oh, about one or two races a year. Wooden shoes preferred.

In 2023, I am incredibly excited that Kari Alsager has volunteered to Chair, and at the same time I’m excited that I can remain connected to the club and its leadership by serving as the VP of Membership. I am looking forward to getting to know every single of our nearly 400 members on a first-name basis. Allez AAVC!

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JOE MIESSNER - MEMBER AT LARGE

I’m the long-suffering, but now former, treasurer of the Club. I’m sticking around for a bit as a member-at-large and as Pat Ford’s shadow. I found my way into the club through Dawn Lovejoy, the women’s team leader when GWB was President. In other words, a long time ago. I got into road racing early on, but now prefer gravel. I also commuted by single-speed bike when my company moved to downtown Ann Arbor. Still working on N+1 bikes!

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JENNI WOLGAST - MEMBER AT LARGE

Hi I’m Jenni, my daughter and I joined AAVC a few years ago so she could ride with the juniors. I did a bit of MTB riding for fun when I was in high school and my early 20’s but running became my main focus eventually working up to ultra marathons. Pretty much on a whim I decided I wanted to do an Ironman so I got back into cycling about 5 years ago. My daughter had joined me on my running adventures so she wanted to try getting into cycling as well. We attended a kids bike clinic, saw all the juniors in AAVC jerseys and decided to look at joining. We’ve enjoyed the ride since then, literally, and can thank (or blame) the club for getting us out and trying all types of cycling we would not have otherwise considered!

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DAN APPLEDORN - MEMBER AT LARGE

My name is Dan Appledorn. I live on the west side of Ann Arbor with my wife, two wonderful children (Forsythe MS and Lakewood Elem.) and a cat. My day job consists of developing technologies for interrogating the biology of ceIls. I'm relatively new to the biking/cycling world - one of those pandemic people. I started mountain biking in the spring of 2020 and quickly realized I was headed towards serious injury. That fall, I bought a groad bike and haven’t looked back.  The following year (2021) I explored long/ultra gravel and gravel racing, last year (2022) I flipped the script and explored road racing (criteriums) in the spring and summer and cyclocross in the fall. I’ve somehow accumulated five bikes in the process. This year, I plan on going back to the dirt roads and racing the long distance MGRS (a series of gravel races). When I started this journey, I had no idea cycling had so much to offer - community, health, competition, etc. I love trying new things, overanalyzing every nuance, surprising myself, and the process of improving.

CX with Taryn

AAVC CX Scholarship winner Taryn worked hard all fall to improve her CX skills and things have really paid off for her as we head into the final MICX Series race on Sunday at CX-MAS in Ypsilanti…

Sometimes, all it takes is a little niggling guilt to motivate oneself to do something uncomfortable. For me, that guilt came in the form of a cyclocross scholarship. I know you're probably thinking this makes no sense, but hear me out.

By the time this scholarship was announced, I had overcome my reluctance to expose myself to the mental (not to mention physical) discomfort of taking on the intimidating sport of cyclocross. I'd attended CX PreX and already determined that as much as I hated each post-practice "race", I loved it in equal measure. The financially risk-averse and money-conscious part of me, however, wasn't sold.

But then, I heard about, and subsequently received (THANK YOU AAVC!) the CX scholarship, which would let me enter the whole MICX series for free. This meant that not only did I not have to feel guilty about spending money on racing, I had to feel guilty about NOT racing as much as possible. I had an incentive to race a lot and make use of the opportunity I'd been given to really try the sport out. What an opportunity it's been.

I've done three of the race days thus far. My first was the women's novice race at DICX. I'd never done a real cyclocross race before, and I think it showed for the first few laps. I was timid on the bike and embarrassingly awkward with dismounts and remounts (I still am). Once I started to settle in and get a feel for it, though, things got better. Coming from a background of long distance running, the aerobic nature of the sport, the calibration of energy expenditure, and all the gritting through tired legs were right up my alley. My goal going in had been to finish without crashing. I met this goal and ended up with a win. Then I came back for the sport race, which was exhausting but fun. And I didn't crash.

Next up was Montibeller. The course was fantastic with a single track segment in the woods and a creek crossing that had me reminiscing about cross country courses from my running days. I'd only signed up for the novice race but then regretted the decision and was allowed to sneak into the sport race last-minute.

Vet's Park followed, and I'm pretty sure it was the most technical of the courses to this point. I felt like points and pride were on the line during the novice race, so I was a real noob and dismounted before each sand pit section for fear of falling and having sandy disaster if I tried to ride through. The costume race finished off the day, and this was probably the most fun I've had on a bike in quite some time. Inspired by my tutu and leotard, I fearlessly (and incompletely) rode the sandpit each lap of that costume race. I also got beer handups, which was a totally new concept to me. Never has anyone offered me beer while in the midst of racing in a sporting event. Just goes to show how cool this sport is.

I'm planning to race CX-MAS this coming weekend. I'm worried my tires will be woefully inadequate if there's mud or snow, but I'm also approaching the race with the same philosophy I have all along: this is a chance to learn more bike handling skills and have fun competing. I'm coming to the race with a sense of gratitude for this weird sport that requires a combination of bike handling skills, technique, finesse (I have none), and just plain grit. Most importantly, I have so much gratitude for the community of people behind the sport. I've had such a wonderful time meeting and competing alongside supportive athletes who are part of a community of cyclists that week after week have made this little adventure into cyclocross a highlight of my fall.

To anyone contemplating giving cyclocross a try, I can't encourage you enough. It's unlike any other type of bike challenge I've encountered before, and there's something really tantalizing about that.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Stay safe, ride on, and keep sharing those Strava kudos.

Taryn

CX with Hollie

AAVC CX Scholarship winner Hollie got off to a great start in her first cyclocross race a few weeks ago at Crank Cross. Here’s a little more on how things went..

My first CX race was a lot of fun! The weather was chilly in the morning, and warmed up by the start of my races. Racing weather was perfect!

Prior to racing Crank Cross, I was a little nervous about bike handling and pacing during the race. In particular, I was worried about the huge hill which was integrated into the course. The sand pit and section of off-camber, downhill turns were also tough. While those sections were challenging, I was surprised how much easier handling got with every lap. Through this race experience, I gained confidence with picking lines through corners.

I loved the energy of the spectators and the athletes were all super supportive and friendly. I got bitten by the “CX bug”, and am excited to compete in more CX races in the future!!

2022 AAVC BINGO

AAVC Bingo is back for 2022!!! DOWNLOAD a copy and print it out to hang it on your fridge! Mark off squares with the date you complete them throughout the year in 2022. Members who complete a BINGO row (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) and share it on Slack or via email to info@annarborveloclub.org will receive a special prize at the end of year members meeting. #goodluck

AAVC 2022 Help Wanted

Hello! I’m Rob from the AAVC board and I’ll be the point of contact for the club’s volunteer program this year. As the year progresses, there will be lots of opportunities to support our growing club not only with your time but with your skills, passion and expertise too.

Volunteering isn’t just about doing something because you feel you have to. It’s a fantastic opportunity to give back and pay forward to our club, other members and the wider Ann Arbor cycling community.

We will need ride leaders, marshals, administrative support and a whole bunch of other help to keep the wheels turning. We know you’re busy (we are too) and that is why our goal is to make volunteering a fun, rewarding and social experience.

Please join the volunteering channel in slack as this will be the main place to find out about opportunities. As we embark on the 2022 season, please consider a commitment to helping out your club at least once this year. If everyone does that, we can support and sustain our ride and event program successfully.

We will discuss volunteering at the upcoming Spring kick-off meeting on 3/19. Hope to see you there and please email Rob to be added to the list of AAVC volunteers.

Project AAVC-22

Project AAVC-22 is the 3rd edition of a fun project we started in 2020 that helped us get through tough times where we were only riding solo. We have had many requests to keep the fun going, even as group rides return, so Ann Arbor Velo Club Missions are back in 2022! 

This year, the AAVC is again giving away gift cards from our sponsor businesses to members who participate 

Over the next few weeks in April we will be introducing weekly missions to complete while out on your rides in the Ann Arbor area. Complete the week’s mission and be entered into a raffle for a gift card to one of our amazing sponsors. 

#ridelocal #shoplocal #thankyou to all our club sponsors

REQUIREMENTS

• Must be a current 2022 AAVC member. If you are not, sign up HERE.

• Must have a Strava account and:

  1.  Have a username close to the name that you used for club sign up (so we can contact you if you are selected as a winner!)

2.  Be a member of the AAVC Strava Club (join HERE) (so you show up on the leaderboard when the we sort the Strava leaderboard to view by “club members”)

3. Set your rides visibility to viewable by “everyone” (so you show up on Strava Leaderboards! Rides viewable to “followers’ or “only you” do not appear on leaderboards) 

MISSION DETAILS

• Keep an eye out on the social media channels and AAVC Slack in April for the weekly AAVC-22 missions.

• Include the week’s Strava segment in one of your rides recorded on Strava during that week (before Sunday at 8pm), and be entered into a raffle for a gift card to one of our sponsors.

• It does NOT matter if you are the fastest or slowest for the segment. Winners are selected randomly, not based on time

EXTRA CREDIT

• Title your Strava workout “Mission AAVC-22.?”

• Use the hashtag #projectaavc22 on the social media

• Even if you don’t win, consider purchasing gift cards from our awesome sponsors

AAVC 2022 Time Trials

Time Trial Series - 2022

Details, dates and event information

What: The ‘TT Series 2022’ is a series of free events for AAVC members to compete individually against the clock on various courses in the area. Last year we had 1 course, this year we will have 4 including a gravel version! Ride an event once, ride a few or ride them all...these events are intended to be challenging, social and fun. Events are open to all AAVC members regardless of ability or experience and everyone is welcome.

When: The events will either be on a Saturday morning at 8am (2 per month). The 8am Saturday event will start on the 7th May.

All rider are required to sign the event waiver on BikeReg HERE. Each individual need to sign up only once for the whole season.

The Chelsea Course (same as 2021).

Saturday morning 8am. Event Parking is at the trail parking lot at the junction of North Territorial and the ‘52’ Chelsea - Stockbridge Road. There is ample free parking and basic restroom facilities. Same route as 2021.

The course is a clockwise loop starting and finishing just past the entrance to the parking lot on North Territorial. The Strava segment is called ‘AAVC TT #1’ and can be found here. The course is 11.46 miles in length and is challenging in nature. It can be divided into 3 segments.

1. The start to Stofer Road heading east on North Territorial. This is lumpy with a couple of challenging climbs. A good warm up will be essential as this course starts with a bang. The trail will provide a good chance to warm up rather than using North Territorial prior to the event.

2. The turn at Stofer Road gas station to the roundabout on the 52. This is the downhill section and whilst it undulates, speeds should be high.

3. The roundabout on the 52 back to the finish. This has some longish drags and descents.

All riders are required to sign the event waiver on BikeReg here. Each individual needs to sign up only once for the whole season.

Saturday morning 8am. The start is at the junction of Pines River Drive and Huron River Drive (HRD). Click here for the Strava segment called AATC TT HRD-Miller. It’s 8.31 rolling miles. Please note there is a stop sign on this course and riders must turn around on Miller - please use caution.

Head east on HRD, turn right on N Maple, turn right at the second roundabout, there is a stop sign at Miller, turn right onto Miller and go to Zeeb where you safely turn around (the road will be marked with ‘turn’), head back to the roundabout where you turn left onto N Wagner and finish before the road joins HRD.

Dates

Saturday: 5/7, 5/21, 6/4, 6/18, 7/2, 7/16, 7/30, 8/13, 8/27, 9/10, 9/24.

Rider Safety

The course is on ‘open roads’ meaning there is traffic on the course. There are no marshals present and it is each rider’s responsibility to know the course, be self supported and follow the rules of the road. This year, due to the expansion of the TT programme, depending on the course there may be left and right turns, stop signs and a 180 degree turn. Courses and time of the events have been chosen for minimal traffic.

Helmets are mandatory. Front and rear lights are strongly encouraged. Headphones are not allowed. Don’t cross the center line. Ride as far to the right as is safe to do so. Pass other riders on the left with a friendly “passing/on your left” shout. Please keep your head up at all times. Follow the road rules. On the Miller course, be sure you can make the 180 degree turn safely. On the HRD out and back course, be careful entering back onto HRD at the halfway point. On the gravel course there are 2 stop signs.

It is recommended to pre ride the courses so riders are familiar with the route, turns and other features.

Timing

There is no official timekeeper for these events. Timing will be based on the Strava segment.

Riders will start at 1 minute intervals. The 1 minute is approximate and should be at the best guess of the next rider (Remember, this is a ‘casual’ event!).

All riders MUST be part of AAVC Strava Club. All uploaded rides must be made public (which is the default setting). The title of the ride should be AAVC TT followed by the date. Different from last year. Riders should record their own time on the TT spreadsheet. This will be based on honesty and times of riders will be randomly checked to ensure accuracy. You MUST note on the spreadsheet if you rode the Eddy Merckx category. Here are the rules for Eddy Merckx.

The following items are prohibited for the Eddie Merckx event:

1. Time Trial Bikes

2. Aero Frames builded for TT bikes with all flat tubes (airfoil look) adapted to be a road bike.

3. Fixed Gears

4. Disc Wheels

5. Aero/TT helmets

6. Face Shields

7. Skinsuits (You must wear separate bib and jersey)

8. Shoe covers

9. Wheel rims deeper than 58mm (404 Zipp race wheels or less).

10. The peak of the saddle is limited to the center of a vertical plane passing through the bottom bracket spindle, in no circumstances shall the peak of the saddle extend in front of the said vertical line.

Results and Prizes

Results will be available once riders input times into the spreadsheet. Note - if times are not entered onto the spreadsheet then those times will be unavailable and therefore cannot be used for awards. Uploaded times should only be from the day of an event.

Prizes will be awarded in various categories at the end of the series. To qualify for prizes, please fill out the spreadsheet with your times.

FAQs

1. Do I need to be a member of AAVC? YES. Buy membership here. Membership is not sold at the events.

2. Can I ride any bike? YES. As long as it’s roadworthy and safe.

3. Does that include tandems? YES. And mountain bikes and unicycles.

4. What if I have a problem on the course? All riders should be self supported using a bike

   in good working order. If you ‘can’t get home’ then please ensure you are carrying a

   phone and have a way of contacting someone for assistance.

5. Can I draft during the event? NO. Drafting is considered within 5 bike lengths for 15

   seconds or more. This is a free, club event so nobody is going to enforce this rule. Just

   don’t do it, it’s not cool.

6. What if it’s raining? We ride, rain or shine. Only severe weather conditions will cancel

   the event. Event cancellation will be posted on Slack prior to the event.

7. Communication for this event will be on the #time-trials channel on Slack.

8. How do I sign up for an event? Unlike 2021, you don’t need to! Just turn up and ride.

   Events will be posted in Slack with the ‘Going’ or ‘Maybe’ badge.

9. What time should I arrive for the event? Saturday morning rides start at 8am,

   Wednesday evening rides start at 6pm. A warm up is suggested prior to your ride.

10. What do I do when I arrive? Get warmed up! There is no official start order. You can

depart whenever you wish, leaving at least 1 minute between riders.
11. I’ve never ridden a time trial before! No worries. Neither have a lot of people. It’s not

as daunting as you may think. It’s just rider versus the clock and the competition is yourself. AAVC are a friendly bunch and there will be folks to help those new or unsure. Just turn up, get involved and give it your best shot. Everyone is welcome!

12. Who should I connect with if I have questions? You can reach out to Rob Noble on Slack via the #time-trial channel or a direct message.

13. Here is the link again for the BikeReg event waiver. All riders must sign this. click here