After more than three weeks into the challenge (and the weather is certainly making this challenging), Gordon Dinsdale has edged out Danni Mestaz, both in miles completed and percent complete. But not by much; with identical mileage goals, 500 miles each, Gordon has logged 412 miles and Danni is on his rear tire at 374 miles. And not far behind them, David Goldsmith has logged 328 miles.

The miles champion for one day goes to Larry L’Italien, with 103.8 miles, with William Bir in second with 100.4 miles. Congratulations to you both, centuries completed in March!

Gordon has also rode the most days, 19 days out of 22.

Other stats:
1993 miles have been ridden so far.
The two biggest days are Saturday the 5th with 438 miles, and Saturday the 12th with 426 miles.

We’ve raised $149 towards our goal of $290.

It still not too late to sign up! Just go to http://dssf.org/dssf_html/sc and enter your first and last name, and the password [ask us], and then you can retroactively enter your miles of the month.

Happy riding!

…are in!

Doug rode the most miles in March, with 703 miles, followed by Larry (483) and David Gaus (417).

David Goldsmith smashed his goal by more than 50%. Doug, Will and David all exceeded their goal. Larry, David Stouffer and Evan came very close!

For the second year in a row, Larry lead the most days of riding, with 12 days, followed by Doug (11) and David Stouffer (10).

The biggest day was March 21 with an impressive 385 miles, even more so since it didn’t include a double century!

Everyone who joined the challenge and rode during the month is a winner! Overall we completed 3,158 miles of the 3,340 total mileage goal with $320 raised for Project Inform by 10 participants!

Those who pledged money for Project Inform can send your check to the club PO box and they will be send in on the club’s behalf, in memory of Ron Wilmont.

Thanks to all who participated in this year’s Saddle Challenge. Great job everyone!

So now it’s the end of the third week of the 2009 Saddle Challenge  (SC) and with 13 riders register now, we’re making progress. To be on target, those participating should be 71% complete.

Cameron has logged an impressive 93.5% of his goal miles, taking the lead, by percentage complete. Close on his heels are Doug (76.8%), and then the three DGs, David Goldsmith at (74.2%), myself (74.1%) and Dave Glidden (68%).

Larry is the high mileage leader with 549+ miles logged to date. He is followed by Cameron (421 miles), Doug (384 miles), myself (296 miles) and David Goldsmith (223 miles).

Larry has also logged miles 18 out of 21 days!

Thomas, who just started riding a road bike with clipless pedals last month, has logged 204 miles!  Congratulations Thomas!

So far, 2,777 miles (52%) have been logged, our SC goal is 5,250 miles, despite some rainy days, we’re still within reach of making our goal!!

And the early forecast for this coming weekend looks good for getting some more saddle time in! Yes, I know that they also said that for this weekend too! ;-(

This coming Saturday brings two options on the Ride Calendar. Join Steph, Nancy and Alfred for the Century Prep Ride #2 — Cinderella Here We Come a nice 52 miles East  Bay ride accessible by BART. Or for the more adventurous, join Joseph for the Marshall Wall, 105 beautiful but challenging miles in Marin.

Check the DSSF website for more details:
http://dssf.org/dssf_html/calendar/calendar.php

Next update will be after the 31st!

But what is this Saddle Challenge, you ask?

The Saddle Challenge is an annual Different Spokes event, where each March we challenge each other to get out on our bikes and get some time in the saddle!

So choose a goal, for example, 25 miles per week x 4 weeks. Whatever you feel comfortable with, no goal it to small or too big, it’s your goal after all.

This is also a way for members to also (optionally) raise money for Project Inform. You can choose a per mile pledge or a lump sum figure. At the end of the month, we will ask those members who did pledge to mail their checks (made out to Project Inform) to the DSSF post office box, so we can send all money raised on behalf of Different Spokes?

Why? Because a long time member, Ron Wilmot, started the Ron Wilmot Ride for Project Inform, a fundraising event that no longer happens, but we continue to do our part each March. Again, the pledge portion is entirely optional!

So let’s challenge each other to get ourselves into shape, and have fun! Time to dust of that bike that’s been in the garage all winter, lube up the chain, pump up the tires and enjoy!

How do you sign up?

Go to DSSF home page and under Upcoming Events, click on The Saddle Challenge is on!

Just enter your First and Last name and the password (SC2009) to register, then enter your goal mileage, and optionally your per mile or lump sum pledge. Then log in after you ride (make sure you use the same name every time you log in), and choose thh date and enter the mileage. Try and get the mileage entered by each Sunday. I will be posting a weekly update here and on the DSSF Yahoo! Group.

–Let’s Ride!