Moab Century and TNT

[Jen12]

Has anyone done the Moab Century Tour? I just got a flyer from Team in Training, and it looks as if they're doing that one and the Cool Breeze in Ventura this season. I'm going to go to their info session and find out more, but of the two Moab looks much more picturesque, although since I live in So Cal, Ventura would probably be a lower fundrasing requirement.

Has anyone done any rides with TNT? How was the experience?

[BikeDutchess]

I have ridden in the Moab Century, but the routes were different that year. It looks like this year, the metric includes "Big Nasty" La Sal, while the full century includes the ride to Dead Horse Point (which is gorgeous with manageable climbing) and a spur along the River Portal. I did the Dead Horse Point ride during this spring's Skinny Tire Festival and loved it. I don't know that I would have had enough legs in me to add the River Portal spur (even though it's flat) but I'm not that strong of a rider (plus I still had winter legs). Did you check out their website yet? It has a nice video where you can see the gorgeous scenery.

http://skinnytireevents.com/content/section/12/140/

[tangentgirl]

I did two triathlons with TNT. They are great. They provide really good, committed coaches and a training plan. Having formal workouts with a team helps keeps you focused and challenged. You meet lots of people. You get to raise money for a good, conscientious charity, and they help out there too.

It's not easy - you will definitely be committing a lot of your free time for the duration of the training. Asking people for money can be hard, but you will get a lot of ideas and support from TNT.

[sgf726]

I just did my first marathon with TNT. It was great, the coaches and support was awesome, they gave us training plans to follow, the group workouts made the long runs much easier and I met some amazing people.

[Chicken Little]

I did it last year, it was nice. Really hot, so be aware. I have to say the "Nasty" ain't much compared to some daily rides her in New Mexico, so fear not.
As far as TNT goes, I wish I could have had a better experience with them. I participated in 5 centuries last year, all of which were big events for TNT. I was not a member, and cannot speak for all of them, but they were some of the most obnoxious riders I have ever ridden with. They screamed at slower riders with me, one of which was a cancer survivor and who's chemo made it difficult for her to judge distance, and were course bully's. I know it's a good cause, but these boys acted like they were Lance, which they weren't. What a bunch of posers.

I know I'm going to get a bunch of flack on this...

[tangentgirl]

No flack here, Chicken Little. You're just sayin what you saw. Just because someone raised money for cancer research doesn't mean they aren't capable of being a total dbag. Sucks that they were like that.

Most of the TNT folks I've known and seen racing/riding are supportive...and super enthusiastic. Sometimes a bit over the top. In a good way, but there is that element to some teams. It just depends on the group you get.

[aronan]

I recently finished the winter season with TNT in the SF Bay Area. We rode the Solvang Century last month. I had a great experience, both with the training and with the people involved. I plan to do it again in a year or two.

Although I had ridden some about a dozen years ago, completing a pretty flat 100K at that time, I had not ridden nor done much else in the way of exercise other than walking since then. TNT got me from semi-couch-potato to long-distance rider in 4 months. Great support, coaches and assistant coaches with lots of enthusiasm and willingess to help slow riders reach big goals, and to help more experienced riders greatly improve their speed, techniques, etc.

It involves a lot of time: it was pretty much all day every Saturday for me, along with at least one other ride and a couple of spinning classes each week. Some people skipped some of the group training rides, but I figured I would need every one to reach my goal of 100 miles. The time spent fund-raising adds up too: lots of letters and emails to write.

As to less than well behaved riders, our coaches actually warned us about this. They were very big on following rules of riding safety and etiquette, and just general politeness to other riders. But they told us that not all riders or all TNT groups had that same emphasis.

anne in oakland

[Jen12]

I did it last year, it was nice. Really hot, so be aware. I have to say the "Nasty" ain't much compared to some daily rides her in New Mexico, so fear not.
As far as TNT goes, I wish I could have had a better experience with them. I participated in 5 centuries last year, all of which were big events for TNT. I was not a member, and cannot speak for all of them, but they were some of the most obnoxious riders I have ever ridden with. They screamed at slower riders with me, one of which was a cancer survivor and who's chemo made it difficult for her to judge distance, and were course bully's. I know it's a good cause, but these boys acted like they were Lance, which they weren't. What a bunch of posers.

I know I'm going to get a bunch of flack on this...

No flack...people are who they are, whatever colors they're wearing. Guys like that would be like that whether they were with TNT or not. I've done running events for several years now, and one of the huge criticisms I hear about TNT is that the "cheerers" on the courses only cheer for their own runners and not for anyone else. Frankly, I don't know how people can tell the difference, all I hear is yelling. I can never differentiate who it's for, but....you know...