Are we having fun yet?? 

24 hours in the Old Pueblo recap: As stated earlier we left wed. and stayed in Wichita, KS. the first night. I still felt sick on Thursday so we decided to stop in Oklahoma at a urgent care to see if I could get some medicine. We ended up stopping at a clinic in Ponca City, OK. I got some medicine and we were on our way. Our next stop was the Oklahoma City National Memorial - what a sight, so many lives lost! We continued on our way and stayed in Tucumcari, NM. that night. Friday we continued to Tucson and drove directly to the race site in the Sonoran desert near the biosphere 2. It started raining in New mexico and continued in Arizona. Friday night we checked in at the race and then checked in to our hotel. Saturday we woke up early, checked out of the hotel, picked up some groceries and headed to the race site. It was cold and raining the whole time. We set up our pit area and got ready for the noon start. I was still a little congested with a chest cold so the cold and wet wasnt helping matters. The le mans starts was wild as we had to run a 1/4 mile down a very narrow muddy road which was very slippery. I got on the bike mid pack and started my first lap. The laps start with a bunch of rolling hills which I learned were known as the "7 bitches". These were ecspecialy fun on a SS. I finished the first 16 mile lap in 1:45 and felt ok. I took a small break and took off on my other bike. The 2nd lap killed me! I felt like crap about half way through the lap. I finished the lap in about 2 1/4 hours. I deceided I needed to get out of my wet gear and put on some warm dry clothes. The nonstop rain really hurt my motivation. I took a lengthy break and headed out for my 3rd lap around 6pm with my light system on. Of course it poured most of the lap and I finished that lap in bout 2.5 hours. At this point I deceided I was gonna wait until the AM and maybe do 1 more lap so I didnt get a DNF. The constant rain and cold took its toll and we left the race site in the early AM. Alot of people left early as the conditions were tough. Sunday late AM was nice and sunny and the race ended with sun but we were already on our way back home. I learned alot during my first try at a 24 hour race. Sunday we stayed in Tombstone, AZ. and checked out all the wild wild west stuff. Monday we continued towards home and headed towards Roswell, NM. to check out the Aliens. On our way through New Mexico we got pulled over by the border patrol and they had a dog check our mini van and they asked us if we were all legal residents, after that we arrived in Roswell. It was 6pm and Presidents day so everything was closed when we got there, bummer! We ended Monday in Amarillo, TX. Tuesday we left Amarillo and drove straight through and I got home at 4am today. We had a great trip even though the race didnt go as planned!! 

Wichita, Kansas

We left at aprox. 6am today on our journey to Tucson. We wanted to travel at least 600 miles today before stopping and tonight we are staying at the Holiday Inn Select in Wichita, KS. Kraig, Mike and I are having a great time so far and plan on driving at least 600 miles tomorrow. Tonight we are going out to eat at Green Mill and maybe check out the local mall. Its starting to snow big time here, blizzard conditions, so hopefully travel will be ok tomorrow. I will update later if I can find internet access..

Misc.

I've been sick the past few days and am starting to feel better today. I gotta thank Melissa for bringing some kind of virus home from school. It was my birthday yesterday and I spent most the day in bed.

I stopped at Scott's (Cave) house today and picked up his EZ-Up so I can use it in Tucson. I am leaving Wednesday at 6am for the 27hr car ride. Aside from being sick the past few days I think I'm all set for the 24 hours in the Old Pueblo.

I recently purchased a few new "upgrades" for my computer. I upgraded my power supply to an Antec 430w. I also installed a new PCI card with a couple more EDI slots so I could install another Western Digital 120gig 8mg cache HD. I may install another HD and run my business on that HD but I'm not sure yet. I still need to configure the 2 HDs to work the way I want them too.

Good and Bad

PENN CYCLE 10 HOUR CHALLENGE

Penn Cycle 10 Hour Challenge
Who: All racers, adventure seekers, riders, and all who like to have a great time
What: New race for a duration of 10 hours 8:00 am Satuarday morning ending 6:00 Satuarday night
Where: Buck Hill Burnsville, MN
When: Saturday August 13th, 2005 8:00 am Mass Start ending at 6:00 pm
Why: Last race held at Buck Hill (they are going to sell the land and develop it into housing) so we are having one last big race of the year. Also a great training race for the 24 Hours of Afton.
Registration will be open at the First Buck Hill race or online real soon. Thanks and if you have any more questions please email bloomington@penncycle.com for more infomation

We had a great time in Florida and I think I'm all caught back up at home. I stopped by Hollywoods new shop the other day - looks like things are coming along very nice. He officialy opens Feb. 15th. I leave for Tucson next wednesday with my brother and friend Kraig. I finished getting both my single speeds ready yesterday, the biggest difference in my set-up is I'm using bontrager slime tubes. I need to have the Caravan checked over as well since we just put 4,000 miles on it a couple weeks ago and now I'm going to do it again. Thats it for now...