The big ride......

Here it is Friday afternoon and tomorrow is "D" day! I should not complain as this is all for a great cause (MS150) but we will have 20mph headwinds to face on our quest from Sioux Falls to Vermillion plus the temps are going to be a bit on the warm side, in the 90s. The silver lining at this point is a 12-13 mph tailwind for the ride back on Sunday......unless knowing a bikers luck the wind changes. This seems to be pretty standard weather for summer in South Dakota anymore! (note to self...pack bungee cords to hook to an innocent biker to pull me to Vermillion and a sail for the way home on Sunday)

My place of employment donated to the cause and then proceeded to ask me if anyone pledges per mile anymore and of course jokingly I told him that he just did at $50 per mile. He proceeded to ask me over for lots of beer the night before the ride. I thought that was a good one!

I am pretty much ready to go as far as all the packing. I am sure I will have along tooooo much stuff like usual but it is better to have enough stuff then run out of your favorite ride treats / gu / drink powder and such. I got strawberry fig newtons packed...YUM and I am also going to try the Jelly Belly Sport Beans as a change of pace along with my Gu.

The biking bloggers are meeting at the registration and fuel up tonight so that will be fun to finally meet a few that I have not already met.

No matter what, it will be a good time meeting new people, seeing the country side, and most of all it is for a good cause. I will give a full report at somepoint if I am able to sit and use a keyboard after 150 miles!

Think positive thoughts this weekend for the brave riders on the road and that we find a cure for the disease soon!

Olympic bike

Are you getting ready for the Summer Olympics? I guess this guy is!

Meeting any certain time?

Are bike bloggers, MS150-ers or Team FAB-ers meeting up tomorrow night at a certain time at STI for vittles and our information stuff / handing in pledges?

Tag .......

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be? Not sure. I am guessing some sort of custom bike made just for me or a bike that would have some sort of special significance like one of Lance Armstrong's bikes from the TDF.


Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not? NOPE, to many other priorities at this point.


If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why? I have not ridden that much but I do like the bike path out by Lewis and Clark Lake even though it is short it is great smelling the food and campfires as you ride and also the view of the lake is great.


Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrow-minded? I ride both. My mtn bike is pretty much my commuter bike and I do feel more comfy on it but I do ride it a lot more than my road bike.


Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent. I have never ridden one. I have heard they are hard to ride (you go Mr Mayor) I guess I might give it a try at some point but just not sure. I think I would rather try and tandem.


Have you ever raced a triathlon? Nope...I swim like a ROCK so that part is out for me.


Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why? I like both and it would be hard to give up either. So, guessing it would be ice cream but I would have to cheat and have some once in a while!


What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it. Do you wear Lycra shorts or baggy mtn bike shorts? I wear lycra even thought this wonderfully shaped body looks marvelous in them. They are just comfy!



Why is tagging someone legal? Because killing people with words does not work at times! (hahaha-sorry ridevermillion!)


What is my favorite thing about cycling? Seeing things that people take for granted while riding in a car.



Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below.
Team Welliver (yup niecie-poo you are it)

Hellimat

Hooterville Mayor

MS150 this weekend

It is FAST approaching and I have not ridden enough miles. I think the longest ride I have done this year was 30 miles on my own so doing 75 miles two days in a row will be tough, but not much I can do about it now. It is not about doing the ride it is about raising money for a great cause. People struggle with the disease every second of every day. Thank you to everyone that have made a donation so far!

By the way it is not to late to donate either. Click on the MS150 logo on the right of my blog page and it will take you right to my MS150 page.

Anyway, I guess I need to start thinking about what I need along for this ride. Of course my cytomax powder, Gu, chamois butter, sunscreen, water bottles, sunglasses, mirror, camelbak, rain jacket, cash, change of clothes, shoes and toiletries for Saturday night. Oh ya a tube, multi tool, helmet, gloves, cycle shorts, cycle jersey, cycle socks, and cycle shoes. Anything else I am forgetting?

Should be a good time and I am looking forward to meeting up with a bunch of the local bloggers at long last!

Brief top?

I guess this is a new way to save a few bucks and buy your tops in a three pack!

Pedal vs Metal

New road rage? Read about it here.

Weekend recap and a random thought

So, this might be one if the longest between post I have had in a LONG time! Work has been nuts as always and it looks to be that way for some time.

Last week was busy and so was the weekend.

We hit Yankton and of course Charlies for some great pizza (carbo loading for saturday morning ride). Saturday morning came and it had dark nasty clouds heading into Yankton so we opted to get on with our other duties. We headed to Wausa, NE to pick up more beef out of our locker.
I love their beef sticks from there so we picked up a few of them also and then we found they have smoked pork chops. I have had these before from another locker but not the Wausa locker. We purchased a few of them and headed to do more errand things in Yankton. Let me say that the people that work at the Wausa locker are very nice and I would do business with them again.
Got back to Yankton and went to the Riverfront Grill (oops, I guess it is Waterfront Grill -thank you for the correction, Ben). This is a place I will not be going back to. We had ice tea, 2-burgers and an appetizer and it was $36! The food was ok, not all that special but the service, plain and simple SUCKED. It takes a lot to get me not to go back to a place so you know the service was bad.

We got back to the townhouse and started in on the bathroom again. Ceiling is all painted, walls all painted and touched up, exhaust fan all blown out, shower all polished, new shower rod (curve type) and shower curtain all installed. Boy, does it look nice. It has a spa fee with the beige color and white (at this point) accents. The curved shower curtain rod makes the shower feel so big, almost like another room! Feels good to have this all done but we were very tired from our running around and interior design jobs. Decided it was time to hit the food prep for supper. We of course had to have some smoked pork chops, sweet potatoes and peas. We did buy a salad but forgot about it. Guessing that will show up on the menu tonight some how. Anyway Kris broke open the whiskey! YUP, we had high balls with our supper! I am a crown and seven girl and Kris is a Jameson and seven girl. We each had two and that was plenty but ooohhh so good. Needless to say I was asleep in the recliner by 9:00pm.

Sunday we had thought about hitting the road for a bike ride but we still had to do house cleaning and laundry at the clubhouse plus the temps were nasty in Yankton and also the humidity or as I overhead one guy at the RAGBRAI first day calling it stupidity. We had a few more errands and tried to check out a place for brunch at the Marina but seems they do not have brunch there anymore as it was closed so off to Minerva's it was and of course it is always good there. Rose came over to check out the bathroom and gave it a thumbs up and then we sat and had a beer with her. We got all our work done and loaded up the truck to head out. I got in the truck to turn it around and the temp said 107. It was parked in the direct sun in the driveway but man it was hot. The temp did drop to 101 after I turned it around...still HOT!
We headed home and noticed the temp really dropped as we got closer to Sioux Falls.

I did a few work things and then we watched the final of the the Tour De France. Yankton of course does not have Versus (at least our cable package does not have it) so I had been getting updates from my texting boss on Saturday about the time trial. Glad to see that Christian had a good time trial and if he would not have had that one bad day he would have been on the podium but there is next year! He did really well considering he was not even mentioned in any of the prelim press as favorites. Way to go Christian! He also needs a stronger team around him.....my opinion only!

Well, I better head back to work. Hope everyone is doing well and has a great week. Tonight with the impending weather AGAIN I will be riding the trainer for a bit....OH GOODIE!

Oh ya, I also have a questionnaire to fill out since RideVermillion tagged me. I am guessing I will fill that out tonight.

Things to ponder......
Why do they pronounce the town name as Viberg when it is spelled Viborg? The same with the Norfolk / Norfork. Regionalisms?

Another challenge...I pledged!

Take the Trek 1 World 2 Wheel Challenge.

Relay for Life, RAGBRAI, Biking and Painting.....

Hit Bridge City Friday night for the Relay for Life. Ok, let me just say this is a very cool and moving experience. If you have never been a part of it you should help or donate luminaries ($10.00 a bag) in honor of a survivor or in memory of a loved one.

The Yankton group has a great venue down at Riverside Park along the Missouri River on the walking path. The path gets lined with the luminaries of survivors and ones that have passed away from cancer. After all the luminaries are lit they have a local guy lead a lap while he plays the bag pines. WOW, it is so powerful. I was told this year there were 106 survivors that walked and last year their was 101! Very cool the there was on increase in number and I am proud to say that my Godparents are two of the survivors!

It was so very hot down there and humid at the park we decided to make a slight detour to the Ice House for a couple cold ones. As it turns out a few of us had the "Champagne of Beers", Yup, Miller High Life. I have been into trying the retro-beers so this was fun. Not sure if you know about the Ice House but it has a long tradition and you can read about it here. Very fun evening. The picture below shows us at the Ice House from LtoR me, Rose, Kris, Joan and Luther with their survivor shirts on.

Saturday we got the newer beverage (beer) fridge switched over and filled up. She is looking real good! We did some painting and then headed out of town to Missouri Valley to meet up with my sister and brother-in-law. Of course I am sure a few of you know that this was the start of RAGBRAI (Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) this year. Kris had never seen this before and she was AMAZED. If you have never seen it there is nothing like it. There are tents, bikes, buses and people EVERYWHERE! Any spare open ground has tents on it. It is like a giant moving city of 10,000 (I think) that moves everyday! Saw some neat things. Cannondale and Trek had their own booths that you could "rent" one of their bikes to ride for a day in the tour. Really cool bikes that they had to rent also. I am sure they hope the "rent" would turn into "buy" but still a good way to promote their products. Cliff Bar challenge had a fun booth with free samples and stickers. They also had an interesting bicycle with what looked to have its own generator on it to power whatever. (see pic below) I think it was the Trek booth that had this very interesting weight to hold up their canopy. The bucket was full of old pedals! (see pic below).

We buzzed over to a place for supper before heading out into the NASTY WEATHER! There was a line of bad storms moving through the area on Saturday night and we got caught in a pretty good down pour for about 10 miles. Got home around 11:30pm and hit the sack!

Sunday I painted the walls in the bathroom and then I ventured out for a bike ride while Kris finished cleaning up and doing some more trim work painting. I headed out of Yankton on old hwy 50 to Mission Hill and headed north to valley view. Lets just say this part of the ride was not fun as it had just been "chip sealed" with the pink crushed rock. It made for a noisy ride and I ended up with some tar on my water bottles, plus I forgot to put on sun screen so my arms are a little red. Hit Valley View and headed east to Volin and then took the lower bluff road to the road that heads south to Meckling where I met up with Kris in Toby's parking lot, 27.03 miles, loaded up and headed to Sioux Falls. We then met a friend that was in town from Colorado. It sure was good to see her and her life is going in a different direction. I think she is the happiest I have seen her in a LONG TIME! YOU GO GIRL!

So as you can tell it was a busy weekend and I am bushed today.

I forgot to tell you all that I am an owner of another Cannondale bike. My brother-in-law gave me his old Cannondale from the mid-late 80s for parts. It has Shimano components and my Cannondale has Suntour which is not made anymore so I can switch parts over to mine if I like or whatever I want to do with the bike. I will have to ponder some thoughts about it yet and see what can be done. Kind of fun adding to the stable! THANKS STAN!

Be careful out there.....

More bikes on the road mean more accidents. Read about it here.

Tour De Dope...AGAIN?

Here we are at stage 12 of the tour and what do you know. More riders have been "arrested" because of doping allegations. The big one of the group is Riccardo Ricco. He has won two stages already and was holding the white jersey (best young rider) and the polka dot jersey (king of the mountain) plus their team Saunier Duvel was in 1st place. What gives? Do they really think they can get away with doping? The frustrating thing for me is that I believe he tested positive at stage 4 of the tour and we just now have the results and today was stage 12.
Saunier Duvel decided to pull their whole team from the tour because of the allegations. So I guess Riccardo joins Manuel Beltran (Liquigas) and Moises Nevado (Barloworld) as kicked out of the 2008 tour because of doping.

Ok, so here is the bad thing, not that doping isn't bad but, say you have a rider that has a great day and rides with "no chain" as they say. People are going to automatically think they have doped even if the test comes back negative there will always be people that think that individual cheated the system some how...especially a non-French winner or some disgruntled ex-tour winner that is American (Clearly, my own opinion, Mr Lemond!) and of course you still have questionable lab testing practices out there. I assume that someday the testing will be kicked out faster so that these individuals do not go 8 more stages before they are found allegedly guilty and that the labs practice better techniques so there are no more questions to dopers being positive.

I am sure glad the MS150 does not do doping test!.......excuse me while I go sleep in my oxygen tent. Oh, ya and if you want to hear a catchy little EPO tune check out this from Biking Brady's blog.

Recreational Trails Receive Funding

Recreational Trails Receive Funding PIERRE, S.D. – Bicyclists, hikers and motorized trail users will soon have several new places in South Dakota to enjoy their leisure time.
Gov. Mike Rounds recently awarded Recreational Trails Program (RTP) funding to several communities and organizations across the state. The federal assistance program provides up to 80 percent reimbursement for trail-related development and maintenance projects.
“These project sponsors have shown a strong commitment to improving their communities and making South Dakota a great location to enjoy the outdoors on our trails,” said Gov. Rounds. “Their efforts will benefit future generations of South Dakotans.”
The following local sponsors were awarded grants: Black Hills Mountain Bike Association for purchase of trail building equipment; Black Hills Nordic Ski Club for purchase of trail grooming equipment; City of Box Elder for trail construction; City of Custer for trail construction; City of Dell Rapids for trail construction; City of Mitchell for signing of the bike trail; City of Rapid City for trail work at Skyline Nature Area.
The following State Recreation Areas were awarded grants for trail improvement projects: Angostura Recreation Area, Lake Poinsett Recreation Area, Mickelson Trail and North Point Recreation Area.
The following motorized trail projects were awarded grants: Black Hills National Forest for signing of authorized off-highway vehicle (OHV) roads and purchase of trail building equipment; Black Hills Snowmobile Trail system for purchase of trail grooming equipment; Revheim Bay OHV Area for the purchase of a new vault toilet; SD Snowmobile Association for a snowmobile safety ad campaign.
The Recreational Trails Program is funded by the Federal Highway Administration and administered in South Dakota by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks. The funds come from the Federal Highway Trust Fund, and represent a portion of the motor fuel excise tax collected from non-highway recreational fuel use: fuel used for off-highway recreation by snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, off-highway motorcycles, and off-highway light trucks.
Examples of trail projects funded by RTP include hiking, bicycling, in-line skating, equestrian, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, off-road motorcycling and all-terrain vehicle use. For more information on this program, contact Randy Kittle, Grants Coordinator, Department of Game, Fish and Parks, 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, SD 57501-3182.

Trainer...Breaking Away

With the pending weather out there last night I opted to ride the trainer last night for 50 min. UGH...I am not a fan of them but it went ok. I started out watching the Tour De France recap of the first 10 stages but decided I needed to watch something I had not seen before so I popped in a Christmas present DVD from last year, Breaking Away.

Pretty silly biking movie, but entertaining. Amazing to see how young some of the actors looked, clothes they were wore, and of course the old bikes. Dennis Quaid and those short white shorts are pretty funny. At least now I know where the name Cutters comes from. Speaking of them, I have not seen them at the tour yet this year!

Oh, well. It was an ok movie but I liked American Flyers much better!

Ciao..........

Many hats....

Work is nasty busy at this point. Perhaps you read in a previous post that one of our office co-workers is out and in the hospital and will be for sometime, so we are wearing more hats in our office than usual! I even got to wear an accounting hat for a bit last week which is a scary thought in itself.

So what kind of hat would an accounting person wear anyway?

A capuchon which is a cone shaped ceremonial hat. I am guessing this would not be worn unless it was the end of the fiscal year or IRS taxes are all done and submitted.

Maybe they would wear a war bonnet during any sort of audit process?

Maybe the normal hat is the Bowler or the Derby..who knows!

As for me, my hat is really at the very least nothing but at the most it would be a baseball hat for all occasions that a hat would need to be worn or a bike helmet when riding. The only thing I would have in common with the hats pictured above is the inevitable hat head. When I take my hat off, I have been told, I look like I have a hair net on.....guess I should be serving food instead!

Hot, Wind, Beer and Pierre.......long version

Headed to Pierre this past weekend. Got out of town after dropping off a couple of sponsor donations (checks) for MS150. We were told that there was road construction on the indy and in Ft Pierre so we took back roads. I do like taking different routes to places but this was not so fun. The wind was blowing straight out of the west and the temps were rising as we headed west.

We left Sioux Falls and it was 94. Headed straight out west 41st street to the Wall Lake road headed north then hit Hwy 42 and headed west to Hwy 37 north on Hwy 37 to Hwy 34 and headed west all the way to Pierre. We stopped for gas in Wessington Springs as we figured that was the last big town to fill up unless we wanted to stop in Ft Thompson. I have stopped in Ft Thompson to fill up the truck before and didn't much like it so stopping at Wessington Springs was the option. So we fill up and of course I had to use the facilities at the Hum Dinger. Yup, the Hum Dinger was the name of the convenience store in the little berg. As I found out it was not only a convenience store but a , liquor store, video store, coffee joint, gas station, and get this tanning salon! Now that was a Hum Dinger of a stop....wow! We did note that the temp had climbed to 101...YUCK! This would be the least expensive gas on the trip at $3.99/gallon and with running the air and driving into the wind the mpg SUCKED! Heading west to our eventual destination we found the road rather interesting as they were not exactly smooth but it made it exciting. Then comes the driving over the hill seeing the Missouri River. Very neat views along there that is for sure.

We hit Pierre, temp had dropped to 88 and the wind was still blowing. We unloaded and headed to Ft Pierre for some grub at McClelland's. Good walleye at this place but the best thing of all was I got a Schlitz! We have been talking about trying some of the retro beers and since I saw it in the cooler I figured why not order it since this was a bar / bait shop turned restaurant it seemed fitting. The waitress kind of chuckled when I placed my beverage order and of course Kris and Jay, the other two grub eaters for the night, were very surprised. I have to say it was not bad but seemed really light tasting with more carbonation. It was ok but there are other beers I like better still it was fun to try and given the chance I might just order one again. My next retro beer was going to be Hamms, from the land of sky blue waters, but our waitress was a bit late getting back to our table so I opted for Newcastle back at the house. Lots of chatting and laughing before bed time.

Saturday brought MORE WIND..UGH! We walked down to the coffee shop and picked up bagels and coffee for breakfast and then walked back. Of course the dogs, Abe and Millie (Liz and Jay's dog) went with the three of us and of course the dogs do want they do by peeing and pooping. One very nice experience was that Kris picked up Abe's poop to find a hole in the poop bag. She washed up in the Missouri River and then the comfort station to find no soap but at least she was semi-clean. We got back tot he house and Jay made a WONDERFUL breakfast. Scrambled eggs, cut up green olives stuffed with garlic, cut up onion and then cooked in in egg rings. They of course were put on out bagels with a piece of cheese...YUM-O! I took a look at Jay's old Giant mtn bike. He could not get the repaired tire back on it. It was just a simple thing of releasing the brake and putting on the tire. I filled up the tires with air, lubed the chain and we washed off the bike and it was almost like new! We then decided on taking a bike ride. Yes, it was still WINDY! We headed out and I of course had an advantage since I was on my road bike. We hit the trail and then over the bridge. The bridge was nasty crossing over with the wind and the draft from the traffic. We got sucked and pulled every which way on the bridge. Once off the bridge it was better until we got out in the wide open prairie! I stopped as I was hauling the water for Jay and figured he needed a drink. We then notice Kris had stopped behind us to get a drink. She started up again and went maybe 50 feet and stopped and of course had the "something is wrong with my bike look" so we headed back to see what the problem was. Her chain came off the small chain ring so I got it back on and then she said she was DONE. I explained to her that out goal was within reach just around the corner but she said go ahead and go but she was DONE! Ok. Meanwhile Jay was turning his bike one direction to finish the goal then back around to not finish the goal. Needless to say "I am Done!" was the saying for the weekend. We stopped and headed back to Pierre. The wind was REALLY bad out there. I decided to fly back so I hit the pedals hard and stopped under the bridge to wait for Kris and Jay. Once all of us re-hydrated we headed up on the bridge again. This time was not as bad but there were a couple times that the gust caught us a bit. Of course we had a pretty good hill to go up even thought it was short it was hard. Kris did a good job and got 3/4 of the way up before walking up it and I was a bit nervous since the last short uphill like that I had been on was the "Mayor Slayer" and my calves cramped up. Well I was happy to make it up the hill no cramping and no walking although I did have to get out of the saddle to get up it. We only went 6 miles but better than nothing! Saturday night it was hitting the Cattleman's Club for supper...YUM..and then back to the house with one more little walking trip to Zestos for ice cream. I proceeded to drop my vanilla cone and Kris was kind enough to share her raspberry / vanilla cone with me. Lets just say the raspberry was wonderful!...thanks Skip!

Sunday we had a great lunch with roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, corn and banana bars for desert...Oh ya and some wine! We loaded up and headed back to Sioux Falls and decided to take the indy home. The construction was no so bad. Lots of motor homes and motorcycles on the road. Stopped in Kimball for gas $4.09/ gallon...UGH!

It was a fun weekend with lots of great food (scale did not like me this morning), laughter and company!

End of the week for me!

My week is OVER! It sure was a long with with the roomies mom having surgery, only one bike ride, co-worker in the hospital and just work in general. Glad the weather is warm so I don't need to cut the grass yet!

Heading to Pierre for the weekend. This is usually the 35 and older state softball tournament in Pierre weekend but we could not round up enough old able bodies so we decided to for go the tournament this year. Kris and I still decided we would head there to visit her sister and brother-in-law but with her mom's surgery plans kind of changed...no big deal. We are taking the bikes along to do some riding in the HOT weather but not sure how long we will ride.

Commuting this week SUCKED! I just didn't know what it would hold with the co-worker in ICU. She is staying pretty much the same but not getting any worse which is good. Still very scary with pneumonia and sepsis (blood infection) the sepsis can be fatal. We of course hope they got in to the hospital in time to get it taken care of. She was given 70% change of survival as of Sunday.

Not all that much happening and so I will be off grid for a few days.

Keep watching the tour. It is getting exciting!

Have a good weekend everyone! Ride on........

A kiss on the head from a stranger.......

I did forget to report on one very peculiar thing that happened to me last night. There was a lady in the restaurant that was from Texas and was speaking Spanish to the wait staff because she had missed speaking Spanish so much when she moved to Sioux Falls. This particular lady was also VERY LOUD when she spoke. Anyway she got up to leave and told our table to have a good night and wished a happy birthday to the person having the birthday, which I raised my hand and said it was me...mistake number ONE! She came over gave me a hug and a kiss on the head for my birthday. Mistake number TWO, I pretended to care as I am a kind and caring person, don't choke on that last statement. So, she then felt the need to tell us about her and introduced us to her adopted daughter who is a mentally challenged girl. Yes, she actually introduced her daughter like that to us and then proceeded to say that it was ok as her daughter knows everything about where she came from and the way she is. I could not help but think maybe her adoptive mother was mentally challenged? WOW, she was an interesting sort that was for sure.

Sore calves.......

No bike ride today as my calves are still very sore. I had the resident PT massage them and now I have bruises on them and a little pitting edema...go figure. They are feeling a bit better tonight which is good.

The day was a bit crazy at work. We are going to be down an employee for a few weeks as she is in the hospital, so all of us will have MANY hats to wear at work for a while.

We hit Puerta Vallarta (sp?) for supper with some friends. Good food and laughter was had by all!

Kris's mom is having surgery on her wrist tomorrow so that will be a lot of fun. I guess a plate and screws are in order.

Oh ya...today was my 44th birthday...where do the years go?

TDF Stages 1-3 (spoiler if you have not heard about stage 3!)

Well, the TDF is off and running or should I have said riding! Seems like a lot of folks have given up and are not watching since there are no real dominating Americans racing this year. To that I say "WHAT?" For the, I think first time ever we have two American sponsored teams racing that have a good chance at putting riders on the podium. Not so sure about in Paris but there is still a chance. Team Garmin-Chipotle which up until a few weeks ago was call Team Slipstream and Team Columbia which was Team High Road a couple weeks ago and last year was T-Mobile.
These two teams have the potential to place someone and win stages.

So, Stage 1 of the TDF was won by Alejandro Valverde. He is one of the favorites to be on the podium in Paris. He would wear the yellow jersey (race leader) in Stage 2.

Stage 2 was won by my Norske man Thor Hushvold, ok, then there, don't ya know! He had a great lead out and won the sprint! This still left Alejandro Valverde in the yellow jersey.

SPOILER............Don't read if you do not want to know what happened and would rather watch the recap show on Versus tonight!
Stage 3 was something! I of course follow along on the work computer, while working! As many of you know there is ALWAYS a break-away group and usually the break-away group gets caught at some point during the end of the race but NOT TODAY! Four guys broke out and an American was one of them! Yes, you heard it.....Team Garmin Chipotle had William Frischkorn in the break-away. Romain Feillu won the stage, Frischkorn was second and Samuel Dumoullin was third. This takes the yellow away from Valverde and puts it on Dumoullin's back which means leads the GC (general classification) at this point and Frischkorn jumps up to 3rd in the GC! Valverde drops to 4th. Frischkorn is only 1m42s back from Dumoullin. The other top American GC overall standings include George Hincappie (Team Columbia) and Christian Vandevelde (Garmin Chipotle) both 1m52s back and in 19th and 25th spots respectively. Way to go guys!

More news.....Garmin Chipotle leads the team division and Frischkorn was named the more combative rider after stage 3, no this does not mean he likes to hit people, but it means he was the most aggressive meaning attacking or pushing the lead and riding out front.

There is a lot of tour left so this could be a fun one to watch unfold!

FABRAD and receap

The 4th was a good time. We went out to Kris's aunt and uncles for a family reunion. It included family stories, good food and a tour of her cousin's dairy farm. An amazing operation! They milk 1425 cows!

Saturday was the annual FABRAD ride. I chose the 30 mile route. The wind was blowing pretty darn good from the south as we headed out of town. Got out by Spring Creek Golf Course and I hit the "Mayor Slayer" it is a nasty steep short uphill but it is a KILLER , plus I ran totally out of gears! I made maybe half way up then had to step off as my calves went into spasm. I hoped back on and just a bit further down the road I heard a noise in the ditch and a BIG buck jumped out and ran across the road about 20-30 feet in front of me. I looked back to see another buck about to do the same. All I could say was WOW! I made it to the half way point for some fig newtons, beverages, TDF update (thanks Matt) then hit the road again. I pretty much rode by myself as people are a lot faster than me but I was not the last of the group either. Made it to Harrisburg to use the facilities and chatted with a mechanic from Harlan's about my bike and I found out what year it is. 1990 Cannondale 3.0 road bike (could not remember when I purchased it). Ends up he had almost the same frame on the bike he was riding but it was a years older and of course had much better components since mine has the old Suntour Blaze. Suntour is not even made anymore. Anyway, the fun was about to begin as I headed back north to Sioux Falls with the great tailwind. I did end up dropping my new Camelbak water bottle but it did not split open which was good only a little scuff on the bottom of the bottle and dirt in the spout....no harm. I hit Sioux Falls and for some reason I had it in my head that we turn at 41st street which I thought was strange but I was looking for the signage also and missed it, anyway I ended up FLYING down Cliff Ave hill...36.3miles per hour! That is a record for me. I then decided I had missed the turn so headed back to the bike trail and around to Cherry Rock park and road the bike trail to finish with 30.04 miles for the day. The trail was BUSY! Lots of people with NO HELMETS, lots of families out biking and stopping ON THE TRAIL! I did meet a couple out walking their Newfie, Frances. He was a pretty 1.5 year old cool guy.

So, this was my longest ride of the year and the factoids were not so bad given the walking of the bike and the wind from the south. 30.04 miles, 2h34m46s ride time, 11.95 ave speed, 36.3 max speed.

Once back at the park there was food and music provided. It was a good club ride with, last I heard, 106 riders from the area.

Ok, so today, my calves are mooing pretty bad! Guessing it was from the "Mayor Slayer" I have to stretch more and the roomie is going to massage them again tonight!

All in all it was a good holiday weekend. Today was spent out at the farm and then we hit Dell Rapids for the cheap movie theater and saw Wall-e. It was cute but not the best Pixar movie.

Hope everyone had a good weekend also!

Happy 4th of July!

HAVE A GREAT AND SAFE JULY 4TH!

Margarita's anyone?

Check out this ultimate margarita blender here.

Bikin' and rolling music!

What a night....

Usually, Wednesday evenings are my golfing nights and last night was to be pretty much the norm but then a phone call changed all that in a hurry. Kris's mom called about 5:20 and had fallen. Seems she was tripped up while chasing a cat out of her garage and fell on the concrete. Kris was working late with a patient and was not able to be reached so the golf game was put on hold and the trek out by Crooks was made to pick up the wounded and take her to ER. I could tell right away her wrist was broken as the swelling was around the bone and not the wrist joint like a sprain would be. We made it to ER and met Kris there for the diagnosis and yup, it was broken. For all you medical people out there it was a distal radial comminuted fracture which means that it has a lot of bone fragments with some go into the joint area. After a splint and pain meds we were out of there. Seems the ER had a special on wrist fractures last night as a little guy in the next room also had a wrist fracture so the ER doctor, who by the way likes kolaches (sp?), Czech pastry, long story, anyway he was getting his wrist splint making down pat last night.

We split up and with Kris going to get Joan's meds and me and the injured one headed for food and taking her back out to the farm to meet Kris there. We got to the farm to be greeted by a nice big buck with velvet antlers standing in the front yard of the home place. He sure was pretty standing there and of course as we pulled in the drive-way there was the cause of the accident, THE CAT. We got Joan in the house and we all got food on board then preceded to get some things moved around in her house to make it easy for her to sleep and to get things ready for this morning and for company this weekend. Joan is to call the ortho doctor this morning and set up an appointment to see what the next step will be for the wrist. We are kind of thinking surgery but will know more today.

It was a late evening to say the least when all was said and done. By the way the Avera Mckennan new ER ROCKS! I hope you never get to see it but if you do you will know what I mean!

On a good note, my Aunt Goobie had surgery to remove a spot of lung cancer yesterday. I think they took her upper lobe of her right lung out, anyway all was going well from the last info I received....yeah!

Road bike.....virgin ride - this year!

I rode the old Cannondale 3.0 road bike last night out an a "training" ride. Man, I can really tell that it has been a while since I have been on a road bike. I am more comfy and confident on my mountain bike but that is what I ride a LOT more. Took off from home and hopped on the trail at statue of David and rode around the south end of the trail then over to Madison St and then home. I do have to say that the BIG cracks in the road are very scary for someone on a thinner tire bike than a mountain bike. I was worried about crashing and could not avoid some of the holes because of traffic. Some holes were so bad my chain was slapping pretty good after hitting them. First night also with the mirror. It didn't go to bad but will take some getting used to and also finding out the right angle for me to see what is coming up behind. I did notice this morning the mirror was easier to use but I wasn't riding into the sun either which was an issue I had last night and I was on my mountain bike this morning so different riding angle.

Lots of people out on the trails last night. Every one was good about staying to the right and I was even thanked numerous times for saying, "on your left!" Dog walkers were good about keeping their dogs on a short leash and or even pulling off the trail until bikes went by.

Got home and took Abe out just when the mosquito patrol was out spraying! All of a sudden the fog was rolling in so we headed inside. I was on the bike trail one year when they were spraying and ended up with a respiratory infection. Now, I have no idea if I would have ended up with it without being around the fogger but I didn't want to take any chances hence the heading indoors!

Last nights factoids: 14.10 miles, 1h4m47s ride time, 13.48mph ave, 24.2 max.

Could have ridden a bit further but wanted to get home before dark since no lites for the road bike. I got a late start heading out for my ride.

Going to be HOT today so not sure what the day holds.

Floyd lost his battle

Floyd Landis lost his battle to regain his tour title. He is now out another $100,000 for fines to help pay the US Anti-doping Agency (USADA) cost of the testing during the arbitration. The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) upheld the ruling found by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) last September. Landis will have a two year suspension which started January 2007.

Will he make a run at the 2009 Tour? I hope so. I still think he is innocent!

Goal met but I am still going......

I made my goal plus for the MS150! Thanks, Joan, aka Beverly, for being the one putting me over the top!

Will I stop there, HECK NO, I have some other donations that have been promised and yet to come in so I will be cruising past the goal and watching the donation number climb!

Now, I need to get serious about riding. I plan on this week biking on the bike trails to get more miles in. We have FABRAD Saturday, which I think I will do the 30 mile ride. Next week I will start on some road miles and do some longer rides.

I bleed Cubbie Blue.......

Look what Biking Brady emailed me this morning....how nice was that? He saw this t-shirt and could not help but think of me since his Cards are making a run at first place in the NL Central. The Cubs hold a 2.5 game lead over the Cards.

I know, I know, Cubs are kind of taking a crap with a four game loosing streak, but they will come back around, SOON, I hope!

Yes, I am a true Cubs fan no matter what happens, win, loose or keep loosing, however it is a positive year so far! We just need to gel a bit more. Seems a few of the players are in a funk or kind of banged up and the team is not connecting with each other with the changes in the line up, well, at least that is my theory anyway, or maybe, I need to drink more Old Style beer.....oh, dear GOD!

Twins, Ticks, Tators and Tall ones.......

We made it home and had a great time.

Friday we got out of town early and arrive at T&K place around 6:30-ish where there was pasta and Leinie's waiting for us. We dropped Kris's mom off at T&K's for some genealogy fact finding. After supper we headed to the hotel across from the Mall of America (MOA). We got hooked up with Dawn and Christi who had been at the US Women's Open, all day Friday.

Saturday it was up to have breakfast and head to REI even though we had some hail going on. Nothing real big but a bit of hail it was. REI, what a wonderful store. I could spend LOTS of money there! We picked up mirrors, 4 boxes of Gu, and some chamois butter. REI was crawling with people since they had a sale going on and of course NONE of the items we purchased were on sale but at least it all adds to the dividend rebate at the end of the year! We then headed to the MOA. Christi had scoped out the places of interest on her computer before we left the hotel so we kind of knew where we were going. Lots of stores. Lots of people. Lots of everything but what we really wanted so we headed back to the hotel to prepare for our departure to downtown Mpls. Clothes were changed and cameras loaded up and off we head. The shuttle guy at the hotel took us over to a pick up spot on the light rail. We purchased the all day pass for $6.00 each and waited for our vehicle to arrive and head downtown. Arrangements were made to meet Gabe (Kris's nephew) at Grumpy's just a few blocks from the Metrodome. It was a cool place and if you love tator tots this is the place to go! They have a HUGE basket of them for appetizers. We of course had to wash them down with some beverages. Since we were going to a Twins game, I felt obligated to give my favorite team, Chicago Cubs, some recognition even thought they have been loosing lately, so I had to have a couple Old Styles in their honor. They also had some fun beer glasses there. The one on the left is actually a Newcastle pour and the one on the right, well, simply, I have no idea what it was and yes, the one in the middle is my 16 oz can of Cubbie love!

After having artery clogging hamburgers and chips it was off to the dome for the game. We walked around the "plaza" area but then it started to sprinkle so we headed inside. Once inside we found our seats. Eight rows up from the left field fence! They were good seats but I have to tell you, it was a bit scary being there for hitting practice and no glove! Dawn ended up with a ball hit by J.J. Hardy from the Brewers during practice hitting. We watched Prince Fielder smoke A LOT OF BALLS into the UPPER DECK in RIGHT FIELD. That boy can crush the ball. The game was not all that exciting until a wood tick was found crawling on Kris's arm, then on my arm and then I asked Christi to hold out her hand and I placed the tick on her palm and she about came unglued! The tick was placed in between two nestled beer glasses. We checked on the guy later and it was either dead or passed out with legs in the air! Still it made us think about where it come from. We had not been any place for the critter to hitch a ride on, so we decided it came from those Brewer fans! We did get a laugh out of these chicks a couple rows in front of us that kept waving at Ryan Braun, the Brewers left fielder, every time he turned around and looked at the scoreboard. That was funny.

It would seem that would have been the highlight of the night but NOOOOOO....we walked to Kieran's Irish Pub.

They pour a GREAT Guinness. We sat on the patio and watch all the DRAMA of the evening unfold. WOW! Let's see, we had a couple of VERY drunk girls staggering around. Then we had a guy that had been with a group of people and his girlfriend, get into it. The guy, we will call him Barney, decided to head over to this strip joint across the street from the bar. Let's just say this didn't look like a strip club at all more like a bank and I am really sure I do not want to know what was deposited in there! Anyway about 30 min later, Barney, heads back to the bar to hook up with his friends when he is confronted by his girlfriend who we will call Betty. Obviously Betty was not happy with Barney hitting the strip club so things were said and Betty left, or so we thought. All of a sudden she come cruising back around the patio and heads into the bar while the group of friends and Barney continue to drink. Meanwhile a group of three Brewers fans were watching these two ladies and asked to by them drinks. We were trying to figure out who would be the odd person out when two other guys walk up and peak the interest of the girls and they start talking. The look on the faces of those three guys was priceless, after all they bought them drinks and got them chairs to sit on. Then enter Barney and Betty standing in front of the door to the pub. Words again were said and Barney pointed fingers and then Betty slapped him across the face. Meanwhile the two drunk girls had been sitting down in the same area as Betty and Barney's slap fest. The one girl got up and left and the other was left and looked to be close to passing out. Next thing you now, pass out girl was gone, Barney and Betty were hugging a bit and smootching and to tell you the truth I lost track of what happened with the 3-Brewer fans and the two girls...UGH. To top it all off we watched the traffic coming and going from the strip club. Massive limos and whipped up cars had all made stops there. Dawn was playing the P.I., with binoculars, who had been hired by a guys wife to spy on said ladies husband entering the strip joint....now that was funny but WOW, you just do not get all that much excitement in Sioux Falls, SD on a Saturday night! Amazing. Well, the rest of the night was uneventful except for one more detail. Gabe lives a few blocks away from Kieran's. On his way home he found Barney and Betty having another slap fest. We of course were headed to the light rail and so he called us with the news. WOW.....

Ok, so the reason for this last picture. It sums up Saturday. A nice glass of Guinness, Finnegans Irish Amber, the free mini-Cuddyer wind up doll from the game and J.J. Hardy's home run ball during batting practice that Dawn snagged.

GOOD WEEKEND!

Pedaling the Plains - MS150

Thank you to everyone that has sponsored me for the MS150, Pedaling the Plains, ride from Sioux Falls to Vermillion and back August 2-3, 2008. I have almost met my goal. It is really fine if I SURPASS my goal!

If you have not donated yet, break open those wallets and give to a good cause! Donations excepted here.

If you feel like having a great time August 2-3 then sign up to ride or volunteer to help out along the route! It does not matter if you can ride the whole route. What matters is that you are helping raise money to find a cure for a nasty disease.

Finally Friday!

I should not have said finally in the title of this entry. The week went VERY FAST since it was a crazy week.

Last night we ran and picked up some semi-healthy munchie items for our trip north east this afternoon. Then I headed back to work for a few hours. One thing I do like about working at night is that you can turn up the music, of course my own type of music from my computer, and JAM as much and as loud as you want! Makes the work go a little faster. The bad thing is I am not a huge fan of being at my place of employment when it gets dark. Lots of strange noises that basically, well, FREAK me out, if I let them!

It sure would be nice to sleep through the night without loud cracks of thunder waking a person up. I wonder how much the thunder shortened our lives last night by waking up suddenly? This is actually true. When I took my First Responders course from the SFFD (Sioux Falls Fire Department) they talked about a study that fire fighters lives are shorter because of the sudden waking to the fire alarm after they have been asleep. I can't remember the numbers but it is interesting. Anyway if you are jolted awake by thunder and have been in a deep sleep, rest assured that your life was shortened!...UGH!

Today it will be getting a few more jobs quoted and then take Abe to the "spa" over lunch. I will head back to work for a bit and then we will head to Mpls. Our plans tonight are to Drop the roomies mom off at the roomies aunt and uncles in St Paul and then hit REI for some biking stuff, Gu gel, bike mirrors, chamois butter and whatever else we feel we need. Tomorrow the main thing will be the Twins game but we are going to head downtown to an Irish pub before the game. Not sure if this will work yet or not as the bar opens at 5:00pm, which I find odd for a Saturday, Twins home game. Oh well. I am sure there are other places to have food and libations at in Minnie-apple. Maybe we will hit the Irish Pub after the game. No plans set in stone yet!

Sunday, I kind of home we will be back in time so I can do a bike ride!

If you watch the Twins, look for us in left field - home run alley!

Have good weekend!

Frustrating night.......

First off as most of you know from reading my previous entries that it has been a crazy week at work. Crazy being not so much fun to say the least. One friend as an acronym for F.U.N. (F*&king Ugly Nightmare) I must say that might sum up my week so far. So, I headed out to golf in Brandon. Nice drive out but WARM. I really was not in the mood to golf. Not sure why, I guess I was really tired. Anyway we were waiting for our last member of our foursome to show and noticed how WILD it was at the 19th hole. MY GOD! The place was packed and buzzing with people some sober some not. Of course the not sober people really irritated me, as I was in such a good mood anyway...haha. There had been some sort of tournament there that did not get started on time for whatever reason and then it pushed everyone else back about 15-20 min at least! We get down to the tee-box to hit and it goes well then we hit the green to hole number one and the play had stopped in front of us at hole number two. Things were already backed up...UGH! When all was said and done, nine holes took 2 1/2 hours! Again, UGH! THAT IS BAD! I know it was a big tournament for the golf course but it sure would have been nice if it had been policed a bit better so things didn't get so pushed back. Of course there were sunflower seed left on the greens again, trash cans were over flowing out on the course in a couple spots, which at least they did use the trash cans, and of course we fixed numerous spots on the greens from people not knowing that they needed to repair their ball divots or maybe some were to drunk to care.

Some good things happened. I saw a doe wondering around by the creek. I love seeing wildlife. Of course there was also the meeting of good friends, Kris, Rose, Dawn, Christi and other golfing ladies at the 19th hole for food and beverages after we golfed. I also had one other good thing and that was giving Mrs Krum a bit of grief. She now has won the last two games of our ladies night, at least I assume she won last night. The game was hit in the fairway from the tee-box on the par 4s and 5s and get a point. On the par 3s if you drive the green you get two points. I told Mrs Krum I had 8 points from the game last night. I had seen she had 7 points so I was giving her all sorts of crap. Anyway she believed me! I, of course, came clean like the good girl I am and then got a well deserved slap on the arm and a "you sh%t" comment. It was all in good fun and I got to have a laugh over it as did others. I actually only scored a three. One drive in the fairway and one drive on the green.

Tonight I had wanted to hit the bike for a ride as I have not ridden since Tuesday night and maybe that has to do with some of my crabbiness, not sure but no bike ride tonight as I will need to make up some work time for leaving early tomorrow! I also need to finish getting the satellite radio hooked up so we can enjoy the Cubs game on our way to see the Twins play!

FAB - Newsletter almost ready to be unvailed!

Crazy busy work days this week so far, but at least they are not dull and the day goes fast and the week is not over yet!...UGH!

Tonight we had our FABNews, newsletter meeting. Me, Dan and Everyday Rider attended at Michelle's downtown. Somehow I got crossed up and thought I needed to be there at 7:30pm but it was 8:00pm so I hung out and had a Newcastle and watched the people meander around downtown. Lots of people looking at the sculptures, it seems. Anyway, the Newsletter is looking good and should be out SOON! Everyday Rider pretty much did the layout, I gathered info and Dan helped with editing and gathering info also. It is looking good for our first try and I am guessing it will grow with time.

The three of us, of course, talked about biking and some of our commutes. Everyday Rider and Dan were talking about how they have had people honking and yelling at them recently on their commutes. I have been lucky and have never had that happen, but I expect it to happen at some point until people (cars drivers or cagers as bikers call them and bikers) are a bit more educated at sharing the road. I told of my good encounters with the bus driver and the park workers (see previous post)

We were joined by Snakebite for some chatting and Big Mick rehashing. I have ridden some of the Big Mick from Hill City to Pringle. It is a NEAT trail to ride. If you get out to the west side of South Dakota and like to bike or hike you should hit the trail! We headed out and checked out Mr Bite's, Surly Big Dummy. It is still an amazing bike to look at. It looks like a person could hardly get it to roll let alone ride it on long rides!

I headed out of downtown and of course was huffing after drinking two Newcastles. I even took the flatter route out of the downtown area. All a matter of training. I get to add more commuting / errand miles!...YEAH!

VERY busy week upcoming......

It will be a nuts week at work. The boss will be gone all week. Another person of our six person company will be in and out all week...NOT FUN. It will be trying I am sure!

Tonight we are going for a bike ride not all that long but Kris wants to get out and roll those tires along.

Tomorrow night is a haircut for me followed but FAB Newsletter meeting. YUP, we are getting close to have our first one completed.

Wednesday of course is golfing.

Thursday will be packing and Friday heading to Minneapolis. Maybe a bike ride also on Thursday. Mac and Gilly are leaving Thursday for Mpls to see the LPGA tourney and we will catch up with them sometime Friday night in Bloomington.

Saturday will be a fun day filled with shopping, Kierens (sp?) Irish Pub and a Twins game. Sunday.....drive home...UGH!

Have a good and productive week everyone!

Good weekend!

Had a great weekend.

Mackie and I decided we were going to wear some WILD outfits for the golfing on Saturday. We hit Walmart for some interesting garments that did not match...well kind of. I was told I looked like a 70s banker. Not really sure what Mac looked like but ODD and Gilly got into the spirit of things with plaid shorts. I will have to post a picture later of us. We had a blast looking for the clothes and a certain person almost pee-d her shorts from laughing!

Saturday had us heading to Alcester for the golf tourney. I was a great time and lots of laugh was had by all. We golfed ok and I am thinking I let my partner (Mary) down. She is a great golfer compared to me. I had some good drives some NOT GOOD DRIVES but the main thing is that we had a good time and we did. Lots of laughing and I am not talking just normal laughing. It was the bend at the waist laughing. Mac and Gilly won the tourney and me and Mary finished about half way down in the first flight. Not all was lost. I won a 50/50 raffle $35.00 and then as my door price I got a $5.00 bill. Mary didn't win money but got a screw driver. Safe to say she got screwed! Anyway like I said a good time was had by all.

After the tourney we headed to Yankton. The plan was to go to Tabor Czech Days but since the sky look ominous and we needed to eat we decided to head to the Marina at Lewis and Clark Lake for supper after picking up Kris at the townhouse in Yankton. Food was good.

Sunday we headed home and had talked about going on a bike ride but Kris decided to start scrapping the house. It is in need of painting. She understood that I need to get some miles in so I hit the bike trail. I headed out and almost killed a ground squirrel. I missed him by maybe a foot. It was scary as he was a chubber. Then as I was riding along Westward Ho Country Club there was a wild turkey strutting around on one of the fairways. Got down by the fair grounds and noticed some sort of car rally type thing that had a BUNCH of cars racing around pylons. Interesting with gas prices so high and people doing this...oh well, I am sure they think with food prices so high and we are trying to fuel our bodies with the food is not any different (which we all know the answer to that!) Got to my planned area to turn around headed back. Saw circling vultures out by the airport. How did they know where I was? I did notice on the way back someone did smoke a ground squirrel over by Elmwood golf course. It was fairly new as he was still twitching. Didn't really care to see that...UGH.

ADDED:I forgot to tell you about more wildlife I saw, buffalo, cheetahs, ostrich (all by the zoo) and of course, geese and ducks.

So, this was my first 20 mile day this this year, well, 20.14 miles to be exact. Ride time was 1h39m53s with average speed 12.19mph on my mountain bike. I do need to get the road bike out and ride that for training instead but I still need to switch out the seat and clean it up and really didn't have the time to do that and get a ride in today. It was a good ride.

All in all a good weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I had a great week commuting to work! FOUR TIMES! This would be what I would call a record week and each day I have been trying to beat my ride time and speed. I did speed 25.3mph on the old mountain bike one day. That was fun breaking the law on my bike!...hahaha

Hit Spoke-N-Sport last night for the MS150 registration stuff and and the goodie bag from Spoke-N-Sport! Thanks guys that was cool plus the MS150 First Spoke Club t-shirt which I will proudly wear this weekend at some point. I even rode from the humble abode to said bike shop! It was a good ride just under 3 mile so nothing earth shattering. I even chatted with another biker, whom I knew, as we road through the Minn Ave 37th street intersection.

I had a fun thing happen to me commuting yesterday. The parks guys were out mowing at Terrace Park. I skirt along the west side of the park on my way home from lunch. Anyway the park guy was on the BIG mower mowing along the sidewalk, I ride the sidewalk because it is WAY smoother than the road, again, anyway, he pulled over and not only stopped but also stopped the blade so it was not kicking dust and throwing crap at me as I biked past. I gave him a wave as a thank you and of course he waved back. That was pretty cool, I thought anyway.

Well, off to meet some friends for chicken and rockets (big beer dispensers) at the the Keg then home to get ready for the Alcester golf tournament tomorrow. After the tourney we are heading to Bridge City and then Tabor for Czech Days! LOOK OUT!

Have a great weekend!

Commute #3 this week and golf

Had a good time last night golfing and shot my best round of the year, so far. I didn't drive the ball well but hit some other shots that were not bad. Short game was better so that is good but MAN am I tired and sore this morning! I have not golfed in a couple weeks so the 4 mile walk golfing last night, my body was not used to! The game last night was putting for cash. So, basically you had to keep track of your putts but every time you hit the ball in the fairway off the tee box you could subtract a putt. Needless to say I think I could only subtract two putts (oops...after checking my scorecard it was three fairways I hit!), so I am not in the money on that one! Kris met us at the 19th hole for supper and beverages. The food was good and they have Amber Bock on tap now so that is always good!

Busy day at work today and also next week is looking to be REAL busy, plus we will be down a person next week with the boss being gone. I am getting buried a bit again with smaller projects to bid, which is good, but sometimes when you have quoted the SAME project three different times and ways, two projects like that at present, it gets VERY OLD and hard to get motivated to do it but I need to just get them DONE!

Going to surpass my commuting goal today as this will be the third day this week biking to work. YEAH!

Heading to Spoke N Sport tonight for the MS150 registration packet and t-shirt (first spoke club). I hear there is pizza and pop that will be served also!

I had intended to do a longer bike ride tonight. That might have to be a wait and see how I feel and how I am doing work wise before I know for sure if that will happen.

That is about it...have a great Thursday everyone!

SPEEDING?....Almost!

I finally attached my computer to my bike for the morning commute on the Ol'Fisher.

Here are the factoids one way:
Distance 1.77 miles
Ride Time 9 min 27 sec
Avg Speed 11.72 mph
Max Speed 24.4mph...
YUP, I was almost speeding! (of course this was hill aided!) I better watch myself. I don't need a ticket for speeding while on a bike, of course that would make an interesting blog topic, wouldn't it?

Afternoon Update:
Ride back home from work still on the Ol'Fisher (I take a different route home for lunch)
Distance 1.72 miles
Ride Time 10 min 59 sec
Avg Speed 9.69 mph
Max Speed 15.5 mph
I am pretty much going up hill on the way home so it is not so much fun but a nice little ride!

Tonight:
Of course it is golf night in Brandon. Going to be a bit warm out there tonight. Good think we only play 9 holes! Should be a fun time. I hope my back is not very sore after but I will make sure to stretch good before and I am sure that will help a bit. Have to be ready for the Alcester golf tournament this Saturday!

MS150 Pedal the Plains Ride 2008

It is official. I signed up for the MS150, August 2-3. It was the big announcement I was to make a few weeks ago but kept putting it off for some reason. No real good reason at all, really.

Anyway with some prodding from other bike bloggers, I threw my hat in the ring so to speak.

This year the ride is from Sioux Falls to Vermillion. It should be a good time and with Hooterville Mayor offering to pull me all the way there, it will be a piece of cake! No need to worry Mr Mayor, I will do my part and train for this so I hope no pulling is needed!

Cycle Cathy had a great idea. Maybe all the bike bloggers getting together in Vermillion and chatting face to face. That would be fun but could be dangerous since we have to ride the next morning! I might be up for one of those famous Bunyon's drinks, root beer schnapps shot dropped in a mug of beer!...Now that sounds like a good recovery drink!

I have ridden the MS150 YEARS AGO but didn't ride the whole thing so this year it is to do better than I did the first year. I believe I can meet this challenge.

Make my goal or not the money goes to a good cause. There are a lot of lives out there that have been touched by MS so find a way to help if you can!

If you would like to HELP ME FIGHT MS, then please, donate to the cause by clicking here.

Happy Tuesday!

What a great morning to get out and commute to work! YES, YOU HEARD IT! I finally rode to work this morning on my bike! It has been nasty weather here for commuting and then with the back thing, I didn't want to push it, but today I decided I needed to hop on the ol'Fisher and head to work. It was an uneventful ride and I even had a bus driver wave me through his yellow flashing lights. He had stopped and kept his yellow on and I knew there was no way I was going to make it before he flipped to red so I slowed WAY DOWN, then he motioned me through. That was cool. I had one little bit of nervousness hit me as I was cruising down the hill on Prairie. A car pulled up right along side me and slowed down like it was going to turn at the intersection. I was not sure which way it was turning so to be a bit defensive I slowed to let them go by me. Ends up they turned the other direction and not in front of me so that was good.

Going to have to get me a mirror to see what is coming behind me. Any suggestions on which brand? I am looking at the Bike Peddler Take a Look mirror as it goes on the glasses and not on the helmet. From what I have read it seems to be very well liked. Let me know what you think!

Last night I got some things done around the house. Mowed the yard and did laundry. Kris got called into work so I had leftovers from the Mexico Viejo (#75 for all you Viejo lovers) in Yankton...YUM and a bottle of Old Style in honor of the Cubs.

Tonight, I might have to get the Cannondale down from the ceiling in the garage and get the new seat (Terry Liberator) on it, fill up the tires and go for a little spin. I also have to recalculate my computer for the Cannondale or bike 2 also.

I think there is a FAB Newsletter meeting scheduled SOON, I wonder if our FAB PREZ has his letter / column drafted yet from his long miles on the TDK?

Weekend Recap

Had a good weekend in Bridge City. Kris had a course until 8:30pm so I hit BW3 for some wings with friends...YUM...picked up Kris and headed to Yankton. Saturday we got up had breakfast and hit the bike trail out by the lake. It was a nice easy pace as lots of people out with kids on bikes and dogs on leashes. The breakfast smells rolling through the campgrounds was great! The lake was calm and a nice sized sailboat was floating around. We also notice by Midway Beach that someone was setting up for a wedding. Looked like a neat area and the weather was perfect! Loaded up the bikes and drove through another campground to hook up with some friends. No activity around their camper so we headed to the grocery store for some snacks, supper and breakfast stuff. Got home unloaded food and bikes. Sat down for some cheese, salami, crackers and beer then vegged on the couch. Fixed supper and headed to the play.

The Lewis and Clark Theater Company was putting on Private Lives. The actors did a great job (5-cast members) but the play was different. I thought there would have been more humor but there was not. FYI: LCTC is in it's 47th season and for it's 50th season they want to have the old Dakota Theater exterior all renovated. This is quite the undertaking. The Dakota is like the State theater here in Sioux Falls but on a smaller scale so if you are in the Yankton area make sure you take in a play or two. Annie Get Your Gun is the next one and should be GREAT! Hit Ben's Brewing Company after the play for a great glass of Smoking Loon Merlot and finally met Ben. Seems like downtown Yankton was a bit busy outside. A wedding reception at one place, the play, and a band playing at the Moose. It was a nice night to be outside!

Sunday I made granola parfaits, vanilla yogurt/granola/fruit, for breakfast and then we started in on the work we should have done Saturday afternoon. We got all the wallpaper off the walls in the upstairs bathroom. This took lots of Downy, yes, my hands still smell like Downy, and water (2 parts downy to 1 part water-spray on wallpaper let soak and scrape off) and scrapping. The funny thing that happened was that we took the mirror down and had it in the bedroom. Abe came upstairs to see what we were doing and walked into the bedroom and saw himself in the mirror. It really startled him so he did a double take and went running out of the bedroom. He is such a goof!

Since we worked so hard we decided to hit the Mexican joint for lunch before heading out of town. It was very good. Went over to a friends house and chatted then back to the clubhouse to load up and head out but not before I took a spin on the neighbors scooter! It is pretty cool but odd having your feet planted in front of you like sitting on a chair and riding when you are used to riding a bike or a motorcycle but at 75-100mpg a person could get used to it pretty quick, I am guessing. No, I am not buying one!

The drive home we drove the MS150 route from Vermillion back to Sioux Falls. Looks like it would not be to bad except for a couple areas with some hills, of course those are at the beginning and the end both days! I need to decided! (Wasn't I suppose to decide this a couple weeks ago?)

Weekend

Finally Friday!

Today is the last day of the Tour de Kota. The bikers are riding from Brookings to Sioux Falls today. They might have a bit of a wind today but they should be used to it by now! Job well done guys and gals. From the blogs from the rode it sounded not so fun at times with the weather!

Heading out to Bridge City tonight late. Saturday we are going to do some work at the Clubhouse removing some wallpaper in the upstairs bathroom. Ends up there is a little bit of mold or mildew that had decided to grow behind the wallpaper so it needs to come down. We tried taking some of it down a couple weeks ago but the adhesive part stuck pretty good to the wall so we are on to the next plan, a roller thingy with blades and some spray stuff....all technical things! No color has been picked out for the bathroom yet but I am guessing that will not take all that long as it needs to be in the neutral hues. I didn't care much for the wallpaper in the bathroom. I told my mom when she hung it that it looked like PJs or boxer shorts fabric but she liked it and that was fine. We also plan on taking a bike ride out by the lake. This will be my first bike ride since I tweaked my back so it will be good to get out there again since the scale has been going in the wrong direction (stuck around 20 pounds lost), more biking / commuting is needed! Saturday night we are going to the play to see Private Lives. Should be good. I think it is a comedy drama type play.

We will head home Sunday. Depending on the weather and how the bike ride goes we might come back and hit the bike trail for another ride.

Should be a good weekend!

Boonen out of TDF?

According to the Tour De France officials, Tom Boonen will not compete in the Tour De France (TDF) this year if the accusations have been verified and are true. Boonen tested positive for cocaine three days before the Tour of Belgium (see yesterdays blog entry). The TDF officials said he would be barred from their tour this year once this is verified. Boonen is said to be taking some time off from racing but not a long time. The team sponsor, Quickstep, is still behind their rider and the other major sponsors of the team have resigned as sponsors until 2011, which is all good news.

Boonen was a huge favorite of the TDF for the points (green) jersey, so know who is the favorite, THOR?

Milestone....

(Que the drum roll)

Well, here it is the 200th posting of my blog. I can not believe it.

This blog was started to give me a place to separate myself from dealing with my moms fight with cancer. In that aspect, it served its purpose. For a few moments each month it got my mind off doctor appointments, cancer drugs, blood transfusion, radiation, chemotherapy, nursing home and hospitalizations that mom had to endure. Not sure if anyone was reading my blog at that time but it was an outlet for me just to think about something else.

Now, the blog has taken on almost an everyday entry as to kind of a journal into my life. It is a mix of my everyday happenings, to some biking stuff, golfing, to whatever I feel catches my ears / eyes that I might have an opinion about and feel strong to write about. Some days there is punctuation (it is never great) and the grammar is ok (again, it is never great) and other days it is not so good and for those bad days I apologize!

Since blogging, I have met some really great people who are fellow bloggers! You will find most of them listed to the right with links to their blogs. Some of the bloggers I only know through their blog and have never met them in person but nonetheless they seem to be great people and I can only hope to meet them someday.

What I find interesting is that when you get in a group of people, who are fellow bloggers, they introduce themselves by their blog title first, not their name although their name or nickname will soon follow after the blog title. For me it is "Hi, I am Journey Not Destination", then, Tez and then onto my real name. It is a fun, that is for sure.

It will be interesting to see what the next 200 blogs yield....I guess you never know!

Journey on........

Thought for the day......

Friends are like butt cheeks.

Crap might separate them,

but they always come back together!

Dauphine, TDF and drugs....

Seems that the USA is having a good Dauphine Libere so far! We have had an American rider win the prologue, Levi Liepheimer (Team-Astana) and now stage 2, George Hincappie (Team High Road)! Stage 1 was won by Alejandro Valverde and Thor Hushovd is in the yellow (overall lead), YES, my man, THOR, the big Norwegian!

It has yet to be determined if Astana will get an invite to the Tour de France but there is time for the "powers that be" to change their minds. They invited Astana a week before the Giro d'Itlalia. Astana answered with a win by Alberto Contador. It has been speculation that they would get an invite if all the Astana riders basically stayed clean, which they have, but it seems that "the powers that be" said they do not expect to overturn their decision but if things keep going well that maybe next year they will have an invite to the Tour de France.....should I hold my breath?

Tom Boonen seems to have a bit of an issue following him these days. He tested positive for cocaine three days prior to the Tour of Belgium, May 25. The Tour of Switzerland quickly banned the sprinter from their tour. Here is the kicker. WADA states that he will not be suspended because cocaine is a stimulant which is only banned when in competition. This is interesting. In January he was investigated as being a cocaine dealer and his parents house was search but nothing was found and the case was dropped. Now, Quickstep, Boonen's team he rides for, is going to have a press conference on Wednesday regarding this. Do you think they will suspend him or make him go to counseling? He has also had issues speeding and has had his license revoked two times in one month! I hope he can get his act together! This is not good for the Quickstep team and it's search for a new sponsor.

Another story hitting the internet is the use of Viagra to aid in performance...WHAT? Not that kind of performance, which is what the drug was manufactured for, but athletic performance. Andrea Moleta was to ride in the Giro D'Italia but when his father's car was search and 82 viagra pills and a syringe were found, Moleta was suspended. Do you think they could have been his father's pills? Who knows. They say that Viagra helps build endurance for athletes that compete at high elevations by delivering oxygen, nutrients and other drugs more efficiently to muscles...imagine that. When taking testosterone injections, Viagra offsets impotence, which is sometimes a side effect of the injections. UGH! It was also noted that baseball is littered with Viagra popping players, making it the hottest drug in locker rooms. That is all we need, another reason for baseball players to grab their packages and rearrange or to be in the batters box with two bats....enough said.