The Tyler Hamilton Foundation Riders

As is often the case in my life, the ability to miraculously get involved with something that I had no intentions of getting involved with see to follow me everywhere. You see, my friend Joe gets updates from the Tyler Hamilton Foundation and sends me an IM saying they will be coming to Vermillion and that he is thinking about offering them a place to stay and that we would have an opportunity to ride a leg with them if we desired. Sounds great! All I have to do is show up and ride! My kind of gig!

Then, with less than a week to go, Joe informs me that his house will now NOT be available due to Vermillion High School graduation and the fact his girlfriends son will be graduating and the party will be at his house. Frantic emails to the club turned up one "I'm sorry but we will be out of town", so, the guilt trip worked and I took them in. Me, three kids, and three adults in a three bedroom house with a basement that is in the slowest remodeling project known to humankind.

They showed up right around dinner time and as Cassandra (their driver) helped me cook some spaghetti (okay, I got it started and she basically took over my kitchen which was okee dokee by me). Bill and Dick were the two riders making the cross country trek and they got their showers in and we powered down some food and we sat and talked for quite awhile before it was time for them to crash for the night.

We had a good showing for their "escort" into the wind down to Sioux City as AJ, Justin, Joe, Angie and myself provided them a windbreak as much as possible as we rode into 20+ mph headwinds. It was an extremely short day for them, which worked out good for us as we rode down and back giving us about 70 miles.

I'd go into more details about the Tyler Hamilton Foundation and the Coast2Coast for THF ride, but you can do that on your own and pay homage!

Weekly Cycling Log: May 21 - May 27

A "not so good" week with back to back goose eggs over a holiday weekend. One day was the state track meet and the other was KP (kid patrol) along with getting ready for the Tyler Hamilton Foundation crew to land on my doorstep. Still not having a bad month, and next month will start the "kick it in" for gut check training!

21-May	16.70	Spin Class(10) + Commuting(6.70)
22-May	4.84	Commuting
23-May	34.29	Commuting(3.69) + Meckling Loop(30.60)
24-May	28.02	Commuting(5.72) + Maskell(22.30)
25-May	42.34	Lennox
26-May	0
27-May	0

	Weekly Totals:	YTD Totals
Training/Recreation	105.24	3021.70
Commuting/Errands	20.95	546.18
Total Miles:	126.19	3567.88
Projected Miles-2007		8859.02

Weekly Cycling Log: May 14 - May 20

Little better week, but most of my mileage came in three days. This week might be close to the same in that regard. State Track Meet Friday/Saturday is bound to kill mileage a bit if I don't get a chance to ride up at least part way.

14-May	2.65	Commuting
15-May	3.98	Commuting
16-May	5.65	Commuting
17-May	47.62	Commuting(4.08) + Elk Point Loop(43.54)
18-May	15.14	Spin Class(10) + Commuting/Errands(5.14)
19-May	80.25	Elk Point/Jefferson/N.Sioux/Sioux City(75.71) + Errands(4.54)
20-May	87.77	Elk Point(29.31) + Elk Point/Jefferson Loop(55.71) + Errands(2.55)

	Weekly Totals:	YTD Totals
Training/Recreation	214.27	2916.46
Commuting/Errands	28.59	525.23
Total Miles:	243.06	3441.69
Projected Miles-2007		8972.98

My wife buys "paraphernalia" at Walmart

My wife is on her way home from massage therapy school (on the downhill slide of that thank goodness!) and calls to say that she is going to stop by her sisters to get a few things for our son's "Wax Museum" project at school and then run to Walmart. When she got home she had quite the tale to tell and it's just too good not to write about. Without further ado:

So, she picked up some things from her sister. Then off to Walmart where she decided to look for "pipe cleaners" to possibly build a mustache for Austin as he was going to be Albert Einstein. She looked through all the craft areas and couldn't find any and finally asked a sales person where they were. She was told they were at the front of the store in "Aisle 8". She went and picked them up and then proceeded to get a gallon of milk since we were running low at home.

She then proceeds to the nearest checkout. They ring up the milk but the pipe cleaners will not ring up. The clerk calls a manager over and he states that they are considered "paraphernalia" and can only be purchased on aisle 8. So, off to aisle 8 she goes to buy her pipe cleaners. She goes to pay and THEY CARD HER. Apparently you have to be (or look) at least 27 or you don't buy pipe cleaners at Walmart. How ridiculous is that?!?!??!

On the bright side, my wife still gets carded. I'm sure there is no way in heck this old man could get carded for anything. They probably wouldn't card me at Senior Citizens!

A Visit From A Buddy....

A week ago, my friend Barry S. from Minneapolis told me he was coming down today and wanted to go to lunch. YESTERDAY he said he was bringing his girlfriend along. Wait a minute...THEEE bachelor is bringing a girlfriend.

Laura and I went to lunch with Barry and Tara and I'll be damned, she's NICE. Okay, I'm kidding, Barry is a nice guy and deserves somebody like Tara. So Barry, don't screw this up. Tara, should you read this, take good care of him...somebody needs to!

Barry is in the midst of marathon training but talked about more important things (i.e. cycling) for next year. We will have to work on getting Tara and Laura out there riding more!

And...you whiner who doesn't blog any more, the next post is for you. It DOESN'T deal with cycling and it DOES deal with my wife who I "supposedly" never talk about.

FABulous Cycling

Last weekend I had to go run the Daktronics board at Howard Wood Field for the Greater Dakota Conference Track Meet. I figured that there was no time like the present to meet a couple of blogging buddies for a ride.

Friday night I met up with Snakebite and a few others, including the now famous Matt Helling. We had a nice 37 mile roll from Northern SF to Hartford to Crooks and back. The funniest part of the ride is when we rolled into Hartford and Matt said "So, THIS is where Hartford is". Instinctively I inquired, "Are you new to the area Matt?". "No, I just grew up 'in the city (Sioux Falls)' and never got out of town much. I'm still laughing over that one.

Saturday morning was the Coffee and Donuts Urban Ride in Sioux Falls. It was here that I finally met MinusCar, or as he puts it, the "guy I met off the internet". It was a relaxed pace through the residential areas of Sioux Falls. Low traffic on a Saturday morning and I got to see parts of Sioux Falls that I normally wouldn't see so it was awesome. Being the great hosts they are, the FAB group took their mid-ride stop at Caribou coffee so I could enjoy my NO CALORIE Turtle Mocca (OMG! 730 Calories?!?! Oh wait...skim milk..probably only 675!).

I made reference that when I downloaded the Garmin that the coffee and donut ride route should spell "FAB". Well, it looks more like a wiener dog with a camel hump. That was my initial Rorschach ink blot test response and I'm sticking to it.



Thanks for taking in an outsider and showing me a good time!

Weekly Cycling Log: May 7 - May 13

Got to ride with a few of the FAB gang (more on that in an upcoming post). Still not getting in great miles. Laura has class Monday, Tuesday, Thursday night, and every other Saturday. Makes training a bit tough!

7-May	18.96	Spin Class(10) + Commuting(8.96)
8-May	9.51	Commuting
9-May	36.07	Commuting(2.49) + Time Trials+(33.58)
10-May	6.63	Commuting
11-May	43.08	Commuting(5.79) + SF-Hartford-Crooks(37.29)
12-May	13.46	Coffee-n-Donuts(SFalls FAB Ride)
13-May	30.24	Elk Point

	Weekly Totals:	YTD Totals
Training/Recreation	124.57	2702.19
Commuting/Errands	33.38	496.44
Total Miles:	157.95	3198.63
Projected Miles-2007		8719.90

Weekly Time Trials - May 9, 2007

Goal #5 on the 2007 Goal List is complete! The wind was about as calm as it gets around here so I gave it (almost) everything I had for this early in the season. I'm not sure that I'll be able to run any faster as I thought I was going to hurl at the end!

Time: 24:56
Ave MPH: 23.8 mph
Temp: 78.8 (ave and high)
Ave Wind: ESE 3.0 mph
Max Wind: ESE 6.9 mph

Dist.	Time	A Speed	Max	A HR
1	2:03	24.0	25.6	146
2	2:38	23.3	24.0	166
3	2:32	24.1	24.8	168
4	2:26	23.1	25.4	163
5	2:43	22.7	23.6	159
6	2:34	23.3	26.0	164
7	2:17	25.4	26.6	163
8	2:34	24.4	25.5	162
9	2:28	23.7	24.4	160
10	2:15	26.0	30.3	163

Weekly Cycling Log: Apr 30 - May 6

A dismal week of training, but I'm almost done editing my paper and then I'll have more time for cycling hopefully! I almost counted my cycling to Howard Wood Field as commuting since I was technically going up to work, but I left it as training miles :-)

30-Apr	17.74	Spin Class(10) + Commuting(7.74)
1-May	2.58	Commuting
2-May	18.76	Spin Class(10) + Commuting(8.76)
3-May	3.77	Commuting
4-May	66.34	Sioux Falls Howard Wood Field
5-May	0
6-May	6.78	Around Town Mtn Bike

	Weekly Totals:	YTD Totals
Training/Recreation	93.12	2577.62
Commuting/Errands	22.85	463.06
Total Miles:	115.97	3040.68
Projected Miles-2007		8808.32

Monthly Mileage Update

Month	Total Miles	Ave/Day	Training Miles	Commuting Miles
January	743.27	23.98	635.18	108.09
February	700.39	25.01	608.15	92.24
March	748.15	24.13	636.17	111.98
April	751.81	25.06	615.00	136.81
Overall	2943.62	24.53	2494.50	449.12