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!