Ok here is my rant of the day. To many oversized carry on bags! If it needs wheels it should be checked also people with no carry on bags should get to sit in the front so they can get off and not have to wait for all these people to get there bags down. 

Here is the Capitol building in Madison WI. (note to self look for stop lights b-4 taking pics)  

This is in my opinion the most unique part of the center 

Here are a few pics for William of the interior of the Monona Terrace. This is a Frank Loyd Wright building 

Michelle and I raced up to pinetop for the weekend to get out of the heat. It was very nice outside almost chilly in the mornings. What a nice change of pace. I did a ride on sunday, about 2 1/2 hours. The Tour of the White Mountains is in 2 weeks and that is always a good event. I think I will just ride this event and not race it. It will be funner that way. I have all kinds of pictures to post but will need to find the time soon hopefully.

If you ever want to promote a cycling event DO NOT FOLLOW THE STEPS TAKEN BY TWENTY4 SPORTS. They have banned a rider for speaking his mind about the rising costs of endurance racing ( http://www.jeffkerkove.blogspot.com/ ). This is a good guy whom I know threw a mutual friend. I thought the freedom of speech in the Constitution of the United States would kick in here. Jeff if you read this I feel for you. I know the time and effort it takes to do these events. There is not much I can do for you but if there is let me know.

On the other side of things Michelles car is still MIA. By now it is proberly in 1000000000 different pieces and all over E-bay ( the only place to sell hot goods). The hunt for big brother is off. I spoke with him today and everything is good. It is always good to hear from my family. I am just as guilty as anyone about calling.

My store is starting to match the other location as far as $$ go. We are in a race for the month. Considering my store has been here for 1 1/2 years and the other fo 5 I feel pretty good about it.

Well it has been an interesting couple of days. The trip to WI. went of with out a hitch, but as soon as I was back the crazyness started. Michelle called me from work at her usual leaving time and said to me " I don't know where my car is. It is gone!" Yup it was. Stolen, Swiped,Jacked ect... So we waited around for Tucsons finest for about three hours and then filled out a police report. The officer then went on to tell us how busy they are right now. 3 homicides 2 fatal car accidents a drowding and so on. I did not know Tucson was so busy.

I have been tring to call my long lost brother for two weeks now. His name is William F. Harris and he lives in some funky time zone. Ya know over there. So Bill if you see this call me. Ya know the old fashion way ( a telephone in case you forgot). Sarcasm is great.

Thats all for know Going to bed.

Just a little pic from the past to make a post. This is the last time we were in NY city. 

Alright I rode this AM and did a 1 1/2 hour hammer ride(fast) .We did the middle gate at the 50 year trail. Pretty much the first 8 mile are up hill some sections are pretty steep although I was able to stay in the middle ring the entire climb. That was something I could not do last season. I guess all the power training is working.

I leave tomorrow for the Trek dealer show. I am not really looking forward to it since I have so much going on here. It will be good for me though to get away and have nothing to do except look at bikes (how hard is that).

See yaa on Tuesday!!

Allright I am off to do the Trek thing this weekend. Just another show introducing there 2006 line up. The thing I am most interested in is the 29er lineup. Hopefully it will have something with some bling.

The weather has been really nice as of late. Proberly since the monsoons are here. It has been in the 90s. Although the humidity has been high (for here) it is a welcomed sight or feel I guess. Time to start getting ready for the upcoming riding season. First the Tour of The White Mountains then El Tour de Tucson and a few small state races coming up. Then the real stuff. Our MBAA race season including a national event. The first races are more rides than races since they are so long and early in the season. I am going to try to get down to that target wieght of 195. I did not reach that goal last year but will try again this year. It is hard to do the right way (ya know healthy). Any tips would be great.

The pictures from the 12 hour event in WI are up and I am rather disapointed. I watched them take at least 3 pictures of me which usually means they took like 6 or more, but on the website there is only one and it is a boring shot. Oh well I guess I will have to bring my own camera next time and sent Michelle out on the course. http://www.MyRaceDay.com/notice/521/3411/

Today is a rather slow day thus far and I am caught up with all the ordering and what not. Thats great since usually it takes me till Tuesday.

Well todays ride was actually pretty easy for the most part. About 65 miles, 18.5 average, 18 riders, three flats and one heck of an attack going up Sanderio road. We were all together when big dave and Company floored it( This road is a gradual climb for about 4 miles). We went from about 18mph to 22 mph and never let up. People were blowing of the back and then Bob attacked Dave and we were up to 25 mph. Yea it was painfull and I started to slip off the back right at the end, but was able to bridge the gap right at the crest of the climb. At the top there was only 5 left and I was crispy. After the group came back together we just cruised in the last 30 miles. I think everyone was a little tired after that effort.

In other news from AZ the monsoons are here in full force. It was very windy last night. Kinda reminded me of Hilton Head Island when a hurricane came close.

Good morning!! it rained really hard here two nights in a row and the wind was prety fierce as well (it took the tin roof right off the utility port last night). oh well I am not going to deal with that today I got up early just to go for a ride. Specialized gave me one of there new high end Toupe' seats and I am going to check it out on todays easy ride b-4 tommorows hammerfest.
After not really riding for a while and doing "well" at the 12 hour race I am rather excited about riding again. That is always a good sighn.

The Damn woodpecker is back hammering away on my house. I thought I shot him last year? I guess its a new one. Maybee I will shot this one and hang him by his feathers so all other woodpeckers can see what to expect.That will show em'.

leaving for #3 

Coming in after lap # 2 feelin good!! 

This is how I felt the day after the race. 

How about a little boat ride threw some of the northern lakes. This is north of Rhinelander but south of Minaquia. 

Nice gentle rolling hills. ahh very nice ride the second day in Wi. This is actually Arcadia, Michelles g-mas town. 

I have all kind of stuff to do today but I feel really lazy. I might not get it all done. The dogs are napping right now and that looks really tempting. Oh well I better get started.

Well the Wisconsin trip was a good time. It was realy nice weather and we we able to see most of Michelle's family which was the main point of going. I already posted about the race which was a good time.

I cant believe how nice the weather was up there. If it were not for the frigid winters I would be there. Maybee I can be a snow bird and travel between Tucson and Plymouth. That would be the life.

24 hours of nine mile

What a good event! Well put on, very laid back and totaly fun course( not to metion the weather was picture perfect). My partener Greg and I did alot better than I thought we would considering I hardly have ridden and he was not feeling well up to the start. I believe we took 14th place out of 29 teams and each completed 5 laps each in 12 hours. Suprisingly I felt good the entire time. On the last lap I was able to just cruise since we could not gain position and I would have to just do under a 1 1/2 lap to keep our place. Greg and I started doing 1 lap at a time each for the first six laps and then we finished it up with two each in a row. Good times!!

That is the good news here is the bad. We started driving to Chicago sunday and we hit traffic in Madison and sat there until we missed our plane. That sucked. So we had to catch a later flight. We did not get home until 2 am. And Yes we had to be at work the next day.

Other wise it was great to see all of Michelle's family and that whole area was beautiful to be in.