I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Now I am tuning in on New Years. We are going up to pinetop (brrr) for the weekend. I made my new years resolution, To do something productive every morning no matter how big or small. How about yours.

HE LIVES!!!. My long lost brother has returned. Merry Christmas everyone and we mailed cards out to everyone last Monday so you might get them on time you might not. We will see how efficient our post office can be.

The sunset looking east from the 50 year trail.Catalina Arizona 12/ish/05

The sunset from the shop 12/17/05

Here is Michelle making Christmas sugar cookies. Yearly tradition.

There is a new feature on the blog that enables you to e-mail a post to anyone you like. Everything went well in the docs office.

Mother "the bird is in the cage".

Christmas is almost here and It feels like it should be a month away. 2005 is almost gone also. The heater is broken in the house and we are on call to have it fixed. Good thing we live in Az.

I skipped the ride tonight since I feel lazy and it is cold outside. I did however ride last night and had a pretty good ride. Work is work and everything is going well. Michelle is doing good and we have an appointment tommorow with the doctor.

I talked to Ian today (blast from the past) and he is engaged finally. Good for him.

My poor NY Jets pulled out a win today. Kinda bitter sweet though since the win puts us out of the Reggie Bush running (2006 NFL draft). Curtis martin (The Best Player the Jets have ever had) missed the game today and probably will miss the rest of the season. That is nothing new this year since we have 11 starters on the IR.

I have decided to change the title of the blog. The reason why you ask? As we all know by know my wife Michelle is pregnant with our first child. That means that she eats a little something every few hours. Translation I eat evey two hours. I am up almost 10 lbs since the summer.

Michelles mom and Loran came down today for the annual Christmas cookie bake off. So if you want some of these cookies, come and get em.

Here is a little something to get everyones opinion. Do you think presents should be opened the night b-4 Chrismas or only the day off. That is the on going fued going on around here. Lets hear your opinions in the comments section.

P.S. Where is My brother. he hasn't said anything in a while.

Not much new around here. Although I have figured out a way to eat fast food And still be somewhat healthy. Wendys is the best since they have Baked potatoes, chili and Iced tea thats brewed not from fountain. Tonight is the night ride and it should be chilly, around 40' or so. Tommorow is my day off and I will be doing a nice long fun ride since the high should be around 65' or so.

I went for a ride this morning and I thought I was crazy for riding in 35' weather, But then I read Jeffs Blog. I rode for about 1 1/2 hours at a moderate pace and then Hit up the coffee pot.

I have all kinds of stuff to do today. With that in mind, see yaa

Road ride complete. Thats right the bike I put away after the tour was pulled out of hybernation, dusted off and actually saw the open road. About two hours at a real easy pace

Not much new happening around here. Michelle is a little under the weather, but she is fine. Zoe "thedog" is on crack today. She is doing laps around the house and Belle doesnt know what to think. All is fine in the desert and the tempertures are really nice right know.

I was looking at the housing costs in California "just for fun" and they are really out there. the same house we had in meadowbrook which we sold for $129,000, would sell for like $450,000. Thats out of hand. How can anyone afford to live there. I guess you would make more but you would have a $3500 morgage payment. OUCH!!!

The ride this am did not go as planned. For the first time in a long time I had all kinds of mechanical problems.The chain was skipping over the rear cog. That means everytime I put pressure on the pedals I had problems. The climbs were rough but otherwise I was able to do the ride OK. Hit the Starbucks on the way home and all was good.

I replaced the chain and rear gear and will give it a try tommorow. I need a new digital camera for posting pictures on the blog of general stuff as well as future pics of the brat. Hint Hint.

The weather is absolutly awesome right now. Tommorow I will be raging out on our local 24 hour course on the single speed (cant wait). Thanksgiving was good and like everyone else I ate way to much. I could use the ride to get all that turkey off.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Turkeys in the oven.

The tour went really well. We were able to get Christina in under 5 hours which gives her platinum for men as well as women. Not to bad for a barley 17 year old. 404th out of almost 4000 people not too bad.

We are having Thankgiving here and I will do the usual brine turkey thing I do. The gravy and rolls will also be on me but that is it. Everyone else will bring a dish to make it complete.

Alright it is here! The tour is in 11 and a half hours. After this weekend we will have a week or sow of down time to get ready for Christmas. Then the real busy time begins.

Thanksgiving will be at our house, as usual. So be here early to get a spot at the adult table.

Todays plans:

We went to the doctors office this am and everything is good and on scheduale.
Put the finishing touches on Nasal Drip Harris' room.
Put the trash out.
Get the road machine ready for the tour.
Go for a night ride tonight and ride the singlespeed 29er.
Time to get cracken. See yaa!!

Well it is 5 days away from the El Tour De Tucson and we are swamped. A customer told me the tour is full and entry is closed. That means we have over 7000 people in town for the event. As the days go by we will be getting busier.

New E-mail address. dkharris111@yahoo.com . So if you e-mailed me in the last week or so I proberly did not get it. Nothing new here otherwise. Went for a ride today on a demo bike. Pretty cool ride review to come after a few more rides.

Ahh bunch of crap in my head. Cant breath cant think. Sick of being sick allready. Missed the race this weekend. I figured that would put me in the ER, so I skipped it. I have taken 6 multivitamins in 48 hours and drank a bunch of fluids.

Michelle walked last night for 20 minutes on the trendmill. Tonight she will walk the mall and get it in that way. Good for her! The race is tommorow and I think I am coming down with something (uhhhgg). I took a handfill of vitamins and drank a ton of juice. So basicly a am urinating floresent yellow. Hopefully I will be good to go tommorow.

Everyone including the doc says that Michelle should be exercising everyday for at least 20 minutes so the delivery will be easier. So that means I will be going for walks now as well as riding my bike. I am going to get super skinny yo! I better start eating more.

No other new news to report everything is going well and the weather is nice highs in the mid 80s with some wind but not bad. Tomorrow will be a long ride and tonight I am of for some hill sprints with Cory. The race this weekend is a low priority and I would not do it except I need some motivation to get back into a training mode. Nothing does that like getting your tail whipped at a race.

1427 hits on the old blog. Kinda cool I guess. It would be good to know who is looking at it. I wonder if there is a program for that. Saturday is the first mountain bike race of the season and as usual I am not ready. It will be fun anyway.

Things are going well with Nazal Drip harris. We are right on task. Michelle said he is moving around alot lately.

Here is a link to a picture of me goofing off on lap 3 at the 24hours of nine mile in WI.

My blog is worth $1,129.08.
How much is your blog worth?

I found this pretty cool site on jeffs site. Like he said where is my $$?

March 14th is the official date that Nazal Drip Harris should be here. We will get a close up view of him tommorow.

The first mountain bike race is on the 5th of november. and I am in no shape to do any kind of an event but oh well I will give it my best and see what happens. The El Tour de Tucson (109 mile road race) is in 3 weeks and I am in no shape for that either. So basicly I better get cracking and start getting in some miles.

I wonder how uncle Tommy, grandma and grandpa are doing after hurricane Wilma? I bet they got a bunch of rain and winds. Michelle's Dad is coming out for a visit. He will be here tommorow for a business trip and we will get to see him this weekend.

Our lap top is down with the program that allows me to post pictures, so bear with me.

Yup it has been pretty slow around here. The weather is finally nice and people are doing outdoor stuff not coming into bike stores. Thats allright though we will get it soon or a later.

Michelle is doing well and we have another sonigram thursday. Last night I was able to feel a little movement by the little guy. I think we will name him Nasal Drip Harris. That sounds really original to me and nobody else will have that name.

How about the name Nasil Drip harris? Not much new happening here. Just doing the normal day to day thing and making things happen for the kid. We had another doctors apointment and everything is going as planned.

Riding a little here and there but no major planned events in the future. The weather has turned really nice and I am able to do things outdoors in the day time. Michelle and I went out to an apple orchard last weekend and picked some fruit and veggies. Nothing like an apple strait off the tree.

What about Riley for a middle name. It is a combination of Ryan (from my grandpa) and Lee (from Michelles'.)

The 24 hours of moab starts in 46 minutes. Sloane is doing this event and should do well. You can watch the results in real time here.

No comments lately from the peanut gallery, I wonder why? I am trying to figure out a way to put the sonogram on my blog. That would be cool. Halloween is coming and I figure to go out and scare some kids.

You might notice an ad on the top of the posts. This is a little way to help support my blog. Everytime someone clicks on the ad I will recieve a little change in my pocket. It is free for you and it ads a little flash to the blog.

Over 1300 views of this site. Pretty cool! Nothing new here, hence the lack of posts. Michelle is on her way back from a work meeting in Chicago and should be home shortly. Work is good we are getting pretty busy for El Tour de Tucson. 24 hours of Moab is this weekend and I am pretty happy I wont be there, Although the weather looks like it will be the best I have seen in the years I did the event. No snow or freezing weather, Nothing like your Camelback hose freezing on your night lap.

Also I am doing hyperlinks on the posts. When the word is in a different color you can click on it and it will show you what I am talking about. Click on "24 hours of moab" above or Weather and check it out. Also I did it on the last few posts.

Well its aboy as you can see from the last post. we had an ultrasound done on Thursday and every thing looks good, right on task( no son of mine will be tardy). I have picked out his first bike and helmet and ordered one of these and one of these . So we are set to start the war of the teams between Michelle and myself.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went out this morning for a ride at the 50 year trail and hit a few sections I havent done in a while. I only rode for just under 2 hours, but had a great ride. The cooler weather is starting to win the battle and the mornings have been awesome.

I have alot to do today. We are doing the whole painting and switching room thing and I have to swap all the furniture. It will be one of those jobs that I will get a feeling of satisfaction out of though since it will be a huge change.

Michelle is off to Vegas for the weekend with her mother (Ann) to have some fun and see some shows . Michelle has a minute by minute plan off course. They will be back on Monday so I can get some goof off time.

The Jets annonced a new stadium they will share with the giants again. This time the jets will be 50% owners instead of renters. I guess thats good, although they will still be in Jersey. They really should change there name to the Jersey Jets since that is where they play and soon will have there home office.

The new road bike rocks! Very comfy and smooooth. The shop is doing well and we are gearing up for the big rush b-4 the El Tour De Tucson. "The biggest perimiter road race in the country". Usually around 7000+ show up for the one day 109 mile race around the city. Rather pricy entry fees and very dangerous unless your in the front.

Nothing really new happining around here. Just the normal daily action. I will post when something good happens.

We went to the doctor on Thursday and everything is going well, right on task. We could not find out the sex of the kid yet, but we made an appointment for a sonogram. Two Thursdays from now we should know.

I bought a new road bike with the cash from the old road bikes sale. It is a 2006 Lemond Victoire. Nice smooooooth ride. This morning was the maiden voyage and after a few stops to get the fit just right I feel right at home. I hope to do the tour this year and that will be a good riding bike for that.

Allright we bought the 2002 Izuzu Axiom. We are pretty happy about the deal we found. we were able to get it from a friend of a friend who was looking to trade it in. We offered him kelly blue books trade in value and he accepted. So we were able to get a really good deal. I will be posting pictures soon.

In other news we are hoping to find out if it is a boy or girl we will be seeing in march tommorow. We had to switch doctors since our insurance company does not cover ours anymore. I think the insurance companys try to make it hard in hopes that we will give up and just pay our doctor and cut them out of the loop ( typical insurance scams).

How about one of these ? Drives nice looks good and is affordable.

Quick update

We still are in searh of the perfect vehicle. We found a 2000 nissan frontier quad cab at a local dealership and after 3 hours of going back and forth we could not get the deal done we were about $1500 apart(basicly the sales tax and fees). So the search continues.

How about one of these? We found and drove a 2002 pontiac aztec and we rather liked it. Only one problem, it is not a honda. It seems to get good reviews and with only 42k on the odometer it should run for a while with out any problems. Lets hear it, opinions that is.

Tuesday September 13th

Not much new happen here we are still in search for the perfect vehicle. I am torn between a minivan (fuel effecincy, lower cost, more room) or a quad cab truck ( the opposite but I can still have some dignity).

I am still riding to work and it is actually rather nice to get out in the morning and get it going right. Store is doing fine and we are hitting our #s. There is an event in October but I dont think I will do this one. From what I heard the course is no good and the entry is to high. So I will have to think about what events to do this year.

Well it did not rain during the event but it did the night b-4. It was storming so bad it blew a 18 weeler propane truck over the edge earlier that day. so they closed the road due to leakage and we had to drive all the way around threw Phoenix (about a 4 1/2 hour drive instead of 31/2). We started the ride at 8:00am and the starting line was a huge mud pit. People were having a hard time clipping into there pedals and even getting there bikes rolling threw the thick mud, by mile three 1/2 the field had mechanicals and turned back. I made it about 12 miles and the mud was so thick and soupy (think of thick oatmeal) that I was unable to go any further. I found a huge puddle and washed my bike down. That gave mw about another 3 miles and then I was in the same boat. I figure this race will cost me an additional $70 after I get my bike back in order. I spent about $8 at the car wash right after the event powerwashing the bike and shoes. The mud was so packed up in the frame that it took all the paint off alot of areas. Well next is El Tour de Tucson. A 111 mile road event around the city.

Michelle and I are thinking of buying a minivan. Yup you heard me right a minivan! I figure between all my bike crap and soon to be kid crap and also kid we will need some room. So if anyone is selling a clean reliable van, let me know.

I am off to Pinetop tommorow for the event and will return sunday night. That means I will miss my beloved Jets on the tube. Oh well. It is going to rain during the event according to the weather channel. I hope it pours, that would be fun. BIG HUGE MUD FEST!! All the az natives will go into hiding like cats.

Wednesday Septeber 7 2005

We hit over a 1000 veiws

I have been in tucson for 6 years

3 days till the T.W.M.

about 30 more days till nice weather

we have a new computer

we looked at a Honda Odyssey last night

New E-mail address dkharris111@yahoo.com. The Tour of the White Mountains is this weekend. Yup 25, 35, 41, 52 or 65 miles in the mountains take your pic. I downgraded to the 41 for the lack of riding I have been doing. It should still be fun.

In other news Michelles family came over for labor day and we did the whole grill thing. The shop is slowed to a nice pace. Thats nice since I could hardly keep up two weeks ago.

Anybody wishing to comment on a topic will now have to use the word verification. It is easy all you do is type the letters you see into the box and your post will go up. I had to many mass comments going in and it took alot of my time. This will make my life alot easier.

Well everyone it looks as though I will be a dad. Yup kinda scary huh. Michelle and I are pretty exited as you can imagine. Needless to say the priorities in life have changed. I am ok with that though this is going to be fun. I know there will be some hard times but overall it will be a good time.


Michelle is doing fine she is a little tired and is good for about 8 hours a day. Then it is all down hill. Still no word on her car. We really dont want it back now since it is proberly thrashed.

On the other side of things the other store beat us on $ last month by a mere bike sale. I still consider it a victory considering my store has only been open a year and a 1/2 and the other one 5 years. I have not been riding much exept to work.

Thats it for now D.

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.

The monsoons are here and now it is 105 degrees and very humid in the afternoons.

Football season is right around the corner so I am excited about that.

We are off to Wisconsin tommorow and will be back Monday.

Riding to work today just to try and keep loose.

Epic S-Works. Specialized all out effert for a cross country race bike.All carbon mainframe. 

Here is a carbon Stumpjumper S-Works, nice smooth lines light weight and smooth ride.  

Allright I am back from Santa Cruz, CA. Good trip. I saw some pretty cool new stuff and will post some pictures soon. Next up is Wausau, WI. leaving Wednesday and should be back late Sunday. I have ridden prety hard the past week and actually feel rather good. All the inside reps for Specialized like to take turns hammering on you during the group rides. After the third day strait I was cooked and had nothing left to give. There is a climb just outside of Santa Cruz that is a 14 percent grade for 6 miles and that hurt on the second day the most, by the third day the legs were knumb so it really did not matter to much. that is it for tonight.

If you look closely youwill see a screen in the backround. this was used in The Truman Show, Apollo 13 and alot of universal movies that had water in them.  

This is the delorian used in the second Back to the Future. 

Apollo 13. Anyone remember this movie 

Alright I was able to find the password. THE GLOBE 

It is time to get back on the bike. I have an event in 2 1/2 weeks and have not been riding hardly at all. Yea this event is going to hurt! Oh well it is all for fun anyway. Tonight I am planning on at least 2 hours of bike time and hopefully another 2 hours tommorow morning (Early since it is supposed to be over 110 tommorow. I figure I will start tonight at around 7:30 or so. It will still be around 100 or so but the sun will be gone, in the morning I will be on the bike by 5:30 and be done b-4 8:00.

My schedule is pretty jam packed for the next month. here are the highlights

7/18-22 Morgan Hill California, Specialized yearly dealer meeting. They put on the best dealer meeting I have been to. one reason is that you get to feel, touch and acually ride and try the product.

7/27-31 Wasau, Wi , This is the 12 or 24 hour event that is going to hurt, also it is a chance to see some of Michelle's family.

8/18-22 Madison Wi, Yea back to the midwest. Trek bicycles yearly dealer show. This is always a good time also, but always seems a little to laid back( no structure) and I never seem to leave with a full understanding of the line. I always have to refer to the manuals.

Pictures of Universal Studios will be up soon. Forgot the password to get into the program.

We are back from Universal Studios and I am ready to be home for a while. Although that wont happen unfortuatly since I am of to a buisness meeting in Cali next week and then the 12 hour event the week after that. Yea I am pretty busy right know but thats good. I will post some pics of Universal soon.

Well just another hour and a half ride this am. Nothing special just a cruise. felt pretty good. I might have to turn into a morning person since the past two rides have been really nice in the cool am weather.

Lance is in yellow again (no suprise) and the next real stage is on sunday. Thats when they hit the mountains! Wathching the flat stages is rather boring until the end or a good crash (much like nascar) .

I was up at 4 am to take Michelle to the airport for a biz trip, so I tok advantage of that and hit the road bike by 5:30. It was nice weather proberly around 78 degrees or so and a light breeze. hour and a half ride z-2, z-3 zones and a few sprints. Now lets watch the Tour de France.

Happy fourth 

Happy 4th everyone!! I was up at 4:30 am this am to put a coat of rubberized sealant on the roof . It took about three hours for Loran and myself to do the deed. Just in time it was getting hot by 7:00 (around 95ish). For those who dont know what I am talking about , In the southwest most houses that are not "cookie cutter houses" have flat roofs. Every few years or so they require a new coat of this sealent stuff that reminds me of liquid latex.

Other than that today was very relaxing. I rode the trainer for a little more than an hour( to hot outside and I was busy this am).

Suprisingly I have not heard of any deaths this year yet from people riding or doing hard labor during the hot hours of the day (10-8ish). Usualy one or two people a week drop and either die or have heat stroke. It is almost impossible to stay hydrated when you are sweating faster that you can consume fluids.

Thats all for today. Also here is a picture of the Statue of Liberty

Well nothing new here in Tucson the annual state fire is underway up in pheonix. Last year we had it and the year b-4 that it was northern Arizona. I think The Weather Channel Takes what ever the average temputure is for that month and puts it on there web site. Yesterday they said the high was only going to be 102. Man were they wrong, by 9:15 it was 114 and it topped out at 119 at my house. Only 3 more months then it it beautiful weather again.

Loran's (Michelle's stepfather) aunt passed away this week. Her name was Geanie and she seemed a great person from the little I saw of her. So we are of to Pinedale (right by Pinetop) for the service. We should be back Sunday.

We are back from the white mountains and it is still pretty warm. It looks like the monsoons should start early this year since it has been so humid lately. That would be nice since it cools down after the rains.

We are off to pinetop for the weekend. We decided that after we saw the thrmometer was at 115'. See ya tuesday. hopefully I will get in a couple good rides (6 hours or so.

Alright here it is. Michelle's new pimp ride.The best thing is no payment!!  

Here is a gila monster right in our driveway. I need a digital camera for better photos( hint hint) 

Well it looks like we sold Michelle's car saturday. We are supposed to meet the people there on monday at 10:30 to finalize the deal. We also found a mazda Miata that is in our price range to pay cash for. so we will be less in debt. thats always good. Now we just need to pay the house off and we are set(Haha). Like that happening any time soon.

Remember when you were growing up and your parents said not to go swimming right after you ate alot of food? Well I must have forgot since my wednesday night ride turned sour pretty much right when I started. I ate dinner and then hopped on the bike within 1/2 an hour. I thought if I took it easy the first hour or so I would be fine but I had all kinds of stomach problems. I guess my stomach just shut down . So I cut the 4 1/2 hour planned ride down to 2 1/2. I also noticed the next morning that I was dehydrated. Well I have learned to lisen to my elders a little more, maybe they do know what they are talking about.

This is a look back at the Brian Head 100. It is a race done at 8000- 12000 ft and is a pure suffer fest. This is proberly the highest outhouse is the southwest.  

They are just chillin on the cool tile. This must be a nice break from rough housing outside in the heat all day. 

Allright I am back to normal after Thursday nights ride. For some reason that ride really makes me tired the day after. proberly because I dont sleep well that night. I feel great during the ride and even immediatly after the ride but the next day I am a wreck. I think I will do the ride on wednesday night instead since I am off on thursday. Then I can sleep in.

It seems like the hotter it gets here the busier we get at the shop. You would think we would be the busiest in the winter when it is beautiful outside.

Here is a pic from last nights ride. it is rather hard to see clearly but it is overlooking tucson from Skyline road. Poor picture partly camera phone and partly riding and taking pictures at same time.