Whew!

Woooh..............mind buzzing............sleep deprived..............image overload................must concentrate!


Wow! How to describe last weekend? There's the obvious approach.... I could blather on about the 40mph wind gusts, the virtual ground-level sandstorm we rode through to get back to Furnance Creek just before (okay......a little after, mebbe) sundown, the constant mentions that I got from other coaches and Ride staff about what a great Team we have, the stars I saw w/ Patti B before dawn on Sunday, how great it was for me that Lin was there, what a drag it was that the post-Ride bash got kinda shut down by mean ol' Ma Nature (whatta bitch!), or any of a bazillion other images running around my boggled brain.

And I will... at some point...no doubt.

But for now I wanna say this: I was just on the Adventure Corps site, lookin' at pix and searchin' for glittery stars and my face hurts from grinning and my eyes are red. Every pic I saw of one of us made my day, y' know? This thing is SO BIG and SO COOL and has become SO MUCH a part of my life that I swear I dunno whatinthehell I'm gonna do w/ myself now that the '07 Rides are over. I want to thank everyone of you guys (again and again!) for lettin' be be a small part of this Team..............it's an honor and a privilage that I'm not sure I deserve so............thanks a TON!

Remember.......the Next Big Team Deal is the Post-Season Celebration / Next Season Kick Off Bash on 11/13! Details will be forthcoming as soon as Mary and I can get together but mark your calendars now so you can be there! Be sure to invite potential Team Riders, family and anyone else affected by diabetes that you think oughta be exposed to what we have goin' on!

I wanna say this too............(and those of you that have heard this once or twice or more can skip down!) I was talking to National Head Coach Tim St. Clair after dinner on Saturday night about an idea that I had. We had talked @ the coach's meeting about some potential different awards to hand out after the Ride and I was thinking that there oughta be a Team Award..........something to recognize the Team that just had it goin' on the most all weekend, y'know? My idea was that the staff and the volunteers and break point folk could get together and award the Team w/ the best attitude and coolest riders. He liked the idea and then told me (after making me promise that I'd "listen to him and believe every word that he said") "Your team would win that award". He said that we had been the talk of the weekend amongst staff and volunteers. Our spirit, our level of enthusiasm, our riding ability....you name it and we had it, as far as they were concerned. I knew that.........but it was cool that everyone else did as well.
He also said that it was too bad that the evening's presentation was shut down by the conditions 'cuz they would have made a big deal about you guys in front of everyone.

This goes out to all our MT teammies as well.............out in DV we knew that the bar had been set waaaayyyy up there by the riders from West Mich that had "led us out" @ the earlier Rides and that we all had a big pair of cycling shoes to fill.
I think we did it!

Congradulations to EVERY ONE of you guys................I couldn't be more proud of you all and I really hope that this season has (to cop a line from TSC) made your life bigger.

I can't wait to see everyone @ the Party, hear the tales and see the pix!

(Man.............I did a great job of keepin' this short, huh?)

Coach Mike

You guys ROCK, have I mentioned that lately?