CHEESEHEAD CENTRAL RIDE - DAY DOS

Man - Mr's Clark's favorite son is beat! Long day - up @ 6am, unloading the truck by 7:30, Bike Room work pretty much all dang day, interspersed w/ Coach Stuff, planning for the Lake Tahoe Ride (!!!) and such. Not it's 10-fiddy here-time and there are cyber-miles to go ere I sleep.

240 riders here, plus the crew, the staff, the volunteers......all gathered here on the muggy hot banks of the Mighty Miss-a-sip to take another crack @ giving ol' Type 1 a swift kick in the junk. I met New Team Guy Justine, talked w/ Back w/ Us and West Mi Riders Forever Mike and Jamie Colgan (I believe the exact quote from Mike was " There could be a local chapter next door - we're members of the West Mi team forever") and broke bread w/ Kevin O. I also met Alan - the first ever rider to represent the Metro Detroit Chapter! Met staffer Lauren too, a real go-getter that is all about doing the Program on their end of the state. Can't help thinkin' that's a good thing.

What a blast! Hugs and familiar faces, new bikes and old ones, Barry and his weird-ass saddle, John and his funny accent, crew guys I've only ever known in this context.......the whole giant enchilada. Damn - I love it and still can't believe they let me do this!

Tomorrow I'm gonna ride early w/ Mike M and Bill Marshall, then the coach's meeting @ breakfast, the rider's meeting, the tune up ride, the other meetings they have me doing, dinner, presentations......it'll be a full on sorta day to be sure.

And then.......on Saturday.....we ride.

We ride for all the reasons ya'll know all too well.

For people we love.

For folks we've not yet met.

For ourselves and 240 other utterly valid reasons.

I get all goose-bumpy just thinkin' about it!

I'll check in w/ you guys tomorrow - there oughta be tons of pics on the Ride FB page tomorrow too!

Good night from La Crosse my friends.

MC