Natural Disasters? That's me all over... no, no, I don't know a lot about them, I just seem to BE one.

OK, let it be known that this wild one can't get his act together to get out of school related issues. Besides all of the classes I teach I also teach a multimedia and tv production module. On that day I have the opportunity to star in my own video detailing my class structure. It is to be posted first as an informational piece for the county broadcast, but it will then be tweaked a little so that I can use it as a begging video to help support a new club on campus.

Yes, you got it, a techno club. My thinking is if I can create a club, one that is based around legos and engineering, I can beg retired engineers (some of my friends) out of some of their pocket change to be donated to the club (technology), then I can have the club purchase additional equipment and supplies that are needed for the club that the district says they don't have the money to purchase.

Long story made short, I won't been riding around the lake with you in October.

Bill - I have mixed feelings about you not being able to make it to O.F.L.A.L. '09. While I certainly would have enjoyed the company, now at least I don't have to worry about keeping any sort of a respectable pace or getting left behind altogether. It's promising to shape up to be a positively diminuitive event this year - infinitesimal, even - basically one old guy (me) pedalling his tired butt around the Lake just to see if he can do it. As far as some riders are concerned, it's not even that great a distance - only 62.4 miles from Point "A" to ...well, back to Point "A", actually. I'll take pictures along the way and post them on the Forum.
My plan for O.F.L.A.L. 2010 is a little more ambitious. I'm going to make it a fund-and-awareness-raising venture against Childhood Cancer, a cause near and dear to my heart, for reasons which would be much too lengthy to post in detail here; just let me say I lost a sweet little 7-year-old niece to that terrible disease not too long ago. Once I start getting some of the details firmed up, I hope Admin will allow me to promote it in the "Events" thread.

Keep us posted on O*F*L*A*L '10, I'll try to make plans to be there. I was briefly considering riding up with Bill this year but then got asked to escort some people on Tour de KSC, which is a bike ride around Kennedy Space Center, on the same day.

Good luck on your ride. First (and so far only) time I did 65 miles it took me 6 hours of ride time and over 7 hours total. Since then I've done a few 50+ mile rides with slightly faster averages.

Well the Big Day is upon us (me). Tomorrow morning at about half-past Dark I'm gonna saddle up and hit US 76 (metaphorically speaking - I hope I don't actually HIT it). The weatherman is promising a partly to mostly cloudy day with temps in the low 60s - sounds perfect! (Darn, there's another excuse out the winda). Anywho, I'll be sure to let y'all know how it went, complete with photos and stuff.

Enjoy the ride Nightturkey. I definately want to see some pictures. I'll also consider coming up there to do it with you next year.

Walt

Have fun, Nightturkey, and know that I am steaming with envy out here in AZ (I'm going to have to work some of this weekend, but, hey, at least it means I get to ride my bike to work!)

In the dimness of a cold, drizzly morning I saddled up Lady Blue and set out. All the voices in my head suddenly turned sensible and began sounding like my Mom: "You're going to catch pneumonia in all this wet". "You shouldn't be doing this all alone". "You aren't ready - you haven't been training like you were supposed to". "Are you wearing clean underwear, in case you have an accident?" But I turned a deaf ear to all of them and pedalled stalwartly onward, keeping my pace slow and stately - constantly reminding myself to save some for the end. As the dark gray turned to lighter gray (I suppose there was a sunrise somewhere on the other side of the grayness) I began to realize that I had been thoroughly spoiled by the solitude of my daily commute - I hadn't reckoned on the amount of traffic I would have to contend with on U.S. 76 during normal daylight hours. Definite stress factor! But I bravely pushed on, certain that any moment the sun was going to break through the clouds and warm things up out of the 50s. I got to my first planned stopping point (a Hardee's) somewhat behind schedule, but then I reminded myself I had all day and to Perdition with the schedule! After a leisurely breakfast I pushed on, confident that ol' Mr. Sun was surely going to part the gloomy clouds overhead ANY MINUTE NOW... At my second scheduled rest stop (a convenience store) I purchased one of those caffeinated, high-fructose corn syrup energy drinks, and upon walking outside with it I realized that there was no way I was going to toss off an ice-cold drink when the only thing standing between me and hypothermia was pedal, pedal, pedal... I put the drink in my water bottle holder and pushed on, recklessly endangering myself by looking skyward hoping for encouraging signs that fair skies were just moments away... My next scheduled stop was supposed to be a "photo op" at one end of the Lake Murray Dam, and in fact was able to get one picture, taken by a kindly stranger - a member of a scuba club preparing for a day's dive. I'll post that pic later - I haven't even seen it yet, I left the camera out in the truck when I got home. Ordinarily the view of Lake Murray from the top of the dam is postcard-pretty, but today it looked downright ominous- no boats, low-hanging clouds, and water the dull color of wet concrete. Undaunted (well, not VERY daunted), I pressed on, into the most stressful part of the journey, the Town of Lexington. El mucho traffico, and not very courteous-o. But I made it unscathed to my next scheduled rest stop, a K-Mart. (? Well, yeah - it happens to have been exactly halfway through the trip) I spent a few minutes walking the aisles of the K_Mart, clenching and unclenching my hands to restore some circulation in the cold fingers - I'm sure I made some of the employees a little nervous - "Who is that guy in Sporting goods clenching and unclenching his hands, and why isn't he buying anything?" I walked out into brilliant sunlight - NOT!! Not only were the clouds even darker (although it was now almost noon), but the wind had picked up, from a direction that I knew was going to be inimical in a few miles. I drank that energy drink I had bought earlier, which was now no longer ice-cold, and thus sugared and caffeinated I headed out for the second half of the journey, a Road Less Traveled, through Barren Wasteland... well, not exactly, but definitely through sparsely-populated countryside, which would be a very nice relaxing ride on a pretty day, but which today was one gray, bleak, damp mile after another - hillier, too. It was on this leg of the journey that I saw not one, but TWO other bicyclists... not at the same time, though, and coming in the other direction. We gave each other commiserating waves as we passed by; sort of a "Hail to thee, kindred idiot!" ...oh, did I mention it started raining? Not much, certainly not enough to seek shelter and call the Rescue Wife, but more than enough to ...er, dampen the spirits. Abandoning all hope of sunshine and gritting my teeth in grim determination, I rode on, and sometime later I caught myself making a bad mistake - counting down the miles to my destination. 8...7...6...5...4...3...2... there was the landmark I had been longing to see ...a cemetery (egad, how morbid! but it was at the outskirts of the town I had started from). The rain let up as I made the final turn - no, the stoopid sun never did come out, but at least the final mile was dry. I pulled into the parking lot, loaded Lady Blue into my truck and headed home, where my wife had made some of her world-famous Homemade Vegetable-beef Soup (okay, it's not world famous, but it ought to be), and I finally found myself with warm toes, a full belly and the knowledge that I MADE IT!!! O.F.L.A.L. '09 is in the History books, and you're darn right there's going to be an O.F.L.A.L. '10! If I can do it on a day like today, I know I can do it when the weather is more cooperative. Start time,. 7:10 AM, finish time, 2:40 PM. It is now bedtime. Good night.

Nightturkey,

Congratulations on your ride, I'm sure you feel a good bit of satisfaction. I enjoyed reading about it. Hopefully next year it will be a group thing, I wouldn't mind spending a few days up that way.

Walt

Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! and Congrats!