Well I thought that I was set with the toolboard until my big tool order arrived but I got a little antsy about it and said ta hell with it and decided to hang the board with the tools that I have and just add as they arrive.

So I cut some 2x8's to length and coaxed them tight between the ceiling and floor.  Then I had to hang that sheet of 3/8 plywood by myself, which isn't easy, then I put some of the tools on and put the bench back.

So until my new stuff gets here this is what I have:

Another angle of the cycling room.  That's a new cable and housing set on the bench ready to go on the Colnago.

And finally:  That's Shawn's cool little CIOCC in front there.

Not too much progress today as I'm still waiting on stuff to arrive.  Don't want to start attaching things to the board until I have everything that is going to be attached.

One thing I did get done is the vise attached to the bench:

Finally had some time today after work to get to work on my new tool board.  This board has to have a couple of capabilities.

• It must be large enough to hold all the bike tools I'll mostly use.
• It must be portable to the extent that it will be moved about twice a year.

So I decided on a piece of 3/8 plywood.  I did not use pegboard as I have now in the barn because I didn''t want to have to buy a ton of hooks to fit it and can instead use finishing nails of which I have a ton.  Also, pegboard looks kinda sloppy, and by using nails I can be more flexible with where I place items.

So away I go building a new tool board.

A clean slate to start.  Obviously the goal here is to put the most used tools in the middle and center and trying to anticipate the best fit for the lesser used tools.

As a guide I have a little help from Jim Langley's bicycle tools toolboard site

Here is his toolboard:

Mine is going to be a bit rougher looking than this but it gives some great ideas.

It's also difficult getting started at this time as I made a huge tool order this week and I'm waiting on a bunch of stuff to get here next week.  Important things like my truing stand, spoke wrenches, chain tool, spoke ruler, etc.

I do have enough to get started though and here is where I currently stand.

Just got back Friday from completing the first of many bike classes that I have planned.  Went to Colorado Springs for the Barnett Bicycle Institutes, bicycle assembly and maintenance class .  While I was there I also did the one night spoked-wheel lacing class.

It was a great class with great classmates.  In the class of 16 guys (I was surprised there was NO women) we had people like me who are mostly enthusiasts with an idea.  We had 1 cat 2 racer, 1 junior cat 1 racer.  A bicycle messenger from D.C.  Several shop owners,several shop mechanics and a guy that works for American adventure cyclists.

This was just a one week class that covers slightly more basic stuff .  We did get into wheels pretty good however, which was the main reason I took the class.

While there a few of us went up to the olympic training center .  Max, who was only 17 years old and getting high school credit to take this class is on the junior olympic cycling team.  He gave us a quick tour of the place.

Yep it's almost 11:00pm and I'm still awake.

Why you ask?

Because of my neighbours F'ing beagle that he lets roam the countryside every night.

Not sure if I've mentioned it before or not but My wife and I live about 15 miles from Michigan International Speedway.  As this track is out in the middle of nowhere, the primary way to get there is straight down Michigan Avenue.  Yes that's the same Michigan Avenue that if you just keep on going you will end up on the miracle mile in Chicago.

So as a result of this, twice a year we get overrun by the most obnoxious sporting fans of them all...NASCAR fans.

Now I'm not going to make fun of the paradox created by their tendency toward  cigarette and alcohol sponsors.  BEING A MOTORSPORT!!!!!

Or even their crazy connection/obsession with the musical retardeness of Kid Rock.

I'm not going to mention their decision to include a prayer at every event.

When Steve mentioned that he hadn't read The Grapes of Wrath the other day it got me thinking about the classics that I'm ashamed to admit I haven't  read,,,,,YET!!

So here are todays five things:

The five literary works that I'm ashamed to admit I still need to read:

Actually when I started to do this I checked a bunch of on-line lists of the 50 books you must read, or the thousand books you must read before you die etc.  I was pleasantly surprised at how few of them were things I either hadn't read or thought were crap and didn't really belong on a must read list (How to Win Friends and Influence People??), and I'm sorry there is NO financial, or how to make money book, or self help book that belongs on ANY must read list.  These should be great works of literature.  Books that make you think about the world a little bit differently.

So here is my embarrassing list:

1. Ulysses - by James Joyce

When I think of what is possible to do in the field of music.....

and then I listen to Destiny's Child.....

I think to myself.......  Why the hell do they bother?

I'm closing in on finishing The Grapes of Wrath again.  My Dad (an English major) told me a few weeks ago that he

reads it at least once a year and that he considers it the best American Novel ever written.

I've read it twice before once during the summer between 8th and 9th grade and then again as a junior in High school for an American Lit class.  The thing that strikes me most about reading it again at age 42 is how much different it is than I remembered.  I'm guessing that a Novel of this caliber probably means something different to you at every age that you read it and I can now see why someone would want to read and enjoy it EVERY year of their life.

Thanks Pop

WOW what a great ride this year!  The weather was crap, we got wet to the point of being soaked every day.  Nothing like being on a bike in the pouring

rain and feeling water running across the bottom of your feet.

The bus ride up was uneventful.  I was riding with my friend Sarah this year.  We got our bikes and got set up no problem.  Spent a lot of time walking around and just getting things ready.

Day 1: We left right at 6:00am on Friday, anxious to get going.  I chose to not bring my rain jacket that day.  I don't mind riding with it on but I hate carrying it if it gets sunny.  As it turns out it was freezing cold and so foggy that even though we didn't get rained on that day I was soaked through, with water running off my face just from the fog.  I had my light on behind me though and with that many riders on the road it was still pretty safe.  The day ended up clearing up and warming up and I was glad I didn't have to carry that jacket the rest of the time.  We basically rode the first day, just the 2 of us for a total of 99 miles.  We pulled in around 3:30, pretty tired as it was just the 2 of us pushing the entire way.  At lunch I saw an older guy sitting

by himself and asked if we could sit with him and he said sure.  He started telling us that he almost didn't ride this year and had actually considered turning around in the parking lot yesterday and just going home.  It seems he had just had a HEART ATTACK a little over a week ago !  Then he proceeds to tell us that his son recently died this year!!  His son was handicapped and rode the ride on a tricycle and had 2 big orange flags that he himself was riding with this year in his memory.  After we talked for a bit Sarah said "Thanks for deciding to ride this year"  and he responded, "no thank you!  This is MY RIDE"  It turns out this guy is the founder of the ride!!!!!  He turns around and shows us his number and he is number 0.  The original Wammer!!!!  Very cool.

Day 2 we left at 6:00 again.  It had rained that night and I had to pack my tent wet.  Always a nice thing.  They actually came out and woke everyone up at 4:15 because of lightning and made us go inside.  It only lasted about 10 minutes though and since I was getting up at 4:30 anyway I just started packing up.  This time I did wear my jacket and kept my light on as well.  The morning was foggy again though not as bad.  I soon shed the jacket and we seemed to be avoiding the rain pretty well.  About 30 miles into the day we got passed by a big group (Living Water, a church group), they had about 12 in their group and about 4 stragglers.  I asked Sarah if she wanted to grab the back of their group and she excitedly said yes so away we went.  We stayed on their back wheels until lunch.  I met another straggler riding a Colnago and we got talking about the bikes.  As we were coming out of lunch the sky was looking ominous.  I asked Sarah if she wanted to stay with them and do whatever they did and she agreed.  They decided to wait as the radar showed just a thin band of rain and then clear behind.  We waited about 20 minutes for it to pass and then they got underway again with us behind them.  By this time we were kinda getting to know them and talking to them a lot.  We set off after the rain cleared and within only about 10 minutes we caught the clouds and got DUMPED on for about 45 minutes.  Just riding in a downpour that completely drenched us.  It was to the point that I

was purposely riding in the spray of the wheel in front of me because it was warmer water than what was falling from the sky.  We continued to stay with this group for the rest of the day, we took a really long rest stop waiting for one of their team to get a new tire, but by now it was sunny again so it kinda allowed us to dry out a bit.  We actually finished later in the day though our average speed was much higher.  This leg
totaled 112 miles.

Day 3: The plan was to leave at 6:00 again with the living water group.  We were ready again and waiting at 6:00 but couldn't see them and decided that we would just go and they would probably catch us on the road and we could join them then.  We set off just the 2 of us and within about 10 minutes the rain hit us again hard, completely soaking everything, again for the second day I did have my jacket but that only does so much.  We actually witnesses one crash about 100 yards up the road from us on some railroad tracks.  At the 1st rest stop of the day I saw the guy (Greg) on the Colnago leaving the stop about 5 minutes ahead of us.  He was riding solo and we caught him at the second stop, we asked him if he wanted to join us and he was all for it.  So the 3 of us had a great little

pace line going and rode it all the way into lunch having a great time.  At lunch were his that were riding at about our speed and we asked them to join us.  So from lunch
to the finish we had a great 5 rider paceline with each of us doing 1 mile pulls and switching at the mile markers.  We rocked from there to the end, we still hit all the stops and kept our order really good and managed to hold off the Living Water group the entire day.  Sarah was awesome, pulling her miles in a line with 4 guys!  I was totally impressed. 

We finished day 3 by 1:30, it's the short day at 86 miles.  We met our wish hero and she made us a poster and a couple of framed pictures of her with a little poem attached and then she gave us our finishers medals on the stage.

At the awards ceremony on Saturday night they introduced the president/ceo of the national MAW organization.  I was impressed by this and wondering why he was there really.  In his speech he said that the Michigan bicycle ride was now the largest single event fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish foundation in the WORLD!!!!!!!!  It raised over 1.5 million dollars!!!  How freakin awesome is that, in this economy in one of the hardest hit states!!!

The next 2 days at home were spent cleaning my bike. I'm talking a full off the frame cleaning.  It was a mess and had about a gallon of water INSIDE the frame (well not really a gallon but it seemed like it)  When done it was as good as new again and ready to ride.