Well everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. For me it came on my mountain bike on Snoqualmie pass. It was the first (and only so far) 24 hours of adrenaline race in Washington state. I had raced in two others one as part of a team and another solo both at Laguna Seca.

I let my family know I was coming up and I spent a fair amount of time training. Thankfully it was a fairly small group of riders. It got even smaller, two guys left, after test riding the course.

I got to the race course fairly early friday and did a test ride of the course. It had a big hill, at the start, then a fair amount of single track. The hill gave me confidence since I had been riding a fair amount of hills as part of my training. Barbara and Sonja (My Sisters) showed the next morning with Heather and Dianna ( My Nieces), and a friend of thiers.

I had a bit of a slow start since I flatted on the first and second lap. That left me out of tubes which meant for a fairly nervous lap four where I picked up a nail in my front tire. I left it there till I got back to the pits.

A few hours into the race and my position in the field was where it always is. The back. I like to lure them into complacency. Actually, I am slow as a snail at running and these races have a lemonds start.

Well night time comes and since I am not fast I just ride all night taking a 20 minute nap just before sunup.

My nap was followed with a crash. Ok, a couple of crashes. But, one of them hurt more than the others. I was tryin to stay ahead of these two gals and got outa control and augered into an enbankment. I heard this nasty kinda noise emanate from my knee. Then pain slowly worked it's way into my brain. The gals stopped briefly relized I was being a wimp and rode on.

It took about a lap and a half before my leg felt like it was working fairly well. My self and another guy kept swapping position with the 3rd moving quickly up throught the field. The last 3 laps I did not pit and that was what gave me the edge to win my 15 minutes of fame.

As I rolled to the finish my two nieces were there with my sisters and they were yelling and cheering. Actually the whole crowd was, but the voices of my family stood out. I have not seen them so happy. I was elated. Both my nieces were jumpin up and down with huge smiles. This was the best day of my life.

I made a promise to make a come back. That was two years ago. Last year medical problems set me back. This year life put some challenges before me that will dictate another set back. But, I will come back. There is no longer a race in Wa. but I will race at least one more time and I will give it everything that I have.

Here's ta sweat in yer eye