WY so Windy?

This is the text I got from him yesterday: All good but beat. Altitude and crosswinds. Eat sleep now. Will call Fri.

Poor thing. He's on his way to Cheyenne and it sits at over 7000 feet. The good news is that it's all downhill to Denver. Apparently the Wyoming wind is something of legend. Several of my coworkers have experienced the WY wind at one time or another.

I still want to plan a celebration for Ed, even though he's not into those kinds of gatherings. Maybe I should set up a virtual finish line or online video of him riding to collapse in our apartment parking lot.

What will probably happen? He'll show up at my office asking, "Hey - where do we live?" I'll give him a key and he'll go home to make dinner.

On Wednesday, I started a to-do list for him - top of the list is figuring out our polling place.

Meanwhile:

CLICK HERE FOR THE MAP LINK, YA BIG FREAKS

In Wyoming as a Lucky One

Only one more state to go until Ed is home and able to take out the garbage and fix the squeaky refrigerator door. After this epic ride, I think he needs more mundane things to do, don't you?

Once he gets to town, he may have a greater challenge ahead than biking almost 2000 miles - finding a steady job. Actually, no one needs to worry about that. He's always had work, including a temp job roasting and glazing hams during the holiday rush at Honeybaked Hams the winter before we moved to Alaska. This guy will do anything to support his family in the manner to which we've become accustomed.

Still, we are extremely lucky:

1. We sold our house in Alaska within 30 days of listing it AND made a profit
2. I have a great job in Colorado
3. We're all in good health
4. Ed is making the trip of a lifetime and having a marvelous time

Maybe I shouldn't tempt fate by listing my good fortune, but I do it only to acknowlege that others are not as lucky as us and we totally get that. And I do think it has more to do with luck than anything. Hard work can only take you so far. There's no other rational explanation, besides what CNBC or FOX News have to say about it.

We're all guessing about when Ed will finally arrive in Denver, but there will be a special prize to the person who names the date AND time he arrives at the final stop. Leave your guess in the comments and whoever is closest will win.

Over the next couple of days, I'll be putting together a finish line (not sure where) and getting the garbage ready for him. Maybe I'll set up a ramp so he can take his bike off some sweet jumps - LUCKY!

HERE'S THE MAP LINK, YA BIG FREAKS

A Little Bit about Ed

The Crazy Bike Guy believes in extremes - about two years ago, he decided to really be a bike guy. Sure, he has a day job, but that should never keep anyone from doing things they love.


It all got serious when he and our daughter decided to ride a 50-mile race on a tandem in the Fireweed Bike Race in Alaska. Now, Ed had done the Fireweed a few times before - first a 50, then 100 miles, then he did 200 miles alone. That last one nearly did me in - he underestimated his nutrition and electrolytes by about 50% and wound up finishing but nearly passing out at the finish line in Valdez.

Let me just say it's very hard to keep yourself together when the man you love arrives at the end of a long day looking jaundiced. You never want them to see the panic-stricken facial expressions, but it's important to get them Gatorade and bananas ASAP.

So I shuffled him back to the hotel, drew him a hot bath, gave him two foot-long subs and made him go to sleep. The next day, his color returned and he insisted on driving us back to Anchorage.

The following year, he did the full 400 miler with our friend, Glenn Cravez. Glenn is the manager of our synagogue's softball team, the 10 Plagues. The team members took on one of each of the plagues. Ed chose Darkness and Glenn chose Blood so their team name for this race was - you guessed it - Blood and Darkness. I drove the support car with another guy from Ed's office, Steven.

Now, Steven was a really nice guy and interesting conversationalist, but he kept sneaking into the Blood and Darkness food stash. I could only see the yellow-pallored Ed the year before whenever Steven would pull out the pack of Fig Newtons or the Fluffer Nutter meant for Ed or Glenn. I was not interested in picking up two jaundiced guys after 400 miles, so I may have come off a little terse.

However, I think he got the message the second time I flung the food back to the stash area in the hatch and reminded Steven that he had his own peanut butter crackers and bottled water to rely on.

The following year, it was time for our daughter to ride. Ed borrowed a tandem bike and bought our kid a hot pick riding kit. Since she was too short to reach the pedals, he got plastic electrical cases from Home Depot and attached them with hot pink duct tape.

They finished the race and her comments made it into the post-race video. Lucky for me, she doesn't want to ride from Alaska to Denver with him. Date of departure is about September 13-ish.
And yes, he's decided to go all the way to Denver. Next blog will be about his nutrition plan that lost him about 40 lbs and got him leaner and meaner for those tough climbs. Plus, we'll talk gear - yay!

Yes he is

My crazy husband is riding his bike from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington, AND maybe on to Denver.

Why is he doing this? Is his insurance up-to-date? Does his mother know?

Why - well because I told him if he could sell our house in Anchorage, he could do anything he wanted. We're relocating to Denver and all of our future financial stability depends on that house being sold.

Check it out: http://www.flexmls.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?20080731203424321559000000

Yeah, it looks like Darth Vader on the outside, but it's very nice on the inside. Four bedrooms, office, huge yard, two full baths - you'll love it!

Now that there's a natural gas pipeline approved, all you engineering people and pipe suppliers better move to Alaska and buy our house. All your wildest dreams will come true.

Anyway - He can't blog on the road, so I'll keep everyone posted on his adventures, complete with photos, GPS settings and what not. His estimated time for departure is sometime in September.

Yes, his mother knows and yes he has insurance.