This is the Year.

This is the Year.

This is the Year that I finally get my melon in gear and do something on a bike besides ride down some middle class neighborhood street hoping someones Yorkie doesn't run out in front of me (I think you could run over a Yorkie and not even realize it ... on a road bike ... that's sad to think about).

This is the Year that I start a web sight, get a helmet cam, and create other such things that keep me from riding.

This is the Year that I take my bike down off of the garage wall (and into the basement where it can be warmer until spring).

This is the year I start riding on my rollers instead of using them as a stop for the BigMelonCycling.com van in my garage (Everyone should have rollers by the way! They take awhile to get the hang of, but then they are awesome!).

This is the year I re-subscribe to Mens Health Magazine and read it twice each month while eating my Chipotle Burritos. (Hey, if Chipotle sponsors a cycling team, how bad can it really be for you??).

This is the Year that I take my first Epic Ride (to rip off a Fatty phrase).

This is the Year that I ride the Route 66, 2008 Race to the Prison Gate! (I came up with the title again with inspiration from The Godfather).

In August of 2008 The Godfather and I will leave from the Chain of Rocks Bridge and Ride to the Joliet Prison. We will be riding The Beast (we have to ride the tandem because The Godfather keeps threatening to bail, so I am going to drag his ass up to Joliet. PLUS, somebody has to take the pictures!) and retracing the old Route 66 through the historic towns of Illinois. The pictures alone make it seem worth the trip. I hope the prison band will still be at the front gate just as they were so many years ago!!

Although he denies it, this was originally The Godfathers idea. He found the Route 66 bike routes online and printed them out and showed them to me. Now he claims that he was just showing them to me and that maybe we could ride to Staunton sometime or something (if the weather was just right and someone would come pick us up when we got there). BUT obviously, at least in his subconscious, he had to know that I would jump at the idea of riding from his house to my house along Route 66, so in his passive aggressive way he was really asking me ... almost begging me ... to run with this idea. I cannot fail him! I will not fail him! DON'T MESS WITH THE GODFATHER!

Anyway, the original idea was to ride from The Godfather's house to Chicago, but it's a hassle to ride from The Godfather's house into Illinois and you would pass my house if you rode all the way to Chicago, so then you would have to ride back to my house and that would just add to the ride, but not to the excitement, so to make a long story short ... we're riding from the Historic Chain of Rocks Bridge to the Historic Joliet Prison.

It makes sense if you think about it. The Chain of Rocks, The Godfather, The Godfather and I 'chained together' on a tandem (almost like a chain gang), and finishing at a prison. It is like it was meant to be. Now all we need are prison stripe jerseys and Blues Brothers jerseys.

This may not be an Epic ride for many cyclists, but anyone who knows me, or especially knows The Godfather, this could even be called a miracle ride!

Dr. T you better get on board!

This is happening!

This is the Year.

Big Mel