Rod's Alter Ego

Wet

You've probably heard by now that there is (or was) water on Mars. Heck, if NASA wanted evidence of water they might have saved a bunch of tax dollars and gone to Iowa. Irrefutable evidence there. Unlike what we hear from them now - "It has to be ice. Because one day there was this white-ish substance in a hole, and then we woke up the next day and looked again and it was gone! What else except ice does that?" Oh, I don't know, I can think of a half dozen things right off the top of my head. Not that I'd expect of any of them to exist on Mars, but you never know, there might have been life there once upon a time. If there was intelligent life it might have burned all the hydrocarbons creating massive holes in the atmosphere to the point where the atmosphere finally disappeared. Followed shortly thereafter by the life itself.

Not to worry though, Obama's going to fix all this before we earthlings suffer the same fate.

Uh huh.

In unrelated news, Master and "Kev' Man" (KM) both returned safely from the HHH which, to review, stands for Horribly Hilly Hundreds. To hear master recall the experience it was somewhere between punitive and sinister torture. The event offered a 100K and 200K option; Master and KM opted for the latter.

The day began early (7 AM), cloudless and warm. At about kilometer 160 a nasty thunderstorm appeared and sent everyone scurrying for shelter. After about 25 minutes it passed, and some people, including our heroes, opted to continue riding. Others headed for the sag wagon and a ride back to the finish. Unfortunately for those who continued on, about 7 miles later the road marshals indicated the course was being officially shutdown due to the threat of a larger and more violent thunderstorm approaching. At this point our heroes were separated on the course. Master had made it to the final rest stop whereas KM was, as it turned out, on a short cut detour to the finish line. At the rest stop everyone was encouraged to get in the sag wagon for a lift back to the finish, due to the threat of bad weather.

Decisions decisions.

On the sag wagon console there was a laptop computer with a real-time display of a weather radar map. Hi-tech bunch of folks those triple-H people. Master appraised the approaching storm, and conceded the concern: something nasty this way cometh. Reluctantly, he opted to call it a day and lifted his bike and himself into the sag. This was mile 103; there was officially 24 miles to go. As mentioned KM was elsewhere on the course and had been strongly encouraged to take a short cut back to the finish - with an emphatic: "Hurry up!" He hadn't quite made it back when Master passed by him in the sag, and just then the sky opened up for the second time that day. Violent it was. Biblical in fact. Sheets of cold rain, penny-sized hail and tornadic-like winds. KM rolled up alongside the Honda before the worst of it hit, soaked to the bone. He joined Master inside who was, well, also very wet. Both of them much wetter than Mars.

A disappointing end maybe, but no one came away ashamed for having completed 100+ miles that day.

2008 HHH - Start - KevMan 'n Master

All in all the hills were relentless, and lived up to their name as hideously horrible. Must've been forty or more of those buggers with a cumulative climb of ~10,000+ feet. The Colorado Rockies have nothing on southwestern Wisconsin.

Brutal.

Gotta love this guy. Caption on bike mount: "If you want to blend in - take the bus."

Coming up: In a few weeks the uprights are off to Alaska for fun w/friends 'n family. There's water in Alaska. Life too. Master has promised to send pictures of both as proof.

Ciao for now readers.