Today the preliminary RAAM rules were posted. Because of Bob Breedlove’s death last year, the rules have been changed for solo riders. Solo riders will be required to take a minimum of 40 hours off the bike at control points.

The date and time to finish is still last year’s so I’m not sure if the cut-off is going to remain at 12 days and 2 hours or if they will extend it. Of course I want to be fast but considering only about half of rookies finish, I’m going to be very happy with any finish under the cut-off time.

They also updated the 2006 roster. It is motivating and exciting to see my name there but at the same time a bit terrifying.

The weather has continued to be unusually warm but that also means it is windy and today was no exception. The peak gust at Reed Ranch weather station was 43 mph.

I think it was hitting close to that when I headed out on my mountain bike to the electronics store to get some resistors to work on installing a remote starter in my wife’s car. I had yesterday off work and had trained hard over the weekend so thought it was a good day for the project. I’ll wait to tell about that bad experience when I have more time and hopefully have the project finished.

As planned I did a long ride on Saturday with my friend Larry and his friend Nate. It was a bit cold when we headed out in the morning but it ended up being a pleasant day. It was a little cooler than a few of the other days lately but that was because the wind wasn’t blowing much. I’m not a fan of the wind so that made me happy.

Nate’s wheel was only 1.5 weeks old but 2 spokes broke at different times during the ride. It took a few stops for emergency truing to keep his wheel from hitting on his frame. I rode through the Garden of the Gods after leaving Larry and Nate to get a few more miles in and ended up with 106 miles for the day.

Sunday my legs were feeling pretty hammered but I went ahead with my plan to go up the old Manitou Incline. It took a few minutes to get my legs worked out but then I felt good. I was about 5 minutes faster than the last couple times even after stopping and talking to a guy that said he thought he was still drunk from New Year’s Eve. I must say I agreed with him. Barr Trail only had a couple spots of ice left after all the warm weather.

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