Dennis B Murphy >>>>>>>>>>

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August 2006

8-26-06 Raced the CPS Maybury chapter benefit! Fun course! Great atmosphere. The race started in the park/picnic area, went through a field and paved path to a steep hill climb then onto single track. I was last of the ten racers in my category into this single track, but soon caught on of my competitors. I passed a second competitor a bit later in the first 6.5 mile lap. Then, near the last mile, I passed the third competitor and into the chute for the second lap. As I climbed that steep hill again, Joe caught me, but I went into the single track first (after a "you go" " no, you go" exchange :lol: ). I used the single track to keep my momentum and distance on these three competitors but never did catch the guy that ended up in sixth place. I was only 12 minutes behind the leader in my category (at 1hr/43minutes) and all racers in our group finished within an eighteen minute window! Next up: 12 Hours of Drummond Island.

Joni raced ! whoo hoo.. she did good. She was frustrated on lap one with so many people who wanted to pass, she lost alot of momentum allowing passing. But she perservered and moved along pretty well on the second lap, completing the race in 2hours/2minutes. I rode with her on lap two and she was moving pretty good so I thinkn lap two was faster than the first lap! Way to go babe.

Brenden did not race due to injuries on his hand making gripping the handlebars difficult.

On the political side: at a recent news conference GWBush noted: “I fully believe it was the right decision to remove Saddam Hussein,” Bush said. “Now the question is, how do we succeed in Iraq?” What the heck? Shouldn't that have been the FIRST question the administration asked BEFORE starting a war? The Bush admin has essentially washed their hands of this issue, merely marking time and trying to do as little damage politically to Congressional Republicans as possible- what total irresponsibility and negligence! And people still support this guy?

8-20-06 Raced the Twelve Hours of Pando yesterday. I came in 4th of five with 19 laps at 84 miles. It was a fun event with a bit of rainy weather to start the morning, though it cleared up really nicely and was sunny the rest of the day (See Biking page and Biking Photos). The course was great and had a nice flow to it. Brent took out those grueling, killer climbs up the ski hills- thanks!

8-18-06 Ongoing saga of the car. To recap, the car was losing power, had poor gas mileage and was making bad exhaust sounds. Monday 14th had the manifold replaced due to a crack in it. I had already ordered a pre-catalytic converter online which arrived Monday. Tuesday, I had the muffler shop install the pre-cat because it was plugged. They did, but found that the catalytic converter is plugged too, as the exhaust leak noise is still present. That is on order and should arrive Monday 21st. By the end of this ordeal the repair bill will have reached $2000 since June! Ouch

8-14-06 Vacation in progress. We drove to Taquemenon Falls on Wednesday and spent a couple days, then to Marquette on Friday for the Ore-to-Shore mountain bike race. After the race, we drove west to Mass City to friends Pam&Wayne's for the evening.

Camping at Taquemenon was nice. The State Park there is beautiful with very large sites. I never cease to be amazed at the number of RVs. The campground was probably 75% RVs and Pop-up campers! Amazing. These vehicles are ruining tent camping in the parks as the sites are all worn down, with limited grassy areas on which to pitch a tent now. As tent campers using limited services (bathrooms only, no electricity, no sewer dumping) we still pay the same camping rate as the RVs. I just don't understand why the state parks cannot set aside a limited area of the campgrounds exclusively for tents. Their maintenance on these areas would be so much less.

Wednesday evening we hiked the couple miles to the lower falls and snapped a few photos. Thursday we hiked from the campground (lower falls area) to the upper falls.

We packed very light since we were only camping two nights and thus did not bring much food. We went to Paradise Village that morning for breakfast at a local diner and arrived back late morning and started our hike in early afternoon. Earlier in the morning (about 8am) I went for a warm up bike ride and put about 20 miles on the bike. During the ride I stopped by the parking lot of the upper falls to check out the restaurant and gift shop. They were closed, but I checked the menu and hours. (The restaurant closed at 830pm). The plan was to hike to the upper falls that day and hike back- then drive back to eat at the restaurant. The hike took us a bit longer (with sight-seeing stops) than we planned. We arrived and viewed the upper falls about 430-500pm. So we had dinner first, then hiked back, arriving at the campsight about 830pm. (It was a good way to work off dinner).

The trails is noted as "primitive" and four miles long. We later found that the mileage markers are old and the trail is really about 6-1/2 miles long. It is very, very rugged. We saw people with strollers, with little children, etc., on the trail. Unless they had a car at the other end, the return trip would be miserable! Taking a stroller on this trail is nearly an impossibility as you'd have to carry it most of the time!

Friday we drove to Marquette from Taquemenon Falls via the road that runs throught the Pictured Rock National Park. We stopped in Newberry for breakfast, then at the Oswald Bear Ranch. Then the fun began! What a journey- rugged road, not paved, road closures causing detours. I had envisioned driving to Munising in an hour or so, taking the three hour boat tour of Pictured Rocks, then off to Marquette for an approximate 5pm arrival. But NOOO- the rugged driving and detours caused the trip to last three hours and we reached Munising at about 4pm and decided to go straight to Marquette.

Ore-To-Shore Mountain Bike race! ( www.oretoshore.com )- My time last year was 4 hours, 5 minutes and the goal was to break four hours! I missed that goal, but did beat last year's time by two minutes. I think the course was slower, with alot more sand dragging down average speeds. It was also dusty and on alot of fast descents, if I was behind several other people, the dust clouds would obscure vision, slowing me down. I also cramped up in my thigh a couple times in the last five miles. (I didn't take any Endurolytes this race, which was likely a mistake).

My results were: 4 hrs 3 minutes / 56 of 80 in age group 45-49 / 455 of 647 racers overall 11.9 mph avg (see Race Resume)

Joni did well. She raced the 28 mile Soft Rock. In 2005 race, she did 3 hrs 23 minutes/ 43rd of 43 in age group / 865 of 882 overall.
This year's 2006 race, she did it in 3 hrs 19 minutes / 41st of 43 in age group / 894 of 923 overall

Brenden completed this year in 4 hrs 34 minutes for 569 overall, beating last year's time by eleven minutes (see Race Resume)

Saturday, after the race, we cleaned up and drove to Mass City to visit Pam & Wayne. We had delicious vegetarian lasagna and fine wine. It's always nice to visit them. They have such a beautiful and remote location and such a peaceful lifestyle. I am such a city-type, but I somewhat envy their situation. We departed their home at noon Sunday and reached Grandville at 11pm... a long drive.... and our first BEAR sighting! It was about five miles north of the M-55 exit on US-127 heading south and the large black bear burst out of the bushes on our left from the median and across the highway to the west side. He (she?) was pretty big- I would estimate at about 400 lbs. All that driving in the wilds of the upper peninsula and we see a bear south of Grayling!

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8-08-06 Lieberman down.. Finally, some voters, somewhere have booted a pro-war politician. Let's hope our own senators and representatives get some cajones.

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8-08-06 Landis- Floyd still under a cloud. An "un-named" UCI official ( yeah right, you mean some jealous Frenchman ) said Landis had synthetic steroids. The lab hasn't confirmed it and Floyd still insists he's innocent. I found a couple websites on the testosterone-to-epitestosterone issue which notes that the various elements can impact the ratio.