Good morning, and happy Tuesday!   I returned from SoCal late Friday night, spent the weekend on the Third Coast pumping out MP3s for the nuptials of Pat and Diane, and finally found a little time tonight to crank out a Velo blog.  Clip in my friends, and enjoy the ride - there's a never a dull moment with this team!

Oklahoma City Tour de Cure

 Team Veep and Fundraising Czar David "Show Me the Money" Sloan provided this update on this weekend's Oklahoma City Tour de Cure, with a little help from Chuck "the Rock" Divelbiss -

This was the second year for the Oklahoma City Tour De Cure, and their number of registered riders increased to around 200, doubling last year's total.  163 riders braved the line of thunderstorms to actually take the start at this year's ride.  Eight intrepid Velo Valero members participated, including Monika Harper from Krotz Springs on her way to Yellowstone, and Steve Evans and Lance Wood from Ardmore Refinery.  All of the Velo Valero team members except Chuck and Paige had planned to do the 48 mile route, but David Sloan opted to cut it off to finish the 30 mile route after suffering cramps at the 16 mile mark.  Speaking of David, he almost gave Paige a panic attack when he put both wheels into a gap in the concrete pavement and nearly went down less than a mile from the start.  Luckily, he didn't lose his balance and avoided a bad spill in traffic.  Paige and Chuck elected to ride the long route which was the Metric 100 kilometer and mirrored the 48 mile route until it split off in the Oklahoma country side.  We started off riding  toward a storm front which had dumped rain and was still throwing off some pretty impressive lightening bolts when we began.   At least the lightening was far enough away that we couldn't hear the thunder after the start was delayed by a half hour.   Fortunately,  the route turned, the storm moved off and the rest of the ride was under a welcome cloud cover with little wind and warm, humid air.  Most of the ride was over rolling hills which was kind of a surprise because we were anticipating a flat route in this part of Oklahoma.   The thing that made these rolling hills different from what we usually experience was that they were noticeably not "false flats", and once you were on one, it seemed to stretch on for a two mile steady incline with several "pitch ups" along the way.   The Tour de Cure organizers had done an excellent job marking the route with both signs and painted directions on the ground.  The rest stops were spaced about every 10 miles and were manned by enthusiastic volunteers.  Our favorite was the rest stop which served both the 20 mile stop going out and 40 mile stop on the return.  We called it the cookie boy stop because the seven year old helper was forcing cookies on you before you could get unclipped and off the bike.  His method was to give two cookies to each rider and then eat one himself.  Paige and Chuck were both confronted by the same bull dog who had a good time chasing all the riders but fortunately didn't bite or get under the wheels.  One dead rattlesnake and another snake on the road shoulder added to the scenery.  Paige hooked up with a group of male riders and soon had them organized into a well disciplined pace line.  Chuck found two military officers to ride with and they provided both good company and a break from the head wind.  All in all, we thought it was a great ride and one to keep on the calendar for next year.  

- David  

Group photo at the ride start.  For more photos from the OKC TDC, click here.

Thanks for the update David, and for leading the San Antonio riders that made the long journey to join up with Steve and Lance. (And hats off to you Monika, for stopping off to do the ride while on the way to Yellowstone for your vacation - that, my friends, is V2 dedication!)  This was the first year Velo participated in this event, and I can assure you, it won't be the last.  The Oklahoma City TDC marks the end of a long and successful two month campaign of support for the American Diabetes Association.  We had eight teams and over 200 riders participate in six events all over the country; I'll send out the final numbers later in the week, but we have nothing to be ashamed of as a National Team this year.  I want to personally thank every rider, every volunteer, and every person that contributed money on behalf of Velo Valero this year.  This is a terrible disease that affects so many people in each and every town that we live in, and friends - we are making a difference!

Sunrise Wedding on the Beach - Vanilla Thunder and Brown Sugar Rock the Surf and the Pool

...I mentioned this earlier, but the reason I couldn't attend the Oklahoma City ride was that I had previously promised team member Diane Mitchell I would DJ at her wedding.  The ceremony was held at sunrise on the beach in Corpus Christi, and it was beautiful.  I set up my gear on the seawall at 7:00 am, and pumped out unbelievably romantic music by Italian Tenor Andrea Bocelli to the seagulls, the waves, and the sunrise crawling across the waters for fifteen minutes as guests arrived.   Then, the bridal party began marching down to the beach - first the men, then the women, then Diane in her resplendent gown - as I cranked out the songs from her carefully selected playlist and adjusted the volume based on the frantic "thumbs down" and "thumbs up" hand signals being directed at me by the evil (but necessary) Wedding Planner.  After the ceremony, we took a break for a few hours to hang out on the beach, then headed to the Padre Isles Country Club where the reception was held.   John "Brown Sugar" Holt and I set up right next to the bar, and proceeded to kick out the jams for 4 hours while guests ate, drank, and splashed in the ginormous pool.  The highlight of the afternoon was Pat and Diane jumping into the pool together while 300 pulse-pounding watts of Van Halen's "Jump" blasted out of our system.  All and all, a wonderful event, and something I truly enjoyed and felt honored to be part of.  And yes, Vanilla Thunder and Brown Sugar are available for future bookings! 

Diane at sunrise, gliding towards the surf...

Southside and Northside rock the pool. For more photos, click here. 

See you on the road!

- VT