Hey Mosquitoes,
Wow, is it already the new millennium? What happened to the old one? Those millenniums fly by quickly. I guess that if you are a Mosquito, everything "flys" by! Anyway, it is now the year 2001 and January and that means the new biking season is starting already. There have been many a happenings since the last time I talked to most of you. The Hawks finally won a couple of football games and are looking much improved. The Big Ten better look out, we are on the way back up. I guess we may want to mention the Cyclones, or Rich will feel left out, and their first bowl victory ever. That was a great year for them (thanks to a couple ex-Hawk coaches). The bus did well at the tailgates again and is becoming a beacon at Kinnick stadium. We do have some trouble with the beast, which I will mention a little later. I will try to get everything else in, but since I'm over 30 now, my memory is going fast. Maybe it is the beer?
First of all, we have a ride coming up. There is the DRIFT ride in Des Moines on Jan 20th. I hear this was a pretty good time and everyone survived. Most of us know about the BRR ride, which is Feb. 3rd in Perry. If you haven't been on that one, it is a must. Lots of people and fun will be present there. It is one day of RAGBRAI, except everyone has a coat on! You can contact me if you have any questions on this ride. After that ride there is usually a couple of months until the next one.
I better get to the bus. It still looks great inside and out. She got on national TV this year during the Ohio St. game, and treated us great, well, except for a little trouble. The first thing we did was to get new tires all the way around. After having 5 flats in 6 years, I think we are all a little tired of it. We have gotten lucky in getting them fixed on the road, but now we shouldn't have to worry about that. After that we were looking great until the bus started on fire. Yes, a slight electrical problem that we had repaired by some people who didn't know what they were doing. Klink rescued us however and got everything straightened out with the electronics, until the bus started on fire again. This time it seemed to be fuel related. I thought that I could fix it, but since it was -50 degrees out there in the middle of December, I couldn't get it fixed right. The bus finally got towed to a repair place again where is currently sits until it gets warm enough out for them to fix it. Needless to say, it is an expensive year for the bus. We had some cash saved up, but are going to be hurting for money this year. You can probably expect the dues to increase this year to around $150, which will help offset the increased expense. That all depends on the number of riders and sponsors that we have. As for now, we will start with our Mosquito fee of $15 to help with administrative costs. Please send that to me as soon as you can.
Speaking of RAGBRAI, does anyone know of a driver? I think it is safe to say that we would like a different driver than last year. As I tell people, that is the hardest thing I do every year, so please help me out, since I may not have the time or mental capacity this year to do a lot, with the teams newest larva on its way in March. Please feel free to call me and it is not too early to start looking for one!
I know that you are all wondering what happened to Fred Meyer. Well, he is alive and well. He has sure been busy in the off-season. Most of the time he stays with Chris and I here, but he really likes to travel a lot. Since RAGBRAI, he has been to Colorado, Arizona, Hawaii, Michigan and even went scuba diving in the Caribbean. Right now he is out in Ohio with some of my parents friends. He should be returning in a couple of weeks, but I don't think he will make the BRR ride, unfortunately. I think he is trying to gather a bunch of photos of his travels and is going to post them on the web page so that everyone can see what he has been up to in the last year since RAGBRAI.
Well, I think that will do it for now. Don't forget to find a driver, look for sponsors, cheer on the Hawks, send me the Mosquito fee, and get on your bike and ride. You can reach me at 2970 Winston Circle, Marion, Ia 52302, 319-373-0514, or at www.teammosquito.com. Take care and feel free to call me or e-mail me at mctooth2@home.com if you have any questions. Talk to you soon.
Blaine McLaughlin
Team Mosquito Stud
