Greetings Mosquitoes,Well, how did all of you survive the big Y2K scare? It came off without a hitch for most of us. Several members of the team were in Des Moines and others traveled down to South Padre Island for the New year. In general Team Mosquito didn't run into any major troubles. We are, however, updating our mailing process and our software so that it will be easier for me. Klink is the mastermind behind all of this, of course, so if you don't get the notes or something, talk to him. Just kidding, as usual it will be my fault and I thank you for being patient with me.
As for news about the team during the off season, there are a few tidbits of information that I would like to pass along. We are about to have another larva join the team. This is from the Laffeys. They are due in mid February and everything is going along well at this point. I believe that will be the eighth baby Mosquito. There are three from Cip and Eski, one from the Lesniks, the twins from the Bensons in California and one from the Chamberlins. We are starting a nice base for the "second generation" to take over when we can no longer participate.
We also got some bad news from the Towlertons late in the fall; Tommy decided to go skydiving out of a semi one day and broke his pelvis. After getting everything fixed up at the U of I hospitals he is recovering nicely at home now and Marsha is waiting on him hand and foot. I believe that is one of the reasons that the Hawks were so bad in football this year, they didn't have tom and Marsha in the stands cheering. As far as I know, they should be back and ready to tackle the big ride this year. We all wish Tommy (and Marsha) a quick recovery and maybe now he'll stop drinking that crappy old mill! Maybe he would like a vodka lemonade??? Speaking of the Towlertons, that brings to mind the Mosquito ride. It will be held on June 17th in Waucoma. The route will be similar to previous years. We also have word that the Grinnell ride will be held on June 10th. These rides were the same weekend last year, which was one reason that there weren't many members from other teams joining us up north.
The new biking season is just around the corner. Yes, that would be the BRRR ride, which is occurring on Feb. 5th. I don't have any information on a pre-ride party yet, but if you are interested in joining us you should get something via e-mail or you are welcome to call Klink or I on this. I do know that several of us will be at the Iowa/Oklahoma St. wrestling meet in Iowa City on that Friday and won't be down until after that, which means that the party won't start until later when we get there. I hope you don't get bored waiting for us. If you haven't been on the Brrr ride yet, come join us and you will not be disappointed.
The other issue that we can't overlook is that as of this year Team Mosquito is 10 years old. Sounds like a reason to throw a party! There have been several suggestions on what we should do to celebrate our decade of existence, but we are not sure what to do here either. We may try to get a band or a DJ to play for us along the RAGBRAI route this year. Please send us your suggestions and we will consider them if they are good. If they suck, we will ignore them and do what I want to do.
The bus made it through another year of biking and football. I don't think that the Hawkeye football team made it very well, but we "worked" very hard in support of our team. Once we got the bus to Richard's house to store it, it decided to die on us, and now won't start. We believe that there is a problem with the carburetor, which will need some attention in the spring. Other than that, the bus is in good shape and shouldn't need too many repairs.
As far as the dues go, they are going to be $15 this year to be a Mosquito member. You might be saying, "wow, is that ever cheap", well you are correct. That is the bargain of the century since you receive all of your notes for the year and get to correspond with me at any time. Actually the big expense that we have this year is the web page. We are working on making it better and are going to try to some sort of real name for our web site, so that people have easy access to it. Please mail the dues to me ASAP. We are also going to try to have the team pay for our RAGBRAI party also, which could be a costly venture.
I think that I will let you go for now. You can reach me at 319-373-0514: 2970 Winston Circle, Marion, IA 52302: or mctooth@teammosquito.com. The mosquito web site is http://www.TeamMosquito.com. See you all on the BRRRRRRR!!
Blaine McLaughlin
Team Mosquito stud
