Yes, it’s real and it’s coming soon, very soon. The Flint Hills campground, Camp Wood, has been booked and our plans have been set. It’s time for you to get officially registered. We need at least 15 participants to make this thing happen. Ok, it can happen with less, but I will lose money paying for the dinners, breakfasts and lunches that no one will eat. Not really cool.

Need a little inspiration? Here’s a few shots from around our camp’s location:

Here’s a few details:

• Friday September 10 we meet at High Gear Cyclery in Emporia, KS (520 Commercial) at 1 PM
• We take our cars to a drop off point and ride our bikes to Camp Wood (support vehicle will take your supplies to camp ahead of us)
• Photography class that night
• Mostly riding and shooting all day Saturday
• Saturday night is for the anticipated post-processing class where I will show you how I squeeze all the juicy colors and details out of my shots in Adobe LR and PS. All secrets revealed!
• Sunday breakfast, eat, clean up and ride back to Emporia, goodbye hugs will ensue

This will be a great time! We will get in at least 100 miles over the weekend, but that all depends on the ability of the participants (that means we may be able to get more miles in). Keep in mind, this is a PHOTO-cycling tour. That means when we want to stop to shoot a picture or discuss the “best” way to shoot something we will. No mileage pressure. That being said, it IS the Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas, the home of the Dirty Kanza 200 and the Flint Hills Death Ride both of which make cyclists cry and give up. I intend it to be challenging. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t be showing you the Flint Hills very well. If you are cycling regularly, you will be able to handle this. Also, a mountain bike or CX bike with meaty mountain bike tires are necessary unless you want a weekend of changing flats. I know I don’t. All this should cost a bundle right? I mean I AM giving away some of my secrets after all. Let me break it down for you:

You get 5 meals (Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner, Sunday breakfast), a cabin to sleep in, photography tutelage, some sweet riding in the Flint Hills and a weekend with Lelan and I! Wow, it doesn’t get much better than that! How much? Since this is our first event and we really want you to come to critique it, it will only be $75 for cabin and $45 for tent camping. That’s a steal. I can’t wait to see you there!

My next post will include the actual agenda, details and registration form. I’m stoked and hope you can make it!

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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I have been unplugged from cyberspace for almost a week! I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed putting whimsical remarks on Twitter and Facebook, not to mention being able to check my email! I am positively sure everyone on Facebook is chomping at the bit just wondering what I am doing right now. Whatever. Funny how I get such a kick out of status updates. If you have tried to reach me via a computer, I have not been home in the world of cyberspace. And if you have seen my pitiful phone, it is not smart enough to help out either. I am hoping I am plugged in when I get home from work tonight. I had my 20 year high school reunion last weekend along with everything else. I really need to get on Facebook to make fun of some of my old friends in the uploaded pictures. Yes, social networking has enriched my life.

We Moved!

My family and I have taken all of our belongings, packed them into boxes, put them on a trailer, moved them to another house and unpacked and set everything back up. Seems easy enough, but I gotta say, moving is not fun. Thanks to the Henrickson team for making everything come together smoothly.

One very important thing I learned from this moving experience is:

I cannot back up a trailer attached to a truck.

Don’t even bother leaving a comment explaining the ins and outs of backing up a trailer. I understand what I am supposed to do, I just can’t do it. Oh I could learn, I’m sure, but the stress of moving and the extreme Kansas heat added to my level of annoyance to the whole situation. I ended up letting a teenager back up the truck and trailer for me. Nice. I guess I am only really good at only a few things in life. Almost like the rain main, but without the ability to count cards or remember anything for that matter. But the physical move is over, and for that I am thankful.

Adventure Monkey Speaks!

Steve McRae from the Oz Bicycling Club invited me to come down to Wichita and speak about Adventure Monkey. It could have been a great presentation, but being as busy as I have been, I did not have a lot of time to think about what I was going to say. I took Melissa down with me and she said I did “real good.”  Sorry to my Wichita friends and big bro but I had no time to socialize. I came into town spoke and drove home to go to bed so that I could get up and go to the job that I…oh never mind, let’s try and stay positive shall we?

What I did realize though was that I have a very inspirational story to tell. I need to prepare it with a dazzling slide show presentation and I could be on to something pretty worthwhile in the future. Let’s just take a peak at how I did…

Hmmm, looks like I opened with some very funny and whimsical material. The crowd looks dazzled by my great and powerful speaking ability.

Not really sure what in the world would cause me to make this face in front of a roomful of people. But look at that beautiful magazine layout on the screen behind me!

The person in the front row may have just fallen asleep before I showed off the new magazine cover. Yeah, a long time ago I used to be a biology teacher, so I am not phased by sleeping listeners. I pushed on.

I pulled no punches and attempted to show just how cool I really am by showing off the XXC magazine that I made an appearance in.

“…and then there was this one time…”

Wow, I actually do like this image. Thanks Melissa (my 10 yr old daughter) for taking these shots! Although, I see about 5-10 pounds here, that if I worked off, I could probably beat Kevin Collings on our next race. Check out the tan line.

 I took some of my images to show too.

All in all, I feel better making fun of myself than anything else, but I think I did OK, all things considered. I did speak about how Adventure Monkey came about and the future plans for it. I told Melissa I would mention her blog if she came with and wouldn’t you know it, I forgot! Sorry Mel. Go HERE and check it out!

I also spoke about the Adventure Monkey Flint Hills photo-cycling tour coming up on September 10-12. Details will be posted late this week or early next! I had a couple of people from Wichita seriously interested. Don’t forget to mark your calenders. You will be able to register for the weekend ride and photography Flint Hills tour SOON. We can only take a limited number of participants.

This first Adventure Monkey event will be super affordable since it is our first one and we will be working out a few kinks, with your help of course. Everyone that comes must give us feedback so that we can turn this into an epic weekend in the future.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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Our house sold!

We needed to downsize. Before my Adventure Monkey awoke within me, I thought I was trapped in my job and I bought a new house to begin dying settle down and plant roots. That may be the “American Dream,” but it didn’t fit me. Mortgage payments and other debts imprison you to a job. I am more interested in freedom. Maybe not as free as Wonderous Mountain, but a level of freedom that will allow me to Feed My Monkey is what I need.

Moving sucks. I need to start packing, as the buyers want us out by the end of the month! Luckily we did find a new house that I believe is perfect for us. The garage is huge and even has a bathroom! Bike shop and hang out area is what I am thinking. I am pretty sure the house has bedrooms and a kitchen too, but who cares with a garage as sweet as that?

I am featured in an incredible magazine!

Quit reading and go HERE to check it out. XXC magazine did a special edition on the Dirty Kanza 200! I am honored, humbled and in disbelief that I am in an endurance cycling magazine! A little over a year ago I couldn’t ride 30 miles without crying about it. See? If you just get started on something who knows were you will be a year from today. In my opinion, the hardest part of doing anything is getting started. Any long trip begins with a single pedal stroke (unless you are not on a bike, then that doesn’t make sense). Before you know it, you are writing for XXC Magazine. Go buy one, Jason doesn’t have a “real ” job, he actually likes what he does (wait, can a real job be enjoyable?).

Issue Two of Adventure Monkey Magazine is out

For crying out loud, if you haven’t read it go HERE and download the free pdf. If you want a hard copy go HERE and buy a beautifully printed magazine. This magazine exceeded my expectations. I am currently making $0 with it, but I want to get it “out there.” If you want to help, spread the word to all your Internet friends about the magazine and send them the link to it! If you are feeling more generous, buy a copy and give it to your local bike shop, sporting good store or whatever. This is a grassroots magazine that I don’t want the big corporate block heads to taint. SPREAD THE WORD, please. Thank you.

Flint Hills Death Ride

Want to experience a challenging Flint Hills ride but aren’t quite ready for 200+ miles of unsupported goodness of the Dirty Kanza 200? Then the Death Ride is perfect for you. Yeah it sounds scary, but it is supported with SAG stops with food and drinks and is only 70 to 80 miles or so. I will be there too. Not sure how that makes it better, but trust me, if you do crash, throw up or start to cry I will be there to take your picture and put you on the blog for everyone to see. Register NOW before it’s too late! It will be fun.

The First Adventure Monkey Photo-Cycling Tour Is Scheduled

September 10 through the 12 is when this will happen. Mark your calenders. It is our first go at this and things may not be perfect, but I guarantee it will be fun and challenging and you may even learn something about photography. Other details will be published very soon but the date is set in stone. My friend and co-planner of this event is moving back to Kansas the end of this month, when I will be moving, so after that details will decided upon and made available to you. What could be better than a weekend in the Flint Hills with your bicycle and camera? A weekend with Lelan and I, that’s what! Here’s just a taste of what you will experience:

The main building at Camp Wood. This will be a great place for the photography classes. There's also nice cabins to sleep in and it's all surrounded by the beautiful and rugged Flint HIlls

You will be able to register soon, but make the time available NOW. Feel free to e-mail me with questions or comments!

Tour de France

Yeah, it’s happening now. I have no time to watch it and don’t own a DVR to record it. I watch just a few minutes here and there, but that’s it. Looks like my buddy Lance Armstrong is not going to win.

Those guys are pretty amazing. I get tired climbing hills in Kansas let alone mountains in France. Lance needs to forget that wimpy road riding stuff anyway and enter the Dirty Kanza. If you know him, let him know I said that. Since he will be retired, he’ll probabaly need some help with travel and lodging, so I guess my family will sacrifice and let him crash at my place next year. If someone could give him a ride from Austin that would be cool. Lance, we will hook you up!

So that’s it for now. Wish me luck on the move, my marriage needs it!

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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That was Lelan’s question to me about a new and exciting project for Adventure Monkey called Adventure Monkey Touring, or Adventure Monkey Flint Hills Tours, or Adventure Monkey Photo-Cycling Tours or maybe just Adventure Monkey Flint Hills Photo-Cycling Tours – AMFHPCT for short. OK, so we may need some help on the name. But here’s the concept:

• Set up a base camp in a nice facility located in the heart of the Flint Hills (site found)
• Invite a small niche of people that love adventure, photography and cycling
• Plan a weekend full of cycling through the beautiful Flint Hills, shooting pictures and generally bonding with other like minded people
• Add some time for photography discussion and classroom time with somebody that knows a little bit about that sort of thing (I know a guy)
• Make it so good that people will want a memento, like an Adventure Monkey T-shirt or something

Does this sound appealing to anyone out there? Please let me know by email. The other thing is that date, the 10th – 12th of September. The base camp site is open that weekend, but it is the weekend after Labor Day Weekend. Would anyone want to travel to the Flint Hills to attend the first AMFHPCT? Again let me know, we must begin our diabolical plan. This first one will be in the beta stage, so if it sucks (impossible!) you won’t get a refund, but will give us a full critique so we can make this a remarkable, rewarding weekend for future AMFHPCT attendees. The weekend price will reflect the Beta stage too.

Issue Two (finally)

The magazines arrived yesterday and my shipping department (thanks Jen) will be getting those to the contributors today. That means official release will happen NEXT WEEK! I know, it IS exciting! It is a beautiful magazine with stories that will inspire, entertain and generally make the earth a better place to live. Yeah, I’m not just saying that.

I can’t print 10,000 copies to get the price down to $3 to $5 a copy just yet, but it will be offered by Magcloud.com for much more than that ($10.20) and I will have a free pdf for your downloading pleasure on this site. I knocked off any profit for myself and put a Magcloud ad on the back cover to knock 25% off the magazine price to try and keep the price as low as I could for you all. It is important at this stage to just get the magazine out to the world. If you have excess money laying around at your place and want to help out after seeing Issue Two, buy some magazines and distribute them to your local bike shops, sporting goods stores, coffee shops or any other place you think would be good. If you aren’t that motivated, but do have that money laying around, just let me know and I can do the distribution. Yeah, I’m fishing here since I am still trying to break even on Adventure Monkey expenses. I’ve never believed in something I’ve been involved with professionally as much as Adventure Monkey though. Big things are going to happen for sure.

Thanks again to all the contributors in Issue Two.  

Maybe you have a story to tell. Let me know. This magazine is a grassroots adventure magazine about normal people like you and I, that have done adventurous and wonderful things with our lives. We will sprinkle in super heroes like Matt Brown and Lance Armstrong too, of course, to sweeten it up.

So be ready for the official release next week and let me know what you think about the Adventure Monkey Flint Hills Photo-Cycling Tours. Thanks.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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There has been lots of things going on in my life especially since the day I changed the calendar last year and decided that I didn’t want to be at the same place in life a year later, changing another calender in the same cubicle. I made the decision to take on any challenge before me and to “live for real.” Wow, it has been challenging, refreshing and life changing for sure. I hope my enthusiasm, trials, humor and successes have inspired some of you to wake up and start living too. We all have a purpose inside, but that purpose is hard to find sitting dazed in front of the TV every night.

One of my greatest goals, more important than inspiring you, is to inspire my children. Growing up, I learned to give in, follow the rules, and fall in line with everyone else. I didn’t realize after high school that I could actually do ANYTHING I wanted to. Even if I did, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I believed ungodly beliefs about myself and didn’t know what I was capable of. I went straight to college and got a degree so that I could begin to live the dream. That was 16 years ago and I have done more bouncing around from job to job, disillusioned about the meaning of life than living any dream. I want my kids to have the confidence to try new things, get to know their true selves and to find their purpose rather than falling into line and doing what’s expected of them and stuffing their true identities inside. That takes chutzpah, cojones, sisu, courage to be different.

Parenting didn’t come with a manual, and I have made many, many mistakes in my parenting role. I do think that I am getting better, but each child has a new set of rules. When it comes down to it, I just want my kids to feel loved, be happy and find satisfaction with life. That said, let me tell you about one of the joys in my life and make an announcement of a “spin-off” blog of the Adventure Monkey that you must check out.

A little over ten years ago, my lovely wife gave birth to an eight pound beautiful baby girl named Melissa Ann. Seeing her for the first time did something to my heart. Holding her in my arms gave me more joy than anything I have ever done. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes upon. My heart would never be the same from that time on. A new room was built in my heart to hold this new level of love. Now, I love my boys and have a special father-son bond with each one and love them very much, but there is something extra special, different about the father-daughter relationship.

As she grew up, we grew closer and closer. I think from a young age, she knew she had a special place in my heart. One look could melt any other feeling I was experiencing.

A kiss from this special girl, was more special than a kiss from any other.

You want blue pancakes? No problem. Blue pancakes on Mondays off were a special time we had together. The resulting green poop was quite funny too.

What a cutie pie.

She was always so spunky and full of life. She definitely had her own opinion about everything.

She didn’t always cooperate, but even when she cried, she made me smile.

The love between a father and daughter is a special thing.

Not to be outdone by her big brothers, she was and is quite the athlete.

As she grew older, her intellect and quick wit developed and she seemed more mature than most of her peers. I felt the same as a kid and know that can cause feelings of disconnectedness and loneliness. The need to belong can squelch the desire to be your own person. I want to raise my kids in such a way that they feel safe to express who they are and “find themselves” even if that means they are a little left of “normal.” Being true to the person inside is one step to being happy with life.

Melissa is growing up before my eyes. No longer a little girl, she is a young woman. She eccels in what she tries even if I have to give her a little push to try something new. She devours books late at night and likes to write stories too. Her sense of humor is sharp and makes me smile. She’s pretty awesome.

I know she is headed for great things. How do you keep your kids in line to continue getting better? That is a tough one to do, especially as they grow older and flex their independence more and more. Parents can hinder or help their kids develop. Once again I never received a manual and have been winging it for 17 years now, making many mistakes and experiencing triumphs along the way too.

I wanted Melissa to work on her writing skills, sense of humor and self expression. How could I get her to do that? I knew what worked for me – a blog. So seriously, it’s way funnier and entertaining than this one. Go check it out HERE, leave her a comment or two. It will make her day. So yeah, all this was to announce her new blog called Wonderlizard. You’ll get a kick out of it. I am proud of her and when you check it out, realize it’s coming from a ten year old.

On another note, I have the proof of Adventure Monkey version 2 in my hands. It looks fantastic. Release will be occurring very soon!

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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I have racked my brain, day and night, since my finish at the DK200 trying to figure out what would be the best gift for a DK 200 participant, family member or just someone that loves the Flint Hills. After much thought and restless nights, I figured it out. A beautiful archivally printed photograph from the Adventure Monkey would be perfect! I just can’t think of a better way to remember the Flint Hills than a landscape on the wall or taped to your mirror or tacked to your cubicle wall.

Since you weren’t as lucky as Ellee Thalheimer from Portland, Oregon to win the David Pals award, you have other options that I have just made available today.

David Pals Award Winner

I have many 8×10 prints available to purchase. Most of them are ready to ship the same day. I am keeping the price to a low $20.00 per original signed print and I can ship five of them with one low shipping charge too, just in case you wanted more than one. How to get one you ask?

You can click the store button on the top menu or just go HERE. Yes, I know my “store” is pretty ghetto, but hopefully one day we will look back on this time and laugh at my lack of sales and html skills. And on that day all of you will be wearing Adventure Monkey gear, sipping on Adventure Monkey Pickle Juice and reading the latest issue of Adventure Monkey Magazine too. Excuse me, I was daydreaming there for a second.

Just in case you were wondering, any image you see on this site can be printed and sold. The canvas prints like the one in the picture above are my favorites. They are vibrant, large, and very modern looking. I’m not just saying that, they are really breathtaking. If you want something like that or need anything else just shoot me an email any time.

Yes, I know, I need a “real” ecommerce site to sell stuff, but until then, visit my “store” page and order something.

Magazine News

I know, it has taken me forever to finish the latest magazine. It has been proofed and edits are being made and the final proof will be made this week. Soon, very soon, it will be ready. We had a big party last release, but this time I have contributors from all over the country. I need to think of a way to release Issue Two with a BANG! Maybe we will have another party for whoever can show up and a Flint Hills Ride the day after. Just a thought. Let me take a second to tip my hat to all the contributors for Issue Two. There are great stories and amazing photography in this issue – and I am picky about that stuff. This magazine would not be anything without all your help. Thanks so much. Want a preview? Here you go.

This is as close as you're going to get, for about a week or so...

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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Here’s a recap of the journey of Adventure Monkey so far:

I had a great corporate job that paid great money and also had great benefits. I hated it. I am just not the regular job kind of guy. Some people are, some aren’t. I get bored, restless and depressed unless I feed the adventure monkey inside (just like you). Going somewhere every day for 12 hours to do meaningless things was getting to me. Still is in fact. That was the motivation I needed to do something, but it didn’t hit me until…

…I got on my bike again. You can read about it in the archives, but cycling became my outlet where I could breathe, think, and recharge, no matter how frustrating work life became. On one of those rides, I decided to close down the side business of weddings and portraits and start the Adventure Monkey site. I would shoot for my own need to be creative. No more cheesy portraits, or clients,  just shooting what and how I wanted to.

I put a rack on the bike and started taking the camera on rides and this site was born. Soon I wanted more. I decided I needed to start “living for real” and wanted to start doing great things with my time. I needed a way to throw down the gauntlet and actually DO SOMETHING rather than talking about it for once. The DK 200 was it for me. If I could do that, anything was possible.

Now that’s it’s over and I am recovered, I am glad I did it and encourage all my readers to find a gauntlet throwing adventure to do – something that can symbolically jump start your life. Why? Finishing the DK 200 took all I had physically and mentally. I always wanted to do great things, but in my opinion, I never really did. I didn’t know I was even capable of overcoming such great odds, such great pain to finish something. Now I do. It’s good to know that about yourself. I hold my head a bit higher and just feel better about things. Now I am going to need to do something even greater. That’s how I roll.

There are a lot of things on my radar, but having a real job pretty much gets in the way of most of them. As you know, I am hoping that Adventure Monkey takes off and frees me from the cubicle world of corporate design. (If you ever have any advice, I will take it – seriously,  just email me.) But I always have to remember the reason Adventure Monkey exists. It is not to make me money, that would just be a nice benefit. The whole reason for its existence is to inspire you, the readers to be better people, to do great things and to make your world a better place because of it. I cannot stand the couch mentality we have – it’s time to get off the couch and live life to the fullest. We are here for a limited time. There are things inside each of us that we want to do. No one is stuck. Choices need to be made. Make them. Oh and by the way, it’s easier to make those hard choices wearing an Adventure Monkey t-shirt, just sayin’.

So immediately, something is sitting before me and it is a beautiful thing. It is the proof of Issue Two of Adventure Monkey Magazine. It is magnificent. The quality of writing and photography in this issue is amazing to me. I will once again use magcloud.com to print it and I will be offering it free as a pdf. I am hoping someday to make some money off advertising, but I am not making any money on it. I just want to get it into the world. These inspirational stories need to be told. That being said, I will be selling it at cost through magcloud.com and will let you know when it is available. (Hopefully late this week or early next week.) Want to help out? Purchase a bunch of them and take them to your local bike shops or sporting good stores or coffee shops or wherever you see fit. I need a bit of help getting it out there. I couldn’t get any advertisers to help out with that yet, so it’s up to us. You are my sales force, and I feel pretty confident about that.

So what’s next after that? I have some great ideas for ways to push myself. Some announcements will be coming up soon.

Also, I have been getting emails about pictures of the DK200 roads for gifts. I have many left over from the DK 200 booth and will soon have them available to purchase here at a very reasonable price. Stay tuned.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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100 Miles to Nowhere as important as the setting sun apparently.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

FYI, for you bike geeks, I will soon do a post on what my plans are for the DK 200. That means bike, tires and nutrition choices, oh and what I’m going to wear too. My brother taught me, in our baseball years,  that looking good is really what counts more than anything.

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• I have been doing my best to train for the Dirty Kanza, but weather, kid’s activities, work and family have all gotten in the way. The only acceptable one to let go would be work, but since I just started selling t-shirts and haven’t quite made my money back for those, the wife seems to think that quitting my job would be unacceptable at this time. I am pretty sure I would have to place 1st overall for her to see the light. The chances of that happening are pretty slim.
• I had a Dirty Kanza plan. It has all changed and that makes me nervous. I was decided on riding the Fargo with Bontrager XR1′s for 200 miles, but then the Fargo broke and I rode a Trek X2 cyclocross bike for my 100+ mile Sunday ride. I liked it. I shaved off around 2 hours and gained 3-5 mph on my average AND I was comfortable, but I got 3 flats (zero on the Fargo with big tires and over 1,000 miles logged). So what tires? The used Trek X2 doesn’t have much clearance in the rear for knobby tires, so I need to decide on tires and quick.
• Adventure Monkey magazine Issue 2 is going to be the bomb! You might think I am saying this just to get you to read it, but trust me on this. Issue 2 will have a new review and gear section, mountain climbing, yoga, business adventures and yes, cycling stories in Issue 2. I am trying to find time to put it together, and that is tough these days, but I have a goal to have it ready to publish this month.
• I started selling t-shirts here on the site. We have Version 1 available. Go to the top menu bar – pages – Adventure Monkey Store to get one. The magazine page also has a new paypal button to purchase printed magazines straight from this site and save you a little cash.
• We raised around $1,200 on our 100 Miles to Nowhere race, and you can still make a difference by going HERE and sharing.
• It’s time to put to bed my “41 loyal fans joke.” With over 12,000 downloads of Issue One, and the over 4,000 unique visitors (almost 1 hours worth at the Fat Cyclist) last month, the joke is no longer that funny. Adventure Monkey is really growing and that is great! But I will never forget my first loyal 41.
• I have come up short in a few areas so far this year. I wanted to start doing some video tutorials of how I process images on the computer. That is going to have to wait until sometime after the DK 200. Bicycle camping is going to take some money for ultralight gear, but I hope to try it this year. Date night this week was a trip to Wal-Mart with the wife and that’s just unacceptable, but I did enjoy hanging out with my sweetie pie. I look over the goals I made in January every month to adjust, change or step it up a notch. You should do the same to stay on track.
• It’s been a number of years since I have had a sleepover at my house, so I am pretty stoked to be hosting a couple of world famous cyclists at my casa for the Dirty Kanza 200 this year. One is a world famous cyclist and multi-talented super blogger that I know you know if you read this blog, and the other is a world famous sponsored mountain bike racer. I can’t tell you who they are, that would ruin the surprise, but I am sure I will be posting a shot of us in full body pj’s having a pillow fight the night before the DK 200. Stay tuned for that.
• I am attempting to get a large amount of images printed and ready to sell for the DK200. We may have a booth there. The images will focus on the Flint Hills and be perfect for the riders and their families to purchase for a memento of the most epic race ever. I also have to get a large canvas print ready for the DK 200 that will go as a prize to one lucky rider. It’s going to be sweet. I don’t own a booth or anything resembling a booth, so I am not sure how this will work out. Most of the images will be 8×10, since that is affordable and an easy size for people to take back home and frame, but I’d like to display a few bigger ones. If you are around Emporia and own one of these “booths” or display tents, please shoot me an email if you are willing to share!
• Adventure Monkey tours will have a test run this Fall. We will be hosting a Flint Hills weekend complete with photography class and some great Flint Hills gravel riding. I wouldn’t be taking this project on without the help of  THIS GUY’s event planning skills. Stay tuned for information.
• Riding the DK200 without a camera? Looks like it for me. I really can’t afford a Panasonic GF1 or something like it that’s small and has decent resolution, so I am not sure what to do. I really want to take a video camera on the ride, some sort of helmet cam that I could record some of the more breathtaking scenes of the ride and to record my mental state during the 200 miles. If anyone out there has something I can borrow or some advice on an affordable system, please let me know. I need some help on this front.

So that’s about it for now. Today is Wednesday, a training day for me as soon as I can get out of the cube. They are calling for rain, so I may be on the rollers again – yuck. I plan to use my time wisely and get Issue 2 done as quickly as I can. I got some work ahead of me on this one. But it will be worth it for sure.

Feed Your Monkey!
Eric

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100 Miles to Nowhere

Myself and 7 other people successfully rode nowhere for 100 miles. Some would say I always do this riding in Kansas, but trust me, this was way worse. Here are the stats from our speedster for the day: (click on “view details” to see the whole story, funny how riding in place confuses the Garmin a bit)

I had my lovely assistant and daughter shoot some video, but something must be wrong with the camera. Once again, the video would not import. The video was going to be sweet, maybe even catch the attention of Eldon, but that was a bust. Luckily everything else went well. All in all we raised over $1,200 for Livestrong and had as much fun as people can have riding 100 miles on a sidewalk. Just to let you know, I rode on rollers the entire 100 miles, and only fell twice. I almost pulled Dr. Tovar down with me on the second fall. Luckily my lovely wife took some pictures that will tell the story of the day. Enjoy! Don’t forget to donate a buck or two HERE!

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