Well, I spent the morning with a little bit of this,



and a whole lot of this,


All in all, the roads looked pretty good. There were some big holes, but nothing that couldn't be easily navigated by bicycle. It looked like there was a small amount of new gravel in place, but for the most part, the roads were pretty smooth and wicked fast. That is about all for the road conditions as of right now. I will keep you updated as race day gets closer so that everyone can be prepared to make the appropriate wheel/tire/bike selections.

About the course itself:
There is only going to be ONE area on the course where riders can meet their support crew. Since the course goes through a section of Spring Valley that offers no park(or parking) space, each rider may meet there support crew ANYWHERE inside the Spring Valley city limits. While your support crews may be spread out, there will be a race volunteer permanently positioned along the course in Spring Valley to hand out second section course maps. Also note that this ONE and ONLY checkpoint will be located at the 65 mile mark. The cut-off for reaching this point is going to be 7 hours (3 o'clock). If you do not make the checkpoint before the cut-off time you will be disqualified from the event. Questions? Now is the time to get them in.

Well I've rounded up all of the postcards that I felt might be worthy of a fresh bottle of something sweet. It was difficult, but decisions needed to be made. So, here is a link to the photo album that contains the cream of the crop. Take a look and let me know what you think. Somebody has to walk away with a glass bottle of goodness.

So I "drove" the course yesterday morning and it looks great. The roads were pretty well in tact from this seasons thaw, no big cracks or big holes. There were plenty of rolling hills, some nice flats that should be headed directly into the wind and some weird concrete Masonic shelter in the middle of absolutely nowhere. This years course is going to roll right past a bike shop in St. Charles, within yards of food and liquor in Chatfield and practically through the parking lot of a convenience store in Spring Valley. Traffic was non-existent, dogs didn't prove to be a challenge for the trusty Subaru and there was only one residence that gave me the Deliverance creeps. All in all it looks good, from the drivers seat anyway, but I will be riding the whole thing in a couple of weeks to give an official rider report. Until then....

This is the final list of riders. If you are not on this list, you are not riding in the Almanzo 100. This is final. If you are not going to make it, please let me know in advance.

Single Speed:
1.Mark Emery
2.JJ Robb
3.Nick Oswald
4.Isaac Giesen
5.Eric Leugers
6.Brent Bruessel
7.Adam Scholtes
8.Dennis Mairet
9.Snakebite
10.Randy Anderson
11.Jason Hicks
12.Jose Pascual
13.Kid Riemer

Fixed Gear:
1.Squirrel
2.Gunnar
3.John Fleck
4.Kevin Jargo
5.John Krolak
6.Kevin Clay
7.Brian Dukek
8.Ruby 2-Shoes
9.Hurl
10.Tim Bekke
11.Dog
12.Robert T. Green
13.Roy Vosberg
14.Choholic

Open Women:
1.Susannah King
2.Molly Cochran
3.Emily Kaster

Open Men:
1.Andrew Rosenberg
2.Dan Hansen
3.David Pramann
4.Mark Kowaliw
5.Death Rider
6.Chris Prescher
7.Chad Parrish
8.J Pitts
9.Bryan Cochran
10.Andy Lambert
11.Rooster
12.Joseph Meiser
13.Jack Handy
14.Mario
15.Brad Wilson
16.David Lee
17.Eric Nancekivell
18.Dale Dahl
19.Brad Schwab
20.Erik Sudheimer
21.Brent Wood
22.Joshua Lavelle
23.Andy Tetmeyer
24.Tim Norrie
25.Terry Brannick
26.Ben Doom
27.T-Baggins
28.David Hanks
29.Jesse Rients
30.Rick Blackford
31.Ian Nancekivell
32.James McGuire
33.Garrick Yoong
34.Jim Reed
35.Alex Anderson
36.Chad DeBaker
37.Michael Fox
38.Bjorn Christianson
39.Charlie Farrow

*I have put a fair amount of my own time and money into keeping this event free. If you enjoy not paying an entrance fee, please be respectful to the places this event will take you and remember; IF YOU ARE GOING TO DROP YOUR ENTRANCE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN ADVANCE. This will help keep this event free for years to come.

Save but a few potential postcards in the mailbox today, this registration window is CLOSED. I will not accept anyone else at this point. If you missed it, YOU MISSED IT. I will post a final tally of all riders late tonight or early tomorrow morning. I also intend to post the photo finalists for the best postcard award. I am riding in the Ragnarok 105 this weekend, so, barring any negative results from hypothermia, I will hopefully have the images up here by Monday.

For anyone who might interested, I am going to be riding 40 miles down to Lewiston, Minnesota this Sunday(4/6). I am riding down to run in the Fools Five road race. Right now my plan is not to ride back following the foot race, but that can change depending on how many others would like to make it a round trip. Let me know if your interested and I'll give you more specific information.