Out in the west Texas town of El Paso....

Well, we made it to El Paso. Dad and I left Longview Tuesday morning at 6:00 headed for El Paso via Austin. It’s a little out of the way, but Dad had a proposal to drop off in Austin. We made it to Austin by 10:30, and then spent the afternoon running around there in Austin. We escaped Austin around 6ish that evening and headed on. Around 11:30 we reached Fort Stockton and called it a night. We got up the next morning (Wednesday) and drove 3 more hours to make it here. The afternoon was spent sightseeing and checking out a few of the projects Dad is working on here. Last night Dad and I went to the El Diablos baseball game, a minor league team here in El Paso.

This morning I got up early and went for a bike ride. I decided to climb the transmountain highway that runs through the Franklin Mountains. I left my aunt and uncle’s house around 7:30, rode 9 miles to the start of the highway and began the climb. From there it was almost 5 miles of climbing to the peak. The maximum elevation was 5280 ft. (which is conveniently 1 mile high).

I rode a little farther to a picnic area that over looked the west side of the mountain, and then I turned around, descended the mountain and then rode back to the house. All in all it was a hard 30 miles. After not riding in a week, it probably wasn’t the smartest move to make that my first ride back, but it was a pretty good one none the less.

Oh, and I got my photo album going today. I put a few El Paso pics up just to test it out and make sure it works. There's a link on my website homepage, or you can just check it out at picasaweb.com/eric.d.rowell

I'm famous! Well not really, but I was on the news!

This week sure has been busy. Not much time to ride, but plenty of other things have been going on.

First, I was on KLTV this week! KLTV did a special on me, and there's a link to the right if you'd like to check the video out.

We went to Dallas on Friday, picked up Dad at the airport, and did some last minute shopping for the trip. I'm pretty sure I'm ready to roll gear wise.

Some of the grandparents came into town Saturday and Sunday to hang out since it's the last time for a while they'll get to see Dad or me.

Dad and I leave early tomorrow to head to El Paso. We're taking my car, and I'll be there until I fly out on the 3rd.


Also, I'm making my last final push for donations. I've already raised over $3,300, but still need about $700 to reach my $4,000 goal. If you'd like to help out, you can click here to make a credit card donation. Just select my name from the list (Rowell, Eric). Any donations, no matter how big or small would be greatly appreciated.

Bike & Build is just a week away!

-Eric

2 Weeks Away

With the spring quarter in full swing and the weather being as nice as it has been, I've neglected writing here for quite sometime... my bad.

Well the quarter ended Friday (I had a 4.0 this quarter), I packed my stuff and said goodbye to Ruston for a while, and I made it back to Longview last night. Summer is here, and Bike & Build starts in two weeks! I'll be in Longview this week, El Paso the next, and then fly from El Paso to Providence on June 3rd for orientation the 4th.

The bike riding has been going pretty well this spring. I've made sure to get in at least one 50 mile ride a week, and a couple of those have been 70+ miles. In Ruston on Saturday I rode 52 total (about 35 with the Ruston Cyclists) and it was probably the hilliest ride I've done this year. We rode "the old race course" which was way hillier than any part of Ruston I'd ridden before. I was pretty happy with the way I rode. I stayed near the front the whole way, and it felt good overall.

Speaking of uphills, I'll hopefully get some good mountain climbing next week while I'm in El Paso. They say the transmountain highway has a bike lane the whole way, so it'll be nice to get some real uphill training in before the trip. More on that next week when I'm there.

I finished off the checklist for gear I need last night. Now I'm just waiting for the last few things to come in.

I've gotten some great donations recently, and I'd like to thank everybody who has given so far! I'm still trying to finish up my fundraising, so if you are interested in donating, please CLICK HERE and select my name (Rowell, Eric).

I'll do better at keeping this up to date over the next few weeks. I promise.