Halloween is my most favorite holiday of the year by far. Not only because I was born, raised and graduated from high school in the Halloween Capital of The World ( Anoka, MN ). But also because on Halloween night – October 31, 1982, I was given the “Gift of Life” and my second chance! That was the night when I was handing out candy to trick or treaters, that I got the call from Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN telling me that they had found a kidney for me. I thought that the best way that I could celebrate my kidney’s 27th birthday with me and its’ 77th overall, was to do another 100 mile ride covering most of Tucson , AZ. It was a celebration of life for me and because of that I did the ride solo so that I could reflect upon how lucky I am to not only be alive, but to be able to fairly easily do a 100 mile bike ride. It was a wonderful ride floating along the flats, pounding up the 2 mile climb up Ridgeside and blasting out to and up Pistol Hill. From the top of Pistol Hill, it was a lot of fast miles with many downhills and fast flats with a great tailwind through the East side of town and then out to Sabino Canyon. I finished the ride with a nice loop out to Oracle covering a good stretch of the upcoming 109 mile El Tour de Tucson Bicycle race this November 21. 3 Weeks until El Tour ! Pedal On !!!!