Hey Raiders........

Greetings Raiders,
Jim Turner here. Yes, I am still above ground and will remain that way for many more years...... Border Raid 2009 will begin on Saturday June 20th, so pencil us in on your calendars....

Just so you know I graduated Cardiac Rehab with flying colors and went back to work July 8th. I am back in the saddle and even had the pleasure of riding with Mark Crane from Iowa at Octoginta briefly here in Lawrence, before he dropped me like a rock...... Bill K. and Paul W. were there also and I had breakfast with them Sunday morning and then never saw them again..... With over 700 riders in Lawrence that morning it was hard to stay together with someone or find them... It is wonderful to be out riding again, cabin fever was beginning to set in.

We have high hopes the weather will be a little kinder to us in O9 with no detours because of flooding. We usually draw riders from at least 20 other states besides Kansas so it is nice to give them a taste of "our weather." Whatever the weather, I know our riders will tough it out. (Like our group of New Englanders that did the Long Rider Century when the temperature was also in triple digits) I must say the day we had the special lighting effects in Hamburg from the thunderbolts every five seconds did scare me a little, and I do not scare easily........

Border Raider riders seem to be "exceptional" cyclists, or perhaps, "experienced".( I did not want to say Old Farts) It is not their first Rodeo and they know what they are doing. It has been a pleasure these last few years putting this ride together and a labor of fun. Many seem to have a "BS" degree, like myself and I have to run to keep up with them..... I may be bringing my "waders" this year, just in case.

I really can not wait for June 2009....... it is so exciting to see old friends and new ones from all over the country come together for a week of great riding and great storytelling..... Canada Bob if you are out there and read this I will save you a spot and not put you in time out this year....... Sue from Oregon, get back here we have much more to discuss about how to save the world and right all wrongs....... Ken from Missouri, expect a bit of candy on your sleeping bag each night....

This is my first post and my first attempt at "bloggin". Mary is helping me. It will not be my last.

I am Jim Turner and I and only I approved the above message and any resemblance to "truth" or " facts" is purely accidental.

Ridiculously Late Post-ride Update

Well guys, here we are coming up to four months since the end of the 2008 Border Raiders bicycle tour and I'm just now posting an update on our blog. My apologies for the extreme delay. I hope that this update finds you all well and eager to relive the memories from a few months ago and think about making new memories in a few months for the 2009 tour.

I've uploaded all of the pictures to a Kodak Gallery. You can check out all seven albums here. Yes, you have to have a Kodak account -- sorry! I don't make the rules. The cool thing is that you can view all of the images in a gallery format, save them to your computer, or you can order prints (4x6 prints are $0.15/ea), albums, stickers, mugs -- even apparel.

Speaking of apparel, if you'd still like to order a jersey for the 2008 tour, please email us and let us know. We need to have a minimum of 10 to meet the minimum order requirements.

If you enjoyed the 2008 tour as much as we did, we'd love to see you back for the ride next year -- June 20 - 28, 2009. Check out the website starting in January for online registration.