You got the outrigger reflex going! Good job. I love to ride in fresh snow! As long as it isn't so deep the rear drive break loose and spins too much to make progress. Hard winter this year in Dayton. One week it was too deep and the cold never let up. The next week, the freeze thaw cycle made riding a real challenge. The next week had a couple nice days that melted everything off, and then we got about 4-5 inches and more cold with just enough thaw at first to make the ATV swerves treacherous and the walker footprints horribly jarring. Looks like anything from here on out will only be temporary.

I guess I should say thanks for the confidence, but having watched... I seriously doubt I could have come close. But I do have a whole lot of eating stories!

I hardly dare say anything to you about riding in the snow, given I think you have more experience. I will hesitate a bit before offering - back in my hard core commuting days in Colorado, I preferred riding in fresh snow as it wasn't slippery. Have you tried it?

Until Chestnut came along, I thought Kobayashi was unbeatable. But I remember seeing Kobayashi winning other eating contests as well back in the day--pies, butter, sausages, mayonnaise, you name it. Joey seems to specialize in hotdogs. I bet you could beat either one of them in a taco eating competition.

Probably not Joey... Or a lot of the other pros.

My second year at ASU, I was a student assistant to the Herpetology Prof, and had a steady income of $19.02 per week. I was able to pay rent and still survive on that by eating one meal a day in the women's dorm for $1.10 paid at the door, eat all you want. I ate 6 plates of main course, veggies, salad, dessert and one milk glass. It got so that one of the server girls started serving me veggies in a soup bowl. Her boss caught her doing that, and said "you're not supposed to serve veggies in a soup bowl." And she said "But he will eat it and come back again and eat that and come back again!" To which he said you're not "supposed to." using finger quotes, just in case management started asking, I suspect... Anyway, about 6 months after I got married, my wife and I went into a restaurant and our server said "I know you!" I looked at her and said, Yeah! You got in trouble for serving me veggies in a soup bowl!

I remember when Kobayashi was first competing on TV and saying "There's a man after my own stomach!"

Those days are gone. I'm still skinny at 5'10" 135 pounds and eat more than most, but not even near half what I did.

Thank ya kindly, Mark. I look forward to your upcoming tour too. When does it start? Nevermind, you don't have to tell me. I'll wait til you announce the date publicly.

I had a similar nervous experience once in Montana. I was charged by a cow. Luckily, the only had enough stamina to chase for about three seconds, but that was enough to get its point across.

Now you've thrown an ethical dilemma at me: Not eatin' beef durin' my bike trip vs. supportin' the hard workin' Kansas ranchers. I'm goin' to have to give my pledge a second thought.

Holy cow, Bill! That's some pretty good eatin'! You probably could have given Joey Chestnut a run for his money at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eatin' Championship.

I remember a past bike tour we were on in western Colorado when we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a cattle drive! There were some nervous moments when we got between mama and her calf!

Lookin' forward to another fine installment of yer journal, pardner!

I guess you could say Denis T-boned a T-bone and ended up with a taco?

Don't feel too bad about missing out on the chance of getting a free 72-ounce steak. What they don't tell you is that it's the worst cut of the entire cow, with a lot of gristle and cooked until it becomes the texture of hardtack. The only reason to eat it all is for bragging rights and/or to get your name on The Wall.

All of the ranchers in Kansas would be happy if you ate extra beef, to help their bottom line!

Watch out while riding with your bovine friends. A cycling friend, Denis, T-boned a cow outside of Missoula. He ended up with several broken ribs, and a tacoed front wheel. The cow? Who knows - it ran off!

72-ounce steak!

Back in the days when I was a big eaters, (Big? not "me," I was 5'10" 125 pounds) I really wanted to consume one of those free giant steaks, but, alas... Nobody would stop and I was a mere passenger, but I have no doubt I could have done it...

As a student at ASU, I consumed 18 tacos, plus beans and salad on each plate in the cafeteria, so they were real, hefty football player type tacos and not wimpy, thin little TB tacos.

Oh yeah, and I consumed 6 foot long fully load submarine sandwiches during one challenge and had my name added to the wall, making me the 4th person to do it. They said it only happened about once every other year. There were lots of 5s.