Elvis has definitely left the building!

Second trip this year to Las Vegas has left me wanting to go again.  It is a hot bed of every indulgence known to man, all in the middle of a desert.  For instance, while I was there I managed to have a quick thrash around a track in a Lamborghini Gallardo, followed by one of the best Double Whopper with cheese and bacon although I do think this was probably so good mainly due to the fact that I had waited for more than 4 months to eat it.

I am amazed at how much money people are happy to gamble away though.  We stayed at the MGM Grand and no matter what time we passed through the casino (that was strategically placed so you couldn’t avoid it) there was someone playing the slots, all day long, every day.  There was even one woman that sat at the same machine for hours, she was there when we went out and still there when we came back.

I do wonder what it was like in the seventies with Elvis playing live at Caesars Palace, I reckon a truly hedonistic time. Caesars is still there of course, maybe next time we will head there instead.  There is still so much to explore in Vegas – but be warned, take plenty of money with you, and I mean pleeeeenty!  I have yet to check my credit card transactions but I reckon that little 6 day excursion knocked a hole in 2000 USD

So, maybe after I finish with this boat, another trip to Vegas is on the cards???

Now, enough of that nonsense.  Today I entered my first running race.  I have spent a few months this year in Newport, Rhode Island.  Part of the landscape here is Pell Bridge. If you look at my photos for ‘America 2012’ you will see it there.  I have been wanting to run it or at least ride my bike over it ever since seeing it.  I thought it would be a good proving ground for a top speed run on my bike due to the gradient but my efforts in New York I think will be hard to beat until I get to Antigua and the run down from Shirley Heights. Anyway, I digress.  The bridge is closed to pedestrian traffic and cycles, only motor vehicles………..except on November 11th when they allow the people to reclaim it.

I paid my fees and entered the race http://www.pellbridgerun.com/  One glaringly obvious problem – we are leaving Newport at the end of October!  The flight back up is not cheap but I want to do this so much that I just don’t care.  It’s a quick 4 mile dash, that starts at 06:30, no doubt chilly and blowy at that time in the morning but I reckon I can dismiss that run in around 35 minutes and claim my finishers T shirt at the other end.

So, what is this purgatory I hear you ask? Well as Mr. Buckingham thought – it isn’t Scandinavia in the summer.  In Newport there is a hill called ‘Purgatory’. It’s not offensively steep but it is jolly long, the combination of length and incline makes it a fearsome challenge, even more so when I am almost 12 miles into my route when I reach the bottom of it. Of course, the challenge is not the bottom of the hill, it is the top – and with all good challenges it’s all about speed. Just before the crest of Purgatory, there is one of those radar devices that tells you your speed.  It’s quite a good one, it actually picks me out on my bike.  Tonight, I managed to hit 15mph at the top of Purgatory while still on the incline.  I am of course rather chuffed with my achievement but come Thursday, I will be trying my level best to squeeze 16mph out of the top of Purgatory.  I shall post my success.

Let me sign off tonight with a couple of items.  Firstly, Felix Baumgartner. Brave man indeed. To have stood on the edge of the capsule looking at the earth must have been an experience of a life time, but then to jump off – the mind boggles – where would we be without such pioneers?  Maybe some of you are still asking what his stunt may have done for the good of human kind? I am just thankful that nobody stopped him from doing it.

Abu Hamza – Has now left the country.  I have, for a long time been scratching my head in wonder as to why this fuck head has been able to stay in the UK for so long, feeding off the social benefits system while preaching his hatred for the country that supports him and claiming human rights breaches to prevent his extradition.  I often wondered why someone simply didn’t put a bullet in the back of his head and be done with the whole affair.  Now the Americans have him – let’s hope those Yanks are still gun happy with itchy trigger fingers and have the balls to do what the Brits should have done but were too big a bunch of fannies to do it – shoot the prick and stop wasting money on him.

And on that note, I shall retire for the evening, tomorrow I have my work cut out removing two PTO’s yet again.  This time, I do the work myself and get it right!  Can anyone tell me what the differences are between a Range Rover and a Range Rover Sport?