by Kyle “Kyle’s Bikes” Robinson

Kyle Robinson and Dave Hammer competed in the National 24-Hour Challenge, one of the nation’s premiere cycling events, June 15–16, 2013 in Middleville, Michigan. Kyle is owner of Kyle’s Bikes in Ankeny, Iowa, and Dave is his long-time friend.

On the 8-hour drive to Michigan with our wives, Dave and I discussed our strategies and goals, AKA, our game plan. First thing we did when we pulled in town was find the race venue and set up our screened in tent for our home base. Next we found the hotel about 35 minutes away. The Hammers grew up and started their married life in Grand Rapids so we strolled down memory lane a bit. We ended up at Cindy's (Dave’s wife) mom’s for a quick visit, and then off to dinner.

This town is on the very edge of the Eastern Time Zone, so it's still light at 10:00 p.m. It got late on us and we still wanted to get supplies at the grocery store. Finally back at the hotel room, we decided on a 5:45 a.m. wake-up time so we can eat breakfast in the very nice cafe area in our hotel. That gave us almost 5 1/2 hours to sleep, which went well.

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