Your hardworking Alta-Sport staff was out to dinner at one of the finest restaurants in town. Chili's no less! At 23rd st and Iowa on the west side of Lawrence, Kansas. We were aware of a storms approaching from the west but the lure of a great salad was too much! Shortly after eating my salad and finishing dinner, the Chili's management staff politely asked us to  move away from the windows. The members of my table moved away and I promptly went outside to investigate nature (don't try this at home). The tornado sirens were blaring and store patrons were asked to enter the food cooler for maximum protection. However, I was outside doing my best to be a weather spotter.

You know you are in trouble when the thunderstorm has passed, the rain stopped, and an eerie calm hangs over the area like a blanket of dread. Looking west I saw the low hanging "wall" cloud which is the precursor to a Tornado. A small swirling dark mass protruded from the cloud but was no where long enough to reach the ground. The slow swirls wisps hanging down from the wall cloud reminded me of the smoke from a Witch's brew.

Having lived in the land of Oz for 16 years I've yet to see a true twister. Luckily for me the wall cloud moved on and dissipated, but another mile further west a twister actually landed and struck Lawrence. Luckily it was only an F2 and was on the ground for 30 to 60 seconds. Substantial damaged was done but there were no fatalities.

Being only 2 to 3 miles east of the twister I was close enough to satisfy my curiosity. Until next time... Northern Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are known as Tornado alley. The cold dry air moving east from the Rocky Mountains and the warm humid air blowing up from the Gulf of Mexico makes us a cauldron of tornadic activities. Local news story.

Team X Junior member Garrick ValVerde (aka velocity) lives in the direct path of the twister. I haven't spoken to him yet but the fact that his answering machine works is a good sign. Stay tuned for more info on this Team X Cycling junior and his windy experience

Last week Leavenworth county wasn't as lucky as the City of Lawrence but a local cycling team put it to their advantage!