Howdy from Madison

[77south]

     77south signing in from beautiful Madison WI.  I am a proud owner of a an '06 Monster 620 dark. I picked it up about a week after I finished the MSF course last year when craigslist hooked me up with a one year old bike with 52 miles.  Who buys a bike and puts on 52 miles in one year? Mods to date include Napoleon bar end mirrors. I know I need to work on that.  This is my first bike so most of the extra cash since purchase has gone for gear. 
  The nickname refers to the year I spent working in McMurdo Station Antarctica.  (at 77 degrees south latitude)

[Ducatiloo]

Welcome  kudos to buying gear right away

[Kyna]

Welcome!  Feel free to post up in COW (Cyclists of Wisconsin) and say hello.  We have a few other members in the Madison area.

[somegirl]

Welcome and congrats on the new bike and gear!   Hope you are having fun with it. [moto]

What kind of work did you do at the station?  That sounds interesting.  My aunt has been to Antarctica twice, I'd love to visit (if I don't freeze to death there).

[77south]

Well, in the summer season (oct-feb) I was a computer repair technician, and in the winter (feb-oct) I was a communications tech, so I installed, expanded and repaired the fiber optic, ethernet, telephone and cable TV network cabling on station. (Can you tell I have written that on more than a few job applications and resumes?)

[Ducatiloo]

Wow what an experience.    I saw pics once of a guy that made a bike out of spare parts and put a Ducati logo on it.  Did you ever see it? 
Did you work with a research team?

[77south]

I was actually a civilian contractor that first worked with Antarctic Support Associates and then with Raytheon Polar Services.  ASA lost the support contract and RPSC picked it up while I was down there.  Most of the time I actually worked on support personnel's equipment, researchers usually brought their own gear.