Cyclist Scott Mason of Hudson, Wisconsin, gets registration information from Jeff Magnuson, Race Director for Race Across America, sponsors of Texas Hell Week. Magnuson says some 30 cyclists registered for Texas Hell Week’s Stampede 200, a 200-mile race through the Texas Hill Country that took place March 30. Another eight registrants signed up for the Longhorn 500, a 500mile race. Magnuson says all riders who completed the Longhorn 500 within 48 hours qualify for the Race Across America, a 3,000mile endurance race from Oceanside, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey in June. Organizers describe the Race Across America, which began in 1982 as “The Great American Bike Race,” as the toughest race in the world, several hundred miles farther than the renown Tour de France. Mason has lived in Minnesota and Wisconsin for the last 25 years but was a 1986 graduate of Boerne High School. A racing bicycle rider for over two decades, Mason says he hopes to take time during the Texas Hell Week ride to enjoy the colorful Texas wildflowers. – Standard-Radio Post/A. Avila