As things turn out, it has been an awfully long time since i’ve written anything on my blog. Anyone who knows me also knows how incredibly busy I am. Unfortunately, that means that some things have to give…one of those things has been the blog. It isn’t like I don’t have any stories to share, it is just that I don’t have the time to share them. I do, however, want to start sharing some of the more interesting stories. That means I will probably be posting once a month rather than several times a week like I was trying to do last year. That will make this more of an occasional journal rather than a blog. All that said, …
General
Time For a Knee Break
I previously mentioned that I have been having some knee troubles. After some careful consideration (and a couple rides that were probably too long for my knee condition) I have decided that I need to take 2 weeks off the bike, and let things heal up. My friend Charlie wrote to me the other day and shared some sage advice with me “It is better to be off the bike for a couple weeks to let the injury heal, rather than continue to ride and risk a bigger injury that could keep you off the bike for months”. Sometimes, you just need simple logical advice to snap your head into the right place. The question then becomes, what do I …
What is going on!
What is going on lately…well, unfortunately not that much. I rode the LA River Ride in 6 hours and felt very proud of that accomplishment. I set a goal, shot for it, and hit the target. Great! The only thing about it is, I have been experiencing some knee troubles, and they were only exacerbated on the River Ride century. I started experiencing knee pain out of the blue during the Big Bear 200k. I didn’t think much of it then, just thought it would go away; but it hasn’t. Every time I do a ride of about 30 miles or longer, I start feeling this pain right in the middle of my kneecap. The pain gets to a certain …
Velourettes
*Warning: This post contains some foul language, but I assure you it is necessary to tell the story. Shy eyes should, well…shy away* When I was younger, I was a little bit of a rabble rouser, some would even say unpredictable. I fancied a scene, and wasn’t afraid to be loud. These days, I have a kid, a mortgage, a steady job…I have grown up and mellowed out. My daughter is two years old and is starting to repeat everything that my wife and I say, so I have been trying to eliminate my use of words I don’t want her to use. This all explains why it is so strange that I find myself having a condition that has …
Cinco de Mayo bike build
Last night was quite possibly the best Cinco de Mayo evening ever. It all started out with leaving work a half hour early to stop by the bike shop to pick up my brand new Molteni Orange single speed frame with newly mounted headset and stem (Thanks Palms Cycle!). I got the frame and right off, was near tears it was so beautiful. Just a mass of orange paint and chrome, hells yes. On the drive home (roughly 45 mins) I kept stealing glances of it in the back seat…still gorgeous. I got home, Kesha had some festive fish tacos for us for dinner (Thanks Hun!), I ate those, did the dishes and stole away to the garage. This picture …
Bleh!
I confess, I am a big slump at the moment. I know I know, wasn’t I all fired up about getting my book, my fitting and finishing the HGH? Yes, I was, but I am still in a slump. Let me explain: It feels like one thing after another is keeping me off the bike and busy with other things. Whether it is being sick, my back suddenly being in extreme pain, work, family or other assorted interruptions, I am not getting to be on the bike as much as I should be. This does not bode well for training for events like the LA Wheelman Grand Tour, which I have intentions of riding with Errin. I already have no …
Western States 100 – Race for the Soul
My friend Charlie Engle luckily got selected to run the Western States 100 Endurance Run this year. I have read about the Western States 100 many times, have heard of Scott Jurek’s legendary 7 consecutive wins of the event, and know of the epic status that this race holds in the ultra world. Even with all the previous knowledge of the race, I thought I would dig in a little bit more and see if I could find any documentaries about the even. Lo’ and behold, some kind person uploaded a 6 part documentary of the event to Youtube. I am fairly certain he doesn’t have the legal right to do so, but that doesn’t mean that you and I …
Bonus at work. Single Speed? Tools? Hmmm
Turns out my company did better than expected in the 4th quarter of last year, and we are all getting bonuses. Yay! I am, however, torn. I feel like I want to reward myself with a bicycle purchase but I really dont know what to do. Here is my predicament: I am in need of a new single speed frame. My old one is an ancient, fully lugged, heavy as hell Peugot; I need something that is a little lighter and not all dinged up. In order to get a new frame running I will have to buy some additional parts, all in all not a bad option. My other option is to buy a toolset and a workstand. Very …
Cycling: A Focused (Wo)Man’s Sport
The sport of cycling requires a lot of focus. It seems like a fairly mindless sport where you settle into a rhythm and turn off your brain, but I assure you our minds are always working. Sure, on a stretch of road where you don’t turn any time soon, your mind can wander…but there is always that razor sharp focus in the back of your mind. Now, this video is a great example of said focus. Only in a sport like cycling can you crash so bad that you tumble and tumble for what I would guess is 15 feet, wreck a probably $10,000 bike, scuff your face on bare asphalt and have the first thought and words out of …
2010 Adventure Plans
I finally summoned up enough gusto to post my 2010 adventure plans for the world to see. I have had these rolling around for a while, I was just holding out on posting them. I went the extra step further and created a full blown page for them! That is right, you can access this page from anywhere in the site. I found that posting these plans was pretty liberating. I made the plans publicly, now I have less chance of chickening out when it comes to adventure day(s). This page will be updated as I make more plans, like running events. How do other people out there in internet land keep track of their plans for the year? Am …