The Weekend

This weekend was the ride for breast cancer and everyone who had a bike could come, enjoy and support a good cause. The really great part was that at 10 am all over our great nation there was the same kind of rides and it was supported by none other then Trek, very cool right.
Trek had set up two kinds of courses and they were the 10 mile for a fun ride and the 25 mile for those a bit more serious.  My goal was to just do the 10, maybe a fast 10 but a 10 mile none the less since this was my re-entry into any organized cycling event. I also have not ridden that far going as fast as a peloton goes, so I was playing it safe.
When I arrived there were definitely two groups of riders present: the pleasure riders and the " we are club riders with matching jerseys" group. To be clear I have nothing against the later group, in fact I think it's cool that people get togehter once a week and kick each others butt and then have a cold one and laugh about it...unless your the one who's butt is getting whipped! Any way, I digress.
Around 9:45 am the organizers gathered everyone up to the start area and explained the routes which differed for each class of rider. Not knowing more than if I hung at the back of the group I would be forever lost with the slow riders and the effort to overtake and pass this long line of people would consume hugh amounts of energy and really be a pain. So I lined up in the second row,  I guess I have a high opinion of myself sometimes.
As soon as the gate opened, the gate being the Trek truck, I not so smoothly cleated into my pedals and caught the first wheel that had a little juice on it and away I went with the first group at a good warm up pace.

So happily I went like a lamb to the slaughter just then chosing the 25 mile ride with this strong group of fast movers. GOOD CHOICE.
As we turned onto the main road I could see the group of twenty or so starting to break into two groups. Ever since I've watched the pros on TV I knew I didn't want to get dropped from the front group in the first mile, this can spell certain death especially to a new rider .  Quickly I gaged the pace, did my testicular check being a beginner again and I went for it. Passing the group that was staggering I bridged the gap and just made the light on a left turn to join the front breakaway.
I was feeling very comfortable in this group as we cruised down the boulavard at about 20 mph. You know it never makes a lot of since when you hear about being protected in the pace line but with a head wind of 5 to 10 mph I was able to rest. Wow what a differance 7 people in front of you makes! When it was my turn to pull I dorpped a gear and got the train moving, that is until my legs started catch on fire. I drove us to about 23mph for a mile and as the line passed me they accelerated and I was dropped wth 3 other people.
We kept a good pace and picked up another rider along the way who needed to grab onto the back and rest. A head wind, when your solo, can just beat the crap out of ya.
There was a lot of other things that happened, getting passed, catching up, taking to big a mouthful of energy bay and having it turn to sawdust in my mouth and all the stuff a beginner has to learn in order to race with the big boys and girls. But really the biggest lessons that I needed to look at were: Never stop pedaling even when your out of gas, others are hurting also, so reach down to get that next energy flow. 2nd just refuel, rehydrate, be patient  and keep going! 3rd one is somtimes your good luck and some one else's bad luck plays a bigger part than just being good, although being prepaired is the best way to go. I never want anyone to flat or break a spoke or crash, not ever but it happens and it will happen to me eventally, I know this.
It was a great ride one which I never expected to do but was rewarded with a time of around an hour and being the tenth person back from the long ride. Although this didn't count as a 'RACE' it had some of the same elements in it and valuable inner strength was drawn from it not to mention doing something for a just cause! Now I know where I stand in my training and how to improve and that I've got what it takes and yes I still think I'm a 'B' type personality...with attitude of course.
Remember this, if I pass you on the road, stop at Peets because your buying.

The Sublime and the ridiculous

I know that not all of the statements I will make will be either sublime or ridiculous but it seemed like a fitting way to point out the absurd things we find in our daily lives. I also liked the title so much I had to find a way to fit it in. I will be using it from time to time as a catch-all for random stuff that comes at me sideways.
Sublime: cycling on narrow country roads and cars pass you leaving plenty of room and wave at you.
Ridiculous: cycling on city streets with bike lanes and cars honking at you as they pass to indicate that you should ride on the side walk.
Sublime: NFL wearing pink armbands, having pink ribbons mixed with the NFL logo on the playing field and some players having pink cleats in support of Breast Cancer awareness month.
Ridiculous: 100 people or less showing up at a fun ride for Breast Cancer awareness month in a metroplex of half a million.
Sublime: Cyclist being proud that they commute to work and are green machines, especially in the US.
Ridiculous: Bicycles made in China whose plants spew chemicals into the earth, water and air, not very green.
 Sublime: My 3 year old Trek 2200 with a 'proudly made in the US' all over it.
Ridiculous: US bike manufacturing in foreign countries when states like Texas and Michigan will give tax incentives, find the land , finance the green manufacturing plant and train the US citizens and legal residents to make a quality product in this country where we need the jobs!
Sublime: Watching the entire Tour de France in the US on Versus channel and getting the cycling bug in a big way.
Ridiculous: Not being able to watch any other Tour, even the one in Missouri, on any tv staiton including Versus. This sucks in a BIG way.
Sublime: Riding in SW Florida during the summer with warm rains making  it perfect for cycling.
Ridiculous: The sun comming out and turning the steets into steam baths that melt you and the bike into a puddle of gew
Sublime: Peets coffee, blond.
If you want to add your comments to this please do.I always like to see somone eleses perspective. And remember, if I pass you on the road, stop at Peets because your buying!

Looking down

 When I learned to free climb the advice given to me was 'don't look down'. Good advice for a novice and it probably saved a few harsh landings. For those faint of heart looking down  is not a good thing if you want to free climb. You see your out there on your own no matter how many people are on the face with you.  It's just your soul willing your arms and legs to strain past there limits father and father each time until your soul meets the rocks soul.

Each time you approach the rock face you pray for harmony between your self and the rock; you pray for peace in your limbs so you don't shake with adrenalin at the start or quake in frozen fear 40, 50 or 70 or more feet off the ground; you pray your hands are strong and your fingers have 'eyes' to find the smallest of rock lips to hold onto and lastly you pray for a good day, not to conquer the rock but to ascend to it's heights in communion.Cycling is that same anticipation, rush and finality with which I try to be in rhythm with my body, my bike and the road. Sound weird?
Ask a Samurai what his soul is and he will tell you unflinchingly that it's his sword. Ask a free climber he will tell you the rock is his soul and to me it is my bike. This is esoteric I know but why do something that is not satisfying to your soul and if it is, is not your soul wrapped up in the vehicle which you are closest to?
Therefore I say look down, drink in the beauty of this soul-bearing event one moment at a time and you will be the richer for it.
And if you are so fortunate to share this passion with others then 'mores the better'.
When you get to that place of ascension, look well at all you can see around you and savor the heights with those who have fought the good fight to continue"onward", good day or bad, it's all good. Look down and have your soul refreshed.
Always remember: if I pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying!

On the road to Monterey

It's getting real now. Dylan, my son, Tom his best friend, Emily my niece and 'the wife' are all on board for the first ever Pedal Project annual ride. The inaugural ride, in mid May,  will be from Santa Barbara to Monterey California on Hwy 1.
I have been all over the coastal Hwy from Washington down through Oregon into northern California down to San Diego many times. A bad day full of torrential down pours and hammering wind is still a day on the west coast of the US...beautiful. Many times I have actually been with my family camping on the beach in Oregon, off Hwy 1, and it was gusty, cold and perfectly refreshing. You just get used to it and enjoy the being there.
On the other hand this is not the recipe for a great cycling trip of bonding and camaraderie.  Being pelted by sideways rain sizzling into your face like an icy cold bullet can really dampen the spirit of even the best riders. Then with the wind pushing back against each pedal stroke it will add hours to what would have been only minutes of your ride or so it seems.  Even your death defying will, sags in this elemental onslaught which is aimed directly at YOU!
I look forward to this test of friendship and strength between us, those hardy few. But it is really about seeing some of the most awesome scenery on the planet. Big Sur for instance should be a destination in and of itself with to much to even write about, I don't know where to start.  Santa Barbara is idealistic in her blend of ancient and modern influences simultaneously. And you don't wont to miss Monterey at all. We will spend at least 1 day just taking in the sights, both natural and man made,  on our journey into this shared experience.

But still that is a long way off, 8 months. Between now and then is the real work in order to enable me to keep up with the 'bucks' and their fresh young legs. Right now I'm watching the Worlds road race championship to get an added push to my training mindset and I'll watch every thing else I can in the next 8 months to keep me juiced in the depth of my soul.
This is not a race or a competition of any kind. It's a friendly ride with those who want to share something out of the ordinary in this day and age.But we do have time pressure and miles to achieve in order to to spend time on the beach with a good California wine or in the forested Big Sur communing with nature.
Whatever happens it will be great and 'we will suck the life out of it, even to the marrow', to paraphrase an author who understood the human condition and soul lust for giving and getting the most out of  life.
With all this said and so much more I could say I'll leave you with this:  If I pass you on the road, stop at Peets because your buying!

The Wife and me

Marriage, as it turns out, is really a partnership of two people who enjoy each others company and in some cases even get along...alot, weird right? The other side of this coin is trust. I trust her to be an individual and in being one she allows me to be one also. Once again weird.
What revitalized our life is going off the map, going to Japan, "finding ourselves" in the things we enjoy, she in Yoga and me in all kinds of stuff, therefore we have freshness in our stories when we find time to hang together.

So how does this fit into a cycling blog you ask? Hmmm, could it be trust that allows your partner to be him or herself and in doing so in return you get to spend time cycling a few hours a week which makes you a better person. Then as it keeps going you get to feeling better and the upward cycle drags you to a new place in your marrige.Your happy and revitalized, your partner is happy because your out of the house for a few hours a week and come home full of endorphins, everyone is better off and have fresh prospective on each other. At least that's how it's worked in my life, LUCKY ME!
The wife has been a good partner to me always though, she has not understood all my eccentricities, she has allowed me to delve into them with little restraint...except where good judgment is needed. I won't blow smoke,  we are both human and have had our things, but given room we can actually get whatever it is between us straightened out in short order. The wife uses a big stick, works for me.
All kidding aside, married or not there are people in your life you care about and if your not a professional cyclist then there is no excuse to spend every waking moment cycling. You must respect those who love and care for you and spend time with them. In that way you show them you care and in turn you get room to grow in your cycling and they grow in their trust for you. Like I said that's how it works for us and I hope thats how it works for you.
Remember, if I pass you on the road, stop at Peets because your buying!

Acid Test

When I was growing up and something wasn't quite right in politics or taxes  the 'old guys' would say' "it doesn't pass the acid test'. Now being a kid I had no idea how acid could prove a problem or question in any arena of life to be right or wrong. I just couldn't see it. Then many years later I  read a book called the electric kool-aide acid test"  (ya I'm getting up there in years to know this book) and I was really confused because I knew the 'old guys' had no idea about this book. This puzzle itched in my brain for years.Then finally I learned  what a 'bench mark' is and it all came together.
An acid test is what a metallurgist uses to determine the metals structure and denseness derived from a standard set of  protocol using a certain kind of acid. If you set a reference, or ground 0 if you will, making everything equal then you can  judge any and all metals and know that the outcome is a proven fact and not a guess. This method is used in all things of science, industry and now, for the last 30 years, athletics. It's called a benchmark.
As an athlete this benchmark is our bodies and our minds and it/we can defeat us or be the golden ticket to our best performance. It's all worked out in weight to work ratios and lactic acid thresholds and V02 uptakes and the like.  For me it is more Alchemy in that I 'm turning the lead in my a_ _ in to performance gold in my muscles.
My alchemical transformation has a benchmark of performance and weight and the target date in which to attain is the intersection where they all meet. The target date is May 1st  2010, my physical goal is 189 pounds of body weight; performance goal is cycling 25 mph over a 4 hour period, terrain and weather not to be a factor. My benchmark started as an ideal, a target I guessed upon, and now is a starting point reset every time I go out and do just a little better, everyday I dial it in just a little closer. The acid test will be if I attain these goals or not.
I know I had stated that I would have daily training logs, caloric intake and weight, I have not refined my day to that point...yet.  I do welcome news of your progress, the diet your using and even your bench mark, we are in this together.
Just remember one thing,  if i pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying.

And now for something completly differant

Cycling is a passion and the reason for this blog albeit it doesn't encompass my full thought process. I have lived on the West Coast, the Pacific NW, South West, the Rockies and now the South East over the last 51 years and where the road has taken me I've met some pretty remarkable people.  The road has taken me to Europe, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
Of all the viewpoints that has been shared with me from the over 60 generation back in the 1960's, which means they were born in the 1880's, to the present generation of 20 somethings there is one common thread amongst all of them. This ideal has no political party, is not limited to the USA, is not ethnocentric and has no claim on race or religion:
       People who love their families, friends and community want to live in peace and  prosperity,
      and  all with out micromanagement from some sort of governmental  hierarchy.
It wasn't stated exactly this way, to be sure, but in essence this is the bottom line. It seems like a simple theme but it is deep within all the souls around the world. Is this what you want?  I know I want that for all the people but I have to start with me, then with my family, then my community, then my country and so on.
Only happy people can effect those around them and I know no better way to be happy and at peace than to ride a bike, run, do yoga, for goodness sake do something. When you do then you see everyone and everything in harmony around you first hand. Heck go out and see the
community and take a few friends, like them
maybe!
I've always wanted to be part of a community and have found one here SW Florida. As Naples grows so does her  people in many ways and qualities. We have great yoga teachers, fresh produce, beaches, trainers, restaurants, gyms etc.  Now our work begins just by coming together and doing our part to help our families, friends and community.
So it may not be rambling this time it could be more like borderline psychos but that's the  beauty of my blog, I'll never know which is which and if I do no one  will know but me!
If I see you on the road and pass you, stop at Peets because your buying!