A family to grow with

My kids are not kids anymore. My son turns 26 and my daughter 21 today and is that hard to believe. As yoga girl, my mom and myself sit here and watch home movies from 20 years ago it just doesn't seem to be that far away in time. But it is 2010 and we are getting along in life and growing into the empty house, which is not so empty now.
Yoga girl is well, doing yoga and doing great. My good fortune is to have rekindled my love affair with cycling. It is a good life we have and the only thing that really amuses me as well as frustrates me is the muscle response of this age I am.
Any way I digress. My kids were and are such a huge part of my life. With out them the wife and I wouldn't have moved to Portland for a better life in the late 80's. We wouldn't have been so involved in youth groups and band and such therefore we ourselves wouldn't have grown together as a couple and a family. Thank G-D for my kids.
Both kids are following their own paths and successful at it; both kids are strong willed and will be victorious in life because of their strength which they in-turn gleaned from us as a couple. My son recently sent me a copy of "Lance Armstrong's war" which he found in a used book store. In it he inscribed,"Always push 'till the last. Thanks for imparting in me the will to struggle for excellence".
I know I wasn't there all the time, as a dad I worked 70 to 90 hours a week for years just to make it happen for the fam. The wife did most of the domestic stuff, you know, baking seasonal cookies, getting the kids ready for their respective school activities and such. But they got time with dad by spending a day with me at work now and again. That was a big deal for me but I put them to work, so maybe not a good deal for them.
I guess bottom line is we are the norm in family life. We worked hard to raise good kids. We made them excel in the areas they were good at and supported them in the things they loved...and still do. So in essence we grew up into who we are now by bringing our children up to be adults.
If I pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying.
PS this looks to be a great season with lots of 'dog fights' in the pros. If you didn't catch any of the race in Aussie land then you missed some interesting stuff. Check out Versus TV channel for the February and March broadcasts, I am stoked about this year!

62 mile race for fun

Well how about a great time with a bunch of guys and gals who all ride for a great cause. That's what happened last Sunday with 300 of my closest friends.  Just kidding about the close friends but not about the cause. And what is said cause? How about sidewalks and bike lanes for the public to get around the city? I know I'm stoked and so are many of the towns people of my fair hamlet.
I will spare you the gory details about my first 62 mile ride @ the 25 plus mph,  a race that wasn't 'spose to be a race but many of these guys and gals would have eaten their own to beat-up on the regular crowd of riding partners.
Naples pathways is an organization that's focus is to have pathways built to connect all the parks and all the city networked  by bike lanes. Not a small feat but also not a huge goal for a city of the 21st century right? But here in this part of the world where the elected county commissioners where elected in the 90's and never got their heads out of the car culture and don't want to either.  But to be honest the future is a tough place to wrap your head around when the world is changing moment to moment. Now is the time to ban together and think for each others benefit. Going green doesn't mean giving up cars it just means thinking how to better use what we have and using sidewalks and bike lanes should be an automatic since it's 2010.
Bottom line was a great ride for a great cause.  If I pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying.
PS I saw a Mick Ultra beer commercial starring LA! WOW he is becoming a legend of the screen and on the road...what's up with that? Next he will be seen in Terminator movies with Arnie or Batman movies with Christian. Maybe that's what  he said in '06 after the Tour, I'll be back.

And the winner is...not Cadel Evens

Uh oh, how did that happen? It must be a fluke or the real fast guys weren't trying, but I'll take it any way I can get it. What am I talking about? I was with the usual Thursday B group and some of the studs sat in because there wasn't enough fast guys to make an A group. So any way we were going the normal 18 to 20 warm up pace, you know when everyone is getting lose, getting the lungs and blood going, that kind of stuff. Then about 5 miles into it you feel the group just clicks and finds the next gear and your moving at 22mph. It's a thing of beauty when that happens and you feel it and your part of it.
So on the way to the mid point where we turn to head back, it was really heating up. On the way back the sprinters started to lag and hold the group back, you know stall. So for a couple of miles I put up with this knowing full well that when  there's only 2 mile to go these guys are going to sprint their guts out and I will be there in the darkness by myself. So I said screw it, kinda like Cadel Evens did at the worlds and just went for it. With about 4 miles before the parking lot or finish which ever you want to call it, I just went for it. No I didn't get out of the saddle or do some heroic stuff like the pros, I just took a deep breath and pedaled my heart and soul out.  YEP, I did what most underdogs do when they aren't sure that they can get it done in the last mile, they go out on a solo break and hope the sprinters think they can real him in before the finish.
Fate is a fickle mistress though. My break away was to my advantage and even if it were a non -event to the studs. To me it was the challenge that , in my minds eye, Cadel faced. So I kept my head down, my cadence at 85, my hr at 161 and just looked passed any pain or shortness of breath until it was my mantra to succeed. BAM, I was pulling into the lot when the others were just crossing the adjoining street. Did I win? Maybe not by anyone else's standards but mine I did.That's when I realized the next step was already accomplished in my gut. My determination was now growing with my power and skill. I LOVE THIS SPORT. I hope I can pass it on to someone else.
If I pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying,

Twin brothers of different mothers

As I watched Sundays game, or should I say annihilation of  the Dallas Cowboys by the Vikings, I saw in Bret the same thing I see in LA. Both of these men have never been able to turn loose of their game. When I say their game I mean as long as these two guys can dominate over another team: as long as these two guys command the respect of the "troops"; as long as they can strategically move the team to win battles and as long as these two guys can out power the competition then it's 'their game'.
Farve took a team with basically the same guys as last year, who played ok, and with his passion and leadership moved them within striking distance of the Superbowl. All the guys in Minnesota had talent, they needed someone who had been there before, someone who's age was not a detriment but who had become wisdom under pressure, someone who can get the job done with a gun pointed at his head! No one could have done it with as much stamina and authority as Bret...NO ONE! Well maybe Joe Montana.
Now look at LA. I just say if the shoe fits...But seriously. These two men share the same drive, same age there about and gut filled determination more than any other sportsman out there and both are die hard good guys to boot.
That's what makes them heroes in our culture and even Icons to those around the world who want to believe that with focus, drive, patience and guts you can do it no matter your age or your background. It's just our nature to want to be winners and to associate with winners and at any cost to our selves work  hard as long as the goal is worth it.
Bottom line is these two guys need to know each other and we need to hope that more Americans can dig down at any age a to prevail. Keep the dream alive guys.
If I pass you on the road stop at Peets , because your buying.

The way it really happened

Monday, the big day out I had been planning since I had bought the Trek in August. The day arrived and I decided not to drive four and a half mile hours from home base but a modest three hours. Even though I found a good ride I modified it to fit my own need and desires...it worked out great. Here is the ride as mapped:

I cut it so upon leaving hwy 64 downtown Avon I road the mapped course to the midway point between Lake Moody and Crooked Lake. I was rewarded with some great scenery and leg crushing rollers. I don't have this ability to ride the hills daily because of the dull flatness of my home town but WOW, what a perfect training ground I found.
Not only was the focus to just drain my legs of any juice so they would lay limp and lifeless on the bed at the end of the day but also to to keep my hr @ 140 to 160 max. Not ever having a cyclometer, a cateye v3, until now I was quite happy to watch the monitor and my bodies response at the same time. Training my body to respond to the power band of 140 to 160 hr is going to be a superb challenge. Not being a pro or even a good club rider, yet, my desires too learn to get most of my power from this range is text book academia but one much needed to learn. One thing I learned was on a huge up hill as I danced on the pedals I saw my hr climb rapidly from 161 strait to 177 and I lost my power and my strength in moments flat leaving me almost crawling the last 100 yards of the hill. After I summited and spun for a few yrds my hr returned to about 165 and it was like the power was turned back on, incredible lesson to learn.
This was a great ride and I learned a ton. My bottom line is to do my homework, get the hr power band down to a science and find some freaking rollers close to mi casa so I don't have to drive hours home in a blown-out state. IT WAS BRILLIANT. Any advice on any or all just add below.
If I pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying.

North to adventure

Monday I'm going for a good wook out in North Florida. Map my ride.com has a great list of moderate hilly courses and this is the one I've chosen:
I'll tell you how it went Tuesday, I hope you had a productive and peaceful weekend but until Tuesday, if I pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying.

Whats up with Rock or can the UCI really stop Rocks momentum?

 A month or so ago I wrote about Team Rock Racing. I believed that every dog should have it's day and that's the only way to gauge success. My blog 12-2 "Who the heck is Rock Racing" can be found @  http://thepedalproject.blogspot.com/2009/12/who-heck-is-rock-racing.html .  So can their latest spoiler from the UCI @ Rock Racing Riders Confused By Lack Of Professional Continental Licence | Cyclingnews.com .
So all this BS begs the question, again, what is the UCI afraid of? Or is it that the other non avant-garde teams afraid of them? Or is it the image that these high powered, big buck teams ant to protect and afraid they will not get the coverage they want with this upstart powerhouse nipping at their heals and even winning a few?
You see I'm just a little cynical when I see Team Sky plow all this money into it's new unproven team. You know that back in late November Brad Wiggins was still apart of Team Garmin and insisted he was there to fulfill his last year on contract. And we all know how that turned out right? Here is my insight as gleaned from the Cycling mags from around the world, http://thepedalproject.blogspot.com/2009/12/who-is-sky-team-and-is-brad-wiggons.html .
So how would this MEGA BUCK team like Sky feel if Team Rock was to kick it's arshe in open competition? So how would the UCI justify it to other teams who compete in the Grand Tours if this team made them look bad?
You know this is all conjecture but as I live and breath I know 'politics is politics' when there is BILLIONS of Euros at stake. How embarrassing to find an under funded no-name team to come up huge in this big time year with Sky and Shack both debuting. Also if you look at it from and average guys perspective I would rather pull for the unorthodox under dog and buy his kit than the polished well appointed big brand teams...it's more to our human nature. You know it, I know it, the UCI knows it and most of all the big name brands know it especaily with all the $$$ at stake in advertisement, posters, press, equipment sales and the like being the deciding factor.

While you ponder this last statement I give you Tower of Power with their 70's hit "What is Hip" to boggle on with and it just might take the full 7 minutes to do so. Don't get me wrong I love this sport but a level playing field it's not. Yes I know the losers wine (pun intended) about it being fair while the winner goes home with the prom queen, yea I got that. Just once I would like to see the little guy get his due.
If I pass you on the road stop at Peets, because your buying!