Endurance Event Training

Life Happens - Photo Dump

2011-06-07T05:05:00.000-07:00

Been crazy busy with family and recreational activities. Bought a kayak recently and have started doing that along with bike rides :). Here are some photos - enjoy.

Barn on commute to work - tried getting the sun through the cracks but it didn't really work

2nd attempt at sun through the barn

My Kayak and 18 Mile Creek

All mine :) - well and the fish and insects

Ahhh - so relaxing

Near the end - the boat was spinning and shutter was opened so that is why it looks off

This is my favorite picture - the fog, the low light, the water, and my kayak

Enjoy and have a great day - get outside and do something exciting and adventurous. Your adventure might not be my adventure but all that matters is that you are happy!

Charlie Farrow's Amateur Bike Racing Website: An Open Letter to Rookie T.I. Racers: A call for reason...

2010-11-18T11:42:00.000-08:00

Charlie Farrow's Amateur Bike Racing Website: An Open Letter to Rookie T.I. Racers: A call for reason...

New Blog Location

2010-11-09T08:26:00.001-08:00

OK - I thought about my blog title and it does not really fit me that well anymore so I made a new blog up.

http://billgraves.blogspot.com/

Come check it out! Thanks

What Are You Training For???

2010-11-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

Last year at this time I was anxiously awaiting confirmation that the beloved post card for TransIowa V6 had reached it's destination in time to be accepted for the race the following April. It did make it on time and I set out a plan to train over the winter sort of like this - ride my bike every chance I get, snowshoe when possible, cross country ski when conditions permit, and swim when all else failed.

A little while later my friend Todd put a bug in my ear - He was taking a 3 month sabbatical at church and wanted to ride his bike for 30 days somewhere somehow. I plotted trips out west (my favorite part of the country) that left Denver, CO and headed to The Grand Canyon. We would then venture up through Utah and Wyoming to Grand Teton National Park and then wrap our way back to Denver. This trip sounded like a great idea to ME.

Todd and God had a different plan. He presented an idea to me that did not strike me nearly as much fun as my route would have been. The Underground Railroad from Mobile, Alabama to our hometown of Orchard Park, NY. I was disappointed but I knew Todd would not venture out alone so I said if work allows me the time off then I am in. Work did and as you know, if you follow me at all, we did the Freedom Tour leaving Mobile, AL on June 4th and arriving in Buffalo, NY on July 2nd.

The photo was taken on our final day as we pressed into Dunkirk, NY to meet Pastor Ray, our church Youth Pastor, and his wife Mary for lunch and the final push into Orchard Park. The memories of this bike tour will be forever ingrained in my head and I hope to put them to paper some day, but that is a long way off.

People would ask how do you train for a bike tour of that magnitude. Well you ride your bike every chance you get for as long as possible, snowshoe when possible, cross country ski when conditions permit, and swim or run when all else failed. Sounds familiar to TransIowa training huh?

It has been a successful year on the bike. A quick check of my training log shows me that I have ridden 6346 miles so far this year. I have "commuted" 67 times so far whether that is to work, church, gym, store, or somewhere else I could have driven. My goal is to hit last years mark of 77 which would be honorable since I had 1 month of no commuting at all due to the bike tour. Or I could call that a commute since I could have driven from Mobile to Buffalo right???? That would put me at 97 but that is cheating I think!

Next year my goal is 100 commutes since TransIowa (it ends on Easter so I am out) and Freedom Tour are not on the docket for next year. So my bike riding this winter is going to be for fun since I don't have anything "official" to train for. My goal is to hear how God wants me to utilize my biking for His Glory and I cannot wait to find out what He has in store.

See you on the trails somewhere - weather is beautiful this week so I will be riding some more all week long!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Sunset on The Ohio River from Cave-In-Rock State Park, IN during our Freedom Tour

Blog Plagiarism????

2010-11-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

Well today I am copying and pasting Guitar Ted's blog about a cycling incident in Vail, Colorado. Hopefully you find it as maddening as I do and follow through with some action of your own!

Justice And A Cyclists Life

Today I have something a bit more important than the regular cycling related post that you normally see here. It has to do with the rash of hit and run cycling events I've noticed this year and this one in particular really chapped my hide......

Recently a cyclist was involved in a hit and run accident in Vail, Colorado where the cyclist was severely injured and the automobile driver was tracked down later, and admitted responsibility for his actions. (See the story here) Then something weird happened....

A lawyer got involved.

The place where this happened was in Eagle County. A place where a certain high profile case involving a certain District Attorney named Mark Hurlbert. occurred. (Kobe Bryant case,) According to the website for the Colorado Fifth Judicial District, Mr. Hurlbert is described as being "... an experienced prosecutor, Mark knows it is important not to simply secure convictions, but to seek justice.(emphasis mine).

Hmmm......really? Check this out....

Mark Hurlbert is not charging Martin Joel Erzinger with a felony, because "Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession," Mr. Erzinger is an employee of Smith Barney which manages billions for rich people.

So how is that for justice?

I guess you could slag this off as just an oddity, just some weird aberrant deal "out there". But think about this: High profile cases like this, (and make no mistake, this is going to be a big deal in the media and especially amongst cyclists), can be seen as precedents. They can be interpreted by non-cyclists as being a "way out" of a serious crime. That it smacks of making a life "cheaper" merely by the fact that the "life" in question is riding a bicycle should be enough to cause alarm right there though, in my opinion. If you don't see this as being injustice, then we are all in big trouble.

So, what can you do?

There has been an online petition started which you can sign here.

Cyclingnews.com and Bike Radar tech editor, James Huang, has started a Facebook page called "We're People on Bikes, Not Lifeless Obstacles in Your Way"

My blogging comrade, Richard Masoner, of Cyclelicious, has an idea to hit the Vail area where it might hurt them by starting a petition to take away potential business that will be generated by the Quizno's Pro Challenge bike race which is a stage race visiting Vail next August. There are several contact links on this page where you can voice an opinion to Eagle County and Vail officials.

If you care about justice, protecting all lives fairly, and cyclists rights, please consider checking these links out getting involved. Thanks!

Thanks Mark for the use of your page and the links involved with getting people to voice their anger at this tragic decision.

Hopefully you still feel comfortable riding your bike - just be careful out there!

Lake MXZ302 Black Shoe Review

2010-11-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yes this is going to be a review but I have to put some photos in there as well. The lighthouse photo was a walk to my car after work 2 weeks ago. I remember walking up towards where I park and seeing the light and then running to my car to make sure I didn't miss it! I drove down to the marina and snapped it and a couple of others - but this is my favorite of them!

The other was an October bike ride out in the country by our house. The trees are pretty much leafless now and we have had light flurries a couple of times. You know what that means - winter is here YIPPEE!!!

OK onto the shoe review!

I got them on Wednesday and it had been raining since then so today was my first chance to give them the once over. It was low 30's when I left the house and headed to the YMCA for a swim and the shoes did not let down.

They were warm, comfortable, and all that I expected. I am excited to get the cleat location dialed in and trying them in lower temperature weather - say 0's, teens, 20s before I make my final decision - but somehow I think I will be pleasantly surprised at how effective they are at keeping my toes warm on my winter rides!!!!

Look for more to follow on them but I picked them up from Performance on deep discount and then scored an online Performance discount. At the end of the day I paid just under $150.00 for a $250.00 shoe!!!!! That makes my wallet happy and my feet warm!

Tomorrow is my first cyclocross race of the season. Well actually first race of the season. And possibly the last race of the season. It is at Delaware Park and next weekend they have one at Kissing Bridge so maybe I will sneak out and do that one also. I might as well see how slow I am compared to all the other burners around here!

Have a great weekend - and get out in this beautiful weather!!!!

The Week in Review

2010-11-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite photos that I have EVER taken. It was last winter in Sprague Brook (shocking I know) and the sun had just broken out from behind the clouds and I decided hey let's take that shot. In looking over all the photos of that day, most were dark and dreary, but this one made my heart jump with excitement about the upcoming winter and the activities (I won't ever bother calling it training anymore because it isn't - it is fun :) ) that will be happening.

Snow is in the forecast this weekend but not enough to make this possible. That is still 1 month away - BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Ok, so this week I took to heart my pastor's message on the sabbath and about media and it's deluge on our daily senses. I have not watched television at all and another big step was I stopped listening to music at work. This is very difficult because it means I have to hear more of the co-workers senseless banter but it allows my mind to be that much more clearer and freer to hear from God and His plan for me!

I have also begun the attempt to give up sugar as much as possible. You would not believe how many products have sugar listed as one of the first 3 ingredients and that is what I have been told is the main ingredients in each item. I have not had any candy since Tuesday and have cut my pop consumption down to 1 can a day at lunch and I generally don't finish that. All in all I am very happy my body is handling it, besides the brutal headache I had for 2 days. Maybe this weekend I will drop pop all together and see how that works. But I love my Ice Cold Dr. Pepper out of the fountain so I don't know!!!

What is next - The Budget!!!!!!!!!! Been working on it and trying to get something set in stone for 2011. It has been alright so far and with some more minor tweaking I think we will be bang on with our giving increasing and our Faith promise for missions and our building fund being over what we estimated it to be.

I know I am very excited to see how we grow in the next 12 months and what God has in store as Amelia gets close to college and Jake to high school. I have visions of year round snow in my mind :)

Have a great weekend. Get out there and ride, run, skate, or play. Most of all set time aside to spend with God and see what He desires from you! His work will be done no matter what we do, but wouldn't it be cool to be able to witness it first hand and receive that blessing?

Welcome To November

2010-11-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

Yes I have this on my mind :) I know a lot of people do not agree but it is a true love of mine and I cannot wait to ride the snowmobile trails and hopefully it happens real soon. There are flurries in the forecast this weekend but I doubt they stay around. My daughter and I saw flakes on the way to church last Sunday and that got me excited :)

Other things going in my life right now - well I am riding to work as often as the weather and body calls for it. Right now I am at 65 commutes for the year and I am trying to hit 77 (the number I hit last year). That would be good since I had 30 days of no commuting with the Freedom Tour earlier this year!

I am also becoming a devoted swimmer. I want to do a 1 or 2 mile lake swim race next summer and my swim needs a lot of help. To get good at swimming means drills and laps and time but I am willing to invest in it right now and see how it turns out come spring time :)

The biggest thing right now is that I am on a kick to cut out senseless media. Last week I watched about 2 hours of television total and that included football games Saturday and Sunday. Actually most of the time was football Saturday night as I relaxed in bed. Since my beloved Denver Broncos are one of the worst football teams this year I have no desire to watch them on Sunday's so that rules that time out as well! So far this week I am at 0 for television consumption ;) and hope to keep it that way.

I have been weaning myself off of it recently and Sunday our pastor gave a great sermon on the Sabbath and how things distract us from focusing on God at all times during the day. A big part of that for me was donning the IPod while riding and I stopped that about 3 weeks ago. It is freeing knowing that the only thing penetrating my mind our my thoughts - well maybe that is not so freeing after all but you catch my drift - and God's which is truly freeing!

What is next to go - hopefully the car but I am having a difficult time coming up with a commuting plan for winter time around these parts. I could try and ride to work all winter long but right now my body does not like when I do back to back commutes (sorry Dave you are a rock star and I am not) so I don't know if that would really work out. I am sure something is out there for me to latch onto plan wise - stay tuned :)

Alright that is all for today - get out there and ride your bike, or walk your dog, or play with your children, or just enjoy God's creation for a while. It is all good - if you don't believe me read Genesis!

My Walk to the Car

2010-10-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

The sky yesterday was amazing over the lake. I loved the lighting!! Enjoy!

Some Added Ways to get Bicycle Time

2010-10-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

I am contemplating ways I can get riding time in besides commuting and riding around the neighborhood. The wife won't let me buy a trailer for my bike to grocery shop with so I am contemplating rigging up my Single Speed Mountain Bike to a grocery cart. I should have thought of that when the kids where younger because I could have put a helmet on one of them and taken them with me!

I really don't like mowing the lawn, but I love riding my bicycle. Maybe this would solve the quandary. The kids want a riding mower and I could tell them this is a riding mower so go get 'em. Do you think it will work?

I cannot believe October is almost over and that means snow is just around the corner - YEAH!

Funny side note - I looked on Facebook today and it said it is my mother's birthday today. I always thought it was the 28th but FB says the 27th so it must be official. Either way - Happy Birthday Mom!!! Even if it is tomorrow I doubt I will be posting another blog so we will make it official today.

Have a great day and get out there and ride your bike!!!!

A Little Fall Riding

2010-10-25T05:48:00.000-07:00

This is from all the rain we have had this fall

Yesterday was a beautiful day. It has been a very wet and windy fall in Western New York and I snuck out for a ride to my favorite destination - Sprague Brook. I am excited about the winter and skiing out there and all other winter activities. I think my body is ready for a change of seasons and different training because it has all been a struggle lately!

Sunshine trying to break through

I put myself in a pickle though - I have been doing my not ride the same road that I have been on already thing this fall and as I was leaving the park I thought - hmmmmmmm I have never left the park any other way. So I made a left instead of a right and headed off into the unknown.

Next year I am getting a local road map and I am going to highlight all the roads I ride and see how many I cover in Southern Erie County. Somehow I don't think it will be as many as I think.

Leaves are almost all gone

Well the leaves are almost all gone. That means time for the snow to start falling and time to get some new training in.

Have a great day and get out there and ride your bike!!!

Busting of out IBWS

2010-10-09T15:35:00.000-07:00


Ahhh - Fall in Western New York

The weather since my ride last Saturday has been horrible. So for all of those that are worried the IBWS disease that I had was (I)rritable (B)uffalo (W)eather (S)yndrome. It rained all week long and I finally got on my bike yesterday.

So what happens yesterday - the winds are about 20-25mph gusts all the way home - talk about wiping you out. But when you have scenery like this it makes it all good.

My Neighborhood

I rode in the country all day today and I started a new game. I cannot get on any part of the route that I have already ridden that day. So I leave one way and the only way home is a big hill but that is good, I got to stop at a LBS just before to pick up some new brake housing/cable for a switcheroo I am doing.

My Felt Breed is going to be wearing my Woodchippers and my Bianchi MUSS is going back to a flat bar with bar ends as well in preparation of selling her. They are all cabled up and now I just need some tape for the Woodchippers and my Breed will be rideable again!


I love my country home (no this is not mine)

This reminded me of Iowa and was on a new road I have not ridden before. Next year I am getting a local road map and highlighting all the roads I ride each year just to track it for fun.

Have a great weekend and get out there and enjoy the Fall!!!

Goodbye September Hello October

2010-09-29T04:10:00.000-07:00

I am still here - just not doing any day light rides that warrant carrying a camera with me. Actually I am not doing much riding at all right now. I believe my summer bike tour has finally caught up with me and I took some much needed time away from the bike and hard workouts in general to try and get refreshed for the upcoming winter season.

What made me ride today you ask? Well I had a dream Monday night that I went back out on the Underground Railroad to do the tour again. This time I was looking for my soul that I left out there. It was a very freaky dream because it seemed so real. I don't like those types of dreams personally but I will add this: being a Christian I believe that we hear from God in very different ways at very different times and I believe it was His way of saying "all is well if you want to ride your bike for Me!" - Like Todd and I did on the Freedom Tour.

I don't know what that means. That is a question that gives me mind time on the bike. So when I finally figure it out well I will let you know.

I have done some bike stable downsizing as well. I sold the touring bike last month and just sold my fixied/SS commuter this past weekend. Time to switch the basement to our bike repair shop for my son and I so we can learn a trade and make him some extra money!

Sorry about no pictures but I will leave you with this:

Go ride your bike and hear the leaves/branches crunching under your wheels, or run a trail and look at the changing leaves, or swim a pond because the water will be too cold sooner or later, or chop some wood, or rake some leaves with your kids. Get the blood flowing - there is no better feeling!

Windmills

2010-09-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe I have forgotten to post these pictures from my Saturday ride. Guess that what happens when you have a tax deadline at work and are busy wrapping up projects for clients.

Well Saturday was a beautiful day and there is a Windmill Farm about 22 miles from our house. I have always wanted to ride to them but just never put it together until Saturday.

Over The Hill & Through The Valley

There is a flatter option which would have included more traffic flow until I got outside of East Aurora or a hillier option which is basically no traffic so that is the way I went. I believe I rode flat ground on the way to the windmills for about 10-20 minutes max. They were not brutal hills, but a hill is a hill is a hill.

Getting Closer

You can see the windmills from the road I live on but once you drop down off the hills the windmills disappear until you get with 5 miles.

Green Energy

When I arrived I pulled into the companies parking lot, took some photos, ate some energy, and enjoyed the scenery. I really need a good camera instead of using my cell phone camera because there were some awesome valley views from my perch atop Windmill Alley!

Great ride back home and I have even done some commuting again this week. Fall is definitely in the air but I love this time of year!

Have a great day and go ride your bike (or run) (or swim) (or hike) (or play with your kids)!!!!

Back In The Saddle

2010-09-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

This post is delayed because the computer is fried at home again - so here goes from the tease on Friday!

Took a long time off the bike - 10 days. First I traveled, then the weather went to pot, then I just decided it was not the time to return, and finally the time and desire returned.

18 Mile Creek Canyon area

So I loaded up the Felt Breed and headed out for some flat land riding. I didn't want to pound the hills since it was 10 days ago that I last rode the bike. I headed towards Hamburg and decided I would see what was in store out that way.

My Favorite Single Speed

I took my normal route and then decided that I would turn left on South Creek and see where that took me. Lo and behold - it took me to some new trails I had never seen before. I was in heaven!!

Single Track Heaven!!!

It didn't go very far but it is always fun to ride the skinnies on single track and keeping the rubber dirt side down. Tree roots are always fun to work on balance drills also. The best part of this trail was that I saw 1 person the whole time. I will say up to here I had seen 6 riders and 3 of them actually had helmets on. The other 3 are just not that smart!!!

I see Cross Country Ski Training!

I came back out of the trail, saw this awesome meadow area and snapped a couple of shots. I will definitely be back!

Tomorrow is another catch up day - Saturday's ride to a green area of Western New York. My teases are so tempting aren't they????

Have a great day and go outside and burn some calories!

Phoenix Hiking

2010-09-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well this has been a pretty busy week and I was in Phoenix last week and did some hiking so I took some pictures with my cell phone, sent them to Facebook, copied them to my laptop, and am now bringing them to you for a close up look of Camelback Mountain in suburban Phoenix, AZ.


That is me at the very top

I arrived in town on Wednesday afternoon and headed over to my work site. That took a couple of hours and then I headed out to explore Camelback Mountain. I set my GPS to the main trail head, arrived to the sight of a Park Ranger Truck blocking the entrance, was told a rescue was in progress and to head over to the other trail head.

Suburban Phoenix

Off I went and up I went. It is 1.5 miles and about 1200' of vertical gain so my legs and lungs were burning pretty quickly. Saw a lot of people and just enjoyed the climb.


The weekly destination

On Thursday I had a little more time so I headed to the main trail head, climbed up, came down the way I went up the afternoon before (got stung by a nasty wasp on the way down also which was not fun), and ran 3.0 miles back to the car. Man was that a brutal brick and it was stinking hot!


Stairway to Pain

Friday brought me to my departure flight but I had 1-1.5 hours to spare. So I booked up and back down the main trail head. This was around noon and it was about 110 or so out. Very hot but dry!!!!

This was a great workout and some nice cross training. I love hiking and climbing around and even took my son over to our local park for some hiking over Labor Day weekend.

I just spent 10 days off the bike but have some pictures to post from today's return ride. That is what they call a tease folks. Stop back this weekend when I post again :)

Thanks for stopping by and get outside this weekend!

Single Speed Century

2010-08-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

The family did the annual camper camping trip at a local campground with friends my wife grew up. I took this year off and decided that I would punish my body a little and go for a century ride. Not that big of a deal because this is my 6th this year and I have over 5500 miles of riding in, but I decided to take one of my single speed rigs out instead of my gear Vaya!


My weapon of Choice - Felt Breed

I love this bike but there are downsides - 1 bottle cage, no pump holder, no tube bag, so this means that I carry my backpack when I ride the Breed but it is worth the inconvenience because I love this bike!!! It is fast (except 1 gear holds me back on long flats and uphill), it is light (except my 175+ body weight adds too much weight to it but I love my food more than I love this bike so my weight is going to stay the same!), it is responsive, and it is cool looking!


My home area

I rode 3.5 miles with my son to start - I never said it was going to be all at once did I? Then I rode to the Y so I could swim some laps before heading out. I stopped by home because the new computer's heart rate aspect was not (and is not - yes QBP I will be contacting you to see if I can score another one) and then I headed out. It was an absolutely beautiful day for a bike ride!


Ski Country - My destination

I ran into a logistics problem - I became quite hungry about 10 miles out from my refueling stop. I had a huge breakfast but delayed in getting on the road and the energy bars I at were not holding up. I was a little concerned because energy was fading quick and heart rate was going up quicker! I could have dove into my bento box but I figured I could tough it out and wait - and I survived!


My lunch view

Not a bad view for lunch - devoured a Personal Pan Pizza, 32oz of Ice Cold Dr. Pepper, 1 Liter of Ice Cold water, and 4 recees peanut butter cups. Had a great chat with a motorcycle tourist who stopped to rest at the same location. He asked how far I was riding today and I said oh about 100 miles. I asked him and he said the same. It was cool he takes all the side roads that I usually ride down so we had a nice little chat, then he headed off, as did I!


A cool looking bride they refurbished at the county line

My energy levels were much better and I had a great ride home. Saw some awesome stuff and kept turning the pedals over!


Sun Over Lake Erie


Can you critique my fit please??

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. Get out on your bike and see the sights. They are much better at 15mph than 55!

Single Speed Mountain Bike Ride

2010-08-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

My riding has been very limited this week. Well actually all of my training has been limited because I am trying to work back into a 3 heavy 1 light workout week and this is my first light week. Well that is until tomorrow when I am planning on a century ride on my Single Speed Cross bike.

So when I got home early yesterday the wife was working and we had no plans and I asked permission for a 2 hour max ride. She approved and I headed out.


My Single Speed weapon of choice

I took the mountain bike because I figured with the new chip seal down in the area I could save some hassle and then I could hit the park for some dirt riding. It was a blast but the legs are definitely tired after a long year of training (and it is still just August!).


Big waterfall huh?

My local park is a haven for me and I have most of it all to myself whenever I head over there. Periodically I will pass people on the trail but not very often. In the winter it is even more abandoned and all mine! Thanks Erie County!!

My cool bridge shot

So I rode around on the dirt, cracked my knee on the handlebars, and headed to flat asphalt cruising before heading home.


Flat or Hill??

So I came to my option point and I asked the legs - Do you feel froggy? They said no so I went flat besides my always climb home - some hills are just easier than others.

Should have a lot of pictures tomorrow from my century - Get out there and ride your bike!!!!

Saturday Bike Ride

2010-08-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

What a great day for a ride. The sun wasn't out one time today so I went without sunglasses and only 2 water bottles. I tucked some food into my bento bag and headed off to Sprague Brook on my Bianchi MUSS. I love this bike for some strange reason and now that it is road ready I see a lot of time on that bike coming up!


Cemetery 5 minutes from the house

I have passed this cemetery for every ride and run since we moved here almost 5 years ago and I never realized it was there until this past spring. Today I shot some pictures. 1800's was a long time ago!!

No Hitchhiking allowed

There was a pretty steady southerly headwind heading up the hill so I cut down to the main road sooner than usual to get out of it. Made good time to the park and it was vacant. I am still getting used to no suspension again so I stuck to the easy routes for another week or so. I need to get my human shocks built up again for the rigid beast!


Love the Single Track

I rode around for a while and then headed back up hill to another section and bam - my first flat on the Bianchi this season. Not my first flat by any means. I fixed it and headed off to the parking lot to see if I could score a floor pump but no luck.


Off into the woods

So I headed home and hit the bike shop on the route to top off the rear wheel. Headed over to church to check on the kids who were doing a road cleanup project for youth group. They were just finishing up and the wife had a funeral luncheon to help out with so I rode home and grabbed the vehicle and went back and grabbed my son.

Have a great weekend - rain is blowing in tomorrow so no bike tomorrow. They said the same thing last Sunday also so we might luck out!

Salsa Woodchipper Review

2010-08-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today was a relaxing day of bike maintenance at Sprague Brook. I had some repair work to do on the Bianchi MUSS so I loaded the bike, my stand, and all the equipment I had with me to the park and set up shop. Part of my maintenance was installing my 2nd pair of Salsa Woodchipper Handlebars.

I have them on my Salsa Vaya and a very knowledgeable and reputable bike guru - Guitar Ted (Does it make sense that someone so knowledgeable about bikes has Guitar as his first name?? I was thinking more like Derailleur Ted or Single Speed Ted would be more fitting - but hey I digress!) recommends these bars on his blog and uses them on his bike so I tried them out and loved them on the Vaya. I then decided to try them on the MUSS. Needless to say I am very happy!

There they are - I have red tape on both sets - Boring I know!

So I got the bike all set and headed off on the trails. I have never ridden drops on single track so it took some adjusting but the bars gave me the ability to wrench hard on the pedals of the Single Speed beast.


Top Side View

One change I am planning on making to the cockpit of the MUSS is to add some cross brakes. I decided on the trail when I almost went headfirst into the river that an upper set of brakes would be helpful for times when it is flat or downhill and I am riding the flat part of the bars.

Needless to say I am very happy with these and will be making another purchase for the next bike. Maybe even the Felt Breed for cross season to get some more power out of riding SS during cross races. Hmmm that thought just came to my mind!!!!

Have a great weekend and get out and ride your bike. Tomorrow is a long ride to Sprague Brook from the house to give the bars and bike another run! I cannot wait!!

A Response To A Difficult Question - Why?

2010-08-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

Jill's blog got me thinking yesterday a lot about that simple question. Why?

I posted the following response to her question:

Very profound - Why? Great question that many ponder and hopefully never answer because once the answer is found I believe the drive will be lost!

I honestly believe that! If you ever really answer the question of Why then all your drive will be gone and you will stop pursuing that never answerable questions answer (does that even make sense?)! I don't have an exact answer because when we were doing our Freedom Tour this summer we had many question us as to why and we had an answer because we were doing the Freedom Tour for a cause!

So does that make my response wrong because I knew WHY I did the Freedom Tour? But I honestly don't know why I ride my bike or run or swim or lift almost every day. Sure I do it to stay in shape and because I enjoy training but there is no honestly reasonable answer as to why I desire to ride my bike in Iowa for 300+ miles or across northern Minnesota doing the Arrowhead 135 in most like sub-zero temperatures. How about why, if I could run further than 3 miles without pain, I would love to train to do a 100 mile ultra run and then qualify for the Western States 100. Or possibly learn how to swim strong enough to swim the English Channel.

Or how crazy is it that I would love to move to Iowa/Minnesota/Wisconsin area just because of all of the gravel races and winter races they have out there and the better winter snow riding and cross country skiing conditions that exist compared to Buffalo. Or the fact that I would love to move next door to Sprague Brook Park so that I would have instant access to the best trails in Erie County since I doubt my family would agree with me on moving somewhere were they know no one.

Maybe you do know why and care to share with us?

Whatever the reason or contemplations that come from this - go out and ride your bike!

What I Learned Off The Bike

2010-08-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

My Salsa Vaya (Factory Image - Mine is much cooler looking) - Commuter Rig

Last Thursday morning my alarm was set for my 5:00am bicycle commuter wake up. The alarm went off and I thought to myself what in the world am I doing?????? Reset it for 6:00am and drove to work. That morning I decided it was time to take some time off of the bike, so I told myself that I would look at my training schedule (Yeah Right I have no schedule I just ride or run or swim or lift or play tennis), adjust some things, and decide a better way to finish out the commuter season and train for the 60 Mile Iron Cross race October 10th.

First thing I came up with was that I would go back to Boot Camp Conditioning class Mon-Wed-Fri and that would require me to drive those days. So that would leave Tue-Thur for commuting and Sat-Sun for weekend rides. I would run Mon-Wed-Fri while my son practiced football and try to sneak off to the pool every chance I got.

Today I rode to work again - 5 days off of the bike. I came up with a brilliant blog post - 5 Things I Learned on my Bike Sabattical! Now I just hope I have 5 of them!

1. Bike Maintenance is as much fun as Bike Riding but not nearly as efficient at burning calories. My Single Speed Mountain Bike needed some loving to get her ready for the upcoming winter rides so I spent some time on Sunday getting her cleaned up and deciding what I needed new and put that list together. She is going to be so happy with me come October when I start riding her again.

A picture of Todd and I on our bike tour - the big reason I have so many miles

2. Effective today I am only 500 miles away from my 2009 total bike mileage. That is easily wiped out in 1 typical month so this will be the most mileage I have ever ridden in 1 year come the middle of September. Do I push it and shoot for 7000 miles for the year or do I just let it all fall in place and take what I have? A point to ponder. What will 7000 miles get me? Nothing at all. So I will probably just let it all fall in place!

3. I may have a lot of bike miles in but I can say for a fact that I have done interval type bike training less than 10 times all year long. This needs to change because next year I hit the Masters 45+ age group and I think I could have some fun competing with my peers in that age group but I need to grow some fast twitch muscle fibers instead of my long/steady/plodding twitch muscles I have developed.

My SS Mountain/Snow Bike out on the trails last winter

4. I cannot wait to ride on the snowmobile trails again this winter. Last year I found the perfect set-up on my SS to make this a great time and fun training. I even pictured myself riding out to the local cross country trails with my skis on my backpack and wondering what types of looks I would garner with that look!

5. I really love riding my bike and there were about 100 times over the last 5 days that I just wandered off into deep thought about how bad I wanted to ride my bike. I even shouldered my SS Cross Bike to carry it upstairs on Sunday but I put her back and let the love grow even deeper. I wish I lived in a much bike-friendlier city but I will do my best to make it as bike friendly as possible!

Have a great day and go ride your bike please!!!! Oh and avoid Boot Camp Conditioning at all cost - it hurts!!!!

Bicycle Maintenance Sunday

2010-08-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

So what do you do if you have realized that you are somewhat burned out on biking?

Contemplate why? Easy answer 5000 miles and it is mid August.

Contemplate changes? Easy again, take some time off the bike until you want to ride so bad you will go out on either of your bikes in any type of weather and have a great time. This is best served riding Single Speed because there is no thought process involved - just crank the pedals until you get home. I have a SS Cross, SS/Fixie Flip/Flop Commuter or a SS Mtn Bike. 2 of the 3 are ready to ride at a moments notice (Note: I had the cross on my shoulders getting ready to head upstairs with it but I put it back down - I am very proud of myself). The 3rd bike was (and still isn't) not even close to being able to be ridden.

So today I decided to get the bike ready. I purchased some Salsa Woodchipper bars for it recently and had them loosely attached to the stem. With the new bars I would need new brake levers as well. Just so happens my Commuter rig has bullhorns now and I had the old hoods hanging around so I took those off and installed them on the bars. Problem is that mountain bike brake cables and road brake cables have different ends so I need new cables (wanted them anyways!). I also need new handlebar tape and I am contemplating red for the Bianchi M.U.S.S. just because I think it will look cool!

The brake housing units themselves were pretty beat up from winter riding so I took them apart and cleaned them to the best of my ability. I now need new brake pads as well but I knew that would be the case also. One thing I want to upgrade is my chain tensioners. They have never really been perfect in my eyes and I was eying some surly ones that look pretty cool! Those need to be ordered so I can do that tomorrow and have them by the weekend I am sure. That could be my birthday present!

Tubes. I had to switch my studded tire off and I did so I must have pinched the tube and got a leak in it. No big deal I have about 4 tubes laying around for the 26" wheels. Put one in - hole. Put next one in - hole. Put another one in - hole. Take tube out of seat bag - works. Go to put air in the other tube and the stem had locked closed from corrosion. No other tubes. I guess I need some new tubes!

So instead of riding today I worked on my bike which was just as fun - but not nearly as aerobic though. No complaints from me. Off to Bootcamp Class tomorrow morning and I shall commute on Tuesday most likely (if my body wants to!).

Hope you all had a great weekend and got to ride your bike. Not being on mine caused great jealousy whenever I saw a biker on the road, but the body knows best so I just told myself that they were not having fun - but they were and I am still jealous!

My Bike Trip to the Farmer's Market

2010-08-01T15:04:00.000-07:00


The View from The Farmer's Market

It was supposed to rain today so I really had not planned on riding. I figured it would be a good day to start a bathroom renovation project and do some errand running as well. So I planned on swimming after church, then errands, the running real quick, and finally working on the bathroom.

I hit the pool and saw a beautiful day outside. I figured it would not last so I hit the deli. It was still beautiful! I hit my Fav Store (Red Bullseye is all I am saying) and came outside and it was still beautiful. I hit the park for a trail run and it was beautiful there (but it is always beautiful when I am trail running at the park!

Fresh Tomatoes anyone?

I had one last stop to make and it was the farmer's market for some fruits and veggies. I came up with a brilliant idea - RIDE MY BIKE THERE! You see after I finished the tour I stripped the Masi down and am trying to make her light and fast. Yesterday my LBS gave me 2 free tires for her (they were demos and he was glad to get ride of them but I was quite happy to receive them) and I put them on last night. The fenders are off, the racks are off, and about the only thing left to remove are the cross brakes but I am not too worried about those right now.

I wanted to see how much quicker she was so I headed out for a harder type ride even though my legs have been trashed lately. I hit some hills, powered her out to the market, and loaded up the backpack!

Zucchini, Eggplant, Squash, Tomatoes, and a lot of Fruit

So I headed home with a much heavier load than I left with. Made for a little slower goings and it was still beautiful out. The temp was higher than they called for also so I had to make a stop for more liquid which I was not planning on doing but no big deal.

I love when they get it wrong. My legs are sore and I have to do a little work on the commuter rig for tomorrow but it is August and I had visions of snowmobile trail riding today - I cannot wait but I am loving this weather while we have it!

Have a great week and please ride your bike - it is so much fun!!!!

4:00am Mountain Bike Ride (No Photos)

2010-07-30T05:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry photos are not obtainable at 4:30am so there will be none but I will explain to you the pre-sunrise that I caught a glimpse of later on (yes this is a tease to make you read the whole post)

I got this brilliant idea last night - I have not been on an early morning bike ride all year long. In the years past I would maybe not sleep through the night and when I woke up I would get dressed and go for a ride - no matter what time it was. Lately I have been sleeping like a baby (one that sleeps through the night - I think this saying needs changed but that is another post (by someone much more articulate than I am) for another day!) and wake up to my alarm and then get on the bike around 5:30 or so each morning.

I have lights - boy do I have lights. My thoughts on lights are that the more you have the more likelihood that the car that can crush you in a blink of an eye might just see and give you another day on the bike. I put my blinking front light on, I put a strong steady front light on, I turn my helmet head lamp on, I turn on helmet rear red blinking light, I try to turn on my rear seat post mounted (forever because I stripped the plastic screw) but it does not work so I pull my other rear red blinking light off another close by seat post, put that on, turn it on, and magically my other rear red blinking light starts to work also. In case you lost count - 6 total light sources - they will never be able to say that they could not see me without any lights!!!

So the alarm goes off at 4:00am and I contemplate life for a while. I really didn't want to go - I really wanted to go back to sleep. I told myself how awesome it would be - still didn't work. I went to the restroom, came back, reset the alarm to 6:00am and said if I feel asleep before 4:30 then I won't ride, thankfully I stayed awake!

The trails were muddy so I bailed on that and just did a hill ride to keep working in my new 2x front ring setup I put on this weekend.

Then I came to my favorite hill in all of Western New York - Ward Road right before Old Chestnut Ridge Road. When you hit this point you can look north and see the whole city of Buffalo and a good percentage of the surrounding suburbs. The lights were still on and off to the east the sun was beginning to make it presence known.

Close your eyes and picture this! (You might have to find someone to keep reading for you because I always found it difficult to close my eyes and read:) There were some clouds in the sky and further off there was another set of clouds that were much lower on the horizon.

A little interruption came to mind: I thought back to Cadillac Mountain in Acadia, ME and how the sun rise would have already been visible for quite some time and cannot wait to go back with Jake after football season ends.

The sky was turning pink and it was a beautiful sight looking off into eastern Western New York and the farmlands that separate Buffalo from Rochester. I don't know how far you can actually see and it would be interesting to find out a way to learn that but once again another post (by someone much smarter) on another day! The land was visible, lights were beginning to fade, and I got to ride home with that picture in my mind.

G-Ted and GNAT say it best - Get out there and ride if you have a bike. If not, get to a local shop and purchase freedom in the form of 2 wheels! Bring a camera, bring your sense of adventure, and learn what payback truly is!

Just Another Beautiful Sunrise

2010-07-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

I have no words other than WOW!

Sunrise

2010-07-22T08:37:00.001-07:00

BIG BEAR LAKE, CA - JULY 2010

I just cannot get over this picture and many others of sunrise that I have taken over the years of riding my bike or hiking or camping at sunrise!

COLORADO - JANUARY 2010

I had to hike up Green Mountain early in the morning to get this photo from my old stomping grounds - that sun was spectacular!

SMOKEY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

I remember this morning and how cold it was. I would love to go back to this part of country and do a lot more exploring. Hopefully work has something in that area again soon because it is amazing there!

FULTON, AL - FREEDOM TOUR - JUNE 2010

This was one of the few sunrises we caught on the tour because we normally did not have to wake up that early.

There is nothing as spectacular as seeing a new sunrise in the morning. It is a chance to start over. It is a chance to reset your odometer to 0.0 and start renewed. We cannot scratch what was learned in the past but we can learn from what we want to scratch! Be strong!

In the words of G-Ted - Get out there and ride your bike! or Hike! or Run! or Swim

1.5 Hours of Ascent + 20 Min Decent = AWESOME!

2010-07-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

This week I was in California on Monday and Tuesday. I could not get out of town until Afternoon on Tuesday so after I finished up Monday I headed up to Big Bear Lake, CA for some mountain biking.

What an awesome area for mountain biking and I will definitely return there someday for a longer visit with much more dirt riding as well.

The sunrise on Tuesday morning over Big Bear Lake

I snagged a quick breakfast and headed out for a ride before I had to drive back down to Los Angeles for my flight home. I picked out a trail that would take me to the top of the ski area but I had to start at the bottom first!

Base Camp operations - all is quiet on this beautiful July morning - bet this place is hoping come winter time!

I had no knowledge of the area besides a trail map that I purchased so off I went. I rode up the same area I rode Monday night and took a right on a single track to take me across the base of the mountain. I wanted to get some spinning in because it is 7,000+ feet of elevation and the body was not used to the lack of oxygen since I live at 1,500 feet and do a lot of sea level riding around Buffalo.

There was some hike-a-bike involved and I passed a local who gave me some good news - if you are pushing here just wait until you see it up a little further. Man he was not kidding - ouch and the sweat was pouring off - good thing it was a dry heat!

My view from the top

Well I finally made it to the top after 1.5 hours of riding and walking. Took my time looking around and snapping photos. They were doing chairlift work in preparation for the upcoming season and besides the 1 local rider I had the mountain to myself - at least in my part of the world it seemed that way. I am sure there were all sorts of animals out there laughing at me but they stayed hidden!

30 Minutes later (max) I was at the bike shop returning the bike and getting cleaned up for my trip home.

This is the access road to the single track - at 7000+ feet this just plain old hurts the lungs. I wish I was more acclimated but that is just not the case right now!
A shot to the south off of the peak

All in all - I could see many a trip to Big Bear Lake in the future with my LA trips - much more fun than hanging out in the desert and it's 115+ temps!

But at least it is a dry heat!

Please if you have a bike - get out there and ride! You don't understand what you are missing!

Why I Ride My Bike

2010-07-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

So this morning on my way into the office I started to contemplate the reasons why I rode my bike as much as I do. The past 2 commutes have provided an unbelievable sunrise and I got a photo of it today but it was not the opportunity I was hoping for and that triggered my mind to go off onto a Bill tangent - so Bill just what is/are the reason/s that you ride your bike so much?

Do I have a Top 10 list or a Top 100 list? I don't know - I will pose some reasons and see how far along I get!

#1 - To be compared to Chuck Norris by people in our church Youth Group - I would post the link but you can only see it if you are friends with my daughter so you just have to take my word for it!

#2 - To have calves that glisten in the light because they are so muscular (My wife said this not me - I cannot see my calves and I would take a picture but I think that would be just wrong - you will just have to go on a bike ride with me someday to see for yourself - but wear your sunglasses)

#3 - To be ready for the phone to ring and your friends to say hey I am going on a bike ride do you want to come along? This seldom happens because only 4 of my friends ride bikes. You might think wow that is not that many but you have to realize besides my family I have 5 total friends. You would think an 80% bike ride friend rate would result in more bike rides with these friends but it just doesn't work out that way. Case in point - besides the tour I rode with someone for the first time yesterday since May!

#4 - To take photos - see above. But I am so far below GNAT's ability with the camera. If you love photos look at his sight - amazing!

#5 - To come up with witty banter like Fatty (Elden). But I do not have that ability and my mind wanders so much that I had a list of 10 on the way into work this morning and forgot them all!

#6 - To train for rides that people put on in the middle of Iowa that are suicidal in nature but so much fun you just want to keep going back or do his other ride in the middle of summer but thankfully I just came back from 30 days away from the family and that means no weekends away.

#7 - To dream of riding in Alaska or Montana where Jill came from and lives at now. Her blog is out of this world and if you like good writing (which you might not since you are reading mine) I would definitely take a look at her penmanship!

#8 - This one is in all sincerity - To pray for friends and family. I find my time on the bike to be a wonderful connection with God and He puts all sorts of needs into my mind to pray for. Dave just lost his mother and he has taken up a lot of space recently. The list is so long and if I know you, most likely you have been prayed for while I have been pedaling around!

#9 - Because I have a deep desire to ride the Tour De France someday and I will look back on this as my training ground. I know I am 43 (soon to be 44) but Lance did it at 37 and I want to top that! One problem I don't do enough intervals, I don't do enough Hill Sets, and I don't do enough nutrition watching so I doubt this will ever happen.

#10 - I LOVE THE FREEDOM I HAVE ON THE BIKE!

Get out on your bike and go for a ride!

1 Week And Counting

2010-07-09T04:22:00.000-07:00

Well we have been home for 1 week now and I figured I would do a mini-recap post. I picked pictures out of both Todd and I at different points along the tour. I will provide deep thoughtful insight along the way just like Jill, Guitar Ted, and Crazy Dave do in their blogs, but they are much more eloquent than I am. So I will just post some information and share some photos and hope you enjoy the report.

Todd & I at the Airport - Rock on Twin 6

Number of Miles Ridden: 1802 (per Todd's computer which was more than mine so I will use that number). I get to add 22 miles to that for the ride from the Mobile, AL airport back to the hotel and my ride to Breck's Bike Shop in Owensboro, KY to get my bar end shifters looked at! Total for Bill = 1824

My home state Jersey at Mile 0.0

Number of days I wore a bike jersey = Day 1 (1/2 day) and the last 3 days when I was cold. Other than that it was muscle shirts because of the heat. Rain jacket was worn 3 days: 2 for warmth and 1 because of rain

Our first sabbath - Lunch stop

Amount of food consumed and burned: I have no idea on how to compute this number but I can tell you this I was never hungry during the tour because I ate every chance I got. And another thing I will never have Grape Jelly again in my life!!!!

Break in Coffeeville - we had Powerade though

Number of Flats = 0, Nada, zilch, nil, zero. This is overwhelming to me. Besides a fender adjustment the first day and my bar end shifters we had no mechanical issues at all.

Century Cycles, Peninsula, OH

They did a great write up for our tour and the cause - it is in the link if you click on it above.

Days Finished Early - 2. We skipped our last sabbath and pushed on from Erie to home so we wrapped up last Thursday instead of Saturday and that was a great thing!!

Thanks to everyone who supported, donated, and prayed for us during this time. Awesome does not even begin to describe it all. Someday I might be able to put it into words but for now I just daydream and enjoy!

My Weekend Back in Reality

2010-07-07T09:07:00.001-07:00

We returned from our the Freedom Tour on Thursday afternoon. We sat in Erie, PA at dinner and I told my buddy Todd that when we hit Dunkirk, NY tomorrow around 1:00pm I was going to have a hard time checking into a hotel. He agreed with me and we put the plan in action to just ride from Erie, PA home instead.

It was right around 100 miles - but as I have said a couple of times during the tour - it was the easiest 100 miles I have ever ridden. We were in Dunkirk at 11:45, grabbed some lunch, waited for a friend to join us to ride back with us, hit the road, and were at the church at 3:15pm.

Friday was a very casual day around the house and I rode Saturday and Sunday. These pictures are from my Saturday ride. Sunday was my official I think I am tired day on the bike. I rode to my mountain bike mecca but the legs just didn't have it in them so I tooled around a little and headed home.

18 Mile Creek in Hamburg, NY

I was trying to get the cliffs in the picture but not so good!

My natural vitamin D source

Still working on getting back into the swing of reality - but it is coming along. I have been back on the bike since Sunday but no photos - this weekend I promise. I hope to do more mountain biking because I just found out about a mountain bike race!

We Are Done

2010-07-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

We were sitting at dinner on Wednesday night and I told Todd that if we made it to Dunkirk by our normal stop time 1 or 2 - I would have a hard time pushing into a hotel and not just finish riding out. That put the wheels in motion because he agreed.

Ahhhh Lake Erie and the makings of a great Lake Effect Snow Storm if it was 6 months later. It is so amazing seeing weather in action all day long!

I saw these and they reminded me of my walk to work when I drive so I decided to stop and take a photo for memory sake.

The Chatauqua Ridge and that is where the snow really flies. See how the clouds are forming. I want to go skiing or snowbiking but I have 6 months or so before that happens!

Wine County in Southern Western New York. This house has to see some amazing weather patterns.

I think it should say welcome home Bill and Todd.

Well time to do some chores. Oh 1 last thing here is a link to our interview on Channel 4 in Buffalo if you want to see Bill on TV - LOL!!!!

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/Pastors-ride-fights-slavery-in-Ukraine

Our church link also:

http://freedomtour.opwc.org/

3 Days and counting

2010-06-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow is our last day in Ohio. I love the song Bloodbuzz Ohio by The National. It cracks me up!!! Ohio was our longest stay of the tour. We hit Pennsylvania for 1 day and then are home - yeah!!!!!!

This was a strange tree at Malabar Farm State Park. It had 2 bikes growing beyond it - oh wait those are our bikes!!

Me traveling down the road in Central Ohio. This was a fun hill to rock down. I was hoping we would catch air at the drop off but we had lost too much momentum for that to happen.

A snack at a fruit stand in Cayuhoga National Park. Plums, Apples, Oranges, Bananas. Then I snagged an ice cold Pepsi and some maple corn - yummy!!!

Being on the Erie Canal we are always intrigued when we come across locks on the road. This was how material was transported back in the day and it amazes me at how intelligent man was created yet we do some very stupid stuff!!!

Riding down a Rail-To-Trail path heading towards Austinburg, OH. What a relaxing and enjoyable final 7 miles to a 70 mile day!

Get out and ride your bike!!

4 days of riding left!!!

2010-06-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

YE OLD MILL - VELVET ICE CREAM

We have been cruising through Ohio on the way home. Saturday we found an Amish road side stand and grabbed some home made cookies and then about 2 miles down the road we came across an Ice Cream factory with a little restaurant. We stopped, split a Gyro, and ate an ice cream and ponied back up on the bikes for our ride up to Malabar Farm State Park in Central Ohio.

Stream running by our Hostel

So we made it to the hostel and then walked over to the restaurant for dinner and took a walking tour of the farm buildings. This place was amazing. Louis Bromfield, an author, donated the land and the state took it over and are doing a great job running the property. I would definitely recommend staying here if you are ever in the area!

One of 1,000 churches we have passed

There have been so many church sightings on this tour. It is amazing how many different churches there are in the world. I am estimating that we passed 1,000 churches and there have been so many different styles. This is one of my favorites.

Our first covered bridge

We went under our first covered bridge today. Cayuhoga National Park in Ohio was the location and it was cool.

Century Cycles

We stopped at a local bike shop and they took our picture for their blog because of our touring up from Mobile, AL. The guy in the shop was cool and I bought a T-Shirt - Slogan=Define Your Life Ride A Bike

That is my slogan!!

Get out and ride your bike!

What a great couple of days

2010-06-25T14:09:00.001-07:00

Rural Ohio early morning Sunshine

We started the week off in Indiana and ended it up in Ohio. We traveled along the Ohio for much of the week and it provided awesome views and wonderful history. We were blessed to meet some awesome new friends and spent time with Todd's family also. What a whirlwind week it has been.

Todd and I on our shortcut across the Ohio River

Part of our journey took us to the home of General/President Ulysses S. Grant. Georgetown, OH was his boyhood home and he was born not too far away down on the Ohio River. What awesome history there was to be seen in the town of Georgetown and we had a great historian - Nancy Purdy who is the Innkeeper at the Bailey House B&B that we stayed at during our stay. She was amazingly knowledgeable in local history and taught Todd and I numerous things about her home town heroes!

After Georgetown, OH we headed over to Circleville, OH for our sabbath. Todd's family came to visit him because his daughter is leaving for the Ukraine before we return home. We stayed at his wife's aunts house and were treated out of this world. Thursday saw us traveling to the family farms and learning the history of those, then we were treated to sunshine and water at a local quarry lake their friend owns. Great times!!!
Todd and I kayaking on our private oasis

Good bye photo - see you next week

We headed out from Circleville, OH heading northward towards the actual route once again. Tomorrow we stay at our first hostel at Malabar Farm State Park in central Ohio. We start our week of lasts - last Friday night dinner was Applebee's. Then they all start falling until we return home next Friday.

We won't have Internet for a couple of days most likely so I will post again when we return to civilization. Thanks for stopping by and seeing how we are progressing. Get out on your bike!!!

Check in from Dry Ridge, KY

2010-06-21T16:49:00.001-07:00

It has been a strange past couple of days lately. We had a super easy day into Corydon, IN, then a brutally tough day into Madison, IN, then a shorter (55+ miles) day into Dry Ridge, KY which we pushed really hard into because a huge thunder-storm was bearing down on us quickly!

Rural Indiana

My legs have been feeling pretty good, but last night I was sitting on a veranda overlooking the Ohio River in Madison, IN and I just thought that if my wife were in town with a vehicle I would just hop in with her and drive home. Luckily this morning I just got on my bike and headed back out!

My contemplative view of the Ohio River

We had some great fellowship over the weekend with some awesome people. First up was Mike and Joanne in Corydon, IN. Mike and Joanne leave at the end of the month for a ride on the Underground Railroad and I look forward to meeting back up with them in Buffalo when they come through town. They blessed us with an awesome dinner and then we had some great fellowship after wards. I wish it could have continued but we had a long day the next day and needed some rest!

Sunday we met with Mike and Kit who we met at Cave-in-Wind, IL on Tuesday of last week. It was pure and simply a God meeting and we were blessed abundantly by them with dinner and a hotel room in Dry Ridge, KY.

Our Dinner Hosts with us - thanks Mike and Kit

We headed out for Dry Ridge, KY and beat a nice thunderstorm into town. Tomorrow we are off to our first Bed and Breakfast in Ohio - that is right we are 1 state closer to home!

Fog over Ohio River on the way to Dry Ridge, KY

View from Folsom Ridge, KY on the way to Dry Ridge, KY - Tough Hill!!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening. Get out and ride your bike!

Things I Miss About Home Today

2010-06-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

We are officially 2 weeks into our tour which is 1/2 way through day wise but we are over 900 miles total so far and we are estimating ending up around 1800 or so. I am contemplating today about things that I am missing at home. It has been a great 2 weeks and I am not complaining one bit, but after being gone from home longer than any other time in my marriage, I feel obligated to mention some things:

My family first and foremost. This is from Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA. We will be riding our bikes by this spot on one of the last 2 days and that will be quite interesting. Notice how pale I am in this photo? That has changed!!!

I am very grateful that they gave up 30 days of time with me and allowed me to go on the tour and I will be indebted to them for a long time to come! I am very interested t0 see what God has in store for all 4 of us, not only the rest of this year but for years to come. I want to see how Amelia develops her musical interest. I am excited to see Jake grow athletically, musically, and scholarly. Jane loves so easily and I want to help her utilize that as a team in the future - something we have never really done in our marriage. And me, well I am just interested in seeing what adventures are in store around the corner - physical and spiritual!

Ahh - the winter. It has been so hot and humid down in the south so far - I look forward to riding my bike in the snow again. Not too soon, but soon enough! I love the feeling of getting dressed to combat the elements and seeing how far I can push myself on the bike that day. I love skiing as well and cannot wait to get Jake involved in that this winter!

Mountain Biking. My true love. This is from the time when my son and I went camping this spring. It was a great time and he is turning into such a strong young God filled man! I hope to do a 6 hour power race and maybe even a 100 miler later this year. I am waiting on the approval for either one but I would love to give those a shot after recovering from the tour.

Well in 2 more weeks we will be home or on our last night before riding into Western New York that Friday morning. It has been an awesome journey so far and I look forward to how God is going to utilize these days and what He has in store upon return.

Thanks for stopping by and in the immortal words of Guitar Ted - Get out and ride your bikes!!!!

The Sabbath #2

2010-06-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well we pushed to Owensboro, KY today because my bar end shifter is giving me trouble and they have a bike shop. It meant 90 miles today but it also means a very easy day on Friday.

This is from Grand Rivers, KY the other day. The marine on the lakes - stunning!

Todd on the ferry to Cave-in-Wind, IL

Cave-in-Wind, IL - pretty cool place if you ever get a chance to see it!

The thunderstorms blow in!!!

We stayed at Cave-in-Rock State Park, Illinois last night and saw an awesome storm blow through and sunrise this morning! We started off at 6:00am and caught the first ferry out of town!

The 90 miles started off somewhat hilly but it flattened out after 15 or so miles and was pretty boring from there on out. I don't think I have ridden that many flat miles in quite a while and it felt nice. There was a slight head wind but nothing too horrible.

Tomorrow is rest and relaxation but I am sure I will post something.

Have a great day and get out there and ride your bike!!!

Back to Back Centuries

2010-06-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well we did something that I never thought I would do in this heat and humidity and HILLS. Friday was 104+ miles and Saturday was 120 miles. There are heat index warnings out because the temperatures with humidity are in the 105-110 range. My friends that is hot. I have done further than that 2 times before - 1 time in Western New York in April and one time in Iowa and I can tell you it was about 50 or so at the most. I miss those days!!!!

I calculated that I drank 400 ounces of gatorade/powerade/water on the bike Saturday. Then I ate dinner and the poor waitress brought me 3 glasses of water and 4 Arnold Palmers. Then I drank more water at the hotel before bed.

Our bodies are amazing vessels that can take a lot of stress but boy was I glad to get off the bike yesterday. Then I woke up and we had to do 60 in the heat, humidity, and hills again. This is the first time that I contemplated taking a taxi - LOL. Humbling, but we made it.

I have pictures but I don't have the energy to download them. I will do another picture day soon. Tomorrow is supposed to be 45 or so, down the trace so it should be a pretty good day to catch up on stuff.

Until then have a great night and go out and ride your bicycle.

Week #1 Recap

2010-06-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

One week ago today we were flying down to Panama City Beach, FL and then driving over to Mobile, AL as we prepared to leave the following morning for our 1700 mile adventure north along the Underground Railroad. The first day was as smooth as any day could ever be and we felt confident heading into Friday morning's departure.

Friday we grabbed some breakfast and headed out. We first met Dre and Eldred at the hotel. They are 2 union iron workers working on a new steel plant in Mobile, AL. They thought (and probably still do think) that we were crazy for doing what we were doing and they kept telling us we were rich. Rich in the Lord was our response. What other rich is as awesome as that? Lunch was great at the Stagecoach in Stockton, AL and then we settled in for the night at Little River, AL post office campground. It was not a very restful night because of 3 dogs that felt barking all night long would be helpful to our sleep. 70+miles 5hrs 10min

Saturday was hot right from the start. We knew we had a hotel waiting for us so we pushed off. We made a wrong turn right off the start and I "felt" it was wrong because of the sun placement. I checked the maps and we had to back track a little bit but got back on track. We made it to the Econolodge in Jackson, AL and the staff offered to do our laundry for us - that was awesome. 72+ miles 5hrs 53min

Sunday was a trying day. I knew there was a long distance with no services so we loaded up in the last town and headed out. There is a service station marked on the map and when we got there it was closed on Sunday. Oh boy. Rationing time now. I even called the emergency number to see if the owner would could open up for us but I had no service. We were getting closer to our stopping point so I pushed on ahead of Todd just so I could get some cold fluids ready for us. I made the first gas station and went right to the cooler and bought 2 gatorades and waited outside for Todd to pull in. How refreshing is that after going 55 miles with warm water and gatorade only at your disposal. It was better than nothing though. 75+miles 5hrs 41min

Monday was the long day of the week. We could not find anywhere for breakfast so we made it to Jefferson, AL and had a great chat with the store owner, her friend, and grandson. We got to see some church history with them and then continued on. The one thing that stuck out to me about this was the still very strong prejudice aura that you could sense. We decided that if it is something that you are taught from such an early age that they must think it is right. We wondered if God could even break that stronghold in their hearts. 80+miles 6hrs 3min

Tuesday was a shorter day and we took it a lot easier knowing so. We were heading to West Point, MS and a new state which was exciting. We saw a church that started the year the Civil War ended and just contemplated what the members had seen and done in their lifetime! Amazing. 63+ miles 4hrs 45min

Wednesday was another short day and we were headed to our second night of camping but the southern storms fired up so we skipped that and made a bee line for the Days Inn in Fulton, AL. Nothing like taking rest in A/C and protection from a southern doozy. 65+ miles 4hrs 59min

Be checking back in tomorrow night after our 100 miler. Have a great day and go ride your bike!

Day 7 in photos

2010-06-09T18:32:00.001-07:00

The morning sky was dark but we felt it was moving out towards the north (the direction we are heading of course). We got out of West Point, MS and took refuge in a shell station, then a church overhang, then we had hot and humid all the way to Fulton, MS. Pulled in just ahead of some wicked storms - after a lady up the road said no rain in the forecast. Guess she did not take weather 101 because I saw it coming!

The morning sky from our Shell Station hideout!
The church where we took cover. Todd waving to cyber world! We left our card and hopefully they follow us that would be cool!
The history around here is unbelievable. But just think what Europe has on us?
More history
Mission work done back in the 1800's. God has always been at work through willing vessels!

Freedom Tour Day #6

2010-06-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from Day #6 of the Freedom Tour. It was an enjoyable 65 miles today. We were in no rush so we saw a lot of sights, braked often enough but not too much, and then got some awesome pool time in!

We hit a new state - that is always exciting right?

Local Lock and Dam on the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. A sailboat was coming up river to use the locks but we pressed on!

Steamship that was used to clear river debris. One of the last active ones but it is retired now!

This church began right after the Civil War ended. That is one long church history filled with some interesting stories I bet. They had just recently built a new building right next door so it must still be flourishing!

The Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway from Mississippi this time.

All in all it was a great day on the bike again. I don't think I fully appreciate and/or understand what a blessing it is that I am able to do this. I just smile and pedal onward to home.

Thanks for stopping by - now get out and ride your bike!

Freedom Tour 2010 - Days #1 & 2 (Only 1 on the bike)

2010-06-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

I am going to do a quick recap of our first 5 days away from home. This has incorporated 4 on the bike and I am feeling good so far. This will mainly be pictures. I will tell the story in July when I get back. I am keeping a journal and I look forward to sharing it with you when it is finished. You can track our progress at our blog or my spot page or here! Enjoy the pictures!

The flight down - this picture is my favorite of the trip so far. It is impressive with the lighting and the clouds. It looks like the ocean or the sky. So cool!

Mile 0.0 in Mobile, AL. All loaded up and ready to go!
Thank you for your service - USS ALABAMA (BB-60)
Thank you for your service Mr. Woolf

Our first nights camping area - Little River, AL. This is the post office so you have an idea of how rural this area truly is!

Tomorrow is the Day

2010-06-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

I cannot remember what month we actually started discussing the Freedom Tour but it is upon us. Tomorrow is departure day for Panama City Beach, FL and then we drive over to Mobile, AL.

Good thing we get in early because we have to rebuild our bikes back up, test them out to make sure everything is working, pack all of our gear, get some food, and sleep.

We know we are without lodging Friday (our first day on the road) but we have also heard of a possible situation that we are praying works out. Then we start to rotate hotels/camping/camp grounds the rest of the tour. They are calling for hot temps and thunderstorms but hopefully they miss us for the first couple of days until we get our legs! But at the end of the day we know we don't control the weather and it is what it is :)

You still have time to follow us - just click on the link above, go to the blog section, enter your e-mail address, and you will get e-mailed about blog entries we have made.

Thanks for your prayers and I look forward to sharing an incredible story when I get back!

Pictures from the weekend

2010-06-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have done the major write up so now I shall post some photos from over the weekend:

The weekend started with my son's 12th birthday party with his buddies. We went to the high school field and they played football, soccer, and other fun games. It was nice to see these young boys outside enjoying the beautiful weather instead of withering away playing games inside!

Single track came to play over the weekend. I love riding single track and being on my mountain bike.
This is my training meadow during the winter. It looks a lot different without 2' of snow on top of the grass. I love both seasons but I always miss the other season when it is away - so now I am missing my snow time. The winter picture is the same area.
Happy Memorial Day and thanks for your service to the veterans out there (which I am one of) and thanks for your giving to those that never came home.
The kids after dinner on Sunday night. Yes that is my goofy (but beautiful) daughter hogging the frame and my son comparing his calves to mine - he still has some work to do - LOL
Creek crossing at Sprague Brook - if you zoom you can see my wet tire tracks on the gravel and the single track starting back up across the water. It is awfully low because it has been dry but that keeps my shoes dry!

Sunshine - plenty of it this weekend!
One of my favorite pictures from the weekend. Looking up through the tall tress on the single track performing a perfect sun filter.
Good night - Sunset in West Falls, NY Sunday May 30th, 2010. I took about 5 different shots on the way up the hill but this one stood out.

Sunday's Bike Ride

2010-05-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

I have so many awesome pictures but our home laptop does not have a photo program to compress them so I am stuck waiting until Tuesday when I return to work to post them. I took the mountain bike out to the park again today, did some great trail rides, then met Todd for some tour training and dinner.

Ended up at just over 50 miles for the day and I am 12 miles short of 900 for the month. Do I stupidly take the bike out for 1 hour tomorrow just to hit 900 or do I take my original plan and just run and call it a day? Only tomorrow will tell but I am thinking a run is on tap and then relax time.

Two fun times on the bike today. I unclip, lean right (not far enough), tilt left, and tumble into some trees the first time. Good thing the trees were there or I was rolling about 20 feet down further. Second one same scenario but it did not involve trees and I did not become unclipped from the bike so I ended up laying on the side hill with my straight up in the air attached to my foot. I was dying of laughter on this one, then I unclipped, held the bike by the seat, stood up, and dragged the bike up to the trail by the seat. Unreal. The worst part was no one was there to see it or take pictures!

Happy Memorial Day :)

I Am Plagurizing (sp?) From My Tour Blog - Sorry :)

2010-05-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday In The Neighborhood

Well which neighborhood might you ask??? I was in about 5 different ones doing different errands getting ready for the trip and then having a great ride followed by some awesome fellowship. I started the morning off heading off to Chestnut Ridge Park for a little trail run to get the day going. Then I meandered off to Lancaster and Tom's Pro Bike to pick up a bike box. Tom has an awesome shop and if you need something stop on by for a look around. Then I booked down to the YMCA for a real short and fast swim. I have aspirations of doing another triathlon this summer if time and my body allows so I work on swimming from time to time since it is my weakest link.

After that I had an awesome fellowship time with some youths and adults from our Sunday

School Class. Nothing like hanging out with teenagers to give you a sense of what fun really is. Thanks guys for a memorable breakfast and PRay I will challenge your 7 pancake record on the tour I promise :). I then headed into the city to get a new bed for our spare room (isn't this an exciting day :) ) and took it home and set it up.

Now the fun begins - Ride time. Took the bike down some hills, up some hills, and realized I needed some public clothes so I stopped by home before heading off to a little get together. I got just over 40 miles in today and loved every one of them. By the way if you ever want to get a good cry in be around your son as he prayers for protection over you and your Pastor on your bike ride after another special lady prayed for the girls that will be protected once this system gets put in place in Odessa. Thanks you two - I was perfectly content not crying all weekend long :) but I still love both of you but Jake more so since he is my blood :).

Time to clean up and relax and head to the most awesome church in the world tomorrow morning.

Mountain Biking

2010-05-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a short post because all I have to say is I love Mountain Biking.

I didn't take pictures. I didn't have a care in the world. I was on my mountain bike at Sprague Brook and I was happy!

Afterward I did my first trail run in my Five Fingers and that was awesome as well.

The only thing that could have topped this was a swim in a lake to cool off afterward.

Tour Departure is 1 week. Follow us here: http://freedomtour.opwc.org/

Click on the Blog section, enter your e-mail address, and you will get notifications of our blog updates. I promise not to sell your e-mail address because I don't have access to them. Our designer might know how to pull them but don't worry - I DON'T!!!

Have a great day and ride your bike if you have one. If you don't - Shaking My Head wondering why not?????? You don't know what you are missing :)

Weekend Recap

2010-05-25T09:36:00.001-07:00

Well the weekend came off without a hitch!

Friday was a short ride after I got a bunch of errands taken care of then we took my son to dinner. Got just over 31 miles in on the mountain bike.

Saturday was a rain filled day so we cleaned the house, moved rooms around, found all my missing dress socks, and rode in the rain. We did just over 50 miles and had to change 2 flats on Todd and Jeff's bikes. But I remained solid in that department.

Sunday was crazy busy. Had church with the kids leading worship at both services, had to get our lunch meets for the week, family birthday for my son, then I left and headed home to hit the road. Ended up doing over 40 Sunday with my buddy Bret. Great ride and great conversation.

Monday was 3 hours of yard work followed by a 5 hour mountain bike ride. That got me around 50 miles. So I hit 170 miles in the 4 days, which is a good sign for me on the upcoming tour, because I rode to work today and the legs actually felt strong.

I did have a funny point yesterday. I was riding down Murray Hill road which is a seasonal road and they were doing some patching work on it. I came upon the work crew which had the road blocked so I said hi and road on some rocks in the culvert and went around them. One guy yells you have more b*lls than I do. I thought to myself I hope you are not here when I get back and you see me ride up the road. I mapmyrun.com'ed it today and it was over 20% grade at points. Thank goodness for my granny gear on my mountain bike. The type of hill where you worry about flipping backwards so there was a lot of leaning forward and keeping weight over front wheels.

I should have brought the camera but it was 85 and I didn't want to lug it around. I will get some shots in the near future.

9 days to the tour!

The Weekend

2010-05-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

Mine started earlier than usual since I took yesterday off of work. I laid in bed until 9:30am (still amazed at that - 7:00am is usually my max but I think my body is getting Tour mode. The wife and I then had to run a lot of errands (and I still have a lot more to run today and Monday) and I was getting grumpier and grumpier as the morning turned into early afternoon. One last key errand had to be run - dropping Ice Cream Sandwiches off for my son's 12th birthday party at school. His teacher gave us rave reviews of him as a young man and I was a very proud dad at that time.

We flew home, unloaded the vehicle, and I started seeing who was riding or not. I had a lot of interest in dirt riding at Sprague Brook but 2 people wanted to ride so I hit the mud on the snowmobile track for a while before we met up on the road. I forgot the camera but I got an easy 31 miles in on the 29'er Felt and then headed home for birthday dinner with son.

Today is rainy so I guess I will get wet on the bike and tomorrow we have the family portion of his birthday again. Remember when birthdays only lasted 1 day???? After that I am riding and I promise Sprague Brook that I will be there Monday with bells on!

I wonder if on my tour it would be odd for me to find a mountain bike to rent for the day on our off days and ride some dirt then as well. I enjoy asphalt but dirt and gravel is my true love!

Have a great weekend everyone and remember it is free to sign up to follow us on our Tour. We will be blogging daily as long as computer access is available and hopefully providing some good insights into what God is doing in our lives!

2 Weeks

2010-05-20T05:10:00.001-07:00

2 weeks from today we will be en-route to Mobile, AL for the start of Freedom Tour 2010. We don't actually start riding our bikes until Friday June 4th but I am sure there will be a lot of stuff happening June 3rd to equal a physical day.

Last night Todd and I did 40 miles after work so that put me at 60 for the day. I am shooting for the same today but we have our Annual Church Meeting tonight at 7:00pm so I need to make sure I am there on time. It would be nice if I could sneak a shower in before as well so I see a 50 mile day.

Tomorrow I am going mountain biking at Sprague Brook. The trails should be dried out and the pavement is getting sort of old. I think I will have enough pavement ahead me in June! Time to play in the dirt!!!!

Have a great day and get out there and ride your bike!

Vibram Five Fingers KSO Trek - A Review

2010-05-19T05:01:00.001-07:00

I have been researching the Five Fingers for a long time now. Many posts I had read specifically mentioned not ordering online until you knew your size because the fit was so different from regular shoes. I would look for them while traveling but never came across them. A couple of weeks ago a local tri shop posted on Facebook that they were now stocking them and it put the plan back into motion for me to try them. I ended up with them from a different store, a large national outdoor gear shop, but they replanted the seed.

As of last night, I have now run in them 8 times for a total of roughly 13 miles. Everything I read stressed starting out slowly in them so I have been doing 1, 1.5, or 2 mile runs in them. I might have been able to progress a little faster because all of my recent running shoe purchases have been flats with the thought of reducing stability and cushion while moving towards the Five Fingers as soon as I came across a pair.

I have not had any discomfort at all so I must be progressing properly and not overdoing it. Last night was a 2 mile run on the treadmill and my legs felt great besides the general overall fatigue from all the riding I have been doing of late. I did develop a small hot spot on the ball of my right foot big toe area. You definitely will need to build the skin toughness up along with bone/muscle comfort if you plan on going this route.

The basis of me going to Five Fingers and lack of stability in my shoes comes from the nerve problem I developed in my left leg. I am willing to try anything to see if it loosens up that issue and I am able to marathon train again in the future. I read many people speaking of leg/back issues disappearing once they moved to this shoe and I wanted to see if it works for me as well. As of today it has but then again the long run is 2.0 miles so I need to build up to 3.0 and longer to determine if they will help with the nerve issue.

If you are interested in barefoot/no stability running I definitely recommend purchasing the Vibram Five Fingers. I went with the KSO Trek because I plan on using them as my tour shoe and also trail running when we return. If all continues well I will drop down to the standard KSO or other type depending on what my needs are at that time.

My overall rating after 1 week - 5 toes up :)

Have a great day!

Saturday's Long Ride on Tuesday????

2010-05-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

The forecast was calling for sunny skies, some wind (shocking I know), and temps in the 50's. Without the wind that would have been an awesome day on the bike, but how would the wind play out - that was the QUESTION of the day.

I headed south towards Ellicottville because they have Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizzas at a local gas station and I just love those for fuel. Leaving my house I climb up to the highest road point in Erie County and the wind is always worst up there than anywhere else. I cruised down the other side into the valley and had an awesome ride towards my fuel stop.
I passed this awesome cemetery on the way and decided to snap a couple of photos. They must have owned all that land behind it back in the day. Picture that before modernization took over!

Back on the road I took a road that I have never ridden on and was very excited. I love new roads on the bike because things are more apparent than in a car.A view of my new road - nice wind block from hills on both sides and this was a very enjoyable part of my day. This will become a regular staple in my Ellicottville rides from now on!
Fuel!!!!! Yeah. I polished this off pretty easily and headed back inside for a peanut butter cup surprise. $1.19 for a 2 Pack and $1.39 for a 4 Pack. That was an easy decision. 2 for now and 2 for on the road back home. Refilled water and gatorade and headed east towards some new bike roads as well.
I saw this awesome barn on the way into town but didn't snap a shot. This was heading east bound and I was pedaling and shooting at the same time. I hope that is not illegal but I just loved this barn for some reason.

Continuing on towards Machias, my plan was to head north to Wales and eat at the Subway in town and then finish up my 100 mile day fully fed. The wind was fun at times and the road steadily climbed with no major hills - just uphill. I was looking forward to Subway that is for sure.

I rolled closer and saw no cars in the lot. That was strange. Saturday afternoon. Close to lunch time. I figured it would be hopping. Get closer and it is closed. That is not good!!! Plan B is called into action. Ration my last Peanut Butter Cup and just head home. That would put me at 85 instead of 100 and I was quite happy with that!This is the creek close to home. I love riding over this bridge. You can see so many different light variations depending on the weather.

The ride was a success and my legs hate me but I think the tour will be manageable. Just need to make better use of my food intake opportunities!

Questions - It is always about the questions

2010-05-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

So the first question today is do I do a weekend summary without posting anything from Saturdays ride. I forgot my pictures at home on that laptop. I could not find 5 minutes yesterday to move them to my zip drive and bring that with me to work so what to do?

The second question is why my legs feel alright after doing 173 miles since Friday afternoon when I left work?

The last question is will I be crazy and commute all week or just write tomorrow off to the weather and take an easy day?

Answer #1 - Nope no summary. I will remember photos tomorrow and will do that report and then do a summary on Wednesday - aren't you excited?

Answer #2 - I have no idea because when we first left yesterday my legs hated me for about 20-30 minutes. That could be because I spent 2 hours mowing the lawn.

Answer #3 - Easy day if I guessed right now

See you tomorrow with photos and ride summary - it was a glorious ride!

One other thing - tour website: http://freedomtour.opwc.org/ Send it to your friends if you think they would like to follow us ride 1700 miles starting June 4th in Mobile, AL. There is a list of sponsors that have helped us with logistics or lodging and we would appreciate any support for them if you are need of their services!

A Day Behind

2010-05-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well I just got in from a long ride - 85 miles in just over 5 miles. This was not a hard ride by any means but the wind sure made it interesting at points. There were not any huge hills I had to worry about - just larger rollers. Not a lot of time out of the saddle so they must have just been typical to my regular journeys locally. I purposely stayed off the side roads that I was riding for TransIowa because this is my longest ride since early April and I don't want to blow up before our tour.So in typical Bill fashion I am going report on yesterday's ride and play Ketsup all weekend long.

See that first picture - the sun was shining :) - It was about time!I was cruising down Rt-240 and I saw this awesome small waterfall so I pulled over, climbed down to creek level and took some pictures of it. I love how the light is filtering down.
My home away from home for the majority of the year. I mountain bike here during the summer and this is my favorite ski trails because I can go get lost and not see a soul. People don't realize what they are missing and this is 1 hour via bike or 20 minutes via car from my house - Yes I am blessed!Found this area - Will be exploring that on skis this winter for sure. Looks like it might be snowmobile accessible with the bridge to the left but I am sure I will find lots and lots of deep powder to explore on the skis!I took the Felt Breed - A single speed cyclocross bike that I have commuter slicks on. I decided to try it on the single track but I knew it was going to be dicey because of all the rain we had this week and the tires. I didn't go down but came close a few times. This is one of my favorite bikes - I love the simplicity of it. 1 bottle cage, no gears to worry about, quick reacting.With the rain we had some pretty vicious winds as well. This was blocking the single track so I thought I would give it some press time because I am sure the trail club will have this bugger diced up this weekend. It could be gone right now as a matter of fact.

Tomorrow I will post the photos of today's ride and then wrap up the weekend with a Monday recap. By the way I was eating a recovery shake while typing this - Vanilla Ice Cream, Frozen Fruit, Vanilla Protein Powder - YUMMY :)

Have a great day and get out and ride those bikes!

This Weekend

2010-05-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

Friday	Saturday	Sunday
63° F \| 47° F	58° F \| 40° F	65° F \| 45° F
Chance of Rain 30% chance of precipitation	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy
Hourly	Hourly	Hourly

This weekend I ride. Last weekend stunk, this week has stunk, and I need to ride my bike.

Thanks to the on-set of Flex Time at work my weekend starts at 1:00pm est today. I have a 30 minute drive home and then I change, kiss the wife goodbye, and ride my bike.

I have to be home by 6:30 to clean up for my daughter's school concert so I am looking at 4 hours on the bike today.

Tomorrow I have nothing. My Saturday riding buddy is in church conferences all weekend so I can ride when I want and where I want. I see a century happening (might be metric might be standard - only time will tell).

Sunday - I drop the kids off at 5:15 for Youth Group worship team practice and then I ride until 8:00pm when I have to pick them up. I will just park at the church so that will be almost 3 hours in the saddle.

Next weekend I hope for the same weather and I hope to do an overnight bikepacking trip Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday to make sure my camping set up for the tour is all set!

Have a great weekend and get out there and ride your bikes!! I plan on taking a lot of photos also :)

Freedom Tour 2010

2010-05-13T05:51:00.000-07:00

Well we leave Buffalo, NY for Mobile, AL on June 3rd. By my calendar that 3 weeks from today.

Am I ready??? Only time well tell. I still have some logistics to take care of but physically I just don't know. The weather around here has been crap of late with wind and rain or just wind or just rain. Either way you look at it - crap!

I have been riding, just nothing long or sustained. My commuting has come to a halt because I was getting sick of riding home in 20+ mph winds and now it is raining all week long. It does not worry me, I just enjoy riding my bike and would love for the weather to return to somewhat normal May temps and precip levels for the Buffalo area. Is that too much to ask?

I was hoping to do a ride/camp/ride day this Friday and Saturday morning but the weather is not looking good and I refuse to ride in the rain, just to camp in the cold, and then ride home in the cold again. Plus I found out my daughter has a concert Friday night at school so I will use that as my main excuse and not the weather.

It might happen Saturday to Sunday morning but I would have to be up early and flying home in time for church. I prefer Friday to Saturday because I can relax Saturday so I might put it off until next weekend.

Outside of that I need to get the bike tuned up, a bike cardboard box to ship it to Alabama in, a front rack and panniers to match :), and some more bike mileage.

Here is the link to our website if you would like more information:

http://freedomtour.opwc.org/

Have a great day and get out there and ride your bike!

Wow It Is May

2010-05-04T04:50:00.000-07:00

Well life has somewhat returned to normal. As normal as life gets when you are working, have a family with 2 children that believe you are a taxi service, and when you are trying to prepare for a 1700 mile bike tour in 1 month. Yes somehow I don't think this would quantify as normal!

I have been riding and I have been battling wind. It has been windy in this part of the country for about 1 month now. Not much rain but the wind has been relentless. My commute is pretty much south east to north west and the opposite on the way home. The winds have been blowing in every direction and it is just tiring. Mentally and physically tiring.

Last Thursday my buddy who is doing the tour with me and I headed out for a ride. I told him no matter what it was going to stink so we headed due west into the teeth of the wind. We got 25 miles out or so and were lucky to avg 13-14 mph and that was with a high h/r. Hit the turnaround point and cruise home at 17-18 avg and that was zone 1 the whole way!

I got home and was refreshed from the ride home. The legs recovered while on the bike and all was great!

Wind wind go away - I don't want you back any other day either!

Have a great day and I need to bring photos in from my camping/bike trip with my son and do a little write up about that - maybe this will remind me!

TransIowa Follow Up

2010-04-26T08:11:00.001-07:00

This has been quite the interesting 2+ weeks since I announced I was withdrawing from TransIowa V6.

I posted that on a Sunday and the Monday/Tuesday of that week we had some doctors come and look at my father because we were going to be leaving him home alone for 10+ days. Tuesday I spent in Kansas City for the day working and it was determined that he needed to be placed in a rehabilitation nursing home to work some issues out.

He had a huge bowel obstruction and was not able to have a normal bowel movement and was not taking his Parkinson medication and so he was locking up and was unable to live properly on his own.

Wednesday afternoon he was approved for immediate placement into Father Baker Manor but it was under the conditions that if he did not improve or improved drastically to the point of self-sufficiency he would be discharged with 24 hours of notice. We were scheduled to leave on Friday for Colorado so that trip got put off for now.

There was still a possibility of Iowa happening (if I had not withdrawn) and life went on as normal as could be. The following week the kids were on spring break so I took Tuesday off and we took a some friends to Erie, PA for Chick-Fil-A and a fun time in Presque Isle State Park. We checked on dad daily and my wife received a phone call Thursday that my father had progressed to self-sufficiency and was being discharged Friday after lunch.

For Iowa I would have had to be in Grinnell, IA by 6:00pm for the meet and greet and official race meeting.

We picked him up and got him settled back at home on Friday. Saturday was not a good day because I thought about where I would be in Iowa at certain times and I was just not in a good spot. I crashed early Saturday night and then I woke up around 10:30pm and went to hang out with my daughter and watched some of Lion King 2 for some reason - LOL.

Around 11:00pm I ask for her IPod touch and did some TransIowa research. I found out that the race was canceled 80 miles or so in because of weather and 6 people where in North English, IA at the finish line - A malt shop that the owner was so nice to keep open and feed the finishers!

What does all this mean - there were some questions about what type of God would not want me to participate in TransIowa. I don't believe God didn't want me to participate - I believe God knew what was coming down the line and the best thing for the RD and everyone else involved was for me to pull the plug so we could move on in another direction for this year.

It sucked - I will be the first to admit it. It really sucked. I am still very disappointed but I also appreciate how God opened the way for stress to be reduced so that the real stress of everything else hitting at once was manageable.

The God I serve is a loving God and one that wants us to enjoy life - He knew something that I had no idea was about to happen and he prepared me for it. For that I will be forever thankful!

TransIowa V6 - The Withdrawal

2010-04-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

Wow - I would have in a million years ever imagined me typing those words as a subject line. I found out about TransIowa 4 years ago and have been enamored with it ever since. I signed up for V4 only to back out due to a strong dream in which I specifically felt God telling me to scrap the plans. The race lasted 30 out of 320 miles due to rain/flooding.

I made it halfway last year in V5 and had that as inspiration/motivation/bulletin board information for the past 50 weeks. I used it every time I hurt on the bike, every time I questioned if I should be riding, every time I wanted to stay home during 10 degree weather instead of training outside. Maybe that is where the problem lies - I used it instead of asking God to show me if what I was pursuing was a worth enough cause and if it brought Him the Glory He deserves or if it was selfish and reckless ambition for my personal gain!

Last night as I prepared for Phase 2 of my final Saturday TransIowa ride our power goes off at 5:30pm. I was set to leave at 6:00pm. What is a man of faith supposed to do? Does he just leave his family at home without power for a ride or does he try and figure things out. We call the electric company and they say no later than 8:00pm. I ride down the road and see the crew working already and they say should be 7:30pm at the latest. I settle in for my ride at 6:30pm with dinner plans with the family at a local pizzeria as soon as my daughters friend shows up.

We have dinner, have a great time laughing and chatting, and we say our goodbyes. I look at my wife and tell her something doesn't feel right and I don't see this ride lasting all night long but I am going to take it as it comes and I set off. I get about 30-40 minutes away from the pizzeria and go for a drink of water and my bottle is not there. I left it in the restroom as I prepared to head out - one last bladder emptying. I call home and ask her to tell the pizzeria I will be back for it, turn around, and start heading back.

It is approximately 9:00pm and I am riding on Taylor Road in Hamburg, NY. I look up at the night sky for the first time since I headed out and see the stars and the night time glory and I feel this deep sense of satisfaction. It is going to be a great night for a ride!

Then it happens, all of a sudden I have this inner voice calling out to me as clear as the night sky was - Bill don't do TransIowa - it will be fine!

I slow down to a coast basically and say I want to! No reply. I want to! No reply. I have been riding for 50+ (and many more) weeks training for this and I want to! I know I can do it this year! Please Lord let me have the chance! Nothing. Me and the night!

I become totally at peace and say the following to the nighttime audience - God I am good with not doing TransIowa if it be Your will. My life is yours and I submit to you. I am not going to ask you show me again not to do it. All I ask is that if I should do it that you show me as clear as you showed this by Monday morning when I get into work to send the RD my withdrawal e-mail.

I get my water bottle, head up the hill to my house, call it a night, and tell my kids what is happening. They ask why? The greatest response possible comes to mind - Because I listen to God!

For those that have offered encouragement and peace to me since last year - I am so thankful. I have such a great peace right now that it is hard to explain. I am good. Will TransIowa happen again in the future? Only the RD and God know for sure! I am good with that.

I refuse to go through life searching for fullness or peace in a race. And that is what I was after! That is why it is not meant to be! Where does this take me? I have no idea - but I know this I am going to go ride my bike because I love to ride my bike - not because I have to train for TransIowa!!!

I have 2 choices - to listen and obey or to ignore. Your Will be done, not mine Lord.

Wish My Mind Was As Quiet As My Blog!

2010-04-05T04:46:00.000-07:00

Well I have been riding for TransIowa and my blog has been quiet but believe me my mind has not been. Here is a recent thread post that I put on beginner triathlete and shows a small glimpse of where my brain was last week :)

Well in 3 weeks plus less than 18 hours I will be at a predetermined, yet unknown, starting line in Grinnell, Iowa ready to ride 320 miles in 32 hours or less. I will have directions to the first checkpoint, nervous flutters in my stomach, a mind racing like mad, and the knowledge that I have ridden as many possible days since last years DNF and with as much intensity as I had each day. Nothing else

Checkpoint #1 will be somewhere in the 40-60 mile range most likely, based on previous years editions. It will be a fun start with a rollout of about 1-2 miles depending on how it is set up and there is rumor it is going to be police escorted! I will hit checkpoint #1 well within time, get my directions, to checkpoint #2, refill some water and get some fuel in me, and head out.

Checkpoint #2 - Last year it was 110 miles away. We had until 7:00pm to make it. Those 110 miles were on some of the most desolate and hilly roads that I have ever seen. 90% of it was gravel. 10% was either asphalt or "b" class roads that forced you to walk you bike! I had never experienced a hurt tank like I did last year and fortunately I had someone along side me to get my mind back into it and to Eric I will be grateful forever!!! Somewhere after the truck stop refueling and equipment shuffling and checkpoint #2 I lost Eric. I turned around and he was gone. We spoke afterwards and he just said he dropped off the back like we each had been doing over the course of 70-80 miles, made a wrong turn, and we were separated. I made it to checkpoint #2 in time but, as some on here that know me, I declined the offer to take a new set of directions, bailed on the race, called the sag wagon in, and went back to the hotel!

This week I have been focusing on Checkpoint #2, my mindset, and my physical state as well. I could have continued - my legs were still strong but my mind was shot! Every spin of my crank since last May has been for 1 goal and 1 goal only - not to just stand at the starting line with some of the strongest (physically and mentally) bike riders in the midwest and other parts of the US, but to have my rear tire roll into an unknown barn location in Grinnell, Iowa some 26+ hours later as a finisher of TransIowa V6.

I do not seek victory - I seek understanding.
I do not want accolades - I want peace.
I do not seek something that is unattainable - I seek the feeling of seeing friends and family that have persevered through my training over the last 3+ years as I have sought first physical strength, and then mental fortitude to complete this journey.

I want to thank those that have shared words with me about my attempt from before last year, to the heartfelt anguish words of failing, and back again to the start line this year.

This will not be Bill Graves crossing the finish line - it will be wgraves7582 of www.beginnertriathlete.com crossing the finish line.

There will be other journeys in the future. This I know. But as the saying goes I have this fish to fry first. After that watch out because you are going to be reading about some sick events that I am training for!

BT Rocks!!!! (A little picture from the middle of Iowa for those that think it is flat!)

Enjoy!

TransIowa Training Part Deux

2010-03-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

Well Saturday was another big test for TransIowa. I had a hilly 100+ mile ride set up and wanted to hit the road nice and early to get some early hour training in. TransIowa starts at 4:00am so your body better be ready to go nice and early. Mother Nature had another plan in store - lows in the mid-teens warming up to 40 or so. Come on that is crazy so I delayed to 8:30am to let the sun shine somewhat!

Yes I will be riding all the way down in the far valleys - far far away :)

After my delay I headed out and started to head towards "ski country". In Western New York we have Lake Erie to our west and then some nice hills about 20+ miles inland that just dumped on with Lake Effect snow all winter long. My house is on the northern boundary line and we generally miss the big ones and they settle to the south. I pedaled towards Springville and then kept heading further south to my lunch refueling location of Ellicottville.

Just on the outskirts of Ellicottville, NY - glad this was downhill at this point - I was ready for lunch :)

I pulled into Ellicottville at 1:00pm and grabbed a personal pan pizza, pop, water, and chocolate milk. All was well except the Chocolate Milk - made for some interesting immediate post-lunch climbs but I survived :) They were still skiing also - which surprised me because KB by my house has been closed for over 1 week now. Different climates :)

Holimont off in the distance - I should have taken a picture when I was closer but I was ready to ride :)

Part of the allure of TransIowa is the thrill of walking some sections AKA hike-A-bike's. These are either a necessity because of the conditions of the roads, the steepness of the hill the RD throws in, or a combination of the 2!!!! I was hoping to come across some of both on this ride to test the bike out and test the legs out. Well I found it - sometimes that which you ask for is not a good thing :) I remember how much they hurt last year!!!

This was just after a nice 1/4 mile or longer hike a bike hill section. The road was pretty soft so it was a good Iowa test for sure!

So I headed out of Ellicottville and started to make my way back north towards home. I knew there would be some fun times ahead and I just pedaled along enjoying the scenery and lack of traffic. Then I came across this:

I had no backup plan so I walked around the barrier and rode down to see how bad it was. Last fall we had some nasty thunderstorms blow through and I thought this might be the result of some heavy flooding we received. A little down the road I came across this:

Just as I figured out - wash out. I walked across and up the hill and headed out. I came across some more down in the Zoar Valley area but there I decided to turn the bike up the biggest meanest hill that made me walk again instead of tempting fate. I had a sense of where I was but no real directions but it worked out in the end.

Cruised home from there after another refueling stop. All in all a 109+ mile day in the saddle, some great training for Iowa, and a great time on the bike. One more huge day coming before we head to Colorado and then it will be a lot of spinning and just having fun on the bike :) But then again hills like that and hike-a-bikes are fun - that is why I do what I do I guess :)

Get out there and ride!

TransIowa Training Weekend

2010-03-22T08:09:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was a gorgeous cool dry weekend. It reminded me of late September/Early October time around Western New York but the leaves are already on the ground then and they are just getting ready to bud now (if even this early - it is only March 22nd I keep reminding myself!)

Saturday I set the alarm for 6:00am and tossed and turned for a while before getting up, eating some oatmeal, confirming forecast, and getting dressed for the bike ride. I probably didn't get out of the house until around 6:45 or a little later but that is alright.

I forgot the camera though - that is not alright!

Out the door I went and headed off to never never land. No particular direction in mind - just lots and lots of miles (next weekend is my TransWesternNewYork bike route ride so I have a plan for then). I toured West Falls, Orchard Park, East Aurora, Elma, Lancaster and maybe even Alden (depends on where the town line falls for them). I rode flat, I rode hills, basically I just rode.

My plan was to be home by 12:00-12:30 and rolled in around 12:45. My wife tells me Todd (my Freedom Tour partner) wants to ride a little. I gulp, say ok, run my son to his friends house, ate as much as possible in that short of a time, and head out again for a 1:30 meet up at the country store.

I arrive about 1:33 and walk into the store to grab a gatorade and peanut butter cup. Come out expecting to see Todd in the lot but no where to be seen yet. I gulp some gatorade and down the PB Cups and head off down towards the way Todd ALWAYS goes (you know it is interesting story time when someone capitalizes ALWAYS right?).

I am traveling down figuring I will see him over the next crest, turn on Davis expecting to see him just barely down the road, cruise through Jewett Holmwood, determine he had a mechanical and figure I will find him in his garage when I arrive at his house. Well he is not there, but his son is. So we call and he is at the country store. He went Jewett Holmwood to Freeman which he never does unless he is going to see his in-laws!

We laugh and determine to meet on the route I just came down. Hook up occurs at post office, so we head south to Kissing Bridge area. Great conversation occurs and we determine on our way back that pizza has been earned. We pull into Bob's store and grab a slice of pizza, eat it, have some more good conversation, and head our separate ways home. Almost 9 hours on the bike Saturday.

Sunday I realize the sump pump has died. So I go to church, skip Sunday School, head to Hardware Store, fix sump pump, change again, head off to Sprague Brook on my 29'er Mountain Bike.

Forgot camera again :(

I severely under-prepared for this ride! I didn't bring tire bars if I flatted but was not too worried about that because the tires usually come off fairly easy. I did not have enough water/food for the ride but wanted to see how I reacted sort of like in a TransIowa situation! I did a scout trip for TransWesternNewYork ride and did some major hill climbs. Glad I had the granny gear on the bike for sure!

Made it to the park and was going to see how the cross country trail area was for riding - too wet. I turn back around and head home figuring I would cruise up a nice flat stretch but had a headwind the whole way home :(. Took some side turns and hit some more major hillage for our area. Made it home and was done for the day and weekend!

All together just over 130 miles and almost 12 hours in the saddle. More to come!

Sunrise Walk Into Work

2010-03-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

A nice picture of the lighthouse and the thawed Lake Erie!!!!!

I think I was officially tired this morning. So I slept in a little, put my beautiful daughter on the bus, and drove to work without stopping at the gym. I got to work pretty early and it was too nice of a morning out to go spend an extra 60 minutes locked inside a cubical so I walked around the marina and cobblestone district of Buffalo and took some pictures.

My first stop was the Vietnam Veterans Monument - These soldiers fought a very difficult war - My heart breaks every time I see a movie or read a story about this time period.
A poem by a veteran they have inscribed by the memorial wall.

The morning was cool so I threw my hat and gloves on, plugged my ears with IPod music, got the camera ready, and headed out. We have some very cool features in Downtown Buffalo around the Marina so I walked around down there and then headed over by HSBC Arena.

Yep the furthest west point of The Erie Canal

So I continued on my walk and the sun started to rise.
Just creeping up over the horizon. I had to keep walking further east because of that building on the left - it kept blocking the sun!!!And the final shot up towards downtown Buffalo from the Cobblestone District. See the cobblestone on the road - they do a crit race here each summer - I have not been brave enough to attempt that but maybe this will be the year!

Have a great day and get out there and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Weekend Training - Rain Drop Dodging

2010-03-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I had visions of doing 50 mile bike rides in the sunshine and spring warmth of Western New York.

Well mother nature did not agree with me at all so I cut the mileage back and punished myself by doing some hill work around the area. I ended up doing 2 20 mile bike rides but got some serious good hill work in. That is the great thing about my house; if I want to do hills I don't have to travel at all.

First of all I swam more between Friday morning and this morning than I have in any month in my whole life and my arms are dead!

Saturday I woke up and did my swim/run combo workout at the YMCA and then ran our typical Saturday errands. The forecast was for rain all day long so I was mentally preparing myself for a wet ride by taking a Saturday afternoon nap. I then picked my daughter and her friend up from the movies and by the time I convinced myself a ride is necessary the rain had moved out of the area.

I did a loop around our incorporating some small, medium, and large hills. I think my average speed ended up being only 13 mph or so, not that I am wicked fast, but for my avg to be under 15 means there were a lot of hills involved. And it did not rain!!!!

Sunday I had this brilliant idea of waking up at 4:00am and going for a 3 hour ride before church. Well with daylight savings time and the lost hour I thought better and slept in. I had to clean snow of the car when we finally did leave for church so I think it was a well planned sleep in!

Did another swim/run workout after church and then had a birthday party to attend. Took the kid's to Youth Group, went home and put my earlier workout in my BT log, got changed, and headed out for another ride. I was going to go solely flat and on my way down to the lowland I had a great idea - head up one of the bigger hills around and take that to the flat ground.

I did some more hills on the way home and decided I was officially tired!

Today is Mechanic Monday as I have to fix the commuter's flat that has been there since last Tuesday, switch rear racks around, take the studded snow tire off of my Bianchi, clean her up from the winter, and then relax.

So no riding today but tomorrow is a commute. Hopefully I can get some nice spring time pictures to post.

Have a great day and go ride your bike if you have one - if not, go support your local economy and hit the LBS up and buy one :)

First Commute is in the Books

2010-03-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Today was the day I had picked out going back to last week - I was going to commute today as long as the forecast held - and it did.

The first commute is always a pain because I have to go back to last year and think about everything I brought with me, where it was, and how am I going to transport it downtown and back home.

Bike Lock - last used on Christmas Trip to Florida. Left in garage with keys on BBQ. Grabbed it last night and it was basically rusted (salted) shut. Shot some power lube into the lock and the key inserted but it did not turn. Crap - time to run to LBS for a new lock!

Lights - All set because of all of the riding I have been doing this winter. Picked a backup last night at LBS just in case.

Backpack - Well since I am going a tour this summer I have panniers so I decided to give these a shot. I loaded them up with everything I always carried in my backpack and the bike was heavier but my back was lighter :)

Bike - I generally take my Raleigh One Way for my commute. I put my cross tires on it recently for road riding just in case I hit some slush or snow. I put a little extra air in my tires because of the weight of the load it was carrying and headed off.

Well I made it about 1.5 miles from home and hit a bump and my rear wheel started making a noise. The tire did not seat properly so I lowered the pressure to re-seat it and headed back home. Made it about .75 miles and the tire went totally flat on me. Time for a hike/bike.

This gave my mind time to convince me I should just go for a run, clean up, and head off to work in the car. Figured I could hit the Y on the way home and do a workout there and all would be good. About 1/2 way home on the walking portion - for those following .75 ride/.75 walk so .375 or so into my walk - I got mad and decided I was going to fix the flat because I always leave earlier than necessary because of traffic and getting ready and cooling down.

The dilemma was which bike to ride???? Fix the flat on my One Way Single Speed or fix the flat that my touring Masi Randonneur got on the rollers somehow (explanation if you have one because I have no clue on that!).

Gears/Single Speed??

Downhill to work Single Speed is nice - Uphill home Gears are nice.

First commute of the year - take it easy

So I fixed the flat on the Masi, headed off to work, and got here in my standard 1 hour 5-10 minute. Ride home is always 1 hour 15-30 minutes depending on nutrition during the day. The last hill is a killer :)

It was nice not having a backpack also! Glad I went with the panniers!

My Final Snowmobile Trail Ride of the Season :(

2010-03-08T05:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I set my alarm for 6:00 am to get a short sunrise bike ride in before church. The thought came to me Saturday while I was out riding and decided to hit my valley overlook at 6:42'ish to get some photos.
The moon as I set out from the house - time was approximately 6:15am.

So I decided to do a little road spinning on the mountain bike to loosen up the legs. It felt good just cruising along so I took it easy and did a little more of that. I went out to the my closest far point because the point of the ride was sunrise and I did not want to miss it.
This spot is about 1/4 mile from my house through the woods. Unfortunately I have to ride my bike to get to the trail head but when I am skiing I get here pretty easily!

The sky teased me and so I set off at a leisurely pace. I read I had until around 6:42'ish so I was not pushing real hard and also because my legs were still a little sore from Saturday's workout (and the past weeks - who am I kidding!). I kept looking up and seeing the pinks/oranges but not the official sun so I kept riding.

Well I made it to the point where I knew I was getting close to my location (I had only ever been there at night so I was not real familiar with it) and then all of a sudden I turned a little more due east and the sun was blasting at me through the maple trees. I should have stopped to take a picture but took off in search of my spot.
This was the first spot I stopped to shoot it but I soon realized I had a better location - just had to rush over there before the sun hit the cloud line!

I put it into high gear (on my Single Speed mind you) and cruised through some more trees and then I hit my spot. I was afraid I would have to post hole through the meadow some but I was in perfect line with the sun so I shot away!
This photo made it worthwhile to be awake that early on a Sunday morning. I could feel the warmth on my face as I stared at the light source!

I was quite content at this moment. The sun was warming my face as I stared at it and I just felt a total peace sweep over me. These moments are so special and hopefully never forgotten.
I sat there a little while longer and then decided to drop off the trail and head back home. Going back on the trail would have meant substantial hike/bike and I just wasn't up to it. Plus I would have missed this shot!This is my favorite shot besides the road and telephone line. It looks like the trees are holding the sun up just for me!

I slowed to check out the sun some more and tried to see if the local church would have made for a good shot with the sun and steeple but there was a wing added on that would have blocked the shot so I rode on.

I wonder if people think I am crazy for riding that early in the morning but I think they are crazy because they missed this!

Have a great day!

Late Winter/Early Spring Bike Rides

2010-03-05T07:43:00.001-08:00

Wow - the sun has been shining so brightly this week. Sometimes I think it is because it has been so long since we last saw it around Buffalo. My ongoing statement about Buffalo is that the sun goes down November 1st and you don't see it again until April 1st. It returned early this year and it has been super awesome!

The bad thing is that your mind thinks back to when it was warm and sunny and you "think" it is a lot warmer than it really is. Especially when you add wind chill and bike speed to the equation. Wednesday afternoon I had an appointment with my bike tour buddy for a photo shoot so we could get some pictures of us riding our bikes up on the website. I got home early and left for a long warm up ride.

I knew it was cool so I put a wicking shirt on, then my Mountain Hardware shell, and 2 bike jerseys (this comes from TransIowa where they load up on the shirts and you control temperature with all the zippers!). It never bothers me leaving a little on the cold side because I figure I will warm up along the way. Well that never happened!

View off Buffalo from Chestnut Ridge Park. Large white building in middle of picture is the Bill's Practice Dome. That is a pretty cool facility. This gives you a hint as to the hill that I live on. I work downtown and love my commute to work - but the ride home gets tiring!
Toboggan Chutes at Chestnut Ride Park. They just re-opened this year after at least 15-20 years. What a blast!
My commuter bike set up. Right now it has cross tires on it but those will go flat once the weather breaks for good!
An action shot of me in our church parking lot.
My buddy (and tour partner and pastor) Todd and I riding together. There will be a lot of this coming up after TransIowa. I am ready for the tour but not TransIowa. How can someone be ready for a 1700 mile 30 day journey and not a 320 mile 32 hour journey? Because TransIowa is going to hurt!

Have a great weekend and I plan on getting some bike time in again!

Ski and Bike Trip from Sunday

2010-03-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a glorious day. We had a lot of wet, heavy snow fall from Friday to Sunday morning and the trees were coated in the most awesome snow coating I have seen around here in a long long time.

We did our typical Sunday routine - wake up, church, Sunday School, and then we divided and conquered. I had the kids and my wife went to sister's house to hang out with them. We ran a couple of errands, ate some lunch, and I suited up. I had about 2-2.5 hours until we had to leave for Gold Medal Hockey game party at a friends house.

These are my tracks from Saturday through this meadow - there are some cool Christmas trees in a little deeper but the bike would not make it!

So after all the snow and how awesome the skiing was on Saturday I decided to hit the cross country skis even though the trail looked awesome for snowmobile trail bike riding. It was a workout getting to the snowmobile trails on the skis and I regretted it. The snow was very wet and the skis were not gliding good enough. So I headed home and planned on a quick switchover to my bike gear.

The snowmobile trail heading east and downhill. This is where I do my hill intervals on the skis and snowshoes.

The switch went painless and I hopped on the bike hoping the trail would cooperate with me.

This tree just caught my eye - seems so lonely out in the middle of a cold empty meadow. I hope to check it out this summer and see what it looks like in it's full armor!

The horse ranch by our house - the horses were as interested in me as I was in them. They probably don't see much ski traffic

My first breakout and getting ready to ski downhill. I cannot believe I can go out my backdoor and get to this fun laden area with minimal effort and no gasoline at all!

This is our front tree and you can see how the snow weighed it down because it is usually spread wide open.

My winter snowbike - Single Speed Bianchi MUSS - great bike for trails if you are willing to walk it up hill!

So I got to the trail and it was in great condition. The sun was out and I only wished I had a lot longer to ride but I told the kid's we would go to the party and I wanted to keep my word even though selfishly I wanted to ride as far as possible before dark!
A shot of my bike with the trail heading west towards Lake Erie!

I know there won't be many more days like this in the near future and I will be restricted to road riding until TransIowa and then mountain bike trails once they dry out. Days like this make me want to move to Alaska and just ride around the middle of nowhere for as long as possible.

My studded snowtires that I picked up 2 winters ago in Colorado. I should swap that out for my regular tire but it cuts into my riding time :)

Well this is where the trail heads into Chestnut Ridge Park. I biffed it pretty good a couple of times when my tire would go from smooth crusty snow to mud snow but it is all fun and games when I don't get hurt. I think I went over the handlebars 2 times on this ride. Hopefully that keeps me safe on the asphalt the rest of the year :)

Get out there and ride your bike - this is so beautiful it is hard to express in words!

Snowboarding - Or Something Resembling It - LOL

2010-02-22T08:35:00.001-08:00

On the way out to the ski area on top of the hill was frozen fog - very cool!

Just another picture of the soon to be beautiful sun trying to peak through the clouds & fog

Yesterday a local ski area, Kissing Bridge, had a deal that was too hard to pass up. $25 for a beginner snowboard/ski lesson, rental, and 8 hour lift ticket. Now back in the day when I grew up skiing there was only 1 lift ticket and it used to cost $5.00 at Keystone in Colorado. Maybe I am dating myself, but I look back now and realize what a deal that was! Snowboarding was the only option because I know how to ski and he really wants to learn how to snowboard so off we went!

I had this preconceived idea that snowboarding would be simple because of all of my ski experience - boy was I wrong!!!!! We got our equipment and headed up the bunny hill - nothing like seeing a 43 year old on the bunny hill but hey you have to start somewhere! We got about 3 crash filled runs in before our lesson started. The instructors were very good but they forgot to mention one large key to snowboarding until almost the end of the 1 hour session - keep your weight forward not back!
My son on the tow rope - that was an experience in itself!

Ahhh to be 11 again and full of balance and limberness! He did great!

My son up on the big hill - he really did get the idea and I am sticking to skis!

We grabbed some pre-packed lunch in the truck and watched everyone ski/board down the mountain and decided to get back at it. He wanted to let his food settle - I told him it would settle on the walk back over.

The bunny hill was home to our assault for the next couple of hours and then we determined we were ready for the big stuff. We agreed on 1 run and then call it a day and go and rest. The one run took a while but it was all good.

We got home and he crashed so I took the bike out to stretch the legs. Not a real smart idea but it did feel good getting some good riding in!

The sun was out in it's glory all weekend and I got a full dose of 100% real vitamin-d and it was great! Hope you got to enjoy the same!

Back Country Skiing

2010-02-20T16:33:00.001-08:00

I woke up early Saturday morning to get some back country skiing in at Sprague Brook County Park. The snow won't be this nice for much longer and I have not gotten as much ski time in as I would like to so I took advantage this morning. I was tired, but saw sunshine peaking through the bedroom window, so I rolled out of bed and hit the road!

The author :)
The sun was not out at the park when I first got there and it took a while for it's glory to shine down on me, but when it finally did I was in heaven. I just stood in an open meadow with my face absorbing the sun's light in - refreshing!The sun was trying to sneak out here. This meadow was where I did some brutal interval training. The snow was so deep that if you stood still you would sink 2' under, so I forced myself to cruise around the meadow in a big figure 8 and it hurt!
Deep sunshine and the shadows it causes. I love the ripples the wind caused in the drifts - not much fun to ski through - but they were beautiful to see!
This is where I finally got to break trail. The people before me (yesterday and before) went straight so I turned left and had some fun in the trail breaking mode! Great workout!
So the Indians have dream catchers and I guess this tree has a snow catcher!
The creek that runs through the park. I have ridden my bike through it many times but have never had to ski through it - lol. I look forward to mountain biking there this summer but today was about the snow!The warming lodge. My car was alone at first and I only heard someone cough after I came out of the woods. There is no better place to find solitude than on a Saturday morning at the local county park. Glad my Friday's don't cause me the need to sleep it off on Saturday :)

Our Bodies And Their Engines!

2010-02-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

Our bodies are amazing engines the God created. We know when we have to go to the bathroom, we know (or sometimes just imagine it out of boredom) when we are hungry and need fuel for the engine, and we know, although some don't always listen, when we are tired and need rest.

My daily routine usually starts at 4:45 with the alarm clock going off (if snow is blocking clear escape out of the driveway I go with 4:15 so I can snow blow it clear - sorry neighbors :) ) and me hitting the snooze button 1 time. I always have a pretty full bladder upon waking up so after the first snooze I get up and take care of that matter and get ready to leave for the gym. This includes finishing packing my lunch, replacing my laptop back in my backpack, and getting everything out to the car for my escape. A kiss on my wife's cheek and off I am.

The Southtowns YMCA opens at 5:30am Monday-Friday and I try to arrive around 5:20 or so to score a close parking spot. No big deal if I am later than that I just have a longer walk. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday start off with Boot Camp Conditioning class at 5:45 and I do that until 6:30, hit the shower, and then the pool. Tuesday and Thursday I hit the pool first, clean up, head upstairs, stretch, run, lift, stretch some more, and head off to work after cleaning up.

Work goes from 8:30-5:30 right now (or later if we have a work deadline). I usually get into the office by 7:30 or 7:45 after my walk into the building from my free parking spot - scoreboard!!! There is a lot of sitting at work and most of my daily exercise is in the form of walking to the restroom or taking the stairs down a flight or two to other departments.

Head home and then the fun begins. I try to get a night time bike ride in 3-4 days a week and if I don't head right out for that then I am in trouble. Errand running occurs periodically also. Some nights I just don't feel like riding (bad weather is really the only reason :) ) and I will take the skis out into the back woods and do some cross country skiing around the area.

Weekends play out the same pretty much just a lot more errand running and church and Sunday School on Sunday's!

All of this to reach today. Last Friday night I did interval cross country ski hill climbing, Saturday I did the same hill but on my running snowshoes, and Sunday I ran 1.5 miles before church, swam 2/3 of a mile, back country cross country skied for 1.5 hours, and then did my rollers for 30 minutes. I was wiped out.

So long story short - yeah right - I get to this morning and upon leaving the rest room I have an epiphany - I am too tired to work out this morning and I need a break. I climb back into bed and give myself 5-10 minutes of rest and if I fall asleep then it is good, if not I get up and go workout. I crashed hard!!!!

Like I said our bodies are amazing engines and if we listen to them we can fine tune them pretty good!

Sunday brings snowboard lesson and skiing with my son. I am very excited about that and it should be a blast!!!!! Until then - bike riding, running, swimming, and lifting :)

Go Ride Your Bike!!!!!!

Mid February Status

2010-02-15T05:38:00.000-08:00

Well today is Monday and I am wiped out.

The weekend started Friday morning with Boot Camp Conditioning class and it was brutal. Did the work routine and Friday night dinner/errands routine and then decided to go do some cross country ski hill intervals. I don't know how the Olympic Athletes do that - brutal. I am contemplating skate skis though and think it would be easier but still those guys/gals are in fabulous shape!

Saturday morning I did a short ride on the snowmobile trails - the snow was too lose and I was hike/bike too much so I rode the roads and my bike did not have fenders so that was not any fun at all! Then I spent 3 hours at The Hub for our final basketball weekend awards ceremony, all-star game, and coaches vs. last year players. So this meant that I was playing against 17-19 y/o and trying to keep up with them. I had the distinction of being the oldest person on the court every time I was out there. I did alright - no points (missed an easy layup) - but had some very nice assists :)

Later that night after all was wrapped up I got this brilliant idea to go do Snowshoe Running Hill Intervals. Once again this is a brutal workout - snowshoe running on flat ground is hard enough - but add a nice 1/4 mile hill in there and the heart rate explodes!

Sunday morning I had to snowblow the driveway and then did a quick 1.5 mile run. We went to church/sunday school and then I did my Sunday errands (deli for lunch meats for the week!) and hit the Y for a lap swim. Got out of there just in time because some kid had an accident and they closed the pool. Got home, put away the food, grabbed my ski stuff and I headed off to Sprague Brook for some back country cross country skiing.

I love back country cross country skiing. There is nothing like pushing the skis through 1-2' of wind blown powder that no one had broken yet. It is so quiet, so exhilarating, so refreshing! I get out there and I want to move to the Rockies and just go disappear for the weekend: camping, skiing, sleeping, enjoying God's creation at it's finest :)

Got home from skiing and rested a little then I had to run the kids down to Youth Group. Got home from that and hit the rollers for 30 minutes. Did a very hard ride and it felt great. I love the rollers because it makes you focus on your form and balance and is a pretty good little workout because of all the secondary muscles you incorporate.

And today - Boot Camp Conditioning Class and I am dead!

Will have to see what tonight brings - hopefully something with pictures involved!

Loose Ramblings Running Through My Head

2010-02-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

So this weekend was a pretty busy weekend and there was also a little thing called the Super Bowl going on as well. I just have some ramblings that I need to get out of my head so I figured what better place to do that than on my blog!I remember my first boss back when I was 16 or so telling me that I was a non-conformist. We were discussing something at work and I did not even know what she meant at the time. Here is what Webster-Rogers has to say about it:

Nonconformism is, in general, the refusal to conform to common standards, conventions, rules, customs, traditions, norms, or laws.

Looking at it I guess my biggest fault is norms, then common standards, followed by conventions. I love rules, customs, traditions, and laws so I am good there. I wear jeans to church, I wear a hoodie in bed and even slept in one last night, and I just figure that this is my life and I want to experience things so many refuse to see the good in. So last night on my bike ride I was thinking about this because of 2 key points; 1) I was riding a bike in Buffalo, NY on a snowmobile trail and it was about 15 degrees outside and 2) I was not holed up watching the Super Bowl and pretty much made it a point to not be doing so just so I could tell people I did not even watch the "Big Game". I wonder if this makes me Non-American or as they like to say on beginnertriathlete: Why do you hate America? - lol

Then I came to an open meadow on the trail that I had not ridden on yet and was awed by the awesome emptiness I was in. The sky was clear, the stars were shinning, I was 2 miles from any type of civilization even though I could see lights on across the valley on the other hill. So I stopped and shut off my lights and just stared around. It is moments like this that make me want to have a good camera so I can take photos at night!

I thought back to the baptism service we had at church today and the 8 people that made an outward declaration of their belief in God and that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. What an awesome day it turned out to be. I had the privilege of seeing 8 baptisms, had some great fellowship at a potluck following, hung out with the family for a while, and got to ride my back into a world that very few ever do get to see and the ones that do are on a snowmobile just flying by it!

I thought about the Jenna, the 17 y/o who is battling Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and how I bet she would do anything to be able to ride a bike much less ride a bike into a frozen snow covered meadow and to see God's glory at it's finest in the stars, the skies, and the surroundings. And there are many more who are battling just like she is! But the good thing is there are many that have survived as well!

Her mom posted this in her blog yesterday: “When your faith endures many conflicts and your spirit sinks low, do not condemn yourself. There is a reason for your season of heaviness. Great soldiers are not made without war. Skillful sailors are not trained on the shore. It appears that if you are to become a great believer you will be greatly tested. If you are to be a great helper to others, you must pass through their trials. The uncut diamond has little brilliance, the unthreshed corn feeds no one, and the untried believer is of little use or beauty. There are great benefits to come from your trials and depression…Charles Spurgeon

Fight Jenna Fight! Now my mind is at peace and my prayers turn from self to Jenna and the many others needing God's loving comfort and grace at this time!

Sunshine or the lack thereof!

2010-02-04T06:57:00.001-08:00

If someone asked me what the worst part of living in Buffalo was I would tell them that sun goes down in November and does not come back around until March. Cold does not bother, snow does not bother me, heck I don't even mind the rain. But when you have cold, snow, and rain with no sun mixed in for 4-5 months it does become a little depressing!

I was getting ready to leave work yesterday and I looked out my window and saw pink on the building across the street. Could it be the sun setting and a photo opportunity? I doubted that it would last until I got out of work but held onto that little bit of pink hope.

So I got out of work at 5:30 and walked to my car with anticipation. I looked out towards Lake Erie and realized that it was pretty cloudy on the horizon. I don't know much about a lot of stuff but I know too many clouds do not make for a cool sunset. The marina is close by so my camera and myself headed down there in the car with hopes of finding something good to photograph.

Lake Erie through the small boat harbor at sunset. I wonder how long that piece of wood has
been sitting there pointing south?

The Lake Erie Buffalo Lighthouse. That is sitting on the Coast Guard base on the south side of the marina. I honestly don't know if they run it or not. I doubt they do in the winter because it is all frozen so no need for a light unless the birds are lost!

That is Canada off in the distance (over the break wall). This is probably the widest distance to Canada once you get to the Niagara River border area. It would be a good swim but more likely you would end up by Niagara Falls by the end because of the current the flows in once you get outside of the break wall!

A glamor shot of Downtown Buffalo since the other ones were pretty bleak and dreary looking since it was cloudy that morning (and pretty much every other morning around here!)

For some reason though I believe Spring is in the air and I am looking forward to it with great anticipation this year!

Biking on Snowmobile Trails

2010-02-03T11:03:00.000-08:00

It is amazing how you learn different aspects of riding your bike. This goes from dry & cool weather, switching over to the heat of the summer, watching for leaves & branches during fall rides, and then what to do in the winter time for fun bike riding.

Three years ago I would have considered it crazy to ride my bike in the winter in Buffalo, NY. That is what rollers or trainers were for but man are rollers boring and I could not even imagine riding a bike stuck to a trainer for 2 or more hours. Then I found out about the TransIowa bike race and realized that if I ever wanted to compete in that I would need to learn how to comfortable ride in the winter.

Two years ago my sister and I were walking around Frisco, Colorad o and I found some studded snow tires that would work on my Bianchi SS Muss mountain bike:So I bought them and took them back home with me. You should have seen the looks that I got in the airport carrying these around on my backpack. The questions were unreal also - you ride your bike in the winter? Now I do :)

Oh they were the Nokian and I love them. I don't use both right now. More on that later.

The first season was a learning experience. I did not understand the basics of deflating the tire to provide proper flotation so I stuck to the roads and the tires worked great. Last season I spent a lot of time on the bike but stuck with my mountain bike tires and stayed away from snowmobile trails because my first experience was a poor one, to say the least!

Well this year I made it a point to learn about snowbiking for 2 reasons:

1) Jill Homer - need I say more!

2) Arrowhead 135 - A dream of mine someday

So I put my 2.35 tires on the Bianchi, went to a lower gear combination (don't ask I have terrible memory about boring stuff like that!), and started reading. We had some great snow early in the season and the trails got put into use. I lowered my pressure and off I went.

My first trek was from Cole to Scherff just to get a feel for it. Once I became comfortable I started taking it from the other side of Scherff to Chestnut Ridge Park and then back home. One night I forgot my flat tools and ended up hiking back home 3 miles from the park because I put the bike down hard - it was that or a tree! - and I destroyed the valve stem.

Last night was a great night (or so I thought) for some riding. It was not warm - still below freezing - but the snow softened up too much and it was great fun. I did an awesome endo trying to cross a little summer water ditch that was full of soft snow. It was quite funny and I wish I had a camera crew with me at the time. Then there was the adventure onto the new trail I had yet to ride. Went from a ride to a hike-a-bike in a couple of sections. That is tough walking on ice with bike shoes!

Lessons learned: When in doubt, let air out
Always have your lights on in case of snowmobiles on the trails
Never dress warmer than necessary because you are going to be working hard!
The air temperature over the snow covered ground is about 5 degrees
cooler than bare pavement
It is a blast!!!!!!

Get out there and ride your bike!

A Walk to Work

2010-02-02T06:06:00.000-08:00

Downtown Buffalo in the wintertime: The Skyway - Southern Lake Residents way to work/home

The Erie Canal Inlet to Lake Erie
USS Little Rock at the Naval Park
The HSBC Tower from right underneath it
4 solid columns of these - wonder how much that would cost today.
My work - The Liberty Building

This is what happens when I get to work early and decide to take a walk instead of coming right into the office. I am glad I did this though!

January - The Recap

2010-01-31T13:34:00.000-08:00

We started January off in Florida for a little family vacation. New Years Day was partially spent driving to the Tampa area with a friend that I met doing Trans-Iowa. We did some mountain biking in the Florida rain! It was a blast. We topped it off with some great Mexican food - yummy.

We headed back to Buffalo and then the snow started falling pretty regularly. It snowed quite a bit and I got some nice cross country skiing and snowmobile trail biking in. Towards the end of the month I headed to the Las Vegas area for work and was privileged to see three awesome areas; Hoover Dam, Mojave National Preserve, and Death Valley National Park. I would return to Mojave and Death Valley in a heart beat. The Hoover Dam was inspiring as well but that would be seen with the family in the future, not solo again!

At the end of the trip I stopped off in Colorado to see my family and then the body decided I had done enough training and went sick on me. First the flu and then a pretty good chest cold. In the mean time the weather warmed up and the moisture came in the form of rain so my great snow base disappeared into Ice and Muck - very disappointing.

The last 1/2 week of January the snow returned and I was able to get some biking back in and also 1 nice cross country ski trip. All in all it was a typical month for me and now I need to start ramping up for Trans-Iowa. Under 3 months left and so February and March are going to be high intensity months for me with intervals and boot camp conditioning classes mixed in. April will be long slow recovery rides and then we head to Colorado again before Iowa for some high altitude training - I wonder if it will help as much as I am hoping!!!

Poetry that I attempt for some reason

2010-01-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

The Beginning The End? by Bill Graves

You made a promise that has stood the test of time

You Son is White as Snow, we are covered in grime

We often question events that occur

Do we ever slow down to think so things are not such a blur

Mountain peaks sit dusted in snow

Valley floors await the melting waters flow

Their place is not to be impatient

The beneficiaries wait and fight thirst with resilience

Father, You are The Alpha and The Omega - Feed us

Lord, You are The Beginning and The End - Fill us

The Fall by Bill Graves

Where have you gone to

What is to come

The deep greens

Overthrown by Heavenly Golds

Heat and Humidity are replaced

New scents take us back to years of old

Summers beginning are a blur

Now we wait for winters cold and snow

But this is transition time and we take hold

Of Fall

The Chief by Bill Graves

Your cracks have been filled by the fears of the fearless.

High above the valley floor the mighty hang.

Some quietly contemplate, some loudly cry out for strength;

some shed tears, but through it all they push onward and upward.

You feel their needs through the placement of fingertips.

Strength exudes through the placement of feet.

Sweat pours on your face.

Hearts race, you feel the pounding on your steadfast granite.

They are a selfish lot; they look to be shaped, they turn to you for clarity.

How do you share your story? When do you get to be heard?

The day begins to close, Your voice prepares to boom.

Your counsel is strong, You long to be honored.

You speak through awesome splendor; you speak through a ring of gold.

Your peace has been spoken, Your tranquility has returned.

Traveling Lately

2010-01-26T08:36:00.001-08:00

Well last week found me out in Nevada for some work (and play) and then I spent the weekend in Colorado visiting my family.

The first day in Nevada I worked a little and then headed out to see Hoover Dam and Lake Mead
That is a long way down huh?

Ever been in 2 places at 1 time?

Well I worked the next morning and early afternoon and was wondering what else I might be able to see around the Las Vegas area that did not entail gambling or shows in the hotels. I found out that the Mojave National Preserve was not that far away so I headed out for some desert traveling: Yes, that is snow in the desert - pretty cool huh?

Kelso Sand Dunes - I was going to climb to the top but the weather had other ideas in store!

I was chasing this rainbow out of the park on the way back to Las Vegas - I saw the beginning and the end but my camera could not do it justice.

Well on Friday I was heading to Colorado in the afternoon and had some extra time so I went to see Death Valley. They had a lot of rain over the week and a lot of it was closed due to mud and flooding but I got a good enough picture of it that makes me want to return in the future!
This was just awesome to see in person

Another beautiful shot of the terrain around Death Valley

Well I did not get to spend a lot of time there so I headed back to the airport and flew to Colorado. Saturday morning I woke up and went hiking at Green Mountain and saw the sunrise - worth the lack of oxygen and sleep to see this!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. One day I will figure out how to it quicker into an album so you can see them all but one step at a time!

Fight Jenna Fight

2010-01-18T12:37:00.000-08:00

There is a 17 y/o girl at our church who had been experiencing severe abdomen pain since the holidays. We received news on Saturday morning that they found a grapefruit size tumor wrapped around the lower portion of her abdomen area and vital organs.

It is non-operable and they are starting chemo treatment to try and kill it today.

She is still in severe pain and her parents are very concerned.

Please keep Jenna and her family in your prayers.

This is where being a good writer would come in handy like The Fat Cyclist but I don't have that in me - I will just pray.

Fight Jenna Fight

Small Change Makes Big Difference

2010-01-14T05:58:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned yesterday - the hat choice I made was a poor decision. So last night as I prepared for my Wednesday night ride I grabbed my wind protection hat and I was toasty comfy all night long!

Wednesday's have been my main riding day for about 3 years now. This is how it started: Our church has a large young boys and girls night on Wednesday (Stockade and Pioneer Girls - a lot like Boy & Girl Scouts but a lot more Christian theme to it) and I was heavily involved with it because of my son for about 4 years. It came to the point where he liked it as a downtime away from dad so I found a local group ride on Wednesday during the nice months that I would do.

Now I get home from work, have some dinner with everyone, get changed, and still ride on Wednesday nights as long as conditions don't most likely lead to possible death - blowing snow or ice - bad stuff. Rain, light snow, cleared roads with 6' snowbanks on the side - Those are all good!

Last night I was still lazy and left the mountain bike with it's flat front tire in the garage and I took my single speed cross bike out for a spin - Good times! Here is a picture of one of my favorite bikes in my stable (top 2 and pretty close to being #1 but I don't want to offend the others!)
We also got our 1/2 of a 1/2 of a cow from some friends. 52 pounds of beef that should last a couple of months hopefully. I cannot wait to taste the chuck roast next week though!

Winter Bike Layers

2010-01-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

To follow up on the other day's post when I showed my cross country ski layers - here is what I do for cycling in around 15-25 degree weather and a 5-15 mph wind. Any colder or warmer will change it substantially and when I hit those parameters I will post those as well:
This is a pair of wool socks, my ems fleece tights, and a starter long sleeve wicking shirt. I also have my RoadID and Garmin on but those do not provide protection unless it is an emergency!
This is a fleece beanie (which did not cover my ears enough so I will be wearing a different hat in this type of weather in the future - one that covers most of my ears and goes down to my forehead for wind chill protection), a pair of REI heavier fleece pants with nylon around the knee area, and a Patagonia cap 3 1/4 zip top.
My favorite jacket - The North Face Apex 3/4 zip. This has been discontinued and I cannot find anything remotely close to it. It is good wind and moderate precipitation protection. If you know of something comparable (under $100) let me know please! Everything else is the same!
The final addition is my Discovery Channel wind vest.

I have found that the coldest part of this training is the wind blowing on your chest area. My arms and legs really do not get cold so I focus on keeping the core as warm as possible but not overly sweaty!

Outside I put on my balaclava, shoes, Pearl Izumi Neoprene Booties (awesome), Pearl Izumi Lobster Gloves (awesome), helmet with a blinking light on front and my red blinker on the back of it. Visibility is as important as comfort. If you get hit it does not matter how comfortable you were - remember that!

Hopefully we get some real cold weather and I will show you a small addition I add.

Let me know if you have any questions.

No Running For A While

2010-01-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

Well the last couple of months have been a whirlwind concerning my running.

Here is a brief synopsis:

October: I have a leg flare up that makes me stop running and almost cry. Pain is so severe it effected my lower back so I went to a friend of ours for chiropractor care and he diagnoses it as ITBS. Tells me to take 6 weeks off of running, focus on a foam roller and aqua jogging.

Mid November: I begin a 1min walk/run program for a couple of weeks and then start off running 1 mile, slowly increasing to 1.5 miles, and then 2 miles.

December: Hit the 2 mile point and my leg is bothering me again so I set up an appointment with a local sports doctor after our vacation return during the holidays.

Last Week: Diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my hip and am told I should not run ever again. Have 2 x-rays taken and wait for results. Get a letter in the mail saying X-Ray is fine and that is all. I call a doctor who is a friend and discuss with him and he offers to see me to help diagnose the problem.

Last Night: Diagnosed with Femoral Nerve inflammation. Now I am in the waiting game of seeing a neurologist next week to see how we can get the inflammation to disappear so I can run again.

My promise is that if I am able to run again - An Ironman will be signed up for 2011 and a fall marathon!

I miss running!

Layering #1

2010-01-11T12:17:00.000-08:00

I decided to start taking pictures of the layers I wear so that if you like to play in the cold weather you can get an idea of what I use and can make adjustments from there.

Yesterday was around 23 or so with a pretty good wind. When it is windy I like zippers so I can close them in a headwind and open them in a tail wind for comfort reason.

This is an Wal-Mart brand Wicking Long Sleeve Shirt, EMS Fleece Tights, REI hiking socks and a North Face hat:
Then I added a 1/4 zip North Face SDS pullover and REI Heavy Duty Wind Pants with side zippers. Don't know why I took the hat off for this one but it stayed on the whole time:

I added a Bontrager Full Zipper Hooded Sweatshirt as my final layer. I wanted the hood in case of a bad wind or heavy snow but could have gotten away with my North Face 3/4 Zip Apex Jacket. In the headwinds I was very comfortable and like I said with the zippers I was in good shape with the tail winds as well.

Next post will be a cold night ski trip which I plan on taking tonight and I can have my daughter take the photos!

Gloves were a light pair of coolmax that I got a local sporting goods store. My half gloves/mittens disappeared and I love those for skiing because I can get at the food, camera, or zippers without removing gloves!

The New Year

2010-01-11T06:54:00.000-08:00

Well the holidays have come and gone. We were in Florida for a week or so and got to enjoy some nicer weather than Buffalo generally has in the winter time. Went to Disney World for the day and even did some Mountain Biking in the Tampa area with a Trans-Iowa buddy. Good times!

Since then the snow has been falling so I have been finding solitude in the local park Cross Country Skiing - Great Times!

Anyone hungry?

This past Saturday they opened up the Toboggan Hills for the first since I moved to Buffalo. We went after the basketball game and had a great time. This picture is from Sunday but it gives you the idea!
Think anyone is worried about their Heart Rate at any particular time on this hill?

I have been biking as much as the snowmobile trails and weather allow as well. All is for Trans-Iowa which is less than four months away.

Keep enjoying the awesome winter weather!

Winter Arrived

2009-12-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

The cross country trail at Sprague Brook County Park. Virgin snow waiting for me to break through for the years first excursion.

It was hard work but it was awesome. I look forward to many more trips and once they groom the trail I go off trail on the bike/hike trail at the park and have even more fun.

I also have been riding pretty frequently but nothing like the first big snow!

Mr. Fat Cyclist

2009-12-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

This guy is amazing! He wrote an open letter to Johan Bruyneel (http://www.fatcyclist.com/)
and got this reply (http://www.johanbruyneel.com/blog.html) to accept him into the Team Radioshack training camp this weekend.

They have raised an extraordinary amount of money and I doubt it is all about the prizes that could be won http://www.fisherbikes.com/bike/model/superfly or this autographed bike by the team.
These guys really hate cancer and that is a great thing. You can donate off of Fatty's blog page if you want to hate cancer as well!

Training for TransIowa is going on and on - just about 30 miles a day on the bike. This weekend if the weather cooperates might call for a longer ride!

Night Time Rain Ride

2009-12-03T07:30:00.001-08:00

For the past 2 years or so Wednesday night has been my night to ride. The kids go to their youth church programs and the wife hangs out with her friends waiting for them so I have always ridden on Wednesday night once school resumes.

There have been some memorable rides in very cold weather and a ride when I stopped by church on the way home and had all over my jacket. My riding buddies wife tells my wife that is what they call a rostertail. I correct her - nope this is just plain old mud from a wreck on the trail.

I remember endoing on the mountain bike one time because I went to adjust my helmet after bumping a tree branch with it at the same time my tire hits a root and throws me forward. A very important lesson was learned - never hold the front brake only. My body weight shoved my hand onto the brake and all I remember is thinking - Oh Sh*t - and over the bars I went. It was funny when no body damage occurred!

This all brings me to last night. I was at the gym working out and decided (actually just confirmed an earlier thought about riding later) that I was riding no matter what the weather was doing. I showered at the gym, headed home in the rain, and my wife asked me what my plans were. I told her I put gas in the car so she could go see her sister's new house and I was going for a ride. The normal puzzling look came at me - you are riding in this weather? Yes.

The way I see it is that TransIowa is happening sun or shine. I had my good weather window opportunity last year and blew it so I am figuring on being wet this year so I might as well figure on getting some wet riding in to test my gear.

So I put on my gear: Long sleeve wicking shirt, hoodie (which I will skip next time), pull over 3/4 zip North Face Apex jacket (which I love!!!!), Team Discovery bike shorts, REI wind pants (time to see how they fare against the rain not just wind), old shoes, Pearl Shoe Covers, and my Trek Rain Jacket, Mountain Hardware beanie, and my lighter winter gloves because it was not that cold out!

I had no idea where I was going so I just peddled and turned when I felt like it. Ended up by the ski area on the top side and did my killer hill ride on Wolheiter. Cruised down to church for a restroom break (and to show off that I was tough enough to ride in all type of weather!) and headed home.

It was a short ride but provided me with some good ideas about TransIowa. I need to look into a bike computer that has a light for night time mileage checks and I need to contemplate a better light set.

No pictures because it was dark :)

Yosemite

2009-11-28T10:06:00.001-08:00

For those that have been you know what I speak about, for those that have never - what are you waiting for?

A poem I wrote on BT - Called The Chief

Your cracks have been filled by the fears of the fearless.

High above the valley floor the mighty hang.

Some quietly contemplate, some loudly cry out for strength;

some shed tears, but through it all they push onward and upward.

You feel their needs through the placement of fingertips.

October Mountain Biking at it's finest

2009-10-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Well after last weeks trip to Ontario County Park I put the Felt 29'er back into action by adding pedals and grips to it and took her for a spin yesterday at Chestnut Ridge Park and the surrounding area - it was a glorious day!
On a glorious bike :)

See the waterfall below?The Boston Valley in fall - beautiful

The City of Buffalo and it's southern suburbs.

Mountain Biking at Ontario County Park

2009-10-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

My beloved Bianchi M.U.S.S. This bike is so much fun to ride even climbing hills :)

Some trails that I got to ride on - great fun and the weather was absolutely gorgeous out!
A picture of the valley from Lookout. I am so glad I finally got to ride here. Will definitely be returning in the future for more!

Wow is it Winter Time Already

2009-10-16T07:59:00.001-07:00

I/We woke up to 2" of snow on the cars and lawn but not the road. This is crazy and it is only October 16th. Time for an Indian Summer right!

I have been slack posting lately but not much is going on.

There are some plans in the making for next month - heading to Arizona and taking a bike ride from Phoenix up to The Grand Canyon for some sightseeing. It will be 500 miles round trip approximately and I have 5 days including sightseeing. I arrive late Thursday so I plan on doing 150 Friday and 100 Saturday - hope to see sunset at the Canyon.

Going to hang around Sunday morning and head out Sunday afternoon for 60 or so. Contemplating a 200 miler Monday for TransIowa training. I think that will be a good test. I fly out Tuesday afternoon so I need to get bike back to shop for shipment and then it will be winter training time back in Buffalo!

That is going to include some skiing at this area here:

This is Kissing Bridge ski area 2 weeks ago. The leaves of change or a changing.

Get out there and ride/run/swim :)

Creative and informative Blogs I read

2009-07-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

There are some amazingly creative and good blog writers out there on the Internet today. Here is a list of the main ones I follow on a weekly (if not daily) basis:

http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/ - Guitar Ted - Race Director of Trans Iowa and the GTDRI. Both rides will have linkage from his main blog. Very bike knowledgeable and all around good guy.

http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/ - Jill Homer - This girl is an amazing athlete although she would never admit to being one. Currently she is on pace for the fastest Female Tour Divide Race finish (http://tourdivide.org/) and she has awesome writings and photographs during her training rides throughout North America.

http://www.cpfarrow.blogspot.com/ - Charlie Farrow - Trans Iowa and numerous other races veteran. Has an awesome writing style which shows his literary knowledge and intelligence. Plus he just swore off gears and is running solely single speed bikes for the foreseeable future :)

http://www.gnatlikes.com/ - GNAT (God first (how awesome is that) and the first letters of his twins names. Does some great writing and cool photos. Just recently came across this blog but it is definitely worth looking into if you love riding your bicycle like I do :)

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/ - This person is great. Bike reviews, tears down people in a nice type of way, and great writer from NYC. Great spin on the bicycle community (but I don't think he likes Portland much :) )

There are some for you to check into. One day I would like to be that creative. Just don't know if I have it in me.

HAPPY 4th OF JULY HOLIDAY EVERYONE (And HAPPY CANADA DAY (Sorry it is late) to our friends up north!)

Welcome to Mid-June

2009-06-11T09:41:00.001-07:00

So this week has been quite the fun bike mechanical week. It all started Sunday on my typical I want to ride instead of swim ride. Here is the post from my training log on beginnertriathlete.com:

I realize I never told my bike story from Sunday:

Went to church and like usual figured I would take a bike ride while the wife went to see her family. In the back of my mind I felt like I should just go swimming at the Y because something didn't feel right. So I went home, changed, got SS Felt Cross Bike ready and headed out. I decided to take a new route. Well on that route I was in a dirt tire track (in deep grass also) and I wrecked as I went to close to the edge - that caused a good laugh.

Then I came to a dirt screen that I usually just ride over on my mountain bike. Front wheel clears then all of a sudden I am going over the handlebars. It grabbed the back chain ring or something and just threw me to the ground. Ok another laugh.

I get to my close single track, hit my helmet on a low branch that I have never even come close to touching, throws me off a little, and I hit a tree - WTF creeps in about now!

Do my short loop and figure I am just heading for pavement and doing an easy ride or I might end up dead. I want to check something so I start breaking and my wheel is skipping. I tighten the headset and take off. Get ready to turn and I nearly go down in the middle of the road - I flatted somewhere along the way and I didn't even know it. Change the flat - say that is what the pool is for and I ride home (uneventfully thankfully!!!) and hit the pool.

That is what makes the worst bike ride ever!

Fast forward to Wednesday evening:

Riding home about 4 miles from the final destination I get a flat. Call SAG wagon in to pick me up since I was so close and I didn't want to waste a CO2 cartridge. Went home and proceeded to changed gearing around, new handlebar tape, handlebar adjustment, flat replacement, and play some catch with my boy.

Fast forward to 4:45am this morning. Something went off in my mind sort of like this:

Well you had to put air in the tube last night again.

Yes, but maybe I forgot to fill it up.

Nah, I wouldn't do that and still ride.

True, then why was the tube low again when you went to take it out again.

I don't know, better check.

Guess what - Flat again!!!!

So that is 3 flats in 3 days. Hope that streak ends soon :)

Ride On!

BTW: GDR and Tour Divide start up this week and next week. Keep an eye out!

Well June is right around the corner

2009-05-28T04:54:00.000-07:00

Not much exciting going on around here.

Mount Washington Road Race is June 20th in New Hampshire. As the heading says - Only 1 Hill but it is from start to end and over 6K feet of elevation gain. Should be fun :)

Will post a report after the race but for now I am just doing some running, swimming, and a lot of riding (which is my first love!)