My Next Jersey

While training for the Cave Creek Bike Festival Ride the year before last, I raised money for Autism with a website called trainforautism.com. I raised over $1500 and rode 70 miles to do so. I blogged about it and had someone contact me and ask if I knew where to get an "Autism Awareness" type of cycling jersey. Well, I never received an email with the comment on my blog, but as I was going through it a few weeks ago, cleaning some things up, I found the question. I thought what a cool idea! I know just how to design one! A quick Internet search and bam! There it was. This jersey was from the Austin Autism Society Bike Ride in 2010. I've contacted the organizers and they will be doing a ride again this year (hopefully with the same jerseys). When the become available, I will be ordering one. Here's what I like about it:
1. It promotes Autism Awareness
2. It's colors are bright (promotes safety)
3. It's EXACTLY what i was thinking of as a design

In the interim, in case they don't do the same jersey, I have contacted a friend of mine who runs the Not One More foundation which helps injured cyclists. She has a cool jersey which is sold locally to help raise money for her foundation. I've contacted her to find out the company she uses to have her jerseys made.

Why Autism Awareness? My son was diagnosed when he was a little over 3 years old. He had little to no speech, lack of interest in peers, and a persistent fixation on inappropriate objects. With some serious dietary changes, supplementation, and support, under the guide of our DAN! doctor, he is now well on the road to recovery. I believe that diet, vaccines, and environmental factors all contribute to the rise in the numbers of Autistic children in this country. It is estimated that 1 in 110 children are diagnosed to day (1 in 91 boys) and the government statistics suggest the prevalence rate of autism is increasing 10-17 percent annually. This means that is it very likely that everyone will know or love somebody on the "spectrum". I do, and I want to help educate those who will listen to help their kid(s) have a fighting chance at recovery the way my son has. So if I can ride with this jersey on and make people ask themselves "what is Autism?" or ask me, mission accomplished. What has worked for my son may or may not work for your kiddo, but this is beatable. I worked an Autism trade show with my wife last spring for TACA and was amazed at the number of dads that came up to talk to me. These events are typically attended by the "warrior moms" who are fighting for their kids. It was awesome to be able to share our story and give these parents who just starting their journey hope that this can be overcome. It's not easy. It's a LOT of work.

But isn't anything that's really worth it a lot of work? I know my son is worth it. I bet your loved one is too.

Riding with Frank

Last night (Tuesday) we visited some friends who were in from Indianapolis that we met while we were on our honeymoon. Turns out they got married on the same day and picked Young Island as their honeymoon destination as well. They're super cool people and we really enjoyed spending time with them both last night & 8 years ago. So the girls had both read a book in their respective "book clubs" about Wright's story and the subject of his Scottsdale home came up. They run tours through it and it's called Taliesin West. After hearing the story of his brutal life, I too was intrigued.

Anywhoo, in an effort to mentally and emotionally prepare for the rest of the week, I decided to take a little bike ride this morning. Some two wheeled meditation, we'll call it. I headed up the canal path closest to my house and decided that since the wind was blowing North to South, I'd continue further North than I normally would and take advantage of the tail wind. As I was about to turn North, my saddle shifted a little. Luckily, I always carry my multi-tool so after my turn, I found a place to readjust and tighten it. I'm sitting there on the little planter box working on my saddle when a guy pulls up heading out of the trailer park stops, rolls down his window, and asks "do you know where Frank Lloy Wright's house is?" How strange is that? Until last night, I didn't even know there was a Taliesin West. Something in the universe is telling me that I need to go see that house. I don't know why, but for it to come up twice in as many days...I guess I gotta go.

Useless ride stats:
Distance - 25.13 miles
Time- 1:28
Avg Speed- 17.1mph (damn wind)

The Single Life

Yesterday, I went for a little ride with the kids. They wanted to go behind our community (on the other side of the power lines) and see the horses, goats, and such. So we headed out on our bikes in search of livestock. Since the Diamondback has a flat and I'm too lazy to fix it, I grabbed the single speed. It's only fair; the kids are riding single speeds, so should I. I didn't have any "cycling gear" on except for my helmet so I wasn't clipped in or anything. My daughter decided that we should race to the end of the street. Now, I'm always up for a good sprint, so I took off.

I forgot just how much fun that bike is to ride! No need to worry about shifting, being in the wrong gear, or any of that. Just go. I need to ride this bike more. Heck, I need to just ride more. Experiencing riding around the neighborhood with my kids was definitely one of the highlights of my weekend. I hope it was for them too. I plan to keep this part of our "activity idea box" when we're looking for a fun activity. I want them to grow up and reminisce about how we used to ride our bikes around and how much fun it was.

Who knows maybe one of them will grow into a cyclist and enjoy the sport as much as their old man...

I'm a Sloth!

Allow me to explain. I spend the better part of this work week at our corporate headquarters in New Haven Connecticut for some training. Some would call it reprogramming, we'll just stick with "training". When I have to travel, I tend to eat worse than I would at home. Typical evenings are spent eating later than I usually do (or at least closer to bed time) and the food is way heavier than I normally eat. For example; the night that the whole class went to dinner, we went to this very nice Italian restaurant and had the appetizers, drinks, and of course the heavy Italian meal. I was good. I didn't binge (that would make me a glutton), I had a grilled salmon and vegetable dinner. Of course the salmon and vegetables were smeared in butter. I normally would grill or broil my salmon with a light spray of olive oil and steam the veggies. Working really long days, and by working at these training sessions, it's sitting there listening, and being on a different time zone really messes with you. My routine is completely thrown off. I don't feel like walking tonight, riding this weekend, or anything physical. After this week, I absolutely should get out and move a little.

So, after this last trip, I'm feeling fat and lazy. Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe I just need to suck it up and get out there....

New Bike!

Here she is, the new bike. You're probably thinking I've lost my mind. That isn't a picture of a bike but it's a sprocket, a gear, a cog, certainly not a bike. Hear me out. this part when out onto my rear hub will turn my singlr speed bike into a fixed gear bike. Essentially, I will have 2 bikes in one!

What's the difference? I'll break it down for you. A single speed bike is just as the name implies one gear. There are no deraileurs to get goofed up, no shifting cables to get loose, no upshifting when you want to go faster and no downshifting when the road gets too steep. You never have to worry if you're in the right gear at a stop light; you're always in the wrong gear! This type of bike is what most kids ride to start out. With the exception of reversing the pedals for brakes (a single speed coasts), they are very simliar.

A fixed gear is basically the same concept except you can't coast. That's the thing about it. Say "it's a fixed gear" and you usually get blank stares, say "it doesn't coast" and people understand. Sort of. Why would anyone chose to ride a bike that doesn't coast and that can't change gears? Well, why do you ride a bike instead of drive a car? Do you like the wind rippling over your legs as you spin the planet beneath you? Do you like the feeling of going faster and farther than you ever could alone by adding a bit of machinery to your life? Take all that bikeness, strip it down to it's essence and put it on the road. What you have is what I'm looking forward to riding. The bike is simple, about as simple as you can get. It doesn't coast. You don't coast as you start out and put your foot in the second pedal. No, you grab the pedal on the fly. The bike won't ever let you forget -- it doesn't coast. If you want to go fast, you pedal fast. To go slow, you pedal slow. When you stop, it stops.

I will be able to flip the back wheel over for those "organized rides" when you have to coast a bid for others' safety. Otherwise, I think I will keep it as a fixed gear. I can't wait to ride it!

Welcome to the Plateau!

When I started riding with Team Bad-Ass last year, I was one of the "strong" riders. I would typically lead the pack or at least be up near the front. I slowly found myself slipping to the back of the pack, sometimes watching the team pull away from me. I used to think it was me trying to hang in while riding a mountain bike with slicks. Then I read an article from Bicycling magazine about hitting the plateau (something that most cyclists hit at some point). I thought, "holy crap, that's me". The author described almost exactly what happened to me with my team. It turns out that it wasn't the bike, it was ME, I figured as much but this article confirmed it. He then outlined a plan to get back into form and get stronger.

Part of his plan was taking some time off (and get "fat"), which I have already done.I'm going to modify that plan a little; I took the time off, but didn't get fat. i think I burned out. Riding the same course most of the time, failed to challenge me. This year, I will ride a wider variety of courses to challenge me and force me to either get stronger or die. This will include more hills. Phoenix is geographically a pancake, very flat. There are, however, some outlining areas that are hilly. That's where I will be. Sure, I will still take the quick 20 miler out the front door to spin some, but I will also add in some serious "training".

I am also going to cross train with walking and some light jogging (my orthopedic surgeon better not read this). There will be some strength training as well, not so much with weights, but resistance bands. I have obtained what I am calling my jump box which I need to start using more frequently (more to come on that later).

So, here's to a stronger, faster 2011.

A New Year, A New Set of Goals

How did 2010 slip by me so fast? It seems like just yesterday, I rode to the top of Las Sendas mountain and proclaimed my mileage goal for the year. I didn't exactly shout it from the mountain top, but when I got back I wrote about it. Not nearly as poetic, I know. In fact, I think I did pretty good on my goals that I set out for the year. You'll have to ask my wife about #'s 2&3 but I feel that I did pretty good. For the work one, I feel I did well. To recap, here were my goals:



1. Ride 3600 miles by year's end

2. Be a better father to my kids (lengthen my fuse)

3. Be a better husband to my wife in general

4. Focus my energy at work on being more productive (work smarter, not harder)



Hmmm, 3 out of 4 isn't bad, right? Turns out my total mileage was only 1674 miles. Not even half of my goal that I set out for myself. How did that happen? I was kicking ass. My miles for the last 3 years were going up considerably until last year. 2008 - 2064 miles, 2009 - 3053 miles, last year - complete fizzzle (fo shizzle). I'm not going to sit here and make up a bunch of lame excuses. Yes, my hand issues continued, but so what? Maybe my goal wasn't realistic? Maybe life just got in the way? Yes, life did get busy, but isn't it always? Wasn't 2009 busy too? You bet!



Instead of complaining about not meeting my goal, I'm going to celebrate it. Hey, I did over 1600 miles! That's a whole lot better than sitting my fat ass on the couch and doing nothing! In 2010 I did manage to drop about 10 pounds and lower my cholesterol to under 200. I've been eating healthier and feeling better.

So for this year, I have a new list of goals. Here they are (in no particular order):
1. Continue to lengthen my fuse with my kids
2. Be an even better husband to my wife
3. Get our office in the top 5 agencies in the country (currently we're at the bottom)
3. Better my time in the Tour de Scottsdale (4:26 in 2010)
4. Compete in a sprint triathlon
5. Compete in 1 running event (Warrior Dash - already scheduled 4-30-11)
6. Better my 2008 mileage number (2064miles)
7. Try to help people understand Autism and share our story more
8. Get rid of some clutter
9. Improve my overall well being through meditation and relaxation
10. Expand our home garden to grow more of our own food.
11. Have fun!

I picked 11 for 2011 (clever huh?). I have started walking the dog most nights with a friend of mine, Mark which will help with my mileage goal and overall health. Yeah, we got a dog just after Thanksgiving. Starting off 2011, my weight is 281 and my cholesterol is 299 (this is more a reference for me to see how I do this year). I believe that all of these goals are attainable. I hope to blog more to share my journey with both of the people that read this.

Here's to a great year!