Uh oh... The good, the bad and the unsure...

Where the hell did summer go? The kids are thrilled.....

But now what happens to me? Back to school will be both exciting for me and scare the crap out of me.
Now I have a kid-less schedule which allows some flexibility in rides, work outs and getting much needed crap done around the house.
But since both kids are in school full time now and it's now time to start a "career". This is the part that's starting to freak me out. I have no place to go.
Looking through my options looks kind of bleak at the moment...

1) Stay at Dick's. Descent money and I can pretty much call my own shots for hours and such. A part of me really wants to attempt to get the Newington store more of a player in the bike game in the area, but it's hard when everything falls on deaf ears or is ignored. I don't think they realize I do know what I'm talking about. If it stays like this with no interest or not caring about my department, I'll be looking for other work in no time. Hey Dick's Sporting Goods, Help me help you.....

2) Go find a bike shop and work there. I hate to be cocky, but I can walk into just about any shop around here and get a job. problem is that pay wouldn't be as good, no flexibility and crappy hours, like Sundays...ughh... Plus I don't see getting hired going into winter.

3) Open my own shop? Not sure if I'm ready educationally or financially to go down this road... yet.

So looks like it's time for some soul searching and figure all this out. Probably take a class or two, do some welding and do my best at Dick's to get the job done and see if that can be a stepping stone. Maybe just get out of retail all together and go in a new direction.... who knows?

Don't get me wrong, I'm very lucky to be where I am. I was able to raise my kids, great marriage, beat cancer, make some great close friendships and I get to ride alot. But when we try to figure out my future, it's frustrating and scarey that when asked "Well what do YOU want do?", all I can do is shrug my shoulders....

Back to happier thoughts...
The ankle is healing up fine. I'm walking without a limp, it just gets tired a bit quicker. Should be back on the bike this week end. I'm so pissed that this happened... I'm gunning for 40 minutes at Warrior Dash next year.

Had to submit a rough itinerary to the great folks at Airborne on what my bike plans are for the next 90 days or so. Getting to be the time of year where they are deciding who to carry over to next year (Not sure if I deserve a spot or not) but I hope to be back. Great group of people and I enjoy helping them out.

The 28th I'll be doing the Rockwell Ride & Walk charity ride to help the homeless. The great guys at Biker's Edge are sponsoring it. That shop does ALOT of good work for the community...check them out here...
http://bikersedge.com/
The Delta is ready willing and able, but might need some new tires....

Then it's all cross from that point out... some big races mixed in with the fun low key local races. Again, the Delta is chomping at the bit....
But we also are trying to plan a trip to Killington so the Goblin will see some love too....

Well that was the short update on what's going on... hope everyone enjoys the final countdown to summer....

Ridin' Dirty...

Well really, it was runnin' dirty, but you get the idea...

Warrior Dash 2011 is in the books. We had friends, old and new, converge in Upper NY State to take on a course that was full of mud, hills, obstacles beer and some "interesting" costumes (gotta love Naughty Nurses covered in cold mud, but that's a whole other post in itself...)

I actually remembered my GoPro camera and took video, here's an unedited small clip of what we were up against. I couldn't get it to download onto the site so link up to it here....
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=245878412112399&comments


The highlight of the race was seeing my wife at the finish with a big smile on her face and a Warrior Dash medal around her neck. She and Pam H. started in the wave before us so I wasn't there to see how she did, but from the looks of the mud and bruises, she did fine. She worked hard to get there... I'm proud of her (You too, Pam)!
Low Light? Well that's an easy one. Tearing a tendon in my ankle on the way down the hill meant that I couldn't keep up with Rob H. and Dan H.... I finished by making it through the final few obstacles like the fire jump and the Army crawl thru mud under barbed wire... but later there was a trip to urgent care for a splint and crutches. Beer helped ease the pain.

So where do we go from here? Well I assume there will be about a week or so of ice, ibuprofen and some hobbling around then it's back on the bike. The new cross season is just around the corner and I need to be ready.

BTW... I beat Carrie W......

Yep, that's a video of me running this morning. I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination. Funny thing is, that I used to be able to hold my own, but now... not so much.
"But Todd, what the hell are you running for? You're a cyclist" Good question. There's actually two reasons.

The first is that cyclocross season is right around the corner and there's a bit of running skill involved in this kind of bike racing. I've posted a few videos on here to give you an idea of it is. Watching is a BLAST. I'll post dates to some of the big races later.

Second, my wife and I agreed to do a Warrior Dash this year with our friends (I think alcohol and bragging were involved). Being a non runner, I don't know what I was thinking and nothing like waiting until the two weeks before to start training for it.



I have one goal and one goal only, beat a certain neighbor who's initials are C.W.... OK, I'm giving her a hard time and let's be honest here, she'll probably kick my ass. But if I can just hang with her until the end, I think I can take her in a sprint, if not. I'm not above cheating....
Old sneakers and a case of 'Gansett Summer Ale are ready. There's 15 or so of us renting a house so it should be a good time. That is if I don't die on the course.
Look for video and pictures next week.

I wonder if they'll have a downhill mountainbike course open that weekend too.....

The Situation....

So I haven't posted in awhile. There's a few reasons for that, but mainly I've been lost. Don't really know where I'm going from here or how I'll get there.

Don't get me wrong. it's not like I'm walking around here with my head down and shoulders drooped. This has been a fun summer with it's normal ups and downs. I've spent lots of good times with my family and friends, which hasn't happened in awhile (especially after last year's debacle). My wife and I have been getting along fantastically and we owe it to all of you out there.

But there's something missing. I was lucky enough to get a second chance last summer and I promised myself that things would be different if/when I made it through. Well maybe you can't
teach an old dog new tricks, because it's the end of summer I'm not anywhere near where I was hoping/needing to be.

I really wanted to promote colon cancer awareness and pay forward everything that was given to me last year. Well I might have a bit, but lets be honest, no where near the scale I know I should have.

I did a few races and rides...meh... I'm unimpressed with myself. Physically speaking, everything has just been inconsistent.

This year I was a full fledged Airborne Flight Crew member with the responsibility of reviews, promotion and contribution. Well I'm feeling I might have let them down a bit (who knows, you'll have to ask them). Those guys in western Ohio deserve so much more from me.

Now that the kids go back to school and both are there full time, I need to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. All I've known for the last 20 or so years is retail... it's a tough life, especially if you want to be successful. I sold my sole to the Dick's Sporting Goods devil again this past year and I've had discussions about staying there and really trying to further the store regionally in the bike scene. That's a possibility. Go back to school? Start my own business? Get back into welding? Time for some sole searching.

So where do I go from here? Time and the effort I put in will tell if I can make the necessary changes.
Time to step up my game...

So now what?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... or something like that.
That pretty much sums up my return to the famed "Wrath of the Boneyard" mountain bike race. The picture pretty much sums up my personal performance...

I knew that it was going to be a tough day when I couldn't eat my breakfast with all the knots in my stomach. From there, I went down hill.

The cool part was that both kids raced the kid's race race right before hand. I know they were both nervous (and Luke took a few good diggers on the warm ups) but I'm so proud of them.



Noah grinding the climb...


Luke with his game face on... he wore that shirt because it's a Tony Hawk shirt...


If he's looking to me for race strategy and advice, he's screwed....


A job well done... They rocked!

So, you may ask...how did I do? Don't ask... Never made it past the first lap...
Boneyard is the hardest, most techy, gnarliest course on the Root 66 series, by far, and it reared it ugly head on me yesterday.


I don't know what happened, but the in the end, the heat combined with the rocks (LOTS of pedal strikes) and generally poor fitness leading up to race day, lead to my demise. I could tell right away I was dehydrated and the fear of heat exhaustion was kicking in.

I was around mid pack going into the first climb, which was a narrow single track "punch it" type of climb... not one of my strong suits. Well as one guy in front of me stopped, two of us went for the only line and I didn't win, going off track and down a slight embankment... game over mentally at that point.... couldn't hold a line... couldn't climb... and just bobbling all over the place...

List of excuses? There's plenty...
- Dehydrated
- It was hot
- Didn't really warm up properly because my kids were racing
- Crappy training
- Crappy eating habits
- My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

Ever since our vacation and the kid's being home for the summer, proper training has diminished to zilch. But in all reality, it was gut check time and I didn't deliver.

So where do we go from here? I think it's time to take a few steps back and re-build my fitness.
That means early morning work outs, better diet (as always) and be more efficient with my time. There's still some mountain bike races left that I hope to do, then it's on to 'cross.
The Goblin needs some TLC... that thing is beat up. Chipped paint, wobbly wheels, bad shifting and all.... A total rebuild may be due soon....
From there, we'll see what happens...

Final Delta thoughts, while it's still relatively stock anyways...

If you've been reading this blog you probably know that I've been riding my Airborne Delta ALOT lately which is quite the feat considering I am a mountain biker through and through. Right now I'm hovering around 400 miles on this bike and except for the cockpit, it's been a stock ride.
Because of my enormous size (easy there ladies...) I had to swap out the bar and stem to something wider and longer (again ladies... calm down).

You all know I LOVE this bike and I will gladly recommend it to anyone looking for a new cross ride (What is cyclocross? Look here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRZOa_E9Qs8).

But here's a final summery of some small detail stuff and thoughts I have.

Airborne is stepping up to a leadership position with this bike. They're taking a spot at the front of the cross bike line by offering it in a disc brake only version while others are still on the fence by offering disc brake mounts, but keeping canti brakes on it (Canti brakes don't consistently offer the stopping power of disc brakes). Bravo to them, but in this situation it will be really important to be sure the discs are set up properly.
Here's what I mean. Mine stopped descent enough, but offered a horrible noise that let everyone know I was coming. Get rid of the noise, affect the stopping power. For a while I kept asking myself "why bother with the extra weight of the discs?"
I did some research and found and answer. If you take the pads on the BB5's and round out the outer edge just a tad with some sand paper, the "turkey gobble" goes away. Great trick. Now I have mondo brake power with out the noise.

I'm still not sold on the Double Tap shifters from SRAM. STI from Shimano seems more natural to me. Something I'll have to get used to. Also, I sometimes find the shifting to be a bit vague. It shouldn't be but my next step is going to be to upgrade the cables (for the brakes too) and see if that helps at all. That or learn the right way to set up Double Tap.
That being said, the wide range rear end is kinda nice

I hate the hoods on the Apex shifters. Thin and flimsy. Looks like I'll have to get some Hudz that will be sturdier and they come in cool colors to boot.

The FSA post with the side by side double bolt system is rock solid, but a pain in the ass to adjust.

I do enjoy riding this bike on the road alot, but keep in mind it's not a road bike. Did 50 miles on it last week end and noticed the weight penalty and the lower high end gearing. I'm beginning to enjoy the ease of road riding again, so a true road bike will have to be in my future. Maybe Airborne has something cooking? I have a set of wheels on loan from a friend and that made a big difference.

I can't really fault anything much on this bike besides nit picky stuff. For $1200 it's a winner out of the box. Of course, I have to upgrade a few things on it for this fall to bring the weight down a bit, but it's not necessary...

Don't wear bib shorts with sun burnt shoulders... (and other things I learned on vacation)

Well we finally made it back from a week at Cape Cod. That combined with the extended week end and Con off for the extra week means I wasn't able to post... too much partying. The above pic is about 100 steps away from our cottage...sweet.
The weather was great and got to spend some time with family I don't get to see often enough. Great times had by all. This year a friend of Connie's came up with her kids so I was able to bring my bike and ride relatively guilt free....
Four year old dog in an 11 year old body... poor girl tries to keep up... sounds familiar...

Most of you know that last Sunday I did the Ride for the Flame... thanks to many of you, I raised almost three hundred dollars to help Special Olympics! The ride was a fun 50 miler around the shore line where I grew up. It brought back alot of memories. Hardest part was getting back here from the Cape. Three hours up on Friday afternoon, three hours back Saturday night , ride Sunday morning then three hours back to the Cape that afternoon again... way too much driving. Big group road rides like these remind me me how much I really DON'T enjoy doing it with big groups... way too nerve racking watching others ride on the streets. Another plus though, was alot of people were interested in and asking about the Delta, so that's good.
The peloton waits for no one....

A few other things I learned this past week, and some general opinions...

- First, obviously, is not to wear bib shorts when your shoulders are sun burned... not fun.
- Fried Clams and fries aren't the best fuel when you're trying to ride. Great when it goes down, but you pay for it the next day (insert dirty joke here....).
- Ladies, if you are over 40 and your name ISN'T Jennifer Aniston, there is no reason for you to be wearing a bikini, NO REASON. I appreciate the woman form as much as the next guy, but damn girl, have some pride! They have these things now called mirrors, use them...
- How did I use to survive 2 weeks at the Cape with no TV or video games when I was a kid? At some points , my kids had a hard time with one week... Who ever invented the DS, thank you...
- I'm sorry, but there's no way the biologists on the whale watching boats can tell the difference between all those whales, they are just making those names up. And no kids, I'm not going to buy you another $2 bag of potato chips from the galley.
- The Cape Cod Rail Trail is the nicest one I've been on. Paved, marked, mapped and gorgeous scenery...
You don't see this view on the Vernon Rail Trail....
The Delta on vacation

- Why don't people say "Hi" or at least smile when they ride their bikes anymore? I did a non- scientific experiment on one ride and out of 20 people I rode past, only 3 smiled, looked my way or acknowledged me in any way. People, you're riding a bike on the Cape, enjoy yourselves! This isn't a stage of the Tour de France.
- BTW, the guy on the Lynsky tri bike, you're a tool if you expect your wife/girlfriend to keep up with you while she's riding her hybrid bike....
- Bike shops really need to teach people how to change gears. I saw way too many people in the highest (hardest) gear struggling to pedal. The bike industry needs to work on that. (maybe that's why no body was smiling...)
- If you see a seal swim up on the beach, leave it alone, there's usually nothing wrong with them. According to another marine biologist on the scene, stay 150 ft. away. This did happen, but I didn't have a camera...

We had a good time this past week. Threw in a water park trip to Six Flags yesterday, too. I'm so glad my kids aren't afraid of the water. At the Cape, they had a blast boogie boarding at high tide, too.

Scan on the ole' colon today. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Look for a "final" Delta review from me tomorrow or Friday.

Glad to be home... see ya