Time Machine

I remember the day well. I was sitting at the desk of the health club I was working at (OK, it was more of one of those Nautilus "clubs" that were all the rage in the late 80's/early 90's) reading the newest issue of Winning magazine waiting to get out on my steel Trek road bike for another training ride.

Bob Harrington of Wayfarer Bikes struck up a conversation asking me about my riding and we chatted about general bike geek stuff. Then he asked THE question... "Have you been mountain biking yet?"

Mountain biking? Really? LeMond didn't mountain bike... Hinault didn't mountain bike..Indurain, Delgado, Roche... none of them! "This mountain bike thing is just a fad... it'll never last", I argued. Well I stubbornly agreed to try it out and I've been hooked ever since (even quit the club and went to work for him for a bit). I was a bit off on my "fad" prediction, huh?

Fast forward a few years, I moved up toward Hartford to live with my college friends and drink beer and ride and race mountain bikes. I actually got pretty good at both. My favorite place to ride was Penwood State Park. A pretty darn technical place to ride. Fun place, but for what ever reason, haven't been there in years...

Well today I hit Penwood up again and boy did that place take me back. It was like I traveled back in time. I felt like I was 23 again riding my Kona Kilaua with it's SoftRide stem, Umma Gumma tires and wearing my Bell V1 Pro helmet. Tearing up the trap rock covered single track seemed so naturally to me again. Back then all I cared about was riding and partying so most of those "training rides" were often done hung over. My metabolism allowed me to eat anything I wanted, drink copious amounts of beer and still weigh in at 170 pounds and ride hard the next day. I didn't have a care in the world except to pay the rent and have fun.

Well back to reality, I'm sitting here typing this taking Advil, icing my knee, 25 pounds heavier, wife and two kids, cancer survivor, dealing with bills and wondering if I'll ever race again....
It was a fun trip back in time today... everyone should try it...

I've got the moves like Jaggar

That was the song that I couldn't get out of my head today... annoying, but appropriate...

Headed out to a new to me place in near by Cromwell today called "Hyland River" State Park. I've heard alot about this place having ramps and stunts and such and I was pumped to explore... Got home from dropping the kids off, put on my best free-rider Lucas/McKenna baggy shorts and off I went with the Goblin.
"Nice place, but where the hell are the stunts?"... I've got the mooooves like Jagger...."

Neat little place tucked between the golf course and the river so there were some cool scenic over looks of the mighty Connecticut River and lots of fun twisty stuff.... but still no stunts... what the hell?

Ever since the Death of Racer Boy, I feel like I've been re-invented on the bike. This was the first ride in quite awhile were I really had fun. Didn't care about how fast I was going, clearing a hill, bike parts, blogs or pics (much to Airborne's dismay, I'm sure). Just a fun time in the woods by myself. Hell, even the knee and ankle even enjoyed the ride.
But where the hell where the stunts? I've got the moves like Jagger...

So if you live in the area and looking for a fun quick ride, great place to go, hit me up for directions. I wouldn't go out of your way to go there to ride, unless I missed something.

Got home and looked up some reviews and pics of the area and where the stunts were... The reviews were from 2003... DOH! I may have to sneak back in there this fall and re-build some of them... stealth mode...
Still a fun time because I've got the moves like Jaggar....

The Death of Racer Boy....

Sometimes the worst rides end up being the best for you... read on and this will make sense.

As most of might have noticed, I pulled myself from the "Grid". Frustration at myself has put in a place that, frankly, I didn't want to deal with any of this crap anymore.

Let start off by saying I'm hurting. Every part of my body is either injured, tweaked or tired right now. Unfortunately my brain says "You're still 20!" but my body says "Eh... more like 50".

As we get older, we tend to forget that. I really need to learn to recover as hard as I workout. Not doing that is coming back to haunt me. When I got a clean bill of health last year I went balls to the wall into physical activity with doing a poor job of rest and recovery. "You rested all last year" I kept telling myself. Well I'm paying for it now. Ironically, after you fight and beat cancer, you would think all of this would be alot easier.

There's been alot going on here, both mentally and physically that I won't get into right now (Some of you already know about some of this). When we get a hold of what's going on, hopefully the stars will align again... right now they're all over the place.


So yesterday I went out for a short ride around town and thru the meadows. Let's just say I wasn't really enjoying myself. Sore ankle, tweaked knee (who the hell's idea was it to play Ultimate Frisbee @9 p.m.?) , stiff neck and all sorts of other things contributed to a ride that, frankly, sucked. But I did get something out of it. It ended up being a pretty important ride.

I need to step back and forget about racing again, both mtb bike and cross. I just can't push it anymore with out taking care of myself. Not fair to my family, Airborne and frankly... me. Time to get back on the bike and ride for fun and fitness. Riser bars on the Goblin...more comfortable fit on the Delta...not worry about hammering the hills... and not getting on myself anymore (It's a vicious cycle...Over do it, get hurt, get on myself for being stupid.. recover.. repeat cycle).

There's other things important to me that I miss because of this repeated sequence. I'm lucky enough to be able to surround myself with bikes most of the time, so it's time to start using my situation for good, not evil.

R.I.P Racer Boy... We'll miss you.


For now anyways....

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...