Ride Flier...and Damn you Adam Levine...

Well about a year ago I mentioned how a certain song was stuck in my head on a few rides...
http://scopethatcolon.blogspot.com/2011/10/ive-got-moves-like-jaggar.html
Well it's happened again.   That dreamy Adam Levine and his cohorts known as Maroon5 have that "Payphone" song continually playing in my head when I ride... Annoying as hell... those guys must be doing something right though.




Finally got the flier for my charity ride and hike finished and ready to publish...

I'm actually pretty proud of myself that I may actually get this event and running... Many many thanks to all the people who have lent a had in getting this far.   Look for a post with some final props in the near future.
Here's the Facebook page with continual updates...
 https://www.facebook.com/RideHikeYourAOff

Most of my free time has been spent sending out donation proposals, mapping out the two routes, shaking hands and kissing babies.   Between that and kids being home for the summer, something had to give.  Unfortunately it has come at the cost of any serious riding.  Cyclocross training has taken a bit of a hit right now but I'm hoping that with the kids back to school next week (If they make it that long.....), swapping back to days at work and being extremely efficient with my time... I might be able to salvage some semblance of a season.  Efficiency will be key... I want you all to hold me to it!

Later!

Time for a new charity ride...

One of the great things about our society is the fact that MOST  (notice I didn't say all) people want to do something to help others in need.  You can see this by all the charity rides and walks that are held every week end through out the country.  The most popular being of course...

Well this past week end our family had the pleasure of participating in The ERRACE (http://www.errace.org) event in Avon. I hopped on the bike and did the 25 mile ride while Connie, the kids, a good friend of hers and my nephew did the 5k walk.   What a well run event that was mapped spectacularly with great friends and lots of good food.  I'm not sure what the final totals were, but all the proceeds go to cancer research.  It was a great event.

Now please allow me to deviate here a bit and vent.   If things don't change soon, there's going to be a new charity event needed... the HBACWOACR Ride.  You see, as a survivor I appreciate everyone coming out and riding these events and rasing money and awareness.  ALOT of these people take their bikes out of cob webs once a year to do these rides and I love the enthusiasm.  BUT, when you have hundreds of "newbies" dumped onto main roads who have no group riding experience and cover the roads like there's a impenetrable "charity force field" around, mayhem ensues.
I always stay at the back of these rides because I don't want to be one of "those guys", you know the racer types who have to fly off the front, but at the same time, mid and back of the pack riders are putting their lives at risk following behind some of these groups who have no road sense.  LEARN THE RULES OF THE ROAD!!!!!!!!
So next year I will be having the HBACWOACR Ride, or "Hit By A Car While On A Charity Ride" Ride... Please give often, every little bit helps...   Stupid people....

On Sunday a group of buddies made the trek up to Killington VT for some downhill hijinks...Here's a vid of my mad skills
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150913713205766
Sorry, it's on FB
Had a blast and I have to say I didn't crash once... veered off the trail once or twice, but no crashing... had a good time and looking forward to doing it again....
But next time a full suspension bike is in order... over 8,000 ft of descending just isn't all that comfortable on a hardtail.....

And now the BIG NEWS!!!!!
I finally got off my ass (damn ADHD) and sent in the paper work for the first annual Ride/Hike Your A$$ Off!
The date is set for September 30th at Gay City State Park.  The plan calls for a mountain bike ride for the riders out there, and a hike for those afraid of bikes... Distances aren't set yet, but probably count on 12 and 3ish respectively...
All the proceeds will be going to Get Your Rear In Gear a great fun group who's mission statement is "Empower local communities to promote prevention and early detection of colon cancer and to provide support to those affected."   Check them out at www.getyourrearingear.com  
I'd love to have as many of my readers, friends and family come out to join in the fun... I have some things planned that I can't spill the beans about yet, but stay tuned...
A big thanks to Anne Carlson at Get Your Rear in Gear who has extremely patient (and frustrated I'm sure) with me in putting this on.

If anyone out there cares to help, or knows any companies that would like to lend their support, drop me a line... like everything else in my life, I need to get my ass moving on this....

That's all for today... take care!

Visions of Lance Dancing in my Head...and other musings..

Well it's that time of year again when you find fit skinny men parading all over France in rainbow colored costumes for the world to see.  Yep, it's Tour de France time (not sure what you folks thought I was talking about). Here @STC Headquarters it a time of many arguments when I want to watch the Tour coverage but the other members of the family just don't get it....  I guess it's an acquired taste.

Because of these TV images, most of my riding ends up being on the road this time of year.  I pedal around the area on my slick tire equipped Airborne Delta with visions of Lance Armstrong dancing in my head (but with out the needle in my ass cheek). I effortlessly attack every hill like I'm on a solo break away in a crucial stage of the tour... sweat dripping down my fore head as I reach for the luke warm water I have (how come no one hands me up water bottles on my rides?) .  Luckily there's few Cumberland Farms and 7-11's on the route.

To prove  my total lack of mountain biking lately, I'll give you this ScopeThatColon exclusive that I didn't want to share with anyone.... it was my mountain bike ride from Tuesday,  I had big plans, but I just turned the GPS off and survived the loop.... Click on the ride name and it shows some neat info though, for those of you into that stuff...

Not too pretty... I don't understand why that when it's really hot, every stone is taller and sharper than they were before.   Everything on the bike creaks and squeaks and you just don't get comfortable... go figure...


Here's a few other nuggets:
-Waiting to here back from  the state to confirm the date for the first annual Ride Your A$$ Off.  I really wish I started this process earlier, but those of you who have grown close to me and the family probably realize why I didn't... that's for another day though.  

- Coming up on the 14th my family is doing the ERRACE event....  More info here
http://www.errace.org/  Wife and kids are doing the walk and I'll do the 25 miler... We'd love to have family and friends join us,  let us know.

- We have a few friends doing the 3Day breast cancer walk....http://www.the3day.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage&JServSessionIdr004=tlavkaitl1.app320b... if you have a few extra bucks, throw it their way....

- Our SSDR (Super Secret Dads/Dudes Ride) group is having out first annual "Ride Up North presented by FSR Energy" (they hooked us up with a bunch of energy shots and drink for the trip).  We're heading up to Killington on the 15th, the more the merrier, drop me a line if you're interested...

- If you find something you love, never change, caress it and profess your love and never take it for granted....yes, I'm talking about bike seats.   Specialized bikes seats suck big time.  I picked up a couple lighter racier styles to take the place of my old, chunky looking ti railed WTB saddles and I regret it.  The Specialized saddles look "Euro" and all but they creak and the snag your shorts and on the cross bike the sharp edges scrap your thighs on remounts....  back to the WTB's for my butt.

And now to finish up, I'm going to rant all over you...

You all have killed it for me and have made me a bitter bitter man.  Let me explain.
I'm coming up on 45 and for most of those adult years, I've worked retail in some capacity.  Everything from small business  to mega giant box stores.  There was a time when I enjoyed helping people.  Talking to them, offering my "expertise", and putting a smile on their face when I was able to help them out.  And 95% I did it with kindness and common courtesy.
You all ruined it for me.  I realize we live in tough economical times and every dollar counts, but customer service doesn't mean "bend over and let me take it up the ass".
"Stop arguing with me that you forgot your five dollar off coupon to a competitor and we should still match it anyways (is the $5 worth it looking like a douche bag?)."
"Your 47 years old, it's about time you learn on your own, the basics on how a helmet fits... I'm not asking you to split an atom"
"Even after explaining that $150 is not alot of money and this isn't really a  "full suspension mountain bike",  I shouldn't have to replace your rear wheel for free when you go complaining to management that I want to charge you"
"We're not a playground... stop letting your kids run around the store unattended!"
"Your failure to plan ahead does not consitute an emergency on my part... I will do my best to fix your bike so you have it for your trip tomorrow.  Stop yelling at me if I can't get it done though, from the looks of the rust, two flat tires and spider webs, I would bet that the bike emergency didn't happen over night."

Yes, I'm bitter.....

Hollywood does it all the time....

Hollywood does it all the time....

So why can't I? Take an old idea that worked and resurrect it?   I tried to do a new blog, but it just wasn't working out for me.   ScopeThatColon was my first real "foray" into using the internet for something besides nudey pictures, that it became too much of a part of me to let it go  (the blog, NOT the pictures....).

But let's be honest with myself here.... I've been kind of lost trying to figure out which direction I need to be going in.  Things haven't been going quite as I had planned/hoped and there's alot of reasons that I won't get into here, but I decided the first step to recovery was to go back to where it all began, so here I am.

To keep you all updated on what's going on, here you go.....

- My health (cancer wise) is pretty darn good.  All the test have come back clean and no one seems to be overly worried, which is a good thing.  Still at the chiropractor 2X a week to clear up my locked up hips and some tendinitis in my shoulders, though
- I'm not a Airborne Flight Crew member this year, but they did ask me to help out with developing and testing some new product.  I guess they value my insight... (they're suckers, huh?)   They have some neat projects coming down the pike... keep and eye on them (I might even be able to share an exclusive or two on here!)
- Except for this past week, I have been riding reasonably consistently.  I have a few things planned that I will update you all on in future posts but let's just say this... it involves alot of bike riding.  The one thing that's lacking is consistency in my training.  Something I gotta work on.  Keep an eye out here and my Facebook page for pics, videos and really cool GPS downloads....
- Work, well work is work... not really sure that this is where I belong, but it's working out for us at the moment, so it'll have to be that way for the time being...

So there you go... to sum things up
1) Hollywood has lost any originality....
2) I'm reasonably healthy and riding a descent amount for now...
3) It's going to be a fun year...If I can just get off my ass and get organized...
4) I have Airborne fooled in thinking I can contribute something to product development  (just kidding guys....)
5) I need to find a new job at some point in my life...

Thrilling stuff... check back soon!

The end

Well this is it... the last post for ScopeThatColon!
I've been thinking about this for a long time, but just never pulled the trigger. This blog has meant alot to me over the years. A place to vent, have fun, shill some product of friends and really, it was a rehab experience for me, too.
Many of these posts got me thru the tough times of cancer.

But don't worry, you aren't all getting rid of me that easy! I still have alot to say and much to accomplish.
I've started a new blog here...http://doit4others.blogspot.com

Go check it out. This one will be a blog with a purpose.... I hope I can get you guys to follow and support the new blog just as much as you have this one.

Thanks to everyone who followed this blog over the years, put up with my sarcastic (and some times inappropriate) humor and had fun with it like I did. My goal was to help and inspire others, I hope I accomplished that....

Work to do...

George Costanza: The sea was angry that day, my friends - like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. I got about fifty feet out and suddenly the great beast appeared before me. I tell you he was ten stories high if he was a foot. As if sensing my presence, he let out a great bellow. I said, "Easy, big fella!" And then, as I watched him struggling, I realized that something was obstructing its breathing. From where I was standing, I could see directly into the eye of the great fish.
Jerry: Mammal.
George Costanza: Whatever.

So full disclosure: I haven't really been riding as much as I should or would like. Up to this point in my life I've been all about bikes and riding, but as I get older and my family grows, I realize I now have many diverse interests like eating Cheetos, doing half-ass home projects and "sharing" funny pictures on Facebook. Sometimes a healthy bike ride just needs to take a back seat.

So today was the first mountain bike ride in a looong time. And just like with George saving the whale, "The trails were angry that day, my friends..." Slick trails, some mud and hills that some how got much bigger....
Just one of those days where my mad skillz just weren't there... kinda like the Patriots for the last 45 seconds of the SuperBowl....
Then there was the issue of me forgetting my riding shoes about halfway to the Res...had to turn around to grab them... I did remember my NEW GoPro HD (yeah baybee, HD!) camera but it took me a while to figure out why it wouldn't record (forgot to put a memory card in it)...
But you know what? It was a gorgeous "Fall-esque" February day and I did have fun....

I keep promising some big changes to the blog... but again, there's a bag of potato chips that aren't going to eat themselves....

On a more serious note, I continue to be appreciative of everything I have and everything I can do. It was two years ago this past Saturday that I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer.... I'm one of the lucky ones because of great family and friends... remember there's always some one worse off than you... help them out....

New Year's ....Again....

So it's been awhile since I've posted last. Lot's going on over here... holidays, Noah's tonsils out, house work.. the usual.
But I wanted to check in with everyone on the new year and encourage everyone to make 2012 their year to remember!
Just like everyone else, I've always made past resolutions and did ok with some, and failed miserably with others. So this year I'm changing the process up...
It's a New Year's Revolution !



I think that maybe if I put some "panic" behind them this year, it may just all work out.

So without for adieu, My 2012 New Year's Revolutions!!!!

#1... Cut out the Diet Coke fountain soda (and any of those "extreme" energy drinks for that matter). Those of you who know me, know my affinity for a good fountain soda... well that affinity has become border line addiction. The stuff is just not good for you and certain parts of my body are reacting to that. Thus far in 2012 I've been pretty good with substituting FRS and water with the occasional can of Diet Coke here and there.
(BTW, don't let anyone kid you, the can is NOT the same as fountain..no comparison.)
I did cave yesterday and I bought a fountain... it was sooo good... but my conscience got the better of me and I dumped it after a few delicious sips.

#2... Pay it forward in a big way. I was given a gift at the end of 2010 in surviving cancer. Lot's of people went out of their way to help, I met some very brave people and I met others not so lucky... It's time for me to step up and help. I have a few things stewing in the pot... stay tuned for some big news....

#3... The usual "Just watch what I, and the rest of my family, eats", it's a no brainer....

#4... Help my kids experience life. There's alot out there that I missed as a kid, I don't want them to go through that.

#5... Start welding again. A few years back I went away to learn how to build bike frames. Time to start plying my "trade" again. It's going to take awhile but it's something I need to do. My goal is a road frame this summer.

#6... Drink more beer. I know this sounds like a strange one, but follow me on this one. I don't really drink, maybe a beer once in awhile, but even after 2-3 beers, I feel like crap the next day and regret doing. There fore I never "hang out and have a beer" with my friends and I end up missing out on some good times. So I need to condition my body to be able to have a beer once in awhile and not feel like crap the next day. Practice starts soon....

#7... Keep riding and flying the Airborne flag. There's a process every year in selecting Flight Crew members and none of us are guaranteed a place. I may not be back with them in 2012. But you all know my fondness for the guys in Ohio and how what they have done for me the past couple of years has gone way past bikes and trips and such. My debt to them runs very deep and I will continue to sing their praises (at least until #5 kicks in, anyways).

There you have it, all doable, I believe...wish me luck...

I challenge all of you to make 2012 your best year yet!
What's your New Years Revolution?