A Drink or Ten...Gallons

It's been so nice to be able to ride my bike the last few weeks.  Speed is up and fitness is up.  I am still about ten pounds over race weight, but when you aren't riding 60 miles a day, your normal weight comes back.  No biggie.  I still fit into my 34s and feel pretty good minus the back (usual).  An easy change at my second job has allowed me to ride my bike to work a few days a week.  I take the long way to add in some elevation and more miles, of course.
While doing this, I was pondering about how if my bees had lived that I would have loved to have made some mead as it would be cheaper than buying the 20 dollar bottle at the store...yikes!  I mentioned this in passing to my friend Kim and he said he had some brewing materials in the shed that I could use if I ever wanted to make some. 

0 - 100

Wow! It's been awhile. I have been working two jobs so no rest. Basically, I go to work around 5am and get home around 6:30. Two jobs is enough to make anybody go crazy, but I seem to be handling it ok. The one thing I miss is riding my bike a bunch. Well, not really. I still ride..just not enough to keep me up with the big boys,  but I run more and am still quite strong and fit. Hopefully I can keep the schedule up until Christmas or after. It's nice to pay bills and take Jared out. So,for now, My goal is to stay fit and work. Rest when I'm dead.
Jared is enjoying his new school and is involved with the TV crew and is in the orchestra.  His school has P. E.  Every day and I love it.  Noki is blind in one eye now from playing with one of his friends, but he still goes full speed ahead all the time and it's not slowing him down.  We should all be like that :-)
Later, friends!

The Team Vite Site Is Up!!!

Woohoo!!  Recumbent racers unite!!! It has been a long time coming, but the wait was worth it.  Yes, there are a few learning curves and it will take a little getting used to, but it is awesome.  The site consists of many cool features including articles by riders and forums for those recumbent racers/riders or soon to be recumbent racers/riders interested in partaking...
Come and give it a look!  LINK

Just no urge...

I had a great ride this weekend , but not felt any urge to ride the last couple of days.  So, I'm not going to. it's been hot! So, what do I do?...ride in it.  This is the best way to train, in my opinion.  Races don't stop because of the weather.  It may be hot, cold, raining, and snowing and you just have to be ready.  All of my rrides have been going well this summer.  While not all have been fast or fun, most have been progressive and I've learned even more about myself.  One of the things I don't quite understand is my lack of ability in a time trial.  Why can I push myself at 28mph for miles and miles, but in a time trial, choke on my own cookies?
I don't know.  I'll just keep on trucking. I have no real need to be the fastest person on the planet and nobody but myself to please when it comes to a wonderful hobby. Today, I will have fun with my son and maybe run. Tomorrow...ride

Nice Week

I had a good week this week!  One of the best things was riding with my son who put in 50 miles on his bike.  He loves it and continues to improve.  I then put in about 250 of my own miles and am feeling as strong as ever.  My speed is better and I don't seem to mind the extreme heat and humidity of the day.  I like to ride in the heat and ride in the rain unless it is torrential.  On Thursday, Jared and I rode 10 miles and then I rode another fifty.  In the evening, it was raining and the riders seemed to love it.  Why not just keep riding...it is generally cooler and most of the time I am sweaty anyway.
The only downside is the amount of grass that keeps expanding over the property.  When I mowed this week, I had to go really slow as not to bog the mower as it was just so tall from all the rain.  The vegetable garden is doing well, although the heat is starting to get to the peas.  The tomatoes are excellent and the greens are awesome and won't stop growing.
My neighbor gave me some organic corn seed that I can't wait to plant.  Wouldn't it be cool to have a huge acre garden and share with the neighbors?  :-)   

A Wonderful Day

Jared and I were invited to spend the day on the water with our friends Matt and Lisa.  We had a great time playing with dogs, swimming in the pool, chatting it up, and some fun time in the power boat going out to the beach!  They even loaned out to Jared a BikeE to ride.  He loves it!!!!!  Here are some good pictures.  Enjoy!

Sophie and Honey Bun

Pepper

Note the Team Vite sign in the background :-)

Space: The Final Frontier...

I have stumbled upon a real treat.  A continuation of a five year mission in "Star Trek Continues".  I have watched most of the first episode and am impressed with how it is like the original in filming.  I can't say the actors are exactly like the original, but they work.  The lighting and the hoaky sets are perfect.  I'm ready for more!  Check it out here Star Trek fans:  http://www.startrekcontinues.com/

Planting Fun

I have been busy the last month with work and cycling and parenting and with gardening.  The uptick in work has been good!  I hope it is not the calm before the storm.  Jared has been awesome as usual. I was able to go to his Concert last week and

A little cross Florida fun:-)

Last Sunday was the cross Florida ride.  Knowing that my legs were recuperating and as I was still not quite able to handle the long trek, I asked Kent Polk if I could tag along somewhere along the halfway point and help with any issues he may have and help pace if possible.  He said, "Yeah"!  The only concern being that I didn't want to get in the way of any racers that may be trying to break records.  I new that ckaudio from bentrider would be there in his Quest velomobile and that he would be pushing the pace if anyone wanted to go.  So it was decided.

Some Reflection...

With the beginnings of my legs coming back from the near dead of overuse, I have been reflecting on the past year.  Almost one year ago was the worst time of my life.  I had injured myself in a work related accident a year before and was told that since the surgery required was very dangerous and that so far nothing was impinging on my nerves; that nothing would be done other than trying to make me feel better with drugs.  I would now be partially disabled.  Some people would look at me weird because I couldn't move my neck and some would just feel sorry for me. And, coming from being a very physically active person with a very active family, this caused severe emotional stress and I proceeded to gain a lot of weight.  This weight gain caused even more stress.  And, then I lost the most important person in my life other than my son...my best friend.  I can't blame her.
I wanted out.  I saw no future for me.  My son, family, and friends kept close.  They believed in me more than I believed in myself.  They were there

A rebuttal...

I read a blog post this morning.  It was an interesting read on the justification of riding ultras and riding in general.  I kind of read it in disbelief, though.  Why would one put themselves through all of the training, and the so called emotional detachment of not living a "balanced life" for the sake of just not being gruff?  There are so many wonderful things to do in this world.  Why waste it on something you don't enjoy? Why do you do what you do?  Surely there has to be a reason aside from just having a goal to complete or because your family is "dysfunctional"...? 
In my efforts to be a reasonably descent cyclist, all of the so called negative aspects of training, were all negated by the lack of negativity.  Truly enjoying what one does for a hobby is wonderful!  If you have more than one, that is cool too!  Yes, there are boring days, but life is boring sometimes.  People usually have one question when they learn of my riding and that is how do you manage to put in the miles?  The answer is not as complex as they think it is.  It doesn't require me to be gone everyday for three hours at a time.  Averaging above 250 miles a week is actually not a huge task.  I found I was doing it with only a minimum of time taken out of my life.  More often than not, it is making choices like riding to the rides to add miles.  Most of the rides would take that long to drive to anyway.  I know some people who work out at the gym more than I ride my bike hour wise.  I even manage to find rides where I just smell the roses and check out the scenery.  Watching the sunrise on Saturday mornings is amazing.  Most people nowadays sleep in from staying out on the Friday before.  This also gives me the chance to be get back to being a good dad to my ever so wonderful son.
In the blog post, Ultra cyclists are placed into categories:

2013 Bloomin' Arts Ride

What about a recovery?  My legs were kind of screaming at me by now.  Two weeks of solid racing and no real recovery rides...When I saw the post on Facebook, I knew I had to do it.  I would support a great shop in Leroy's Bikeworks and hopefully get to see some familiar local faces and meet some new ones.  When I got there, Leroy's tent was up and he and Alex were dressed in warm gear as it was cold.  This would be a three layer day.  The temperatures would not get out of the 50s.  As people started to line up, my legs were just telling me no, but I wanted to see if I could get them loosened up and work in a good pace.  Hopefully Allan and William and Jay would be able to hang so I could take a few turns at the back. 
One of the great things about this event is that they give back to the community.  They had a big raffle and gave away bikes for kids.  This was awesome to see.  I love to see a kids face brighten as they are handed a bike to ride.  After the giveaway, Trish (the organizer) jumped in the car and escorted us out of town.  I was fast on her tail, pulling 27 to 28.  I looked back to see the others falling back.  This would be a ride alone, I guess.

 

Leaving Town

Trish barely had time to jump out of the car and snap the pic above.  All things seemed to go well.  My legs kind of loosened up a bit and I was rocking.  I even beat the Patrol car to the stop light

Florida Challenge 2013

This was a flat out fun weekend!  The Florida Challenge is an HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) event held at the cycle park in Cooper City, FL every year.  This would be my first time going.  I had just spent the previous weekend at Sebring and I was a little tired to say the least plus I was fighting off a cold.  I arrived in Sarasota and helped John and Jacquie load the Team Vite van and then slept over.  We got up early and drove the 3.5 hours there and were ready to race by 9 or so.  Fun is all I can say!  I had a great time with old friends and I met some great new ones!  Even Mia, the dog, was there for the missed licks between races and to play with the Team Vite mascot Bella, the Great Dane. 
My aching legs were screaming, but I had some great experiences!  A couple fond memories were the last sprint of the 20 minute race between me and Kent (he won by a few hundredths of a second!), The 50 lap event at the Velodrome where I got spanked by TT specialist Mike Mowett (Upright Mike) and his low racer, and my first experience on the Velodrome with no warm up.  We showed up a bit late on Sunday morning so we didn't get to warm up.  The advice given was good, but scary!  I would get a one lap speed up where I would have to stay above 18 on the wall or risk falling down the corner and dive for the start line at full speed, hang on the black line and crank like crazy.  It was scary and exhilarating!
Here are some pics to describe the fun!  All the pics were taken by Jacquie Schlitter with my camera.  It would appear she has some talent other than riding bikes!!!!

 

The whole Weekend was a blast!  Thank you so much John, Jacquie, Lexi, and Lilly for putting up with my grumpy old self!!!!!  You are one in a million!!!!!

My Story Will Be Published! Update

Due to the validation process, my story will now be up today at 3pm.  We wanted to be sure my numbers didn't change.
My Sebring story will be published tomorrow on Ultraracenews.com.  I am so excited.  I had a really good ride and want to share a little preview of the writeup.  I hope you enjoy it enough to hit on the link and read the rest.  I will also be posting it on my sponsors website as soon as it is up.  Enjoy!...

Team Vite after the 12hr ceremony!  We did GREAT!!!  I couldn't be more proud of a great group of people!!!

 ...It was congested as people, including me, were checking their chips.  I had barely sat down on the bike when the start signal was given.  Everyone was off like a shot.  I managed to put myself right behind the leaders and then Kurt crashed right in front of me.  I had to break and swerve and hope I wouldn’t get hit from behind.  I was saddened by him crashing as I was looking forward to riding with him.  Next time, Kurt!!!

The track laps were fast.  I managed to snake my way up to the front enough to take a couple pulls.  Everyone looked strong.  The noise from the tires and disc wheels echoing off of the barriers was awesome!  Troy Timmons soon passed us and caught up with the pace car on his M5 CHR.  John Schlitter was on an M5 as well, but didn’t seem anxious to make a bold move yet.  Both he and Troy were competing in the Century this year and this would make decision making harder for everyone during the race.  

After the track, everyone settled into a comfortable pace.  I fell in line, thinking this would be a good move and see how everyone feels at the turnaround.  There were about 5 or 6 diamond frame bikes including a riding buddy of mine, Julius Jubie Aulisio, who was doing the century and Craig Prather in the 12hr.  The list of recumbents was JV, Kristy, Jim Parker, Uwe Brockman, me, JS, and sitting about 100 ft back, Kent Polk who was in the RAAM qualifier.  Kent looked impressive!  He stayed right with us and...Read the rest here.

The cribbage king...

As I sit here writing this, my grandfather is not doing so well.  He has been a long time sufferer of Parkinson's and recently had his knee replaced.  He has not been improving, though, and thoughts of being far away from my family are ever present. 
I am having a lot of flashbacks of playing cribbage and hunting with him; his ability to take the long shot was unparalleled.
I am thinking of you, Grandpa and Grandma!!!  Love You!!!!!

Sponsorship!!!

It is with great pleasure that I announce my sponsorships for the 2013 racing season.  Vite Bikes out of Sarasota  and Leroy's Bikeworks out of Lakeland.  Vite Bikes (pronounced Veet) will be my main sponsorship and Leroy has offered to sponsor me for some of the local races.  This is fantastic news!!!  The owners of both shops are excellent people to work with and just fun to ride with.   I have put in the effort and hopefully it will pay off with some successful races.  I will have more to come...stay tuned:-)

2012 A Year in Review

While thinking back on 2012, not many good things come to mind.  I will forever be changed by what has happened this year.  Some in bad and some in good.  Only time will tell how the long term will hold out.  So, I am just going to skip about the first half of the year and write about riding and my son, dog, and friends.
I needed a goal to focus on to relieve the stress, so I put most of my extracurricular effort into my love of cycling this year.  It started off with just focusing on miles and miles and then started to work into a few goals.  I wanted to improve speed and maintain a certain number of century rides in the year.  I managed both.  I put my