I love getting outside.
I could stop right there but since I opted to create this page I'll provide some more details, and besides, a Blogger Profile is only so good.
I'm an aspiring endurance athlete which means I like getting outside for longer periods of time. I have been riding bicycles for a long time and running for a little less time. My friends love to tease me about when I'm going to start swimming.
Over the years "endurance athletics" has evolved for me. Firstly I've gotten older but I've also had some life-altering events.
- In July 2023 I crashed mere miles from the start of a 100-mile mountain bike race. I broke my right collar bone (for the first time!), six ribs, and my shoulder. I also sustained a concussion.
- In December 2023 I had open heart surgery. This was planned and not due to blockage, etc. but still, I set a PR for tubes coming out of my chest that I never want to beat.
- In April 2024 I crashed 30 miles into a gravel race and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Brain injuries are something else entirely... it's the first time I have ever been injured and recovery has not been a linear process.
- In December 2024 I discovered that I had torn my right rotator cuff when I crashed in April. It seems the doctors missed this injury because of previous damage to my right shoulder. This also required surgery.
I used to say I loved a challenge. To say the least, I'm over that now.
This film still says a lot about me.
Athletics
When I was a young kid I didn't like physical activity that much. I recall being a huge complainer when my parents dragged me out to go hiking. In high school, I started playing soccer and rowed on a crew team and I credit crew for finally helping me turn the corner. I tried out for the Junior National boat at one point and although I didn't qualify, I stopped being so scared of working hard.
In college, I had to decide between crew and being a ski bum. I opted for the latter. The allure of living at a ski area and playing in the snow every single day was too strong. For the next four years, I lived full-time at a ski area every winter to teach skiing and also worked on the ski patrol.
I started cycling because a couple of guys in my fraternity that I looked up to rode bikes. I started racing bicycles because one of the guys I rode with started to race and place. "He's racing, placing in the top-10, and we're the same speed..." You get the idea. Here is more about my cycling.
I started running because Shelley turned me on to it. I started running on trails (ironically the very same ones I used to dread while hiking) because a good friend was recovering from an injury and was using cycling to assist in his recovery. He joined the cycling team I was on and the healthier he got the more time we spent on our feet instead of on wheels. I started entering running races because it seemed like the natural thing to do. Here is more about my running.
Hanging out with an active crowd sure pays off.
Writing/Blogging
I started to enjoy writing back in high school. I took Honors English and Creative Writing and from what I recall it was a mostly enjoyable experience in spite of what my very average grades might suggest and from what my parents might recall when it was time for me to do my homework. Finishing a research paper was like pulling teeth but most every other writing assignment I took to with some degree of enthusiasm.
In addition to liking writing, I also loved reading. There were times when I was consuming three books at once by the light of my bedside lamp. My favorites, of course, included all the usual stuff introverted, shy, nerdy junior high and high school boys read like the Dune series, anything written by J. R. R. Tolkien or Stephen King and Louis L'Amour. God did I love the Louis L'Amour books... Every time we flew anywhere I would buy another book at the airport and finish it by the time the plane landed. We flew a fair amount so thank goodness Louis was prolific.
As I grew older first television and then magazines (VeloNews and Cycle Sport mostly) and then the Internet replaced the books I read but the urge to write was still there so in 2003 I started keeping an online training diary to chart and track my cycling. My first foray into keeping a diary was kind of dry but over time it was a chance to not only record my physical efforts but also to comment on myself. It seems speaking in the third person is still a habit of mine. I also enjoyed commenting on pretty much everything else so in 2006 I launched my first blog. After several restarts of my blog, some facilitated by a change in careers (I moved from the bicycle industry to IT), this Google blog is me starting over from scratch once again.
Blogs are a dime a dozen really, and mine is no different, but writing is fun and often therapeutic and sometimes like catharsis. Plus, when you get a positive comment or praise for a post well done it's a nice little pat on the back. I don't worry much about the other comments. I also still like to chart and track stuff and being able to search my blog makes those things easier to find. Lastly, sharing is fun. I would hardly use the Internet if I didn't like to share.
This film still says a lot about me.
So does this one. I hope my attitude never changes.
Athletics
When I was a young kid I didn't like physical activity that much. I recall being a huge complainer when my parents dragged me out to go hiking. In high school, I started playing soccer and rowed on a crew team and I credit crew for finally helping me turn the corner. I tried out for the Junior National boat at one point and although I didn't qualify, I stopped being so scared of working hard.
In college, I had to decide between crew and being a ski bum. I opted for the latter. The allure of living at a ski area and playing in the snow every single day was too strong. For the next four years, I lived full-time at a ski area every winter to teach skiing and also worked on the ski patrol.
I started cycling because a couple of guys in my fraternity that I looked up to rode bikes. I started racing bicycles because one of the guys I rode with started to race and place. "He's racing, placing in the top-10, and we're the same speed..." You get the idea. Here is more about my cycling.
I started running because Shelley turned me on to it. I started running on trails (ironically the very same ones I used to dread while hiking) because a good friend was recovering from an injury and was using cycling to assist in his recovery. He joined the cycling team I was on and the healthier he got the more time we spent on our feet instead of on wheels. I started entering running races because it seemed like the natural thing to do. Here is more about my running.
Hanging out with an active crowd sure pays off.
Writing/Blogging
I started to enjoy writing back in high school. I took Honors English and Creative Writing and from what I recall it was a mostly enjoyable experience in spite of what my very average grades might suggest and from what my parents might recall when it was time for me to do my homework. Finishing a research paper was like pulling teeth but most every other writing assignment I took to with some degree of enthusiasm.
In addition to liking writing, I also loved reading. There were times when I was consuming three books at once by the light of my bedside lamp. My favorites, of course, included all the usual stuff introverted, shy, nerdy junior high and high school boys read like the Dune series, anything written by J. R. R. Tolkien or Stephen King and Louis L'Amour. God did I love the Louis L'Amour books... Every time we flew anywhere I would buy another book at the airport and finish it by the time the plane landed. We flew a fair amount so thank goodness Louis was prolific.
As I grew older first television and then magazines (VeloNews and Cycle Sport mostly) and then the Internet replaced the books I read but the urge to write was still there so in 2003 I started keeping an online training diary to chart and track my cycling. My first foray into keeping a diary was kind of dry but over time it was a chance to not only record my physical efforts but also to comment on myself. It seems speaking in the third person is still a habit of mine. I also enjoyed commenting on pretty much everything else so in 2006 I launched my first blog. After several restarts of my blog, some facilitated by a change in careers (I moved from the bicycle industry to IT), this Google blog is me starting over from scratch once again.
Blogs are a dime a dozen really, and mine is no different, but writing is fun and often therapeutic and sometimes like catharsis. Plus, when you get a positive comment or praise for a post well done it's a nice little pat on the back. I don't worry much about the other comments. I also still like to chart and track stuff and being able to search my blog makes those things easier to find. Lastly, sharing is fun. I would hardly use the Internet if I didn't like to share.
