The most beautiful sport

As I sat watching the Final stage of the 2007 Tour de France this morning I got to thinking about what a beautiful sport cycling is. In America we are so use to dealing with the it's all about me attitude of professional athletes. I want the most money, I want the fame I I I I I ....for the past three weeks I have watched young men tear themselves apart to help out their team leaders, they know that they have no chance of winning a stage or winning the tour but they are proud to help try and get their leader a win. Where else do you see athletes who are bruised, broken and stiched together continue on for the sake of their team.

Professional Cyclists are the most drugged tested athletes in the world, if they are caught or though to be using drugs they are suspended or fired. Maybe Americans need to take this attitude, but no we just ignore because once again it all comes back to money.

Cyclists dont ride for the money they ride for the love of the sport, it gets in your blood and in your soul. I am proud to be a cyclist, I know that I will never be great, I know that I will never be fast but that does not mean that when I am flying down a hill or climbing up one that I cannot for a moment pretend that I am riding up one of the epic climbs of the Tour de France, or any of the other great tours. You never know one day I might just get over there and try but until then I am proud to be a member of one of the most beautiful sports in the world..cycling.

PEACE...keep riding and keep safe.

800

Well I have hit the 800 mile mark since April. I am happy with that and I think that I can achieve my goal of 2000. I think that I am finally getting my cycling legs back now if I could just get my running legs back. Oh well one thing at a time.

PEACE

Where have they gone...

Where have all of the cool bad boys on motorcycles gone? All I see are NOT cool fat boys on Motorcycles.....

My babies are growing up

Thomas and Winston are 10 weeks old today. They are a joy to have around and would love to keep them, however I am still looking for a loving home to take both of them. I will not split them up now they take such good care of each other.

Training

Well I would like to report that the training is going great and wonderful, however that would not be true. The swimming and the biking are going very well. The running is not going so well. I went out for a run on Tuesday and did only 1/2 of what I should have done. Ok it was 100 degrees in the shade but it was discouraging. Tonight I went out for my run and again was not able to complete what my training sheet told me that I needed to do. As I walked home I kept thinking why am I doing this. A big part of being able to do multi sport events or endurance events is you have to be tough mentally. I am having trouble mentally, I am very tired mentally. I use to be able to just clear my mind when I ran and hopefully I will be able to get back there, but for now I am struggling.

PEACE

HOT!!!!

I stated in Feb that I was crazy by trying to do the Brrr ride in 10 degrees below zero, well I am still crazy I rode Sunday in 95+ degree weather in the Ride for Sight. From Ankeny to Colfax went great. Not to hot and the wind behind us but once we left Colfax things went down hill real fast. It was like the temp had gone up 20 degrees in 10 minutes. It got miserable and hilly. One of my regular riding routes is to Ira and the trail so I knew what we were in for. So once we got to Ira we hopped on the trail to Mingo. Well that is where I made a big mistake. I chose for Julie and I to take the rode instead of the trail. I had been on the trail many time but never been on the road now I know why it was hilly, hot and windy. Julie did a great job getting up the hills however the heat was to much. She decided to quit at mile 49. Another gentleman also stopped so I called the sag wagon and decided to troop on. There were a few more hills then I turned South and it was like a furnace hitting me in the face. I can usually handle the wind and heat if I take it slow however the combination on Sunday was deadly. I couldnt take enough water in the even begin to cool me off. I kept riding until the sag wagon caught up with me and then I gave it up. I rode 60 miles I would have loved to do the whole thing however I knew that I was near my limit when my heartrate wouldnt drop on the flats.

After I got home I took a nice shower and tried to take a nap however that was not to be after about a 1/2 hour the muscle spasms started. This spasm started in the arch of my foot, went up the inside of my leg into my groin. You know how with a charlie horse your muscle freezes up. That is what this was doing all the way up my leg. I didnt know whether to scream, puke or passout. I finally got down on the floor drank some water then bent my knee. This seemed to take the cramp out. Of course Bill was not home to be my hero. All of the action was done by the time he walked in the door.

I took today off and just rested. Tomorrow it is back to training. I just need to be more careful in the heat. Heat exhaustion in not something you want to mess around with.

I ride by myself so much that I can sometimes forget if there is someone with me. I need to be aware of how Julie is doing. I am lucky I have the chance to get out and ride during the week where Julie is busy with other responsibilities. She did great riding 49 miles, I am proud of her she rode with guts up the hills and in that miserable hot/windy weather. Sunday was not a day to be doing alot of physical exercise and she was out there determained to get as many miles in as she could. I will be more aware next time, getting the miles is not worth hurting a friend.

Peace...stay cool..keep riding carefully

Training Update

I feel that the training is going well. I am not to concerned about the biking and swimming. The running has me a bit nervous. The legs are going NO we don't want to run. So we are having a battle of the wills so to speak. I am more of a distance runner so I am trying to do some "sprints"(I use the word sprint very lightly) to get the legs to move alittle faster. So it is 3 minute sprint one minute trot etc. It is a slow process but I will get there or die trying.

Swimming I have been doing 50 sprints with 15 second rest then doing 100 sprints with a slow 50 rest. Then I have been doing some distance swimming. Biking I will try to maintain a mph between houses or stop signs. I will also try to power up hills.

It is so much easier to get out and do something when you have a goal that you want to reach.

Sunday Julie S. and I are going to do the Ride for Sight. It is suppose to be hot so we are both starting to hydrate now. We will need all of the fluids that we can get. It will be a great training ride.

Well until next time..PEACE and stay cool.

Kitten Update

It has been awhile since I have updated on the kittens. They will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. That is hard to believe. I am having a harder time finding good homes for these two and if we keep them much longer they will not be going anywhere. We are quite attached to them. Betty Boop the mother of the first set of kittens went to visit the vet this week and got fixed so no more babies for her. Spaz will be going for a visit in a couple of weeks. We spend so much money and time there I hope they name an exam room after us. :).

This is a picture of Thomas taking a nap in the kitty sling.



Thomas and Master Winston Greybeard(I let Bill name one and look what the poor thing has to put up with...)



Bill and Thomas napping. Bill is proud of this pic, most of the time the cats are laying with me.