Slow Come Back (I hope)

It was a good weekend. On Saturday, I spent most of the day riding bikes around with my oldest son. We cruised all over the place. We're fortunate to live by a beautiful lake so when we weren't pedaling, we were hiking. I didn't realize how out of shape I was until I got back. I was exhausted. I believe I was in bed by 8:30. I had a blast though.

Then on Sunday, I wiped the dust off the road bike and went for an hour ride. I loved it. I looked like a little kid on a new schwinn. I was smiling the whole time. On the first climb out of town my heart rate hit 185bpm. I can't even hit that high when I'm in shape but it felt good. My back is far from better but I'm just going to focus on the rehab and ride a few days a week.

I think the biggest factor will be not sitting at my desk so much. We'll see how that works. I'm excited to hopefully be on the mend.

Frustrated

Well I'm 72 hours post my second cortisone injection and not feeling any better at all. In fact, parts of the day I feel worse. It's a little frustrating but I'm holding on to the idea that the cortisone is still trying to work. My doctor and physical therapist think I'm dealing with two different problems. First, and primarily is the disc problem that is causing my back muscles to spasm and the sciatic pain to worsen. Second, is the rotational tilt of my pelvis. They believe my pelvis is rotated posteriorly which is causing my impingement on the nerves of my back. The fix for this is going to take a little more time, but it was going to be almost impossible to fix if I didn't relieve the disc pressure first. So now I'm believing it's going to take a lot of ab and hamstring work. I ordered the book "treat your own back" by a Dr. McKenzie. I've heard great things about it so I'm hoping the ideas presented in the book will help as well.

My legs are getting so scrawny from being off the bike. I'm going to start riding a few days a week with light spinning only while incorporating all the other exercises. It's getting cold outside so I may just be stuck riding the trainer. Right now I'll take anything.

Medicare Cuts

Why is it when the government needs money, Medicare is the first program they steal from? A law was passed last year regarding capping oxygen payments. Parts of this program I understand, it's foolish to continue paying for a machine that is easily paid for in its first year of service. The problem lies in service and portable oxygen. Once a patient has had oxygen service for 3 years we can no longer bill for those services, even if the patient continues with the service. This isn't bad if the patient is home bound and only using an oxygen concentrator at night. But if a patient is active and they are using several portable tanks a month, how are we to pay for that? Currently medicare has no answer. Another problem is what if a patient has been with a company for 2 1/2 years and has about 6 months left before their services cap, the patient is receiving horrible service from their current company and wants to switch to a better company. They can't. They are stuck with the poor service for as long as they are receiving oxygen services.
I'm not sure of a cure for this problem, but surely there's got to be a better plan.
Another problem, we want to stay the small locally owned company. Medicare has forced us into having to compete for future business. You figure a company needs to turn over their patient load every 3 years if they want to stay competitive. It's here that I just have to have faith in God and that he will provide for both us and our patients and just guide us on our way. Do I believe we offer the best service, I honestly do. Our referral sources have become something more, they have became friends that we are blessed to know. I believe the patient gets even better service when everyone is on the same page and everyone is helping out in their care. A lot of our doctor referrals now come from the doctors themselves instead of going through some of their staff members.
Another really cool thing, we have new front office help. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for our referral sources to get an order through. The young lady we just hired is going to be a blessing. We've known her for a few years and she has medical knowledge. We had to let our previous girl go. I won't go into reasons why but I think were blessed with the new addition to our team.
That's all for now.
Thanks for reading

Winter is coming.

First I have to say that its great to see SoreLegs getting back to normalcy. He's been through hell and back while going through the treacherous chemo treatments. Again, all you who think you have problems, it could always be worse.

My second cortisone injection which was scheduled for last Thursday was cancelled. I guess the fluoroscopy machine they use to see your spinal cord was broken. I'm rescheduled for this Thursday so I hope and pray that more healing is on the way. I rode the trainer last night for about half hour and I'm still getting the pain down my left leg. It's better then it was but by far not great. I moved my seat just a little forward and tipped the front down which seemed to help a little as well.

It's snowing outside right now so I guess winter is well on its way. It's a welcome site as we really need the moisture. I love this time of year. The holiday music, the cooler weather, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I just love it.

My wife is getting chubbier everyday :) She is due December 20th but we all agree she'll likely deliver sooner. Both of our other boys came early so there is no reason to believe the 3rd little guy will hold out to term. It will make for even a greater Christmas.

I guess that's about it for now. A lot going on at work but I'll post that later.

Have a Great Night!!!

Time to Vote

This is definitely not a blog on politics and I'm not going to say who I voted for but I heard this explanation the other day and got a big kick out of it.

A fourth grade little girl works super hard on her bookreport while two boys in the same class don't work hard at all. The little girl works effortlessly to get all the puncuation and spelling correct. The two boys however just write a bunch of gobbly gook just to be able to hand in a paper.

As the three children hand in their papers, they wait patiently for their grades. The little girl gets her paper back and finds that her "A" has been crossed out and replaced with a "C". The two boys are happy to see that their "D"s have been crossed out and replaced with a "C" as well. The little girl raises her hand and asks why she received a C.

The teacher told her that he had taken her A, spread it out among the others so that everyone averaged a C.

Does this sound familiar???
Don't get me wrong. I can see both sides of the aisle, but this is one area I have issues with. Another problem I have is instead of cutting all the pork out of these bills in order to balance the budget, their only answer is to raise taxes.

Even better, to pay for some outrageous health care plan, what do they cut???? Medicare!!!! How in the world does that make sense?

I won't babble on, but I'm not sure the country will be better no matter who wins today. I guess we should be happy to live in the country that we do.

What's amazing is we know most of our politicians are out for themselves and most are already fairly rich. What's pathetic is that it's us that vote them into this position of power.
It's crazy.

Democrat or Republican?

This years elections is truly a battle. I don't think two candidates could be so different. I've been a republican all my life, but if I'm honest with myself, I can see a greater line being drawn between the middle and upper class.

As a republican, I'm all for less goverment, responsible spending and of course less taxes. I do believe though that we need to take care of the elderly, the working poor, and give the hard working middle class a boost.

My aunt was a lobbyist during the Carter years and she told me that when she arrived in Washington, she was a republican. She left as a democrat.

It's not so much that Obama scares me, but the fact that we will likely have a democratic congress as well. The pork barreling that they push through is atrocious. I would really love to see what McCain could do as far as reform but I don't think his goal is to take care of the middle and lower classes. I like some of Obama's ideas, but it's the unknown ideas/values that scare me.

I'm pretty mixed right now and have no clue as to what/who I'm going to vote for. Any ideas???

Thanks for reading

Thoughts and Prayers

Most cyclists know him as the "Fat Cyclist" and many others know him as Elden Nelson, either way, Fatty is going through some pretty tough times right now. His wife has been battling cancer for sometime now. She has fought hard and has overcome many obstacles, but it appears right now that the cancer has the upper hand. It's truly heartbreaking to read his blog right now. Again, it's one of those times to take notice of your own life and those around you. You may of complained at your spouse for something totally ridiculous......now take a second and put yourself in Eldens shoes. Small Petty things become really no big deal. Who cares if the dishes are done, or someone left their shoes in the middle of the floor. In the big picture, it doesn't matter one damn bit. We live once and we love once. Let's get it right the first time. NO Regrets.
Elden makes the comment of pushing his wife in the wheelchair around his neighborhood as they notice the beautiful fall colors. Take the long route to work tomorrow. Notice things you have never noticed before. Get up 30 minutes early just to spend some quiet time with the world around you. Treasure the moment. I hope you will.

Thanks for reading

I'm Hoping it Worked

Well I'm 3 days into my corticosteroid injection. The day after the injection was miserable. I felt good that morning but as the day went on, it just felt worse and worse. That was by far the worse day. Then came Saturday (the injection was on Thursday), for months I have felt like my left hip needed to pop. I would try various ways and never had any luck. Then on Saturday as I was getting ready to get up, POP!!!! Oh my gosh it felt so good. So with that happening, I think the steroid is slowly working. I do believe I have other issues, like my pelvis still being rotated, but I think it will be easier to fix if I can keep the inflammation down and my back muscle relaxed.

I rode with my boys today for about 2 miles and felt fine (back felt a bit sore later). So if I find the time, I'm going to try and go for a decent slow ride tomorrow. I'm going to continue hammering away at the core exercises in hopes of not repeating the problem I'm currently trying to cure. It's been a miserable road but I've learned a lot.

I'm likely going to need one more injection in about 2 weeks but i'm optimistic about the results.

That's all for now

Thanks for Reading

What the Heck Happened

Last Friday (10 days ago) my wife frantically called me at work saying our dog had been cut. I'm so used to her getting excited over little things, I didn't think much of it. Not knowing what was up, I left the office to go see my dog. She was hiding in the doghouse and didn't really want to come out, which isn't like her. Once she came out, I was to say the least, Shocked!!!!!! She had been cut from the top of back all the way around her ribs almost to her belly. The skin had been torn back about 2 inches on each side of the laceration. It was unreal. I couldn't believe she could be up walking around being cut like this.

Of course this is all happening on a Friday at 5 pm. We called the only two local veterinary offices we have. The first was absolutely rude and let us know how inconvenient it would be to call the staff back on a Friday. The second, Dr. Rowes office, was great. They let us know there would be an after hours charge but we didn't care. The vet was even flabbergasted when she saw the hole on my dogs side. You could see all the muscle underneath the cut as well as a deep hole behind her back leg looking into her belly.

Dr. Rowe was outstanding. She kept Jenny for about 3 hours and gave us a call at home asking if she could keep her overnight and get this.....for no extra charge. The next morning I went in to get her. She was her perky young self. Tail wagging like crazy. She had staples half way around her body with two drain inserted to drain off any extra fluid.

It's been a week and she's doing better. They pulled the drains out last Monday but we had to have more put in as there was too much fluid still collecting under the skin. The bad part is, parts of the skin were torn back so bad that in reconnecting the skin, some parts did have not retained their bloodflow. What they will do to treat this is basically go in and cut out the dead skin and then pull more healthy skin to fill the gap. I told my wife, she's going to be our thousand dollar dog. If any dog is worth it, she is. She's the happiest dog I've ever seen. Her tail is always wagging and she's never been short on showing her love for our family. Needless to say, we love her lots.

No Luck Yet

Well the first set of injections haven't shown any sign of being effective yet. I was hopeful in that I thought the less invasive facet blocks would work. This weekend though, my back hurt more than ever. It amazes me because my MRI really isn't that bad. It shows two bulging discs L5 and S1. They really couldn't pinpoint a cause for the pain and symptoms but can only guess that the discs themselves are causing chemoreceptors to go crazy which is caused by fluid leaking into the dural space which I guess really irritates the nerve roots.

I still haven't been able to ride and as the days are quickly getting shorter and the mornings and evenings getting colder, it's going to be even more difficult. Honestly though it's been a good break but If I wanted a break I probably wouldn't take this much time off. I can't run I can't ride therefore it's tough to exercise. I think I'm in the worst shape I've been in all year.

I have the "big" injection scheduled for Thursday afternoon. This is the one that they use Fluorscopy to find the epidural space between the vertebre and inject a dose of corticosteroids in hope of relieving the inflammation of the disc and nerve root. I'm hopeful this will do the trick. The cost of this is beginning to get outrageous. Isn't it crazy, medicine has got to be the only job in the world that no matter how many times it takes to make you feel better, you have to pay for every single try. I realize that's why they call it "practicing medicine", but practicing can get expensive.

Been A While

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. Between work and dealing with my back I just haven't felt much like sitting down and writing.

I had my first set of injections this morning. I've been hesitant to go this route but my Dr. suggested going with one to see if we can get any sort of relief. Today they actually did what they call a Facet Block. They actually inject the steroid next to the facets of the spine in the area they believe is causing the problem. This is much less "invasive" then the epidural which they are planning on doing next week. After today's injections, they say I won't know the effectiveness for two to three days. Right now, the injection site is pretty sore and I have that miserable aching back feeling.

My whole goal is to get back on the bike. It's been almost two months and I hate it. It's one of those things, you don't know what you've got until it's gone. Man I miss riding.

Other than my back, everything is going very well. Work is good, home is good. All is good.

I do have to give a huge thanks to my Ortho. He set up todays appointment with the pain specialist and even showed up for my prelim appointment last night. He's pretty awesome to take time out of his day to go sit through of all things, a doctors appointment.

That's all for now. I'll try and write more later.
Have a Great Day

Just Rambling

Sorry for the delay in posting. I really have no excuse except for just having lots going on at work. We've been trying to reorganize the business so that we run the business and it's not running us. I think were on the right track but it's going to take a while. Also, Medicare is requiring that all DME (durable medical equipment) providers be accredidated by September 09'. This is all fine and dandy but it takes away from the real priority which is patient care.
It's exhausting trying to keep myself and all the employees on the right track, all the while keeping the morale high. I'm learning quickly that when you are the owner, the employees don't always like you. Though, I think I've got a pretty good relationship with all of them. To be honest, I'm blessed with the people I work with. They all seem to put the patient first and business second. This is what I want. I don't ever want it to be about quota's to meet as I hear all the other big corporate guys dwell on. I get so frustrated with the whole dog eat dog world.

I was a farrier for 12 years before I started this and that is one thing I truly miss, the comaraderie. Most of us were all out there willing to help the next guy or the new guy. It was one of those "what comes around goes around". And in fact, it always did come around. It was common knowledge that you never bad mouthed another farriers work. In the end, the client, if they knew about horses, would see the difference in work and knowledge.

Are you sick of the elections yet? My goal is going to be to not watch the news until after November 4. I'm so sick of hearing everyone bash everyone else. What's pathetic is that we as American citizens have to sit back and listen to it all, then have to watch whoever wins, go back on every one of his/her promises. The typical American middle class citizen is certain to be screwed by whoever is elected. Crappy attitude I know, but dang it gets so old. Ok, I'll get off my high horse. I'll talk about it again November 5. Actually if it's like the years past, we won't know who won for a week or two.

I'm done complaining, see ya.

Work and More Work

I truly love my job. Running this business is a blast for me. The part I didn't realize would be so tough sometimes is employees.

First, I don't want or expect this business to be like our competitors. All of our competitors are big corporate companies. We're the only locally owned DME company in the area. This being so, it makes it a little tough staying competitive. They have the big AHCCCS (medicaid) contracts which leaves us really focusing on the smaller ones plus of course Medicare.

What I hear from employees of the other companies is that they have quotas to fill every month. This I believe is the their downfall. When employees are focused on quotas, then every patient they obtain becomes another number in their quota. Don't get me wrong, some of the people I know from the other companies are super people. I even believe that many of them have their hearts in the right place. The problem lies in that their hands are tied with the corporate red tape.

Oh, ya back to employees. When you are the owner of a company, you hope and dream that your employees will have those same hopes and dreams for your company. Well those people are few and far between. We hired a biller a few months back. I thought this would alleviate some of my headaches. In the end though, it's created more. We aren't your typical medical supply company. I insist that are patients are treated like people and not just out there to help us make a buck. Our biller was doing a good job but I had found that there was very little rapport with the patients and it became all about collections and collecting every dime. That's not the business I started, nor will it be the business I run. At the end of the day, if our doors are still open and I can sleep and night, then I'm good with God and I'm a happy camper. Needless to say, I've taken back over the billing. I enjoy helping our patients. Most of patients have insurance. If they have a primary insurance but don't have a secondary, I'll do what I can to write off the secondary portion of their bill. After all, people pay ungodly amounts of money just to have insurance. In my opinion if they have insurance, they shouldn't have medical bills. With the cost of insurance, it should pay 100%.

Before I go, I gotta talk about a patient I met this weekend. I got a call for a 90 year old man who needed home oxygen. When you hear that some 90 year old man need O2, you expect to walk into the room and see a feeble old man on his death bed. Well what a pleasant surprise I had. This was the coolest guy. He was everything but feeble. He was sort of semi laying on the hospital bed with his hands behind his head like a teenager does when he's watching tv. This guy was sharp as a tack. He stood up straight, shook my hand firmly, and listened to my instructions on how to use the oxygen. At his house, his son and just finished canning all the grapes from the vines out front. They gave me some canned grape jam as well as some homemade grape juice. Oh my gosh it was delicious. The family was awesome. Super down to earth people. It reminded me of the people I frequently met when I was shoeing horses. Not rich snobby people but those good ol small town folks. The type you can sit down and talk with and just enjoy all the stories they have to tell.

Well I think I've rambled on enough for now. Have a great day.

Low Fat

Well the doctor called this morning and told me I had to go on a low fat diet in order to try and bring my cholesterol down. I knew this all along, but it's a little more motivating when the dr tells you to do it.

I'm going back to the chiropractor on Friday. I'm hoping he'll have some miracle treatment for my back. It's driving me crazy. I want to ride so bad, but I know it will just set me back further.

That's it for now. Bye

Inspirations

I have found that it is so important to have those special people in your life that inspire you. Without these people it is so easy to find yourself in a rut.

Of course my wife and boys have their own special place in my heart and my life. My wife has a graceful way of pushing me to be my best. It's not so much in what she says but in the way she helps me approach lifes everyday challenges. My boys are like my miniature baseball team. They bring out the best in their coach. When you have young boys looking up to you, it's your responsibility to be at the top of your game. Whether you are or not is debatable but as long as they know youre giving it 100% then that is all that matters.

A few of my friends each have their own special place in my life as well. First there is CE. He has sort of become my "business advisor". If I've got a question involving my business, he always has a special way of getting his point across. He pushes me to be more and inspires me to push my business toward different avenues. I wish I made enough money to hire him but he's already making the big bucks. His knowledge of money and business is so impressive and the cool thing is, he's learned it on his own.

RH is my athletic inspiration. Now he is no star athlete but to see where he started and where he is today is truly impressive. I believe he is about to do is 5th Ironman Triathlon in November. When he first started competing, I believe he was about 180 pounds and very rarely rode a bike. Now he rides a better bike than me and is currently at 162 pounds. The cool thing about RH is that he is out there competing against himself. He's not worried about placing but rather in improving his own time. He manages to juggle running 5 Subway stores, teaches full time at Arizona State, and still finds time for his family and training. I'm jealous of his energy. Were the same age, but I don't think I could put in the hours he does. Even more impressive is that he is always in a good mood.

As I mentioned before, it's so important to have these inspirations in your life. I count my blessings everyday to be blessed with such a support crew.

Thanks for Reading

Biggest Loser Family

Biggest Loser started again tonight. This time it involves Husband/Wives vs Children/Parent. It is so cool to see the transformation that these people go through. If you google Biggest Loser and then look at images, you can see the dramatic weight loss that some of these people achieve. Granted these people have quite a bit of weight to lose, they are losing some big time weight in only one week!!! They are losing in the double digits. It's so awesome.

One may wonder how these people allow themselves to get so big, but my heart truly goes out to them. Just dealing with my back, I find myself eating more crap just out of frustration. I get sick of not being able to ride my bike, dealing with the back pain, I end up just chowing down the chocolate.

I'm doing my best now to stay focused on the end results. I'm slowly getting back to eating better and I'm really focusing on my core exercises. I just have to realize that my back didn't get this way overnight, therefor I cant expect it to improve overnight as well.

I hope if youre reading this you'll try and watch a few episodes of the Biggest Loser. It's really inspiring.

I'm Healthy (The Doc Says)

Well the physical went well. I was actually sort of nervous to have it done. You never know what they're going to find. He told me that I was one of the healthiest 37 year olds he knows. So I figured he's tell everyone that or he doesn't have very many 37 year old patients.

I had my thyroid levels checked and they look great. My TSH was .80 which is perfect. The range is from .34 to 4.82 but most people do best below 1. I was a bit worried that it was going to be high since I've been gaining weight, but obviously the weight gain is from my crappy diet.

The downside was that I had my cholesterol checked as well. My total cholesterol was 206 and my LDL was 133. Both of these are way too high. The cardiologist told me a year ago not to worry right now because my arteries looked great on the cardiac catheritization. My family doc though says I need to start bringing that number down. So from here, I guess I'll be eating less meat. In the long run it's a healthier diet anyway. My wife and I decided to by 1/2 a slab of local beef this year. It's free from steroids and antibiotics so hopefully it will be healthier for the whole family. A friend of ours raises black angus and had one steer left. So we took him up on his offer and bought one.

Well it's Monday and I should start working sometime soon. My back is already starting to bother me just sitting here so I've gotta get up and do something. Take Care, Have a great day.

Back On Track

Well I'm slowly getting back on track. I spoke with my ortho the other night and he's allowing me to start back on the bike. I'm 37 years old and my doctor insisted that I have a complete physical, so at 9am this morning that's where I'll be. I haven't had one since playing high school sports so I have no idea what to expect.



As I mentioned, I've been allowed to slowly start pedaling again. I started last week by riding 10 minutes on the spinning bike at the gym. I think I'll continue down that road for a while. While at the gym I've been averaging about 300 situps along with a bunch of hamstring work. I sure hope over time that this will make a difference. Heck I'd be happy with that six pack I've never had.



On another note, I'm psyched about the return of Lance Armstrong. In fact, the day I heard about it, I renewed my subscription to Velo News and Cycle Sport. There are so many that are doubtful about his comeback, but I just don't see him losing. I'm anxious to see the change in the peloton. Nobody trains as hard as Lance and again I think we'll see the pay off. If anything though, it will make it much more fun to watch. You just know all the leaders from the last two years are crapping their pants. If they want to contend, they'll increase the intensity of their training. That or they'll get hammered by a 37 year old cancer survivor.


Anyway, gotta get back to work. Have a great day.

Ryan's First Road Race

Before the Race

I've been wanting to put this up for quite some time but I couldn't find the cord to my camera. Ryan, my nine year old did his first 20 mile road race about 3 weeks ago. I could tell he was pretty nervous but he took it on like a champ. It's a small local race and being scheduled the same time as a local triathlon, there weren't as many racers as usual.

It's a mass start so my goal was to have Ryan stay out of the fast guys way and then find his rhythm. I could tell from the start he was going to learn the hard way about pacing himself. As soon as the gun went off, he took off. Not quite as fast as the lead guys, but definitely faster than he could hold for 20 miles. So I finally got him to taper it back a little. About 4 miles in, two older kids passed him. I told him not to worry about it and that he would catch them by the turn around. He insisted on picking up the pace again. Right away he caught to two boys that had passed him. We were only about 6 miles into the race. I was actually pretty impressed. He was kicking butt. Suddenly his left pedal fell off. I couldn't believe it. We quickly pulled over and I had to take his shoe off to pry the pedal off of his cleat. The two boys he passed earlier quickly passed him again.

I had no tools so I could only hand tighten the pedal back on to the crank. We were off again. We passed the same two boys and sure enough it fell off again. Long story short, this happened six times. I'm not sure the distance, but he ended up pedaling quite a bit of the race with one leg. He was a tired boy. The final mile he was behind one of the boys that he had been leap frogging throughout the race. The other boy had blown up a few miles back. He ended up crossing the line with one leg and second in his age group. I was super proud of him. Not one time did he complain about the pedal. He just kept pedaling.

On our way home he was exhausted. I don't think he had ever ridden this hard in his life. He laid down on the floor of the van and was out. It was only about 9:30 in the morning!!!! He was wiped. I was super proud of him. He's already been driving me crazy about what ride were going to do next. What sucks is that I haven't been able to ride so this has really limited his riding as well. Hopefully soon we'll be able to hit the road again.

After The Race

Palin.........Oh Ya!!!!

Less Government!!!! Less Taxes!!!!!!! Palin Kicked butt tonight!!!!!!!!

I'm sick of Sit Ups

I'm so sick of doing sit ups. By the time I'm done with this rehab thing, I better have the stomach of the guy pictured above. I signed up for gym on Friday and used all their ab machines on my first visit. I was super sore the next day, but it was a good sore. The dr. also wants me doing lunges and hamstring work so that's what I did today. I'm guessing I won't be able to walk tomorrow. My legs are just skaking as I sit here. I figure for this treatment to succeed, I need to get my stomach muscles burning as bad as my back muscles do when I'm on the bike. So far I haven't hit that point. I really hate ab work. It takes forever and it hurts. At least on a bike youre actually going somewhere. Well that's my whining for the day. Take Care.

Just writin'

I'm really not even sure what to write about today. Work has been a bit stressful with all the new legislation. Medicare is requiring so much more crap that really has nothing to do with the quality of patient care we give. It's just a ton of paperwork. With all the fraud taking place, I can understand why they are doing it, but for us smaller companies competing against the big boys, it's just one more thing that takes time away from the patient.

I've been working on being a better owner as well. One thing that I'm learning is that employees aren't always easy to deal with. I try to be the upbeat guy around the office but some people just wear me out sometimes. I came in early this morning just to try to refocus and get a better grip on the day.

Where I'm falling short is, my prayer life. I know for a fact that my days tend to go better when I start the morning off by sharing it with God. I think most of us will admit to this yet most of us don't take the time. I make take some time today away from the office just to go sit a talk with God. When I'm able to ride, I find a lot of time to talk to God but since having to stay off the bike, my time with the Big Guy has been abused.

I still haven't had (made) the time to join the gym. Work has just been a mad house. My gym bag has been in the car all week, but so far all it's done is sat there. Maybe today.

My evenings have been filled with my kids homework and working on my laptop. All the while the Democratic National Convention is on. Now I'm a Republican at heart and likely always will be, but both sides have their pros and cons. I hate taxes so Obama lost my vote there. I like health insurance and believe our older citizens shoulded be bombarded with health care costs. Medicare benefits should not be cut and the Republicans this year came very close to cutting benefits across the board. I like McCain in that he knows exactly what he stands for. Not that I agree with everything, but he doesn't flip flop like most politicians. He has frequently voted against the president and other republicans and that is something I admire. He is his own man and he's not afraid to say so. Barack, personally is a pansy, a showboat. He can talk the talk but can he walk the walk. He does whatever is popular. I'm not sure who is going to win. I couldn't stand Clinton, but the country was prosperous during his tenure. Though I believe it had nothing to do with him, but he had the luxury of being president during the dot.com boom. That would have made any president look good. I just pray that the country will be in good hands. I think as time goes on, we as a country fall farther away from our ideals and ethics. We always seem to learn the hard way. God will humble us. It's up to us to see how difficult we make it on ourselves.

Just Sittin'

It's only been about 2 weeks since I've been off the bike and I can see that it's going to be miserable staying off the bike. I think sitting in my office is worse for my back than riding my bike. I have to wear my muscle stim while sitting in the office just to keep my back from ceasing up while at work. I've been doing lots of crunches and will likely join the local gym for a couple of months. I'm not disciplined enough to do the exercises at home so hopefully paying for the gym will motivate me a bit more.

I will admit though, I did a small local race with my 9 year old son on Saturday. I had just planned on riding with my son and not really going hard at all. It was a 20 mile out and back and was going to be my sons longest race so far. We started out a bit shaky (he's not used to all the other riders) but he settled in quickly. Once he found his rythm he started passing a few riders. He was going really well when at about mile 7 his left pedal fell off!!! We jumped off our bikes, I pryed the pedal off of his shoe and hand tightened back into the crank. I gave him a bit of a push and we were off again. He passed the same people again and again it fell off. Same thing, we jumped off, pryed the shoe, and put it back on. We did this a total of 6 times. He actually finished while pedaling with one leg because the darn thing fell off one last time. I was super proud of him for not getting mad at the situation. Afterwards he told me that he still had a great time. I'm hoping he will continue to find enjoyment with riding and stick with it. We'll see.

My 6 year old (he'll be six on Saturday) is pushing me to take him to the BMX track. The problem is we don't have one nearby. It's a 3 hour drive!! I want to do it but were going to have to figure out how to make it affordable. We've been looking for dirt in order to build a small track in our back yard but so far we've had no luck. There's no way I'm going to spend a ton of money for dirt when after all the stuff is lying all over the place. I just need to find an inexpensive way to get it. We'll see how creative we can get. For now though, were stuck riding in the forests and on the pavement.

That's about it for now. Oh ya, Happy Birthday to me. I've hit the 37 year mark. Cool thing is, I feel better then when I was 27. God has blessed me with a wonderful Life!!!!!

Take Care

Back From Colorado

I had a great time in Colorado. Initially I wasn't very excited to go. Between leaving my family for that long and dealing with my back problems, I didn't see much sense in going. Well, I'm glad I did.

I arrived in Gunnison on Saturday afternoon. I learned quickly that this was going to be a much smaller group of people than what I had experienced with other tours. This is only the 2nd annual Colorado Rocky Mountain Bike Tour so I wasn't really surprised at the small number of people but it was different. With other tours, you tend to try and arrive early so that you have a spot to put up your tent. Here I had the whole field to choose from. When I arrived, there were only about 7 tents put up so far.

Sunday morning started with a 78 mile ride to Hotchkiss CO. The first half of the ride was a small incline until we got to the big climb of the day. It went up quickly and kept going up. The road went along the beautiful North rim of the Black Canyon and up and over Hermits Summit. I babied my back and tried to take it easy but when climbing there's no way to leave your lower back out of the equation. I survived the 78 miles but my back was hurting. The afternoon was spent using the muscle stim and ice in hopes of making it through the next day.

Monday started off good (I thought). The route was to be from Hotchkiss, over McClure Pass and into Glenwood Springs. I was the first cyclist to leave camp and followed the arrows on the road. I remember the staff people saying that it would be uphill from the moment we left camp. Well it was. I started out easy to save my back for the steeper parts of the climb. At about 25 miles there was supposed to be the first rest stop. I was making good time and saw no rest stop. I thought they were running late so I went on and just stopped at a Safeway store to fill my waterbottles. I continued on following the arrows into Delta CO. At one intersection I lost the arrows. I didn't know where to go. I rode back to the last arrow I saw to make sure I didn't make a wrong turn and I seemed to be going in the right direction. I got back to the same intersection and lost the arrows again. I pulled out my map and really couldn't make sense of it. There was a small gas station nearby so I went in and asked the clerk for directions. I asked for directions over McClure Pass. Now at this point, I had yet to have another cyclist catch me. I was moving pretty good but not that good. The clerk very politely said, "Honey, you came the wrong direction, you need to go back to where you came from and head north".

At this point I'm pretty well screwed. I have no money and have no phone. By the time I ride back to Hotchkiss, I will have put in 53 miles. Everyone will have already left camp and likely will be over the top of McClure Pass. Nobody will have any idea I'm missing. I will have to ride back to the start and anticipate it being a very long day. So I headed back to Hotchkiss. I rode hard and of course it was into a head wind. By the time I got back to Hotchkiss (remember this is the original starting point) my legs were fried. I was tired. I stopped at a small gas station and asked if anyone could give me a ride to the base of McClure Pass. I figured if I could get that far, I would have a chance for at least the sag wagon to know where I am. Otherwise I'm going to be out there all day with no support for water and food. With no ride, I'm stuck riding about 135 miles to camp. I'm a little scared at this point. Nobody gave me a ride. All I could do was start pedaling. Of course this part of the ride was spent in some intense prayer. I was getting a little frustrated with God in that I really needed some help and I wasn't getting any. The next small town was called Paonia. There was a small convenience store there so I stopped to fill my bottle again and asked some drivers if they were heading up over the pass. Of course they weren't. Many of them had just come over the pass and mentioned seeing a bunch of cyclist about an hour ago. This meant that I was way behind.

Sitting aroung moaping about it wasn't going to get me any closer to Glenwood Springs. So I pedaled on. By this point I've hit already about 65 miles. I'm exhausted from the early morning part of the ride. There's just no way I'm going to make it 50 more miles. I hadn't really even started the steep part of the climb yet.

I approached a small mining community which was where the real climbing began. I had even thought of calling 911 just so people would know where I was. I saw a couple of big stock trailers full of horses pulled over just up around the corner. Just as I was pulling up to the first truck, the driver of the second truck had gotten out of his truck and was walking back to the truck I was pulling up to. Before I could say anything, the cowboy asked me, "you need a ride?"

I didn't need to be asked twice. He said, "just throw your bike in the back and get in the front seat." Now here is a cowboy offering some wierd guy in spandex a ride up a mountain. I threw my bike in the back, being careful not to be in the way of the fifth wheel hitch on the horse trailer.

Remember, earlier I said I was bit upset with God. Well, this was God at work. The cowboy said he was only going about 7 miles but would be happy to take me as far as he was going. I wasn't going to turn down a free 7 miles. Hopefully this would get up to at least some of the slower riders.

Having been a farrier for 12 years I had a great time talking with the cowboy. Oh ya, his name was Gary. He had a 140 head of Draft/Quarter horse mix he was taking up the mountain to spend the summer and fall on the mountain grass. He shared with me that it had been a rough couple of years in the horse business. $1500.00 horses were being sold for $200.00. They were having to take a loss at every sale they went to. He spoke a little about his family and how proud he was of his 5 kids. I don't think this guy had any idea the difference he was making in someone elses life. In the short few miles that we drove, we spoke about so much stuff. From politics, healthcare, horses, family, and life in general. I believe whole heartedly that God brings people in and out of your life and this was truly one of those times. When we arrived to the point Gary was going, he made me take a Gatorade from the truck and wished me well. We had passed two riders on the way up the mountain so I knew I was safe. I still had 6 miles to climb to the summit but without Gary I never would have made it with enough water. For as long as I live, I will never ever forget this man. He so unselfishly helped someone he didn't even know. Thanks Gary!!!!

After finally making it to the top of the climb I rode the descent down for about 18 miles. I ended the day with about 107 miles. Almost 30 miles more then was originally planned. The next day was expected to be brutal.

After a long evening of ice and muscle stim I awoke early on Tuesday morning with a long day expected. The days route took us up from Glenwood Springs to Aspen. From Aspen we headed up over Independence pass and ended in Leadville Colorado.

Total mileage for the day was 100 miles with 60 miles of climbing. The uphill to Aspen wasn't too bad. From Aspen though the road go steep quickly. Independence Pass is truly amazing. It peaks at 12,095 feet and is the second highest pass in Colorado. It was brutal. I never could have imagined a road could be so long and so uphill. After every curve, it just kept going up and up. My back was on fire. The pain was killing me. Nearing the top of the pass, the muscles of my lower back were on the verge of spasms. I stood up and climbed the last 50 feet in hopes of saving my back from anymore pain. I was exhausted. From the top of the pass, we had a nice descent and then some small rollers into Leadville (10,000 feet).

Once at camp, I could tell my back musles were super tender. The massage therapist recommended a bunch of ice and about an hour of muscle stim. It seemed to work because the next morning wasn't too bad.

Thank God because we were to head up over 3 passes with the last one being Vail Pass at 10,500 feet. Vail Pass was a beautiful ride. Colorado had built a bike trail from Vail, over the top of Vail Pass and down into Copper Mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous. From Copper Mountain were able to stay on bike trail all the way down into Frisco.

We had a day off in Frisco in which I spent doing my laundry and shopping for some things for my wife and kids. Frisco is a very cool town. There are bikes and bike trails everywhere. In fact, throughout the Summit Valley, all the towns are connected by bike trails. You can travel from Frisco to Dalton, to Breckenridge and Copper Mountain all by bike. If your a cyclist, this is your country.

My body needed the day off because the next day we back up to Leadville. This time was up over Freemont Pass. From Leadville we finally headed down hill into Salida. It was an 88 mile day and we average 20mph for the full ride. This wasn't too smart on my part because pushing so hard the flats was killing my back. I should have been saving my energy for the last day over Monarch Pass.

I was excited for the last day. I just wanted to get up, get going, and get home and see my family. If I could get back early enough, I could make the 9 hour drive in one day. I left camp at about 6am and kept a pretty steady cadence for about the first 14 miles. It was uphill from the moment I left camp. I had done Monarch Pass in 2001 and it left me with my first experience with leg cramps. So me and this mountain had some bad feelings already. At mile 14 I was pretty tired. Our map showed the top of the pass was at about mile 28. At mile 16 nobody had caught me. I know it isn't a race but it's still fun to pretend. The top came sooner than expected at about mile 26. I was feeling pretty good.

All week we weren't allowed to wear our Ipods. We'll I had stuck mine in my pocket just in case. For some reason I can descend much better with music blasting in my ears. So, before I started the descent, I put the Ipod on and flew down the mountain. It was a blast. It wasn't my fastest descent but it was the closest I had been to 50 mph all week. At the bottom of the mountain it was downhill rollers all the way back into Gunnison. I made it back to camp ahead of the rest of the group. It was by far my funnest day.

It was a long hard week. My back took a lot of the fun out of it but I also learned alot. I have learned how important it is to have a strong core. Since returning, the doctor has ordered me off the bike for a couple of months. I'm to do a lot of stretching and a lot of ab work. I'm still going to ride a little with my sons but as far as training is concerned, I think I'm done for a while. I'll be anxious to see what I can do with two legs, as my left leg has been pretty much powerless since the whole back issue.

Anyway, that was my week in Colorado. I'm glad I went. I met some really neat people and I hope and plan on going back for the 3rd annual next year.

Thanks for Reading

I'm off to Gunnison

Just wanted to say that I'm off for Gunnison. Didn't sleep all that great last night and my allergies are going crazy but other than that it's a good morning. I'm getting everything packed at the hotel and getting ready to get back on the road. It's a 4 hour drive from here to Gunnison.

I've been debating on taking the laptop with me on the Bike Tour. I'm not sure though if I would have much internet access. I don't know, we'll see. If you don't hear from me for a week, you'll know I didn't take it. Maybe I'll try and find a library or local internet spot in some of the towns we visit.

That's it for now. Gotta get going.

Bye

Will My Butt Survive

It's 10:30 Colorado Time and I just arrived at my hotel in Cortez. I'm on my way to Gunnison for the start of the Colorado Rocky Mountain Bicycle Tour. Normally I would be anxious to get on my bike but with all the muscle issues I've been having, I'm concerned with finishing all 487 miles. The 3rd day of the ride is 100 miles with 60 miles of climbing. Climbing is what really seems to aggravate the muscle pain. I guess what they have come up with is an overuse issue of the piriformis muscle as well as the gluteus minimus. I've got a leg length discrepancy that they believe is the cause of the problems.

I was concerned about even going on the ride as I didn't want to cause any long term damage. My doctor called me and said that I should go ahead and give it a try. He said it may even do some good (though I doubt this) with some good stretching after each days ride. I brought along my muscle stim and so far this makes the biggest difference. I put the four electrodes around the sore area on my butt, and shock away. I used it for the four hour drive and it made an unbelievable difference. Normally my back would be killing me but the drive wasnt bad at all.

I'll leave in the morning for the 4 hour drive to Gunnison. I'll check in then put up my tent and get settled in for the day. Sunday is the first day of riding in which I believe we ride to Hotchkiss Colorado which normally should be an easy 78 mile ride, but we'll have to see.

We'll I guess thats it for now. I'll try and write a little more in the morning before I leave. Good night.

All IS GOOD

Do you ever just sit back and just thank God for all that is good around you? I have been blessed with so much. I'm not rich but I have an awesome family who so far all remain healthy. I live in a small house in a beautiful town that I frequently take for granted. My kids are both active and fortunately they enjoy the same things I do. I work with some great people who make my life much easier.

Our business is doing well and people that were once colleagues have become good friends. In fact the other day I got a personal call from one of the local surgeons here in town. Normally they are calling because they have either a question or a request for a patient. This doctor actually took the time out of his busy morning to say "Thanks for all you guys do. You make my life and the workload of my staff much easier and I just wanted to say we appreciate you."

Needless to say that made my day. To have a super busy physician personally call and say thanks was just a super compliment. On top of that, poor Mike was on call when Whiteriver Hospital called at 2:00 in the morning. He had to drive 30 miles to take oxygen to a patient who was actually already getting oxygen from another company, but they wouldn't answer the phone. The cool part was that when Mike arrived at the emergency room to see the patient, the chief of staff of the hospital was there. He too complimented the heck out of us. Even better, the hospital had some outstanding bills that we were having problems getting paid. The following Monday.....they were paid in full.

I'm finding that most of the time I'm enjoying work more and more. The marketing is becoming easier and not because I'm getting used to it but like I mentioned earlier, most of the people that send us our business have become, what I consider good friends. The billing is and likely always will be a huge hassle. Dealing with insurance companies is never fun.

Our weekly Bible study is going well. I'm learning about how little I actually know. It's not really the book that were reading that I enjoy but the insight from others in the group. I think all of us are growing closer in our walks with Christ and that's a pretty cool feeling. I find myself wondering, if He came tomorrow, would I be ready? The thought of that scares the heck out of me. I've got so much work to do.

A very good friend, whom is in the study as well is battling with the decision to become a high school baseball coach. In his mind, it's a sure thing. What better way to share the Life of Christ with young athletes. It's the enormous amount of time that it takes away from his family that is the problem. Him and his wife have two children, one being a newborn. The time away has been tough on the wife. I can totally understand both sides. I'm not very good at prayer (I'm working on it) but I hope God will give them an answer soon. They are such a cool couple with great values. I must say though, if I could pick someone to coach my kids, it would be this guy. His knowledge of the game is so impressive. I've seen some emotions from him at the Bible Study that I haven't seen in a long time (we were childhood friends). He's got a sincere love for God and his wife and a true love of the game as well. I know for most this would be an easy choice but it would be like my giving up cycling. It's not going to happen. There's surely some middle ground that both can find happiness with.

Man, I've really babbled on. I gotta get back to work. See ya.

Thanks for reading

Pain Still Lingering

I leave for Colorado in almost two weeks and the back pain isn't showing much improvement. My doctor called in a favor to a physical therapist on Tuesday evening and had my newest treatment started on Wednesday morning. It's interesting how different specialists approach the problem. The Chiropractor is focusing on the piriformis which I believe is making a big difference. The therapist however is really looking at my hips as the problem. I've got a 1/2 difference in the height of my hip bones so he's addressing it by deep tissue massage, ultrasound, and lots of stretching. I'm hoping that between the two, things will start improving soon. Apparently my muscles responsible for external rotation of the hip are super tight and super weak. After therapy yesterday I went home and looked up everything I could about cleat and stem position on the bike. I didn't find much but I'm experimenting by moving both my cleat as far to the medial side of my shoe as I can. I tried riding today with the new change and call me crazy but I could really feel the difference in which muscles were working. My goal was to move alot of the lateral leg action back to the medial side. I found after a while the insides of quads were sore. I've been racing since I was 14 and was always told to keep my knees into the bike. Well my doctor wants me to change this and focus on just keeping my knees neutral, not outward but not inward either. It really seem to help. I did only 20 miles today but I'm going to do 60 tomorrow so I'll see how it goes.

Were going camping again this weekend but I'm on call so we'll see if I end up coming back into town for anything. I must say, camping is a perfect way to spend some down time with the family. The boys absolutely love it. What's pathetic is I think about missing two days of the Tour. Last weekend was the first day in the mountains so I recorded that, but this weekend I don't think I'll miss much. Hopefully not. I'm actually really enjoying the tour this year. It's a little boring but the talent of the top guys seems to be really close (not counting the dopers). I'm super impressed with Christian VandeVelde. He's kicking some good ol butt. If Evans wins though, he deserves it. I think Rasmussen screwed him last year so he's due for the win.

A Good Weekend

Our View From Camp

Not being able to take a vacation, we have decided to park our trailer up at Horseshoe Lake on the Apache Reservation. We went for our first 3 day outing this weekend. With monsoon season being in full force, it rained quite a bit, but we had a great time. Camping, I think is one of the best ways to spend together as a family.

The lake is only about a 25 mile drive from our house which is perfect for a quick get away. It's a small lake that sits at about 7800 feet. We left Friday afternoon in time to just miss the earlier rainstorm. That evening was spent mostly getting things set up and of course getting the fire going for roasting marshmallows.

Coby Getting In Some Riding Time
The next morning, I got up before everyone else and headed down to the lake for some early morning fishing. I think the saying goes "A bad day fishing is better than a good day working." I had one bite in one hour so needless to say I didn't catch anything. I headed back up to camp about an hour later and found my wife and oldest son sitting around the campfire they had started. We had an awesome breakfast and then me and the boys headed back to the lake for more fishing. It was much more successful this time. I managed to catch 4 and Ryan (my oldest) caught his very first fish as well. Coby our youngest hadn't caught one yet but was having a good time casting his little SpongeBob fishing pole. Ryan Waiting Patiently For Something To Take His Bait
Coby Learning How To Work His Spongebob Fishing Pole

The next day started out the same. I had no luck in the morning. My parents drove up to spend the day so my Dad, my boys and I did some more fishing. My dad as usual out fished all of us. He had 3 before any of us had a single bite. I missed about 3 once my dad hit number 5. The best part though was Coby. He had earlier thrown out his line and just let it sit there. About 30 minutes later he came back over to reel it in. He kept saying, "Daddy I think I have one". I just shook it off thinking he like the rest of us had caught a bunch of moss. Once he got it about 5 feet from shore, sure enough he had a fish on the line. I couldn't believe it. Either could he. I have never seen him so excited. Needless to say, he was hooked. Every single moment after that, he wanted to be fishing. He never caught another one, but he sure enjoyed himself. That alone made the whole weekend worth it.

Being away also gives you time to reflect on things. I've been reading the book, "Raising The Bar" which is about Clif Bar Inc. This is the second time I've read it and I really admire this company. They are a "small" privately owned energy bar company competing with the likes of Hershey (they own Power Bar) and other large corporations. Though I don't use much of their products on the bike, I value the way they do business. They are a company that have kept their priorities straight. It's not all about money. Taking care of the customer as well as keeping up the quality of their product has enabled them to remain competitive. Anyway, I spent some time reflecting the way I want our company to continue going and how I want to get it to the next level. I'll discuss it in a later blog, but I have learned that small get aways can be very valuable in becoming refocused on what's important. Even when it comes to work.

That's it for now. I gotta go get ready for an early ride tomorrow morning.

Piriformis Syndrome

Well it's official. I've got piriformis syndrome. I had the MRI scan last night of my lumbar spine and the doc says my discs look good (with the exception of minor bulging) and believes I have not a disc problem but a muscle/nerve problem.

Basically my butt muscles are overworked and too tight. In most people the sciatic nerve runs under the piriformis muscle. In a chosen few though, the nerve runs right through the muscle. Prolonged repetitive cycling is a leading cause of this "pain in the butt". I will though, take this diagnosis over a disc problem any day of the week.

Treatment involves time off the bike (this is the hard part) , deep tissue massage, and lots of stretching. I've been doing lots of stretches over the last week and can tell a huge difference. My hip flexors were unbelievably tight as well as my glutes. I tend to be pretty flexible but with all the riding I was doing things have obviously tightened up.

I've got the Rocky Mountain Bike Tour in a month, so I hope and pray I'll be ready for it. My dr. actually invited me for a ride tomorrow but I'm a little worried of setting myself back again. I'll probably give it another week or at least the weekend before I slowly get back into it.

The Latest

Just checking in with an update. My back is probably the biggest issue right now. The doctor wants me to stay off the bike until they do an MRI. He wants to see if its an actual disc problem or a piriformis issue. I'm hoping of course for the latter. I've been doing a ton of stretching as well as rolling around on a baseball in hopes of relaxing some of my butt and lower back muscles. It's been helping (I think) but sitting for any amount of time brings all the pain back. I bought one of those Knee Chairs for my office and it really helps. I had a smaller problem like this last year and time off the bike as well as chiropractor visits cured the problem. I don't mind taking time off the bike but I have signed up for the Colorado Rocky Mountain Tour in August so I'm praying to be ok for that. I'm hoping to have the MRI this week so I can get on with the proper treatment. Either way, I have the option of steroid injections to get the inflammation down, but the idea of steroids scares me a bit. Long term side effects are soft issue damage. I don't want a temporary fix and have to pay for it later.



Bible Study

We just started a small group last week. We're going to be going through the book "Experiencing God". It's a group of 4 couples that we know pretty well so I'm hoping we can all be fairly open when it comes to discussion. I've never felt content with my "Christian" walk. There's times that I really don't even know what I believe. Don't get me wrong, I believe whole heartedly (is that a word) in God. I just don't know all the time what he expects of us. I'm sure we let him down on a daily basis. Another goal of mine with the study is to become more of a spiritual leader with my family. My wife is an unbelievable person (that's why I married her). She's the most honest and sincere person I've ever met. She knows in her heart what she believes. I guess my goal would be to be as secure and confident in my beliefs.

I just found out that my MRI is on Wednesday evening. I hope and pray for the best. I've been home with my boys all day working from the computer. My wife went to Phoenix to refill our oxygen tanks for work. It gives her some alone time and also some time to visit some friends in the valley.

Pretty boring I know, but that's about all that's happening right now. Have a good week.

Mercy Me

I thought I had fallen onto a new music group but after looking at their site online, I guess they've been around for while. Mercy Me is an awesome Christian group. We sing a few of their songs in church and they just seem to hit like a ton of lead. I'll be on bike ride with my MP3 player going and God With Us comes on and I find myself in tears. Their songs are so powerful. When you really think about it, why would such a powerful God waste his time on us? As crappy of a people that we have turned out to be. It's just got a to be a daily heartbreak for Him. To see how many of us have turned our backs on him and turned towards our own versions of what is right and wrong. I found a cool video of them singing U2's Where the Streets have No Name. I would just love to have the fire for Christ that these guys have.
I hope you'll take the time to listen to some of their stuff. It's OSSM!!!! Oh ya, I Can Only Imagine is another good one.

Enjoy

Life Coming Back to Normal

It's been a real good week. Little League is over so my evenings are free. I've got sort of a new focus on riding, and the funny thing is, I'm enjoying being at work. In fact, I'm loving it. Really for no certain reason except that I don't feel rushed. I'm not riding as much right now and that's ok. It's not the racing season that I had originally planned but, again I feel good about it. In fact after looking at the remaining races for the year, it doesn't look like I'll make any of them. I got in a 90 minute ride this morning which was a great way to start the day. My wife has been riding most mornings so that leaves me with mostly evenings. Since she's the pregnant one and her time on the bike is going to be limited, I figured it best to let her go when she can.

I'm not being a total slacker though. I signed up for the Colorado Rocky Mountain Tour today. I've done the Bicycle Tour of Colorado for several years and have really enjoyed it. The CRMT is only in it's second year so I'm not sure what to expect but the route looks great. So for now, my only goal is to be in shape for the tour. I feel a bit selfish going by myself but, a part of me thinks it's important to take a break from everyday life. This will actually be the first time I've been away from my family for any length of time, in I believe 7 years.

It's nice not having anything on my plate per say. School starts super early this year, I believe it's the first week of August. So my goal for July is just to spend as much time with my wife and boys as I can. We're going to park our camp trailer up at Horseshoe Lake for the month of July. It's about a 40 minute drive from our house but with gas prices the way they are, it will be a nice convenient way to get away.

I guess that's about it for now.
Thanks for Reading.

The Kid Has a Road Bike

I have been looking all over for a road bike for my nine year old. Everywhere I looked seemed to be out of stock. Then about a month ago the owner of our local bike shop called to let me know that he opened an account with Felt. This is one of the few companies that makes a 24 inch road bike. He didn't even have to talk me into it, I ordered it right then and there. It's such a cool little bike. My son loves it. It doesn't have top of the line components so the shifting is a bit rough but for now it will do.

Last weekend was my sons first "long" ride. He did 20 miles. It wasn't a fast 20 but he did it with no complaints at all of being tired. In fact when we got home he told me that he wanted to go farther on the next ride. So this Saturday he added 10 miles to his earlier 20. We rode from our house to McNary with is a total of 30 miles round trip. Again, he didn't complain once about being tired, but I could tell when we got home that he was pretty tuckered out.

Here's Ryan at the entrance to McNary. This town was booming when I was kid but is now a town with very little left.

This is an old barn on the way to McNary that I've been wanting to get a picture of but have never had my camera.

Here's Ryan at the small store in McNary. Anticipating the 15 mile ride back home.

Back On The Bike

It's been about 3 weeks since I've ridden and it was a nice break. After the cancellation of the IronHorse I felt a little burned out. Not to mention my back was creating havoc with my legs. I've since started seeing an awesome chiropractor and he's got me feeling pretty good again.

Bike The Bluff
The first annual Bike the Bluff road race was held on Saturday. It was two laps through the towns of Lakeside and Show Low totalling about 34 miles. It wasn't a sanctioned race but it brought some pretty fast riders to our little town. Having not ridden and considering the leg pain I had been having, my goal was to hang with the lead pack through the first lap. Suprisingly I held on through the whole thing and ended up 9th out of I believe 89 riders. It was a short race but we average 25 mph for the 34 miles and it was a warm 90 degrees. I was amazed at how many riders (including myself) cramped on the last little climb to the finish. It was a nice motivator to get me back in the saddle.

The Commuting Begins
Little League is over and my "freedom" begins once again. At $4.00 a gallon, I'm going to see how many days (before it snows) I can ride to work. I'm amazed at how many trucks I still see hot rodding down the road, though I am seeing more Toyota Prius' than ever before. The only down side to riding my bike (not really) is that I usually stop at the drive thru coffee place to get my daily Chai Latte, my sugar fix for the day.

Expecting
Well my wife and I found out a few weeks ago that we are expecting our third (and final :) ) child. The only downside is that we live in a 2 bedroom house. We like our 1 acre which is becoming scarce around here so we're planning on building an addition in the very near future. Now we just have to figure out a way to pay for it. God will provide. I'll just keep it in prayer and not worry about it.

Pull my Butt out of the Gutter
I've noticed lately that I haven't been the cheerful self that I usually am. No particular reason, just busy and tired (who isn't). I need to start practicing what I preach. God has been truly good to me so I need to just enjoy everything going on around me. I'm blessed with a super family, a great business, awesome friends........... I've got to quit taking life so seriously. Have fun!!!!! Smile!!!! Go fishing!!!!!!
The stress of life will always be there. Don't dwell on it. I'm not a drinker but my wife said there was beer in the fridge. A good way to end a long day. See ya.

Cherish the Time

I realize I write about this subject every so often, but in this line of work you see and meet a lot of special people. As you probably know I own a small Durable Medical Equipment company. We supply people with things such as wheelchairs, hospital beds, crutches, oxygen, etc.

Anyway, a few weeks ago we set up this elderly lady with home oxygen. She and her husband were super nice to talk to. They moved here once they retired and were just enjoying their time together.

I initally met the wife when I met her upon her discharge from the hospital. She didn't look too sick and I didn't think she would need our services for very long. After we meet our patients at the hospital we meet them at their homes to set up a stationary oxygen unit for their homes. After doing this I thought we would hear from them a few weeks later to come pick up our equipment.

A couple weeks went by and sure enough they called. Only it wasn't the call I was expecting. The husband called to let us know that his wife had passed away. At times like this I become totally speechless. What do you say to a man that has just lost his life parter of more than 50 years.

I went out to his house to pick up the equipment. A trip I was not looking forward to. As I pull in to his driveway, I notice the nice yard, a motorhome, a workshop, a beautiful home with beautiful things. What is a man to do with all this stuff, with no one to share it with? This is when Life is unfair. You spend a lifetime sharing and building a life with someone only for it all to one day come to an end. I realize this is all part of God's plan, but He could have made it a bit easier to deal with. My heart goes out to all of those who have lost a spouse. I remember when my grandfather passed away. My grandma was so lost. It's a tough thing to deal with.

Even with all the hurt involved with loving and losing someone, it's not worth not loving at all. This is just part of the cycle. I think the saying goes, "Tis better to love and lost, than not to have loved at all." It's not easy but I think the joy is far greater than the pain.

Cherish the Moment!!!!!

Falling off the Wagon

Since getting back from the IronHorse, I've ridden a total of two times. One 20 mile ride and one 30 mile ride. We've got our local 1st annual Bike the Bluff race next weekend and I can't really say I'm prepared.

Spending five months preparing for one race is not very smart. I wish I would have found some races to do before the IronHorse. All I can figure is that I'm a little burned out right now. I've been having problems with my lower back lately which has only added to the frustation. I've got two bulgings discs which seem to inflame if I spend a lot of time climbing. They cause my left leg to cramp and tire quickly and so far I haven't found relief.

This is the last week of little league so I'm going to start commuting to work starting on Friday. I can't do it right now as I've got a car full of baseball gear that I have to carry. I'm going to lay off of the serious training for now and just try to enjoy the bike. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to ride hard, but I'm not going to follow any sort of plan.

My diet has sort of gone to crap and I'm hoping tomorrow to get back to eating good. I can sure feel the difference when I eat better. I've mentioned this before but you really can't look at it as a diet but actually a lifestyle change. I think it will be easier to stick to that way.

Anyway, I think that's about it for now.

Thanks for Reading

Weekend in Durango

I've already talked about the Iron Horse but the weekend definitely wasn't a loss. I love Durango. The worst part about visiting Durango is knowing that sooner or later we gotta go leave. This was my 5th year doing the IronHorse and our weekend is typically the same year after year. Friday is usually reserved for recovery from the drive, packet pickup, and a short ride to loosen up. Minus the pouring rain, Friday was pretty normal. I've already discussed what happened on Saturday, so we had Sunday left to enjoy.

Here's the start of Ryan's Kid Race. Largest turnout yet!!! Coby cruising towards the finish line.

We always spend our entire Sunday downtown for the kids races and the criteriums. My oldest son has done the kids race since he was 5 years old. It's amazing to see how much he's grown. Our youngest is now going on his second year racing. This was his first year without training wheels. I was super impressed at how well both of them rode. Ryan (oldest) had to compete on his mtn bike which surprisingly wasn't all that bad. It was all mtn bikes that took the first three spots. Next year though he'll be racing a road bike. It's been ordered but didn't arrive in time for the Colorado trip. We've got a local race coming up that I'm hoping he will be able to compete in. It doesn't give him much time to train though.

Ryan waiting for the pre-race instruction.

Criteriums

Being that the road race was cancelled, I think that lead to a greater turn out for the criteriums. Cats 4 and 5 were a big group but I think the 3's were the funnest to watch. They were hauling butt. There's a 90 degree corner and the bottom of the hill and they were hitting it full blast. There was only one small tangle when one guys pedal was caught up the bottle cage of another bike.

Cat 3's were super fast!

The highlight of the criteriums is the Cruiser Classic. This event brings out the crazy ones. It's hilarious what people think of. The best group this year was 3 kids all dressed as Elvis playing yukeleles and riding unicycles. The were awesome. Then there came the Super Family. This guy has been in the ride before but this year they included a trailer attached to a two seater, elevated seat, bike. Remember the 90 degree corner......well the trailer (and it's rider) didn't make the corner. The trailer went rolling and so did the passenger. They were all dressed in Superman outfits and what I thought was the guys boot falling off.......wasn't. After rolling from the trailer he went to stand up. His left leg just buckled. It was truly an amazing (disgusting) site. What I believed was his boot facing sideways from his leg was actually his foot. It was 90 degrees from the direction it should have been. He just dropped and laid there. Fortunately the ambulance was sitting on that corner. His family was staying at the same hotel we were and told us the next morning that he broke both his Tibia and Fibula at different levels. He had surgery that night and went home the next morning. Amazing medicine.

Here's the Cruiser Race!!

Super Family before "the corner".

And...After

Hotel
We stayed at the Iron Horse Inn which was very convenient. The cool part is that our room was 100 feet from the railroad tracks. Now for a typical train that would really suck because of the noise but this is the Durango/Silverton train. It only runs twice a day 8:15 and 9:15am. So every morning you would find my boys searching for coins to put on the track. I'm still amazed at how heavy that train must be. You couldn't flatten these coins that much with a sledge hammer.

This is all right outside our door.

Any cyclist would love Durango. When the shoulder on the highway is as wide at the car lane, you know they care about cycling. For the most part everyone is very courteous to cyclists. I'm sure that if I lived there I would think otherwise but for now I'm pretty impressed.

Last year I did the Durango Fall Blaze which is a 100 mile bike tour around Durango and surrounding area. It was this ride that showed me what a beautiful place it is. There is such a diverse population. You've got your cyclists, both road and mountain. You've got your hippies and tree huggers. Property in Durango is outrageous so you surely have your rich folks. There are hay farms and horses throughout so you have your cowboys and western folk. And of course you have your good ol red necks. It's just a cool place, no matter what you enjoy. Every morning I'd walk out the door of the room and look over the valley. It was so lush and green. If I had a million, I'd definitely have a home in Durango. For now though I guess I'll enjoy our couple of visits a year.


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Cancelled!!

For the first time in 37 years, The Ironhorse Bicycle Classic never made it to the starting line. After watching the weather reports we all knew it was going to be touch and go for the race. Honestly I never thought they would cancel it. Shorten it maybe, but not completely cancel. There is so much time and money involved and people from as far as Australia had come to race.

When we arrived Thursday night it was already spitting snow off and on. Friday was pretty much the same. It was mostly rain in Durango but there were reports of snow falling at the higher elevations. The car thermometer showed 36 degrees as of 2pm Friday. I always like to get in at least a short ride the day before a race so I bundled up and went for about 15 miles. It wasn't bad as far as temperature but it was cold and windy. Even with the temps, it was rideable, but in a pack of 125 riders it could be a bit dicey.

At registration on Friday afternoon, everyone still seemed optimistic. The Saturday weather report showed only a 30 percent chance of precipitation. They were going to announce their decision on the radio at 6am Saturday morning.

It rained (in Durango) all night long and got down to about 32 degrees. I had no idea what I was going to wear for the race since I had no clue what the weather was going to be. You don't want to be too warm on the climbs, otherwise you freeze to death on the the descent. You don't want to be too cold then the whole race is miserable. You freeze both going up and down, Not Good!! So I had several piles of clothes laid out. Warms coats, gloves, legwarmers, long sleeve jersey, medium gloves, ear warmers, I had it all but no clue as to what to expect. About 9:30 that night a few friends and I drove up towards Purgatory Ski Area to see what the weather was. It was a total white out. The was the 28 mile mark for the race. It wasn't looking too good.

The next morning I got up at 5:30, got dressed in my warmest garb and went out and sat in the freezing car to listen to the radio report. It was big time cold out. The race referee's were two rooms down and I could see them leave on their motorcyles. I can't even imagine the windchill on those motorcycles. Much less, had they hit a patch of ice they were done!!

Then the report came. The Ironhorse Road Race has been cancelled. There was 5 inches of snow on the road at Purgatory and 8 inches of snow on Coal Bank Pass and in Silverton.

Unbelievable!!!

Every emotion possible went through my head. I had just spent the last 5 months focusing on this one race. I've lost almost 20 lbs and drove for an hour every other morning to work on my climbing. All of this to have mother nature just poop on the parade. I was pretty bummed!!

The Bright Side

About 10:00 that morning I opted to ride up to Purgatory. I just drove 6 hours to race, I was definitely going to get some riding in. It was warming up nicely but in Colorado you never take the weather for granted. I still wore my warmest coat and legwarmers. I believe it was about 45 degrees when I left the hotel. We stayed at the IronHorse Inn which is on the outskirts of Durango and right on the main road to Purgatory. It's a very convenient starting point.

I felt good starting out. It's a flat ride for about the first 10 miles. I was hammering pretty good. There were tons of other riders who had the same plan I did, ride to Purgatory and back. I was passing quite few people. Then came the first climb. I believe it is called Shalona Hill. I've always believed this to be the hardest part of the entire ride. It's steep and it's long. Anyway, I thought I was doing pretty good. I kept my heart rate at about 165 the entire time. Passing ALMOST everyone I see this "little" guy in black just flying up the climb behind me. It's at this point you go "holy crap"!!!! You ask yourself "do you look at them as they go by and act like your not hurting??" This awesome rider was absolutely just riding effortlessly up this climb. I look across as SHE passes me!!! That's right, I just got smoked by a 100#, all muscle, longhaired, very fit, Chick! Now I'm not being sexist at all but I was totally impressed. I've been passed on this climb before by Kristen Danielson (man she's a cutey) who races pro but this gal put me very quickly into my place. Better yet, she stops about 3 miles up, I pass her, and about 10 minutes later she blows by me again. This is God telling me, "Rusty, be thankful the race was cancelled". Remember, I was mistakely racing Masters 35+. I would have been blown away.

Training

After getting humiliated on the climb to Purgatory, I thought about all the training that I had been doing. Although I had been doing a lot of climbing, I for some reason didn't feel as prepared as I usually do. I just didn't feel like I had the legs I should have had. One problem that I found out today was that my blood work is still showing that I'm a bit Hyperthyroid. Dropping my dosage a little should help. I also need to work on cadence work. I need to be able to increase my power at a higher cadence for a longer period of time. How do I do this? I haven't a clue but I'll research it soon and find out. I think the most important thing right now it to get my thyroid levels in the right spot.

I'll post more later about this weekend. Even though the race was cancelled we had a great time.

Thanks for Reading