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.