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.