New Media system arrived!

Oh yeah... Change is coming! The new media system for church has arrived! I'm giddy!

I shot over 400 photos today during the MLK Parade. It passes 1/2 block from my office. It was a great way to spend lunch! Lots of really nice folks.

Ok, yes, I was the token cracker in the crowd but it was seriously fun. Lots of laughing.

I'm charging the batteries to the camera full charge and using a blank card so I can document the day. I plan to start shooting as soon as I get up. Don't worry... it will be a shot of the TV with the time and just a screen shot. I do have a plan for what the "moment" photo is going to be if she will let me take it. "She" doesn't like her photo taken but she has such as passion about what will take place tomorrow. "She" has the office next to me and yes she is black. I have my fingers crossed for tears...

I'm taking a day off from training.

Life is good... when you are excited about what tomorrow may bring.

Sunday 01 18 09

Been a good week of training. Got some core in a few days and got to spend the afternoons both Sat and today riding.
Knocked down 52 miles on Saturday. That wind! What do we do? Geesh Louise!
I spotted Chris Ironman yesterday out for a 14 mile run. Man, this guy is looking strong! We stopped for a few and got caught up and could have yakked for a while but we both had business to tend to and neither wanted to start back up if we stood around very long. I spotted a couple of other groups out but they were always going the opposite way than I was. I would have jumped on the train. I did see Doug Pope leading one so I knew that was a fast and furious little group. After all the side roads along the river and Burns Park I could find I was aching for some real open road so I headed out to Scott (farmland). Cross wind on the way out turning to headwind on the way back in. I just put my head down and cranked it out. Just get it done. Got back as the sun was setting and it was good to because the temps were falling from the 56 degrees it had been.

Headed out to climb stuff this afternoon and playing on Batesville Pike. It's just out the backdoor from the house. Lots of good climbing back there. On the way down the hill there was some really crappy road so I braked it most of the reminder down. The climbing was fun! I normally try to just look at the road just ahead rather than up the hill. My mind seems to control my legs (I know, that was a goofy thing to say... of course they control them) but what I mean is that if I don't really sense that I'm climbing (visually) then I can climb fairly well and not tire out but if I look up and the what I climbing then for some dumb reason I start getting tired. If your mind and heart is into it then your body is going to follow.

Saw a friends Twit a little while ago stating she just did a run and was at her hotel with the door open. She's in AZ. I could handle riding in AZ right now! HA!

Another is heading down to Austin to train with a pro team for a few days. You dawg! Can't wait to hear the stories of that adventure!

Got to see U2 perform at the Washington celebration. Now I have "In the name of love" stuck in my head. Not a bad tune to be stuck with.

Tomorrow is MLK day and I'm working. The parade comes a block from the hospital so we'll walk down there around lunch time and wave. I'm thinking tomorrow's parade will be high energy with Tuesday being Obama's swearing in.

Life is good!

Rotten to the core

Different set of core after work today. Felt like my gut was being ripped out by Predator. It certainly woke up some muscles that have been stationary way too long.

Tomorrow is a trainer day. I never thought I would look at a trainer day like a recovery day.

Tyler came over for dinner and now my tummy hurts more from laughing so much. He always cracks me up!

Life is good... when the Predator rips your guts out and throw them up in a tree. Ewww!

Time management

Time.... oh the thing that gets away from me all the time.

I'm going to have to schedule my whole day and put it on a clip board and attach it to me short collar. So kiddos... these blogs may become more like Facebook or Twitter messages.

Actually I'm just waiting for food to settle before core workout. At least I can have something like biggest loser on while I do them. Some will have to be in the gym but others I can do here.

Oh, here you go... my coach... Brad Cooper... will be playing in Ironman KY on the way on Kona. The company: http://www.uscorporatewellness.com/
When you get to the site, click on Personal Wellness Coaches, then you will see down at the bottom a icon for video. Click it and give it a few moments and after the intro the Brad is the guy talking. He is in Boulder, CO and his wife has family here. I met him when he or someone posted a note that he was going to be in town and looking to ride. We didn't get to ride but we did get to hang out a little while together and it was a great vibe.

I have been so fortunate to have some awesome kick butt coaches of the past few years. Rance Bryant, Mark Rogers and now Brad. But more importantly I've been extremely blessed to have a massive amount of good folks who believe in me and my psycho rides. Man, I love you guys! Ok, let's all hold hands and sing Kom-by-ya!

Hey, by the way, I saw a sort of sneak preview of the jersey design... oh yeah! Very cool! It's a different look that what I normally have but trust me, it rocks like no other! Grunge/rockstar ... no it doesn't have the Rock and Republic skull on it. You know I'm a Team OUCH fan now anyway! Matt has ready made this design come to life! You're gonna love it!

Ok...to the floor for the core....

Life is good... SOOOO GOOOOD!!!

Note from the coach

Got an email from the coach today. Holy smokes life as I know it is about to change! It started today. 3 hours of riding... no excuses except for rain then I would have had to park it on the trainer. Called me a psycho athlete. Also said he only trains those and executives. Oh and the ride... BRR! 10 degree temp drop while riding (47 to 37F). Wind was 25 mph gusty. A couple of the side gusts just about took me down ... but it was a really good ride once I got about 10 miles into it and warmed up.

Get this... one of my training sessions for the 24 hours Gears For Ears ride starts at 10 and ends at 6. Kiddos...that's 10pm to 6am.! It will be done around the neighborhood and then on the trainer to for really late night early morning stuff.

Rides are at 3 hours now about will increase all the way to 10 hours. Told me I could start at 4am and be done mostly by noon. By weekday rides are now 2-3 hours. Yes, as in eat dinner on the trainer. That's supposed to help your tummy get used to meals and rising.

He wants me to be as tired as I can be by the time I do core workouts after work. It made a lot of sense to me because it puts me in the mental frame of mind that I will be in my hardest times on the ride. He asked if I could work standing up. All my phone calls I do standing and pacing... and looking out the window. HA!

As I get closer to the event I can only eat on the training rides what I will eat on the event ride.

I've been nervous about having someone so elite as a coach but he is awesome. Very motivating. Thanks Brad! I'll make you proud.

Life is good... when you a honored enough to be called a psycho athlete.

Real quick like

Been a few days I know.
Life does that.
Communicate in short simple sentences.
It's all textings fault.
You know?
Heard the OMG news?
Floyd Landis and Pat McCarty will be racing for OUCH.
They will be at Joe Martin Stage Race in May!
I will see Floyd race.
My simple sentence life is so happy.

Life is good...simple but good!

Morning shoot

Still foggy in Sherwood so drove down the road to the park and played with the camera. Enjoy.

Been so long since this poor road has seen bikes that moss is growing.

I have been wanting to shoot dew drops and now I can. Certainly not the best shot but it a start.

I kept waiting for those evil dead looking warrior guys from
Lord of the Rings to come around the bend.

Spooky outside

I'm still test driving the Nikon. I'm loving it. I haven't had a digital camera that lets you be the driver. Normally my play camera would have flashed and I would not have gotten the effect I wanted. The cool looking different street lights (yes there is a green one and an amber one) and the fog just made it spooky looking out tonight.

I also took a bizillion shots of our front porch light in all sorts of stops and combination just so I could learn the different looks I can get.

Terri and I ran over to Wal-Mart tonight. Yes the one in my hood. The shelves are bare except for plastic boxes. Rows and rows of plastic boxes that are all the same. Guess they had to fill the shelves with something. Terri and I started laughing. The first row was right across from the pet food and i told her it looked like a whole row of plastic pet coffins. She busted out laughing. She thinks I'm a juvenile delinquent. Oh well...

70% chance of rain tomorrow... maybe I get a ride in. I know the streets will be wet in the morning from all the heavy fog.

Life is good... onward through the fog!

Happy New Year!

Darkened field lights at the Sherwood sports complex. They almost look like little space ships that dropped ropes for little alien SWAT men. HA!

Seriously it was one of the first shots I made this evening as the sun set on the first day of the new year. I stopped by Mark's late this afternoon and picked up the Nikon D70s to test drive this weekend. More buttons than Nasa's Discovery! As I was driving back to the house the sunset was really nice so I drove up the hill that overlooks the baseball fields. It was strangely quite.

So today was the first day of diet-o-rama for America? How did you do or are you waiting until tomorrow or maybe even Sunday or Monday... or maybe sometime in June? I did OK today but that's all....just ok.

I got up about 7 after going to bed at almost 1:30am. Got all ready to go to Two Rivers park over in Little Rock to meet friends and ride. Just as I was about to load up I flipped on the TV to check weather. I almost wished I hadn't. It was 31F with a wind chill of 25F. BRRR! I decided not to go. Bummed to say the least but I knew I would be riding today but only after it warmed a tad. Well I did ride! 47 miles! The afternoon was awesome and there were a lot of folks out biking and running. My numbers were good until I got to Ft Roots at the end of the ride. I got a little put out with myself for taking my time on the first half of the climb and turned it into "push energy". After the last switchback I stood and cranked it out. It was a good feeling. On the way down I spotted Diane B and a few others. One of my goals for this year is to ride with that bunch again.

While I'm thinking about it here are some of my goals for Oh-Nine...
Go to BACA and Arkansas Bike Club meetings again. I enjoy going to those and they are always fun. I just got out of the habit.
Bike to work and home more this year.
Log my numbers on www.bkejournal.com
Ride the Tour de Rock this June.
Ride the 24 Hours on the river (Gears for Ears) on April 30/May 1st.
Volunteer again for the Carve Crit Series in June/July
Go to Joe Martin Stage races in May
Hit the beach in Destin on May 23rd!

More personal goals are to be a better friend. I have some awesome friends and I just can't seem to get with it to hang with them like I want to. Not getting over to the ride this morning is a perfect example of what I am talking about.

Be more positive. Some things and some people you just can't change so smile and enjoy the differences and live on!

Laugh more and laugh hard!

Ok the list is going to be 326 miles longs so I'll just leave yo with those.

Life is good... when you are happy and have goals.

Getting loaded!

Getting Loaded!!!!

Oh that got your attention didn't it? HA! I'm loading the Ipod with a batch of new tunes for training.

Skillet's tune Comatose is good!
So is Open Wounds by the same band.

Throw some of your favorites out to me... I've worn down my summer and fall tunes. Sorry no Coldplay allowed... gotta take a break from those guys.

Life is good...with a charged up IPod and some new music.

And now I remember...

And now I remember why I don't eat crappy foods!

And now I remember why I never ride over the Big Dam Bridge on Sunday afternoons!

The afternoon ride was OK. I got 42 miles in but jeeze louise it was crowded out there. It wasn't just couples walking their dogs either. It was herds, packs, swarms....whatever you call them, they were there.

I've been eating that crappy (but oh so good) holiday food and I could tell a difference in my riding today. Sluggish is a good word. I popped up to the 20-23mph category a few times but seems to have locked in on 17mph. Every time I would just be riding along and look down it would be 17. Sigh.

And hey kids, if you ride with an IPod (now don't go hatin' on me because I do) then by all means download the Green Day & U2 live version of Saints are Coming. Yes, that song about the New Orleans floods. Oh my goodness! That song hit just as I was starting up Ft Roots drive and by the time I hit the top I was head-banging and had that wonderful coppery taste of blood in my mouth from sucking in air so hard. I pushed it harder that I have in a long time on that climb. Sweating, running nose, tasting blood and rocking it out hard! Ya gotta love cycle training! I do!

Sounds like a beautiful week for you folks to do running and riding while the rest of us slave dawgs are stuck in the office. 61 for a high tomorrow with sunshine. (Cough cough -- I'm calling in sick! HA!)

Ya want to hear spooky? I was riding and my CI went quite. I reached up and it was still there and no, I've not gotten the double sided tape yet. I kept it in place with a cycle cap under my helmet which I like to do anyway. So I thought maybe the mag just slid over and disconnected. Nah, the battery was really dead. I rolled on being happy as a loon. Ride ends and I reach up and lo and behold the thing is still all there but was just hanging on my helmet strap. I'm worse than a kid with this thing....but I sure do love it! Advanced Bionics rulz! HA!

Awwright, I gotta put up my gear before the queen of the estate gets on to me.

Life is good... so is Green Day and U2! HA!

After strom beauty

The storm just came through and the sky was one of the most beautiful i have ever seen. The dark clouds of the passing rain then straight over us were these beautiful white wave looking clouds and in between the two was the most brilliant rainbow I have seen in years and years! This photo does not even touch the beauty of this few moments. Even our neighbors were out with cameras shooting photos. I'm serious... it was an "I'm in Awe of His wonders" sort of moment. I certainly say it was a defining moment of 2009!

Before the storm the winds hit HARD and a huge bag of trash (I have Christmas overflow right now) flew across the backyard! Spooky! The temp dropped from 72 to 54 in just a very short time.

Life is good... and beautiful!

70% chance

thinking thinking thinking....
70% chance of rain tomorrow. Doesn't sound very promising for a ride. Thy trainer may calleth.

I'm feeling the need to go spend money in bike shops. I've never used a heart rate monitor and am considering it. Leave me a comment if you have a recommendation.

I'm becoming a fan of a different bike team. Yeah yeah yeah... I'll tell you real soon. Rock is going to be around next year but it seems their money is tight and they dropped their best riders. I still have my fingers crossed that someone will pick up these guys. Bahati is a nice guy, has a family and kicks it on the bike!

Just got in from dinner out with wife. Things are crowded tonight. Lots of big families eating out.

I'm going to have my "set your goals" meeting with myself tomorrow early in the morning. (Note to Jo... I think it may involve a veni! I have big goals for next year! HA!)

I know I don't talk much about my CI or hearing aid lately. They have just weaved themselves into my everyday life and I couldn't live without them. I did run out of that double-sided wig tape that I keep the CI plastered to my head with. I rode without the CI for the first time in a LONG time on Christmas eve and boy did it stink! I hated... and I mean really hated not having it. I can hear cars and other cyclist coming from behind me with the CI. I can talk to other riders beside me with the CI. Yes, it is my lifeline!

Life is good...

Strong! Christmas Eve ride

Not sure where it came from but the ride today was strong! We had another warm winter day today and after Em and I knocked out a little last minute shopping we had some time before the wife's family came over for Christmas eve dinner and gift opening. I headed out for a 2 hour ride and while I was riding I kept thinking I was riding stronger. When it was all over, I had been riding stronger. Man was I happy to see those numbers!

Em and I had lunch at a local place and while we were in there eating I noticed a couple of Army service folks eating at another table. We got a hold of their ticket and it was funny because the female officer kept saying, "Who did that?" I wouldn't turn around to look at them but the lady seated on the other side of the room was smiling really big. It was so much fun to do that! Now it's your turn to do the same! Pay it forward! Surprise someone you don't even know!

Life is good and Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night....

i been good!

I been good this year Santa! Oh awwright, I've been sorta good. Happy fat boyee?!

I parked it on the trainer tonight for an hour. Legs were jelly donuts by the time I finished. Note to self... if you are home alone next time don't train by the fireplace and turn the heat down. But then on the other hand I sweated my rear off. It was a dandy hour of torture!

In case you are wondering what Lance Armstrong did today, I can tell you he froze his hands off and had pot roast for dinner and he is not the only one making a comeback in oh-nine! Got to love Twitter!

Ok, I'm heading to the bed...zzzzz

Life is good...even on a trainer.

30 & 30

I know you can't really see it but the bank says 30. As I was leaving the parking for the 2nd half of the ride I looked up and it said 29 but I was already bungled up and riding and didn't want to stop again.

It was really a beautiful day of riding I rode a good 2 hours and made 30 miles. I know, that's not much. It was considering the headwind. A couple of times I had those good gust that make you go 10mph.

Had a house full tonight... it has been a busy weekend and I'm seriously pooped! We had our Christmas service at church today and I had completed the homeless video and Greg used it at the end of his lesson. He told the crowd (about 500) that it was one of the most powerful video that had ever been shown at our church. That was my Christmas present right there! Heard a lot of folks cried. I took it straight to the heart... from the heart.

Ok... I really am pooped...

Life is good... even in pooped status.

blog-aizzy-ness

I have blog-aizzy-ness these days. I've been working on a video from the homeless weekend and I was loving it then someone hooked me up to a different song that they thought would be good. I did a great imitation of Charles Ingeles (sp?) during the post production. The new tune behind it is God of this City by Chris Tomlin. Hearing the song and seeing the photos roll through of homeless people is just really hard. There is one photo that I let run a several extra seconds of a guys with dries blood on the side of his head. I want to drive a hard point home. The video will air during the Christmas service tomorrow morning. Terri is the only one who has seen it and she gave me a thumbs up. She made a couple of great suggestions and I edited a little more. Lots of video during tomorrows service! I will be glad when Sunday night gets here! I'll be a tired puppy!

So we didn't see the sun or the warm temps today. Yesterday was like May. Tomorrow is going to be like... well.. December! HA! 34 for the high and 19 for the low. Cayman Islands starting to sound good already. Had some friends who flew into Denver this morning and they had a record low of -19. Oh yeah, they will still hit the slopes.

Life is good... I feel like a kid counting down to Christmas morning.

Cold hands that felt warm

So the dreaded ice storm cometh. About 3 this afternoon folks were getting a bit antsy as reports started coming in about sleet here and there. Wife's office closed down and I had drove to work with her. I needed to stay and the roads were not bad at all when they closed so I caught a ride in with a coworker who lives just down the road.

We walked out to the car and oh man, it was solid covered in ice. Bummer. She had a ice scraper so I volunteered to scrap while she warmed her car up. Then I scraped the coworker's car next to us, then another car, then yet another one for a secretary who is a favorite of mine. Just wanted coworkers to come out to find their cars had been scraped.

While I was scraping, one of my coworkers noticed I had no gloves on. I realized she was right and then it hit me! I just smiled and said, Yeah, I know, but I'm fine really and continued scrapping.

After I jumped into the car it was warm and I began to thaw! HA! Ride sharing coworker is a female and asked if I would drive. She was nervous driving on ice. I was a gentleman and drove (but a nervous wreck on the inside driving someone else's car). I looked down and she was passed the white line on "E". I conned her into letting me stop at a service station and offered to fill the tank since I was getting a short ride home. She paid and bought me a coke. Full of gas we headed home but not without skidding on the bridge. Traffic was the pits.

As we got to the house coworker said, you really ought to remember your gloves on days like this. I just smiled and said I remembered them! She looked at me so funny like well you droffus why did you not put them on.

As I walked up to the hill to the house I realized my hands were indeed warm the whole time I was scrapping ice without gloves. Very warm... I even smiled and hummed while I scrapped.

My gloves... well, I gave mine to a homeless man 2 weeks ago. Not only were my hands warm...but so was my heart.


Life is good...with a warm heart and hands!

Quick Hit Thursday

Sorry...been swamped!
Heading to Branson tomorrow to take the folks. Mom turns 80 next week.
The trainer I sold, I bought back. I'm so happy to have a trainer for my bike rather than a studio cycle.
Had Buffalo steaks the other night. I love them. They are very lean.
Diet has had it's highs and lows.
Next week is the Ft Roots VA Christmas caroling. All the bike climb the hill to take goodies to the vets and sing Christmas carols as a token of thanks for letting us train on their "driveway".
Out of here until Sunday night.... y'all have a good weekend.

Intercity

Up at 5:30 and out the door to help deliver hot coco, donuts, new coats and a duffel bag full of new thermals and food stuffs to the intercity. An emotionally amazing morning.

More later but I've got a bizillion things to do!