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Jacksonville, FL, United States
In Life as well as in running the secret is Pace.
Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Across France in June

The following is a bit of motivation and plan that I put together for some friends that are planning to do cycling challenge to ride across France via the Pyrenean mountain passes this summer.  we have varying levels of fitness but a common goal six months hence 


 
 
I see us in this picture six months from now…  a time and a place that we will savor in our old age.
 
I want for all of us to have reached this zenith under our own power…  and not in a van.
 
Is it going to be easy?   No
 
Could we do it today?  No
 
Can we do it?  Yes…  only if we are committed
 
So how do we get ready?  I like your enthusiasm but…
 
First of all let's define ready…
 
Ready:
 
Being able to ride a bike in mountainous terrain for 5 hours a day for 6 straight days
 
 
In other words as difficult of a bike ride as we have ever done in a single day in our lives six days in a row? Like riding the Beach Blvd bridge for 5 hours non-stop (hey that sounds like fun! J) every day for a week
 
Are you getting scared yet?  Good.
 
Hopefully you are asking yourself this question:
 
Okay asshole how do we get there?  How do I get started?  What do I do?  How much?  When?
 
Well it just so happens that I have a plan! (surprised?)
 
Month 1:
Month 2:
Month 3:
 
basically we will be going from 3.5 hours per week to start to almost 6 hours per week by March….  And "up" from there…
 
and I mean up as in hills and saddle time…. By may we should be logging 12+ hours of saddle time a week
 
We should plan a weekend trip to Mt Dora…
 
May 15 weekend should be our practice run…  a group from Jax is Heading up to Dahlonega to do the 6 big climbs in the Smokies…   
 
Let's go ride bikes in beautiful places!
 
 
 

Friday, January 3, 2014

2013





The numbers
 
Swim: an hour or so total
Bike: 240 hours ~4000 miles
Run:  1850 miles ( zero in December)
 
the first year I remember that I did not capture a Goals List
 
oh, I had goals  just the Same but without a list it's a bit harder to reflect.
 
so….
 
what went well?
 
1.  I think I was a better dad in 2013….  might be my best year yet…  not the easiest… Parenting is hard…  really hard…   and not just hard to do…  hard to know if you are even on the right track.  
 
oh I do love the parents of second graders who think they have it all figured out…. I simply smile and nod…  they will see one day
 
these days with an 18 year old…  and a 20 year old I find myself listening more, asking more questions, and giving gentle advice….  a tectonic shift from the "drill sergeant dad" i once was…
 
2.  Career is going okay too… I count myself very lucky…  I have a job that is rewarding, coworkers and a staff that I really like and enjoy interacting with, yet my job does not control my life.  win-win
 
3.  I am also oh so fortunate to be married to the sweetest woman on the planet…. peace, love, and harmony at home….  the richest blessing anyone could ask for
 
4.  RATS was once again a tremendous journey…  both the training for and the trip/race…  memories and lessons to hold dear for a lifetime…  yet after 3 trips the desire to run through the desert has left me.  I sucked at being an ultrarunner this year…  yet I finished in the top 5 overall in the only two 5ks I did…  maybe I should think about that…
 
5.  I have made some new friends… after RATS my running quite literally fell apart…  Cycling is what I wanted to concentrate on for a while and to that end Judi and I started riding with one of the cycling groups here in town…  in the past few months I have met a bunch of people and am really having a blast riding 2-3 times a week with these guys…
 
Okay…

we have started this off on a positive note…  good.
 
The one thing that will forever define 2013 is the loss of my mother…
 
I've lost aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins…  even a couple of friends along the way… but never anyone so close….  And really who could be closer?
 
I've seen other lose their parents and while I have felt for them…  in the back of my mind I've always thought…  "well..  it's the natural order of things…  they knew it was going to happen…  they should really just get over it"  and there you have it friends…  in the back of my mind I'm an asshole
 
Nine months on…  and I still tear up at a memory…  a "I'm going to ask my mom about" this that or the other thought that I have…
 
I would write some more and try and wrap this up on a positive note but I don't really have anything else to say about 2013…  so let's just do a picture show
 
January:
Lots o stairmilling
 
February:
Breast Cancer Marathon in memory of an old friend
 
March:
Running in the rain with Jimmy
 
April:
Mom
 
May:
Self-supported midnight Marathon
 
June:
Another great week with our RATS Family
 
July:
 
Golf
 
August:
 Key West with my youngest
 
 
September: 
Group Ride to Amelia on Labor Day
 
October:
 
Muddy Cyclocross
 
November:
Bike crash on the Guana Ride
 
December:
 
 
Late Friday afternoon solo ride
 
  
 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

New Year’s Day




Drink up Quick the group ride starts in 7 hours
Despite the fact that we stayed out pretty late by our standards we did get up and get at it early on New Years day.
 
The plan was to meet up with the lodge group and ride 40 or so…  
 
We did meet up with the group but it was a pretty small and kinda quick moving bunch…  a little more ambitious that we wanted to be.
 
we decided to just let them go and do our own thing…
 
Don't spill it

 
Our own thing was basically riding from Jax Beach through Nocatee…. stopping for hot chocolate…  then riding back into a chilly headwind.  It rained on us pretty much the entire way but we had dressed pretty well for it and really once you get out there in the elements and start moving you basically just take the elements as a given in the equation and soldier on.
Judes

 
Just to illustrate that we are not all work and no play…  after the ride we came home, got thawed out and dried out then ate bacon, eggs and toast, split a bottle of champagne and took a nap.
 
great way to start off the year.
  

-
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