The Enchanted Circle Century

Sat Sept 7th I did the Enchanted Circle Century. This is my favorite ride of all time. The scenery is absolutely the most beautiful I've ever seen. The ride starts in Red River(8650 ft elevation) & goes through the city of Taos (6950 ft). From Taos to Angel Fire (8420) then up Bobcat Pass (9820 Ft) & back down into Red River.

This century has no flats. It is a course that would rival any day of climbing in the Alps.
At the 30 mile mark in a construction zone in Taos I hit a car who had no brake lights. I was knocked out for a few seconds. The right leg of the front fork on my one month old Cannondale Carbon Slice crumpled. I could pull on the leg & it moved out about 3 inches. Definitely not safe to ride on. Perhaps it was because of my head getting knocked around a bit, but I decided I could ride the 70 remaining miles of the ride. Stupid I know. But I did just that. Anytime I got to a speed at or above 25 MPH my bike would get the speed wobbles. That the left fork leg never broke was a near miracle. I'm now a true believer of Cannondale products.

My bike will be out of commission for 3 weeks while I'm waiting for a new fork. On top of that I got one heck of a flue this week. Today was the first day in almost 5 days that I didn't feel like death warmed over. So of course since I was feeling better I did a 73 mile bike followed by a 5 mile run. Again, not the smartest thing I've ever done. I blame this on my recent head trauma. I'm hoping today's 6 hr 32 minute brick doesn't prevent me from feeling better soon. Of course I should of rested, but I just can't make myself miss any training. Another Ironman DNF would crush me. Call me obsessive compulsive or just plain dumb. Either way, that's me. But I know one thing for sure, when I toe the line in November I will know I gave my everything in training for Ironman Arizona.

Peace, I'm out.

My little monkey

I love being a Dad. My kids are just so wonderful. They rarely misbehave, they're kind hearted & loving. They play well with other children of all ages. I have perfect children. As you can tell from what happened today, they don't get that from me.

Today I was at the optometrist. My wife & children were there with me. Because I am working so many hours I take every opportunity I can to spend time with my family. Even if its at a Dr.'s waiting room. My wife took my son and was looking at glasses while I played with my daughter. There was a TV on & playing a nature show about monkeys. I pointed at the TV & told my 2 year 11 month old daughter that this program was about her. One of those baby monkeys was her as a baby. She looked up at me in disbelief and asked "that's me Daddy?". I pointed at the TV again & told her look how cute she was as a baby. I told her because she was such a cute monkey as a baby that was the reason her Mom & I decided to take her home. She continued to watch the television show completely fascinated. After about 20 minutes my wife comes back with my son & sits next to my daughter & I. When they sat down my daughter turned to her baby brother, pointed at the baby monkey on the TV & yelled "Cody, look! That's me!" I laughed so hard I was crying. My wife didn't think it was funny.

Sometimes it's the little things about Fatherhood that is the most fun.

The total Money Makeover

Back in November my wife quit her job to be a stay at home Mom. That started a very trying time because I had to start working a lot of overtime to make up her income. She & I bought a book called "The Total Money Make Over" By Dave Ramsey. We've been using his strategy to try & become debt free. It's taken 6 months of me working 6, sometimes even 7 twelve hour shifts a week (72-86 hrs a week). But we are finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. My wife and I have paid off 2 high interest rate credit cards, one personal loan, & our minivan that we purchased a little over a year ago. As long as things continue going like they have been we'll be paying off our home loan in the next couple of months. We could afford at that point for me to start taking 2 days off a week on 3 weeks of the month. The 4th week I'd still have to work 6 twelve hour shifts. But that's not what I plan on doing. I will continue to work 6 twelve hour shifts a week, put the money we had been paying on the other bills & the extra money I'm making from the overtime and put it towards our 2008 Ford Fusion. If all things continue like they have been our car will be paid off by mid 2009. After the car is paid off we will be DEBT FREE BABY!!!!! Seriously, no debt at all in our name. No loans, no credit cards, no personal loans, no morgage, or lines of credit. Nothing but our monthly insurance, utilities, food, and other living expenses. God is good to me & mine. Through Him anything is possible.

bike fit

I got a professional bike fit for my new triathlon bike almost 4 weeks ago. Although its only been 4 weeks I've put in enough miles on it, done enough really long rides, even raced a half Iron on it, to know I'm comfortable on it. That is suprising to me because this was my 3rd pro bike fit. Both of the other 2 were crap. Not only am I very comfortable on this fit, I seem to fatigue less now. Ok, I realize part of that may be my great custom traininng plan made by The Mad Scientist Pete Alfino. But I think a lot of it has to do with the fit.

For 3 years I've had a sharp pain at the top of my knees. The pain is ther anytime I try to walk up steps, squat, or anything like that. It seems to be worse anytime I have periods of high bike milage or a build phase period. Well, since the bike fit the pain IS GONE!!!!! In case your in need of a great bike fit, his name is James. He's a retired pro cyclist & now pro triathlete. He works at Sports Outdoors on Montgomery. I'll be setting up an apointment to get him to fit me on my road bike next. Her's the phone number to Sports Outdoors.