I LIKE TO RIDE MY BICYCLE, I LIKE TO RIDE MY BIKE

I would think it to be a difficult search to find an individual who has not been affected by a bicycle at some point in their life.

Can you remember your first nervous ride as a kid? And the feeling of freedom that followed. Did you ride your bike to throw your paper route before school?
Did your bike take you to work? class? The park?
Do you ride your bike to fight off the fat, clear your head, or have some me time?

Whether you have been a lover of the bicycle in your childhood, adulthood, or always, at some point “it” has affected you.

By “it”, I refer to the freedom, joy, usefulness, function, independence, and beauty of the bicycle.

When I see adults out on their bicycles, I smile.
When I see kids out on their bicycles, I smile even bigger. And I hope that by getting outside in the fresh air on two wheels, those kids will foster a passion for bikes for the rest of their lives.

If you have been away from the bike for longer than you can recall, dust it off and go for a ride.

Here’s to two wheels!

IT WAS A BEAR OF A RACE

Sunday was the day for my latest adventure.

I had teamed up with two guys ( Jeff and Patrick) to race The Bear 10 hour adventure race here in Jacksonville.
I did this race two years ago, so I had basic knowledge of what I could expect, but you just never know with the BEAR.

To sum it up briefly, your team of 1, 2, 3, or 4 people will run, navigate, kayak, bike and perform mystery tasks.
Each team competes to finish all the required stages within the 10 hour time limit and be the first team done.

The race was hot, wet and dirty. It was challenging and there were moments I questioned my own sanity.

After 8 hours and 40 minutes of racing, I have a few mementos from the race:

sunburn
scratched legs
ticks (I have found three so far)
bruises
and
an awesome trophy!


Out of 35 teams, the guys and I came in third overall and FIRST for the 3-4 person division.

Me and my Motobecane Fly Team Titanium. This bike is the shizzle!



Chuck and Patrick on the drier portions of the bike segment.



TEAM FLORIDA XTREME

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

Last week me and two of my three kids flew to Denver.
We were on our way to Manitou Springs, Co to offer moral support to my twin sister and brother.
They were both running the Pikes Peak Marathon. NUT JOBS!

This trip almost did not happen. We missed our connecting flight out of Atlanta. So frustrating!!!
After hanging around for 2 hours, fingers crossed, we made it on standby for the next flight out..

Once we arrived in Denver, we loaded up in our rental car, the Prius...
It was hate at first site for me.
I will quickly add though that by the end of the 5 day trip, I was in love with this car. So quiet, so efficient, so ugly..

Driving south to Manitou Springs, I was slowly becoming aware of a Rocky Mountain High.
It was great! Beautiful weather, beautiful state.

The destination was the El Colorado Lodge. My sister and her family and my brother and his family had been there for 3 days hanging out. Or I should say "acclimating" as it sounds so much more professional.

The Pikes Peak Marathon is an ass kicker. You start at 7,000 feet and climb for 13 miles to over 14,000 feet.
The average grade is 11%. Then when you get to the top, you get to run the 13 miles down.

People break things doing this marathon, like ankles.
People cut things doing this marathon, like knees.
People get crazy doing this marathon as there is 50% less oxygen at the top of the mountain.

I had no desire to run this.

I live at ZERO elevation. In fact, my backyard is likely at a negative elevation. Gotta love Florida :)

I will say that watching Matt and Wid finish this run and claim "never again" just made me want to come back next year and give it a whirl, so to speak.
I gave my siblings a day or two to get over it and now they have both said they will come back next year to run..

I took over 400 pictures. Don't worry!! I will not post them all.
Here are a few of the highlights:

BORN TO RUN

My sister told me about this book.

I read it in two days. It was a great read and I highly recommend it.

Reading this book has me thinking about a few things.

I need to smile more when I am running. I think smiling more will translate into feeling better overall.
I want to remember that running for me is first about fun and second about performance.
At times it seems that I get so caught up in the goals of BQ'ing and getting faster that I miss a basic point: RUN FOR FUN

There is much talk about barefoot running in the book. The author refers to studies about how running shoes have impacted our "running" health; that running shoes actually make our feet weaker and to be better runners our feet need to be stronger. The implication seems to be that running shoes have created many of the common running injuries, Plantar, ITB, etc.
I am not sure where I stand on this issue, but I did just do a three mile run on my treadmill in bare feet.
It actually felt very liberating!

I am not going to throw out all my running shoes just yet, but walking the dogs in bare feet sounds like a good start.

ROAD TRIP

Well, we are not the Griswalds, but our road trip to Texas was almost as crazy.
We drove to Houston straight through. 14 hours.
There is a ton of motivation not to stop when you are headed straight for Pappasitos for TexMex food.
Our family trip was a fun filled week of action and we had a great time.
Highlights were seeing DMC TEXAS, TexMex food, Alamo, seeing Wid's family, zip lining, and too much more to even mention.
I am taking the lazy bloggers route and just going to post a few pics from the trip:

HURRY UP SUMMER!!!!!!

I know that for some parents, school is at times a "day care" for their kids.
Many times parents dread the summer months with their kids dying of boredom with nothing to do.

I am not one of these parents.

In fact, I think it is an outrage that my kids are STILL not out for summer break.
They will not be out until June 10th!
That is nearly all the way through June DANG IT!!
Also, when I was a kid (the good ol' days) we did not go back to school until after Labor Day.
My kids go back August 24th. WHAT?

Whine, Whine, I know.. someone call the WAAAM-BULANCE for me.

I just want to have some chill time with my kids. I do not want to have to rush around getting Aidan's lunch packed. I do not want to have to rush to the bus. I do not want to have to rush. At All.

I work, so its not like I am just sitting around waiting for my kids to come out and play with me this summer.
I just like the slower pace the summer months bring.

So hurry up school and do us all a favor, CLOSE, SOON.

We all need a break.

BECOME A FAN, MAN!

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I appreciate all your business.

Remember to call or email with any cycling related questions. We are happy to help if we can!

Courtney