WHAT? No Racing?!

Kimberly and I are planning to take the 2011 year off from racing our bicycles. It's shocking, I know, but there is a method to what appears to be madness.

Racing bikes is a lot of stress. (Talk to me when I'm toward the end of a "hard cycle", and you'll hear me snarl.) For me, cycling is much like a part-time job, and I'm already employed full time. With two children and two full-time jobs, Kimberly and I already tend to run pretty close to our limits. It wouldn't be so bad if it were only one of us that races, but we both do, and sometimes we end up with too many plates spinning on sticks for too long.

In addition to the family/work juggling, I have aging parents. We expect to see my mother moving from San Diego to assisted living in Denver soon, and it's going to take some work to integrate her into our lives, make sure she's comfortable, and so forth. My father has been fighting cancer for a few years, and it has always been touch and go.

We also want to take our kids on road trips during the summer. They are pretty good about our racing and training every summer for the last few years, but they are at an age where they can now tolerate road trips, but are not yet jaded teenagers. I, for one, have never seen Mount Rushmore, and I intend to make that happen. My job gives limited vacation time, and for once, I want to use it for something less selfish than racing. Well, for next year, at least.

This does not mean that we won't be training on our bikes. No, no, no. We both fully intend to return to racing in 2012, and at my advanced age, I cannot let myself get too far out of shape because it takes a distressing amount of time to get back on my game. I have worked too hard over the last several years to do anything rash like becoming a couch potato.

Sure, we will miss racing, but we are trying to set ourselves up for success in the long term. The luxury of Masters racing is that there will always be another year.

Vote For Me

I have decided that I should publish some of the agenda I intend to pursue after I'm elected emperor of the world. This list will be modified over time, as I get input from my prospective subjects and as I think of more stuff.

In no particular order:

• Establish rules for personal responsibility. This will include no-rescue zones in some wilderness areas (if you get lost or hurt, you rescue yourself or die), and absolution of responsibility for the driver that made you brain-dead when you were hit on a dark night with no lights while riding your bike with no brakes and wearing no helmet.

• Establish 8-day week (with no change to 365.25-day year). The eighth day is a weekend day. It might come in the middle of the work week, but I'm open to input from my subjects on that.

Thank you for your vote. Let's do an election soon.

Television

The last time I watched TV regularly, I only watched Star Trek: The Next Generation (not yet in rerun). But it was an old TV and had a bad electrical connection somewhere. It had something like a 14" screen.

But I had a belt that would just reach from where I sat. I would hit the TV with the belt when the connection got wonky. I finally realized that I was whipping my TV when it did not please me, so I tossed it in the dumpster rather than risk somehow corrupting myself.

London Underground

Francesca had a project for her first grade class: 12 facts about something in the United Kingdom, with a related art project.

The facts:

1. The London Underground Isa also Called the Tube.
2. The Tube is the oldest underground railway in the world.
3. It opened in 1863.
4. The Underground is the largest metro train system in the world.
5. It has 270 stations and 250 miles of track.
6. One trip costs 5 pounds (about 8 dollars).
7. Accidents are rare.
8. The Tube carries about 1,000,000,000 passengers every year.
9. The deepest station is Hampstead which is about 180 feet below the street.
10. The tracks use 4 rails, 2 for wheels and 2 for electricity.
11. The Underground's symbol is famous all over the world.
12. Less than half of the Underground is actually underground.

The related art (with some help from her father):

cardboard, covered with plaster-gauze, paint and foam lettering.

First Day at Nats

It was a long day.

I had our two girls at home with me (school didn't start until today), plus I had two neighbor kids, whose parents were in the same situation as us. And two dogs. I was trying to work at home, and it was actually happening. But then I found out that I had to pick up my race number for masters national championships several hours earlier than I had expected, and it takes about an hour and a half to get to the track from my house.

So, do I drive to Colorado Springs from Denver with all four kids (and dogs?), get my number, come home, drop the neighbor kids off as scheduled, then drive back to the Springs and pretend to race? Or do I take the neighbor kids with me, and bring them home with my kids at nearly 9:00 PM (and surprising their parents)? It's the day before the first day of school for all the kids, you see.

I must have good karma or sumpin. About 45 minutes before I am having to start driving, I got included on an email thread. The officials have run out of blanks for their starter pistols. All stores in Colorado Springs are out of stock. Only one place in Denver can be found to have the ammunition, and it's 10 minutes from my house.

I immediately cut a deal: I'll get your ammo, and you let me pick up my race number at my convenience. Everyone is happy. I don't have to drive to the Springs twice. Neighbor kids' parents don't have A Situation. Sun comes out. Birds were singing. (Well, that's not true. We had a lightning storm in Denver, and the Springs were clouding over. But you get the idea. Maybe the birds was tinnitus.)

The kids got lunch, saw a movie, went on an ice cream run. We finally dropped the neighbor kids off as scheduled, and all of us (including dogs) went to Colorado Springs. Kimberly wasn't entirely happy that I brought the dogs, but they gave the girls something to do, so it all worked out.

We had a rain delay, but it cleared up into nice race conditions, and I rode well. Bolstered my credentials a bit. I got to sleep not too late; I get to work on time the next day. Everything is back on schedule, unless it rains again. Right now, it's lookin' good for Friday. I am confident, reasonably well-rested and motivated. It's a good place to be. (Too bad I can't get that nagging problem fixed at work....)

Oh, there's one more piece. When I got to the track to pick up my number, I was reading over the forms I had to sign. USA Cycling prints the stuff out based on this automated system that supplies my license number, address and stuff. They got the wrong Ken Rodriguez. We breed like flies. Interestingly, I have found this imposter in the USAC database of results. He's just a few years younger than me, and a roadie, the traitor. He lives in the town where I grew up. I moved away when I went off to kollidge, over thirty years ago, well before I ever got a racing license. I think he's assumed my identity for some reason.

Anyway, the form I had to sign was all wrong. Cue the bureaucratic Keystone cop routine. It all got straightened out, but I was unflappable at that point. I had been through the fire already, and was hardened.

AND ANOTHER THING. My shockingly expensive power meter gizmo that records how hard I'm pushing the pedals died at the last minute. Luckily, my coach had a shockingly expensive spare gizmo.

I'm telling you, I must have some good karma from somewhere. I think I'm burning through it pretty fast, though.

Live A Life

A friend of mine, Joe, recently had an accident and injury. As I write this, it has just happened and we don't know the long-term effects, but they may be significant. I am hoping for the best.

But this reminds me that our lives are fragile. We can be changed forever in an instant. Or changed slowly by something over which we have no control. There really isn't any way to protect ourselves from this because this is simply how the world is. Nor should we even try to do so, because all that would mean is that the we'd make ourselves prisoners, and what would be the point of that?

I ride a bicycle a lot. Many of my friends do the same, and many ride much more than I do. Yes, this means that we expose ourselves to more risk, but we do so knowingly, or at least we pretend we know. But of course, anyone who lives is susceptible to having some sort of life-changing event that they don't want. Anyone can get sick or hit by a car, or know someone who does. We can't completely shelter ourselves from danger.

What we can do is live our lives. We can love ourselves and those around us. If we enjoy this world even with all its faults, then we can work to make it more enjoyable for those around us.

There really doesn't seem to be a lot more than that. Maybe someone knows more, but I think that, if you start with loving yourself and do things that truly make you happy (you know what I'm talking about), then you can start to do the same for others around you. Family, friends. You start with those closest and branch out. Eventually you have made a positive difference in a world that really needs this sort of thing.

No, I Don't Like Car Crashes

(Updated at the end with pictures of the car.)

Holy cats. Friday the 13th began early for us.

I was turning left on a green arrow and someone ran the red light coming toward me. T-boned me good, and we spun about three quarters of the way around. It's not easy to make a big minivan do that. There was a truck behind me at the light who had to have seen the whole thing, and I saw him drive away after the accident. I hope he gets a flat tire.

I was bringing Isabella and Francesca home from an appointment. (Francesca has been in a medical study since she was a baby and she gives blood every once in a while.) We were about a half mile from the hospital where we had the appointment, when we got slammed.

My Toyota minivan got hit about a foot behind where Francesca was sitting, and her door got pretty well mangled. A few windows got blown out in the process. The other car (also a minivan) had an entire family in it, complete with dog. The other driver got a ticket for running the red light. Thank goodness the police had that detail covered.

I've seen a few car crashes, but this is the first one that I've ever been in. I hope it's my last. It is really amazing how fast things happen, and the violence is shocking. we were incredibly lucky that no one in either car was seriously hurt. The minivans did their jobs.

When the ambulance arrived, Francesca (age 6) and Isabella (age almost-10) were pretty freaked out. The paramedics were talking to them, and Francesca said something about her neck hurting. Of course, they take talk like that very seriously.

Isabella rode in the back of the ambulance with Francesca strapped to a board, while I rode in the front frantically calling Kimberly, having grabbed all our bags and jackets (and my pink floor pump!) from the wreck. I was very happy that the Aurora police officer suggested that I simply abandon the car to his care. We drove the half-mile back to the hospital and Kimberly met us there.


Several doctors and nurses later, and after some x-rays, a little medicinal macaroni and cheese, and a splash of Kung Fu Panda on the TV, we were sent home.

The girls got to bed after 11:30 PM, and are weighing the glamour of telling all their friends and teachers at school against the chance at playing hooky. Since it's the designated Valentine's Day for Denver Public Schools, I'm guessing that they'll choose that instead of doing more dangerous driving while Kimberly and I try to sort out insurance claims and so forth.

Isabella has already made it very clear that she no longer wants a Mini Cooper, no way, no how.

PS: It's now a few days past the accident. The girls seem to be managing the experience well, although both wanted to stay close to home over the long weekend. Isabella skipped a ski trip with a friend mainly because she doesn't want to be in a car if she can avoid it. Francesca held her ground on Saturday about having a day where we didn't leave the house (and both girls didn't get out of their pyjamas except to take a bath and then get right back in). They have both been great.

Kimberly and I have been running around trying to arrange our lives again. We both missed a day of work, went to the salvage yard (pix below), and got a rental car after juggling our lives and calling the insurance company multiple times. Now we have to find out the disposition of our claim, and buy a new car (unless they decide ours is fixable, which I doubt). I hope we don't lose money on this deal.

All this along with our regular full-time jobs and parental duties. At least we have cycling, which helps us stay sane even if it takes a bit more time and energy.

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Update 1: We went today and cleared the last of the miscellaneous stuff out of the minivan. Here's a couple of pix.

I really don't recall it, but apparently we took a hit on the left rear of the car. You can see in one picture below where we were hit hardest (Francesca was sitting in that seat right inside the window), but I didn't recall anything on the left side. However, there's definitely a dent on the left rear, and the fold-down seats in the back of the van no longer fit in their stowed position.

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Update 2: I wonder if I can get Kimmy to agree to this as a replacement van: