DEC 19

These folks are on a mission. Not to get fit(er) fast(er) strong(er) or slim(er). They are on a mission to help our community, and by default, yours too.

On Sunday, December 19, 2010, we (those pictured) and as many others as we can assemble will spin indoors for 10 hours. At the Bainbridge Athletic Club's new (and swanky) Gym.

TEN.

To raise some operating capitol for the local Boys & Girls Club. And more specificially to establish a cycling program that will allow as many of their/our 250 kids as possible to get started on managing their own health, fitness and life goals.

I love doing this every year, because someone did it for me almost 50 years ago and I wish that person was still around for me to thank. He is not. But we are. And we will pay it forward on the 19th, from 7am to 5pm.

Cost to join all this indoor cycling community fun is $100. You can ride whatever trainer is your go-to-ride, mine is the CompuTrainer, or you can use one of our LeMond Revmasters. I will be VJing the event, with video, film, music and whatever else I can come up with to make the time pass. I promise that I will not sing or dace. That would be adding insult to injury in a hurry.

I need to hustle over to Dad's to thaw his pipes, so please for now, just circle this date and commit to the cause. I will be back later to add links and details. Please tell your friends as well.

It will be fun, trust me.

Corn, Snow and Mazatlan

“We have a health care system that doesn't care about food, and a food system that doesn't care about health.”

If you are interested in either of those subjects, this is a good read.

And so much for my attempt at diversion through subterfuge and miss-direct. I have not posted since Monday, the longest stretch of nothingness since the RCVman blog was launched way (WAY) back in 2008. Almost 950 posts ago. And I have an excuse. Kinda.

It snowed, was cold, and I lost power, still have no water, and without juice this blogging stuff is hard to do. Not impossible, just hard. And since I was thusly tasked with tending to stuck relatives and neighbors (mostly because I have the only 4-wheel drive of the aforementioned demographic) I was going at break-neck speed for three days, in the dark. I even missed three workout sessions!!!

And now with that storm in the books, we are trying to get back to homeostasis. The clean up has begun.

The Mexico cruise is a week away. Lot's still to do. Tomorrow we spin for 90. I am heading into Seattle in an hour to register for Sunday's Seattle half. All this trusting that the follow on storm will stay in Alaska or BC long enough to let me get pipes thawed, bags packed and races run.

If you don't hear from me, you'll know why.

Stay warm friends.

My bike thinking Mexico for a week is a good idea. Corn.

Authentic Experience (Freedom)

"There is a huge and rising hunger in just about everybody for authentic experience and reconnecting with what's deepest and best in ourselves in an ever accelerating and complex world", says psychologist Jon Kabat-Zinn as open to the book "Living Deeply, The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life.

I really like that. Authentic experience. Connecting with what is best and deepest in ourselves. The complexities of the modern world.

To a great degree this is what we do when we train. We search for better. We long for the experience that will validate our understanding of the real. The search for quality.

One of the easiest ways to gauge this to compare it with something else. Perceived exertion, perhaps. We know, our bodies know, that to get fitter, faster or lighter, some change is going to be necessary, additionally, we discover that when we dig deep to find the best us possible, that the digging might require a backhoe. There is a lot of digging to get dug. Through some rock, hardpan and clay. Hard stuff. Years of abuse, neglect, denial, bias, fear and doubt. Maybe we should soften it up a bit with a stick of dynamite or two.

But wait. Let's take a time out and examine this work. Are we going to get it done today? No. Next week? Probably not. By Christmas? Nada Mr. Scrooge, ain't gonna happen. So how do we respond to all these bad tidings? Quit, toss the towel, numb the responsibility with food, drink, drugs, sex, Harry Potter movies and razzelberry dressing?

No.

We validate the experience and respect the authentic value of the process. We take it one day at a time and we bring all we have to the dig. Day after day after day. We buy gloves. As intervals; Work, rest, run, recover, give, get, dig. Authentic experience. Shovel work. Blisters. You want it? Then you gotta earn it. Not that complex after all.

Finding the best in ourselves. Takes work and it takes time. Let's be patient and let's enjoy the ride. Hand me that shovel, mate.

1+1+1 for Jake Locker:

After the Gold Rush, Neil Young
Illusions, Richard Bach
Braveheart

"Lower your flags and march straight back to England, stopping at every home you pass by to beg forgiveness for a hundred years of theft, rape, and murder. Do that and your men shall live. Do it not, and every one of you will die today." William Wallace.

Snow Falling on Sneakers

Firsts. Always fun, memorable. Today (or tomorrow) will be, by the looks and feel of it, our first snow of the season. I am not ready. I have been avoiding crawling under the cabin to install more spun glass since this time last year. My frail PVC water pipes need another layer of wrap and the wood pile is embarrassingly small. The usage dial on the power meter is spinning so fast tallying up the bill from my electric baseboard heat that it creates its own. I sometimes huddle around it with my fingerless cotton gloves like Depression Era hobos around a 55 gallon drum on some dark city side street. With nary a chestnut to roast.

Tis the season. I heard The Little Drummer Boy on the house system at Ace Hardware the other day and looked at my watch. November 15. A modern record for getting the jump on the commercialization of the season. "Should be a law" I grumbled wondering how many folks would immediately and Pavlovianly, make an immediate right tun down the tinsel and fruit cake aisle.

Back in the day I used to climb one of my 200 foot cedar trees and place a battery powered LED star at the top. You could see it for miles and I actually tried to spot it from the air on the home bound final approach from LA one year. Just one light in one tree from 33,000 feet.

Nice try.

This year again I will have the wonderful opportunity to train up to, taper for, and compete in a winter event. The Seattle Half is one week from today, and as I have been fortunate to find a training partner to share some road miles, I am looking forward to the test. Today is our last long run and it will be cold. We will slug it out watching breaths with every foot strike. For 11 miles. It will be fun. I like running in the cold. Next week we have a pair of 90 minutes spins and a 5K race on Thanksgiving. I am going to use the half as a fitness gauge to access the damage that the RCV schedule has taken upon my fitness. Job related stress, you might say. You will remember that we tried this same approach in Boise with so-so results and in Oregon with acceptable ones.

It will be fun and it will be cold. We will learn something about ourselves. We will have a wonderful experience. Another first.

Then I'll chop some more wood. And wrap the pipes, and repair the insulation that the raccoons have reassembled to better fit their ideal Feng Shui.

And then I'll be ready for winter. Which will be a first.

Te Amo Molto

You know I love you. Don't you? Why else would I do this? Money? Fame? Glory?
I do this because I love you. Resulting in the phenomenon that in some circles is known as life. I was fortunate long ago to put some atoms into motion that have manifested into today. I like what I do. I am happy in what I do and what I do makes me happy. Pretty simple, really. I have only one question to determine the value of almost anything: Will it make me happy? Will it serve my greater good and higher goals? Will I learn more, love more, give more, smile more?

The hell with anything that won't.

After Wednesday's killer HIT session, for a handful of reasons, I took two days off. Meaning, that for this mornings 90 minute session I was particularly antsy. More like rearing to go. Nothing like a 48 hour axe sharpening session before taking down that poplar.

And while it is my nature to talk, today it was more fire and brimstone. More Southern Baptist than Sermon on the Mount. I was trying once again to share all the good stuff I have learned along the way in order to get closer to it. IT? What is it? What it are you talking about now?

It. The transition of suffering to joy, pain to mirth. Work, effort, focus. Cause and effect. Value. Reward. Attitude. Endurance. Skill and strength. Form and function. Style and substance. Body, mind and spirit. All at 100%. Or was it 105% today?High Voltage. Start to finish. Complete. One.

You know I love you. Now you know (partially) why. This life thing. Big Wow.

Ran across these two uber inspiring vids today. Listen closely to the words and images that Dr. Schocken uses to illustrate his work. And then watch closely as Jesse Schell talks about the future. Great stuff folks. Thanks for putting up with my BS. I love you.

1 of 3

One down, two to go. My Husky Dawgs brought the D last night shutting down the UCLA offense in a 24-7 win. To claw back from a decade of mange and distemper will now require winning the last two games of the year, against the bigger, meaner and at home Cal Bears next Saturday in Berkeley and then in the Apple Cup against the Coooogs in someplace called Pullman.

It was Senior Night at Husky Stadium with Jake, Mason, Nate, Cody et al going out with some swagger and style. Congratulations lads, it was fun being along for the ride, and thanks for the memories.

Couple of quick notes. CompuTrainer has officially announced the launch of the CITT (CompuTrainer Indoor Time Trial) series. The initial course will be the Mt. Hood TT we shot last month down in The Dalles. We will offer the course to all members of the BAC in the HoM sometime after Thanksgiving but before Mexico. Which would make it between 11/25 and 12/4.

Congratulations also to longtime VBAer FW who won a CT from Pez Cycling. Atta boy FW, now the fun begins!!!!

Speaking of Mexico, we still have the one half price shared fare available. With snow expected this weekend here in the GPNW, how does seven days of sunny Southern weather sound?

Yeah, I like it too.

Pix:, Jake goes out the tunnel for the last time pointing at the RCVman in Section 13. This young Husky fan got a glove from a generous, victorious and happy Husky lineman. Huskies take the field; there was smoke but no mirrors. RG and Boo's attire tell the story of the teams on the field last night. RG's boys had the 24, Boo's Bruins but 7. WOOF.

UW, UCLA and IM

A bit rushed today. BIG GAME is tonight. Way back in August when I bought the three tickets for tonight's matchup between the University of Washington and UCLA, this was supposed to be a game with huge meaning. Jake and the Heisman, the return of the Dawgs, ESPN national TV, Senior Day, Jake's final home game.

Very little of that materialized. Still, my one trip per year to Husky Stadium and the electricity that only College Football can generate is something that I look foreword to every year. And tonight's the night!

Because of the above mentioned side notes, or perhaps in spite of them, I will present my (extremely homer-esque and biased) prediction for the game.

Huskies in all black for the first time in their 100+ year history, come together with shocking camaraderie and precision, swarming the stunned and slip-sliding Bruin offense like a frenzied pack of rabid canines consumed with victory amid the smell of bear blood. (While the workman-like offense grinds out 500 ground yards allowing the special teams to relax and have some head-hunting fun).

Dawgs 37, UCLA 17

ESPN 5pm Pacific.

I got to get in a run first, so wish us luck. WOOF!

Photo of the new CompuTrainer Multi-Rider faculty being built at the K-Swiss center in Westlake Village, CA (home of Husky freshman QB Nick Montana). The mural is of the IM start in Kona and if you blow up the image 10000% I am there on the pier with my camera. In 2012 I hope to be there with my goggles. Thanks to Scott Davis for the photo, of and on which there will be much more in the upcoming months.