4luvandlife

H had a great birthday weekend. Turned 5 on Saturday and partied it up on Sunday.

Endurance. It never appealed to me. My mind was closed to it. The glory was for Michael Johnson in the 200 meter and all the other sprint guys. I can't remember the name of the guy that won gold in the 15,000 meter or whatever. As you can see I can't even name the event. I remember Johnson's SHOES more than the guy that ran the long distance. My 7th grade track coach insisted I was a long distance runner. He refused to see the blazing speed I possessed in the 100 meter (at least in my head). That was the only year I went out for track. That was then. This is now. I've had a paradigm shift. I now see the beauty in making the ride play out to the most efficient way possible. Build the ride to last but make sure there is nothing left in you at the end. My wife will remind me on the way to a race to "leave it on the course". I love that. I am still in search for the balance of giving it all but not too much too soon. That is one of my favorite things about it thou...

Is it wrong to drool over a bike? I got my first mountain bike when I was about 14. I can still remember how it looked and how it felt flowing through the forest over rocks, dirt, and silently through a trail bedded with pine needles. No day was complete without riding it. I kept it immaculate. It would get muddy as h*** and it would be shining again within 24 hours. But that bike was just above "entry level". It was a gateway to a world of seemingly limitless levels of materials, suspension systems, and components. In particular I fell in love with Shimano components, XT to be exact. XTR always seemed extravagant... more than needed. But oh how XT called to me. So pretty. A bike set up with XT was the s*** in my book and the guys I rode with. We would talk about it the way we talked about girls. But it seemed to be a pie too high in the sky as a teenager without a job or a beer money job. But now it calls to me again in the form below. Do I go and get it? Or do the responsib...

It's January. 2009 is here. It's about 10 below the zero. Motivation and inspiration is all about potential right now. I go to music. I love it. It can still make me fly. It goes great with racing. Some songs can take me back to great moments of races and create new ones in future races. Right now it is all about Dr. Dog, DeVotchka, The Kills, and Bon Iver. The latter takes me back to the Fire Cracker in Eau Claire because that is his home town.