I once was lost but then realized I was reading my map wrong...

I took my bike on the bus to school again yesterday. Once I arrived at the Brooklyn Center Transit Center I decided I didn't want to wait another 30 minutes for the bus and then an additional 20 for the bus to get me to my location so I took off on my bicycle. Brooklyn Park/Center is a confusing area to me. Mostly because Brooklyn Blvd cuts diagonal through both of them, kind of like St Paul and 7th. Any way, I got super lost because I was reading the map on my phone incorrectly and also I didn't have the satellite gps enabled so it kept telling me I was somewhere I was not. Well after I was already late for class I figured out the way. I made it to school with about 5 minutes left of class. So I turned around and rode home. It was a nice day but again my thoughts are on different bicycles, such as the kind with fat tires. I am really just thinking of winterizing my road bike a little more or something because I want to commute still but riding 30+ miles on this single speed is just brutal.

Picture of the day: More ducks, these ducks got up real close to me so I gave them some of the crust from my PB & J.

Just Because...

My Tuesday night class was canceled so I figured I would ride the bus to school and ride the bike home along the river road. There were some spots in the path that made me wish for gears, however, I still love my single speed. Though my thoughts right now are of fat bikes.

I came to a stream that was an offshoot of the river and it was located just after the park that is between Brooklyn Park and North Minneapolis on the west river trail. Literally hundreds of ducks in both directions.

Then this ice water fall was just down the hill from Gold Medal Park on the west river trail.

It was a fun ride home, I do not regret taking the long way.

Lake Minnetonka Ice Race

On the 21st I attended the Lake Minnetonka ice race. It was a hoot. I got a little cold at first but warmed up within a lap or so. I got lucky right out of the gate because someone fell right away in the big group which put me out way ahead. I then proceeded to pass people who were falling and just not able to get enough traction on the ice to go fast. I was doing very well, then in the last lap Nate Schuff, who ended up taking first, just blew past me like I wasn't even there, it was insane. I had some people on my heels but they couldn't get the traction in the straights that I could coming out of the turns and I was able to keep the gap fairly big between us. Then I thought I was done and the guy pointed at me when I finished, which I thought meant there was another lap so I kept trucking. When I was about half way around I noticed I was the only person left out there I lapped some people that were going fairly slow and then I finished. I don't know exactly where I was but I know I was in the top five.

Once the results were posted my name was not in the top five. That is okay, it was a pretty loosely organized event and it was also my first race. These things happen. 

All things considered, I had an awesome time.

The fellow in front of me was bottle necking myself and the other guy behind me at every turn, we finally over came him when he fell, again.

The race start, I was late so I am in the way back.

Myself on the orange bike taking off out of the turn and leaving the rest of the racers trying to bridge the gap.

Some cool dogs were there too.

Some more pictures.

Just a few more pictures.

It all began with lung cancer.

The summer of 2011 was a very strange time for me. I had started a new job that I hated, I was dating a girl I didn't much care for, I was gaining weight like a gross pig and in general my life was just filled with all sorts of first world problems.

One day I was looking in the mirror and I finally got disgusted. I threw down my razor and went into the living room and popped in the P90 video and did it all the way through. I can assure you that I was dying at the end. I then hopped in the shower and went about my day feeling really good about myself. So I kept doing P90 and I got to a certain point where I could not progress any more. I couldn't figure out why, more or less I didn't want to know. In order to progress I had to quit smoking, something I had been dreading doing for a long time.

I had tried to quit smoking three times in the past and they were all horrible experiences. I am not superstitious but it seemed that every time I tried to quit smoking something awful happened. The first time I tried to quit my ex wife overdosed on sleeping pills, which brought me right back to the butts. The second time I tried to quit while I was deployed in Iraq. I had actually made it two and a half months, then my grandpa died. I couldn't handle the stress of being there away from everyone I know and not smoking, so I went back to the dark side. Then there was the third time. I went a whole three months without smoking and things seemed like they were going well. As soon as that thought entered my head is the same time that my daughter's mother ended up cheating on me, with two guys, at the same time. Not only did I start smoking again but it caused me to move three thousand miles away back to my home of Minnesota.

So as you can see I was a little apprehensive about quiting smoking. Things were already not that great for me all I could think about is how much worse things could get if I quit smoking and something happened. Then one day in May, I got some horrible news.

There was a woman who worked with my father that died of lung cancer. Her story is really very sad. She smoked for a short time in her life, maybe about five years and quit when she found out she was pregnent with her first child. She went about her life in a very normal fashion, taking better care of herself to be around for her children. One day in May she came to work and had labored breathing. She went to her doctor and he couldn't figure out what was going on so he asked her to come back the next day for some tests. Upon getting her cat scan results they noticed a lump in her lung, they needed to do a biopsy. So the next day they performed the biopsy, but there was a complication, every time they tried to revive her she went into cardiac arrest. They had no choice but to keep her in the hospital in a drug induced coma. Two days later she passed away from what the doctors figured out was a very nasty case of stage 4 lung cancer. In one week she went from perfect health to death. Never getting a chance to even say goodbye to her husband or two children.

This story shook me to my core. As a parent I continually worry about my daughter. I know that driving a bike, a car, walking down the street, or even just sitting in this computer chair an act of god could happen at any time and I could die. However, if I could have control over one more facet of my existence then I should and need to do it. With a new found vigor I quit smoking within 2 weeks. It was a hard road but I made it. The next thing I knew, P90 was too easy.

I graduated to the next video almost immediately. Then I went on to P90x. I ended up loosing quite a bit of weight, which was okay, I had plenty to spare. Then I started looking towards the future. I wanted to find an activity that I could do outside and year round. Something that wouldn't break the bank either.

After a few weeks I started looking at bicycles. I am in school for construction management, my focus for this career path is in sustainable energy and green building projects. I have always felt connected with nature for as long as I can remember. I just like the feeling of being way out in the woods far away from everything. I also love animals and they are infinitely interesting to me. So I was obviously really drawn to the bicycle because you don't have to drive anywhere to do it. You can ride to your destinations, all of them. Then once I found out about studded bicycle tires and that winter riding was not only possible but practical, I made the leap.

I bought a nice inexpensive bike off of bikesdirect.com, a Dawes lightningcross 2011. From the time I received the bike in the mail on August 1 until this current date I have logged over 1500 miles, there are much more out there that I have not logged. I use my bicycle for commuting and fun. I also got interested in single-track near the end of the year. I will be participating in my first race ever tomorrow the Lake Minnetonka Ice Race. I am super stoked.

The future is bright for me and cycling and I have had a lot of really cool experiences while on a bicycle that I think are worth sharing, so that is what this blog will be. A collection of ride reports, pictures, stories, and fun information that I find.

As of right now there are a lot of things coming up for me. I have finally volunteered for the Midtown Greenway trail watch after a woman was knocked off her bicycle and robbed on the Greenway. My girlfriend is going to give bicycling a try this summer and if this happened to her I wouldn't know what to do with myself. So instead of just sitting and being appalled at this crap I have to decided to try and do something about it. Also I will be moving in with my girlfriend within the next couple weeks, so I will be in Minneapolis instead of Maple Grove, which is worlds apart. I love Minneapolis but I suspect I will miss Elm Creek Park Reserve.

So that is all for the first post. The updated in the future won't be as wordy so I will close with some pictures I've taken on rides since I've started biking to get things up to speed.