Dreaming of a Life Less Ordinary

  Dam to Dam - September 8, 2024   The 15 th annual Dam to Dam has come and gone.   I am very happy to have been part of it.   The ride is not without its faults, and the day was not perfect, but it was overall a great ride.   Wabash, IN is sort of in the middle of no where up in Northern Indiana.   North of Kokomo and east of Peru and not far from Miami and Mexico.   Yes, I know that sounds like a lot of different geography, but those are all towns around Wabash.   If you happened to drive from Terre Haute to Wabash like we did, then you have gone through Brazil, however, Brazil isn’t close to Wabash.   Wabash is probably three times the size of Colusa, CA which is where last year’s main ride took place.     So compared to where we did our century ride last year, we were in a boom metropolis.   I liked Wabash, it was a quant little town.   The Hampton Inn where we stayed was super nice.   Everyone was friend...

  Beaten and Broken – my path to 46 Miles…   It has been a long time since I quit.  I mean just thrown my hands up in the air and said fuck it, I am done and just walked away from something.   Getting beat on the bike takes a lot of different criteria all coming together and making you so overwhelmed that you just can’t go on.   I do remember the last time I quit.  I was in Watsonville, CA.  It was during my tri training.  I had a horrible day on the bike.  There was some guy who was stuck sweeping me in.  Hill after hill kicked my ass.  I was not having any fun.  So, got off the bike and said to the guy “Fuck it I am done”.  I think he was a little dumb founded and didn’t know what to say or do.  So, he got on the phone and called the coaches, but by this time, I had determined I was not going to quit and I got back on my bike, and I finished the game, ...

38+  Miles: 38.77 miles Elevation Gain: 1,893 ft Moving Time: 3:55 minutes Avg Speed: 9.9 mph Temperature: 91F Let’s just get the stats out of the way first.  All in all, it was a good ride, although, I do hate the average speed.  I felt like I was faster than that yesterday.  However, with some climbing and some heat issues, I probably wasn’t as fast as I wanted to be.   The scheduled called for 38 – 42 for the group ride.  I had every intention of getting closer to that 42 than the 38, but sometimes you have human moments when you are out riding the bike.  It was one of the first time I went out without having a planned route, I figured I knew just enough to piece it together are I went.  I knew I was going to start by heading to Ellettsville.  Then I figured I could cut across campus and get in 5 miles, and by the time I got back home, I would be at about 40 if not a little bit more.   I wa...

  8/17/2024 The Power of Words   Friday the 16 th  was just another Friday.  It started off like so many days lately I got up later than I expected after I started my workday at 6 a.m. checking email seeing if anyone needed anything in EMEA.  There were no emails.  I sent one to myself just to make sure that my email was working.  It has been glitchy ever since my quarterly password change and since I resigned up for my personal Office 365, the personal and work emails had been confused on which accounts to login where, but we were over that hump.  The test email arrived.  No one needed me and I was content with that, so I pulled the sheets over my head and rolled away from the fan and drifted back to sleep.  That sleep is never really the best sleep, the mind has already started to wake, and it is running around and getting ready to go.  Dreams often fade in and out in this time and if i...

Cool Outside – Stronger Me!   Yesterday was one of my best rides in Bloomington.  I just felt strong!  Strong is a good way to feel when you are out riding.  I think a lot of it had to do with cooler temperatures settling in the Midwest over the last three or four days and thank the light it looks like they might hold for at least another week.  35 miles, 3 hours and seven minutes and 1,555 ft gained, and I felt good.  Real, good!  I think I already said that once before.  As I told Coach on Training Peaks after the ride “Felt great today.  Weather was cool and I felt strong.  I was riding a lot more upfront today.”  I over shot my target by about 10 miles, I was supposed to ride 25 miles, but what can I say, I got bored and wanted to get out and start riding yesterday, so I coned Kona and headed out.  Kona has some serious bad wounds on her back feet.  They have been like that since late May or early June.  M...

Me Billy b, me Hot   My own out and back… Hello friends - apologies for being gone so long.  It is funny how we can get sucked into our own little worlds and one day it is June 3rd and you have the entire summer ahead of you and boom next think you know it is August 5th and are wow what just happened.   I so much would l like to say that I have even super busy and wrapped in this project or that project, but the truth is I have just been adapting to life back in Indiana.  I am not used to have rain wash it bike rides.  I am also not used to heat and humidity canceling rides.  However, it is a change that one must get used too.  The elements are different here.  I know the climate was going to be a shock to the system.  I think the humidity of July affected my body in ways I wasn’t really ready for.  I started cramping up after riding.  Then one Sunday, I was about to miles from the house almost at the top of a hill when I got a big ...

  East bound and down, loaded up and cycling…   Another great weekend cycling in Bloomington Indiana with BBC!  Really it has been a few great weeks on the bike.  I did 33 miles on Tour de Trails in Colombus, Indiana.  Then a few other rides around Bloomington and getting my indoor rides on my TacX.  I am averaging about 4 rides a week between inside and out.       Yesterday we headed out for a nice and easy ride out to the east side of Bloomington, which included heading out on SR 446 towards Lake Monroe.  I am going to get out there one of these days and ride around the great lake of Bloomington, just like some day I am going to get up north and ride around ole Gitche Gumee, but that is a goal and story for another time.   I left my house early yesterday because I wanted to get some extra riding before I met up with the group.  I was scheduled to get a 2 and ½ hour ride in on Sunday, and the 22 miles scheduled for the g...