We’re all in the business of turning the pedals, aren’t we?

“…There were just bikes, and you either rode one or you did not. I tended to gravitate to those who did. I still do.”
-Gary Fisher

Mid-winter break, I turned down a trip to Alabama, I turned down a trip to Florida, and for what reason? I had made the decision that amidst my hectic schedule of working and trying to train like a full-time racer, which inherently translates to shelved responsibilities, that the most valuable training I could do would be spent at home. I needed to get some things in order, bike building, bike selling, organizing some 2009 season fund-raising ideas, etc.

As I glanced out the window yesterday only to be shocked by the healthy dumping from the bowels of Mother Nature covering my training landscape, I was quite discouraged. The cold I can tolerate, but this abundance of slippery white stuff is starting to get to me.

Nonetheless, I weather proofed myself, grabbed my winter beater and rolled out the door for yet another day of negotiating snow and ice and trying to keep the rubber side down, all the while maintaining a mentally tormenting average speed of 15mph, spinning 90rpms on my 58inch gear single speed.

Prior to starting the WRCS group ride, I rolled around for about 2 hours on my own, lost in my thoughts, and deeply engaged in soul-searching. Usually, when this occurs, without choice I give uncontrollable birth to a blog idea. This day was no exception.

I couldn’t help but fixate on the phenomenal performance of Taylor Phinney over the past two days. In case you are unaware: 2 days, 2 World Titles, 18 years old.

The amazing thing is, his achievements were all accomplished in a total of 5 minutes and 16 seconds (1:01 in the kilo, 4:15 in the 4k). The thought of his craft/discipline seemed to be worlds away from mine. Here I am turning the cranks at modest speeds for hours on end, while Taylor is gauging every millisecond, slight bit of air resistance, and traveling at speeds that 50 years ago, only a combustion engine could achieve. Likewise, I found myself glued to the Tour of California Prologue thinking the same thoughts.


For years, I’ve heard grumblings amongst the culture of, “F-ing Roadie” or “That guy only rides the track” or “He’s a mountain biker” or “All he cares about is mileage” and the worst, “24 hour racing is pointless, it’s not even racing, just suffering”. The point is, we tend to pigeon hole ourselves into one discipline. In many ways, this is just fine. However, I have observed when this mentality can negatively translate to bias, and that’s no good.

Whether it is a 1:01 blazing ride on the track, 24 hours in the saddle, or a 15-day tour. If it gets you out there, gives you reason, purpose, passion, and definition than it is all good, all positive, and all beautiful.

We are all one in the same. I have yet to meet a cyclist who does not start every ride/race with a single first pedal stroke. It’s the initial pedal stroke that launches every rider onto the path of achievement and focus. We’re all in the business of turning the pedals.

“So do me a favor. Find your bike, whatever kind of bike it is. And ride it. Ride it to the store, ride it to the beach, ride it to your buddies place and when you leave there you’ll ride it to the wilderness and then once you hit the wilderness you’ll just keep pedaling until so many things seem so far behind.

I’m not kidding about this stuff.

You can go far on a bike.”

-Gary Fisher

Monkhood-Induced Ramblings Vol.2

“Would you tell me please which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,”
Said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where…”
Said Alice

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

-From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

What’s my point? BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

Lately as I’ve been rolling out my door for the day’s ride I’ve been blessed with a tailwind at my back. No matter how many times it happens, I never get over the magnificence of the feeling of a tailwind. Sometimes it’s as if God is pushing me along, giving me encouragement.

Down deep in every human heart is a hidden longing, impulse, and ambition to do something fine and enduring.
-Greenville Kleiser

As I move forward, drunken by the feeling of virtually effortless speed I begin to hear sounds over my shoulder. Those sounds are saying, “It’s a pipe dream, He’s going to crash and burn, He’s in over his head, He doesn’t know what he’s doing”. The sounds fuel me to push harder, ride longer, train smarter. It’s at this time that everything is all so clear to me. I ask, if I am to simply aim laterally and not high, than how am I to elevate myself? After all, that is what this is all about, self-actualization and elevation.


BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND. Where am I going, how will I get there?

That which we persist in doing becomes easier—not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Unsung Heroes

Unsung: (adj.) Not honored or praised; uncelebrated
Hero: (n) A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life. A person noted for special achievement in a particular field

Much like the “Who Cares, I’m Flying Award”, new for 2009 is the Finkelstein Unsung Hero Awards.

Amongst the cycling community there is wealth of individuals who have consistently proven their passion to the sport by continuously giving back selflessly. The Unsung Hero Award is dedicated to these individuals who have provided invaluable support for myself as well as the community and sport as a whole.


Cullen Watkins, V.P. of WSC Racing and American Cycle and Fitness, Royal Oak Store manager, is an individual who has been integral to my personal success on the bike as well as countless other riders.

I’m not sure if I know anyone else who owns more bikes, wheelsets, components, etc., than Cullen. Additionally, I’m not sure I know anyone else who so willingly offers their amenities and no cost or expected return if it means that it gets you out training or racing. There have been numerous occasions when I have needed a bike in a pinch or a wheel and it has been provided without any debate.

Cullen sells bikes at ACF. But to simply say that he sells bikes would be to underrate his character. The success Cullen has built at ACF Royal Oak has been a product of Cullen selling the sport rather than just a bike. His passion for cycling is submersed in every sale and each unique event that is put on by the shop. If you live in the Royal Oak area, ACF is the hub of which the culture extends from. Bike shops should never be sterile, uptight, and a mere place of commerce. At ACF, customers are invited to sit down, stay awhile and immerse themselves in what we love most, bikes.

So next time you see Cullen, give him a pat on the back for his unwavering commitment to all things two-wheeled. Congrats and my endless gratitude goes to Mr. Wattage, he is 2009’s first of many to come, highlighted unsung hero.

176 and counting...

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

-Mahatma Gandhi

X-Training

As avid cyclists we tend to operate under the delusion or romanticized notion that we are monuments to athleticism; a testament of what true athletes embody. In Lance Armstrong’s first book It’s Not About the Bike, he claims that although he may be regarded as the greatest cyclist of all time, he was horrible in High School sports that involved any type of dexterity, or fast twitch muscle coordination such as basketball, football, etc. Although many of us are capable of riding multiple centuries and putting in 20+ hours of training a week, the reality is our training and fitness is extremely specialized. I’ll pick on my friends for instance, If you gave Robert Herriman a football and asked him to put a snappy little spin move on an average High School Lineman, chances are his scrawny little frame is going to be seeing stars. Likewise, if you Gave Danny Klein a basketball and asked him to shoot a shot in NBA three-point range he most likely won’t even hit the rim. I choose these guys to discuss because they are two riders whom I respect greatly, consider to be at the top of their craft, but probably could not even qualify for the presidential award in elementary fitness. The point is, we are very specialized beings, don’t ask us to move side to side.

There are several ancillary activities to cycling that can indeed improve our performance on the bike, other than just being on the bike. In seasons past I have done virtually no cross training whatsoever. My philosophy always stood that the only thing that could make me faster on the bike was just that, being on the bike. However, this season I have made a concerted effort to engage in a few systematic workout regimens that are low-cost, high-impact, and well researched to be beneficial to cycling.

This past Christmas I asked for a jump rope from Santa to which I was happily bestowed. After some extensive research I put together a cross training, cycling specific plan that should help to increase my speed and core strength on the bike. Under my delusion of my well-rounded fitness level, I initially plugged myself into the highest tier of jump rope training plans. Needless to say, after day one, my calves were reduced to a pile of ruble and I found the intensity level was much of a cyclocross race!

Although I am still not a stellar jump ropest (not sure of the proper title) I do believe my progression has been quite exponential as each day has gotten easier to make it through the workout.

Along with my Monkhood status I have made a commitment with myself to race at a lighter weight than I ever have this season; 6 foot 4 inches and a lean 170. After a month or so of discipline I have weaned myself down to a slim 177. However, I think those last seven pounds will be very difficult to lose. With the combination of Monkhood, disciplined food logging and monitoring, and my trusty jump rope…I may just be able to do it.

Simple Pleasures

For those of you who train outside through the winter, you know what I'm talking about...like warm apple pie!


I've had a few 80's, even a 93...but couldn't seem to close the hundo for 2009 yet. Until today...first happy hundred of the year!

Abstract Monkhood-Induced Ramblings

I have a soft mute button on my television. It doesn’t completely mute all sound but just brings the volume down to a less distracting level.

This is the best way I can describe it. It’s as if I am sitting in a chair, staring at the wall, fixated on a certain point that I cannot defer my attention from. Although I am locked into this sight I still have to manage everything in my peripheral. The focus has become amplified as the peripheral images and sounds have become softly muted. I am still here and present, but ultimately my mind is consumed by my goal.

As I rolled out the door in negative degree temperature conditions for my second workout of the day on Friday night, I found myself gazing through a narrow looking glass. I glanced around town as I watched guys and gals dressed to the tee, talking on there cell phones discussing where the party is at, laughing, consuming alcohol and food, and unwinding from their week’s endeavors. I rolled by pubs, clubs and bars looking in the windows while people, warmed by the heat of the protective indoors and their hard liquor, pointed at me in what seemed to be mixed emotions of amazement, disgust, disbelief, and ridicule.
In the midst of dodging a preoccupied SUV chalked full of teenagers I began to realize that in that instance I did not feel like a civilian any longer. I was something else. I was a man engaged in a tour of duty of sort; all the while my battleground was the landscape of my residence.

Ideas like fun, humor, hanging out, lounging, seem trivial to my current planned equation. I’ll have plenty of time for those agendas further down the road.

The other day, Dybo commented to me, “make sure you are enjoying it”. Those words resonated in my mind the rest of the day until I began to realize that the journey, if done right, is going to be as defining as the desired result.

Eat, sleep, live clean, train, focus, organize…monkhood. I’m feeling good and who cares, I’m flying.