Trainer Confessions

Climate Ride – why is it important to you?

[This post is somewhat off-topic & on Global Warming, but given that it ties back to the Climate Ride, it does belong here on Trainer Confessions.  What you see below is the text I intend to send to a few local news papers for inclusion in the Letter to the Editor section.  If you see any text that could be improved upon before then, please let me know.  And of course if you want to make a donation to the Climate Ride, please follow this link.]

When I signed up for the Climate Ride (a charitable 5 day 300+ mile bike ride to support sustainable solutions, bike advocacy and environmental causes) a few of my cycling friends thought it was a way for me to indulge my passion for cycling.  While there might be an ounce of truth behind such thinking, without question my primary motivation is help convince others to take action to avert the worst of what man-made Global Warming has already set in motion.

A long time ago, I once associated Global Warming’s impact with Polar Bears and glaciers – things in faraway places with only indirect consequences to my life.  In recent years as I learned more, I felt compelled to take Green actions as part of my parental duties; not only did I want to raise happy and healthy children, but I also wanted to make sure they inherited a livable planet when they grew up. 

But as I look back upon the increasingly numerous climate disasters in 2011 (unprecedented droughts, floods, and heat waves that impacted people all over the globe), it now has become clear that action is needed to make changes NOW and in my lifetime.  Global Warming isn’t something bad that could happen at some point in the future; it was one of the factors in 2011’s record setting number of Billion Dollar weather disasters in the US (a cost that doesn’t account for the devastation incurred to the hundreds who also lost their lives in these events).

But why doesn’t everyone realize this?  Why do you rarely hear news coverage of Global Warming, except for when it snows out during the winter and Fox News decides to roast Al Gore once again?  Why is it that all of the leading GOP presidential candidates even go so far as calling Global Warming a hoax perpetrated by greedy scientists looking for grant money?

And why is it that when I asked someone recently for ideas on how to raise money, they responded by saying “Global Warming isn’t like raising money for Cancer.  Everyone knows someone whose life was threatened (or worse) by cancer.  Global Warming just doesn’t impact as many people.”

I know first-hand of cancer’s far-reaching impact; I lost my half-brother to the disease when he was still just a child.  Cancer takes the lives of tens of millions of people ever year, so unquestionably those raising money for cancer deserve the support they receive.  But why can’t I convince people that the same is true for man-made Global Warming, which already is impacting the lives of hundreds of millions of people, and within a decade or so could be impacting all 7 billion members of the human race?

The comparison to cancer got me thinking a bit more as to why too few people today feel there’s reason to take Global Warming seriously.  Many decades ago, the scientific evidence on smoking was indisputable; if you smoked scientists proved that your odds of getting life-threatening cancer sky-rocketed.  Yet highly skilled marketers and lobbyists funded by the tobacco industry cast just enough doubt on the science, and as a result, millions of people dismissed the warnings and continued to smoke.  Big Tobacco’s profits continued to swell, even as people’s lives were ended by cancer.

Today Big Oil and Coal are following the same game plan to protect their record breaking profits, even going as far as using some of the very same former Tobacco marketers and lobbyists.  For example, even as the people of Texas continue to suffer through an unparalleled drought, the successful marketing and lobbying campaigns funded by millions of dollars of coal and oil money have the governor of that state, and presidential hopeful Rick Perry, declaring that Global Warming is a hoax and that there’s no reason for Texans to question the doubt as anything other than a natural occurrence.

It took millions of deaths to finally bring the end the influence of Big Tobacco.  Absent of their money and messaging, now you’d be hard pressed to find someone willing to challenge the science connecting smoking to cancer deaths.  Unfortunately today Global Warming science, now backed and supported by virtually every major scientific body, is still not widely known or believed by significant portions of the country.   Much like the chain smokers of the 60s and 70s whose health was on the decline, today we see the worsening signs of Global Warming, yet we fail to believe the science that would give us a path away from our terrible addiction.  I just hope that it won’t take the deaths of tens or hundreds of millions before we finally break from the shackles of the influence of Big Oil and Coal.

And that is why I signed up for the Climate Ride again this year.  It’s for a cause that’s deeply important to me, and now I hope that you might find a reason to think that it’s important to you as well.

 

Climate Ride 2012 -- I'm in!

Climate Ride NYC-DC 2012

May 19 - 23, 2012 | 5 Days | 300 Miles

I wasn't sure if I was going to sign-up for the Climate Ride again this year.  Don't get me wrong -- I wanted to sign up; my experience in 2011's edition was nothing but positive.  It was an extremely well run event where I was surrounded by 149 like-minded cyclists intent to make a difference out on 350 miles (I of course had to add in extra 50 miles to the ride's standard 300) of mostly quiet back roads.  It also was an event that required me to raise $2,400 (which I failed to do, so I had to donate a big chunk of my own money), and that's why I had reservations on doing the ride again 2012.

I had no doubt that I would do the ride again eventually, but I wasn't so keen on going back to the well so soon looking for donations.  I am certain that in my fund raising efforts for 2011, I became so annoying in my persistent reminders and nagging that mail filters had me re-routed to Spam folders.  And I know there were a few people who dug deep in order to support the cause, and now I need to come knocking on their doors seeking their generous support yet again.

So why am I now signed up yet again?

Two great causes

In general, I've had a pretty great stretch recently.  Work has dramatically picked up, giving me ample opportunities every day to feel as though I've made a difference.  Its not just busy work -- I'm involved in things that put my skills to good use, and I regularly see that my efforts have helped to improve things and to help move things in the right direction.

Work isn't too crazy though such that I don't have time to keep up with my training for 2012's racing season.  While I do have to get most of my work-outs in before anyone in the Desmarais household is even thinking of ending the night's slumber, I'm now accustomed to the less flexible work schedule and I'm confident my progress on the bike right now will have me doing well come springtime.

And pretty much all of the other important things in my life (most notably Mrs D and the girls) seem to be headed in the right direction -- onwards and upwards.

But there's one big exception.  One part of my life where I still give myself a big fat F.  While I talk a lot about how little is being done about Global Warming (or Global Weirding as some have started to call it), and I certainly read a lot about how things are unquestionably getting worse, I still don't do a lot..  At best I'm a passive complainer, still searching for ways to make a difference but without much to show thus far. 

So without an idea yet as to what significant actions I can take to do more, I go back to what I do best.  Ride my bike and hope that I can convince people to contribute to two great causes (350.org and Rails to Trails). 

Oh, and if you do make a contribution, you'll be helping me to support two other great causes -- a world I hope my 2 girls inherit without wars fought over ever more scarce resources; a world not ravaged by ever more devastating floods; and a world with a thriving economy based upon local clean tech energy.  So if you want to make a difference and make sure the two great causes pictured below inherit a world worth cycling in, please consider making a secure, tax-deductible donation here.

About the Climate Ride (from their website):

The mission of Climate Ride is to inspire and empower citizens to work toward a new energy future. We use sport as a means to change lives and build an effective, citizen-based sustainability movement.

Climate Ride Program Goals

• Raise money for groundbreaking sustainability, climate, clean energy, and bicycle-related projects and organizations.
• Raise the profile of renewable energy and the green economy among participants, donors, sponsors, and the general public.
• Increase awareness and understanding of the inter-connectedness of environmental issues caused by the climate crisis among participants, donors, sponsors, and the general public.
• Foster a sense of civic duty and participation that encourages engagement with members of Congress, elected officials, and national leaders.
• Promote the bicycle as a viable, carbon-free, healthy, and critical component of a green transportation infrastructure.
• Motivate individuals to take responsibility for reducing their carbon and energy footprint.
• Develop multiple Climate Ride events that galvanize a worldwide network of Climate Riders.

About 350.org (from their website)

350.org is building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions are led from the bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries.

About Rais to Trails (from their website)

Our Mission
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., whose mission it is to create a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors to build healthier places for healthier people.

 

 

Announcing Awesome Autumn Adventures (AAAA)

 I initially entitled this post "Fall, Family, Friends, and Fun" as it got more to the point of this post, but FFFF didn't seem to be as upbeat of an ancroynm as AAAA.

My last post (Cat Up or Not) might have given some readers the impression that I rigidly live and breath intervals, work-outs, WKO+, and schedules.  However, my planning prowess can also be used for activities that might appeal to you non-sadists out there.  By the time my off-season was just a scan six days old, I already had something fun and interesting planned out right through November.

But this isn't a post for me to "wow" you with my organizational skills.  Instead, I'm hoping that in sharing my look ahead here at the Trainer Confessions, I might be able to drum up a little extra participation at some events that are sure to be a blast and will allow you to chaulk up some lasting memories.  But I'm also sharing this for a selfish reason -- I'm hoping to get a bunch of friendly faces to populate the field to increase my off-season fun factor.

Family

I already kicked off the off-season fun this past weekend with what I hope was the first of many "Spooky rides" (that's what my two little ones called it).  Mrs D and I both had our headlights on by the end of our hour long family rail trail ride on Sunday evening, but within a few weeks our rides will get a little scarier as we'll likely be barrelling down the Airline trail absent of any light aside what we're projecting from our handlebars.

Pulling over to turn the lights on

 
Good causes

Sticking with the family theme, Mrs D, the Train & the girls, and I will all line up for the 35 mile option at the Oct 1st Pedal for Paws (they also have a 25 mile and a 50 mile option).  Last year the girls got their first taste of pack riding (we even challenged Dave J for a town line sprint!) and they got such a thrill when the Expo contingent overtook us while loudly cheering for the girls.  And Mrs D got her first, second, and third tastes of what could have been the best-ever post ride dessert table, so there's something in store for all of the Desmarais family when we line up to help raise money for homeless cats.

 
But before the Desmarais clan heads to Old Saybrook, I will be headed down to New Haven this Saturday for a rally called Moving Planet.  Right now I plan to ride the 36 miles down to the 4 PM event alone (and likely be headed back again alone, but in the dark) so if you're interested in showing your support, please let me know.  Here's a short snippet on what the hole thing is about: "Moving Planet is a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis. Come on bike, on skates, on a board, or just on foot."

Speaking of showing support, at the tail end of October I'll be lending a hand at the Expo Wheelmen's first ever Silk City Cyclo-Cross race at Manchester Community College.  I've never raced Cross before so even though I'll just be there in a support capacity, I'm excited to take part in what I've been told is a rockin' good time.  But in addition to the fun factor, helping at the event will allow me to in turn support the casuses of the event.  A portion of each entry will be donated to the MCC Foundation scholarship fund, and in cooperation with Manchester Community College there will be a food drive to benefit MACC Charities.  

 
Racing for Fun

For those of you who know my competive side, you'll surely realize that my appetite for racing won't be satied simply by helping and cheering at the Silk City race.  I've got two races penciled in for the fall, but in order to adhere to my FFFF guiding principle for the off-season, each race definitely needs to have a big Fun and Friends component.

I have no plans to break my promise to avoid intervals in preparation for my first race on Oct 22nd, but I might have to stop at Dunkin Donuts to get in some race day prep for the first ever Donut Derby.  I honestly cannot recall the last time I've eaten a donut (we're talking in terms of years here), so I'll clearly be at a disadvantage at this event as each donut consumed knocks off 90 seconds from your overall race time. 

On the other hand, Cycling Concept's Dirty Dozen race on Nov 5th plays right into my wheelhouse.  There's no way I can pass up on a hilly challenge that tackles 13 ascents up roads I regularly train on.  But the biggest reason I get excited about this race (I competed each of the last two years) is that the format of the race offers me a great way to chit chat and socialize with friends.  While everyone hauls butt up the hills as soon as the whistle blows (btw, the hills all can be climbed in 2 or3 minutes at most, many in far less time), the entire field regroups at the top.  So it amounts to a friendly group ride that gets painfully interupted by 13 min-races.

Glutton for Punishment

And the word pain is a nice segue to the final part of my off-season plan.  Though I admit that these two entries hardly adhere to the FFFF guidelines if done solo, I am hoping to recruit a few sadists to join me in my adventures.

Anyone interested in helping to break up the monotony of my first ever attempt at a double centry?  I don't have Columbus day off from work, so I've decided to ride home to CT from Cape Cod and let Mrs D and the girls extend their stay to a full three days.  I've completed a 192 mile ride last fall, but I had the luxury of three far more experieneced riders pulling me for probably the last 50 miles.  200 miles alone on Oct 9th might cause me to go crazy.

And speaking of crazy, I was inspired by the "Hill Junkie" to begin planning my own slightly shorter (with perhaps "only" 9,000 feet of climbing!) version of his Berkshire Boondoogle.  I'm aiming to do it on the weekend of Oct 15th so that the spectacular fall colors of Massachusett's Berkshire Mountains will help to ease my pain as I tackle hills (or should I say mountains) like Greylock and East Hawley.  Drop me a line if you might want to join me on this adventure.

That's all I've got for now, though I think it might be hard to cram anymore FFFF into my off-season.  That said, if there's something tempting that I've missed, don't hestitate to make your own Autumn Awesome Adventure Announcement.

Climate Ride Tough Guys (and Gals)

Climate Ride Cycling Wrap-up

The goal of the Climate Ride was to raise money and increase awareness about climate change, clean energy, and alternative transportation (eg. something other than a car), and I'm pretty sure the event was a success.  I'll share more on that in a few days over on my other blog, Dennis D's Quest.  The means by which we achieved that goal was to ride our bikes a lot.  As it turns out, I was VERY successful in that regard.  After 5 days I tallied 22 hrs, 8 minutes of ride time over 354 miles while burning 11,875 kJ.  That's about 20 big macs worth of calories, or for the vegetarians out there, about 42 tofu burger burned while out on the road.

I returned home a little more fatigued than I had anticipated.  My legs were surprised numerous times by the roads we faced.  While the pavement was mostly smooth and located in tranquil settings (for good chunks of time cows and horses outnumbered the cars we passed), the elevation gain was far steeper than I had envisioned for such a long charity ride.  Nothing as serious as what I'd face on a hilly road race in New England, but still, far more climbing than I'd normally associate with a long charity ride.  And of course I have myself to blame for the tired legs as I kept hammering away, especially so on the hills, often leaving fellow riders in awe. 

One of the scenic roads of Amish Country

 
One rider remarked “I wish I was good at something like you – I’m only good at drinking beer and eating pizza.”  I’ll admit that such comments stoked the ego just a bit, but as the days passed by, I found myself far more impressed with the other riders.  After all, what’s more impressive?  A Cat 4 roadie who zooms up the hills faster than the rest of the charity rider peloton?  Or the person in not-so-great shape with maybe just a couple hundred miles under their belt for the year who pushed their bodies to the brink of exhaustion?  A regular bike commuter who took his trusty Fixie out of the city and into the hills? 

Fixie on the left, fixie rider holding helmet on the right

 
Or how about the guy who powered the contraption pictured below for 300 miles to demonstrate the utilitarian aspects of cycling?

Two ladies taking tough guy's steed for a test ride

 
Or the folks who donned work clothes to prove you can bike to work at even great distances?

"Commuter" on the left.

 
And there's no way you could claim I had more stamina than this mother-daughter duo!

The two most impressive Climate Riders, photo from Kip Pierson

 
 
What further impressed me with my fellow rider’s performances had to do with their motivation.  For those who know me personally, it is clear that Climate Change is a cause near and dear to me.  However, if you were to say “Dennis, do you want to ride 300 miles in five days to support XYZ”, I might just say “yes”, regardless of what word you use to replace XYZ.  I love riding my bike, and I need little motivation to get me excited to hit the roads.  Yet I’m willing to bet that a good number of the 140 riders battled with their bikes, and perhaps even grew to loath their bikes as they clawed their way up a few hills in excess of 11%.  Yet they persevered & toughed it out all in the name of a good cause. 

I enjoyed every one of the tens of thousands of pedal strokes throughout the 350+ miles, so even though I might have been going fast, I’d say I had it pretty easy.  For the not-so-avid female cyclist whose descrption of her saddle rash grew more grotesque with each day, and all of the other riders like her, now that’s impressive!        

Climate Ride Training Camp

Pre-Ride Jitters

I departed for my 5 days at the Climate Ride (again, not too late to donate!) with a bit more anxiety than I normally have before a big race.  I felt anxiety about driving in NYC, where cabbies honk their horns like aggressive riders at a Crit barking at me for opening gaps; I worried about whether my car would be safe while I left it there until the end of the ride as I had visions of the valet’s abusing my car like in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off).  I also was concerned about whether or not I’d figure out how to put my tent up as until last night I had never slept in a tent, never mind erected one on my own.

My tent is up!

 

All the anxiety came to pass though once I found myself out on the bike.  As it turns out, the one thing I probably should have been concerned about was finding my way to each destination.  Not surprisingly, I somehow missed what seemed to be some very well marked turns.  But given that I had no time constraints and no concerns about missing any deadlines, I welcomed the navigation mishaps as an opportunity for an added excursion and extra time to enjoy new roads.  While nothing that I’ve seen thus far has been overly scenic, the route has mostly meandered through the bucolic country side, especially today.  And there’s nothing like new territory to add some variety to your training plan.

No Racers Allowed

Yes, that’s right – I’m still following my training plan.  I’m here on a mission to make a difference with Global Warming, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m also selfishly using some of this time as my own mini-training camp.  It does make me stick out a tad, and I have to figure that at least some of the participants here think that I might just be trying to show off.  Aside from a rider from the Rails to Trails Conservancy (Ken) and a little friendly competition of town line sprints, there’s no desire on my part to compete while I’m out here.  It’s a charity ride, and not a race.  But given that I probably have 5 to 10 times as many miles under my belt this year than most of the other riders out here, the differences in my abilities out on the road are rather stark.

I had a hint that there weren’t going to be too many rabbits on this ride when we lined up to kick things off yesterday as I was the only rider donning a team kit.  But it was only after riding for a while that I realized that there weren’t any other racers amongst the group, and that sorta came as a surprise to me.  I suppose because I surround myself with racers in my cycling life, I just assumed that at least a portion of the racing community would make an appearance at the Climate Ride.  But it seems as though I’m the only one out of the 150 or so other riders.  I’m not sure what that means – is the racing community as a whole not aware of Climate Change?  Or is the racing community such a small fraction of the overall cycling community that I should have expected to be 1 out of 150?

I’m not sure what the answer is to that question.  All I can be sure of though is that I’m getting some great work-outs in at my Climate Ride Training Camp!

Letter to the Editor

If you look at my blog entries by category, you'll see that there are unfortunately very few filed under "Carbon Footprint".  Living up on the top of a hill certainly makes it challenging to replace many of my car miles with bike miles, especially because so few of my trips out of the house are without the girls.  So, now that the off-season is giving me a few extra cycles to do non-cycling activities, I've been looking at other ways that I can make a difference. 

I know that some suggested that print media is dead, but I know that there still are a few out there who don't rely upon solely Twitter to keep up with the world.  So, with that in mind I set aside a bit of time to pen a Letter to the Editor last week and today I learned that at least one paper (the Glastonbury Citizen) decided to publish it.  They unfortunately don't seem to have an online version of the paper, so I figured I post it here (below).  Apologies to those who came here looking for bicycling news!

The US Senate failed to take action on a comprehensive climate bill this summer because of well funded big Oil and Coal lobbyists.  Now the lobbyists are trying to convince many in the Senate to take action that would tie the hands of the EPA as well.  Most people don't know that a small minority with a large amount of money are now doing things that ultimately will ruin our economy and worse, ruin the world we live in.  I’m writing this letter because the more people become aware of what is happening, the greater the odds that they'll do things differently.

Before the Senate ended their summer session, corporate polluters and their lobbyists successfully stalled efforts on clean energy and climate legislation.  As a result, the Senate failed to limit the money sent to oil dictatorships in the troubled Middle East, failed to revitalize the US economy by investing in green jobs which are now going to China, and failed to help stem the increasing tide of droughts, floods and heat waves brought on due to increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. 

Now the same lobbyists are trying to hinder the EPA as that agency seeks to enforce common-sense safeguards, like the Clean Air Act.  Our dependence upon fossil fuels doesn’t just hurt the economy and the environment.  Increased CO2 and pollution levels will lead to more heart attacks, asthma attacks, hospital visits, and premature deaths.  The EPA now intends to step in to ensure you, your friends, and your loved ones are not put into harm’s way by enforcing the Good Neighbor Rule, the Smog (or Ozone) Rule, and the Coal Ash Rule.  Unfortunately big coal and oil are dead set on blocking them.

Please hold corporate polluters accountable and speed the transition to a clean energy economy and let the EPA carry out what it has been charted to do.

A Berry Good Fourth

Winging it

I have been (and will continue to be) pretty focused in my work-outs lately as I wind up the preparation for my big three weekends of racing starting July 24th.  So, it was initially pretty frustrating for me early yesterday morning when my PowerTap screen flickered and then faded away as I started yesterday's work-out.  I thought at the time the battery had died (upon further investigation post ride it ended up being a loose battery cap & the battery was actually still OK) and I didn't want to turn around and go rummaging through the house and wake the girls while looking for a replacement. 

I had had a pretty strenuous interval work-out on tap, one that expected me to maintain specific wattage for varying (but pre-defined) periods of time.  Call me a geek, but I'd feel cheated if I had attempted that work-out and not ended it with concrete evidence that I nailed each interval.  Rather than take my chances (but in reality probably do a darn good job just going by feel rather than by numbers), I decided to post-pone the effort to today's sweltering heat.  So, instead of putting myself through a whole load of pain on Sunday AM, I decided after a mile or so of riding that I'd go with a new plan.  I was going to do a 75 minute loop (with 40 minutes or so of greater than tempo paced riding), and then I'd get the rest of my work-out riding the train.

Don't be fooled by the look on Al's face -- she was the most excited Desmarais to hit the road.

Rose's Berry Farm

After pumping up all 5 wheel's on the train, and then two more for Mrs. D, we departed for the short trek to Rose's Berry Farm for breakfast and for blueberry picking.  We had to get there by 8:30 AM, mostly because I was so hungry, but also because by 9 AM the wait for seating can get quite long.  Not surprisingly nearly everything on the menu throughout the summer revolves around at least one of the in-season berries, and within 30 minutes of being seated I had had my full of the most deliciously fresh blueberries in all the forms it had been delivered to us -- pancakes, parfait, muffin, and french toast.

No, that is not a blueberry sausage in the foreground.

Scott's Orchard

After settling the very reasonable bill, I parted ways from the girls for what I thought was only going to be a brief period of time.  I was going to get a head start on the blueberry picking out in the fields, and the girls were going to join me after playing for a short stint in Rose's small play ground area.  The girls ended up having too much fun to be convinced to go out into the fields, so I ended up picking alone for nearly an hour.  But man, what a haul I pulled in with my solo effort.  The berries were so ripe and so plentiful that you could literally put your hand into the bush, roll the berries in your palm just slightly, and then be rewarded with a full handful to deposit into the bucket.  In just under an hour I loaded up my container with 8 pounds (which amounted to just $18 bucks).

Plenty of berries to be enjoyed at home, but first, that meant the train was now 8 pounds heavier.  Furthermore, we were not simply reversing course and making the short trek home.  Mrs D needed some potting soil and another flower to finish off her gardening efforts, so the Desmarais clan & blueberries plotted a new course off through the hills and the building heat to Scott's Orchard. 

When we arrived Mrs. D quickly found the plant she wanted.  I don't remember what she got, aside from the fact that when I picked it up I noticed it weighed very little, so I liked her selection.  But then she started deliberating which bag of potting soil to get.  Unfortunately the only factor that she considered at the time was the size of the planters we had at home.  Not once did she even think of the fact that her husband had to lug back whatever we purchased, and wouldn't you guess it -- she bought the biggest bag, 2 Cubic Feet of dirt.  I was first concerned that we wouldn't even have room for the bag in the trailer, but Jo, our youngest, came up with the idea to pretend the bag was her pillow. 

Once Jo snuggled up with her body pillow, we made our way back to the final two hills between Scott's and home.  The first one wasn't too bad, as I could feel a bit of extra power coming from behind me as Al did some pedaling.  By the time we got to the final hill all I had was dead weight behind me, and lots of it.  As I climbed that hill I felt the lactic acid coursing out to every extremity in my body, and my field of vision narrowed to just the light post at the top of the road. 

That focus led to perhaps the only moment of the ride I wanted to forget afterward.  While the hill was big enough to also challenge Mrs. D, I now had at least 180 lbs to pull, so her effort was modest at best compared to mine.  She was therefore free to think about the gardening work and decided at that point it was a good time to run some ideas by me.  As I was pulling with every ounce of my body towards the final 1000 feet of the hill, she said something like "Do you think we could sprinkle..."  Like an already lit firecracker, I immediately retorted "Are you serious -- you want me to talk about sprinkling right now?!?!". 

Needless to say, there was silence for the rest of the hill, and then the short ride back home.  When we finally arrived and began unloading the train, we all agreed that future rides would be more "berry good" if we don't talk to daddy on the hills, especially when he's carrying 8 lbs of berries and 2 cu ft of dirt!

An Ax to Grind

Warning: Off Topic

Bicycling is my passion, and promise to keep this blog focused on that topic.  However, as you can see with one of my blog's categories, reducing my "carbon footprint" is one of the reasons I cycle so you'll have to indulge me a bit as I go a bit off topic with this post.

I am a member of the local town's "clean energy" committee that tries to get more people in the community to make the switch and pay for electricity that comes from sources like solar, wind, other renewables.  It isn't easy convincing people to pay the small premium, especially when it is so cold as it is here tonight.  So, from time to time we'll write to the paper and try to explain the rationale as to why someone would want to make the switch, and we'll do it in the form of a Letter to the Editor.

Ax to grind

I'm typing this now nearly 2 hrs beyond my bedtime (and sitting on a chair and not on my trainer!) because I got really ticked off after reading the newspaper today.  A reader sent in their own letter to the editor which was printed in today's newspaper, and in it, they suggested that I had some sort of ax to grind which motivated my support for Clean Energy and cast doubts as to whether or not I was doing it for the right reasons.  It was just a short letter, and one that likely will easily be forgotten, but I just couldn't go to sleep tonight without committing my thoughts to the keyboard so that I could eventually submit my rebuttal back to next week's newspaper. 

What you see below is my stream of conscious elaboration to the Glastonbury Citizen as to why I'm in support of Clean Energy.  I'm posting it here just in case folks want to critique it before I hit send. 

Any suggestions?

I have two beautiful little girls, Allison and Josephine.  I take my job as Dad seriously.  I need to make sure that I do what I can to make sure the world they inherit is one that has meaningful jobs here in the USA; I need to figure out how to make sure they are safe from terrorist attacks; I need to some how find ways to make sure they have affordable energy; and, if I have any spare time, I also am tasked with making sure that they are not suffering through unbearable heat, drought, and storms brought about by global warming.

I really believe that my intentions behind my support for Clean Energy (http://www.ctcleanenergyoptions.com/) are well intentioned efforts to provide the best for Allison and Josephine. Supporting Clean Energy will help build the Clean-tech jobs here as opposed to the rapidly developing industry in China.  It will take hundreds of billions of dollars sent to the Middle East, which in turn funds the likes of Al Qaeda, and put it into the pockets of hard working Americans.  Funding the unlimited source of clean energy will enable the ever growing world population (demand) to get ahead of the declining availability of oil and coal (supply) to keep the price of energy from sky rocketing.  Lastly, while some scientists (most of the funded by Big Oil) may question recent findings from our nation’s most educated at NASA (www.nasa.gov), it seems clear to me that a major investment in clean energy will mitigate the risk posed by global warming.

In the January 28^th edition of the Citizen it was written that I had an ax to grind because of my support for Clean Energy.  I initially took offense to the suggestion that I had an ulterior motive or had private ends to serve. I took a deep breath and thought about it for a moment, and then realized that the reader was in fact correct.  I did have a private end to serve by supporting Clean Energy – Allison and Josephine.

Glastonbury Bikeways

Nobody looks like me

I know this is going to sound pathetic, but about a year and a half ago I aborted an attempt to volunteer with the Glastonbury Bikeways.  At the time I was looking for a way to make a few more social connections aside from those I had with my (now former) racing team.  I am a transplant from Massachusetts, and aside from my in-laws, I didn't have any friendships established in CT.  Furthermore, I was (and still am) a "remote" employee, so I didn't have the option to buddy up with new co-workers in the local area.  I either had to get comfortable seeing my cat all day in my office and then hanging with just the family after work day after day, or I had to get out and find social connections with people with common interests.  With "Bike" in the name, I figured I'd give the local committee a shot.

When I finally showed up for the meeting back in 2007, I remember making it within about 15 feet of the conference room.  I peered inside the windows, saw a handful of people, and none of them looked like me.  In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised as there is no false advertising on their website.  There were a few older gentlemen and a few ladies of varying ages.  All of them seemed to have the trim bodies of an active cyclist, but there were no 30 something year-old wanna-be bicycle racing faces.  I'm ashamed to admit it, but I pretended to be lost or distracted, looked down at my cell phone to take a phony call, and then just walked away.

Changed man

I had walked away from that meeting thinking that the committee would do nothing for me, but I never bothered to ask to remove my name from their email lists.  I had become accustomed to quickly file them away in the trash-bin upon receipt, so I had essentially just ruled them out as noise.  However, for some reason I hesitated earlier this month before deleting the note, and that feeling of "shame" came up again for walking way from that meeting forced me to take another look at their website.  I didn't realize it back in 2007 when social connections were priority #1 for me, but now with a somewhat evolved set of life goals, it occurred to me that those faces actually were a lot more similar to me than I first thought.   

Racing is still important to me, but it isn't the only reason I cycle.  After attending last Tuesday's meeting, I now know that those faces map to people who enjoy exploring the outdoors, people who want to be healthy (and help others in the community to get healthier), and people who want to see a little less pollution from cars and a little more sweat from cyclists.  I also bumped into a non-racing member of my bike club.  There might not have been any other 30 something bike racers in the room, but it turned out that I had sorely misjudged the book by the cover in my aborted first attempt back in 07. 

Looks like I might have found another outlet to check more boxes off on my 2010 goals!

The Trainer Confessions Jinx

Coincidence?

Most people have heard of either the madden  jinx or the sports illustrated jinx where someone famous appears on the cover of the game or the magazine and then some sort of disaster coincidentally befalls them.  Well, have you ever heard of the Trainer Confessions jinx?

In an earlier post I talked a bit about my office trainer set-up.  In particular, I said the following about my Travel Trac:

So far the trainer has proven to be pretty reliable.  I am guessing that I've logged over 4k miles in just over a year on the trainer with no malfunctions.  Also, I've been able to pack it up with ease to bring on a few vacations and business trips, so it has survived a fair amount of jostling.  Lastly, at the end of last season I also starting bring it with me to use as a warm-up device before races, and again, no issues to report.

Guess what happened when I hopped back on the trainer later that very same day?

What to do?

After frantically fumbling around trying to diagnose why I could no longer adjust the resistance on my "pretty reliable" trainer, I brought it down to the bike shop right down the street.  The owner broke his tool set out and pretty much concluded that there was a mechanical failure (the electronics seemed good) and my only recourse was to take the matter up with the dealer. 

After a friendly call with a lady at Performance Bicycle, I realized that my trainer had to be shipped back.  The good news is that she told me that they would reimburse me for the shipping, and (get this) they would even give me the option of getting a refund! 

The Replacement

So, as you might have already guessed by reading my earlier posts, I was likely to go into a state of shock if I was without my trainer for a couple of weeks, so on my way out of the shop I decided to purchase a new one. 

Assuming that I am able to get a full refund (or even store credit) on my old trainer, the price of this unit may actually prove to be a wash financially.  Plus, my new Kinetic trainer doesn't have the added (and for me, unnecessary) option to hook into my computer to synchronize with a video, so I no longer need to mess around with cables or electricity (so as an added benefit, I can file this post under "carbon footprint"!).  Lastly, this unit allows me to hit higher Watts than the old one.

After bringing home the new trainer I was back in action less than 10 minutes after returning home.  I still have to deal with the hassle of shipping the old one back for refund/repair/store-credit, but I'm actually pretty happy with how the day's earlier panic has led me to what I think might actually be a trainer much more to my likings. 

I just hope that this post doesn't now jinx me yet again!