Long Over Due

Wow, has it really been January since my last post here--say it isn't so!  Ok...so it is.
This season's Chasing Yellow ventures have turned out to less about cycling & more about life events than anything--daughter's senior recital, attending to aging parents needs on the West Cost, filling in as the interim division chief at work while the boss is out for 7 weeks on convalescent leave...ah, the ever-present rhythm of life! 

 

 

 

Though my cycling ventures have been somewhat curtailed this season, I still hold motivation to train & to ride--cyclists are just that way. :-P  I've also discovered new training materials to incorporate into my regular routine like the Sufferfest series (http://www.sufferlandria.com/) ,The Col Collective (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheColCollective

), and Zwift Island (www.zwift.com) which some may find rather "intense" considering session names like "The Wretched", "Hell Hath No Fury", and "A Very Dark Place"---call me demented, but they're nothing short of a dump truck full of awesome...

As the fall season settles continues to settle into its own rhythm, my cyclocross pals are eagerly readying themselves for their next muddied outings & ventures across the CX landscape;

someday, I just might join them, but for now I'll stick with Lenny & Gino as my velocipede partners in my continued pursuit of quality training and hopefully solid results.  To be a cyclist is to be a student of endurance, of motivation, and sometimes pain.  This sport is, indeed, filled with seamless pace lines & group-ride fun, of secret single-track routes, post-ride culinary dives, and soft muscle tissue transformed to wonderfully firm stature; but at cycling's core lies pain & work, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach.
It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for Olympic gold, a local criterium finish line, the trailhead terminus, or the next rest stop on a century ride for homemade brownies--if you never confront the associated pain, you miss the essence & work ethos of sport.

When once asked about what he considered best training practices, cycling legend Eddy Merckx responded, "Ride...ride lots."  Sounds reasonable...I hear my trainer calling, time to head to the garage.

Need for Speed

Bike racing is such a small part of cycling; of the approximately 50+ million people ride bikes in the U.S., nearly 35,000 possess a mountain bike racing license, another 35,000+ have road bike racing licenses, and almost 12, 000 obsessive "freaks" hold both licenses, meaning out of some 50+ million bike riders, less than 1% (0.114 to be exact) actually race their bike.  Even from the origins of bike racing in Europe, racers are significantly outnumbered by commuters and recreational riders...



 

 

 

And yet, racing remains a significant part of cycling; get on your bike and it begs you to go somewhere--fast! Cycling is racing, whether it's a friend, a chasing dog, a leaf blown by the wind, a time mark from one telephone pole to another, an approaching storm (been there!), another rider in the distance, or even our own mortality; racing can be many things--brutal, beautiful, destructive, redemptive, awful, and awe-filled.  Every rider who has lined up on a start line knows the taste of razored pain--many event like it--that afterward leaves the participant feeling sharpened and razored, as if the protective coating against the barbs of life has been excised away, leaving one open to thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and sensations otherwise filtered out any other day. Soulful reasons aside, most riders pay entry fees to race to be recognized as warriors or even winners, or to test themselves or see where they compare amongst their peers; but there are so many more riders who for the same reasons choose not to dance with razored-pain, yet their races aren't less important, just more private...

And when you think about it---that might just be an even tougher place to seek victory...

 

 

 

Here's to the cycling season ahead... #feelinginspired

Pauses

Life is busy; the work commute, hours at work, volunteer activities, attending to the house, paying bills, taking care of responsibilities--all the things we "do" throughout our routines.  And in the busyness of things, our inherent nature is to "manage" that busyness, to control as much of that activity as possible.  Sometimes, managing that busyness is good, achievable, and necessary; sometimes, it's better to let things come to a pause...

This past week brought me an enjoyable pause of my own as I traveled to Nebraska to be with my youngest daughter & her husband as she underwent shoulder surgery to repair a rotator cuff injury.

I'm pleased to report the surgery went well & the patient recovering nicely, though she is a bit stubborn and returned to classes after only a week of rest (the doctor told her two weeks)--apparently she takes after her father, or so I'm told :-P  Nonetheless, all is progressing well. But the best part of this pause came not in the form of being away from work or the craziness of the metropolis of Northern Virginia or even the quietness of small-town Nebraska; the pleasure & joy of this pause came in just getting to be with my daughter.  We watched episodes of favorite TV shows streamed on Apple TV (whenever she was awake), talked about school plans and the remaining  semesters (when she was awake), imagined our futures  (when she was awake), and critiqued Food Network recipes (whenever she was awake...pain mess are funny that way!).  All in all, a cherished memory for Dad in spite of the circumstances...

Pauses are good things and necessary...chose to MAKE them instead of having to TAKE them. :-)

Connections

I recently attended two development seminars, one on organizational development led by a Disney University consultant, the other on church ministry connections led by a professional life coach; both seminars were equally valuable professionally & personally,  both provided solid sources of mentoring information & instruction to improve my skills as a growing servant leader, both were...well, fun! 

So what made these separate events significantly similar? 

Dogs....lovingly loyal, slobbery, ear scratching, distracted-by-the-simplist--oo, Squirrel!--things in their environment canines sporting big brown eyes, beautifully brushed coats of hair, "smiles" seemingly beaming from their slightly opened mouths, their focus always in the direction of their handlers.  Both seminar instructors were dog lovers & used dog stories and themes in their presentations; the Disney guy owned a pug named Reginald (appropriately named from the film "Pocahontas" for a Disney employee,  don't you think?) whose talent was visiting children's hospital wards and seniors in assisted living retirement centers to offer bright moments in the residents' days while the pastor's pal, a rottweiler/lab mixed named Big Daisy, rescued as a puppy from an abusive environment, now serves as a therapy animal during counseling sessions conducted by the pastor.  Both animals were obvious "pals" to their handlers, both exhibited behaviors you & I would expect from a dog; yet, these two "unique" personalities exhibited a very basic characteristic in human nature so marvelously genuine I almost missed it...

 

They wanted my affection. :-)

 "Uh, duh Lane...isn't that what all dogs do?"  Well, no...at least not Reginald & Big Daisy; very rarely did Big Daisy walk over to someone trying to call her, most often wandering around the room, stopping briefly for a head pat or ear scratch before moving on (Reginald`s story was a video presentation vice live, but his actions were very similar to Big Daisy).  But then Big Daisy would fix her eyes on someone and venture directly to them, then proceed to sit or stand very near the person for an extended moment of time as if to say "You need some loving, so I'm gonna sit here 'til you feel loved."  Both handlers recounted several instances where their canine pals demonstrated an elevated sense of affection to someone as if acknowledging a deeply hidden need...

Isn't that reflective of us all?  Don't each of us need a "connection" affirming our human nature?  When was the last time you DIDN'T need a buddy or pal to come sit with you or drink coffee with or go for a bike ride.  Yeah, I thought  so...

I don't have a dog or a pet (for now anyway :-) ), but I do have a fabulous wife & family, some fantastic friends, and bike (or two) reminding me of the awesome connections life has carried across my path.  As the new year begins to unfold, I look forward to the affectionate & thoughtful reminders of those connections and how they weave the very fabric of cherished relationships & memories, as if strands from Shaddai`s ball of yarn weaving a blanket between people, places, and events...

 

 Blessings all around to everyone...here's  to 2015!