Another great adventure... blew Monday.

Just over a week ago I heard about the first annual Bike To Work Week here in Spokane. "Wow" I thought; certainly I could do that...I hope. So the night before last, I was prepping my bike for yesterday's commute. I had covered every contingency...so I thought. As I was pumping up my rear tire, I accidentally sheared the presta valve. WHOOOSH! The children quickly vacated the area as Dad was not terribly happy. My backup bike was in the shop. No spare tube; and it's Sunday night. My lovely wife so sweetly offered her bike. Yikes! After cranking the seat as high as possible it was still a tight fit. Felt like I was a size 10 foot going into a size 9 shoe. Oh, she has not gone clipless yet. Yes, I mashed all 14 miles. I felt like I was crawling through mud. At mile 6 I had to pull over and...well...um...heave. Rehydrated and back on my way, finished in downtown feeling pretty good about my accomplishment. The breakfast was great and turnout was amazing!


They had a bike corral and STA was showing how to load a bike on the front of their buses. I even saw some folks I know.

I'm doing it again on Wednesday...on MY bike! I was so beat that I may have cheated slightly. I dropped $1 and rode the STA bus using my new found skill in loading a bike. Rode as far north as I could get and then biked DOWN HILL 6 miles back to my car. It felt good to get home last night, but what a fun day. If you live and work in this area maybe you could try this at least once before the week is over.

By-the-way...did you know? The League of American Bicyclists organized the first Bike to Work Day in 1956. Thats 52 years!!!

Showdown at the Suncrest Corral...aka Suncrest Fitness Center

Background: Back in February our remote outpost of Spokane (Nine Mile Falls) was rewarded (or cursed depending upon your outlook and predisposition to exercise) by the opening of a new fitness center called Suncrest Fitness This spurred me to a new level of exercise and conditioning that has made huge difference for me. During this time I met with a personal trainer and set up a vigorous schedule of weight training and cardio conditioning. After all, rowing season is coming up... that's another story for later. Imagine me, the guy who has been in a gym all of 3 times in his life, being surrounded by the modern equivalent of instruments of torture.

The Showdown - One of these machines in the far corner of the gym is called a Jacobs Ladder. This machine has to be one of the toughest cardio workouts you could imagine. Many people only last 5 to 10 minutes. A few hardier souls manage to endure up to 20 to 30 minutes. Crazy me... I decided to push to 30 minutes about a month ago. Almost had to be medevaced out...well, not quite. This set a new club record and the gauntlet had been laid. Soon some teenage boy came in and decided to best me. Not to be outdone by some young lad, I recently pushed to 45 minutes...Ah Hah! New club record. Then about a week ago I received a voice message from my trainer. Being only a week younger than me and quite competitive, he had gone to 1 hour! So much for those youngsters; us 40ish guys run real risks doing this stuff. The ladies all say we're out of control. Hmm...could it be true? He also was so bold as to claim he would manage 2 hours by this Friday. Yikes! I need to keep an eye on this.


"Is he working... or did he seize up?"

Ted, I'll see your 2 hours (or whatever) and raise you an additional 15%

Your Nemesis

Message from the field

I figured out how to use my mobile phone to post things remotely when I can't get a connection for the laptop. This should come in handy when I go to the State Republican Convention at the end of May. Who knows? Perhaps I'll find good reason to test this out between now and then. Any ideas from my loyal readers?

What got this started?

Some time back good friends of ours moved to Mexico to become long term missionaries in the Oaxaca region. Their journey has been described in their own blog that I encourage you to visit.

From this, I realized that blogging is a great venue for communicating views, ideas, opinions, accomplishments, and the assorted what-not you are busting a seam to share with everyone you know and many you don't. At the same that I began pondering how to go about it... or for that matter, what to even write about; I was approached by a local retiree who dabbles in every aspect of our community and county. He pressed me to pursue election to a yet-to-be-formed board for a new park district tentatively being created in lower Stevens County, WA. I will save that story for another post. Flash forward a few weeks to last Saturday when the Stevens County Republican Convention was held at the AG & Trade Center in Colville, WA. I had been selected as a delegate to this convention and became part of the 120 strong delegation from various areas in the county. Little did I realize what would unfold that day! I will share what happened and my thoughts on that shortly. In closing , and as a teaser, I will be going to the 2008 Washington State Republican Party State Convention at the end of May and hope to provide you with a real time glimpse at the proceedings and items of interest along the way. Stay tuned and be sure to support Dino Rossi in his run for the rightful position of Governor of Washington State.