Reality Day at the TDF....

I have almost every book written about Lance, I have a signed 2000 team poster, every mountain his has climb these past 8/9 TDFs I have virtually climbed with him.

It hurt to watch today, hurt inside when I was watching him & the boys racing back to the peloton after first crash I thought to myself their using all their energy up and than the 2nd one came and I knew it was over, I knew that Lance would not make it back this time.

Still though as a true Armstrong supporter in the back of my mind I keep thinking maybe there will be one stage victory down the line, maybe the team will come up with some miracle move that will let Lance outfox the rest and he'll be on that podium in Paris or maybe, maybe I will just watch the rest of the tour in silence. Quietly knowing that after all these years of watching him, reading about him, cussing him, cheering him, wearing the yellow bracelet, placing him up in the sky like Superman = after all that, we now know that he really was just a normal guy who just wanted to ride a bike…

It's been fun Lance and thanks for all the great memories, clips, pictures, quotes, etc and thanks especially for encouraging us to...

LIVESTRONG!

Action over mental...

When life's troubles seem to much to handle & the world seems completely crazy & friends & family don't understand you, sometimes, well sometimes you just have to go off & climb that mountain, stand on the top of it, strip naked and.......

DANCE BABY, DANCE!!!!!!!!!

Against The Wind

We've all had to fight against the wind (meaning the hardships that everyday life throws at us) in some form or another. In them times it's always nice to know there is family, friends there for you but some don't have that luxury, some have nothing and/or no one to turn to or they don't know where or how.

So I'm going to jump in and help a few causes. Mainly I'll be writing, speaking, bicycling, walking, fund raising, etc. about: 1. Hunger (being my main topic) 2.Hearing Loss 3.Cancer - All 3 issues at one time or another in past and present have affected me, my family and friends.

I will be posting information, awareness articles, places where you can find help, my bike rides, new advances in research or studies, etc. Basically anything I can find that seems to have some importance I will post. There is a solid base of research that shows some cancers can be avoided by proper nutrition. Beside helping stock food banks I will also be advocating about growing food your self... I will still continue to post my usual other articles on here too about my biking. feelings, etc. etc.

All the fund raising that I will be doing will have an accompanying site and instructions showing where donations can be made. All donations made by you to the organizations I list will be tax deductible.

I will be asking for no monies for myself, although gifts (cash/products/services) to help with some of my expenses will always be appreciated. Please contact me at knobbykabushka@charter.net if you so desire to help in that way.

I already have planned one fund raising ride for this year. I'll be riding from Luna Pier, MI. to New Buffalo, MI. (215 miles) trying to raise awareness & funds for The Food Bank Council of Michigan - At the present time the ride will take place between Sept 16th and Sept 22th, which coincides with this years start of FBCM 20th annual Michigan Harvest Gathering campaign... Not all details are configured yet so please check back to see further updates.

Thank you all and I hope we can join together to help those whose needs are greater than ours...

PS: It may take a while for me to get all this out and online as I also want to try and set up a FaceBook page and such, so please be patient.. In the mean time you can follow what I do through this blog or follow me on Twitter or Facebook

Future of Michgan while cycling

So I've been thinking about all this 'green' stuff and starting wondering why? Why aren't we really serious about it? I don't mean changing light bulbs or getting concentrated soap, etc.

Like if people were really concerned about our Earth & pollution than would it not make sense that we do away with private cars and resort to building a complete interurban system of walking/cycling paths through out the state? All along said paths we could have little garage sized shops for the little guy to open and operate, like coffee, bike repair, crafts, etc. The paths could interconnect all the little towns in the state like Manchester to Grass Lake to Leslie to Fowlerville, etc.

Than while we're at it we could transform most of our major state highways into high-speed train railways connecting all the big cities together like Grand Rapids to Lansing to Flint to Port Huron to Detroit to Mount Pleasant to Traverse City, etc..

We could leave most of the main secondary roads for of course deliveries and emergencies and such.

Then we could make a concerted effort to having people build small/big successful e-businesses, which would save on using more natural resources for building huge stores and car traveling...

Talk about revamping a state not to speak of building up whole new industries & businesses, plus a completely new way of living on Earth...

Just a thought, but I guess most people will have to asked themselves the question 'Am I really serious about saving Michigan, Earth and future for my children or am I just playing the game like everyone else?


Have a good one, Knobby

On a start

Since the 19th of April I have done 5 rides, short rides. Nothing much in way of mileage, 12 miles in all total, but it's a start. Today I went for my longest one - a solid 4 miles, LOL.

I laugh because every time I say that it just seems so puny 'in my mind' compared to 2007 and some of 2008 when I was riding 40 to 60 miles at a time.. But, by God it was a solid 4 miles today.

I also have started exercising as of yesterday, just a basic routine to start with. I figure if I keep it simple the likely hood of me following through with it is greater.

So it's a start, I also want to come up with some short time goals and maybe 1 or 2 long time goals. The other thing I have to remember to do is constantly remind myself of beside the goals, the purpose of it all also, which I do believe I aiming correctly and will write about it in do time...

Take care, Knobby

Just put on a rain jacket and ride...

Morning to all the few reading this, hope all is well in your world?

I drafted this big post the other day about stuff and plans and whys and whys nots and then yesterday decided not to post it - enough talk, enough writing, just do!

The title of this post came from a book Brad Kearns wrote about Lance Armstrong - when asked how he (Lance) dealt with the attacks from European media and drugs accusations he replied, "When it's raining, I just put on a rain jacket and go"

Simple ain't it? and there is the key I have been missing, Simplicity. As I saw somewhere else the author stated: "No one ever won the Tour de France by contemplating winning the Tour de France"

I still have my ride for charity I want to do, still have my plans, still the dream and maybe one day I will post that post, but for now action will be speaking louder for me than words...

Enjoy yourselves, Knobby

The Dream, where it's at now!

My cycling as an adult began on April 13th, 2003 - when cleaning out garage I found my oldest daughters huffy mountain bike. dragged it out, I put a little air in the tires and rode it down the street. Next day I took it to a MTBike trail close by and I went about a mile and a half and almost DIED, virtually. From them 2 little ride my cycling path grew longer & longer until in 2005 I entered a few local MTBike races and faired not to bad.

In 2006 I made a firm commitment to local state MTBike races and ended up in 4th place overall for my age division in Norba Michigan State Championship. Rode a slew of bike tours http://twitpic.com/1gxk9y/full

After that I wanted to move on to bigger and better things, but things happen, illness happens, family matters happen, and slowly from 2007 to 2009 I faded and cycling took a back seat. Then in April of last year - I got all excited about doing cycling again, I had just retired from my regular day to day job and thought at last I can do what I wanted to do. LOL

Little did I know, that the mind can be the key motivator in a persons life, the body may be able and willing but if the mind is not in sinc with the body, then all can be a wash-out. Couple that with outside circumstances and soon you find yourself making excuses for not doing more then making excuses for doing. Which is what happened all last year, ZIP, NATA, NOTHING - One excuse after another, another year wasted, another dream chance shot, another year older, etc., etc.

So you're probably asking , but what is this dream of mine? Well originally it was to race MTBikes and also do a little bit of road time trialing, across the state for a while and then move on to national events. Climb Mt. Mitchell, race in the Trans Rockie race, etc. Now, because of issues in family and I have let myself go so bad health wise, now the dream is changed a little.

The dream has now taken on a little more meaning than just chasing MTB trail after MTB trail. though there is nothing wrong in that, but for me, substance has been added now.

I want to ride, I enjoy riding my bike everywhere, I miss riding, that is one thing that will never go away. Whether I ever race again, who knows, but I know I need to ride somehow, somewhere.

So I am back and yes it's July already, LOL. First I need to get back into shape/form (like lose at least 30 lbs) and then the plan is at least for this year is to do local bike tours here in Michigan and other rides, but I want to ride also to bring awareness and funds to several organizations, that have helped either me, family members or friends.

I know times are tough for alot of people, but I am going to do what I can to help these places and I ask you to join me. If not through funding than positive support for me in doing so or helping spread the word about these great organizations. (please see my list in the side bar)

So that is where things stand at the moment - I am going to try to the best of my ability to accomplish this, this year.

Thank you for reading and maybe with a little encouragement and help we all can help make this a little better place to live in...

PS: I will be posting more information in next few days...

PSS: I have also on the side of blog a feed which keeps tracks of all the riding I do and which you may follow..