Back in the Saddle (Yet Again)!

So for those of you who know me well, you know that I am a transplanted Texan.  Even though I haven't lived there in 20 years (that would be twenty years this October), I still consider myself FROM Texas - Rick Perry and his pig-headedness notwithstanding.  And, despite the fact that I didn't live my whole life from there - in actually my father got stationed there while I was in high school and I graduated from C.E. Ellison high school with my friend James Deane (yes, that's right James Deane - a tall, thin red head who wanted to be an architect).

But there is one thing I have learned from one of my all-time favorite movies and that is, YOU CHOOSE WHO YOU WANT TO BE!



Or in an even more powerful version of the same message from this movie (sorry, it wouldn't let me embed this one);
http://youtu.be/YX5IOAoPt2A

or put even another way, there is this montage from some of the best movies of all time (including early Harry Potter when Peter O'Toole was still Dumbledore) which is entitled "Words of Wisdom from the Movies";



So what does this have to do with anything?  Well, we all make choices in life - I choose to still call myself a transplanted Texan since I did graduate from a Texas High School and a great Texas college - Southern Methodist University - home of the Mustangs!

I also choose to ride my bike.  When I was a kid I rode it for the sheer joy of it all, to get away, to taste freedom - the wind in my hair, the bugs in my teeth, the asphalt in my skin after a particularly spectacular crash!  Then in high school (while dad was stationed in Germany) my friends and I did it to explore, often ranging abroad for days exploring the European countryside.  When I moved to Texas I still rode my bike everywhere which made me somewhat of an oddity (okay, even odder than I already was)  since everyone else of junior and senior age was driving by then.  I was one of the only ones I knew who rode the big yellow limousine to school on a regular basis.

I stopped riding for a long time after that, not taking it up again until I lived in New Jersey and I often rode my bike to my job at Overpeck Stables in Leonia, NJ.  That's right, I was a stable boy.  Which is funny because even though I considered myself from Texas I had never really ridden a horse before.  I got that chance at Overpeck, although I mainly stuck to the theme and only rode Western style.  But I did get to take care of horse, mainly recuperating racehorses, and managed to get stomped on, dragged, shoved against the side of stalls and even peed on (yes, by a mare in heat - that was a fun day!) by various horses in the eight or so months that I worked there.  I had a car but whenever I could I would ride my bike since it was only ten miles or so.  Due to various reasons, I moved back to Texas but sold my bike when I left New Jersey.  It would be three years before I would ride again.

I chose to ride again because I sold my car (due to the fact I was living on campus and parking was a nightmare) and I got a Peugot hybrid which I loved.  It was the first new bike I had ever owned since I was a kid.  I rode it fairly religiously for about eight months before it was stolen from out in front of where I worked.  I ended up buying a Volkswagen Beetle (in which I once transported Paul Taylor and a couple of members of his company - long story!) which I drove until I moved back to New York to pursue my dream of being a dancer.  At that point I pretty much stopped riding since I didn't want to injure myself and thereby deprive myself of my livelihood.

Flash forward to eleven years ago.  I had found an old Miyata Triplecross hybrid bike at a garage sale for $50.  It was a bit big for me and it only had 18 speeds and flat handlebars but for me it was a great deal.  I bought it and started riding again around the streets of Smithtown where I was living.  We would put Sarah to sleep at about 5:00 in the evening and I would go and ride for an hour or so.  I gradually decided I wanted to start seriously riding again so I started scouring ebay, craigslist and the internet and got cycling shoes, clipless pedals, cycling shorts, cycling jerseys and started upgrading the bike.  I started riding it occasionally to work at Usdan in the summers much to my wife's chagrin (since I was riding on 25A for about 10 miles - a place second only in safety to the Boulevard of Death in Queens).

I never really commuted from Smithtown to Syosset on my bike but once I moved to Northport (only 15 miles away) three years later, I gave it a shot once or twice.  It was then that fate stepped in and saw me through, so to speak;



It just so happened that I got into a car accident at the corner of Pulaski and Lennox Avenue in Huntington Station.  My car would be out of commission for at least two weeks (it turned out to be three) and so I had to either figure out a way to get a ride to and from work every day or I would have to ride - and that began my love affair with the two-wheeler all over again.

I eventually found an old Diamondback Allure frame lying in the trash and put drop bars on and upgraded my pedals until I had my current Frankenbike which I affectionately call Black Pearl.  With Pearl I rode 2,000 commuting miles between Syosset and Northport in the 2007 calendar year and raised $13,000 for the American Cancer Society.  Then I used some Christmakuh money and gift cards from my birthday to buy myself a new frame and I was off to the races.  Well, not literally.  I still don't have the time to really train to race and as it stands now with my herniated disc I don't think I will (but that's another story).  I've had some guys that I used to ride with very nicely tell me I should race but that was when I was in a bit better shape than I am now - although today I felt AWESOME!

So what all this preamble is basically to say is that I have chosen to be a cyclist just as I have chosen to be a transplanted Texan.  And I like to ride just to ride - it clears my head, it pushes my body, it makes me feel alive, and sometimes it helps me deal with what can sometimes be overpowering emotions such as the passing of my brother David.  But most of all it has become part of who I am, much like it was when I was a kid.  I ride because it gives me a feeling of freedom that can't be matched.  Don't get me wrong - I love to dance and I love when I can perform a particular difficult piece of choreography and put emotion into it.  But bombing down a hill at 50 miles an hour (shhhhh, don't tell my wife) makes me feel as close as I can to actually flying.

Most of the time I ride by myself as part of my commute or I get up early in the morning (6:30 ish) and ride for two hours while the family is slowly stirring on the weekends.  I don't ride with the club as much anymore simply because leaving at 8:00, 8:30, or 9:00 (depending on the time of the year) is just too late in the day.  By the time I get to the meeting point, ride the 50 miles with the group, and then get home, five hours has passed and its now in the afternoon - the entire day is shot.  So I end up riding alone.  I don't really get to push myself as much but I get the miles in (1800 so far this year).

Today was different - today I got to get back in the saddle and ride with a pack - albeit a small one!  David Steinberg is a science teacher at good old SHS and he is also the advisor to the bike club.  Although they generally do almost all mountain bike rides, he and another colleague from school, Mike Borra,  had decided to do a flat century ride this year and so David asked my advice about a road bike.  I, of course, sent him to Adams Cyclery.  Chuck got him set up and apparently he had been riding all summer and dropped fifteen pounds (the bastard!).  He had mentioned that he was going to be riding with some friends today at 6:30 in the morning.  I asked if I could join them and he said sure.

The only problem was that today was also the Cow Harbor Race which meant the roads would be closed down about 8:30 in the morning so I would have to ride to the meeting place.  Which meant getting up at 5:15 IN THE MORNING on a Saturday!  Am I crazy or what??????  I got a good night's sleep (okay seven hours which for me is a long sleep) which still left me feeling much like this:



(Just a few minutes more......)

Now, I had pretty much prepared everything I would need for cycling at this ungodly hour the night before.  I even fully hydrated and put out all my clothing and lubed my bike and made sure everything was adjusted just so.  I silently got dressed in the half light, put the bike outside after making sure the tires were properly inflated and checked to see that everything was in order.  I then proceeded to get a little jolt of caffeine (shhhhh, don't tell my wife since I've been decaffeinated since Augsts) which becuase I haven't been partaking left me feeling something like this;



Ahhhhh, I have to admit it may be healthier to be decaffeinated but I do love my jolt!

So I suited up and headed out the door into the dark!  It was great.  I truly love riding at this time of day when there are hardly any cars on the road and it truly feels as if the entire road system belongs to me.  I had carefully looked at mapquest the day before and knew where the road was located and lo and behold it was closer than Sunrise - which is where I had made many rides during the summer.  It should have been a piece of cake.

And then God laughed.  I was lost.  The turn to the road was not where I thought it was supposed to be!!!!  Fortunately, my sister had purchased a Garmin Edge 705 for me which looks like this;

She bought it for me as a type of sponsorship for the cross country ride - to make sure I don't get lost in the middle of the desert!  Well, I wasn't in the middle of the desert but it was dark and I had no clue where I was.  It was then that the combined effort of Sts. Christopher (patron saint of travelers and Motorists), Madonna del Ghisallo (patron saint of cyclists) and Isidore (patron saint of technology) kicked in and I thought of my GPS unit!  I punched in the address of where I was supposed to meet them and lo and behold it showed me the way.  And I got there just in time to meet them coming down the street - and I thanked God (and the saints) for GPS!!!!!! 

I soon found out that I was riding with six other gentlemen, Dave Steinberg (who I knew) and five others I didn't know but found out that one was planning on riding 120 miles that day to train for an upcoming Ironman competition, another gentleman who had competed in an endurance event (where you ride for 24 hours) and a wiley and wirey older gentleman who obvious had game.  Dave pretty much played the role of rabbit and we all chased after him, pretty much averaging 20 mph the entire time.  Dave is an avid and experienced mountain biker (think Floyd Landis without all the races and without the testosterone patch) so he had the legs that day and was eager to stretch them.  I can't say I stayed on his wheel the entire time but I never got dropped off the back!  And for me that is a minor victory!

However all good things must end and this outing with the boys had to end at about 7:40 in the morning for me.  I looked at my GPS and realized that with the mileage I had already put in I had already logged 30 miles (and thought with a smile that the group I usually rode with at HBC hadn't even left yet) and I found myself in Smithtown (about 20 miles from Northport by the route I had in mind) so I thanked the boys for a great ride and headed home.  I pedaled like there was no tomorrow to try to get home before the roads closed at 8:30! 

I managed to get back to Northport at 8:20 and I hit the Dunkin' Donuts to bring home a treat for my sleepy family!  Nothing to sate you like some donuts and coffee after a loooong hard ride!  Forget about runs, America Rides on Dunkin'!!!!!  Of course since it was 1/4 from the start of the race it was packed with racers and family members caffeinating themselves beforehand.

I wove my way through the racers who were prepping for their race and I managed to get myself back in time to watch the race - and grab some more coffee!  Just in time to start watching the people run their race!  I was impressed with the times but hey, I already did my workout!

So I'm anxious to find more guys to ride with!  If there are any of you out there on Long Island who want to go for a spin, drop me a line.  Even if I don't race - I'm a cyclist, because I am who I choose to be!  And I feel confident that I can keep this progression and get more and more in shape to be ready to cross the good old U.S. of A. on the Black Pearl - especially since I don't have to do it at 20 mph!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!