The Rumors of My Demise........

Growing up, one of my favorite authors (among so very many) was Samuel Clemens, most famously known by his nom de plume, Mark Twain. As anyone who has read much of his prolific output can attest, his had a somewhat rapier wit. Many of my favorite quotes have come from his writings, including the one included in the picture above. I spent two years of my life when I was in middle school (in Georgia of all places) reading as much of his writing as I could get out of the school library and other sundry places. Among some of the other works I read were these;

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

The Innocents Abroad

Roughing It

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

Sketches New and Old

Old Times on the Mississippi

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

A Tramp Abroad 

The Prince and the Pauper

Life on the Mississippi

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Pudd'n'head Wilson

How to Tell a Story and other Essays

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

The Diary of Adam and Eve

A Dog's Tale

The War Prayer 

Is Shakespeare Dead?

Letters from the Earth

So it's not surprising that in 8th grade I was accused by one teacher of having a "smart mouth".  I couldn't help it, I was influenced by all the sharp witicisms I was consuming from the pages of his work.  Of course, this was Martinez, Georgia in the mid-70's and my English teacher was thrilled that she had a student that was in love with word play and the power of the written word.  Not all of my teachers felt the same.

 

Although Mark Twain died in 1910, on two occasions the writer was incorrectly feared dead. Though only the second case would really be considered as a premature obituary, the first is often erroneously cited as the most famous case of the incorrect report of the passing of an individual:

1. In 1897 a journalist was sent to inquire after Twain's health, thinking he was near to death; in fact it was his cousin who was very ill. Though (contrary to popular belief) no obituary was published, Twain recounted the event in the New York Journal of 2 June 1897, including his famous words "The report of my death was an exaggeration" (which is usually misquoted, e.g. as "The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated", or "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated", or quite often "The rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated").
2. On 4 May 1907, when people lost track of a yacht he was traveling on, the New York Times published an article saying he might have been lost at sea.  In fact, the yacht had been held up by fog, and Twain had disembarked. Twain read the article, and cleared up the story by writing a humorous account in the New York Times the following day.

And its the first quote that I take as my inspiration for this blog entry. 

 

I have to admit I have never been a very good pen pal or correspondent of any type.   Back in the day (which as you can see below would have been somewhere along the mid spine)

 

 

I really did try to keep a few pen pals as that was before the joys of instantaneous internection connectivity but those brief forays into long range correspondance always faded after six months or so.  Therefore, it should be understandable that my natural proclivity is not able to keep up long term correspondence.  Its not that I don't know how to write.  Since high school I've received compliments on how well I express myself in the written forum.  Its just that given the choice, I would much rather read than write. 

 

There have been two notable exceptions to this natural order.  The first was during the long separations that I had from Amy when we were first together.  As young performers we would take work wherever we could get it and more often than not it meant that we weren't in the same place at the same time while doing it.  As a matter of fact, a month before we got married I was performing West Side Story in Berlin, Germany while Amy was performing Nunsense in Akron, OH USA!  Nevertheless, I would dutifully write her letters and cards to keep alive our connection.  It was part of the reality of that constant separation that caused me to leave "the business" as it became increasingly more clear to me that the only way we could have a family was if we were in the same place at the same time.

 

The other exception was this past summer when I made a concerted effort to try and write every day while on the road to let everyone know how the journey had progressed.  However even that was not a complete success as I have twelve entries in various stages of draft completion.  Although considering we were gone for 74 days, I guess that's not so bad for me.  Added to that I have five other drafts stretching back to 2011 that I started and never finished for a total of 17 unfinished drafts - but I'm working on it.  One idea I have is to collect all of those blog entries and create a book of our travels with each entry being a separate chapter.  For those of you who have followed my blog posts you know they tend to be long and verbose (despite my best efforts, this has been a lifelong "curse" I always write TOO much) so with a little judicious editing and addition they can be chapters unto themselves.

So what has all of this got to do with Mark Twain's quote?  I've been far to silent for far too long and I do know that I have followers who are interested in some of what I say as evidenced from the almost 30,000 views this blog has received.  I'm sure some of you who read my blogs somewhat regularly over the summer have probably wondered what the hell happened to me and what is going on?  To be sure, a lot has happened in my life both good and bad, most recently we had a scare of sorts with William but we just received word this past week that he is "clean" and healthy and that the likelihood of his tumor returning is pretty nil.  To be honest this has consumed most of our life here in the month of February.  The news has really brought us all back to life, pretty much the way this guy feels;
 

 

As you can imagine our lives are incredibly happy now because our little boy is healthy and clean. 

 

Another thing that has been going on is my incredible lack of motivation to ride.  I've chalked up my riding log and I've realized that I've only ridden five days since the first of the year.  I've had many colleagues at school ask me if I'm still riding and I've been incredibly embarassed to admit that I haven't.  Now I can justify a lot of the last eight weeks away by talking about how I'm just getting over the flu, how the roads were really bad because of Winter Storm Nemo, how I've been unable to ride on the weekends because I'm a member of the Northport Fire Department and I want to be able to go on calls, my nagging knee injury that made bending my leg near impossible for two weeks (which I treated myself, shhh don't tell my orthopedist), etc.

 

But in reality the answer is simply I SUCK!  I have allowed myself to fall into the post "I HAVE  ACHIEVED MY DREAM" doldrums.  Last year I logged the most miles that I have ever ridden in my life on the road (7746.26) and I've just been feeling worn out and unmotivated to get back out there.  I've been forgetting the reasons I started riding in the first place;

 

It's fun!

It's freedom!

I can make a difference!

 

So I'm happy to say I'm back and I'm getting back in the saddle and starting to pedal again to help those who need it.  For starters, I'm going to be part of the Bicycle Rescue Squad for the Doug Wood 5K Cross Country Run on April 13!  Its one of the reasons I wanted to join the Rescue Squad in the first place - to combine my passion for helping others with my passion for cycling.  Its my hope that by next year I'll be a fully certified EMT and I can really be even more of a help to folks.

 

Secondly, I'm joining my wife, daughter and one of my sons in shaving our heads for the annual St. Baldrick's event.  Amy and Sarah have formed a team called Bald and Beautiful and although they are beautiful, I'm just going to be bald.  The only problem is as of yet I haven't raised any money towards my $500 goal.  If any of you would like to help me get there, you can contribute to funding children's cancer research by clicking here.  C'mon, whose going to be the first?

 

Oh, and I got back on the bike today and rode in to work.  And that was fun.

 

So, I'm not dead yet, I'm coming back to life and I hope you'll all join me for the ride!

 

And to make sure I don't really die, at least I'm not dumb enough to do this on my commute;

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

Frozen Stay Puft Cyclist

Today I decided that I'd had enough of this bronchial infection/chest cold/head cold/whatever-the-heck is keeping me from being able to take a deep breath without hacking up a lung and I was going to get on my bicycle and ride, damn it!

	Queen - Bicycle Race .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

So I get up at 5:30 and I put on the coffee ('cause I know I'm REALLY gonna need it!) and went down into my man cave (okay it's really more of a man corner) in the basement and prepped Black Pearl for the ride.  Then I took her outside and if I didn't hear the voice of Morgan Freeman/James Earl Jones I'm not sure what it was because it was deep and melodious and it was asking me if I was sure about this.  Let me just say IT WAS COLD!!!!!!  But I have so often done in the past, I remembered one of the main I reason is for those who can't becuase they are fighting a disease that has rendered them unable to jump/run/play the way other kids can.  So I gathered my things and got myself ready to girt (yes, a nice biblical way to say that) myself for the cold.  I kissed the wife and James goodbye and stepped outside.  Even with the three layers and the baclava that made my look like a two-wheeled Ninja it was COOOOOOOLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDD!!!!!!

But there is also another reason I needed to ride today.  You see my friends when I feel the need to feel my emotions (harken it back to the state of flow I mentioned in my last post) I ride.  I rode when David died.  I rode when my Aunt Janice died.  I ride when I'm frustrated (which I have to tell you I've been very frustrated lately but that's due to work issues and not personal ones) and I ride when I feel powerless.  Right now I'm feeling very frustrated, angry and powerless because someone who I think of as one of the most amazing people in the world (even if she doesn't know I think it) is facing this damn disease again.  My friend Dana Lewis is an incredible and amazing person.  I met her while I was still performing and I was always struck by what an amazing performer she was and what a brilliant choreographer she was.  One of my biggest regrets about leaving the business was that I never had the opportunity to dance for this incredible woman.

We recently go the news that this amazing dancer is once again fighting cancer.  She has been through it before and beat the damn thing and we've been praying that it would stay in remission.  Although I don't know all the details, I DO know that she has a small tumor lying on a lymph node on the right side of her pelvis.  When she e-mailed us four days ago she thought she might have to have surgery yesterday but as it turns out she couldn't because of the placement of the tumor so she's going to have to go through treatment.  Dana, if by chance you do read this - today was for you, darlin'.

So thinking mainly about my friend I just decided to suck it up and stop complaining because its nothing compared to what she's dealing with.  So I headed out and I froze.  I won't go into all the gory details, just know that I couldn't feel my fingers and I couldn't feel my toes and not in the good way indicated in this classic;

	Various - PGSORM & Marky Ramone & Tyson Ritter of the All American Rejects / I Want to Be Sedated .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

But I will tell you I definitely felt like I wanted to be when I got to school.  The wind was gusting right across my beam (that's thrown in for all you nautical folk) and it was extremely slow gowing.  I had hoped when I arrived that one of the kids would be around with their smart phones so I could have them take a picture of the Weather Channel.com's display of the current temperature in Syosset when I arrived.  Well at 7:42 AM this is what it said;

Today's Forecast: Partly Cloudy Scattered Flurries Clouds Early / Clearing Late
Currently:  Partly Cloudy
Current Temperature: 23°F
Wind Chill:  Feels Like: 8°
Wind:  From WNW at 19mph gusting to 25mph
Farmingdale, Republic Airport
Lat: 40.73 Lon: -73.41 Elev: 85
Last Update on Dec 15, 6:53 am EST

So, needless to say when I arrived I felt like my carbonite friend above.  BRRRRRR.  It took me about two periods to completely thaw out.  The rest of the day actually went great because once I thawed out I was incredibly energized by finally being able to physically do something!  But ninth period rolled around and I had to spend 15 minutes getting my cycling gear ready (and adjusting the brake that had been rubbing the entire ride this morning - yet another thing that slowed me down!).  So I get all dressed and I get ready to go and I check the WeatherChannel.com website and here's what it read when I left the school:

Today's Forecast: Scattered flurries. Partly sunny, with a high near
Currently:  Mostly Cloudy / Windy

Current Temperature: 26°F
Wind Chill:  Feels Like 12°
Wind: From WNW at 23mph gusting to 29mph
Farmingdale, Republic Airport

Lat: 40.73 Lon: -73.41 Elev: 85
Last Update on Dec 15, 1:53 pm EST

Yep, that was fun! And even though it was an entire three degrees higher it still left me feeling numb and unable to form coherent thought.  But the good news was I HAD A TAILWIND!  Nevertheless, it still had me feeling a bit like this;

But I made it home without losing any appendages to frost bite so I guess it was a good time after all.  You know, a sucky day on a bike is better than a good day on the golf course, or something like that.

But as I pulled up the last hill on the way to Northport I thought once again of my friend Dana and I realized that THIS is why I ride, to feel like in some small way I'm helping them in their fight - the cold be damned!

So, tomorrow I'll probably go out again on my bike (we're going to have a veritable heat wave of 35 degrees) and I'll think of Dana, I'll think of Stanley Cherry and all the kids of Sunrise Day Camp and I'll do my best to remember that they have it so much worse than my discomfiture of 45 minutes.

Stay well my friends and I'll see you on the frozen road.

The World According to a Snob

Okay, so lately I've been reading a very enlightening book written by a persona known as Bike Snob NYC (if you look to the right of my main page here you'll see a link to his blog or you can just follow this link to BikeSnobNYC).  Now I have to say, I don't follow too many blogs on a daily, monthly, yearly, regular basis.  Honestly I don't have that much time in reality but I do follow his as well as the Cycling News website mainly to see if Alberto Contador has 'fessed up to using Clenbuterol - I mean c'mon tainted beef, the only time that happened to me was from eating bad meat in a Mexican restaurant in Berlin, Germany and I had food poisoning for three days.

(click on the "D" above and zoom in to street view to see the theater where I was performing West Side Story at the time I contracted said food poisoning - ugh!)

Of course the other main website I follow is that of my beloved Dallas Cowboys who don't seem to be doing so well.  Actually, for them it probably feels like the world is falling down around their shoulders, or at least the sky is falling.  It would probably look something like this;

(Notice the nonplussed expression on this Cowboy fan's face)

But of course, anyone who is a New York Met's fan probably knows that same feeling.  I can't help but already start to think that the season is already over.  And now that the last great challenge for the peloton comes this Saturday in the form of the Giro di Lombardia whatever will I pay attention to?  Yes, I guess I could hope against hope that things will change (remember, the glass is half full) but I'm not holding out hope this year.  I really can't anymore.

But I digress - what else is new oh faithful readers??????

So I've been reading the Bike Snob's Book, the full title being (as you can see from up above) Bike Snob:  Systematically and Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling.  Now don't get me wrong I love the Bike Snob's post and I've learned a lot (even borrowed some things, see the dachsund of time) about writing and posting blogs.  Although I have to shamefacedly admit that as much as I try I'm not as prolific as he.  Still I try.  Digression anyone?

As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself I've been reading his book and I'm working on my second reading of it, primarily because I have nothing else at home I want to read, although I have been thinking about digging up my copy of Stendahl's The Red and the Black (which I haven't touched since I read the first third of it in my college English class but it's always intrigued me as a great source for a musical) and reading through that.  Darn, my constantly moving train of thought, now I'm stuck somewhere on a sideline.

So in the opening chapter the Bike Snob talks about how the bicycle is one of the great inventions of all time and a way that we know that is because the Amish people (who normally eschew anything that is technological and ostentatiously decorative) use it constantly;

and even the womenfolk get into this utilitarian mode of transportation;

and sometimes they even use it as a family outing event, sort of like an extended SUV - but of course I think they prefer to call it Ye olde paceline;

The point that he makes though is that the bicycle is an amazing invention and there is not much you can do to improve it, though many have tried, witness The Schweeb;



Now, given my penchant to enjoy many things German I am intrigued by this simply because the name for it comes from the German word "schweben" which means to "float" or "suspend" as the company proudly flouts on its website schweeb.com.  Yet as one of my students (Jillian Feinstein to be exact, which now makes two of the past four ACT presidents I have quoted), "I don't think people will use it because people are lazy and when they commute they want to sit and listen to their iPod.  You're the exemption to the rule of American laziness."  Ah, gee thanks Jillian Sarah.  But I think she has a point - to which I imagine the Amish velocipedists would agree.

We as an American people (can we really be considered a people when we can't even get legislature passed because we can't agree on anything?) are lazy when it comes to our European, Asian, Australian or even Antartican bretheren and sistren.  In those parts of the world the bicycle is used as a form of commutation (in the sense of commuting not to be confused with its use in the legal sense which is defined as "the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional.") on a daily basis which is part of the reason why (with the possible exception of China) no other country in the world contributes as much to global warming as we do.

There are many good reasons to get out and ride your bicycle - transportation, exercise, attracting the other sex, save the environment, or to help others less fortunate than yourself.  All endeavors of which I think even the Bike Snob himself would be proud.  Yesterday seemed to be a day when a bumper crop (which is slightly more than boucoups and slightly less than a hell of a lot) of cyclists seemed to be on the streets that make up the environs of Syosset, Huntington, Greenlawn, Northport (i.e., the route I usually travel to and from work).  I counted at least 22 cyclists of all varieties (commuters, day laborers, casual riders and a pace line of four "enthusiasts") in my 15 mile (shhhhh, I took the long way home) commute home.  The weather was great and it was nice to be sharing the road with so many of my cycling brethren and sistren right here on the streets of home.

I have to say, of the five categories I listed above I think I qualify for all except the third one (primarily because I have already attracted the perfect woman and its hard enough as it is to get her to ride her bike) but the one that is most near and dear to me is the last one.  I just wish I could do more. 

As you've all read in many of my previous posts I really want to cycle cross country to raise money for Sunrise Day Camp.  I believe in what they're doing and I see what they can do for the kids that are fortunate to go there.  To be able to raise $50,000 in order to send 8 kids to camp and make a difference in their lives would be the most amazing gift I think I could give to the world.  But I can't do it by myself.  I need help and to be honest at this point I don't know where to turn to find it.  I'm not good at all at the self promotion business.  I don't toot my own horn, even at those times when I should.  I know the route I want to follow, I know (roughly) what we need in terms of financial support but I don't know how to go about getting it.  Do ANY of YOU have any ideas?  Can you share them?  I know some of you have put the word out (thank you so much Jason) but I think its going to take a village to pull this one off. 

So, my fellow villagers in this great community we call Earth, how about it?  Can each of you help me by trying to reach out to ten people who might be willing to help me procure sponsorship to complete this Mitzvah Project?  Can you help me find ten people or businesses willing to sponsor me for $1,000 each so that I can have the funds we would need to raise five times that?  You have my e-mail, you have my facebook information so let's see how we can make a difference in the lives of children with cancer - let's use our bikes to fight this fight!

Stay well, and I will see you on the road (weather permitting).