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.

An Act of God

So those of you who have followed my blog know that I have a somewhat curious relationship with God.  I believe in him utterly and completely but there have been times that there is no doubt I have made God laugh becuase of my presumptiveness.  Now, I don't believe in a vengeful God that likes to mess with us just out of principle but I do think it is a mistake to tempt him and I know I have suffered the wrath of said deity as a result.

I do converse with him on a daily basis yet I have to admit that I have not heard him speak back in the voice of Morgan Freeman;


That would be; a) incredibly awesome and b) far too easy -  at least according to those philosphers such as Immanuel Kant, Frederik Nietzsche, Friedrich Hegel,  Rene Descartes, or Socrates (read all about them here) or if you need the shorter, quicker movie version;



Well, with all due respect to Mr. Descartes, I don't believe I exist because I think, I exist becasue I ride;

It is when I am on my bicycle that I can ultimately reach that meditative state of flow or as one writer puts it, "the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity."  For me this is through my riding and while riding I often reflect about the many things going on in my life.  Sometimes I even hear the dulcet tones of James Earl Jones quoting biblical verse:

But more often the sounds I hear are my own labored breathing as I go up Stilwell Lane.  And on a day like today it would not be pretty.

Well, speaking of today I was all set to go bike riding and I had set out all my gear last night, lubed my chain, adjusted my brakes and pretty much set everything up so that I could get a good early start in the morning since I knew I needed to go and confer with my colleagues about casting our spring musical Bye Bye Birdie.

However upon waking I realized that the congestion in my chest was had not cleared up and there was no way in the cold weather I was going to be able to breathe what with my cold induced asthma on top of whatever was going on in my chest.  So I drove in - AND A LUCKY THING I DID TOO!

For you see, faithful readers a radiator pipe had burst outside the Little Theater about 6:30 in the morning and flooded the hall, the student government office, the psychiatrist's office, the Little Theater AND THE COSTUME CLOSET where we house hundreds of costume pieces and various accessories!  When I first drove up I didn't know what to think since there was CAUTION ribbon strung up everywhere and I peeked in the window and saw all the costume closet contents out in the hall.  So I ran around to the other entrance expecting the worst!

Long story short, I was able to save almost everything and I'm so grateful to Charles Abner, Tim Horace and all the rest of the maintenance and custodial staffs for getting everything out and mopping up as much as they could so quickly.  I was able to get about 150 costumes that had been soaked out of the costume shop and into my car and off to the dry cleaners!  Of course this took me almost the entire day to do so there was no conferring about casting with colleagues - however we were able to save a couple of thousand dollars worth of costumes.  So for once, everything aligned FOR me for a change. 

So today, instead of being frustrated about not riding and how I need to start training very hard and getting myself used to riding in all conditions to "stiffen the sinews and summon up the blood" for the charge ahead, it was most fortuitous that I headed my body and drove - otherwise, I NEVER would have gotten all of those costumes home on my bike!

Don't get me wrong, I'm still working on getting sponsors for our cross country ride and I'm praying/conversing/communing with God every single day praying for miracles and hoping that sponsors will come forward - and I do most all of this while I'm riding my bike. 

So next week its supposed to be REALLY cold but I plan on riding.  I have my Madonna del Ghisallo medallion and I will keep communing with the big guy (God, not JEJ) while praying and hoping that someone will come forward and help us out.

Stay well everyone and I WILL see you on the road.