My father died on Memorial Day in 1967. That was fifty years ago. That is hard for me to fathom. Fifty years ago. I was ten.
He died drunk driving in Sheffield Village, Ohio leaving behind a wife and seven children, including two year old triplets.
I could write page after page about this and perhaps someday I will (but not on a bicycle blog).
He served as a radioman on a bomber in the South Pacific during WWII and I have silk maps that he carried with translations to Japanese such as, I am an American, etc.
The morning of his death I carried the American flag in the Memorial Day Parade; the world was never the same.
I got a nice message from woman asking if I still ride and for permission to use one of my photos on local township page. It was nice to be asked and I gave permission as long as I received photo credit.
As for, do I still ride?
Since I retired nearly six years ago my life has been in a constant state of flux. My brother was sick and I did what I could until his death eight months later. Then my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and I took care of her until she succumbed. Immediately after another brother was diagnosed with mouth cancer and I took care of him for a long time until his eventual remission. All during this time I was giving care to my elderly father-in law. Much of this was bittersweet as I did all of his cooking and care. I learned how to cook and enjoyed our time together. He died in February.
For the first time in the long time since I retired I was free from obligation. I threw myself into my hobbies; chess, guitar, writing and poker. I ended up winning an $11,200 seat to the Main Event of The World Series of Poker. Everything is working out perfectly. My wife is retiring at the end of the month so her and my daughter can go with me to Las Vegas in July. I hope to do well and as far as I’m concerned I’ve already won. It’s going to be great.
Getting back to cycling. I was out a bit in February and April but right after I won the seat to the WSOP I came down with a horrible case of gout. I’d had it a couple times before in my big toe but nothing like this. My entire foot swelled and even with medication it didn’t go away for three weeks. It was the kind of misery I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I went to my doctor and he said, “Don’t feel bad, it happens to a lot of old fat guys with poor diet.” This was a serious wake up call. I am making changes.
The weather has been rain, rain and more rain but I will be on the bike soon.
Anybody reading this must be shocked. I’ve ridden twice in two days! I am in worse shape than I thought. My legs hurt a little from yesterday’s ride but I was fine. Even went a little farther. To ride two days a row in February is the life.
Plus I’m down a dozen pounds since my initial weigh-in on February 4th. I’m really committed to getting in shape. I’m eating right and exercising. It is all coming together and hopefully will continue.
This is going to shock some people but I actually rode my bike today, in February!
It was a beautiful sixty degree day so I got on the bike and rode a measly 7.2 miles. I loved every minute of it. I am out of shape but it was joyful. Hopefully Spring has sprung and I can ride every day.
On Saturday the poker league that I belong started a weight loss bet. A dozen of us ponied up fifty dollars each to see who would lose the highest percentage of their weight by the final game of the season, June 10th, 2017. With my father-in-law gone and my brother’s health under control and returning I decided to take it seriously. The goal of health is important and the six hundred dollars is a nice incentive.
Starting the next day I immediately logged into MyFitnessPal and began logging anything and everything that I put in my mouth. Plus I charged my Fitbit Alta and walked 10,000 steps. I’m going to amp up my exercise while dialing down my eating and take it down.
Spring is right around the corner and the bicycle is waiting. I bought a bicycle jersey from The Silver Wheels Cycling Club from The Dog Days Wine Tour a size smaller than I wear. Looking forward to fitting into it.
It’s been a tough year. My brother has oral cancer and I’ve been his main caregiver. Endless doctor’s appointments, chemotherapy and radiation. Last week he had ten hour surgery to remove the cancer and insert radioactive seeds. It was brutal surgery and the entire process exhausted me.
Meanwhile my father-in-law has been declining over the past few years. He was in his late eighties and lives right behind us. He had a large number of health problems. Since I’m retired I became his primary caregiver and as time passed it took up more and more of my time. He started getting palliative care but they did very little. Then last week I was done. He had begun getting severe headaches and we had to take him by ambulance to the hospital. Found he had a mass in his brain. We began hospice. A few days later I found him dead.
I am exhausted. Now that my brother is in recovery and he is gone it is time to get my health back. I’ve gained weight and feel my age for the first time in my life.
Spring will be here soon and I will be on the bike. I’m sixty now and feel as though I’m running out of time.
I’m such a dumbass. The weather is finally turning nice so I want to get on the bike as often as possible.
I was beat from the Ride of Silence so I took a day off. The next day I got up and it was perfect out. It was going to be in the eighties so I wanted to get out before it got too hot. I pulled the bike out and realize the Garmin battery was low. I put it on charge. Grabbed my Sony ActionCam, realized the batteries were low. Grabbed my phone, at 4%. Damn. It would take an hour to get things going.
Didn’t leave until 10:30.
I headed to Oberlin and due to a train crossing closure had to take the long way around. There was a strong headwind coming from the west and it was sapping my strength but I’m not letting anythings stop me.
Halfway to Oberlin I saw a group from Silver Wheels Cycling Club going the other way. I caught it on video at the 1:45 mark.
Got to Oberlin feeling pretty good although it was getting warm. I took a short break.
I hadn’t known but there is a water station there. I drink my fill and refilled my water bottle.
Feeling pretty good I headed to Kipton. The ride there wasn’t bad.
Got back to Oberlin and headed home. The heat was kicking in and the wind had shifted from the south now. At around 25 miles I bonked. I only had one water bottle and it was empty and I realized I had made a lot of mistakes. I sat under a tree and regrouped.
The last four miles were tough. I pushed through going 8-10 mph and got home spent. I drank a gallon of water and vowed to stop being stupid.
What I did wrong:
Didn’t lay my stuff out the night before
Didn’t have my electronics charged
Didn’t eat anything before I left
Only took one water bottle
Went father than I should have with the miles that I have in
Yesterday was a beautiful day. Warm with a very light wind. I decided to ride west this time and head out to Wellington, Oh. It’s only about six miles away so it would be an easy ride. Just enough to start to get the legs in shape.
Got on the road and an annoying sound was coming from the bike. Checked the front brake and it was fine. Finally it became so annoying that I pulled over and found that the rear brake was rubbing. Although I am a certified Fred I carry a tool kit and thanks to the bike maintenance class I took at the Swerve Bike Shop I was able to adjust my brakes and solve the problem. I was very pleased with myself as I am not known as being a handy guy.
The ride took my past farms and woodland. Wellington is an old town with big houses. In the late 1800’s it was the cheese capital of the world.
I took a video, just to show what it is like to ride around where I live. I screwed up and didn’t pause it so it shows my avg speed as being much slower. No big deal. Also, I’ve found that having the software overlay the GPS info onto the video is very time consuming. It took four hours to do the overlay. That is why I am posting this the next day. Like I said, I am learning.
This is going to be a great season. Everything is coming together. Over the past year I’ve talked about my brother having cancer and all the time I’ve spent getting him treatment. It paid off. He had a PET scan last week and he is free of cancer. He is once lucky guy. When we started his cancer treatment he was given only a 20% chance of this. Wow.
Chubby For Life? 