New Blog

While training this year for the MS ride, I have been blogging about my routine bike rides on my MS page but I think that will end as the MS ride has come to a close and the fundraising deadline is quickly approaching. I'm sure I'll be locked out of the site until I register for next year's ride so I thought I'd start up a new blog to share my experiences.

I have really enjoyed logging my bike rides. Sometimes nothing special happens. Sometimes I see extraordinary things. Sometimes I have find a new and exciting route. Sometimes I have an extreme or exhilarating experience. Sometimes I have a near miss where I think I'm going to die. Sometimes I just do something really stupid that makes me laugh and want to share with others.

My Mom asked the other day, after I did a 33 mile bike ride, "I thought you were done with the MS ride. Why are you still riding?" My answer, I guess its part of me now. As a kid and even in college I rollerbladed everywhere. If the destination was close enough, I would rather have bladed than drive. I enjoy the thrill of being able to go places by my own strength and will. I long dreamed about blading across the state of Idaho. I went out once and bladed up the front of the Shelley Butte and came down the side road. By the time I finished the hill I had thrown off so much rubber off my wheels that I could hardly skate anymore and had to struggle to get back into town where I could take my parents' car and drive home. Hence, I discovered that my passion of rollerblading had become hindered by the size and nature of the hard preformed rollerblade wheels. Moving on to New Jersey and then Montana, I found other obstacles preventing me from my favorite pastime.

It wasn't until my sister, Ashley, and wife, Sarah, convinced me to ride the MS ride in Utah that I discovered that I could realize my passion for hitting the open road with two inflatable tires rather that 8 hard rubber wheels. Between the road bike and the mountain bike, my options are almost limitless as I explore the country, going miles and miles powered only by my legs and drive (and sometimes gravity.)

So that is why I ride. I'll never be a great rider. I don't have the dedication to push myself beyond my limits to become faster and stronger. But I do have the desire to get out and go. For me its the experience that matters.