I love what I'm doing day #23

I got my snowbike all set up and ready to go. I don't care if there is only 1" of snow, I'm rocking the fatties!

I love what I'm doing day #21

This is awesome. You NEED to try it. NEED I say!

This website is also one of my favorite quick pic me ups during the day. (They up date it several times a day)

http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=4976

I love what I'm doing day #20

A medical student algorithm-

Getting out of anatomy lab early + Forgetting my workout clothes this morning = Killing a nap at lunch time

Love it.

I love what I'm doing day #19

Last week our instructors for our Wednesday class made comments about how whooped and discouraged we all looked. This week they brought in coffee and bagels to help us feel better because they "remember how hard it was".

That would NEVER happen to trainees in my old career field.

Love it.

I love what I'm doing day #18

Today on my lunch time training session I bonked for the first time since The Tour.

Love it.

I love what I'm doing day #15

I love working on the interior design for my house.

No, this isn't actually my house.

I love what I'm doing day #14 part deux

I know I already posted today but.....


Wanna know what is better than going to school all day, then studying all afternoon, then fighting rush hour traffic for forty five minutes to see my wife for dinner, then driving thirty minutes back to a study spot, then studying until 11pm, then waiting by the fire in the custom fireplace that I built for my super-smoking-hot-sexy-fine-ass wife to come home?

NOTHING.

I love what I'm doing day #14

I do not love Histology.

However, I do love half days!!!!!

I love what I'm doing day #13

Even though I'm totally burnt out with school and the twenty seven 600 level credits I'm taking are killing me, I'm still enjoying it.

Gotta love that.

I love what I'm doing day #12

I love that I get to celebrate the birthday of the most wonderful woman on the planet today.

Happy Birthday Love!!!!

I love what I'm doing day #10

Day 10......

I love schoooooooolllll!!!!!!!

Tour Divide Day 16

Day 16- Brazos to post Abiquiu- 105 miles

I woke up still sitting half way up against a tree, clutching a burger and chocolate milk in my hands. I even still had partially chewed burger in my mouth. Not wanting to waste even a gram of food, I finished my burger and chocolate milk while still sitting my my bivy.

I felt surprisingly good as I got up and packed my gear. The morning was absolutely gorgeous and my riding was feeling good. After a few hours I crested the infamous Brazos Ridge. It was everything it is made out to be.

It really was beautiful out there.

As the sun kept rising I realized that the heat was really going to play a role in my riding for the rest of the race. A heat response pattern was emerging... By nine am I was already about red lined. By noon I was crushed. By two I was barely conscious. By four I was ready to quit the race. This continued on but it got worse every day. Until day 19 where I actually passed out on the bike twice.

I eventually passed Hopewell lake (I think that's what it is called) and I saw the DAY USE ONLY shelter from from Jill Homer's blog. (Mental note, there is a pretty big paved climb for the four miles before this little spot.) I tried to get water from the spigot there but it wasn't working. I almost went to the camp host for some water but it wasn't that far to Cannon Plaza and the Snack Shack that was featured in the movie. Little did I know....

I continued on through the heat of the day. My progress got slower and slower and sssslllooowwwwer and sllllloooooo.... Ok you get the idea. The heat really had me out of sorts and I eventually started walking even the smallest of hills.

I came upon a road that looked a bit more civilized and I realized I was near the Snack Shack!!! Visions of cold drinks and fresh food danced through my head. I saw a sign that pointed up a driveway and up the driveway were a few bikes outfitted for bikepacking. I rode up and was greeted by three riders who were touring their way Northbound.

Unfortunately the Snack Shack was closed but they were letting people get cold water from their hose. I gratefully accepted and downed a few liters on the spot. I didn't have much food left, a few snack packs of crackers I think, but it was only a few more miles to the next town (about 40) and I reasoned that I would be able to make it just fine.

This really illustrates what the tour does to your sense of perspective. I litterally thought to myself, "Well it's about 100 degrees out here. I have been riding for 12 hours without stopping. I have two liters of water and about 200 calories of crackers. Yeah that should get me FORTY more miles. No Problem."

That is just asinine.

I loved every minute of it.

I rode through the next small town, El Rito, with quite some caution. I have read that there are tons of rabid dogs there that have a taste for skinny bikepackers. Fortunately for me I've never been accused of being skinny so I didn't have any problems with the mutts.

The cruise into Abiquiu was actually really nice. The sun had started to go down so I was feeling much better. After a bit I was in the aero bars hammering away down the pavement. I can't remember exactly what the elevation change was but it seemed like quite a bit of descending.

At the edge of town I stopped at a convenience store and reupped some food and such for the stretch to Grants. I chatted it up with a ten year old kid who really wanted to know if I was going to win. Just about that time Kurt and crew were about to the finish. Maybe next time dude, maybe next time.

I cruised on into Abiquiu proper and found the one place that was open, The Abiquiu Inn. The food smelled great but it looked like it was going to take a long time to get food. I decided that I would take the time penalty and sit down for good food. Sometimes warm food does so much to make one feel human.

As I walked into The Inn there was a guy playing banjo on the front porch. PODUNK. 

After a good meal, to include a salad and fruit(!), I begrudgingly pushed myself out the door and started up the long climb out of Abiquiu. I went through a scary little town just about five miles outside of Abiquiu. The scariness was only compounded by the increasing darkness and all the barking dogs.

The road got rough and I was still without a light. I was going to keep riding into the dark as much as possible but it was just incredibly hard to stay upright. (These were the roads that Matthew Lee lamented about in the movie when he recanted the story about the rider that was found passed out on the roadway.) I decided to bivy it up near a small stream. You know, discretion is the better part and all that.

Until next time.

I love what I'm doing day #9

I love that last night my mind was completely numb from a long day at school and I got to reward myself by watching lame TV shows for about four hours before I passed out in bed and got EIGHT HOURS of sleep.

I love what I'm doing day #8

Day 8

I love killing it on an anatomy exam.

Which just happens to be why I missed yesterday's requisite entry....

I love what I'm doing

Day #6

I was so engrossed in studying anatomy that I forgot to post days 3, 4, and 5.

I love what I'm doing day #2

I love what I'm doing day #2

I'm listening to a professor lecture about special sense, specifically the operation of the eye. It is an AWESOME organ.

First medical school class is OVER

My first medical school class is OVER.

We covered four credits of six hundred level biomedical material in SIX weeks, not to mention all our other classes.... 23 credits in all.

These first few weeks have been tough but doable. I feel like I am learning more about myself than I am about medical science. Which has really caused me to look deep inside myself and ponder.

I felt this pondering nature reflected through the death of Steve Jobs. I heard a recording of the speech he gave at Stanford's graduation commencement ceremony in 2005. In the story he reflected upon his life, dropping out of college, the way that the events of his life had come together, and how he had remained driven despite several dramatically hard events in his life.

The course of his life looked strikingly like mine; dropped out of college at 20, pursued his dream job, was fired at the age of 30, and had to restart his life. In fact, that is the exact course that my life has taken. Steve said these rough times forced him to make the hard decisions in life and he couldn't have been more grateful.

You see I, like Steve-o, choose to pursue my dreams each time I had to restart. When I decided on medicine I did so because it was the only thing I could see myself being happy doing. Sure, it was a gamble. Sure, I was VERY likely to fall on my face. Sure, few people thought that the big stupid ogre could actually do. But, I still went for it boldly, fearlessly, and passionately.

Steve said he measured his life by looking in the mirror each morning and asking himself, "If I knew I was going to die today, would I do anything differently than what I am going to do right now?" He said if the answer was no too many days in a row then he knew it was time to make a change.

I articulate this same sentiment by saying, "If I don't love it, I refuse to do it."

Sure, this is a hard line to tow but it has taken me into two dream careers, across the rockies on a bike, and into the best medical school in the country.

With that being said, I have decided to post one thing that I am doing that I love every day for one year. These posts might not be long but they will be heartfelt and I hope they will encourage others to get out there, roll the dice, and head boldly in the direction they want to go.


DAY #1- Sneaking home to cuddle with my wife at lunch.

Tour Divide Day 15

Tour Divide Day 15- Del Norte to the Brazos, 85ish miles

Man, I have not been keeping up on the blogging. I apologize. This med school thing is getting to me. It's only been five weeks and I've already lost the ability to hold a normal conversation, which is mostly do to my inability to remember everyday words. 


This day started out early.  I was up and at 'em as soon as I could get moving. With a quick thanks to Gary I was out the door.

It was hard to get the bike going. I could really feel the day before, bot mentally and physically. I decided to just work it out the best I could. All the other days had started out pretty rough but had usually gotten better after a bit. This day would not be the same. The long 18-22 hour days of riding were really taking their toll on my body and even worse, they were wreaking havoc on my poor mind.

The climb out of Del Norte (I still don't know how to say that!) starts out pretty easy. Then it gets rough. The challenge of this climb is only compounded by the elevation, I believe the highest on the divide. I got really tired while riding, the kind of tired that makes you cry. (Not that I'm admitting to it.)

I started walking some of the steeper sections when I heard a familiar voice speaking a not so familiar language. It was the Eurotrain! They were down a rider and they looked good but I could tell they were feeling tired. After a short conversation about melting handlebar grips and some hand shakes, they were off. I figured I was now dropped back out of the top ten but I was still very proud of where I sat. I was determined to try and keep the Eurotrain in range and hope that I could get my body to come around.

The climbing continued, and so did the walking. I finally reached the top. I thought it was the highest point and I would get to do some descending to Platoro. I was soooooo wrong.

The rolling hills and rough road continued FOREVER until I reached Platoro. I don't really think that the road was rough and steep so much as I was just blitzed out of my mind from the day before, and frankly the whole race. I was sunburned, 25 pounds lighter, over heated, and under motivated. 

I finally rolled into Platoro. I loaded up water, ate till I almost puked, and resupplied. It was here that I picked up a long sleeve denim shirt to keep the sun off my arms. and torso. This shirt ended up working pretty well for the rest of the race. Although, I must admit I looked like a wondering hobo (very fitting indeed!). 

Little children were scared just at the sight of me... I now see why.

Getting to Platoro had take most of the day(I think I got there just about 2pm?) and I was just plain whooped. I mounted up all my energy and thrust my self out into the heat of the day. It was in the mid 90's and this Alaska boy was melting. 

The onslaught of dirt road-age seemed to be never ending and I granny geared my way up even the slightest inclines. Looking back, I am embarrassed at how slow I must have been moving. Also, I'm incredibly proud I suffered through and kept going. 

After the dirt road ended, I turned onto some pavement... A welcomed relief! The relief was short lived though as I looked up to see and ENORMOUS five mile climb. It didn't help that I was loaded down with 6.5 liters of water and tons of food. 

The pavement slowly passed as I road on and on and on. It seemed like this hill would never end. (And for quite some time it didn't!) I finally saw the crest of the hill after about 45 minutes of granny gear grunting. I decided to let it ride and actually puts some power into the pedals. I was surprised to find that I actually still had energy after the suffering of the day. 

I actually still felt good after cruising up the hill so I kept riding hard. I looked west to see an incredible view of rolling/mountainous terrain that was bathed in this surreal golden light. Sometimes the wilderness just has a way of masking even the most brutal misery. I then realized that I was feeling better because the temperature was dropping. 

I resolved to ride into the night very late. This would allow me to start a cycle of sleeping during the day and riding at night to avoid the brutal divide heat. I continued to give myself a pep talk about how smart I was to come up with this plan all evening until the sun started to go down. 

I turned a corner off the pavement and hit the dirt road that would take me into the Brazos and thus put me in the final state of the Divide. I reached down to turn on my EOS light and realized it was missing. WHAT?!?!?!?! I foolishly only had one light and it had somehow worked it's way off during the rough roads of the day. 

I decided I would ride as late as I could and hope for the best. I even rigged up my rear blinking light to face forward but that really didn't help matters. I went down a few times in the dark, passed the state line (WOOOHOOO!), and went down a few more times.

That last fall left me on my back, in the middle of a dirt road, in the middle of nowhere, staring up at an incredible view of the clear starry sky. I would have slept just like that had I not been in the middle of a dirt road. I pushed on until I found a perfect out cropping of pines, I cleaned up with baby wipes, and crawled into my bivy. 

I started eating a burger and drinking chocolate milk while I was propped half way up against a tree. Then I remember nothing. I woke up in this same position the next morning: a burger in my left hand, half consumed chocolate milk in my right hand, and a mouthful of half chewed bacon-cheese-beef-goodness. I didn't even spill my milk! Even though this was one of the shortest days on the Divide, I apparently had earned every last inch of ground that I covered.