Boredom

I'm not really sure what is up with me on this ride. I'm just not into it at all. I've only been doing 50-120 miles a day.

All day long my mind wanders and I day dream about working on our nursery, washing my harley, and gardening.

I think my lack of motivation stems from 2 things:

1) Zero competition. There isn't anybody to chase or runaway from. If my ass hurts and is blistered (which it is!) I can just sit in a cafe on the beach. If it starts hailing pea sized pellets, I can stop for the rest of the day.

Ultra racing/riding isn't any fun without competition

2) We're having a kid. A KID. (I even think it's mine this time).

The reality that I'll be missing some major milestones in the pregnancy is really hanging heavy on my heart. It's really making me want to nest and work on our home.

I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do here. Liz is heading home in a few days, I might just hitch a ride with her.

A new kind of adventure...

Lately I've realized that I'm not very good at taking things in a laid back manner. I always have a plan and I always try to accomplish as much as I can in as little time as possible.

I have 52 days off between being done with my clinical rotations and the last week of required activities for medical school. I tried and tried to find a race or a route that I could ITT, but alas there isnt anything appealing.

Therefore I've decided to go in my own new direction. I'm combining four of the adventure cycling association's routes to make a loop of the country, pacific coast, southern tier, Atlantic coast, and northern tier.

On Friday afternoon I will be riding my bicycle out of my driveway and heading south along the pacific coast. I plan to make three turns; left at Mexico, left at Florida, and left and Maine.

I hope to cover this loop in the time I have, but I'm also trying to make myself go unplanned, unpressured, and open to the adventure that will come.

If I average 215 miles a day, I'll make it back home in time for graduation week. If not, that's cool too, I'll just fly back.

Let's see what happens.

Wow, this blog has almost 18,000 views........ And not a single entry since last year!

I've decided I must race the divide again.

I'll try to blog about it!

Look, I have a blog!

I totally forgot about it!

Today somebody posted a comment on one of my Tour Divide articles. Talk about a blast from the past.

I'm in the midst of finals. My last one is tomorrow. I'm really mentally tired but I'm handing tough... Whoa ooohhhh ohhhh whoa ohhhh, HANGIN' TOUGH.

Wow, that's also a blast from the past.

Ok, see you later!

Ultra light weight backpacking gear

So, I have something of an obsession with ultra light weight gear. The obsession began with my quest to crush the Tour Divide (still ongoing by the way!).

Here are a few links for some light weigh deliciousness.

Custom ultra light gear. Suluk46.com

Ultra light sleeping gear. Enlightenedequipment.com

Online forum. Backpackinglight.com

I just had a thought that some of you might find it interesting.....

Other than that, I studied for 10 hours today. I'm going to eat some sustenance and hit the hay.

It's been over a year!

I love what I'm doing's first anniversary has officially come and gone.

And now, I will give a pictorial explanation of why I don't blog everyday like I should.

I love what I'm doing day #362

The post birthday deluge...

Yesterday was interesting. I usually get a bit sick a few weeks post flu shot, nothing bad but I'll sniffle for a few days and move on.

Not this year.

I got full on dripping from my nose, hoover dam, sinus drainage going on. Double doses of dayquil(registered trade mark!) weren't even cutting it. I think the major cliff in my precipitous descent into a full on medical emergency took place in the days leading up to the last exam. You know, stress, no sleep, more stress, more no sleep...

Which leads me to the days events. I woke up late thanks to a drug induced coma from the night prior. Greeting me on my phone was a text from my prof wondering why I wasn't in small group. I had of course sent out an email advising I was sick the night before, and I of course sent it to the wrong email address. Oh well.

I then spent the next day alternating between studying and checking to see if the grade from my last exam was posted online. Mind you these cycles lasted anywhere from .3 seconds to 15 seconds at the longest.

After doing this for 8 hours, I decided that it was time to party. I went home and was greeted by my wonderful wife who had set up a really sweet surprise for my birthday.

Look, I can hang things on walls!

For those of you not in the know, I raced my mountain bike over the Rockies from Canada to Mexico (all by myself and everything). There were lots of pro photographers on the course in different places and Liz went around online finding some really cool shots of me. She then got some great custom prints. The big one is printed on sheet metal and the smaller ones are printed on a metalic paper and framed in custom bike chain frames. Totally sweet.

Wanna know what's also sweet? Now you're in the know about the bike race! Aren't you awesome! Be sure to go to tour divide.org for more!

After the picture fest, the lucky lady and I went to a swank little bistro for burger and debate. All I'll say about that is, "I love Big Bird." And, I also want to see him in the unemployment line.

After that I went to bed, early, with tons of nyquil (trademark!) onboard.

Pretty good day, lord knows I loved it!