Is Richmond Bike Friendly? Not yet.

A day after the exciting conclusion to a week of bike racing here in Richmond, Virginia, many of my friends and acquaintances have been praising Richmond for it's production and participation in the UCI Road Cycling World Championship. Many lauded the great turnout and wonderful festival atmosphere. People spoke highly of Richmond and it's ever growing bike culture. Indeed, I was impressed with Richmond2015's production of the race. They did a superb job. Everyone was saying it. The announcers on the television, the newspapers, Richmond natives and transplants, visitors from Europe, and other countries. And I thoroughly enjoyed riding my bike all over Richmond to watch the races at a variety of vantage points. It was one big party all surrounding the great sport of cycling.

However, I have bad news for you Richmond. Richmond will never be a great cycling community as long as hick rednecks continue to endanger the lives of cyclists. Unfortunately, I see it all too often and today I had an encounter that was a little scary.

As I was on my commute home from work today, I was riding my bike in the bike lane on Lombardi when an old green Dodge van with the license plate WMJ-9572 purposely swerved in front of me and slammed on the brakes. Fortunately, I have good reflexes and superior bike handling skills that come from years of mountain biking as an adult and riding in traffic in Northern Virginia as a youth. I was able to slam on the brakes and slide sideways slightly. I yelled "Hey" at the top of my lungs. I assure you, I can yell very loud and I wanted to make sure the guy knew I was there. But he knew. He did it on purpose. He sped off in an angry fit, gesticulating and giving me the finger all the while his ancient van coughed and spewed black smoke from the exhaust.

Of course I gesticulated back and had a few choice words for him as he cowardly sped off. He did not turn and accidentally cut me off. No, he was just being his loser self.  He looked like a hard drinking, camel smoking idiot who does not have the capacity to think about anything more than how he is going to pay for his next pack of smokes or his next Budweiser. Do I sound a bit bitter?

I continued on up the road and turned North on Brook road. Then something else happened. A man in a white van stopped on the side of the road and waved a piece of paper at me. I stopped to see what he wanted. He witnessed it and wrote down the license plate for me. He told me about the law change this year designating the passing distance for cars around bicycles. I was very thankful for the information about the van.

How many years will it take for the idiot rednecks to die off? How long will it take for our cultures to homogenize so that we can accept each other and live together. Once that happens, Richmond could become a bicycle friendly town. But not until then. Sorry to rain on everyone's parade but all you cyclists out there know it's true. You don't want it to be true. But you know it is.

UCI Road World Championships Daily Update Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015

UCI Road World Championships Daily Update

Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015 What to expect Friday, Sept. 25 Race Schedule ·       Road Race Junior Women (50.33 miles) _ 10-11:50 a.m. ·       Road Race Under 23 Men (110.7 miles) _ 12:45-4:50 p.m. ·       Conquer the Cobbles _ 7-9 p.m. ·        Race Route: http://vabike2015.virginia.gov/road-circuit-map.html ·        The Road Circuit starts and finishes at 5th and Broad Streets. The technical course winds through the city of Richmond. Significant Downtown Road Closures ·       Roads closed: 9 a.m.-5:50 p.m.; 6-10 p.m. (Times are approximate; road closures will begin by 8 a.m. and could reopen sooner than 5:50 p.m. before closing again for night event; not all roads will reopen between the daily races and Conquer the Cobbles) ·       Broad Street closed from Belvidere to 14th streets ·       I-95 Exit 74C (West Broad St) closed at all times to northbound and southbound traffic ·       I-95 southbound Exit 74B (Franklin St) closed during road closure times ·       Crossing Main Street possible only at 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th streets during road closure times Events ·       Employee Zone, Madison Building plaza, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (must have state employee badge but can bring guests) ·    Noon: Meet & Greet with Ben King, Team USA cyclist ·     1 p.m.: Meet & Greet with the Governor & First Lady ·     Food trucks: ·     de Rochonnet Delights Chocolatier ·     Goatocado (vegetarian) ·     Firehouse Bar-B-Cue   ·     Grapevine ·     Grilled Meats and Treats ·     Port O’ Call ·     Cool Concessions (Ice cream) ·     State Employee Talent: ·     11:15 a.m.-Noon: VCU Peppas Pep Band ·     Noon-1 p.m.: Gerald Burton (R&B, Motown) _ VSU ·     1-2 p.m.: Ariel Unser (acoustic guitar) _ VCU ·     2-3 p.m.: Cathy Wysong (jazz) _ VSU ·     3-4 p.m.: Terry Witt (rock) _ DMV ·     4-5 p.m.: Logan Woolfolk (Motown) _ DMV ·       FanFest, Greater Richmond Convention Center, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ·       Fan Zone: Broad Street Start/Finish Zone; 23rd Street; Libby Hill, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. ·       Conquer the Cobbles, 7 p.m.: Amateur cyclists can take a lap on the same Road Circuit as those competing in the World Championships. Register atwww.sportsbackers.org or by clicking here. For a full list of road closures over the entire race course, visitnavigate.richmond2015.com. For more information on road closures in downtown Richmond, visit http://vabike2015.virginia.gov/commuting-parking.html. Visit www.vabike2015.virginia.gov and follow us on Twitter at @VaBike2015 for all the latest information about the race. ***Consider donating your used bike or bike parts to a CVC charity. Find more information here. ***

UCI World Championship Road Closure Information

UCI Road World Championships Daily Update

Friday, Sept. 18, 2015 What to expect through Monday Friday, Sept. 18 Events ·         Opening Ceremony, 6:30 p.m. on Brown’s Island. Free tickets required for entry. Tickets are gone, but click here to place your name on a waiting list. Significant Downtown Road Closures UNEXPECTED ROAD CLOSURE: Richmond Police have temporarily closed Broad Street from 8th-14th. Updates will be posted on www.vabike2015.virginia.gov and on Twitter @VaBike2015 when they become available. Beginning this evening, Broad Street will be closed from Belvidere through 14th Streets through Sunday, Sept. 27 Saturday, Sept. 19 Race Schedule ·         Team Time Trial Training _ 9 a.m.- Noon ·         Individual Time Trial _ 1-2:30 p.m. ·         Race Route: http://vabike2015.virginia.gov/team-trial-map.html ·         Saturday is a training day for riders participating in Individual and Team Time Trials Sunday, Sept. 20, through Tuesday, Sept. 22 Significant Downtown Road Closures ·         Roads closed: 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ·         Broad Street closed from Belvidere through 14th streets ·         I-95 Exit 74C (West Broad St) closed at all times to northbound and southbound traffic ·         I-95 southbound entrance at Exit 80 closed during road closure times ·         I-95 northbound entrance and southbound exit at Exit 78 (Boulevard) closed during road closure times ·         Belvidere Street eastbound and westbound exits on Downtown Expressway closed during road closure times  ·         Crossing Main Street possible only at 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th streets during road closure times Sunday, Sept. 20 Race Schedule ·         Team Time Trial Elite Women (24.1 miles) _ 11:30 a.m. -12:55 p.m. ·         Team Time Trial Elite Men (24.1 miles) _ 1:30 –3:35 p.m. ·         Race Route: http://vabike2015.virginia.gov/team-trial-map.html ·         The Team Time Trial course starts at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and finishes at 5th and Broad Streets. This is the only race in which cyclists compete on behalf of their trade teams. All other events are contested on behalf of their countries. Significant Downtown Road Closures ·         Roads closed: 10:30 a.m.-4:35 p.m. ·         Broad Street closed from Belvidere through 14th streets ·         I-95 Exit 74C (West Broad St) closed at all times to northbound and southbound traffic ·         I-95 southbound entrance at Exit 80 closed during road closure times ·         I-95 northbound entrance and southbound exit at Exit 78 (Boulevard) closed during road closure times ·         Crossing Main Street possible only at 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th streets during road closure times Events ·         FanFest, Greater Richmond Convention Center, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. ·         Fan Zone: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and Broad Street Finish Zone, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21 Race Schedule ·         Individual Time Trial Junior Women (9.3 miles) _ 10-11:10 a.m. ·         Ind. Time Trial Under 23 Men (18.6 miles) _ 11:30 a.m.-3:50 p.m. ·         Race Route: http://vabike2015.virginia.gov/time-trial-circuit.html ·         The Time Trial Circuit begins at 3rd Street between Leigh and Clay Streets and finishes at 5th and Broad Streets. This technical course winds through the city of Richmond. Significant Downtown Road Closures ·         Roads closed: 9 a.m.-4:50 p.m. ·         Broad Street closed from Belvidere through 14th streets ·         I-95 Exit 74C (West Broad St) closed at all times to northbound and southbound traffic ·         Belvidere Street eastbound and westbound exits on Downtown Expressway closed during road closure times  ·         Crossing Main Street possible only at 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th streets during road closure times Events ·         Employee Zone, Madison Building plaza, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (must have state employee badge but can bring guests) ·      Food trucks (open 11 a.m.-5 p.m.): ·      de Rochonnet Delights Chocolatier ·      Firehouse Bar-B-Que ·      Port O’ Call ·      Slideways Mobile Bistro ·      The Dog Wagon ·      The Hungry Turtle ·      Cool Concessions (Ice cream) ·      State Employee Talent: ·      11 a.m.-Noon: Shadowkicks (rock, blues, funk, reggae, R&B and jazz)  _ SCC ·      Noon-1 p.m.: The Coles Sisters (acapella inspirational quartet) _DMV ·      1-2 p.m.: Joanie Valentine (jazz) _ VDOT ·         FanFest, Greater Richmond Convention Center, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. ·         Fan Zone: Broad Street Start/Finish Zone, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. For a full list of road closures over the entire race course, visit navigate.richmond2015.com. For more information on road closures in downtown Richmond, visit http://vabike2015.virginia.gov/commuting-parking.html. Visit www.vabike2015.virginia.gov and follow us on Twitter at @VaBike2015 for all the latest information about the race. ***Consider donating your used bike or bike parts to a CVC charity. Find more information here. ***

Contacts Dena Potter Dena.potter@dgs.virginia.gov 804-786-0282 Parking/Badge Access 804-786-5675 Policy.dhrm.virginia.gov 804-225-2131 Non-emergency number 804-786-2568 www.rideGRTC.com 804-358-4782 www.richmond2015.com 804-788-5820

68 Days to Ironman

John really got around

Where has the time gone? It is August already. It has been a while since I have written about training and racing triathlon which is the main focus of my blog these days. If you have been keeping up with my posts, you know that my family experienced a great tragedy with the death of my younger brother John. Since John's passing, there are some things that have changed in my life. Overall, I am still healthy but I have picked up a few less-than-healthy habits. I am not overly worried about it. I am confident that I can dial things in over the next couple of weeks.

I think of John constantly. Every night before bed, I watch the remastered versions of the original Star Trek. John and I watched it together when we were young. Typically at the end of almost every episode, there is a little witty banter back and forth between Kirk, Spock, and Bones. These moments always evoked a laugh from John who would throw is head back while he laughed out loud. Somehow I have adopted watching every episode from start to finish as a sort of tribute to John. I watch on John's iPad that I inherited after John left us. It has become a habit and I don't feel like my day is complete without watching the next episode. Soon, I will be done with the whole series.

To be honest, watching TV in bed is not something I ever did until now. Except for the occasional hotel stay, Melissa and I have never had a TV in our bedroom. And we still don't. But now we have streaming video on our iPads and ear buds so we can watch different shows if we want to. We can pause the programming whenever we want and watch a great variety of shows. I am not sure it is all that healthy though. It ends up keeping me up late and I don't get as much sleep. Training for Ironman is an intensive lifestyle and sleep is critical to health and success. With 68 days to go until Ironman Louisville, my training is going to be notching up and rest will become even more important. If I was to analyze it from a psychologist's perspective, I would probably conclude that watching TV in bed before sleep is a coping mechanism. Not only does it remind me of fond times with my brother, it is also a form of escapism. I feel like if I did not watch TV or read a book I would likely just burst out in tears. I guess I don't really want to do that.

Lately, I have been relying on caffeinated sugary beverages to help offset my afternoon sleepiness. That is also something new in my life. I used to drink lots of soda and Red Bull but in January of 2010, I quit. Typically I don't consume any caffeinated foods or drinks until I get to the marathon during Ironman. I do want to put a stop to it. I gave myself a preliminary deadline of August 1st. That deadline has passed and I am still having an afternoon Red Bull. My next deadline is in 8 days. I will be 60 days out from the race at that point. My goal is better health and also to set myself up for success during my race. Tolerance to caffeine is something that is easily built up in the human body. I want the caffeine kick from coke to work its magic while I am running the marathon portion of my Ironman. In order for that to work, I have to cut back on it before the race. And now since it is written, it shall be done. Well, maybe tomorrow.

My Grieving Heart

A day does not pass without me thinking about my brother John. It has been slightly over two months since he passed away under the second-rate care he received at the hospital.  Suffice it to say, mistakes were made and have been documented. But that is not the point of this.

I just want to document my grief because I think it will help me with the healing process. Although, I don't believe I will ever be the same. I will forever have those images of my brother suffering in the hospital tattooed in my mind. I can hear him pleading to go home. And I remember my anger and feelings of helplessness as I tried to get nurses and caregivers to do something to help him. John's heart rate was 134 for the better part of an entire day and he had shortness of breath. I alerted the staff but they were unconcerned. Every workout I do, I am cognizant of my heart rate. Oftentimes, even after multiple hours of biking and climbing in the mountains, my average heart rate is well below 134. John was in his hospital bed for over a week. His heart rate should not have been so high.

No one seemed concerned but me. And John of course. He knew something was very wrong. In fact, in hindsight, John really seemed to know that he was very ill and truly I believe he knew he was close to death. And when the nurses put a tube down his nose in preparation for emergency surgery and he started throwing up dark red liquid as the tube simultaneously drained the red fluid at an alarming rate, his expression was one of fear but also of recognition. John knew things were bad. I will never forget that moment. He eyes said to me, "I have had enough!" He pleas to go home were one of insight. He did not want to die in the hospital. Who does? But when the fluid started spewing and his blood pressure dropped and the crash team was inefficiently summoned to his room, he was ready to give up. He had been through so much and dealt with such horrible care. He rolled his eyes and shook his head side to side as if to say, "I can't do this anymore."

I was so scared but I am also glad I was there. I was able to talk to the crash team and help them piece together his last day. I had spent all night in the room with John and I have a good memory. I knew everything that had been done or not been done. Typically in an emergency like this, family members are encouraged to leave so the nurses and doctors can quickly and efficiently share information and implement the appropriate procedures. The nurses let me do the talking. I asserted myself and grabbed the attention of the young crash team doctor. I answered his questions and the actions the team took stabilized John. He was still feeling so terrible and continued to look defeated. It was so unfair. John was kind and caring, never mean to anyone. Sure he squashed a few ants as a child but beyond that, he treated everyone with kindness and respect. John was an inspiration and did not deserve any of this.

There is more to the story and I plan to document it here. But for now, I want to talk about the sadness and grief that comes over me pretty much every day.

As I mentioned, I think of John every single day. I often get these waves of sadness that come out of nowhere. One minute I am laughing, the next I am weeping. The other day, I was in a movie theater watching Ted 2. You don't need to know much about the movie other than it is an irreverent and crass movie with juvenile jokes throughout.  In the movie, one of the main characters is in the hospital. The others ask the doctor to do something to help the injured character. The doctor says, "we have done all we can, it is up to him now." When the doctor in the movie uttered this cliche I was suddenly reminded of John's last day in the hospital and I burst out in tears. I thought, "Damn doctors! They don't seem very helpful!" I tried to conceal it as well as I could. I did not want the other patrons to think I was weeping over the story line. It did not take me long to stifle my tears, take a deep breath, and calm down. Of all places to feel the grief and sadness, sitting in Ted 2 was the last place I would have thought I would suddenly feel that way.

There are some other examples and I plan to share them in the future. Poor John. He did not deserve the poor treatment he got. He did not deserve to die the way he did. It is just not right. I love you John and I miss you so much!



 

My Brother John

Thank you all for coming today to celebrate and remember my dear beloved brother John. Today I would like us to remember John, share some stories about him and of course-say good by to him.

John Rosen was a real jerk, said no one ever in the universe. On the contrary, John was the exact opposite. You can just look around the church here today and see so many people who were touched by John's life.

It is safe to say that all of you knew my brother in one way or another. For some of you he was a coworker. He was the coworker who was reliable and always polite and smiling. For some of you he was a former classmate who always had a sunny disposition and a positive attitude. For many of you here today he was a part of your church family. He was the guy who was always smiling, always positive. For the rest of you he was a good friend. Someone that again, was always smiling, always polite, always asking about your well being or the well being of your family. Some of the words that have been used to describe John are "brave", "courageous", "kind soul", "positive attitude", "gentle soul", "understanding person", "inspirational", "empathetic." Truly John was all of these things.

John was a brother, an uncle, a cousin, a nephew, a good friend, and of course a loving son to a wonderful mother and father. Today, I would like to talk more about John and tell you some things you might not have known about John and share some of his stories.

John was born with Spina Bifida which is a birth defect that affects the growth and development of the spine in an unborn baby. When I was a kid, Spina Bifida was a big word so our parents used these words to describe it. We always said, John was born with an "open spine." If you want to learn more about it, I invite you to google it or check out the brochures available.   Nowadays Spina Bifida can be detected in a developing fetus and surgery can be performed in utero to correct the problem. For John, that technology did not exist and for people of John's cohort who were born with an open spine, they were most often confined to a life of limited mobility with not as many life opportunities as the rest of us.

However, in John's case he was fortunate to have a brilliant young neurosurgeon and a genius mad scientist of a doctor at Children's hospital in Washington DC. He was also fortunate to have super supportive parents. My mom and dad went the extra mile to provide John with the best care possible. My mom and dad's unconditional love along with my dad's engineering brain helped contribute to John's rich life. In the beginning of John's life though he had to face a number of challenges, and the solution was often surgery.

Dr. Milorat was technically not even on the staff at Children's hospital when he performed his first surgery there. John was his first patient. Dr. Milorat had been repairing spines in New York and was well known for being a superb neurosurgeon. Dr. Milorat thought that John would be able to walk which was certainly not true of many people born with an open spine. John had only been alive for 4 hours when he had his first surgery to close up his spine. Later at one month of age, John had a plastic tube, a shunt, put into his body that drained cerebral spinal fluid from the brain down into his stomach.

Dr. McKay was performing revolutionary surgery to repair, correct, and rebuild children. I can imagine the conversations he must have had with other doctors. "Well, why don't we fuse those bones together so he can stand on that leg?" "Why don't we take out that bone, twist it around, and bolt it back together with metal pins? We can put a cast on it until it heals in the correct position." "How about if we take out that muscle from his stomach and put it in his leg?" "How about we cram titanium rods into his back?" These are all things that John had done mostly at a very early age.

In fact, by the age of 12, John had had 24 surgeries. For those of you who might be arithmetically challenged, that's two surgeries a year on average. And these were not simple surgeries. This was not an ACL repair. No, these involved open heart surgery, brain surgery, and other complicated procedures.

The reason these surgeries were revolutionary is they allowed John mobility. They allowed him to walk. And after lots of physical therapy at the old Children's Hospital in Washington, DC, John did exactly that. He walked. He had braces on his legs and used two small half size crutches but he walked. My father who took many many photos in his lifetime documented it with his camera and wrote on the back of the photo, "John walks."

If you have not had a chance to see the photo, I invite you to take a look at it. John has his signature smile.

Through the years, I took many trips with John to Children's hospital for follow up visits. My mom would drive us through DC using her crazy back road routes. We snaked our way through the city with limited number of left turns. We would pull up to the hospital and an old guy there would say, "Hi Mrs. Rosen". And then we would get out and he would go park the car. It was not valet parking. There was just limited parking and this old guy would somehow magically squeeze everyone's car into tiny parking spaces. We took many trips to that hospital and many more to the new Children's Hospital in another location in Washington DC.  You might be tempted to say, it was a way of life. But it wasn't. It was part of our life but it did not define us. Our close relationships with each other, our adventures together, our family, was central to our lives growing up and John was a big part of it.

I remember elementary school vividly. When it was lunch time, I got out of class a little early so I could go get John and take him to lunch. I would go to his classroom and put him in a little red wagon and wheel him to lunch. We would eat together and then I would take him outside for recess where I would drive him around the playground. I was proud to be able to help my brother get around and it truly was the highlight of my day.

I remember one day when I was in sixth grade. It was recess and John was a little older and walking around doing things on his own. He walked up to me and my friend. Now John would want to make sure I mentioned who this friend was exactly. It was Jeff Rogers. John walked up and said he did not feel well. He knew something was terribly wrong. John about collapsed into my arms. Jeff and I rushed him to the nurses office. He was turning blue. It was very scary for John and for me. Ultimately, this was one of those occasions where John would have to have emergency surgery to fix a complication with his shunt. In this case, he had an infection where the shunt terminated in his heart. John pulled through this surgery with flying colors as he always did and continued being the positive inspiration to all of us. Life went on as usual.

I can remember spending time in John's room with him playing various games that children play. One very strong memory I have is the two of us listening to a Beatles album and playing air guitar and air drums. We would use tennis rackets as guitars. We would play through the entire greatest hits, singing along and rocking out. It was one of the many childhood memories I have of John and I - doing things together.

I remember eating grilled cheese sandwiches together after school while we watched Batman, Johnny Socko and Ultraman. It was part of our brotherly bonding. As an adult, John and Tom had similar bonding experiences watching one of John's favorite sitcoms, Everybody Loves Ramon.

As John got older and stronger, he was able to do lots of things that kids without disabilities do. John participated in games of 123 which was sort of like Kick the Can. We tossed the football around, we kicked the soccer ball around. Sometimes the neighborhood kids would gather and play baseball in the street in front of our house. We used a whiffle ball bat and a tennis ball. We got better action with the tennis ball. John would stand at home plate with one crutch supporting himself and the bat in the other hand. He got really good at the one handed whack and was able to hit the ball and get to first base.

John did a lot of the things that kids do. In fact, there is one story that is particularly telling in regards to John being a mainstream guy. At one point in John's childhood, after many summer nights of playing outside with his family and friends, he developed a pain in his leg. So of course my Mom took him back to Children's hospital to see Dr. McKay. Dr. McKay determined that John had a stress fracture in his tibia. And Dr. McKay literally did a happy dance around the office. That might seem and odd thing. But Dr. McKay realized that a stress fracture in the tibia from playing too much whiffle ball, and 123, and kicking the soccer ball around was not something someone born with an open spine typically encounters. John was active and was putting all of Dr. McKay's operations to the test. Dr. McKay was so happy that John was leading an active life.

And John continued this active life. My dad and John would play pool nearly every night. John always had a bike of some sorts. From the Hot Wheels plastic bike he had as young child to the custom imported Bob Jackson racing trike, John liked to get out and ride. Him and my dad rode often. And I remember one long ride we all took together many years ago. John rode his trike along with the rest of us from his house on Jackson Parkway all the way to Washington DC on the bike path. I figure that it is about a 15 mile ride. He rode the whole way under his own power. It was a pretty epic trip for him and probably the farthest he ever went in one shot.

Not only did John like participating in sports, but he loved to watch sports in person and on TV. He came to our soccer games. He watched Tom play, Erik, me, Melissa, Becky, and Emma. He was one of our best supporters. I remember when one of my coaches, Ernie Smith, asked John to be the honorary captain of my soccer team. Before each game at the coin toss, John would go out to the center circle in his uniform and call the coin toss. I was so proud of John, my little brother. I could not tell you much about those years playing soccer but I do remember John walking out on the field every weekend.

In addition to being our best supporter, he also like watching DC United, The Washington Capitals, and the Washington Redskins. He knew all the players names and their numbers. He even knew how to pronounce the names of all the hockey players-something that I could never do. John was great with names in general. I think he got that from my mom. He remembered names of professional athletes, actors, and most importantly friends and family. He had an uncanny ability to remember names and telephone numbers as well. I can still see my dad smiling and shaking his head in gentle surprise as John would recall from memory someone's phone number or address. Perhaps that skill served him well in his job at Navy Federal Credit Union where he worked for 25 years.

Sometimes going places with John was interesting. With all the hardware in John's body, he really gave the TSA problems. He would always set off the metal detectors at the airport. And then he would politely put his crutch in front of him and lean on it with his stomach and put his hands to his side while they scanned him with the wand. This was not easy for him but he did not complain. He simply did as he was told by the TSA and then when about his business. It was really no big deal to him.

Despite John's disability and all the challenges he faced, he was always positive and quick to smile. He was always concerned for other people beyond himself. John's day started like all of ours with him getting out of bed. This was not something that was super easy for him but he did it every day. It took effort. He got out of bed, he took a shower, he put on his socks and shoes and clothes. Something that we all take for granted. It was a struggle for him every day of his entire life but he did it and he didn't complain about it. He just did it. He showed up for life every day, always with a smile. Positive, loving, caring, John was an inspiration to me and many others. When I get down about this or that or I am struggling with something, I always think of John. He would soldier through any challenge head on. Often he did not have the option. He endured much physical pain throughout his life. But he always fought through it.

I can remember asking him once while he was in one of his multitude of casts, "does it hurt?" John gently nodded his head and said, "Yeah, but it will go away eventually." I ask you to remember John as the the inspirational person he was. When you are having a bad day or facing a challenge, remember John and how he faced all his challenges head on with a great attitude and a happy smile. John is really a role model for all of us. He cared about people and was always polite to strangers. Even when he was suffering in the hospital towards the end of his life, he always said thank you and please to his caregivers. When he did not have the strength to sip water out of a straw, I dripped the water into his mouth. He would always say, "thank you." And I always said "your welcome brother, I love you." And he told me that he loved me too. We will all miss John immensely. But his spirit will always be with us.

As some of you know, I train and compete in long distance triathlon. When I am struggling through the last few miles of a long day of swimming, biking and running, I will always have a leg up on my competitors. I will have John in my heart. His strength, his courage, his gratitude and positive attitude will always be with me. And at the end of the day, together we are unstoppable.

Please be thankful for all the many blessing you have in life. John was always thankful. We will never forget you brother. We love you and we miss you. May you rest in peace.

Spring Has Sprung!

March is here and with it comes more sunlight, warmer weather, and of course that means the first races of the season are just around the corner! I managed to make it through winter without missing any workouts due to the snow. I was forced inside to the treadmill a few times but for the most part, the snow delays and early dismissals allowed me more time for training.

I did end up with lots of long trainer rides because of the weather. But honestly, I like putting in the work and improving. Riding indoors on the trainer can be a great way to improve if you follow a specific plan and don't dilly dally. My coach always gives me specific, focused workouts and I always do my best to hit my power numbers. There are no stop signs, down hills, or drafting indoors. You either put up the watts or you don't. And in the end, it ends up being less time consuming than meeting up for group rides, etc. And with a properly designed training plan, focused indoor training with a power meter can really boost performance much more quickly then simply slogging it on out on the trainer without any performance goals. 

However, there is really nothing like getting outside for a long ride. On this past Sunday, I got the chance to ride with a friend for 3 hours in shorts and short sleeve jersey. It was such a breath of fresh air after all the cold weather and snow we had the last couple of weeks. There is really nothing like being out on your bike, taking in the sites, sounds, and smells of the countryside. And for this particular ride, there was no slacking either. My friend is quite a bit stronger than me so mostly I was just trying to keep up. Overall it was a really great training stimulus and my power numbers backed up my perceived effort. 

Speaking of sounds, during the ride I heard the sounds of newly hatched frogs chirping away. It reminded me that spring is a time of birth and new beginnings. What better time than now to share with you Powertap.com's new announcement. Something exciting is coming!