SAM I AM

A Great Blog about Punching Cancer in the Face

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:11:00 +0000

One of DCMTB's own was recently diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. I love reading this blog to learn about the everyday events that cancer patients go through. Chris has made it possible for all of us to enjoy reading about him beating the tar out of cancer!

www.danaceau.blogspot.com

12 Hours of Cranky Monkey

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:42:00 +0000

DCMTB in claiming 1st and 4th

Well it finally happened. I entered a race. I suppose I felt like I was missing out on all of the fun with my teammates. I made the decision to just grin and bear my gimp leg way after all of DCMTB's teams had been created, so I just figured I'd be a true idiot by riding solo. I test rode the trails one Saturday to verify that my leg could hold up and at the same time met Chas, a PVC rider whose partner had bailed. Thus a duo team was formed. I gave Chas the gimp leg and surgical waiver which basically meant I had no idea if and how long my body would hold up. He seemed okay with it which I was happy about until he said a few days before the race, "I'd really like to be competitive". Gulp.

The day came and Chas was kind enough to ride the first lap (which consisted of a running to the bike portion). My goal was to not let Chas down and to be somewhat consistent. The first lap was pretty muddy and I definitely rode too hard. The second lap I spent about 20 minutes trying to get the crap out of my legs from the first lap. The third lap I thought my body was going to completely shut down. The fourth and fifth laps were sort of a blur but I felt much better than the third.

My times were something like:

1:04

1:07

1:10

1:09

1:11

Chas and I ended up 3rd in the Duo Co-Ed and we got a really cool pint glass. I can't remember the other placing but I know we won two other classes and Tom, Lynne, and Matty won the overall. All of the DCMTBers are crazy fast...especially Lynne.

Chas and I in 3rd

I had a great time hanging out. Unfortunately, I probably would have had more fun if I had entered solo because I would have ridden the course of few times and come to the conclusion "that I was being dumb" and I would have sat around cheering and drinking beers for the rest of the day. Instead, I rode as hard as I could, rested an hour, etc for the whole day which left me in between riding with a blank stare on my face.

I have not done many endurance races and I forget how hard they can be. I told a roadie that to me, it seemed like going out and riding a 40K time trial every hour or so. I am so happy that my body held up. Next week will be one year since my first surgery and for the exception of the past 7 weeks I had just come back from about a 6 month layoff. The body is a truly impressive thing. I really need to work on nutrition. When I'm that punched I feel bad and don't want to eat which just digs a hole. I'm fairly certain that's what happened on the 3rd lap. When I came back I stuffed myself and gagged down some Gu's and I was good after that. Thank you to Alex for the yummy chocolate milk and to others who made sure I ate enough. I can't wait for another race to hang out with the team at. I just seem to laugh the whole time, even when I'm in agony.

Laughing at the fact I'm so punched after the first lap. (Photo by Vince)

Mike and Vince

Marc and Lynne (Beast of the East)

Next week I celebrate my one year surgical anniversary by going to Charlottesville for angioplasty. I'm hoping for the best with that....cross season is just around the corner.

Mt. Mitchell

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:35:00 +0000

The first time I tried to climb to Mt. Mitchell it demoralized me. I was new to Asheville and just eating up the heavenly riding scene. I could walk out of my door, turn right, and in one mile be in Bent Creek or turn left and in one mile be on the Blue Ridge Parkway. On one particular sunny day I lept out of bed to 65 degrees and sunny skies and boldly proclaimed that I was going to ride to Mt. Mitchell. Craggy Dome stopped me dead in my tracks with sleet and heinous weather. I turned around shivering and probably the most punched I ever have been on a bike to date. Mitchell just wasn't having it that day. I beat Mitchell at a later time, but from that day on I gave those mountains a bit more respect.

Truth be told I took the easier route up to Mitchell. I started at the Folk Art Center in excellent weather and proceeded up a 18 mile climb to Craggy Dome. It's not a particularly hard climb but you are going up so you can just get in a groove. To me, the Craggy Dome/Gardens area is my favorite portion of the trek. Unfortunately Craggy was not in a happy mood.

The eery tunnel leading up to Craggy Dome

Up in the clouds

A slide near the top of Craggy. I heard the one lane leading past it had just been reopened.

At Craggy the road descends and you go up and down for awhile before making the left hand turn into Mt. Mitchell State Park. That's when you hit the 4.2 miles of relentless up. Again it's not all that hard or steep but it is relentless. The other option for those looking for more climbing is to take 81 up to the Parkway, turn Right, then turn right into the park.

One I made it to Mitchell the weather was great!

I've biked all over and I really feel the most at home and happiest in the Appalachians. I just love them. If I had a soundtrack tune to riding in the Appalachians it would be the E.T Flying Theme! I'm also homesick for Asheville. DC riding is great if you're a commuter and it has okay riding in general, but I guess I just have had a taste of heaven so my views are dramatically skewed. On the way back to DC I stayed on the Parkway for as long as I could. It was great fun. I'm excited to explore some areas I haven't been like Skyline. I'm hoping this will take care of my Asheville withdrawal.

I like the cloud patterns in this picture.

Oak Mountain

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:21:00 +0000

BUMP: Blood Rock (The Last MTB I competed in back in 2007)

One of my favorite races I used to compete in is at Oak Mountain in Birmingham, AL. The course is known for it's speed which one might falsely perceive as being easy. However, one lap is 16 miles. The first time I raced this course it was 92 at 9pm on the start line. Heat always adds a whole new level to suffering.

This time I was just enjoying myself. The course is very twisty with a solid 15 to 20 minutes climb. From there you tear along a fire road until you get to drop down a trail to Blood Rock. Honestly, I don't really know how it got this name. When I first heard of it I thought it was just one large inconveniently misplaced boulder. As you can see it's a rocky chute. It's a deceiving section. Mainly cause it looks a lot scarier than it is. If you just let the bike go and don't hit the brakes to much you'll be alright.

I had a good time just playing around those trails. I will say I'm completely not impressed with the Nevegal tires unless I'm riding on rocks. They're great for that.

I happened to be riding while they were gearing up for the US Cup. I nearly had Adam Craig and Todd Wells run me over. I'll gladly get run over by them any day. It's always cool when some of the best in the biz actually are super friendly and say "hi". Makes me wonder why some every day people riding their bikes won't bother. Oh well.

A great day. Except for the fact my body has not gotten used to the heat!

DuPont State Forest and my Battle against the Raging River

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

DuPont has always been one of my very favorite places to mountain bike. It is very close to Brevard and Pisgah but it offers different terrain. Not necessarily better, just different. For one, there are a few trails where you ride entirely on granite rock. It's strange and it seems like something you might find out west.

The climb up Cedar Rock

To the descent down Big Rock

The above trails are my favorites along with Burnt Mountain. There are more trails that are less rocky and consist of extremely fast single track but I'm not as familiar with the location of those.

After hanging out on the top of Cedar Rock and enjoying complete silence and a view of the mountains I decided I would have lunch at Bridal Veil Falls. It's a really cool granite slab with a waterfall running down it. Scenes from the movie, "The Last of the Mohicans" was filmed there. I made my way to the typical creek crossing to find that the creek/river was running quite a big "bigger" than normal due to the heavy rains.

See, it doesn't look too bad!

I saw three guys on the other side who were preparing to come back to the side I was on. I figured if they did it, I could too. I took my shoes off, picked up my bike and began working my way across the stream. I got to the middle only to realize that the rocks beneath my feet were as slick as ice. I could turn back or keep going. Seeing as I was almost across I figured I could still do it. That's when I completely slipped and became submerged in the water. I started laughing cause it was really funny, but quickly stopped when I realized my bike had fallen perpendicular to the current and was acting as a sail pulling me downstream. I scrambled to try to keep going down stream but it was just not happening against the slick rock. One of the guys ran out and grabbed my hand and I was forced to drop the shoes. Gone. At this point things were not very funny at all. The guy had me by the hand pulling with all his might and at the same time, trying to keep traction. I was holding on to my bike which was completely submerged in the water and pulling me just as hard in the other direction. The other two guys were trying to find a way to get to the bike realizing that if I were to let it go it would be gone gone gone. The thought actually crossed my mind.The point was quickly approaching where unless I wanted to go sailing down the river pulling the guy who was trying to help me along, I would have to let go. By calling upon SBS's powers, some how the the guys got my bike and I was dragged back to safety. My camera was sealed in a plastic baggie :-)

My rescuers. Many many thanks guys.

The worst part was once I made it to their side they informed me that there was no way back but to cross again. I found a much deeper part where there was no current and inched my way back across safely.

Next, I was faced with a rather painful problem. I was completely barefoot. So I rode back to the car barefoot on egg beater pedals. I experienced some mild discomfort with that (insert sarcasm).

Stank foot (at least my toenails are cute).

So my ride was cut short. But that didn't cause an end to my fun day. DuPont has beautiful waterfalls so I went to visit Triple Falls to hang out for awhile. I walked right out next to the water and had some food and laid in the warm sun like a lizard.

Triple Falls

Hanging out at the 3rd Fall

So with the exception of trying to figure out why water hates me so much, it was a fantastic day!

The Southern Roadtrip: Fat Camp 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:49:00 +0000

I decided two weeks of riding was sufficient to begin my Fat Camp/Beat Myself into Shape Camp 2009. I'm enjoying some new cycling places and my old stomping grounds from DC to Birmingham AL.

I shall be sharing more stories and recommended rides to those who are curious about cycling in the South soon. Thankfully, I had a chat with El Nino and he's gonna keep calm until I get back home!

IT'S BACK!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:23:00 +0000

A Cycling Discipline You Don't See Everyday

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:17:00 +0000

I feel that I can hold opinions about the different cycling disciplines because I have tried nearly all. I have raced mountain, road, cyclocross, and even downhill. I have even played around on BMX and Dual Slalom courses. I used a fixed gear to train on for awhile. Basically, as long as I'm on a bike I'm happy. However of all the disciplines, the one that I hold the most respect for is trials. Many years ago before I even raced bikes I played around on friends bikes who were into it. It's beyond difficult. More importantly, you hardly ever see people playing around on trials bikes. It's pretty big in the UK, just not here.

So the other day when I was riding my trails (I refer to them as "mine" only because I can ride to them from my doorstep) I heard the distinct sound of a trial bike. I nearly wrecked whirling around to see a trials rider in the flesh. Complete with a trials bike. If you're not familiar with this discipline, you should be. Or, you should at least give it a look so you can respect it more.

My First Gambrill/Shed Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:45:00 +0000

I recently went on my very first adventure at Gambrill State Park with Vince, Chris, and Darren. The drive up was interesting. It was completely fogged in which made me really excited. To me, it just brought back memories of living in the mountains so I knew this mountain biking adventure would be more of the real deal. While following Vince to the parking area I saw a human outline walking alone the side of the road in the mist. As I passed, I saw it was a Monk. No joke, he had robes and everything. I even verified with Vince to make sure I was just not seeing things.

Our fearless leader, Darren, in the mystic fog

The ride was a blast. Darren was our fearless leader and led us on a great route. Darren also apparently led himself on a epic journey but that was after I bailed to meet up with friends. I was not really sure what to expect. I have heard these trails are very technical. I tend to build stuff up in my head so I was somewhat expecting to completely get my butt kicked. It was very rocky and there were some nice technical climbs and rocky descents which were just great fun. Challenging but not demoralizing. I have a feeling I have not been on the demoralizing trails yet. I felt like a pinball going down a lot of it. I'm definitely rusty but that kind of stuff is not very forgiving so it makes you get back on the ball fast. A lot of the time I just laughed my butt off at myself. I had a nice hanging endo which thankfully didn't end up as it could have. I also got cracked up because I have forgotten the sounds of mountain biking. What are the sounds of mountain biking? Well, yeah you have brakes squealing and chains rattling and things like that. However, I'm talking about the sounds you hear when you ride last of the people ahead of you in technical rock gardens. It's often something like, "AHHH #$%!" or a tire slipping out on a log or a rock making a BRRAAA noise, or AHHH, and then KAPOW (I'm bringin' out the Batman words) as you crash into forest. I made a lot of noises myself. But it was just seriously funny because most of the time I heard it ahead of me as I was coming into it so I was like, "oh great this might the big one". I was complemented for having no major wrecks but that's just cause these guys have not seen me in action long enough. The thing is, is that I don't crash often, but when I do it's quite spectacular (or I have at least impressed my company that have witnessed them). I don't think I'll disappoint in the future.

I'm all about Gambrill. I love the fact that there seems to be some good technical trails that you can get to that does not involve insane climbing (like Pisgah). I haven't gotten to ride with a group of mountain bikers in ages. I thank Vince, Darren, and Chris for taking it easy on me and letting me join for such a fun adventure. I can't wait to go again!

Is it Worth it?

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:15:00 +0000

I've been asked this question regarding my surgeries a lot. Mainly by physicians and nurses, sometimes other athletes. Most of the time I've just looked at them like they were crazy and answered, "of course". Now, that the dust has settled from the third surgery and I am no better, I was beginning to wonder that very thing.

Dr. C said he's not ready to give up on me, and for that I'm grateful. For now, I just have to wait. Wait until my body heals more to come up with a new plan. One cool thing is that I've been prescribed red wine. No joke, I'm suppose to drink red wine at night. Sweet. He also said I should exercise to keep things flowing.

I've been on the road bike twice for about an hour each and it was miserable. Riding slow hurts and it makes me not want to ride period. In fact, I had already started to think of other things to pursue. The truth is I'm tired. I'm tired of surgeries and recoveries and the fire to race and ride is slowly fading. My main concern is just getting back to being able to be active without pain.

This past weekend I was sitting around and decided to go and spin on some trails. I had not been on my mountain bike in ages. My beat up little body ripped through the woods ("ripping" only occurred on downhills, otherwise I rode at the pace of grass growth) and had fun on all of the obstacles nice people have gone to the trouble of building--Thank you!!. It was a blast. When I got back home I looked down at my watch to see that three hours had gone by. Crazy. Guess that's the power of years of long winter base riding. In that single ride I found what sparked the whole quest to becoming a elite cyclist. Mountain biking is where it all began.

I have always said that if I was not having fun racing or riding anymore it would be time to quit. I have never gotten tired of racing. Bad weather, having bad days, etc are all part of the game. I figure if I get overly irritated by these things, I need to find a new one to play. I have forgotten the game includes injuries. I would much rather be like the cool kids and have a broken collar bone or something of that nature instead of messed up arteries, but sometimes you don't get a choice.

So I've decided to still fight the good fight. The problem is how do I train while hurting. The answer is I'm not going to. Instead, I will just ride my bike. I will ride as long, as far, as fast or as slow as I want, when I want. No more heart rate monitors or power taps (I refuse to become a slave to gadgetry even when training). No offense to roadies, but mountain biking is just way more fun, and when I'm having fun dodging trees I do not notice my leg feeling as bad. So that's my plan until August when I'll meet back with Dr. C.

I think more than anything I have been overwhelmed by the amount of encouragement and support people have given me. Doctors and nurses who have gotten to know me over the past few years and even if they were not "assigned" to me sometimes they would drop by while I was in the hospital to say "hey". Friends I have known forever, friends who I have gotten to know since I have moved up to the mid-Atlantic, a Scottish friend, great cyclists who I have crossed paths with , and the guy with a pair of beautiful green eyes that gives great hugs and lets me whine to him all I want. Thank you all for making sure I don't turn into a crumugeon and instead turn back into the healthy smiley girl who rides her bike fast.

So has this all been worth it? Yes. Is it still worth pursing? Yes. Is it worth it if in the end it doesn't work out? Absolutely.

Dr. Cherry's Schematic

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:52:00 +0000

Dr. Cherry made me this nice picture of what my new bionic graft looks like. I have one section that's a big patch and another full graft. I guess he got tired of answering my thousand questions so he figured a picture was worth a thousand words.

Resistance is Futile

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:53:00 +0000

One of my favorite activities is force cuddling kitty wittys. Jed and Theresa are wonderful parents and they give lots of force cuddling to their kitties especially Little Man. I have been force cuddling Little Man as part of my recovery.

Theresa uses excellent force cuddling technique.

Little Man loves me. In fact, instead of hissing at me after a long forced cuddle session he just hisses at me when I first pick him up. Who says relationships don't grow!?

One of my Rad Incisions

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:25:00 +0000

I have to say that I like my "cuts". I think they are well done and it's amazing how much they fade into a line you can barely see over time. This is the one of my belly. I have another to match running from my groin down the inner leg. That one is going to "smart" for quite sometime.

They used glue on this one because I had a nasty reaction to steri-strips the last time.

So the recovery continues!

Jed's New Style

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

A true work of art mullet Inspired by "The Jean Shorts" ride.
Damn I miss South Harden

My First Walk Outside

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:35:00 +0000

I ventured out and walked around in perfect southern weather

My Recovery Lair

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:49:00 +0000

My Stepfather's home is my version of "Tara". A Southern Style Plantation home nestled among wild azalea's, oak trees, and fenced pastures. It is my dream home. Sadly, I have been unable to leave "my lair" to play with the horses or walk down to the pond.

While others pursue races and fun activities I am just trying to stand on my own two feet. Literally. In the past few days out of the hospital I have made progress and in a whole day I can stand/walk a total of 10 minutes. For that matter, I am only awake about 5 hours of a day. Of that 5 hours I am zoned out on drugs watching movies. I have not felt like reading yet.

My lair is the upstairs portion of the house which is entirely devoted to kids or guests. There is a small den and then my room is very close by. It's these two rooms that forms my lair. I have everything I need so I rarely need to leave it except to get food. Most of the time it is brought to me. Unfortunately stairs are the only exit out of the lair. These are very hard to navigate and it takes me an eternity. I am always out of breath at the top and sometimes I have to take a break along the way. Today it is rainy and dark, and I have just gotten tired from blogging from within my lair. I will share more stories of the whole surgery when I feel better. For now, the beast must rest.

Surgery: A Story Through Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:14:00 +0000

I will first start by saying that I was an idiot for complaining about the previous surgeries because this one has totally taken the cake in pain and other fun stuff that comes with being cut on. The artery repair went well, but the overall surgery was a lot more complicated than they thought. Mainly due to scar tissue. I was on the table for 5 hours and Dr. Cherry almost backed out for fear it was getting a bit dangerous to try to get through crazy tissue to the artery. I'm glad he didn't. I'm still in the hospital and feel to crappy to give details so here are some fun pics to tell the tale:

Post surgery Tuesday Morning

My artery

My artery

My boo boos with my fat swollen tummy

The Morphine Button

This is about where I am now in how I feel....yeah that good.

This is my view out my window which is great since I'll be here about 5 days

Nate Zukas: The Bicycle da Vinci

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:19:00 +0000

Nate Zukas, resident of Augusta, Georgia can turn any bicycle in to a work of art. Even if it is already a bad ass bike, Nate can make it better; faster, lighter, prettier....

Flawless painting meets meticulous engineering. Simplicity the ultimate sophistication.

Nate specializes in fixies. Nate sold me my first fixie that I LOVED. I base trained on it and it was so much fun. Unfortunately, it never looked this cool.

Check out Nate's engineering

So as much as I don't want to divulge the best known secret of the South, I feel that I must share Nate's brilliance with others. I know I look down at my "Nate painted" bike every time I ride, and think, "damn that looks cool".

It Must Have Been Fate: DCMTB

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:32:00 +0000

I joined a rad team. It all started one lonely day while I was riding cross out at Ft. Reno all by myself. I have not been in DC long and surgeries have sidelined me from really being able to get out and meet people at races and rides. So I had become accustomed to being by myself. Suddenly I saw cross riders!!! Real cross riders with real cross bikes actually practicing !! Now, I stayed reserved because my once bright eyed smile to have someone to play bikes with was crushed by the upturned noses of Rock Creek Park roadies. Why? I would ask myself. Why can't I find nice cool people to play bikes with? Now, I have met some really nice people a few times, but road was always the focus.

I had almost lost hope. I did not want to bear the heart breaking devastation that would occur if I asked the gentlemen if I could play bikes with them and they said no. So I continued my unfocused random pattern at Ft Reno. It was then that I heard a voice say, "you wanna ride with us". I thought maybe he was talking to someone on his team. Except when I looked up he was looking at me and of course I was like, "sure". So then they rode me into the ground for awhile (but at least I learned a loop) and then we all started talking during a break. The rest is history.

I went to my first team party and lemme just say this is exactly what my life has been missing up here in DC. Yeap, it's like South Harden-DC. Chill down to Earth folk that love riding their bikes and drinking beers. What more can a girl looking for a team ask for? So thank you Marc Gwadz for recruiting me. I shall promise to make DCMTB proud!!!

Cyclocross Worlds: Go US!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:13:00 +0000

I can't wait to see how the US Team does in Worlds. Just to be there must really be something. Katie is on fire and I predict that she'll win. She's an awesome person so she so deserves it.

Matt, South Harden is with you in spirit!!! Good Luck!

This is really cool. You can pretend to be on the world course. Maybe one day, I can make it there!

http://www.wkhoogerheide2009.nl/en/parcours.aspx

Lucy's Belated New Years Resolution

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:29:00 +0000

TO BE FORCE CUDDLED MORE!!!!!!!!

The Other Salem

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:46:00 +0000

Our journey began with me picking Brad up at Dulles at 9:30 pm. We decided that since Birmingham was 12 hours away the best option would be to drive until we got tired then stop somewhere along the way.

I must say that when Brad and I are together it's like we instantly revert back to 12 year olds. We laugh at the stupidest stuff and we continually rag on each other. I am so grateful to have my Brother. Having siblings also teaches one very valuale lessons at very early ages. One, the world does not revolve around you and two, your actions have consequences on others, not just yourself. I am constantly reminded of this whenever I hang out around a certain family member of mine who just so happens to be an only child. (I have several friends who are only children and you would never know it (and then some you totally would ha ha)...so I do not think it always goes as stated before).

So we talked about what all was going on for awhile then we started to get sleepy. At about 1:30 am we decided it was time to look for somewhere to stop. At first we thought Roanoke would be good, but then my Brad spotted a sign for Salem.

"Hey, let's stay with the witches!!" he said. I laughed and agreed. For the next 45 minutes (driving to Salem, finding a hotel, and checking in) we continually joked about "the witches" and that "the witches were going to get us". We were tucked in bed and watching TV when Brad's girlfriend called from Cali. He told her, "Sam and I are in Salem with the witches". Then I heard, "What?!" and then, "NO!". His face got sad and he hung up the phone. Then he looked over at me and said, "Dammit, its Massachusettes!" Apparently, when Brad gave his answer about us being in Salem with the witches she replied, "Wow, you're in Massachusettes?"

So yeah, while I promise there are some top notch intellectual genes floating around the "Williams pool" they most definitely were not exhibited that night. My defense is that Brad started the whole "witches" thing and I just followed along.

So the journey continues and so will the stories....MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The Southern Assault

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:34:00 +0000

My Brother (the one who got the "cool" genes) and I are embarking on a Christmas journey to be remembered. DC to Birmingham, AL to Chattanooga, TN to Aiken, SC back to DC where we will have more fun.

I haven't gotten to hang out with my Brother this much since we were still living in the same house.

Anytime my Brother is around there are going to be good stories to tell. Hopefully I'll provide my readers with some comical moments over this Christmas holiday!

Joshy Blake: He's Harder than You

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:27:00 +0000

As one of Joshy Blake's best friends, I generally give him a hard time, and it is equally given back in return. But just like my Brother and I growing up, if anyone else were to mess with him I would kill them. Sometimes I will even admit that he's actually one of the most awesome people of all time. In fact, ladies let me just say that's he's available, but if you want him you will need to be pre-screened through me.

Joshy Blake and I have had great adventures together over the years. When we lived in the same town we would often disappear into the mountains with our backpacks for a few days. Sometimes this was in the dead of Winter so he was good in putting up with constant, "My hands are freezing" whining for days. I only got a sense of how tough he was in our adventures.

Now, he lives in Colorado (I hate him for that, but when my cycling career ends my dream of moving to Alaska will come back alive, then he will be the one hating me). I get to hear of epic things he goes and does. Recently, one such adventure was climbing Mt. Rainier.

I've visited some family of mine in Mt. Vernon, just North of Seattle a few times and I just love visiting that area. Rainier's presence cannot even be described. Especially since it shoots up to over 14,000 feet from nearly sea level. The only other mountain that looks that powerful to me is Denali (Mt. McKinley).

I listened to Joshy tell his story of ascending this mountain and it was unbelievable. I am not going to whine about how cold I am at cross races or how much I hurt anymore. I also love the fact that he does not boast of "conquering" the mountain. It's simply more of an attitude of, "the mountain let me climb it".

So here are a few pics that I enjoy looking at. I've been laying around, getting fat, watching movies, and looking at these pictures. I am looking forward to when I can take pictures of my own scenic adventures, although they won't be nearly manly as Joshy Blake's.

Cancer on the Decline

noreply@blogger.com (Sam) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:17:00 +0000

The man being interviewed is my division director. He's the nicest man ever. Did I mention I love my job?