What if:

What if:

• You lost everything you had
• You had to choose between paying bills or eating
• Your child had a debilitating disorder
  
• You were so tired you didn't think you could go on
• You were sick and could not afford to go to the doctor
• Jesus Christ did not die on the cross to redeem us from our sins

It doesn't take nearly this much to let you know where you are in your faith.

Building a base.......

Did the first loop of the Triple Loop Century (53 miles) with "Disenchanted One" and Music Matt today. Unfortunately though we missed the nicest part of the day. That was spent working on their bikes. Steve needed a fit and Matt was having derailleur problems and I was more than happy to help out. It amazes me that bike shops either don't have all the proper tools or have a that's good enough attitude (Matt actually had his to a shop). His derailleur hanger was visibly bent even before I went at it with the alignment tool. Maybe you can get away with the eyeballing it method with 7 & 8 speed components but with 9 & 10 speed the derailleur has to be as close to perfect as possible for things to work right. The tool cost under $100.00 bucks and lets you get the job done right.

Anyway we did 53 miles and had a really good ride. I always forget how hard it is this time of the year trying to build a good solid base, while at the same time trying to knock off a few pounds(low calorie intake = low energy) and keep up with everybody that already has a base(good off season training

A thank you to all the consistant people in my life.....

Now I don't know about you but I can not stand it when one day somebody totally ignores you and then the next day acts like they are you best friend. Now I now that this is a tired old subject with me but man I just cant stand it. Tonight was another perfect example...My son goes to a christian school and they had their spring concert this evening. Now the children and teachers there are great and all treat my son with the utmost respect and courtesy but, many of the parents have much to learn, from the way their children act and respond to each other. Unfortunately though , most of the children will probably learn their parent bad habbits..

Of course there were some people from our church there as well and it is the same from some of them as well. these events are more like a big my kid goes to private school social event, instead of the great concert an message that was presented by the kids and the faculty. You can tell that everybody puts their best effort into making these programs a learning experience for the kids as well as those in attendance.

So that all being said, a heart felt thanks goes out to all of my friends...both old and new , fellow church members, and to those that are mere acquaintances. You all know who you are and I thank you for being the type of people you are. People that you can count on, talk to, be honest with and of course have fun with.

A Musical Montage......

So I thought it might be fun to blog with links to music to go along with comments.......

Just got of the phone with Monkeyboy to verify the time of my Bicycle Maintenance Clinic this evening. Maybe Baumer will be there so we can discuss how he is always finds some way to break the chain on his bike. The Disenchanted One will probably be there as well. He is on the hunt for a new 29'er as is Monkeyboy. He is also facing the reality of his training program this past winter, I was afraid he was about to break, but see that he has found purpose in his pain. Catching up in your training this time of year can seam to take forever but it is worth it in the long run, though it will hurt for a while. Lets face it, competitive cycling hurts all the time, it is just learning to deal with the pain and as Monkeyboy says feed the warrior.

Bike Maintenance Clinic........

Just got back form IUP and the maintenance clinic. Had a pretty good turnout for a Thursday evening during March Madness. All the regular suspects were there as well as "Blankman". Blank is a tri-geek so he is always out for a run, and I have yet to see him on his bike yet this year, although he has been riding. We actually are planning a ride for tomorrow afternoon. I am going to call Hammer and Nicoll (ok maybe that one was a little mean but I could not find the theme song from The Tick) and see if they want to join us. Probably just do the Five Points Loop since I will only have much time.

Another Holiday is coming.......

Now I really do love the Holidays. Getting together with the family, good food and such but unfortunately my sister-in-law will be there. Now for some reason my brother finds her humorous, and I did one time while strung out on vicodin due to an abscessed tooth. Now some of you might think I am exaggerating, and maybe I am a little, but not very much. Fortunately the kids all get along and will have a good time.

Good ride tonight....I think............

Started off the week on Monday with a run at lunch time. My legs finally stopped hurting form last weeks run so I thought I would try it again. I felt allot better after this weeks run that after last weeks so I guess you would say that is progress.

So as I stated I think I had a good ride this evening. It's so hard to tell though. Lets face it I did no training this past off season unless you consider being on the go from 3am until 9pm...a majority of that spent working, so i ts not that I did not have the desire it is the fact that I did not have the gitty-up and go. The other factor is that the group this year has been training except for the "Disenchanted One" and for the most part have their game on or at least more game than I. I also have come to some other conclusions about this group this year, particularly those that rode tonight..

1. Most of them are about half my age (Monkeyboy, Nate, John, Blankman and the "Disenchanted One"
2. One has a pretty good base from his commute to Florida this past Holiday season.(Monkeyboy)
3. They have all been doing off season training. (Monkleyboy, Nate, John, Blankman and Nicoll)

So as you can see it is pretty hard to see where I stand at this point in time. Although I did not break and hung on. I just don't have that snap on the climbs yet, but on the rollers and flats I am still able to ride a couple of them off of my wheel so I have that going for me at least.

I do like the fact though that they do a nice warm up before putting the hammer down giving everybody ample time to warm up, which with my heart I really need. They do need to work on keeping the group together a little more. Everybody would benefit from that. The guys that are in really good shape could take longer pulls and everybody would get some good speed work and some good efforts with recovery as well. I talked to Monkeyboy toward the end of the ride and he was thinking the same thing, so I guess we will see how the next ride goes.

Fun at Roaring Run

Spent part of the day with Monkeyboy, Nate and the Disenchanted One at Roaring Run. I had invited others but they were a no show. Mike did call and beg out because he wasn't feeling well and Bill had to teach a spin class this morning so I will give them both a pass this time.

The trails are in really good shape right now, I'm sure due to the efforts of Jay and Liz. We rode allot of the old trails and most of the new. The cistern trail is in pretty good shape right now due to all the river weed and greenbriar being dead due to the winter freeze. Maybe those trails will be able to remain open this year throughout the summer. We tried the cistern trail late last summer and could not get through.

Of course you cant leave Roaring Run without drawing blood...and Nate and Monkeyboy were willing to oblige. Nate had blood coming from near his knee and Monkeyboy did a header coming down off of the elevator shaft trail, not sure how, all I heard was a ruckus behind me only to turn around just in time to see him tumbling down the hill. Of course the Disenchanted One has been riding a borrowed mountain bike so he had nothing but mechanical problems all day.

On a side note.. .. just after you top the ZIG ZAG Trail there is a pretty good gas leak coming from an exposed pipe, so please no smoking.

Man...where did this week go?

Holy crap...It's Friday already and I haven't blogged all week. So I started my week by running at lunch time on Monday...My legs still hurt...is that normal. I have been out on the bike twice since but my quads still ache. It is no wonder you never see somebody running and smiling at the same time, I'm pretty sure it cant be done. But life must go on.

Tuesdays night ride......

So I was unable to make the Tuesday night ride this week but had a chance to get out with the "Disenchanted One" on Wednesday. We rode out to the Blairseville speedway and back to town. The weather was pretty balmy but still was not super comfortable by the time we got back. I also got out last evening with Monkeyboy, Nate, Wallwork and the "Disenchanted One". It was 55 deg when we started and 44 deg when we returned. That's the real drawback to riding this time of year...it is really hard to decide what to wear.

Good ride today.......

Had a good ride today. Sean and I were supposed to ride this morning but he begged out on me so I was just sitting around trying to decide if I wanted to ride in 40 deg weather, go to spin class or just ride the couch til this afternoon and hope for warmer weather. The phone rang and it was Steeve and he said that he an Matt were meeting at the Oak Grove at noon and wanted to know if I could make it. So I wrangled up some sub 50 riding gear and headed out.

There must have been something wrong with weather bug today because when I left it said 44 deg, weather underground predicted a high of 47 deg, but buy the time we left town it was already 54 deg. So I was over dressed again but that's OK. Better to be a little warm that too cold, I just unzipped my coat a little on the flats and the only time it was really intolerable was on the climbs. I felt pretty good today for a guy that's has refused to train at all this past winter up until the past month or so. No heart problems either today, any ride without that is a great ride.

Monkeyboy....Creatine Junky....



So... Monkeyboy has decided to add, what he thinks it his newest weapon to his arsenal.... Creatine. I have had experience using this when I was into weight lifting and I as well as others I new had pretty good results with it under those conditions, however I havent known anybody that has used it for cycling performance.


I did..... no I did....did not....did too.....

So there has been some pretty good back and forth on the IUP Cycling Club message board. It appears that everybody wants to stake claim for being founders for the club. Now I suppose that they are correct that back in the day that they had a cycling club at IUP but at some point in time it disbanded and disappeared. I have known many people that have attended IUP over the years that were cyclists and always were mystified that there was no such beast. So...Last Year Dr. shim and Monkeyboy spearheaded the start of a new club which at this point is doing very well. They have a race team and have both Mountain and Road rides as well as casual rides for those that like to ride without pain.

Now Duane had to do allot of legwork to get this thing going. I am not sure of all the procedures but I do know that it was allot of work for him to do. Now if there was a club currently in existence he would not have had to do this. But hear is an analogy that may make it clear to everybody that it is a new club. Let's say I open a coffee shop in a certain building in a certain city. After a few years I decide to retire and close down. Years after my closing somebody else decides to open another coffee shop in the same building in the same city. So.....According to their logic that coffee shop would belong to me....right?

I will now respnd to Burpen.....(An ode to Burpen)

So as we all know people read our blogs, and for the most part they are not commented on and if they are it is usually some sort of rant back and forth between people that obviously know each other and are constantly goofing on each other. Lets face it folks, this whole blog thing is more about people taking themselves too seriously, not a forum for back and forth views and opinion. There is plenty of that out there these days and if I wanted that, that is where I would be. Instead I playfully write about personal and current events and try to make it entertaining all the while. Lets face it I have a family (and often times am interrupted in mid thought...Like right now)(OK I'm back Burpen 3 hours later) and a life so I take little time to proof read and with the added touch of posting links to add to the fun....well I think you can figure out where this is going...Man if you haven't been watching Star Wars The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network you are really missing a cool show. Every Friday my son and I go to guitar lessons then home for popcorn and Star Wars Night. (2 more hours...See Burpen this is what happens).

So where did I leave off....Oh ya. So this guy Burpen posts comments to my blog which I decide to briefly Ignore. First of all I really dont care and secondly they really do not apply and were mostly just a critique towards my inablility to keep on track of my thought process on part of one of my blog entries, Maybe....SO WHAT!!!!!!!! Plus, I thought it might be more fun to actually respond to him in blog format, where everybody might be able to read it instead of through the comments button (limited space to really complete a thought...assuming I can ;>) ). Why waste my time, you may ask, believe me I have asked myself the same question. Anyway, at first I tried to go back and clarify my one particular thought but to no avail....WHO CARES??? BURPEN DOES THAT'S WHO!!!!!! Whoever Burpen is....

So here we go...my individual response to each part of each question.......Buckle up! so you may follow he took excerpts form this linked post... (man why m I even doing this)

Quote from blog... "Unable to agree to disagree?"

Burpen Response..."Does "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists" sound familiar to you? Callous polarization as a political tool is not a new idea, and certainly not new here. Difference is it's not coming from the president's mouth anymore, which I think is a positive change.


Afib Rebuttal..."I think you are a little off base here. He is an O'bama appointee which makes him an extension or at the very least is perceived to be speaking to what are the beliefs of the presidient and that is why I feel it was a mistake for him to bring it up."

Quote From Blog..."It has even gone so far as to eliminate the teaching of such things in some of our school systems."

Burpen..."What has gone so far? And how exactly does this sentence have anything to do with the topic at hand? I think you kinda lost me there."

Afib Rebuttle..."Touche....ADD dude...Not a college writing course."

Burpen..."As for learning "form our mistakes" [sic], I heartily agree. But as a devout Christian, I was shocked at your suggestion (through the image linked by the word "past") that we might kill Jesus Christ a second time! Certainly the world has wised up to the idea that the first crucifixion was a grave error (no pun intended). And even the non-believers are now all well aware, 2000 years later, of the fact that He can't be permanently killed, so what would be the point?

Afib Rebuttal..."Man so much to cover here but i will try...without getting off track. First of all I am a Christian as well but I am not naive to the current views and attitudes towards Christianity, Christians or our views and beliefs.

• According to some poles there is a current shift away from Christianity.I as well am close to finishing a book by Lee Strobel."The Case For The Real Jesus" I highly recommend this one for anybody...both Christian and Non Christian to read. It talks to the point of how people...even those that you might say are theologians are losing their faith and turning from Christianity.
• So you are wrong in your belief that all people agree that Jesus did die on the cross and was resurrected to sit at the Right hand of god the father.
  
• Many people that claim to be Christians have established their own belief systems incorporating things they like from Christianity and combining them with other religions or current world views suit their own needs.
• The previous has also lead to a shift in what is currently viewed as the new favorite bible verse Mathew 7:1-5 ^"1Judge not, that ye be not judged. ²For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.³And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ⁴Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?⁵Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."mostly focusing on the first 2 verses. Replacing John 3:16 ¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,^a]">[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.as the top favorite
  
• I have also noticed a real shift toward strict theology among many Christians I encounter from real bread and butter Christianity these days as well. This can be a good thing but I think that it makes it hard to be fishers of men if the fish cant figure out what the bait your using is.

So yes I believe if Jesus walked the world today, and given the opportunity, it could very well happen again. But as a believer I know that it cant. Mathew 7:1 -5 Remember?

Are you still with me Burpen??????

Burpen..."Interesting new version, but you still haven't logically connected racism to revisionism."

Afib Rebuttal..." Do you really care that much? Do I not make the point that our youth...mostly in college are indoctrinated not taught...Maybe not but the is what i meant"

Burpen...It's kind of telling that you chose to both disapprove my earlier comment and surreptitiously edit your post. Revisionism indeed; you're a coward and a hypocrite.

Afib Rebuttal...." Do I really need to say anything here? I think it is obvious here thatI had a plan for your comments. Not an of the cuff rant Plus I'm no coward.....

But I might say you are a hypocrite. Lets face it if you wee so shocked by my statement and link why then did you come back" god bless you and yours.... :>)

A Note to Burpen........

I am not a hypocrite....Just working on a responses to you to post as a blog entry. I am sorry that you feel so slighted but do not be disheartened I will make you famous in the Blog Kingdom. And remember that we must all live in the world but not be of the world while at the same time not seeing the world with blinders on......

I hate cell phones

So why is it every time I need to get hold of somebody their cell either has a dead battery or is in their car? Especially when one of the 2 people I tried today would have a fit if I did not answer my phone when she called. I mean it never fails. I had to find out what time my niece got off of work today so I could meet her to retrieve my son, and I was unable to reach either of them.

God Bless America..........

Caught this guy on the news this morning.......probably something we should all do.



Lets face it..if our Representatives are allowed to get away with it without penalty why shouldn't we all. And while we are on the subject what happened to transparency, no earmarks and going through bill and getting rid of pork? I guess he is promising that for later on now.

I love/hate this time of year.......

So Duane and I did the eastern shore loop this morning. You cant beat 56 deg at 8:00am this time of year and by the time we finished it was 66 Deg. His new Special Ed is pretty sweet and he got a great deal on it to boot. He wishes that it had better components but by the time he really gets sick of it it will be time for another bike. He probably will upgrade the wheels though. It came with Shimano...which aren't bad but Mavics would be sweeter.

So as we are riding along he mentions that he is going to try to get the Five Points road Classic back up and running. During the conversation he reminded me of an incident that happened back in 2001. Pap (the doper) had shown up alone and Hoovis' team kept attacking him. so at the end of the race something happened and Pap and Hoovis go fisticuffs. But probably was more like this.

So anyway I hate this time of year because I am totally out 0f shape.Too much hunting and work this past winter season. I hope I never do this again..it really stinks.

The running man..........

Ran into tom the other day while I was out on the bike. He was actually supposed to ride with us this morning, but I'm guessing he went earlier since it was so nice and they were calling for rain. Seeing tom made me think about how many good competitive cyclist we have here right in Indiana. We have Rodie's moutainbikers and adventure racers that have competed all over the world. I wonder what the average number of competitive cyclist you can expect to have based on your population.

And they call you a doctor

Now for all of those of you I know that are in the profession...please take no offense. So I hurt my back at UPS last week, not sure how exactly, but it happened. So I tell the supervisor and finish off the day, which was probably a mistake. So after sucking it up for a week I decided I better see a doctor, so they send my to an occupational therapy clinic. So two more days waiting to see the doctor go by, since they seem not to be able to work beyond 4:00 pm....on their late days.

So I get into the exam room in record time(getting close to quitting time), which I consider anything under 1/2 hr record time. The nurse asks me a few questions, though I suspect that she didn't quite believe me, then to my astonishment the doctor shows up a mere few minutes after she leaves. So she then asks me a few questions about what happened, barely paying attention, and where did it hurt? Then she had me do a couple little things like stand on my heals then toes and then bend over a little.......The diagnosis...your back is week 2 weeks therapy and back to work immediately.(lifting heavy boxes) does not make allot of sense to me but hey I am no doctor, I'm just the guy with a hurt back.

Now I understand that she probably sees people that don't really have pain and are trying to play the system a little, but that isn't me. And if she would have spent more that five minutes talking to me she would have figured that out herself. I like other cyclists are no stranger to pain let alone others at UPS, and have become accustomed to just shrugging it off and carrying on. Since last September I have had the bulkhead door slammed on my arm twice, by two different drivers. And when it comes to bikes I competed in a 24 hour mtb race with a broken wrist, ridden 20 miles with a road apple that covered half my thigh, and one time after being ejected from my bike at 30 mph over here handlebars, resulting in a dislocated shoulder, got back up and got right back in the mix. And I guess the most painful has been having to deal with my brothers wife for the past 10+ years. and believe me I have witnessed others that have dealt with similar situations and carried on as well, some of which have met my sister in law.

But as far as back pain goes, I have no intentions of shrugging that off. I know too many people with chronic back pain, and see how it affects their lives. I have over the years watched my dad walk crooked and bent over from pain from time to time. And my uncle is in constant pain and pretty much spends most of his life either standing or lying down because he can barely tolerate the pain he endures while sitting.