WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT
Bikes
How to's and what not to do's, how you don't need to spend 5000.00 dollars on a bike. Although don't tell my wife that I said that. Still trying to get her to let me buy one.
Jan 19, 2010
It is with a very heavy heart that I announce the passing of my mother. Reita. Mom was born July 12, 1948 and loved life, her husband and of course her boys and their wifes. I am grieving that she is gone, and that is all, I know that sounds or looks wierd but we had said everything there was to say. I can honestly say there isn't anything that I wish I had or hadn't said. Mom made the best Chocolate No Bake Cookies. Mom was extremely intelligent, kind, compassionate, which is where I get alot of my attributes from her. Most of my complexities I get from my Dad, the warm fuzzy, fluffy, pilburry doughboy stuff I get from her. She lived a full life, where as she did pass away at the age of 62, she did alot of things in those short 62 years. Schooling, Musical Instruments, Marriage, Raising babies, Mom was a dog breeder for a while, as well as hamsters, bunnies and so much more. She was never afraid to try anything and everything. That doesn't mean that she stuck with everything, but she did try an awful lot. I love my mom and she will be missed. I am hoping to have a photo of my mom up on the site sometime this weekend. My parents are kind of old school and they actually don't have a digital anything. Please keep my dad in your prayers as my Mom was a daily part of his 63 years and counting of life for 52 years and married 42 of those.
Jan 10, 2010
So went for a ride this morning. If you have ever seen any of the Mountain Bike videos from Ireland and the UK that is how it was this morning. In case you have not just head over to www.mtbcut.tv and they have a ton as well as several Mountain Bike television shows. It is awesome. Ok back to the ride. So it was foggy and misty and I loved every second of it. Although the jump track was a little busier than I was expecting but still got in some quality air time on the jumps, then headed on down to the singletrack area. Decided to push it a little to check the stability of the tires that I am currently running and was pleasantly surprised by the way they handled to terrain. With the misting action of the past couple of days the berms were completely awesome. Completely solid, I would have to say they felt more solid than they have the entire time I have been riding them. Although I have as of yet at the time of this writing cleaned the bike off. Although rest assured before I go to work tonight I will clean the bike. Which is the tip of the post. Clean your bike. Even if it has been sitting in the garage, grap a rag and wipe it off. That is the single greatest thing you can do for your bike. Now just as a heads up on the work out pages. The map will show it just takes a minute or two before it will load on the page with all of the stats. As always any questions comments or concerns feel free to let me know. Later
Jan 9, 2010
Greetings from a very foggy Fresno. Had to take the past couple days off due to me over doing it earlier in the week. The legs are starting to feel better and aren't reminding me on a hourly basis that I am turning 40 this year, so that is a good thing. We are still preparing for a major change come the summer. Some has emailed me asking what and why the change, so here is the short of it. My mom has an unknown and undiagnosed medical problem that has landed her in the hospital for the past few weeks. My wife and I were talking and based on everything that is going on here in the California and my moms medical problems, it would probably be best if we headed back up north. There has been a general consenus that we are desparetly needed up there and it has been no secrete that the only reason why I am currently in Fresno is because of my wifes overwhelming desire to be a little closer to her family here in California. Where as my wife does wish to remain physically close to her family here as she puts it. Your Mom needs us more up there than my family needs me down here. Now before you start rolling your eyes, yes I am usually on here about every six months stating that we are moving to one part of the country or the other, the big diference this time is the fact that I want to do this one. Yes California has been good to me, I pulled off nothing short of a miracle. I arrived in Fresno with nothing more that a bag clothes, 15 dollars and a quarter tank of gas. Within the span of 45 days, and with the help of few key people. I found a job, found a great house in a great neighborhood and had my family together as one. Not bad in todays world. Ultimately though I am needed more in the Seattle area and looking to move back in the June time frame. Unless of course I hit the lottery then in which case, we be on the road again. Going to give the legs one more day of rest and then will be back on the bike tomorrow, although I am going to be incorporating more hills, because well they have hills in the Seattle area, where as I could ride 5000 miles here in the Valley and never have to climb one hill. Well I guess this is long enough. As always, any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to let me know, via cblackman@mezagog.com or the contact us tab. Later
Jan 5, 2010
So I have gotten several email's with questions on how to build a successful New Years Resolution involving bicycles, this is easy. Just have fun. Seriously. If you treat any New Years Resolution as it is a job or work, it will not work. Case in point. This is the first year in about oh 10 that I did not say that I was going to quit smoking as a New Years Resolution. Now here is the funny part. in the last Five days I have cut way way way down on the smoking, why because I wasn't thinking about it. It is just naturally happening. That is how you need to approach these things. Weight Loss is a big one. So what happens. Your want to loose weight for the new year, so you run or ride a bike to the point to where you can't breath and your legs and lungs are on fire, and then cut your food comsumption in half all in the name of loosing weight, and you bail on the idea one to two weeks in. Yes I went from 225lbs. to 163lbs. the last time I jumped on the scale. What did I do different. I got on a bicycle and will run/walk two to three times a week. That is it. Now did I start off at 150-200 miles a week. No, my first week of bike riding I did 10 miles split up over 5 days, I naturally built up from there. I eat what I want. Some days yes I will want a salad. Other days I am having Chili Cheese Dogs with Coleslaw on top and drink the better part of two 2 liters of Dr. Pepper. The point I am trying to make here is have fun with whatever the resolution is. Make a resolution to do something that you have always wanted to do or face something that scares you. I have been very fortunate to do more in my 39 years of life than most people do in a lifetime. I have been all over the world, yes it was at the Army's request, but I still did it and some of it was actually really really good stuff. I have Skydived, Rapelled, Air Surfed, Climbed Mt. Rainer, Hood and Baker in the Pacific Northwest and climed the tallest peak in Korea. I have seen Five different continents, drank a beer and slept with different women on all five of them. Now this is not my "Man Whore" Resume, these are just some of the things that I have done personally. So the point that I am trying to make is pick something and go do it. Have I gone into debt to do some of these things? Oh hell yes. Took a 3,000 dollar loan out for the climb up Hood, Two things that have always stuck with me from my Dad. One Bills are always going to be there. and I will leave you with the second. The only thing stopping you.................. Is You.
Jan 4, 2010
So its not the afternoon, well it is just not on the day that I had planned. So lets see whats been going on. I mean other than the over abundance of food that was consumed over the course of the past month. Well actually just school, graduating, scheduling the National Registry test and of course work. So there will be some major changes coming this year, but more on that as the time gets closer. I am in the process of building my Mountain bike up to an All-Mountain set-up. That process is being delay as everyone knows I also run a little mom and pop bicycle repair shop out of my garage, well during the holiday season some one had broken into my garage and stolen several clients bikes, so I am needing to replace the bikes that were stolen before I can upgrade mine. Yeah really pissed me off. Will be starting to put back on the miles soon, like tommorrow morning after work. Well thats all I got for now. As always any questions, comments or concerns feel free send me an email. Later.
Jan 3, 2010
Happy New Year, as you can see I have made my usual first of the year modifications to the site. Did some rearranging and so on. There will be more later on today but I did want to make these changes quickly so I will write more this afternoon.