Michigan

The weather has been very wild here. I have taken up power walking and it is actually pretty good.

What a Christmas!!

I got the movies "Cobbles Baby" and "The Road to Roubaix!"

I also got the book "A Dog in a Hat." I have read the first 7 pages and I am convinced that it is the best bike book I have ever read.

I also got a wonderful toy for Christmas that we all can enjoy!!

Christmas Song

Got the kids out!

Rose, Owen and I went for a long ski this afternoon! It was fun. While skiing I did not think of the Theory of Relativity but I did think of a way to put my skis on top of the car without buying a new rack!!

Very Nice Ski

Went skiing with Jay T this morning and it was great!

I have a new favorite movie. Look for the parallels with today. Check out the 1996 film "Ridicule."

Eating Fudge

Heavy Holiday Training!

Great Morning

Skiing in the morning with Scott A! There was light snow falling at the outer loop was empty at Elm Creek. Man was that nice. I am going to try to get to Elk River this week.

I went skiing with the kids on the fields tonight. It is getting colder. The drifts were great!

Christmas Card

(The green bike in the picture was the winning bike in the Prairie Roubaix.)

This was a year of delights
This was a year of grace
Seeing old familiar places
And trying not to forget a face
We rode as a family
We rode as one
We were able to rise together
And enjoy the setting sun
And who am I to judge this
Who am I to stand
But to say I love my family
And this wholesome band

Owen, he continues to delight
His nature so true
He always does for others
And is excited to do for you
He loves his sports
And to move about
A friend he is always
And it is rare to see him pout
If only I could bottle him
And hand out his spirit for free
We would be better off
It is easy to see

Rose eats life
With a giant fork
Spooning in every experience
Gaining strength and force
She looks for the good
In all she sees
She is a gift to us
And for life she holds the keys
To see that look in her eyes
Is all that you need to know
She loves riding her horses
To the point she starts to glow

And then Belinda
Could my love really be on the rise
I only grow with my emotion
Our relationship moves to the sky
I have it said
I love her more today
Than the day I met her
And it is true in every way
As we grow together
As we ride along
She fills my voice with
A very joyful song



We all had adventures
We all could tell tales
Of riding bikes with grandpa George
Whose love never fails
We got to see family
We celebrated with friends
There is so much to living
My joys never end
Thank you all for your love
Thank you all for your concern
The more I know about you
The more I want to learn

We went to the peninsula
Of Wisconsin’s Door
We played on the beaches
And watched the sailboats soar
Memories flooded fast
With little room in between
How did I become a father
I am only mentally fourteen
And time is just like that
Always escaping our grasp
The love it stands tested
The love that will always last

And now it is time to close a chapter
And now it is a bridge to burn
A death of another
An another lesson to learn
And in his whisper
He said all I needed to hear
Live life to its fullest
There is really little to fear
Goodbye my father
Thanks for the past
The trips I will remember
The memories will last

And now to remember
Those here and gone
I sing a for them quietly
A sad melodic song
And for the living
Lets take these lessons on
And sing with the voices
Of love that are past and gone
And out of the lessons
Lets commit to always be
Carriers of the love
That was given to us for free

Prairie Roubaix 5

Thanks for the videos!!

What a great day! First of all I would like to thank Jorge for the coffee and Andy and his kids for driving sag. It was the most festive of all the PR classics. Thanks to all for coming out for a great ride.

Phase 1: Andy picked me up at my house with his kids. What a great bunch! They were into the idea of watching us goof off. Good sports!

Phase 2: Riders made it to Fletcher and Jorge brought coffee. It was fun to see everybody and enjoy a cup of coffee together.

Phase 3: The neutral lap is always the lap to feel out the course. It was actually pretty decent. There were a couple sketchy parts but most of the course had dirt single track showing through. Sickboy, who I really never got to talk to showed up on the neutral to ride with us for a lap. I hope using the name Sickboy is OK, it is the only one of the five names you have that I remember. I gave it the gas for a photo op at the end of the neutral because Jorge, Andy and Dan showed up to take pictures. Thanks you guys!

Phase 4: The race started by heading down the hill. When we hit the first road I gave it the gas right away, never thinking that it would work, I just wanted to be an instigator and get things going. Well, I got a gap!! I could see in my mirror that I had about 400 meters, so I thought I would keep it rolling for a little bit, it would be fun.

Phase 5: When Dan and Skibby caught me, it was clear they were working. I couldn't believe it. All of a sudden I am pumped. I totally thought that they would come flying around me but when I saw they were working I got excited and started to cheer them on... I mean this could be the winning move!! I was going to be a part of it for a while.

Phase 6: Dan and I started to work together and it became clear that we were making ground. I was laughing and cheering Dan on. Then Dan tells me to back it off. What!? We took it easy to reload and started the second lap ready to put time on the field and that is just what we did.

Phase 7: On the third lap Dan said, "Neil, you need to go..." so I did. I felt great today. Andy F., I won this one fair and square. I wish you would have come out! Thanks for going with me Dan! It was fun to work with you!

Phase 8: We all met in the parking lot and had a lot of laughs. Andy had a whole box of prizes for us and some were made by his kids! It was fun! Jorge was pouring coffee and we all had a group hug! Steve D. continues to amaze me; he was on a mountain bike too and finished third!! Way to go man. Thanks for the great prizes!! Quang, that mug is awesome!! We need to get a mug for the Northwest Geeks. (That is a division of the Loons.) The group hug was special too!!

Thanks again everybody! That was a lot of fun! Let's do it again in March! Oh, one more thing, thanks to Jordan C! His third place and nationals inspired me today!!

Greatest Blab Ever

Inspired by Keith Rose,

Vegetables vs. Ice Cream
So a person goes to the clinic to see the doctor because they are not feeling well. The doctor does all kinds of tests and cannot figure out what is wrong. He finally asks, “What have you been eating.” The person responds with “ice cream.” So the doctor asks what else and the person says nothing else, just ice cream. The doctor responds by saying that is why you are sick, you can’t live on ice cream!! So the doctor makes a week long plan for a balanced diet of vegetables and little to no ice cream. When the week is up the person goes right back to the ice cream, it is all they have ever known and habits are hard to break.

Why do some kids not like school? Because all they have ever been fed is ice cream. School is a farmers market. It is a place for vegetables and one thing it is not is an ice cream stand. It is a place for vegetables and nutrients for the brain. If all a kid has ever eaten is ice cream, naturally they are going to hate school. They have never even thought of vegetables as being a good thing, they are something to avoid.

Now my job as a teacher is to make the vegetables as good and tasty as possible. I try my best to do just that but they are still vegetables. The students job is to develop an appetite for vegetables, or is that the parents job? What are the vegetables? Well, in its simplest form, the vegetables are reading. It has been proven that the more you read the further you go. It has also been proven that the longer a child is read to by an adult, well into middle school, the further they will go. Reading with your child keeps important communication channels open with the child while modeling a love of reading, or vegetables.

What is the ice cream? Maybe a better question is what isn’t? We are surrounded by ice cream. TV is a flood of ice cream and video games are another form of ice cream. A little ice cream, not bad, we all like ice cream; but to live on it is another situation all together. All the gadgets that get crammed down our throat as “must have” items are also the ice cream. December has become a month of ice cream with ads selling stuff by convincing us that we couldn’t live without it. Most of it is simply ice cream. Something that is distracting us from the nutrients we need like relationships and learning.

If all a kid has ever known is ice cream, that is all they are going to desire. If they are in a home environment that eats ice cream and nothing else, they are going to resent school and anything that has to do with getting them some vegetables; it only makes sense.

How can you tell if a person is getting the nutrients they need? Just listen and watch. With someone getting their vegetables you will hear please, thank you and sorry. You will see problem solving and respect ooze from these people. The ice cream sounds like blaming and complaining, it is rude, and it is selfish. I would also say that there is a joy that comes with the veggies and dissatisfaction from the ice cream.

One could argue that if you listen and watch you will see a little too much ice cream in everyone. It is so much a part of our society that manners and respect seem to be a lost art. I am as guilty as the next person for buying into the cream. I think that it is time to unplug, grab a good book and simplify my diet.

Probably the biggest problem is that ice cream is immediate and vegetables take time. Ice cream satisfies right away where the veggies pay off over time. That is why parenting is so important. We need to model that the vegetables are where the real joy is, the real satisfaction. It is a tough sell, but the truth will set us free.

I told my daughter that she was lucky that she had parents that fed her mind vegetables and she responded by saying that we fed them real vegetables too. There could be a connection here.

Keith's Response

Now, we all know that an all-vegetable diet would not be healthy and that at school, we do more than just teach reading. This is the beauty of the diet analogy. At school we also like to develop students’ ability to work cooperatively, to compete, and to be a good sport, win or lose. These might be the grains in the diet. We know that self-discipline is the strongest predictor of future success of students…growing that character trait, as well as compassion, appreciation for diversity, integrity, and a hard-work ethic is our serving of protein. Oh yes, math, science, social studies, health, spelling, P.E., art,and music are the servings of fruit. From my perspective, this is all about balance. Having ice cream is fine as long as it is in a healthy proportion to fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. This also holds true at home…balance. Ice cream once in awhile is great, I would say it is healthy. But ice cream should be a once in awhile deal, much less frequent than vegetables, fruits, grains, etc.

Another reason I like this analogy is that it is really easy to extend…

How many parents would put an ice cream machine in the 8 year-old’s bedroom? I can’t think of many, but I know a lot of students who have a video system or TV in their room. If we all knew that controlling the intake of TV and video games is as important as controlling the intake of ice cream, us parents might think twice about putting a video system and TV in our kids’ rooms.

Another extension….Back to the sick kid/hospital analogy...All of the doctors and nurses are, for the most part, working their tail of trying to help this kid. Some doctors and nurses aren’t…maybe they’ve sen too many patients like this and they’ve given up, maybe they feel they are underpaid…whatever the reason, they shouldn’t be in the health field, but they are locked in because their union is so strong. This is a problem. The hospital who is treating this patient is governed by a board of directors. The doctors and nurses have been doing all they can to diagnose and even to treat symptoms, all the while being pretty darned stumped by the cause of all the “health problems.” The board is split in their view of this…half think the hospital is failing the patient…"the hospital needs to be more accountable, the doctors need to be more accountable and the patient needs to have the right to go to a different hospital, paid for by this “failing hospital.” The other half of the board thinks the school is failing the patient, but it simply needs more funding. “We need more doctors, especially doctors who specialize in this specific issue, we need more coaches to train the current doctors about the best practices for treating this patient, we need up-to-date computers in every hospital room, more catscan machines, etc.” Here is the rub: At least within this analogy, neither approach is going to help the patient because neither approach deals with the root cause. Maybe the hospital needs to somehow focus on the patient’s parents and try to educate them about the need for a balanced diet…that a balanced diet is a positive path toward “economic/spiritual/emotional/mental/LIFE health.”

Problem is, many of the parents don’t trust the hospital or, the ice cream diet is what they grew up with, it is all they know… many generations ago some weren’t even allowed to eat vegetables, now the powers-that-be are telling them they must eat vegetables. Some folks even view a balanced diet as selling out their culture, after all, their parents and grandparents and great grandparents all were big on ice cream…that is a tough cycle to break…
So, hopefully my analogy is obvious…the hospital is the school. The patients are the students, the board is our executive and legislative branches of government, split along party lines, some of the students are African-American and their ancetors weren't allowed to learn to read or write.

First Ski

Went out and got my pass tonight. Got chased out of there by high school kids and went back at 8:30. What a workout! John showed up right when I was about to go, so we lap raced. It took him 15 minutes to come around. He is fast. Looks like we have a field for Saturday! 12 noon start!

Prairie Roubaix Sign In

We have someone supplying coffee. We need a head count so leave your name in the comments! Oh boy! This could be fun!!

Loon Party

Maps of Prairie Roubaix

Good night! Good time! Thanks Don! Good night! Oh, yes, Prairie Roubaix high noon on Saturday. We could have quite the field. White elephant prize list... bring what you can.

Eulogy

The eulogy at my dad's funeral today was great. It was an actual bike funeral. Ask Jay T, Jay H or Scott A! It was pretty neat. Bill, a bike buddy of my dad's, gave a bike eulogy that captured why we love to ride and why we relate so well with each other. It was masterful and from the heart. No polish, all grit.

My dad's other bike buddies spoke at the grave site and all had meaningful things to say. Someone in the crowd said, you never hear adult men talk about each other that way, it is way too vulnerable; and I just wanted to say welcome to the world of cycling. Thanks dad for opening me up to this wonderful world and thanks to all his friends for bringing me in as family and encouraging me to pick up the sport!