My first memory is of being babysat. I’m three maybe four. I clearly remember sitting on the lap of a girl at a low-key late 70’s basement party. The party is being thrown by my cousin, my babysitter. I can still see her face.

 Dirty blond, a pink tube-top, tight jeans and too much eye makeup.  

 Talking with my wife about placing our three children in non-parental care for a night out, I’m struck by how things have changed. 

Do baby-sitters still exist?

Do people still trust a neighborhood teenager they hardly know to care for there children armed only with a list of phone numbers posted on the fridge and a threat of “wait till your parents get home”

I recently asked my mother about the babysitters in my childhood and as expected she proceeds to describe a few of the more memorable misadventures.

“Oh there was that one that you and your brothers tied up, she never came back”

“Oh remember that time that your regular babysitter, now what was her name, anyway, I guess she was sick so she sent her brother” “ Ya he was a bit off, I think he was mentally diminished or something like that.”

Now for the record my parents were not in anyway negligent this was simply acceptable parenting for the era. No seatbelts, bike helmets or life jackets combined with significantly more freedom to roam it’s amazing my brothers and I survived at all.

I often wonder if in protecting my children, not only from the physical dangers of the world but also from any and all hardship, I’m actually doing them a disservice.

When I think back on my childhood I can definitely recall a few incidents where I was lucky to escape unharmed but in those close calls I learnt resourcefulness, a sense of self, that has served me well. 

Without facing adversity how can one be expected to deal with the challenges of the “real world”?

I recently read a story that discussed the raising demand on student services in Canadian Universities. Apparently student today don’t quietly flunk out but instead seek support and sue Universities for wrongful dismissal.  

Are we over parenting?

Have North American parents created a generation of over praised, under achievers, with a sense of entitlement and no ability to solve there own problems?

Or maybe I’m just getting old……. 

Life is Too Short

The average Canadian male lives 79 years as reported by the World Health Organization (83 for females). That’s only 28,835 days, which means I only have 16,425 days left on this planet. If I was born in Afghanistan I would only have 2920 days of living left as statistically a male only lives to be 42.

Now I know this is not exactly a ground breaking idea, I know you have heard it all before; Carpe Diem “seize the day” and all that, you probably saw Dead Poets Society in ’89 and for a day or two were seized.

For me these ideas evoke feelings of guilt: Why can’t I seize the day every day? Why do I waste time?

If I have learned anything in 12,410 days of life it’s that Robin Williams is not a good measure of success at anything including “seizing the day”. The truth is Seizing the day requires resources and resources require sacrifices like jobs and jobs make you tired and tired people need to rest and sometimes resting involves watching TV or staying in your PJ’s all day or doing nothing even though the great big beautiful world is waiting and you know you only have 16,425 days left to experience it.

For me Carpe Diem is about seizing your own free will. It’s about realizing that you are in control of your life. Life really is too short to live under a regime of circumstances you feel are outside your own control. An abused wife who finally get the courage to leave her husband only to enter another abusive relationship.

Seizing your own free will takes courage. The older we get the more likely we are to accept our circumstances. Carpe Diem is about having the courage to exercise free will especially as we get older and set in our ways. Like moving half way across the country to live in a place you want to be rather then accepting the distance between you and your loved ones.

No decision can’t be undone; no circumstance can’t be changed or accepted.

As I see it if you find yourself unhappy with your circumstances you only have two choices: one is to collect your courage and make a change and two is to exhale and accept it because life really is too short to live outside your own free will.

Family

Cross season started this past weekend with a flat tire on the second lap. I was in a lead group of five riders. We had pulled away from the pack. My legs felt good and I was just starting to settle into a rhythm when the rider in front of me went down and I ran my front tire into his crank (front chain ring). The tire exploded and was completely flat before I could apologize for stepping on his hand as I tried to untangle my bike. He was not hurt and able to continue, unfortunately my race was over. It was a long windy drive for 10 minutes of racing. Thanks to everyone for their support at the race.

When it comes to family support I feel pretty lucky.

I enjoy truck loads of support from family members that have made enormous sacrifices to allow our family to function as it currently does. The following is a list of sacrifices’ that I DID NOT MAKE to allow this family to work:

- I did not leave a place I had known and loved for 5 decades
- I did not leave my mortgage free housing situation to take on a new mortgage in my 50’s
- I did not leave my close knit French family far a bunch of non-separatist socialists
- I did not move into a house that’s over prices and stretches my finances to their limit
- I did not come out of retirement to pay my new mortgage
- I did not leave all of my well established social networks and start fresh
- I did not leave a good job with a small company I had proven myself with to take on a new job with a huge company that threatens to lay me off monthly
- I did not leave an economy where $60,000/year is enough to raise a family for a place where $60,000/year won’t cover groceries.
- I did not face social ridicule for my decision to move
- I did not give up retirement for a longer work life

I did not make any of these sacrifices but I do appreciate them. Every day I feel lucky to be benefitting from the support of my family and every day I think of the choices that were made so my children can have the support they unknowingly will never fully appreciate.

Extra Pepper Please

Honestly the thing I love about racing my bike is the humility it affords me. There is a reason that cycling, even at the professional level, isn’t overrun with arrogance. From the outside it may appear that cycling like all pro sports is full of egotistical adrenaline junkies but honestly my experience has been the exact opposite.

Last night was my first cyclocross race of the season. Cyclocross (youtube video) is the punk rock cousin of road cycling and combines both mountain bike skills and road tactics. The big difference with a cross race is that it only last an hour. Even at the top levels the longest races are only 60 min. This means that to win you need to ride “flat out” for the entire race.

Last night’s race started out reasonably well and I found myself holding third place through the second lap. I was in a group of five that had broken away from the main field. I took a small wrong turn and ended up at the back of the group but at least I was still in the lead pack.

I was starting to settle in and felt my legs coming around when Pepper Harlton a junior female racer put the hammer down and handed all four of us in the lead group a huge helping of humility. Pepper rode away from us all with what seemed like very little effort. The thing about cycling is there is always someone faster and last night it happened to be a 17 year old girl.

"SPEND MORE STUPID"

I’m not an economist nor do I follow economic trends closely. I would say I have an average understanding of the North American economic system. However, listening to National Radio the other day I found myself baffled by the current economic message.




Spend, Spend, Spend!!!

Spend more is the message we are getting. The best way out of this recession is for consumer confidence to return and for us collectively to spend more…..

“We’ll Spend Our Way Out of Recession” Business News

I’m reminded of a scene from the Simpsons when Homer and Chief Wiggum literally dig a hole in the ground to deep to climb out. Homer’s solution is “were going to have to dig our way out” and as they start franticly digging Wiggum says “no, no, dig up stupid”.

I mean are we really going to swallow this. Does anyone else see a fundamental issue with spending our way out of a recession? Now before you point out the obvious I want to be clear that I understand the basics. I understand that spending more means businesses will have less suffering to pass on to their employees. I understand that the rate at which money moves around the economic “buy – sell” system is directly related to the economy’s health. But are we not missing the point when we say spend more and everything will go back to normal.

Do we really want it to go back to normal?

In North America every dollar I earn is hunted by a relentless army of “must have” products. My life is full of junk I don’t need. I spend my time organizing it, finding it and moving up the property ladder to accommodate it all. Seriously I am surrounded by junk I don’t need and the logistics of managing this empire consumes most of my time.

Why not use the current economic downturn to take a look at how you spend your time and money and evaluate what is really contributing to your life positively.
As I listened to the national radio call in show I heard person after person call in with their stories of hardship.

“I’m a teacher but since my husband lost his job we are having real trouble keeping up, we have burnt through our savings and I just don’t know what we’re going to do”??

Where is this woman living that she can’t survive on a teacher’s salary? I felt like reaching through the radio and shaking this woman.

Here’s a solution for you lady, how about spending less!!!!!!!!!!!!

One income for a family used to be enough. Certainly the income of a teacher was enough to raise a family on.

According to stats Canada the average teacher’s salary in 1981 in Ontario was $28,983and it costs $320 a month to feed a family of four (two parents and 2 kids) that means that over a year the cost of food represented 13.2% of a teacher’s income. In 2008 the average teacher’s salary in Ontario was $58,467 and it costs $600/month to feed a family of four which represents 12.3% of a teacher’s annual salary.

When I hear that a family can’t survive on one parent’s income in today’s world I really have to wonder if that is true or if society’s definition of “survive” has simply changed.

Cars and Bikes

Between 1975 and 2008 Transport Canada Statistics reports that 2,315 cyclists have between killed by cars. The above picture gives an idea of what this looks like, showing 2200 people gathered for a running race.

In that same time period 255,000 people in Canada have been injured by cars while riding their bikes. To put that in perspective the population of Saskatoon is 230,000 (below).

"PARIS OF THE PRAIRIES"

I find the battle between cars and bikes interesting. In general cars do not respect bikes as legitimate vehicles with a right to be on the road and cyclists respond by living up to lowered expectation. People generally conduct themselves in part based on the expectation placed on them by their circumstances. For example I say things at a bachelor party I would never say at work even if the same people are present. Just go out for beers with co-works next Friday after work to see this phenomenon in action.

The same rule applies to cyclists. When I drive my car I generally abide by the laws of the road. When I ride my bike along the same streets in the same after work rush I seem less likely to abide by all the rules. I don’t go running red lights or weaving in and out of traffic but like after work beer time I defiantly apply a less conservative interpretation of the rules of conduct.

It’s a positive feedback mechanism; the less respect cyclists get on the roads the greater their feeling of lowered expectations and the less likely they are to follow the rules, angering more motorists who in turn lose more respect for cyclists lowering expectations further.

In cities like New York things has deteriorated to all out war. Cyclists join urban riding clubs for protection and even hire riding coaches to teach them how to “street ride”.

Campo teaches folks how to "street ride," a culture mixed with bike messenger-styled aggressiveness (yes, we scream at drivers and pedestrians not giving us the right of way) and staying safe.

READ MORE: DAILY NEWS ARTICLE

If every cyclist followed traffic rules as strictly as motorists I think much of the animosity between the two groups would be alleviated. Driver respect would increase thus increasing the expectations placed on cyclists which would further reduce lawless cycling behavior and ultimately make the roads safer for riders.

On average 23 cyclists are killed In New York by cars. There are no winners in war only dead cyclists and manslaughter charges.

23 NEW YORKERS

Second-hand Rant

It takes 4.6 minutes for a cigarette to be smoked according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

The average human takes 12 breaths a minute (Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, 6th edition, New York: Harper-Collins, 1990)

This means that there are approximately 55.2 breaths of smoke in a single cigarette.

[4.6 minutes times 12 breaths a minute equals 55.2 breaths to finish a cigarette]

I understand that there are all kinds of different variables that would affect the amount of time it takes someone to smoke a cigarette including the type of cigarette and the type of smoker. I also understand that the smoke from the end of the cigarette is different from the exhaled smoke. According to the Canadian Cancer Society the smoke exhaled by a smoker is only slightly less toxic then the smoke from the end of the cigarette as the smoke inhaled is pulled through a filter. The Cancer Society also mentions that of the 4.6 minute burn time of a cigarette only 30 seconds are inhaled by the smoker. So for the intent of this argument it is prudent to say that in each cigarette there is approximately 55.2 breaths of smoke, each containing more than 4000 chemicals of which several are know carcinogens.

Now like most people in North America I am subjected to second hand smoke despite my best efforts to avoid it. I work downtown and in my daily routine I, on average, inhale second hand smoke 8 to 10 times a day.

[I get my first hit as I get off the bus in the morning and walk by the University campus main building entrance, I get hit a second time as I enter my office building. I get a third hit as I leave my office building for my daily tea run and a fourth time returning from my tea run. I take my fifth “drag” leaving at the end of the day; my sixth is at the university on the way back to the bus stop. Once at the bus stop I am hit at least once if not twice by people either at the stop or walking by.]

These are my guaranteed drags and don’t include the random hits I get whenever I’m outside walking anywhere.

So if I am taking at least 8 smoke filled breaths a day that means that I am subjected to 188 smoke breaths a year.

[52 weeks/year minus 5 weeks of holidays equals 47 weeks times 4 work days/week equals 188 days a year]

That means in a year I take 1,504 smoke filled breaths which is equivalent to 27.2 cigarettes if we remember 55.2 breaths taken to finish a cigarette.

[188 days times 8 smoke filled breaths a day equals 1,504 smoke filled breaths a year divided by 55.2 breaths in a single cigarette equals 27.2 cigarettes]

27.2 cigarettes a year, that is #%@&#*@ insane!!!!!!!!

27.2 cigarettes a year just to go to work. How is this legal? I really want to hear a smoker defend forcing me to smoke 27.2 cigarettes a year against my will.

What about the alcoholics’. They should be allowed to pass out shots of whiskey on the street corner. Here kids have a swig, sorry you have no choice, it’s the price of walking down this public street, it’s my right to drink and thereby force you to drink….

Somebody please explain this one to me. If I were to stand out front of my office building and shout obscenities at passersby it wouldn’t be long before I was arrested and most likely fired, however, it’s perfectly legal to spew toxic cancer causing chemicals. I thought it was “freedom of speech” not “freedom to poison my fellow man”.

Cancer Society estimates 100,000 men, women and children die from cancer a year related to second hand smoke. Why are we putting up with this? Seriously…….

I spend 350 hours on the trainer improving my cardiovascular fitness so I can ride my bike faster, now if I could only quit smoking……

Let The Girls Play

My wife grew-up in Northern Ontario in the 80’s and was subjected to a fairly average set of gender roles for the era. Her father worked out of the home as a teacher. Her mother ran the household and held several temporary jobs throughout her life. Her father, skied, played hockey, played baseball and ran. Her mother skied ……a little.

My wife has a brother. He played just about every sport you can name. He is an exceptional athlete who grew up to be a physical education teacher….makes sense.

When my wife talks about her athletic career it usually involves a story that ends with her getting hit in the head by the ball. She claims to have been cursed with poor coordination. When I ask my wife’s family (mother, father, brother) about her athletic abilities it seems to have been decided early that brother was the athlete and sister (now wife) was the academic.

This is likely a fairly common story for women of our generation. Gender roles exist for a reason. Men and women are different. They are generally interested in different things and are driven by different social pressures especially as young people.

However, when you consider the potential benefits of woman playing organized sports versus allowing them at young age to decide they are “not the sporty type” or worse assigning them the “uncoordinated” curse it might be considered negligent.

The following is a list of some of the benefits a woman can expect if she makes sport part of her life. The list is part of a summary document produced by the Woman’s Sports Foundation in East Meadow, NY. The foundation was started by tennis super start Billie Jean King. The statistics come from various sources and are referenced on the Woman’s Sports Foundation website so I won’t bother to reference each point.

When a woman makes sport part of her life she is…..

· significantly reduces her risk of stroke,
· less likely to suffer from osteoporosis,
· less likely to suffer depression,
· more likely to graduate from high school ,
· more likely to go to university and 15% more likely to earn a degree,
· significantly less likely to suffer from an eating disorder,
· more likely to engage in volunteer work,
· more likely to vote,
· 50% less likely to be pregnant as a teen
· less likely to be sexually assaulted
· 50% less likely to develop breast cancer

The list goes on and on and on………….

When the athletic component of a woman’s life is dismissed or when she is allowed to dismiss it herself she not only misses out on all of the fantastic fun of playing but also deprives herself of countless benefits.

My wife didn’t play as a young girl and as a result she doesn’t play as a young woman. She has found it difficult to make sport part of her life and struggles to stay active. She feels guilt associated with taking time away from her family to indulge in sport.

I, as a man, am expected to play! My wife, as a mother, is not expected to play. Combined with the dismissal of her athletic abilities at a young age it is not hard to see why sport is not a big part of her life.

So let the girls play.

The Lance-France Phenomena

I registered a legitimate 355 hours to my training log since January, spin-torturing myself in the basement for 12 hours a week.

Hours and hours of mind numbing base training. I watched what I ate, I got lots of sleep, I felt strong and managed to trim down to 144 lbs.

Finally spring came and race season began. I raced hard all spring and early summer and was happy to see the training pay off. I suffered less, got reasonable results and felt good about what I had accomplished.

Now it’s August and when it comes to riding I’ve got two flat tires in my mind.

Excuses NOT to get on the bike are becoming easier and easier to find. I’ve put on 10 lbs and feel my fitness slipping away.

I’m surprised by my loose of discipline. Even with some big races still left in the season I can’t seem to rekindle the drive that kept me on the bike through the long dark winter.

I got a little sympathy on my club ride last week, when a veteran racer threw me a bone remarking that “everyone has a hard time training in August”.

Even a small taste of athletic adversity helps me realize how special the pro athlete actually is. Pro cyclists are not only genetically gifted but have a supernatural discipline, a drive, a desire to suffer that far surpasses the normal mortal human.

Since I have fallen off the training wagon an unexpected thing has happened. My fans, and when I say “fans”, I mean the people I bore weekly with training updates and race reports (family, friends and co-workers). My fans have become more interested in my cycling. They are asking more questions, they are listening to my stories, and they’re showing real genuine interest.

To be fair my family (wife, kids, mother, step-father, brother and sister-in-law) have always and continue to support me regardless, but for my friends and co-workers (mainly co-workers) they seem to have found some pleasure in my difficulties. Since I started complaining about my training troubles my cycling has been the hot topic of our daily walk to the coffee shop. I have even had a few co-workers ask about coming out to watch a race. I’m calling it the Lance-France affect.

The Tour de France cycling fans, especially the French Fans have found a new place in their hearts for poor Lance Armstrong who struggled to keep a podium position at this year’s Tour. As outlined in the NY Times article and documented extensively in cycling news reports.

How things have changed for Armstrong since the last time he competed here, in 2005, when he completed the last of his seven consecutive Tour victories and was seemingly entrenched as the antagonist.

Back then, French fans yelled the word “Doped” as Armstrong rode by. Spectators held fake syringes with his name written on them. Some people spat on him, showing their disgust for the man who has been dogged by doping allegations at this race.

But now, the 37-year-old Armstrong has become a sympathetic figure in the country that once seemed to dislike him the most.

“There was a lot of negative stuff, and very, very aggressive negative stuff — and that’s gone,” Armstrong said last week after one of the Alpine stages of this Tour. “I’m pleasantly surprised.”

I believe the Lance-France phenomenon goes beyond the obvious short comings inherent in human nature. I think the Lance-France phenomenon is a form of arrogance, spectator arrogance.

Fans of cycling often comment on the egos or the arrogance of pro cyclists. To be honest I don’t see it. The only thing cycling has taught me is humility. Even when I win I feel lucky. I know my fitness is temporary, I know there is always someone faster, I know it is only a matter of time before I'm back struggling for a mid pack finish. The club I ride with is full of accomplished cyclists including Olympic triathletes and many Cat 1 riders. I have yet to feel an once of arrogance.

The arrogance in cycling is manufactured by the fans and media expectation, no more real than the hate between Hulk Hogan and the Rowdy Roddy Piper.

I’m sure there are arrogant pro-cyclists but it is my contention that their arrogance has nothing to do with the sport in fact I would suggest their arrogance would be worse if they had chosen a career in say medicine. The suffering needed to be a pro-cyclist only helps to curb arrogant thoughts.

So set aside your own ego and enjoy the achievements of suffering. If you feel the need to pass judgement stop and ask yourself would I be willing make the same kind of sacrifice. 

Head in the Sand

A new cycling video has gone “viral” online in the past week. It’s not a grainy account of some ridiculously impossible stunt but rather a satirical look at cycling, particularly road cycling. The video is called “Performance” and features MC SpandX.

Watch "Performance" by MC SpandX

I watched the video as I'm sure you just did and was mildly amused. Well I’m sorry to spoil the ending but the video is not an independent expression of cycling art as it would have you believe but rather a piece of indirect marketing by an online bike shop “Performance Bicycles” . As exposed by Bike Snob NYC this video if full of subliminal marketing including flashes of a banner promoting Performance Bicycles fall sale. SHAMELESS!!

This kind of conduct by companies seems to be standard practice these days. I'm not sure if it only seems this way as information becomes more and more available or if societies degenerative spiral is reflected by the companies we support in our market place.

This unscrupulous behavior by companies is only annoying in cases like Performance Bicycles but downright sinister in many other industries. Like the fact that my disposable shoes are made by a 10 year old child kidnapped from his villages in rural China to work in factory city.

Is this true…. maybe? Do I bother to find out? I guess I really don’t want to know, or maybe I am too busy to care, or too overwhelmed with information to distinguish the trust. This bombardment of information allows me to ignore these inconvenient possibilities.

I find that once I do have reliable information my conscious does kick in and I somehow find the energy to make the right decision. My wife has much more of this kind of energy then I do and she often drives change in our family. She just finished reading Slow Death By Rubber Duck which documents some of the chemicals that we Canadians are exposed to in the products we buy and use. Everything from carcinogenic store receipt paper to formaldehyde in baby shampoo.

The fact that I, as a North American consumer, am being inundated with countless chemicals is something I have definitely been aware of for awhile. What I was really shocked by was the process by which these large chemical companies are allowed to have their products sold in the market place.

Basically a chemical company invents some new chemical. A good example is a fire retardant chemical from DOW Chemicals that is currently used in just about everything you can think of. The chemical is tested by DOW and as long as it doesn’t kill all the rats in the lab they deem it to be safe. There is no independent testing of the product instead the responsibility is placed on the medical community to prove through decades of research that the chemical is harmful and usually a bunch of people have to die before the research even starts.

Mean while Dow employs a bunch of people to lobby the government to improve fire safety of electronics suggesting fire retardant chemicals are used to save lives.

“Just think of the children”!!

The result is a house full of electronics spewing cancer causing chemicals propelled by little cooling fans through vents on the back.

Hey, this is only one side of the story, maybe it’s not true. I mean the authors of Death by Rubber Duck wouldn’t have much of a book if Chemical companies were acting in the interest of the greater good, right???

Ahhh…. the sound of my head being plunged back into the preverbal sand.

COOL 2WHEELERS

Like most cyclists part of why I love riding are the bikes.

I love bikes.

Some of my favorites include:

Calfee Bamboo Mountain Bike

How cool is this bike. It is apparently as strong and stiff as aluminum with the feel of carbon.

They also do a road bike. I want one. Check out the video.

For those cycling parents out there who feel the pressure to have their childern on two wheelers before they are five years old, I found the perfect product. The walking bike. Video

Finally the dream bike.

Check out what TREK has done with their new Madone series road bikes. The Project One website lets you build a custom Madone, components, paint scheme, sizing, very cool. The only problem is once you have finished your deam bike they tell you the price. The last one I build was $11,800.

Not likely a purchase I will be making any time soon.

Life Without Wife

Fatty’s wife Susan died on Wed August 5th at 7:25 pm after a 5 year battle with cancer. Fatty is a cyclist that writes a blog with a few more subscribers then Bike Envy. Along with Bike Snob NYC and Lance Armstrong’s twitter page, Fatty represents a significant online cycling voice. Fatty not only uses his blog, fatcyclist, to discuss cycling issues but he has also used it to tell his wife, Susan Nelson’s, story.

Susan survived much longer than expected and inspired the largest Livestrong cycling team ever assembled (more than 500 people) to fundraise more than $500,000 in six months. Without a doubt Fatty’s well written, brutally honest account of Susan battle with cancer facilitated the impact of Susan’s story.

Reading Fatty’s blog over the past few months I could not help but empathize and ponder the obvious question of what would my life be like without my wife. The insights provided by Fatty brought me a better appreciation for what my wife means to my life as it currently exists.

Without wife, my life would cease to exist as I know it. I would cease to exist as I currently do.

I don’t mean to be dramatic or to overstate this but how else can I describe someone who has influenced all of the decisions I have made for over a decade.

My wife has changed me.

I am more like her;

she is more like me;

we have been forever altered by association.

Life without wife would not be my life but some altered version, like you see in time travel movies. So just in case my marriage is protecting the human race from being enslaved by apes I will stop writing and give my wife an appreciative backrub.

My thoughts are with Fatty as he embarks on his new life.

HOCKEY SUCKS?

Growing up in Northern Ontario in the 80’s cycling was not a sport I was exposed to. I played soccer, baseball and of course hockey.

Hockey, hockey, hockey!

My brothers played, my friends played, I’m not sure I knew anyone who didn’t play hockey. In the summer it was power-skating and hockey school to prepare for the next season. I remember being called away from the daily neighborhood road hockey game to go to my ice hockey game.

I have fond memories of playing hockey mostly related to the time I spent with teammates off the ice in hotel pools, in the bus on road trips and at backyard barbeques. I also have some less positive memories from my years as a hockey player.

I remember two Dads fighting in the bleachers at a tournament in Minnesota,

I remember yelling obscenities at referees’ as a ten or eleven year-old,

I remember a parent punching one of my coaches over ice time for his kid,

I remember my team manager passed out drunk in the bleachers during the finals at a tournament in Sioux St Marie, Ontario.

My five-year-old son played hockey this past winter and I discovered that minor hockey has not changed much in the fifteen years I have been away from the sport. I was shocked to witness parents’ cheer as a five year old was escorted to the penalty box tears streaming down his face. I’m still not sure how a five year old even got a penalty; I guess I should have asked the twelve-year-old referee.

My son has tried gymnastics, swimming, skating lessons, indoor and outdoor soccer, and skiing (cross-country and downhill). He even raced his mountain bike for the first time last week. He seems to love sports and is usually excited about participating. Hockey was the first sport he did not like. We found ourselves coaxing him into the rink and bribing him to get on the ice.

Six months of weekend tournaments and five am practices,

Six months of watching fathers pushing their kids to tears,

Six months of mandatory shifts at the arenas concession stand.

Six months of “do I have to go”

Needless to say neither my wife nor I put up much of a fight when our son decided he didn’t want to play hockey this coming winter and instead he would rather try snowboarding.

I got really excited when he mentioned bmx racing, I guess we’ll see once spring comes.

24 hour of Adrenalin Podium Acceptance Speech

I bike.

It’s part of how I define myself. It serves me in so many ways. It gives me time away, it keeps me fit, it provides my mother-in-law Christmas gift ideas.

Part of my cycling involves racing. It started with the 24 hours of Adrenalin and from there has expanded to other endurance events, XC racing (Alberta Cup, Canada Cup), road racing and this season cyclo-cross.

I find that racing can create a false importance around my cycling. Especially in the past two season coinciding with a few decent results.

Am I being responsible to my family, or has my hobby brought my life out of balance?  

I think this is a question that many parents of my generation struggle with. I know my riding is not always fair to my wife, but I like to think that overall I have found a balance between my hobby and my responsibilities.

My wife sums it up best when she often explains my cycling by saying ….

“I wouldn’t want to be married to you without cycling”.

I think she means that I wouldn’t be the same man without cycling. I wouldn’t be as patient with our children, I wouldn’t have the same energy, I would probably be over weight… passionless… miserable.  

I do however, from time to time, ride too much and become unbalanced. The false importance of racing overtakes my consideration for family. When I do get out of balance an interesting thing happens.

I start to have a reoccurring daydream while I ride. I imagine being at a big race and winning. I picture myself standing on the podium. The race organizer offers me the microphone to say a few words and I give a teary-eyed podium acceptance speech thanking my wife and the “sacrifices made by my family to allow me to be here” I usually go on about the amount of time away and all the extra responsibility my wife accepts.

I know that when guilt dominates the tone of my daydreamed race winning podium acceptance speech it’s time to take a break from the bike.  Now that I can recognize when I’m out of balance the only question is can I make the responsible decision.  

Lance Armstrong

There is no question that Lance Armstrong’s return to the professional peloton has not only been noticed by the cycling community but by the world. It seems that most are welcoming Lance back, however, a vocal minority claim Lance’s return hurts the sport of cycling. That Lance is returning to feed his ego and that he mocks the sport with his very presence.

To be honest I am at a loss to understand how anyone can interpret Lance’s comeback as being hurtful to the sport of cycling. The sport of cycling has never had a bigger profile. Millions of people are taking notice, buying bikes, riding more or even riding for the first time all because of Lance and his story.

The critics say Lance is returning to serve his own ego, that he is a cheater, that he is greedy.

Lance had explained that his return to cycling was motivated by his desire to elevate the global profile of the fight against cancer and I have seen little evidence to contradict this claim. Lance has used his comeback to solicit government funding and bring a personal face to cancer, often dedicating his rides. Even if he did returning to serve his own ego, how does Lance’s ego hurt cycling?

The professional peloton has not given Lance a free pass based on his historic results. He has proven he is still a competitive professional and a committed team rider.

I have read that Lance is mocking the sport by continuing to cheat (using performance enhancing drugs). Has Lance ever tested positive for anything? Was Lance not tested almost 30 times this season? Did Lance not make his test results public? What more can he do? Until Lance tests positive for any performance enhancing drugs this argument makes no sense. How can unproven, speculative cheating mock the sport of cycling?

Greed may be part of the reason for his return, it’s difficult to tell for sure. We have heard that Lance is riding for free, although I doubt he is turning down sponsorship dollars. Why do we care how much money Lance is making. The world is willing to accept 50 million dollar baseball contracts for steroid filled, overweight, egotistical, rap star wannabes to stand around an open field all summer long waiting for a ball to drop. Are we really passing judgment on Lance for benefitting from his fame? Is he not using his celebrity to benefit other? Why do we care if he also benefits?

For all you club cyclists out there spewing criticism on your weekly group rides I pass along my heartfelt sympathy. I feel sorry that you are not able to believe that someone may actually be contributing positively. Maybe Lance does turn out to be a fraud, but the fact that you are not willing to believe in the possibility that he is acting to benefit others, that he does sacrifice for the greater good, that he is a medical miracle, makes me sad for you. Myself I would rather look like a fool for believing then say I told you so.