Youre doing it Peter, Youre doing it!

I thought I had sworn off blogging for good, but recent blogs read have changed my mind and now here I am, blogging again.

Ive been everywhere, man. Like that horrible country song that found its way into a Geico commercial in the past few years. I am confident that’s not right, but as a TV-less individual you have to pardon my ignorance. Right now, I am laying in what has to be my 50 or 60th bed of the last 365 days, already second bed of 2012. What I’m saying is; I sleep around. This particular bed is in Berkeley, CA within the confines of the humble Donald Trivison estate, where he and I will spend our third separate stint of living together in this life (which makes me greatly pleased)… cooking food, talking about life, working too hard, and drinking wine (maybe a bit less for me, the princess). Some beds that I stay in are better than others, this going to be a good bed.

I just finished my third big ride of the year, and followed that with finishing an equally daunting amount of food, all the time missing Miss Annie back in Jackson. Moving around is exhausting, difficult on relationships, and overwhelming. You have to rely on the good will of the people around you to find your way home (or stay out of your way while you bumble around), find a bed, find food, and find comfort. In doing this comes the best part of going everywhere; there will be good people (if not, leave that place, or bring good people with you). Without good people, I would probably still be riding around lost on the other side of this giant hill that boarders Berkeley, where I was lost 3 days ago.

Berkeley is INSANE. I don’t know what I expected, but no one could have expected, or explained, what its like to have people walk out into traffic at will expecting you stop lest you be fined.  Yes, YOU be fined.  Its possibly the most sacred law here behind no cell phones while driving (oh, and style is whatever you find and wear, like tablecloths, those are popular), people don’t even gesture thanks when you come to a screeching hault, because its just how things are.  I guess it would be like me gesturing thanks to a barista who hands me coffee that ive paid for, wait… Hm. Whatever, too much to think about. I walked into a grocery store thinking it was a tiny little market with good food and great produce, but there were one thousand people in there, no joke. The girl in front of me was READING A BOOK in the checkout line, which I thought unusual until I saw that the guy in front of her was turning the page in his book. I am not sure what I bought, but I am sure that I didn’t blink for a solid 2 hours. There were more types of oranges in that store than there are fruits, to my knowledge.  I get to the checkout: “$68 sir.” “What? $168? I thought it might be around there.” “No, $68.”

Where the hell am I? That’s all I could think about while picking up my new cloth bags filled with who knows what, weaving myself through about 100 bikes locked to anything standing that will have a bike lock outside the store, and finally sitting in my car (where I sat in silence for about 10 minutes before braving the pedestrian dodge ball obstacle course that are the roads here). There are just so many people, so many Different people here, doing their different things (however everyone is eating bulk foods, this I can confidently state as fact).

So if I were to make conclusions on this place right now they might be:

1. To eat in bulk is to be alive. To not properly mark said bulk food is high mortal sin.

2. I am in the minority among people who ride bikes when it comes to clothing selection.

3. Cars are evil. Evil is EVERYWHERE. Parking is Necessary Evil.

4. If I were a UPS driver and had to deliver a package to Berkeley, I would rather use a slingshot and cross my fingers than drive a brown box truck down university ave.

WHEW. But you know what is nice? Im doing my thing, and you are doing your thing, and we are both all about that, so good for us! High Five! Hey Hey Do yo thang… I said it.

so..

I am back on the bike again, and I forgot how much I appreciate a mean nasty long bike ride. I am so lucky that this is my life, to love the things I do, want to do them well, have good people all around… this is it, im doing it (peter), im doing it!

That’s the thing I forget, because doing it is hard (trust me, I sleep around). I forget that this is what I want to do. I want to be challenged, I want to feel a sense of achievement, I want to be around good people. To realize that I am indeed doing it gives me this kind of calm, patient confidence. It is to feel confidence in yourself that if you have a big heart for something, you can do it. So instead of existing in a zone of comfort (known as “the comfort zone”) I am challenging myself to be uncomfortable, embrace new things openly, and be happy for the new opportunities. That is a good mindset when transitioning from Jackson with its great qualities (one being your girlfriend), to Berkeley, or to anywhere. Its an adventure! I certainly wish that I could dictate all the things that happen in my life, but that is impossible (mainly because trampoline rooms are expensive!) so im just open for new things. No that’s not an easy thing to do, but then again, neither is doing it.

Feeling like writing

I was out riding today (shocker) and got to thinking; “why am I doing this?” Normally this question surfaces in a passive way when you get 50 miles from home, flip around, and find out it’s a headwind going back (to your surprise), but lately I’ve really tried to put reason to it.  Its funny, here in biker house we so often sum up our day with one number; “I got 5” in response to a roommate inquiring about your plans for the day.  Why do you have 5 (meaning 5 hours of riding)? First of all, what is it about even numbers that are so important in training?  I have ridden past my house at 4:50 and kept going another 10 minutes just so that 5 is there.  I call those 10 minutes principal minutes, as I don’t expect them to help me win any race, but I do intend to carry out my plan, so out of principal I pass the house like an idiot for no better reason than completing my goal.  I have no intention of going into exactly why I ride how long and how hard because I talk about that enough with my coach and its different for everyone.  My question is not really why am I doing this ride, but why am I doing THIS.

This [th is], adjective: Riding a bike.

Today, from a purely objective point of view, I got on a bike, rode south a long way to get water, and then rode back home on the same road.  What was accomplished? Upon arriving at home I was out of the water I apparently went so far to get. Aside from my coach and maybe an attentive roommate, there is nobody who knows what I did today and I don’t really intend on telling you the story. Truth is, not a lot happened.  A lot of cars passed me in the proper respectful way, and some endangered my life to prove a point.  Today I noticed that a lot of snakes unsuccessfully tried to cross the road.  My legs went in circles, sometimes it felt good, sometimes it did not. I got home, hung up the bike, and jumped in the cold pool (where I catch up on the day).

After I invented some delicious chicken gumbo (which I spent a lot of the ride planning), I sat down and watched the last 7k of todays stage of Paris-Nice:

You don’t have to watch this, but its here for those of you who do. In fact, politely watch it after I am done talking, thank you.

3 guys escape with 40k (about 25 miles for us Americans stuck using 12 inches to a foot and arbitrarily so on until we get 5280ft in a mile, yea that is easier) to go, never got more than 30 seconds off the front, and the guy who wins just barely does so.  Another 500m and he would have been dead last.  Seldom does giving 100% of yourself to something result in such joy as arms raised up in victory, in fact most of the time in biking giving 100% of yourself results in nothing substantial.  That’s training. It’s the practice of giving everything you have to no crowd cheering at all, and very often it results in no recognition at all.  Recognition is not my goal, thousands of incredible cyclists have come and gone throughout the years and we really only talk about 10 still today.  I never dream of a legacy like that, besides its not something I would actively enjoy.  What I do get to enjoy are the effects of giving everything I can to something, I have found that this is when the rewards are the greatest.

Fast forward to 6 minutes for the finish, this is the best.

His 3rd Tour de France.  A lifetime of work (granted he is like 6 years old). I doubt he planned on crying across the line, but I think that’s what all that quiet effort will do to you when the day comes for it all to validate itself. He knows what it took, you can see it in his face.  You can call it sacrifice, I think when times are tough I call it that, but its not.  “I got 5” seems so meaningless at first but its really easy to do when you love the challenge to be successful.  More and more I can see cycling as a way to have exactly what I want in life.  I don’t need a lot of money to be happy, which is important in cycling. What I do need is a place to put 100% of myself in something that I love, and I find great reward.  There are few things that I find in life I can do that with, and riding a bike is one.  Pedaling down to Sonoita for some water and coming back on the same road may seem odd, but the second the thought gets into your head that this “5” can lead to more years enjoying life the way I have enjoyed it thus far, with more possibilities as I improve and more goals achieved along the way, your coach has a hard time keeping you off your bike.

The harder I work the closer all my goals seem, and sometimes that can be the very thing that gets me down because something happens that keeps me from working towards them. I feel more focused and motivated than ever to have a great season with this much improved Kenda 5-Hour Energy p/b Geargrinder group of guys.  Everything is building in a positive way to great things this year.  I hope to win stages personally, I hope to do everything in my power to help my teammates win stages, and I hope to make this year so good that next year can only be better. If I can do that, next year I might be able to sign a lease and not be such a nomad, set up a nice little kitchen and a good table to eat delicious food at, ride my bike every day, and happily invite some people over to hang out at my table and talk about whatever the heck we want (hopefully nothing to do with my ride that day).  Maybe, gasp, invite my girlfriend over for dinner from time to time and not require a plane ticket to do so.  If you start thinking like that, and you see a path, it becomes pretty easy to motivate.  You start picturing crying across the finish line of the most important race and then have to tell yourself “slow down, you still have a lot of riding to go today.” All these things you do or don’t do on a daily basis are training. Its not just that ride.

I suppose that is a good reason to live this life. Its going to be a good year.

Soooooo gooooooooood.

I’ve been in Tucson since January 1, 2011. Training is going beautifully here and my legs are satisfied with all the attention they have been getting from my cardiovascular system during the past two weeks.  I could tell you about that, but instead I decided to go with the photo montage of how beautiful it is down here, and hopefully convey why being outdoors is good, food is delicious, and hammocks are the answer.

Above: First day up Mt. Lemmon, apparently Wisconsin happened here.

Below: Proof

Above: Delicious DELICIOUS pizzas, there is a direct relationship between goodness and quantity and types of cheese.

Above and Below: My new favorite place to hang out. Above is the view from inside my room (Lemmon in the backdrop), and below is the view from in my hammock (with fisherman’s and figure eight knots thankyouverymuch)

Above: The new kit! And what was supposed to be a funny text message picture, but turns out those are hard to see in general, let alone read. To the right, a trip back to Rome with Donny, bueno. (im aware that is spanish)

Below: Sunset and a book in the hammock. Cold at night? Nothing the sleeping bag cant handle.

Above: Proof that I really only took pictures when laying in the hammock, which I am really only realizing now.

Below: Rest day coffee shop ride!

Above: Chad being to cool to get in the 45 degree water, although no one blames him much.  PS my apologies to those of you back in Wisconsin.

Below: The top of Gates Pass as the reward for what was the longest 4 hour ride of my life (long story involving a broken African safari vehicle, tow truck, bad subway sandwich, and high acid content of buffalo wings from the night before.)  ADVENTURE!!

Ahh, yes. The sunsets here fill a generally brown place with all kinds of color. We played around in those mountains today which is cool. Tomorrow is an off day hike excursion. Hope to have some more pictures for you, since that makes for the best blog post!