Abnormal Normal

Tour Divide for Lacey

2010-06-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

One of the (several) causes I am riding for is my Sister In Law, Lacey Heward, who is in need of a Kidney Transplant, she was a injured as an 18-month old and was paralyzed from the waist down. She has had many and overcome many health issues throughout her life (she is now 30). She is quite an amazing person, including a world cup mono-ski racer and medalist in 2002 SLC, and 2006 Toreno. You may remember her in 2006 as she was sponsored by McDonalds and pictured on a their cups. She is also an accomplished singer and song-writer.

Another divide racer and close friend of Lacey, Mike Prochaska is racing solely for her cause. He is formally asking for pledges to raise money for Lacey, and I am creating as much awareness as I can. To date several thousand dollars has been raised for the transplant and Mike has several thousand in plegdes. And we need about $10K to $15K more for her to schedule the transplant with her live donor.

If you’re inclined to support this, you can read more about and watch video of Lacey at http://www.kidneyforlacey.com/ and donate or pledge for Mike’s ride there.

Here is a sweet video of Lacey at the 2005 X Games:

What have you been doing the last two months?

2010-06-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

i.e. since my last post?

Riding my bike, a.lot. Thought I'd clue you in to some of the bigger training rides I've done in prep for the tour divide.

1 hundo #1:

Date: A Sunday in April, I honestly can't remember the exact one.

Route: Taylor's Landing in Duvall, WA to Snoqualmie Tunnel and back (The entire Snoqualmie Valley Trail start to Finish and back)

Distance: 100 miles round-trip almost exactly

Ride Time: 8h10m

Total Time: 9h30m

Avg Speed: 12.2 mph (calc of ride time).

Notes: Just keep pedlin'. Long with little variety along a former railway gone trail.

1 hundo #2 & #3:
Date: May 15-16
Route: Day 1 - North Bend, WA to Plain, WA, Day 2 Plain, Plain, WA to North Bend via a longer route
Distance: 98 miles, 122 miles
Ride Time: 10h-ish, 12h-ish

Total Time: 12h-ish, 14h-ish

Notes: Rode with fellow divide riders Derek Richert and Mike Prochaska, Mike has posted a write up on his blog here: TOUR DIVIDE - TRAINING IS MMM, MMM, GOOD

1 hundo #4:
May 31: The 7 Hills of Kirkland Century.
Route: All over check the link above.
Distance: 99 (102 with a missed cue, better nip 'missed' cues in the bud)
Ride Time: 6h55m

Total Time: 7h20m

Notes: Over 7000 of climing. My mental theme - "Hangin' with the Roadies", and I did for the most part, thanks to Kyle from Mercer Island for making me chase him for the last 15 miles on my 29er:

This picture depicts a great day to ride 100 miles, however it rained the first 85, fun fun!

Done several other rides including 80 milers, 60 milers, 50 milers, and at least 3 days a week in May (ride to work month) I've been doing a 50 mile round trip commute (25 in the AM and 25 in the PM) to work on my training wheels (old MTB converted to a commuter with slicks).

We're 8 days 14 hours and 15 minutes from the start as I write this post. Are we good?!

We are the normal ones.

2010-04-05T00:26:00.000-07:00

The picture that inspired the blog's title and the initial reason for the blog:

I will be racing in the Tour Divide mountain bike race this summer (2010), and would like to believe that this desire is normal, however I am told by many that it is not (It is an unsupported 2700+ mile bike ride from Banff, AB to the New Mexico/ Mexico border - as the yellow line shows in the picture).

People I carpool with, people I work with, some friends, and family all seem to have the same initial question, "Why?!" - asked with a tone that implies retardedness.

"I feel like it", "It beats the cubicle", "I don't know", "My definition of 'fun' is clearly different than yours", "Other people do it", "I feel like it", "They make maps, so pepole can do it", I have lots of answers, but the real answer is somewhat unexplainable when it's, "because I want to be great". Not in a "popularity contest" sort of way, but I want to accomplish something outside of myself, see what I am made of, go beyond the comfort zone. Feats like this seem to have been commonplace less than a century ago when good roads did not exist, and modes of transportation were far less convenient than a bicycle. In some ways I think we are becoming less capable as humans because of technology, even though we were/are the ones creating the advancements.

I've read the blogs of many that have done this trek, including some of those named on the shirt, and not one has not been a huge inspiration (rah-tards don't use double negatives). I gotta think that it is normal for the human spirit to want to strive for greatness, and I mean real greatness. It's just "something" the spirit just needs/wants to find on its own, and without the aid of a search engine.

So, is this normal - (the tour divide thingy if I lost y'all)?

P.S. - I will not only be writing about my prep for the Tour Divide, but also about the many years of thought (deep as well as shallow, and extremely shallow) about the evolution of normal becoming abnormal and vice versa, and I love to spark a good controversial exchange :).