Broke Down But Not Slacking

I took my wheel to the bike shop on Wednesday they called me back on Thursday and said that they couldn't repack the bearings because the hub was worn out. I wasn't quite sure I believed them until I took a better look at the hub on Saturday and the hub was completely worn out on the inside in fact there was a whole in the hub where the bearings had worn through it. I must have slowly been cooking the hub to death. They said it would be a couple of weeks before they could get the wheel in. I decided to check a few more places before making a decision.

I went to a couple of local shops today to look for the wheel I needed. I met up with a long time friend from High School Korey Pitcher. He now owns his own bike shop. I decided to have him order it for me. His price was actually cheaper than the other place.

In the meantime, my daughter Madison is about to celebrate her 5th Birthday. She just missed the kindergarten deadline so we went bike shopping for her. We will surprise her with it next Saturday who knows maybe my run for an Olympic chance will end with a son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter some day.





I also put the workout bench back together. I did a few quad pushes, worked my calves and benched a few sets of 110 lbs. of weight. This is probably my first work out since the bike broke down on Saturday, other than a short mile walk with my wife this morning. I've got start taking this a bit more serious.

Let the Count Down Begin

So I'm counting down the days to the next Olympics. In fact I don't have clue for the dates and times of when the next Olympics will be held. The only information I have is that they are in London, England I've been too lazy to look up the dates on the web.

Before my posting last night, I forgot to mention, I actually started training yesterday. I biked for 9 miles and my rear axle finally gave out on me. I have owned the bike I'm riding for over five or six years. I've only ridden it a few times. Within a few short weeks of owning it the front axle ball-bearing case gave way. I took the bike back to the store and they exchanged the front tire for me. A few months later the same axle went out on me. I decided to pack the bearings myself. However, I noticed the rear axle was still making a similar sound and I knew it would only be a matter of time before I needed to repack the rear axle bearings. Well yesterday it finally happened, fortunately for me only 1 of the cases gave way. There were actually 3 sets of ball bearing cases inside the axle which was strange to me. I called my wife and she brought the kids to pick me up. I would have made it home by 8:00 pm if I would have continued at my pace. This would have made my time about 50 minutes for 13 miles, which means I averaged about 11 mph roughly. Again not bad considering I haven't really been pushing my self and I weighed my self last night and noticed I had lost about 1 or 2 lbs of weight.

Today hasn't been so good for training. I wanted to get to the bike shop to get the bearings packed for the rear axle but my wife had other plans. We visited a family in our neighborhood. I'll have to get the bearings tomorrow. I'm not sure if I will be able train tomorrow either because I have to help my sister get her phone system setup at my Brother-in-law's new work in Logan. He started a law firm there.

Maybe I'll take my wife's pink bike into Logan to do the job for my sister and brother-in-law. Or maybe I can swing by the bike shop and pick up the bearings for my bike. I'm not sure which.

I realize I probably need some pictures for this site. I noticed I haven't had any visitors posting comments so I'll just continue writing until I get some comments or questions.

Last night I also looked into local teams and bike trials. I noticed there was a quite a schedule for the Logan Area, mostly 10 Mile and at the most a 28 mile run. I checked the times and it appears that they are really running a somewhat fast pace. The fastest time was nearly 22 minutes. However, with the right bike, gear and losing my weight I know I could push this limit which according to my calculations is an average of about 27 miles per hour.

I should probably supplement my training experience with a little weight lifting. I've been a bit hesitant to put my weight set back together but I'll probably find some time to do this in the near future to supplement my training when I can't get on the bike. Winter will be here soon and I need to build up my strength, endurance and prepare my self for next spring when I can start looking at local races to enter.

Help Me Qualify

As many of you have seen the Olympics this past week, I have also watched and stood in awe of all of the Olympic athletes. I believe as a child my first Olympic experience was watching the summer Olympics held in Los Angeles 1984 on my parents television in our living room. I was 10 years old. This was my first taste at seeing the Olympic athletes compete in the various sports. I loved running and I especially took note of the Olympic sprinters. I soon realized that it was not in my destiny to sprint my way to a gold medal. My dreams were gone as I saw times, speeds and athletes that were much faster than I was. However, I had a desire; one that would not fade over time. My ambitions for an Olympic medal faded even further into oblivion as I became older. Until just a few short weeks ago. I have a dream one that I'm hoping can come true but it will take sacrifice, dedication, determination and an endless amount of support from many people.

I have been athletic all my life. I loved playing soccer in my elementary school years. I lived for the evening friendly football, soccer, kickball or what ever sport there was that night in the neighbor hood. I took second place in a 100 meter sprint my 6th grade year at North Cache Junior High. There were many events held in the last week of my 6th grade year. My home room class took first place in the 6th grade kick-ball tournament and the 4x100 meter relay. I also took 6th in the 800 Meter run. I never thought of myself as an endurance runner but something would happen only two years later that would change my mind about speed and endurance.

My freshman year I could out jump all of my class mates in my high school class in the standing long jump. The track coach had asked me to join the track and field team. I declined citing I wanted to play soccer. I was asked by my wrestling coach to join the wrestling team my freshman year. I had never wrestled in my life. I spent countless hours training for wrestling which included a grueling run that pushed a pace from me that I had never felt before. I outran the cross country runners in a fast past run around our school in the middle of winter, while training for wrestling. One of the runners mentioned I had a killer pace. Each time I set a pace that was very rigorous. I knew that if I could keep in the front no one could catch me.

Half way through the season I never won a wrestling match, the second half of the season I lost only 1 out-of-school match to a varsity senior in the 125 lb. weight division who took the state championship the prior year. I took first place in the BearRriver freshman invitational at the 125 weight division and I went on to take 1st place in the Junior Varsity 125 weight division regional championship. Unfortunately, my sophomore year I left the sport never to return to the mat again.

I continued to play soccer throughout my high school years. Our varsity team went to state almost every year. The closest we came to a state championship was in the quarter finals my Junior year. However, my senior year, despite tying for first place in our regional championship, we lost in the inter-regional qualifying match for the state tournament.

I didn't have a desire to find a career in soccer after high school. At the time there was no US professional soccer league and I had not been scouted out by anyone nor did I seek an opportunity to walk on at some University. Making a career of playing soccer just didn't seem feasible. I had my hopes and ambitions set on settling down after serving a Latter Day Saint Mission to the Kenya Nairobi Mission.


After my service as a Missionary to the wonderful people of Uganda and Kenya I returned home and spent a few years playing soccer for recreation. I married the love of my life my sweet wife Marci on January 16, 1997.

I started a career as an IT professional. I'm now the IT manager at Box Elder County Credit Union.

I'm married with 4 wonderful children. Ty, 10 years of age, Mallory, 7 years, Madison who will be 5 years old In September and Jake my youngest son who celebrated his 2nd Birthday last month.

So where does this place me in the path of as Olympic hopeful? Absolutely, nowhere. I'm an average American living an average American life, in small rural town near Logan, Utah. I have no claim to fame. I have no one in my family tree that I know of that has been a Olympic hopeful. However, I believe in America, in the American people. I believe in what America stands for: the land of the free and the home of brave. I believe in myself. I have ancestry that can be traced back to the very roots of this nation. I loved watching those Olympic athletes represent this wonderful nation. A nation that has determination, charity and consideration for all people. The land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims pride as it is so beautifully sung in the song "O' Beautiful!"

So why am I writing this blog? In hopes that someone out there will recognize my voice and help me qualify for the Olympics. I'm not asking for monetary donations yet. I have a long way to go to get to the Olympics and I want to prove to myself, my country and my fellow Americans that dreams can come true. Remember I have a wife and four kids they are precious to me. So quitting my day job and joining some intense 100 hour day program is just not in the cards for me. I have four years before the next Olympics. I will be 38 years old. I'm only 5 feet 5 inches tall so basketball is out of the question. I've really been thinking a lot about biking. I'm probably about 30 - 40 lbs over weight as I weigh close to 180 lbs. which I don't' think is bad, considering my body type and with determination I could easily lose those thirty to forty pounds. I have a reconstructed right ACL so running, jogging, or speed walking seems to be out of the question for me too. I don't want to risk aggravating it. However, biking seems to be a good fit for me if I lost those unwanted lbs. As I mentioned I'm a good sprinter and I do have some endurance in me. Endurance will be the key; sprinting my way the final few yards will be an absolute must!

Just for fun I started biking this past summer. Not really thinking about the Olympics and this dream I've suddenly resurrected. I spent a few weeks biking the flat land of my native valley. Then on a hot Saturday in July, I clocked myself on a regular 18 speed mountain bike at about 32 mph going down a slight hill. I biked a rigorous 25 mile terrain in less than two hours. It included a gradual incline and a fairly steep grade at one point then a gradual decent. I know I'm capable of faster speeds and better endurance. In watching the Olympics I noticed times and speeds for the Olympic Biking events that were much faster than this. I even checked a few of the sizes of the men and they are only a handful comparable in size to me... but definitely leaner than me. Levi Leipheimer from Montana who competed in the event took 11th place. He is almost exactly the same age as me. I was born November 19, 1973. His time over the 254.4 Km race (roughly 158.1 miles) was 6 hrs 25 minutes 9 second, which means he had an average speed of about 24.7 mph. The race consisted of a flat land road race through a downtown area of Bejing that steadily climbed a hill almost 2000 ft before descending back to 800 ft then back up hill for a short sprint to the finish line.

I know a stunt like this is hardly done in a day. But I have four years to get there. It starts now. As I said I can't quit my day job. I have a wife and kids. I have a ton of unanswered questions. Such as where do I begin? Can I get necessary support to get there without sacrificing my family, my job and my life I currently have? Do I have what it takes to be able to compete in an event that is more enduring than a sharp poke in the eye with a stick?

Can I find the right support groups and bike events without having to take the long hard path of dedicating my life to bike racing professionally? I have one chance. I should have started this journey years ago but then life was so different. Things seemed so far away. Sure I realize this seems more like a mid life crisis I'm going through but is there anybody out there that can point me in the right direction?

Where do I find support?
Where can I go from here?
I have 4 years between now and the next Olympics.
What does it take to get me to qualify for the Olympics and compete in something I've only dreamed of?

I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that think I might be crazy trying to tackle this but if there is hope I'm willing to try. I'm not Lance Armstrong, I'm just an average American hoping to do something that I've always dreamed of doing. I've only expressed my desire to my wife and kids.

I want an outside opinion to help me qualify.