The Ride Of a Lifetime

Posted on 9:38 AM by Tweedle Beetle Tri-Athletle | 0 comments

Some of us ride to train.
Some of us ride for general health.
Some of us ride to get from home to work and/or from work to home..
Some of us ride for our significant others, fathers, mothers or brothers.
Some of us ride because we can't drive, for one reason or another.
Some of us ride because it is hard... really hard, depending on how hard you want it be.

Others, a lucky few, ride because every once and a while - it allows us the capacity to capture an experience which is worth remembering.  Experiences like these can take place any-day, anytime, anywhere or with anyone.  My experience today though, took place on a beautiful February Day, about 60 degrees and sunny.  Cold enough to wear a sweatshirt but not cold enough for a jacket.

My riding partner for the day saddled up on his bike looking particular fast - a red skateboarding helmet, partially sliding off the back of his head because of the stocking cap being worn underneath, his Velcro-shoes, strapped stylishly in a "X".   I donned my more "stylish" Old Navy jeans, tucked strategically into my socks.  Instead of my Specialized bike shoes, I elected to go with a less common high top converse (old school style).

They ride was typical.  We covered rolling terrain, made especially tricky by the allowance of driveways gently greeting the pavement of the street.  For a bit it was stop and go, as we checked both ways before moving from one side walk to the other.  Our stats were also typical - 1 mile covered, 40 min of ride time, Average Speed of 4.2 mph... oh and a stop at the slides and a loop around the basketball court.

This ride was not special because of the sights seen, the weather, the speed or distance.  It wasn't special because my heart rate was in the "target range" for 80% of the ride or that I lead the pack for more than my fair share.  It was incredibly special because it was with my son - my very first ride with my 4 year old son.  In a life which is so unpredictable, so fleeting - these experiences are gifts, and these gifts are the reason why I ride.  Today's gift was unexpected, this experience was one to remember and document.  Today was certainly a ride of a lifetime - and I am grateful.


Why do you ride?

Setting The Stage - My Very First Blog... With a Point.

Posted on 2:34 PM by Tweedle Beetle Tri-Athletle | 0 comments


First - let me tell you all, that this blog has been exceptional for me.  In many ways, over the last 5 weeks - I feel like for the first time in many years, I have a passion.  I really enjoy writing, it keeps me present and allows me to share all that I enjoy, whether it is stories about my family, incredible physical pain, new additions to my spine or (To get back to the ORIGINAL point of this Blog) to discuss my training for Triathlons.  I am even considering branching out into authoring and submitting articles for publication in running/cycling/fitness related periodicals.

So lets set the stage for my very first artilic (yes, artilic is a word, my word, look it up in my blog) attempt. Upon starting my physical therapy/recovery from my surgery, I have felt the need to track my training and look at how my overall performance is affected by my training schedule.  I hope that this effort will yield much better gains over a shorter amount of time.  All athletes, regardless of discipline or level could benefit from tracking and evaluating their performance and nutrition, to become more competitive.

There are LOTS of various ways to track performance and many of these require some sort of financial investment in order for you to take advantage of their attributes.  Well, as much as I wish I could afford to invest in some of these amazing applications, I can't!  I have a wife and kids and my money goes towards them (or a new Tri/TT bike)...  Needless to say, I have other priorities that take precedence over a training log.  For that reason, in my search - my first condition was that the application needs to be free (or very close to being free).  My second criteria required the training log to do more than just running, or weightlifting, or cycling, or swimming, or physical therapy, or ..., or ....  It needed to be able to do all of it and more.  It needed to be customizable and reasonably easy to use.   My last criteria was that I would be somehow showcasing the application here on Tweedle Beetle Tri-Atheletle for you, my readers.  I have to assume that other out there are looking to document their training as well and are looking for an educated place to start!

Well, I selected three applications to trial.  I will be devoting time to each, in parallel and evaluate each application - so that you can make the best decision for yourself.  Upon selecting the "winner", I will continue to use the application, documenting my training and results here at Tweedle Beetle Tri-Atheletle.  Here are the three programs I am going evaluate:


I will be going over each of these applications in detail over the next week or so.

I will be evaluating each of these applications by use of the following criteria.
1)  Easy Factor: How easy is it to use?  
2)  Programmer Factor: Do you have to have any previous computing knowledge to use it?
3)  Custom-ability Factor: Does it have limits to how much custom-ability the program offers? 
4)  Cheep Factor: How much (if any) does it or will it cost in the future?
5)  Speed Factor: How fast can you enter in data after a workout?
6)  Analysis Factor: Does it offer the user the ability to evaluate based on good data analysis tools?

Each will be rated on a 1-10 with a solid description of why.  

I will be evaluating for 2 months before making a decision - the final results will post the first week in April.

Keep healthy.

2 Weeks After - New Photos

Posted on 4:00 PM by Tweedle Beetle Tri-Athletle | 0 comments

Hi All,

Just had my 2 week follow up X-Rays... Here they are.  I will have my follow up appointment tomorrow (I assume all is well!

Before...


After...



All in all... I feel fantastic!  I had a great workout today on the Recumbent Bike at the gym and actually really worked hard.  

As a preview - I have begun keeping track of my workouts both in recovery from the surgery as well as overall training for the race season coming up.  I am going to be logging data via 3 different pieces of web-based training logs. After 1 month, I will make a choice between them and provide you all with which was the best and why!

More to come!

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