The Flip Side

Look out...

2009-05-12T09:21:00.004-04:00

This was the site my sister saw when she walked out to her driveway on Mothers day morning...

Apparenty there were other cars that got hit that night in her subdivision as well. Just goes to show you that it doesn't matter where you live. btw, she lives in a nice sub in Novi.

As the economy gets more and more sour the percentage of these occurances will unfortunately get higher. Make sure you take steps to avoid this from happening. Here's a couple suggestions, post a sign like these up...

My personal favorite...

PACMAN!!!!

2009-05-05T11:29:00.013-04:00

I'll let the images below speak for themselves....

I felt bad for Hatton's wife...

Next....PBF bring it on!

Hmmm...

2009-02-04T11:30:00.002-05:00

No time to write anything....but a lot to say. Check back later.

This is a recording....beeeeep.

WAR PACQUIAO!!!!!

2008-12-08T09:05:00.009-05:00

"For God and Country"

That's the motto that rings all through the Phillipines and now the world.

Manny Pacquiao defeats Oscar Delahoya in this years Dream Match in Las Vegas this past weekend.

The “Golden Boy” got his ass handed to him for 8 straight rounds!!! The referee had to stop the fight and Dela-hoya quit on his stool.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Oscar very much. I think he’s the face of boxing. What I didn’t care for was everyone from experts to analysts counting Manny out even before the fight. No one gave Manny a chance. Well, now the whole world knows the real truth. He put away any doubts in peoples mind that night that he is the Pound for pound best fighter in the world. He deserves the respect of everyone in my opinion.

BBC…
“The Filipino gave his bigger, more famous opponent such a beating that De la Hoya declined to come out of his corner after the eighth round.”

So until next spring I'll anxiously wait till the next fight with the current light-Welterweight belt holder Ricky Hatton.

Speed kills!

Honestly, I think this combination was the best part of the night. Beautifully executed. Manny is sooo damn fast that I think he did this combo in less than 2 seconds!

I think this may have been in Round 8...had it not been for the ropes holding Delahoya up, he would've been knocked down...

Quiting on the stool after round 8....

My hats off to Delahoya. He's done a lot for the sport but it's time for him to retire and to spend his Millions.

THE PAC-MAN!

2008-12-03T11:34:00.001-05:00

Failure is NOT an option!

Show your support.
Post a shoutout for Manny.

2009 Season

2008-12-02T17:28:00.003-05:00

Well, here we go...we are finalizing our 2009 sponsorships for next season and it looks very promising.

The problem now is we need to step it up big time!
oh oh, time to get in the gym!

More to come....

The War...

2008-11-02T22:58:00.017-05:00

Yup, it's that time of the year to battle it out with the dreaded LEAVES!

The Enemy...

The Battle Grounds...

The weapons, RedMax EB7001 & a TORO 5 speed Workhorse...

The Soldiers...Daddy with his soldiers...

The battle...

The aftermath....Zero bags, fully mulched.

Trees - 0

Daddy - 1 (for now, lol)

Summer 08'

2008-10-26T21:31:00.002-04:00

Another summer gone.... I'm sad.

New kid on the block...

2008-09-29T11:24:00.005-04:00

My daughter the other day looked at my Honda sitting there and was both happy and sad because of the new kid on the block. She commented on how the Honda Civic "took care of us".

I agreed with her that we have a lot of memories with that car...multiple camping trips up north, many trips to the upper Peninsula, many road trips to Chicago to visit Arlenes brother Rudy. Not to mention tons of bike races I've been to. The list goes on and on.

I'll miss the old girl. I assured her that with the new truck will come new adventures and tons more memories will be made. She was content....for now. :-)

It's official....

2008-09-24T14:50:00.003-04:00

http://funpromotions.com/2008_endurance_points_full.htm

Once again we're the 2008 Endurance Series Title Champs!

What a year it was. When I get some time I'll do more of a summation of what transpired throughout the year. More of a "what in the world was I thinking about when I decided to do these endurance races.." kinda of a writeup. Keep an eye out for it.

I have one more race to do as of right now. It's the Boyne Downhill Chamipionship race in October. I look forward to this race because Arlene and the girls come out to watch me abuse myself...lol.

Welcome our newest member of the family...

2008-09-22T23:27:00.009-04:00

That's right, after almost about 2 years actively looking on and off that I've finally found the truck I've been looking for.

First off a check list of my wants...

**These were the must haves:
- Had to be a first generation 4Runner (85-89)
- Had to be rust free
- Had to have AC (or else Arlene would never ride in it on hot summer days)
- Had to have clean interior
- Had to have full documented maintenance records
- Oh yeah, couldn't smell like a horses you-know-what on the inside

**These were the not so critical must haves:
- Wanted the 22RE motor
- Wanted to have the center gauge cluster with Altimeter and Inclinometer
- Wanted decent size tires
- Wanted power windows and locks
- Wanted a darker color (Just not black again)
- Wanted a solid front axle

Everything else extra that it came with was just gravy in my eyes.
Well I finally found one that was originally from Florida. Literally no rust on this truck. These trucks are very very hard to find in this type of condition. It was owned by some guy in the military who's stationed down at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He resides in Florida, which is where it was titled.

Arlene and I flew down there last Saturday and drove her all the way back home from Fayetteville North Carolina. 13 1/2 hours later it's sitting in my driveway. Enough talk, let's see some pictures...

That's right, it's a 1988 4Runner! 20 years old and it looks better than most cars and trucks on the road today...at least in my opinion.

It's got a great stance to it with Mickey Thompson 31X10.5-15's!

Clean interior...

Yup, that's a Safariland Snorkel...on days I feel like driving through a lake. :-)

I just installed the diamond plating on the doors...kinda cool huh. Gives it that industrial feel.

Last but not least, one of my angels in the back window. My girls love the new truck and can't wait to take the top off and go offroad in it!

Without boring you with all the details, this truck had tons of extras done to it by the previous owner. He had put a lot of work and money into it but finally decided to go a different route with something else (oh lucky me). There's still a ton of plans I have for it and it's a great platform to start with. I think this new addition to the family will be with us for a long time. Can't wait to get it stuck in the mud for the first time! LOL.

Could I have found it finally?

2008-09-08T08:35:00.001-04:00

After many many months, or dare I say years of searching have I found the one?? Wait for it, wait for it....

Doing the Solo thing....

2008-08-22T10:54:00.006-04:00

Since our team is sitting in first place overall for the Michigan Endurance Series we decided to all race the Pando event solo. We figured this race was going to be done as a "fun" event...no pressure. Yeah right.

Well, I was excited because I was able to bring Arlene and the girls out for this one. Being that the race venue is only a couple hour drive from our house I felt it was the perfect race for them to come out and see daddy punish himself, lol.

As we rolled up to the Pando Ski area I was vaugely reminded of last years race. As I started to actually race I was then clearly reminded why I hated doing this race in the first place. For the most part it's a pretty unassuming course. 4.3 miles per lap and a lot of that is actually climbing. It basically equals that of the Boyne course elevation (which I also hate).

But we move on and do what we need to do to win/finish the race. At the end of the day I feel the whole team did a great job in each of the respected classes. I ended up taking a 3rd place with 14 laps. So I did roughly 55-60 miles in 6 hours. I know I could've done better but I always seem to get that dreaded cramping right around the 45-50 mile mark. This is something I need to address and work on somehow. Not sure how but I need to adjust something either in my fluid/food intake or riding style. hmmm.

I should have pictures up soon...

24 hr Nationals!

2008-08-21T11:10:00.010-04:00

Well we did it. The team went to Wausau, Wisconsin for the 24 hr. Nationals on August 2nd.

We raced in the national class and had a respectable finish in 5th place.

The event was very well run. Everything was layed out very well from the camp/Pit sites, the facilities (the showers were a blessing!), to the overall sign in process. Only a slight hiccup in the sign in's because we all had to renew our Norba licences, but not a huge deal.

The course was top notch. Roughly 14.2-14.5 miles per lap with about 1200 ft of climbing per lap. It had everything from fire roads, single track, to downhill sections. The only thing it didn't have was a stream crossing, lol.

This is an awesome race to say the least. It is seriously like a race and a festival all in one. There were spectators cheering people on from 10 am until 6:30 the next morning. I remember one of my last laps...it was 6:15 am in the morning. I had gone out at roughly 5am for one of my night laps and as I was climbing this one section of the course and there was a group of spectators sitting on the hill cheering me on while they were drinking a case of beer....yes 6:am in the morning! Drunk and still drinking and cheering people on. Ohh how I wished I was them at that moment. I was in some pain because at that point we had been racing for about 20 hrs now.

Some things I saw at the aid stations -- cases of beer, a tiki bar, a mobile DJ, a dancing man dressed as a beer bottle, a real live keg of beer, lots of Christmas lights, a jump (which I launched on every lap except my last lap, just wayy to tired at that point), a man with a battle axe, and lots and lots of screaming spectators (who cheered for anyone). There also was a self-serve Twinkie station perched on a card table complete with hard boiled eggs and Schlitz beer way out in the middle of the woods.

The weather was great...if you consider 90+ degrees during the day and damn near freezing temps at night, lol. You could seriously see your breath at night it got that cold.

Kuddos to Kevin who promotes an awesome race. Not to mention Laird Knight who managed the timing system. That was cool.

Despite the pain and suffering I endured as I rode lap after lap, I would go back and do this race again. I say that now but.... :-)

The start of the race was a Le mans style start. It consisted of a 1/4 foot race to you bikes. The start of the pain...

Finishing off a lap...

This was our pit/camping site....

This tent was what we referred to as "The Soul Cycles hotel"...LOL. It was huge. Enough to fit all our gear and 4 sleeping cots.

Getting the lights ready...

It wasn't an Olympic Gold medal but we worked our tails off for it!

12 hrs of single track!

2008-07-24T00:11:00.007-04:00

The team was back in action again this weekend with the latest stop in the Michigan Endurance Series at the 12 hours of Ithaca.

Continuing with the winning ways, MTB-Life won the 12 hr open class setting a new COURSE RECORD with 33 laps, which added to about 170 miles of single track fun (well at least for some people). It was a great race with all of us finding our form and riding consistent laps (within a minute of each other) for the entire 12 hrs.

There was a news reporter there doing a story about the event and they said just 2 miles down the road it had been raining extremely hard. Fortunately the rain held off missed us completely and we were able to make great lap times throughout the day.

During the night laps we all encountered some type of wildlife...raccoons, possums, skunks. But not as bad as one guy who during his night lap actually ran into a deer! Both rider and deer were fine.

Our next race takes us to the 24 Hour Nationals in Wisconsin on August 2nd. This will definitely be a true test of our speed, endurance and our willingness to not go crazy! I'm tired just writing about it. Need to sleep now.

This is Justins dog, Endura....what a loveable dog!

Another race, another win....

2008-07-11T00:52:00.007-04:00

Another stop on the Michigan Cup Endurance race Series...Cannonsburgh on June 21st.

Back to our old winning ways again! When we competed in this race last year it was hot, muggy and dry and I didn't care too much for the climbing we had to do up the ski hills. Aren't you suppose to go down ski hills anyways?

Oh well, in any rate this year it was hot, not so muggy and kinda wet with all the rain we got earlier in the day. It wasn't much rain, which I was thankful for, but just enough to keep the dust down and the trail tacky. The sun eventually came out and it got real hot especially on the ski hill climbs were it's all out in the open with no shade to cool you down.

All in all it was a decent race. I had some trouble with leg cramps that affected my last two laps. These were probably the worse leg cramps I've ever felt before in my life, honestly. It truly affected me even a week after the race. Not too sure what the specific cause was but I know my diet and riding position didn't change at all. It sucked big time. But I managed to pull in the last lap of the day.

In the end we won by over 2 laps. It was pretty decisive from the very start. We all put in hard fast laps. We're still currently in first place overall for the series title again. We just need to keep driving hard. Still a long season ahead of us.

Nate and Meagen brought there new son out to join in on the fun. What a cutey!

Shaking out the cob-webs...

2008-05-20T14:58:00.001-04:00

Saturday, May 17th kicked off the endurance racing season at the 12 hours of Addison Oaks. This was the first stop in the Fun Promotions - Michigan Endurance Cup Series. Nathan, Andy, Justin and Rob started things off right by wining the 4 person open class with 23 laps of the 7 mile course. The new bikes and gear paid off putting down fast and consistent laps for 12 straight hours. It was an exciting finish as the team battled back from a 5 minute deficit with 2 hours of racing left finally finishing on top 3 minutes in front of the 2nd place team.

Photos of the race can be found on MTB-LIFE.com. Thanks for everyone who came out to support the effort and as always, we are grateful to our awesome 2008 sponsors.

Soul Cycles
The Rehn Company
Synergy Broadband
WTB
Trails-Edge Cyclery
E-Load
FSA

Next race . . . 8 hours of Cannonsburg in June, bring it on!

New year, same crap...

2008-04-02T16:16:00.005-04:00

Well as we get closer to the racing season I'm brutally reminded of how out of shape I still am. I have about a month and a half to be in shape for some endurance racing...yikes.

I normally don't make excuses but I feel the need to blame the weather on my current shape. This winter has been nasty. Relying on self-motivation has been tough, especially since I don't have a consistent workout partner to push on.

I've joined a new gym and have been going, albeit not as consistent as I would like. I feel my strength is about 80% right now. I still have a ways to go from where I was end of last year.

In any rate I need to get my butt in gear because the racing season is around the corner.

Would Christ carry a Concealed Weapon?

2008-03-03T12:34:00.002-05:00

hmm... interesting article I found...

http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/DougGiles/2008/03/01/would_christ_carry_a_concealed_weapon?page=full&comments=true

It's a tricky question, because that was not His mission. He was not here to save His life, but to give it. Now, if the question was, "Would Christ allow us to carry a concealed weapon?" I think the answer is Yes. He was a Shepherd. His whole life was devoted to saving the sheep.....He willingly gave His life to save the sheep. Scripture says we have to be as cunning as serpents but as gentle as lambs. A lamb would not knowingly seek to harm any creature. A serpent will strike when threatened. Find the balance. Jesus would expect us to be faithful sheepdogs over the lambs in our care and under our watch.

For those who don't remember it was a devout Christian with a CCW who stopped that shooter in CO a couple of months ago.

btw, Jesus' apostles carried swords.
Luke 22:36

"...and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one."

Here we go again...

2008-02-15T00:22:00.007-05:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080214/ap_on_re_us/niu_shooting

Another school shooting. First off, my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

The fact here remains...yet another shooting in a place where carrying guns is illegal. In this case of course, the place is not just the school, but the entire state of Illinois. So we see how well Illinois' gun-free laws are working. The gunman encountered NO resistance, because no law-abiding student or faculty member on sight had matching fire power with which to resist.

Leaders at the school said the events that happened at Virginia Tech a year ago had shaken many but also led to a focus on security and the possibility of such an incident. But has there been any real plan of action taken? Is there a formal SOP in place now? Well if there was it obviously didn't work.

I fear that with events like this, we will start seeing a trend and an increase in gun-fearing individuals. Without the education to the contrary it's no wonder they grow up to be anti-gun.

Now I'm not saying that CCW would have prevented this. It "might" give an opportunity to stop them short of their end though. Its only one tool in the whole solution, if it can be solved at all. Will this get people to call, email, or even mail your legislators to change the laws to allow carry on campus? Again, I'm not sure what the answer is. It's sad, really just sad.

The concealed weapon is only for deployment in .01% of cases when good demeanor and good composure do not deter the latent viciousness of man.

I wish I could float that good...

2008-02-13T11:45:00.001-05:00

http://www.childdrowningprevention.com/index.html

Wow, amazing. Makes me want to throw my kids in the deep end of the pool and see what they can do... just kidding.

I hate winter...

2008-01-31T13:42:00.000-05:00

They're predicting another 6-10" of snow in the next day or so.

I want summer to be here already! Call me crazy but I actually can't wait to even use the old riding mower again...LOL

The Gym...

2008-01-21T12:57:00.000-05:00

Well I'm back in the gym officially as of 2 weeks ago. My goal is to gain about 10-15 lbs of lean muscle this winter. I'm on a pretty aggressive workout cycle that will most likely kill me in the next 2 months.

Strength seems to be spot on and increasing. The problem with lifting heavy is that my tendons and ligaments end up really hurting after a while. Oh well, time to man up.

I don't carry a gun...

2007-11-29T11:00:00.000-05:00

… to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I don’t carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry. I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.
I don’t carry a gun because my sex organs are too small. I carry a gun because I want to continue to use those sex organs for the purpose for which they were intended for a good long time to come.
I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.
I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.
I don’t carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

We're in a society where we're making inanimate objects responsible for our stupidity . Think about it.

Cancun, the vacation

2007-11-26T15:18:00.000-05:00

Well, what a great vacation. In a nutshell we had a great time, the weather was great, the food was very good and Arlene and the kids had a great time.

I'll post more of a detailed synopsis of the trip when I have more time.

The diva's chillin' in the zero gravity pool....

Cancun; the preparation.....

2007-11-09T20:19:00.001-05:00

Okay, so for our anniversary trip this year I knew I wanted to go somewhere warm and tropical. Earlier in the year I was looking into doing a Hawaii trip. Ultimately though we ended up choosing to do an all-inclusive CanCun trip. We're booked at one of the Palace Resorts at the CanCun Palace in November right before the Thanksgiving week.

Here we go...

Step #1) Reserve airline tickets. We decided to take our kids along so we needed 4 round trip tickets. I needed to donate my left lung and some other body parts in order to afford the outrageuos prices the airlines are charging right now. It's ridiculous and I'm out of breath because I'm functioning on only one lung now.

Step#2) Reserve Hotel accomodations. We're currently booked at Cancan Palace Resort on a VIP all-inclusive week with an Ocean side Supreme room but I'm planning on trying to upgrade to a Presidential Suite when we get there. Not sure how much more it'll be or if they're even available but hopefully I'll have body parts left to donate for the additional charge. How important are spleens to the human body?? hmm.

A view from a Presidential suite...

Sunrise from the balcony of a Presidential Suite...

Step #3) Make sure all our citizenship papers are in place...easier said than done right.

My biggest mistake so far was assuming the girls only needed a birth certificate to travel outside of the U.S....BOY WAS I EVER WRONG! The new law this year requires that EVERYONE, including small children and anything living and breathing need official Passports to re-enter the U.S., post 911. So begins the first snag in the trip prep phase.

Well, what a whirlwind day today was to say the least.... in order for us to get our kids passports issued in time we were told we needed to go to the nearest passport processing office which was in Downtown Chicago. So we drove to Chicago early this morning because we had an appointment at 8:30am in the morning. This meant we needed to be in the car driving on the road by 3:30-4:00am in the morning...Yikes!

Well we finally made it to the federal building in downtown Chicago and got everything squared away. After they process and accept the application we had to wait another 4 hours to pick the passport up. Finally at about 12:30-1:00pm we were allowed to pick them up and now my 2 girls have there passports...whew.

We were sweatin' there for about 2 days not knowing whether or not we needed to cancel the trip. All in all it cost us hundreds of dollars in passport fees, toll road fees, parking fees, overpriced food and gas gouging prices at the pump...oh yeah and a 600 mile roundtrip car ride there and back.

Well that's it for now....I'm out of breath because of my one remaining functioning lung, so I need to go lay down now...

12 hrs of Hanson Hills...

2007-10-28T22:38:00.000-04:00

Well, it's go time again...

Our team did a 12 hr race at Hanson Hills Recreation Area. Justin, from our team is the Operations Director for this facility. Unfortunately I was unable to race this one due to other commitments. We were fortunate enough though to find a good replacement for the team.

Before this race we were in the first place standings for the Michigan Endurance Cup series. We just needed to basically finish this race to stay on top of the point series. This was pretty much a "fun" race for our team.

We battled with another team all day and pretty much rode our race. All the riders did very well and we kept the top position in the points series.

This race pretty much solidified our standings for the year. We ended up winning the overall title as the number one team for the Michigan Cup Endurance Series 2007.

What a great year and a great feeling knowing we accomplished our goals of becoming a winning team.

Next race...Iceman in November.

12 hrs of PANDO....

2007-10-28T22:12:00.000-04:00

Well, here we go again...

Pando is an old ski resort near Grand Rapids MI. The course was a 5 mile lap, which was done at a high rate of speed (basically sprinting the whole time for 12 hrs). The loop starts with a sprint up the 'front' slope of the ski hill and immediately turns 180 degrees to come right back down along the tow rope line. Then it heads around the back on some two track, throw in some reasonably fun singletrack, a climb and descent on another ski slope and you pretty much have the circuit.

The start of the race...
We end up getting the hole shot right from the start and so begins the race.

Once the race was on we took turns doing 2 laps each. As the day progressed, we settled into a battle with a west coast team that was nip and tuck all along. When late afternoon rolled in so did the clouds and rain. It ended up getting pretty chilly at night.

I definitely took this course for granted. I figured, short laps, not too much climbing (so I thought). Man was I wrong. I started to disintegrate towards those late night laps...the downpour of rain and cold weather started to do me in. I felt major cramping in my legs and back.

When all was said and done we ended up having a controversial race ending. It turns out, the other team we had been battling all day had a technical going into the last hour of racing. Up until that point they were up on us. When they came off the course to deal with there mechanical, per race rules they were to start that lap all over again. Well since we were on course already we technically would have been ahead of them. Unfortunately the course lap counter coupled with some mis-communication screwed things up and they counted there lap anyways.

The promoter was to do some investigating in the matter. Oh well, we know we ran a damn good race. Case closed, on to the next battle.

Knockin' em' down....

2007-07-16T22:41:00.000-04:00

Yup, another race, another win. We participated in a relay race event that was held at the Lakeshore Park in Novi this past weekend.

To say it was just another win though would be a huge understatement. I think deep down inside my team and I felt like we were going to win. Even some of the other racers and even the event coordinators mentioned us as a shoe in for the win. We just didn't think it was going to be such a ownage though.

There was some smack talking about a week prior to the race that I don't really care to get into... let's just say the gauntlet was put down and it was go time. I think my team and I felt the need to send a message to everyone that we race to win, no matter what event it is.

The conditions were great, the course was well layed out and the atmosphere was fun.

We basically destroyed the field. After our first lap we were up by around 5-8 minutes. By the second lap we had about a 10 minute lead. Then from there it just grew. By the time we finished the race we were in the lead by almost 18 minutes from second place. We actually lapped the third place team which was almost an hour behind us....yes +57 minute lead over the 3rd place advanced team.

How could that be possible?....you ask.... I don't have a good answer for that except we all rode pretty damn hard.

This is what the competition sees....LOL

I think the best part of the event was the fact that some of my family came out to cheer us on. I was so happy to have them there to see us racing. Having the race so close to home made it a lot easier for our friends and family to come out.

Alexis, Dante, Cereno and my mom...

Cubby, in awe of how fast daddy came through on his first lap...

Alexis wondering how daddy can ride sooo fast at his old age....

My dad, resting after a hard day of spectating...

2 for 2

2007-07-01T01:23:00.000-04:00

Well, we did it again. Another race, another win.

This one wasn't too horribly bad. There was some climbing involved, but all in all the course was pretty decent. Okay I lied, the climbing sucked especially through deep ass sand, but it did have a lot of single track sections that flowed really well. There was this off camber downhill section snaking through some trees that was a blast to ride really fast. For a minute there I thought I was on my downhill bike because I was flyin'!

Before I knew it my right handle bar had clipped a tree and I was doing a superman for about 10 seconds in the air. Than I came down, hard, right on my arms and back. OUCH. Got up checked the goods and off I went to finish the lap. Fortunately just some minor scrapes, cuts and sore neck for a couple days. I survived.

Keeping hydrated...It got very hot after about the 5th hour of racing.

Puttin' the hammer down on the last stretch of the course...

Oh yeah, we managed to beat the second place team by almost 3 laps when it was all over. Woohoo. Off to the next challenge.

Soul Cycles single speed steed....

Why do I carry?

2007-06-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

I've always been fascinated with guns. As a young kid growing up I owned many BB guns. My friends and I would often go into the woods and practice shooting tin cans, paper plates, each other and even an occasional stray cat here and there...sorry you cat/animal lovers.

Not so funny story though, someone called the cops on us when we were back in the woods shooting "stuff" one day. The police came and gave us all a tongue lashing then confiscated all our BB guns. We had to have each of our parents go to the police station to retrieve them. My parents never went to get mine back. Lesson learned.

I'm a little older and wiser now (at least I think) and my love for guns has stayed with me. Safety to me is the number one rule of owning a firearm. It takes a lot of discipline, self control, common sense and a complete understanding of the power a firearm yields. Not to mention the fact that it takes a great amount of responsibility and mental capacity and many many hours of training to even carry a firearm must less own one.

I have been licensed to legally carry a firearm for years now and I feel that it is my constitutional right to have that privilege as a US citizen. In order for you to receive this right however, you must jump through many hoops and pass all the tests and qualifications that the State and local governments deem necessary. Then and only then will you be considered for what is called a CPL (Concealed Pistol license), also known as a CCW (Concealed Carry Weapon).

I often get mixed reactions from people when they find out my stance on owning and being able to legally carry a firearm. There have been many times where people just don't understand the certain views and reasoning behind it all.

"My gosh, you carry a gun and you have kids!"
All the more reason to. I want to be able to start educating my kids early on and show them the importance of gun safety and it's consequences.

"It's not like you live in a bad neighborhood or anything"
Last time I checked crime has no boundaries. As a matter of fact criminals come to the burb's because that's where the money is. Many people deal with the problem of crime by convincing themselves that they live, work, and travel only in special "crime-free" zones. Invariably, they react with shock and hurt surprise when they discover that criminals do not play by the rules and do not respect these imaginary boundaries. If, however, you understand that crime can occur anywhere at anytime, and if you understand that you can be maimed or mortally wounded in mere seconds, you may wish to consider whether you are willing to place the responsibility for safeguarding your life in the hands of others.

"Why do you even need to carry a gun anyways?"
I can go on and on with with this question but I won't, instead let me pose this question, why do you need car insurance? We all know we have it just in case you get in an accident to cover property or personal damages right? Well the same concept here with a gun, just in case there is a need to ever use my firearm in a life threatening situation to protect either myself or my family it's there as my insurance policy. I've often said it's better to have it and not use it then to not have it when my life depended on it. Carry as if your life depends on it, because one day...it just might.

In 1991, when then-Attorney General Richard Thornburgh released the FBI's annual crime statistics, he noted that it is now more likely that a person will be the victim of a violent crime than that he will be in an auto accident. Despite this, most people readily believe that the existence of the police relieves them of the responsibility to take full measures to protect themselves. The police, however, are not personal bodyguards. Rather, they act as a general deterrent to crime, both by their presence and by apprehending criminals after the fact. As numerous courts have held, they have no legal obligation to protect anyone in particular. You cannot sue them for failing to prevent you from being the victim of a crime.

In light of the Virginia Tech massacre you'll notice a lot of movement from the government relating to gun control and it's laws. Movement such as trying to institute a law that would've prevented this type of situation to have even occurred. I think a lot of people are either mis-informed or very closed minded though when it comes to these gun control laws. Let's be honest here having more and more strict gun control laws in place does not stop the "bad guy" from getting there hands on a gun. Bad guys will always have a means to get guns anytime they want.

John Stossel, from ABC news just came out with a new book. It's called 'Myth's, Lies and Downright Stupidity'. If you haven't read or seen it yet do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. One of the things he covers in his book is about Gun control and it's laws. Here he is being interviewed about his book, specifically about the gun control.... http://www.abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3085634

Here's yet another video of Stossels reports about 'Gun control is not really crime control'
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3149487

So why do I carry? Simple, I refuse to be a victim. My motto: "be nice and kind to everyone but carry a concealed firearm."

The "To do" list....

2007-06-11T09:57:00.000-04:00

Well every year if you live in Michigan you know that coming out of hibernation from the long cold winter season is a great time. Spring always brings a huge freakin' smile to my face....which eventually turns into emotions of anger then ultimately complete and utter depression.

Depression because the list of things you know that need to get done every year to get both yourself and the house ready for summer seems to grow longer and longer every year. Anger because you know you'll often times never get to some of the things on the list. This often times leads to drinking. Cheers, have one on me.

One of the things Arlene and I wanted to do this year was to re-do the front yard landscaping. What a pain in the crapper! There's something to be said about hiring a landscape company to come out and do all the work for you. Of course just like everything else, I pride myself into being able to screw things up on my own...I mean to do things on my own. That and the fact that I don't want to pay someone thousands of dollars to do something I can do for a hell of a lot less. They're all a bunch of thieves, trust me.

First we dealt with the bushes. I would describe these bushes as something you would see at an abandon house. Seriously they were in horrible shape. It only took my 9 yrs to come to this conclusion.

We yanked out about 90% of the bushes in the front of our house. With the aide of my trusty chain saw and the help of my neighbors Chevy TrailBlazer and my brother-in-laws Toyota Tacoma, we were able to persuade the bushes to release themselves from the death grip on which they had on the earth. They didn't come out quietly. I swear these bushes were possessed. My chainsaw had a heck of a time cutting through some of them. I think I even heard one of them screaming for help as I held it down with one foot and chopped it's trunk off.

Well everything came out eventually...I managed to keep the damage to a minimum. Broken landscape light a ruptured underground sprinkler hose and a huge splinter was all the casualties. Easily fixable, "honey where's the duct tape and the tweezers!?"

Next, get out the check book because everything that was taken out will need to be replaced with plants that costs 100 times more then the crap you ripped out. All the flowers, bushes, mulch and even a couple Japanese maple trees in which to replace the 1000 yr old bushes needed to be bought. I tell ya', I'm in the wrong business. The money people charge for these things are ridiculous. No wonder the guy who owns Farmer John's Nursery drives a freakin' 80k thousand dollar car.

Not only did we replace all the landscaping but I went even as far as re-doing all the outside lighting as well. Did I mention "pain in the azz"? That's another story in itself... Let's stay focused here.

Well it's about 90% done now. All in all as long as Arlene's happy I'm content. Time to work on the backyard now. I'll see you at the bar, that's where I left my "to do list".

Here's some pics...

Got kind of a rock theme going on.

This planter area had a nasty brick retaining wall that we took down last year and replaced them with boulders.

Spiral bushes with 3 Azaleas flanking the middle. These are nice because they flower in the spring.

Japanese Maple and 3 rhododendron's in the middle...it's hard to see in this pic because of the ivy in the background on the wall. These also flower in the spring.

4X

2007-06-08T00:05:00.000-04:00

Well, thanks to my bike sponsor, SOUL CYCLES, I will be taking delivery of one of the nicest 4-cross frames out there.

The Matador.
Almost 2 years in development, the Matador is a lightweight full suspension dual purpose rig. The frame lends itself to 2 different set ups (4X (6.5 x 1.5+100mm) / Mid-Travel Slopestyle (7.5 x 2.0+130mm) ). The frame features a machined scissor link for additional rear end lateral stiffness. A 6mm thick front shock mount tying the top and down tubes together to add stiffness and minimize down tube torsion and twisting.

It will be equipped with a FOX DHX 5 Air, it's the top of the line air suspension FOX offers. I can't wait to get it built up and tear up the slalom/Downhill/4X courses with it.

Watch out for the "Old guy" cause' I'm comin'!

24 hrs of HELL!

2007-06-07T09:53:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm regressing in my old age... our team, MTB-LIFE decided to start doing some endurance racing this year. So Nate and the guys talked me into going out and punishing myself to do the 24 hrs of Boyne over the Memorial weekend.

It was probably one of the hardest races physically that I've done in a long long time. Mind you I've been mainly concentrating on Downhill racing for many years and that I haven't raced XC in over 10+ years.

The course was roughly 10 mile laps with about 980ft of climbing per lap. It started to rain on us at about 1:20am Sunday morning. I ended up pulling my hamstring muscle and had extreme back spasms.... but we prevailed and ended up winning the race. It wasn't without a lot of hard work. Thanks to our newcomer on the team, Justin, who tore up each burning lap. We all tore up each lap for that matter.

We ended up beating the second place U of M team by 1 whole lap (approx. 10 miles).

Thanks to our bike sponsor SOUL CYCLES for providing our bikes and giving us support. Thanks to Meagan and Kristine for being our support and tech team. :-)

We plan on punishing ourselves more this year. Yippee.