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My First Ultra-Cool Triathlon of 2024!
Yesterday was magical; a full triathlon, my first since 2012, and in my usual unorthodox way!
My daughter was working and my wife is out of town with her best friend from childhood, so I had nothing to do… but golf with my friends. I rolled out of bed later than usual and got ready to go. Unlike a normal golfing event, the weather outdoors was unfit for golf (well below freezing), so we took it indoors at a local course that has several indoor screens for the winter months. This was to be a first for me; I’ve never played video game golf before.
I showed up early and took a few minutes to get some practice swings in, and then we were right into it. It took several holes to get loosened up and to get the feel of it, but Dale and I ended up with a real shoot-off going into the last two holes. He was up by two strokes after 14. He bogied 15 and I parred, pulling to within a stroke.
16 was a disaster. Dale birdied and I bogied for a two shot shift. I was down, but I wasn’t ready to say I was out.
17 was a beautiful par 3 at 155 yards and a gentle crossing breeze from left to right. a perfect 8-iron for me. I put it on close enough for a 2-putt for par. Dale bogied, pulling us within one.
18 was a gloriously long par 4 and I absolutely uncorked one on my drive, ending up at 280+. Dale hit his normal 215 from the advanced tees, right in the middle of the fairway. He had a way to go, though and parked one 30-yards from the green. My second was a dead-on 7-iron from 172 with a bit of a helping crosswind. I parked it within a few feet for a tap-in birdie. Dale laid up a little short and ended with a bogie for a two-stroke swing and I took the indoor Sunday title by a stroke. I had a 79, Dale an 80.
Next was a stint on the bike. I didn’t go very long, just 30 minutes, because I knew we were bowling in a few hours… so, the second and third legs of the indoor triathlon.
Bowling was tricky in the second game. I was over-hooking my usual go-to ball and couldn’t move far enough right to get the angle right. First game 211, second was a 158, but I switched to a lighter hooking ball for the third game and hit a great run at the end for a slick 214… but Dale’s run was just a little bit better and he pipped me in the last frame for a 216. He took the title back!
We laughed about that for quite a while before departing. I headed home and watched some TV with my daughter before turning in for the night. I slept, surprisingly, like a baby. I miss my wife. I miss having her here to talk with, to sleep with.
And for that, I am so thankful.
Via Con Dios, My Friend…
There’s no easy way to write this post, so it’s going to be short. A friend I’ve recovered with and bowled with for years found out he had cancer about a year ago. The doctors gave him a 70% chance of recovery and he proceeded with the treatment, which was brutal. As you’d expect.
After completing the round of chemo and radiation, he went in for a checkup and was told the cancer that was in his throat and mouth moved aggressively down. Hip, liver, everything low. They treated him again, but it didn’t take. You wouldn’t expect a good outcome from aggressiveness like he’d seen. Still, he had a great outlook throughout the treatment until this week.
When my wife and I weren’t doing so well, Craig used to stay late after the Friday night league was done for a little practice and bowling talk along with our friend, Noel. I was thinking about that last night as I drove home…
He’s on comfort care, now, spending the last days he has with his wife. From the text I saw last night, he’s made his peace.
Cancer sucks.
An Exciting Day For The New Cycling Year
Well, spring is only a month-ish away and I’ve been getting excited for something. It’s time to take the tandem apart and clean it up for this year. Bottom brackets, headset, crank arms, wheels… it’s time to take it all down and get the bike ready for the 2024 cycling season. I’d work on the other bikes, too but they’re still pristine after rarely being used last year! My Venge only needs a wipe-down from the dust of being in the garage until our in-laws moved into their house (they’re in the spare bedroom “bike room” now, of course.
I’m looking at working on the bikes as being a cathartic. I’ve been so deep into work and everything else going on, it’s been quite a while since I did some tinkering on our bikes. To tell you the truth, I actually miss it!
Also, my sponsor said that it’s time to slow down a little bit. I’m always rushing to go from one place to another. He says I need to take some time to breathe and relax a little bit, and working on the bikes will fit exactly that bill.
And it’ll mean getting the bikes ready to roll for next season.
In other news, I’ve come to learn a new way to bowl and I’ve managed to raise my average from a 182 to a 190. I still have the odd 150 game every now and again, but I’m averaging in the 200s (a 207 per game last night). Not so long ago I was lucky to hit 165 for a season average.
Recovery work has been slim the last couple of months, because I’m putting a lot into work. After a conversation with my wife the other day, I decided it’s time to get to it. I’d been thinking along that line for a couple of days, but that talk with my wife was just enough to push me over the edge and get me moving.
All things accounted for, I’m thankful I have my problems. Everyone should be so lucky. More soon.
My First Ever 1,200 Weekend Bowling
I got some terrific advice from a couple of guys on our Friday night league, Terrell giving the best advice, and Todd rounding that out. Combine that with one YouTube video with Brad and Kyle, and everything started to click. My average on Friday night has jumped from the low 180s to 190 in a few weeks. The improvement on Sunday nights was a little slower because the lanes are a little dry so I tend to over-hook early and I still struggle to make adjustments out there when the lanes go.
That said, I through a respectable 595 for three games on Friday. I didn’t have any big games, it was just consistent.
I started thinking about the possibility of a 1,200 on the way to the bowling alley with my wife yesterday afternoon.
My first game, I was on fire. Nine frames in I was one 6-spare and eight strikes. The lanes went away shortly thereafter and I hit the struggle bus. I finished with a decent 242. Then the second game and I was over-hooking wildly with my preferred Hammer Scorpion a 15-pounder. I switched to my 14-pound Black Widow 2.0 but couldn’t get that one to hook up enough. The second game was a mess and I only squeaked out a 149… and my hopes of a 1,200 looked bleak.
My third game, I switched back to the Scorpion and changed my hand position a little to come up the back a little more and take some hook off, and that did the trick. I found the pocket in a hurry and knocked out a nice 216 to finish the night with a 607… just enough for a 1,202.
Bowling is getting fun!
Hoping For An Exclusive American Football Playoff Flop – And An Explosion Of Adventurous Lives Lived Well.
I laughed out loud when I heard the commercial bill the first ever exclusive playoff game streamed only from an internet website.
Here’s what they left out; it was also the first pay to view playoff game. The two markets, Kansas City and Miami, were able to view the game free (so I’ve heard – and I’m not mentioning the network in this post on purpose), but everyone else had to sign up for a year to view one game. We passed. My in-laws, who are even more avid football fans than I, passed.
I’m hoping this turns out to be a gigantic flop for the sake of fans everywhere. I’ve got a subscription to the NFL Network this year, but doubt I’ll renew. I can see about six or seven different streaming services picking up the games, so if you want to watch them all, that’ll mean $700 a year to see them on television. I’m out. I simply don’t care enough to pay that kind of cash to watch football.
However, it occurred to me last night while we weren’t watching the evening playoff game on pay-to-view-TV, I do care enough to spend that kind of money on bikes, bowling balls, golf clubs, skis, boots, sleds, gloves, hats… maybe this is just what we need to get off the couch!
And that would be nothing but good.
My Best Bowling Single Game and Series Evah!!!
The bowling is going strong this year. I’ve got a fantastic four-ball lineup to choose from that allows me to dial in from my favorite spot with ease. They go from strong, all the way to the weakest of weak, a plastic ball. Each of the four is drilled so well, I can’t tell the difference from one to the other except by the feel, or texture.
Last night, I threw my first 700 series (actual) and a 279 (actual), during which a threw eleven strikes, with a 9/ in the sixth… when I got to thinking about how cool it would be to get my first 300. I yanked the shot just a little bit, but simmered down immediately after.
Now, if you’re wondering why that wasn’t a 290-something, it’s the placement of the spare. Strikes count the next two balls, so that strike in the 7th was worth 30-points. Ten for the strike, plus the next two balls, which were strikes. If that 9 had been on the very last ball, that’s a 299. If it had been on the second to last, 289. Make sense? I know, it’s rather complex and it took me forever to get a grasp on it.
Anyway, in addition to that near-perfect 279, I threw a respectable 191 on the first game as I struggled to find a good line, then a 233 the second game (after I did find the line I could work). Add them up and that’s a 703 actual, my best series by something like 50 pins (if memory serves).
I had a smile stretched across my face for some time last night. Pretty cool.
Now, if you check the categories for this post, you’ll see “recovery” is checked. Our team name, and nobody has ever caught this in the three decades the team has been around, stands for “Clean & Sober”. We’re a recovering team. Currently, I think we’ve got something like eight or nine decades cumulatively.
A Happy Thanksgiving (And Second Thanksgiving)!
A humorous sidenote to our Thanksgiving festivities; our Lions got hammered by the hapless Green Bay Packers, Thursday. In reality, I have to take part of the blame because as my father-in-law and I sat down for the game, I said, “You know? This is the first year I can remember I wasn’t nervous about our chances in this game”.
I guess that could be taken two ways. Technically.
Other than that mess, our Thanksgiving festivities were amazing. We had a gourmet hamburger dinner, with all of the trimmings and just shy of half-pound burgers with 94/6 steak burger (we have it specially ground), home-baked potato chips and cole slaw. Certainly not the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but that was what everyone wanted. We topped dinner off with a new specialty my wife came up with for her mom, who can’t eat anything with gluten; apple crisp with gluten free flour and almond flower a la mode. Outstanding is the perfect word for that treat. My wife nailed it.
Friday, my wife and I slept in till 8am. I can’t remember the last time I slept that late into the morning. It was glorious. We rode the trainers for a half-hour, then got ready for second Thanksgiving at my wife’s mom and stepdad’s new house, just a few minutes up the road. Our daughter arrived home from college, just before we were ready to head over. For second Thanksgiving we had the traditional meal, with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, pumpkin and apple pies… it was perfect.
I’ve always loved Thanksgiving… but second Thanksgiving is the way to go!
I had to bowl last night, and that went pretty well (the middle game could have gone a lot better, but the bookend games were above average – 204/193). On waking with my wife this morning at 7, it struck me how much I needed this weekend off. Work’s been great, but I was tired! It was nice to have a rest before we get back to it.
PS. The weather is too cold for my wife to ride. She’s got a medical issue that greatly limits cold-weather exertion… and I’m exceedingly thankful for it. I hate riding in the cold, and it’s COLD. It’s currently 20° and feels like 15°. On the plus side, it is sunny. For what that matters. Which is not much. That’s -7 and -9-ish in Moose Latin (Celsius). And that is officially too cold for me to venture outdoors.
And we have a chance for snow showers tomorrow. Yippee.
A Saturday Duathlon: Cycling and Golf
Jess and I hammered out 47-miles on the tandem yesterday morning with a few friends. It was a great ride. Fantastic. We’re riding like we’re a finely tuned machine and the new tandem feels like we’re cheating compared to the old Periscope. We were all set for a 40-miler when my wife asked, per Chuck’s request the day before, if we should keep heading north to the next paved road. It added another eight miles overall. The consensus was to roll on (prodded by me, for fear someone chimed in to cut it short). About two miles into the extra, my wife and I both hit hungry.
When we’re riding alone we talk a lot. In a group, it’s a little less. I don’t really know why. My wife and I spoke about it extensively about it, just now, and it actually works out for us better for both of us that we don’t talk as much in a pack.
We’d been battling a minor crossing headwind for 22 miles and we’d been up front all but the last mile. I think that was wearing on us a bit, because once we turned south, we picked up the pace… though I won’t lie and say we did it without much effort. We were both audibly hurting. Still, with all but a mile-and-a-half up front, call it two, I got the bright idea we should do the rest of the ride from the front. A friend of ours likes to take 20-mile turns up front the first day of DALMAC, so I wanted to be able to post something on Strava about it.
I got that chance. We finished the 47-miler with 45 up front. It was a great ride.
We cleaned up, ate some lunch and took a nap. After, a little housework was tended to, then I headed to Lansing to meet my colleague for a short round of golf at a neat little 12-hole course.
I was striping the ball the first nine, finishing with a +3 39. The last three holes were a little bit of a struggle, though. I hit TIRED. I’m really happy with how I’m hitting the ball this year. I’m driving around 260-270 and my iron game is solid. The chipping/short game is better than ever, and my putting is solid but could use some work.
I met my wife for dinner after the round and we headed home for bed.
If I were to lay out my idea of a fantastic day, that’d be close enough for government work.
The Difference Between a Good and Fantastic Marriage As I (Currently) Understand It.
Last night was a Thursday night ride in Fenton, the Lake Shannon Loop, and I wasn’t there. In the last decade+, with a perfect evening for cycling like we had last night, I never would have missed that ride.
Earlier in the day, I’d gone to a meeting at one of my jobsites a couple hours before lunch. Then over to my wife’s office fifteen minutes up the road where I completed some paperwork that needed to be completed for another, just up the road. She was in a Zoom meeting with her colleagues, so I stayed out in the car and worked until she texted me the meeting was over. I got a lot done sitting at one of the spare desks in the open office room – enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about working much the next day. Then we went across the street, holding hands, to get lunch.
My wife and I have been married 25 years and we still hold hands everywhere we go. We both love the connection.
We finished our lunch and I headed over to look at another monster of a job we’ve got nearby. I walked that one and talked to our workers on site, walked with the superintendent, then checked out a second building we’re just starting on the same site. That went well and when I was done, I headed back to my wife’s office to finish up my work for the day.
At a quarter past 3 (I work 6am to 3pm for an 8-hour day in 9 hours), I kissed my wife goodbye. She had some late work to do two towns north and I headed to my daughter’s tennis match. She was not expecting to see one of us at her meet. I’d texted her sister earlier to let her know if she came to the meet I’d fill up her gas tank. She jumped at that offer but was running a little late. My youngest was warming up when I walked over to her court and stood at the fence. It was a sunny, warm, beautiful Michigan afternoon and as she turned and it dawned on her that she recognized the lone person standing at the end of her court, her jaw dropped and her eyes welled up with happy tears. I just nodded and said, “I love you, kiddo”.
My girl played her heart out. In between sets, I spoke with our older daughter about things I’d done wrong in my marriage to her mom. I told her about building up fear-based defensive walls to protect my emotions – and more important, I told her why and how I broke them down, hopefully for good (God willing) and what that meant for her mom and I. I don’t think we’ve ever been as happy, and sustainably happy to be together.
It was an amazing evening.
I met my daughter at a gas station and filled her car up, as promised and she went off to see her new hunk of a boyfriend, a transferred rugby player from Rutgers. I drove home alone, a smile on my face, but a dark cloud loomed over my soul… my wife was working late out of town, from 6pm to 8. She never leaves an event like that on time and we had plans to talk about for the wedding/renewal while she drove on the hour-long drive home. This was why I built up the defensive walls I wrote of earlier. I’m the least important person when she’s in a crowd and that hurts. I tried to stay positive. I prayed about it. I prayed hard…
And shortly after 8pm I got a text from my wife that she was on her way and on the phone with her mom and would be calling me when she was done talking to her mom. Now it was my turn for the jaw drop. My wife rarely cared enough to do something like that. She’d always defaulted to, “Meh, he’ll be okay”. I never was. See, I’ve always been excited to see my wife, and it hurts when she’s late and doesn’t bother to call (something I do in the rare case I’m running late). And everything I’d emotionally prepared for, this time, was wrong. She left on time and was going over plans for the wedding renewal so her mom could come down for the festivities next month.
True to her text, my wife called a short while later and we made our plans for the event until she was almost home. I took her choice for dinner out of the fridge and heated it up for her so she could eat as soon as she walked in the door. And I was waiting at the door, dressed to the nines in my best business casual, when she pulled in the driveway – exactly how she likes to see me. I kissed her passionately and told her how much it meant that she texted to let me know she’d call soon, that it felt good to matter enough to warrant the small gesture. She looked me up and down and accused me of flirting and said that I always mattered, but she could see why the text helped. She told me how much it meant to her that I took the night off the bike and went to our daughter’s tennis match.
This is a first for us – to think about the other, and the family, in such depth – it’s those little things that are deep; anyone can be there for the big things. For my wife, just a simple text to let me know she’s on her way and talking to her mom. For me, taking a night off cycling (or whatever hobby of the day I’m into) so I can be there for my daughter.
After my wife finished dinner, we wandered off to bed and fell asleep in each other’s arms, smiles on both our faces. My wife and I had a good marriage. When we think of the other enough to go out of our way, well it’s good times and noodle salad, folks. As good as it gets. The difference between good and fantastic.
A Fantastic Weekend on the Tandem… And My Family’s Golfing Torch is Passed.
This was a crazy, awesome weekend. First, my wife and I have been working on us, intensively, for a month. While we both remained committed to our marriage, let’s say we weren’t exactly working for happiness and peace as we could have for the last few years. No blame to either of us, we just needed to change things up. To that end, I started working with a professional last month and, along with some other means of improving my understanding of what it takes to be a better version of me, I’ve been able to make some much needed progress (think page 60 for those in the program). The difference and transformation has been intense, emotional, and difficult. And it’s been entirely worth the effort – and that effort started paying big dividends Friday. It was a breakthrough for us. Something we’ve needed for a long time now.
We had a busy day Friday, so no riding.
Saturday, my youngest had a big tennis match, so we rode early and logged 26-1/3 miles on the tandem before getting dressed and heading over to watch our girl play. That afternoon, I went golfing on an actual course for the first time in a long time, and it was good… though I was shown yet again that I’m not 40 anymore. I was sore Sunday morning. Being sore didn’t stop us from having an awesome ride on the tandem, though. We rolled out with a friend who’d been battling ailments for a month and was finally ready to give Sunday Funday a try. It went smashingly well – especially after I raised my wife and my saddles a millimeter or two (more on that in another post).
After a fantastic Sunday ride of 32-ish miles, we ate an early leftover roast beef lunch and headed out to a bike parade. After that, I texted my daughter to get ready and I headed home to take her to the driving range for the first time. I was excited, not only for having the opportunity to teach my kid to golf and pass on the torch my dad passed on to me, but to work with an empty canvas – my daughter had, until yesterday, never swung a golf club. She had no bad habits to fix!
She started out sluggish at first, as you’d expect, but as the lesson progressed, she really picked up on what she needed to… and she started striking the ball cleanly and putting exactly the right trajectory on the shot. Her first lesson couldn’t have gone better (heck, I wish I’d had that first lesson when I was a kid!). After the golf balls were all down range, we took our clubs and packed them into the car and headed home.
And my daughter has the bug. It is good.
Fit Recovery 