A year in the life of a non-Blogger.

I started 2012 by riding my bicycle. I got first tracks to the Heli-Pad. 

Later, I experimented with my facial hair. Thoughts?

Kalea returned from Alaska and she said I wasn't allowed to dress like a pedophile anymore, so I shaved my mustache and went climbing in a magical, secret, hidden climbing spot with my friend Jonathan Scrock. We were using ice tools.

When I got done getting scared with Jonathan, I drove to Echo Echo Echo, Oregon with Kalea, Matt, Amy and I raced my Mountain Bicycle for the first time. 

 

After a recovery drink we spent some time with Seth and Michelle Finley from the Blue Ribbon land of Corvallis. We did some Catan playing and camping, among other things with these folks.

 

 In fulfillment of a prophetic word given to me many years ago, I did some modeling for REI. I was a natural...well, of course I was a natural!

Mr. Clean is also a model. Here we are playing paper football. Usually, we rode bikes and enjoyed local breweries together. Unfortunately, he and I are now nursing a long-distance relationship.

 

 Fortunately, we got a house out of the deal in Medford, Oregon. I got a new job at REI, too. Now I get to work on bikes and skis for a living...

Kalea became with-child at some point during 2012. Dane called the baby, "cookie" which disturbed me to no end because "cookie" is also Dane's term for anything that is eaten trailside. Oh well. Kalea is gracing me with her presence in Lithia Park in the uber-hip town of Ash Land. 

At this point Kalea and my identity shifted from ourselves to our relationship to a little girl. Kalea is no longer Kalea...her name is mom. This is Ira May. She is happy that she is no longer in her mother's belly. Her mother may be celebrating most, though.

Her father is also celebrating. He is practicing work/life balance. He's at work in this picture...

That was the Stumbo family's year in pictures. It goes by quick, doesn't it? Ira May's father aspires to keep family and friends posted more frequently. Please stay tuned for many inspiring 2013 posts.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Cold Then Warm Then Cold

It would seem that cold weather is the catalyst for good blogging or for blogging in general since I haven't been motivated to post a cycling blog since April. Folks, it's been too long. Since we last spoke (or since I last wrote) I have purchased three bikes and sold two. The original motivators for starting a blog have been laid in someone else's hands to rest. Rest in peace Capo and Sojourn...I never intended for it to be this way.

Oh well, I'm over it! And I say welcome to the family XXIX+G, CX Team and CR1 Team. Pictures of these bikes to come.

I have joined the Cascade Couriers/Bend Velo Cycling team and I'm getting excited about a year of bike racing (or something like that). This blog is being thusly transformed into a training journal of sorts where you can keep track of Samuel Stumbo and his racing adventures and misadventures.

Cold weather or not I commit to keep you updated on what happens this year. Enjoy.

Big Wheels Keep On Turnin'

I've been thinking about riding my Capo down the Oregon Coast. North to south. My goal is three days. There are 360ish miles on the Oregon Coast. That means that I have to ride 120ish miles a day...on a fixie. So I went for a quick spin today on the Johnson Road Loop. That loop is 20 miles. I rode that in an hour and twenty minutes. I figure that at that pace, I should only have to be on the bike about 7 hours a day--give or take. It seems more manageable when I think of 120 miles in those terms. Just 20 miles at a time. So, much of what you hear from me from here on out will be looking forward to that. Lots of gear reviews especially. I hope you enjoy.

Whiskey For My Men and Beer For My Bikes

Remember those whiskey barrels that I carried home with my bicycle? Well, I cut 'em in half and I filled 'em with dirt...arrrgh. (For some reason I was thinking this is something a pirate might say, but then it occurred to me that maybe an Irish accent would be more appropriate.) Oh, I also put them on caster wheels so that I can roll them around real easy-like. There are some radishes growing in one of them already. Monday I was pulling my Burley down ninth and I saw a shop that was called Green Leaf. I thought it might be some sort of indoor-gardening store and I thought they might have the potting soil that I was interested in. Sure enough, those folks had exactly what I was looking for and more. They had all sorts of fancy equipment that I could use to grow stuff inside. They even had these television systems with video cameras, so I could monitor what kind of folks was showing up on my doorstep. You never know who might be coming to get your vegetables! They didn't actually have the security systems. That was a joke. You maybe get the point, though. This so called "Green Leaf" store is catering to a very particular demographic. The fellow, Hopi was his name, gave me a ten percent discount. I thought that was awful nice of him. If you're a "dude-bro", go support Green Leaf on Ninth and Wilson.

So I got 120 pounds of dirt put in my trailer and I left for Parr Lumber to get some hardware. Fortunately when my rear wheel fell off it was pretty obvious and I was able to stop quickly. Fortunately it's only the second time my rear wheel has chosen to go it's own way...this year. It is really not that bad. The wheel hasn't actually come completely off. It's just popped out of the dropouts and stopped my bike. I just tightened up my quick-release skewers and continued on, but the thought is always in the back of mind, "so what happens when this same problem occurs at 25mph down Reed Market?" No biggie.

I got my casters and went home with no greater event. Now my radishes are happily growing and we have a big tray of various vegetable starts that we started from seed sitting in our windowsill. It's cold enough that I'm shopping around for leg warmers still, though, so it's too cold to plant most of those vegetables in my barrels. When that day comes, I promise to post some pictures.

Brave or Stupid?

Despite baring my knees for the rest of the season, the cold and snow and icy morning commutes have come back. The weather can't fool me, though. The longer days and the warmth of the sun, despite a crispness to the air, are all tell-tale signs of spring and warmer weather to come. That said, I have been thinking about purchasing a set of leg warmers for the early morning rides. I just haven't run across any that fit well.

My friend Chris (he rides his bike a lot, too) told me that he saw another bike commuter on his way to work the other morning. He said that it was good to see the other guy out there riding his blue Scott bike. He said it was good to see the other guy out there because you don't often have company for questionable weather and early morning rides. The same experience happened for me on Thursday morning at about 6:30. Some guy was entering the Reed Market roundabout a quarter-turn behind me. I waved at him and smiled. "We're not alone out here," I said to my faithful steed. We trotted the rest of the way to work and I got distracted by many, many things.

This morning's reflections jogged my memory, though.Year round commuting is lonely. I mean, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm addicted to it...but there are days when it is very lonely. On those days cars are no longer vehicles driven by people, but hideous machines that are out to destroy anything that gets in their path. Often you play games with yourself for motivation to keep going. To keep riding. Mostly the games that I play have to do with not falling and not getting run over by cars while my feet are dragging in eight inches of snow with each pedal stroke and the shoulder is only two inches wide and half-ton machines are zipping by at 30-plus mph. It's funny to read, but really more of a serious game when you're actually playing it. It is not a game that I would recommend for everyone. Oh, and did I mention that you usually have to play alone. No chatting on the cell-y tell-y for your commute to work anymore...

Despite these mind-games, when I get to work, the adrenaline rush overtakes the fear and pain from the commute and makes me want to do it again. People have often said to me, "I don't know whether to think you're brave or stupid." To which I have many-times replied , "Oh, it isn't that bad. You just have to get out there and do it." Which is mostly true, but thinking back, I have ridden on days that I ask myself the same "brave or stupid" question. From my point of view it is neither. I am very grateful for the warmer weather and less snow. I mentioned that the roads were icy the last couple of mornings. I'll be honest: I wasn't looking forward to riding on slippery roads. You can't just enjoy the scenery when you are riding on ice. You have to be completely focused. It takes as much out of me mentally as it does physically.

As a reprise, I love the challenge of riding through the winter. I hope that me riding daily inspires other people to ride daily, because it is often lonely in the darker, colder months. That said, I am glad spring has sprung and bike commuters are rejoining Chris and I more and more.

My Inner-Monologue on Rich People

My friend Paul gave me a statistic today. Most bike commuters are lower and middle class. I think that makes sense. If I could afford expensive cars and high-end electronics, I probably wouldn't have time to ride my bike. I'd be too busy talking to clients on my cellphone and doing important stuff to stimulate the economy.

I was thinking very cynically about this on my ride home tonight. "Look at all these rich people in their large Sport Utility Vehicles," I thought. Then my conscience spoke, "You're not better than them, you know." This is often a struggle I run into as a bike commuter. The idea tries to creep in that I'm somehow better than the non-cyclist commuter. It's really just insecurity coming through. I feel like the little weird-o out there, riding in the cold who doesn't have enough money to drive a car. It's not that these things are true (well, I don't think they are anyway), but it's how I imagine the guy in the lifted one-ton Chevy Silverado perceives me. I think that he thinks that I'm some poor freak who can't make enough to drive, so I ride my bike. Of course, these assumptions are mostly ridiculous, but it's the train that I catch my sub-conscious on every now and then.

The revelation came today that we are all a lot of people running around on grids that we've made and we all have our transportation tastes. Some people are in it for the efficiency (most people, really) and some, like myself, are in it for the scenery. I'll sacrifice some comfort and efficiency to see the scenery, to breathe the air, to live. It's my thing. It isn't for everyone. And that's o.k. Besides I have a thing for big trucks.

Flying On A Kid's Bike

Matt Priest - Welcome To Amity from Mike King on Vimeo.

I just ran across this video today. Maybe not everyone wants to fly, but I certainly do. Watching videos like this gives me butterflies in my stomach and makes my palms sweat. When you fly, failure is not a sustainable option.  You are aware of the consequences, but you push them to the very back of your mind to a place where they cannot effect your commitment to the takeoff. In this world governed by gravity it is the takeoff that is key to successful flight. Botch the takeoff and the landing will be hard.

I'm still trying to figure out how to fly. If you're going to fly, you have to give everything that you are to the art. Matt Priest didn't just wake up one morning with the ability to fly on a kids bike, he put countless hours into practicing the takeoffs. Sometimes the landings were hard. The same with CEO's and entrepreneurs--in developing their companies and corporations, they have spent many hours investing in their flight. It's chasing after the dream, not accepting the present--grounded reality, but striving for something bigger, something more...not status-quo. We all have a dream. I guess we have to pursue it in order to learn how to fly.