Manifesting

Today I played hookie for a GRAND spin on the bike. Oh yes, it was 3.5 hours of bliss in the fine Seattle spring sunshine with bike shorts and a thin long sleeve (yes it was nearly 70 out there). As I made my way back to Greenlake, I caught the glimpses of an elderly couple looking at me as I stopped at the stoplight. With his window open and his wife in the passenger seat gleaming with utter innocence...he smiles and he says, "how much do you weight." I thought, wow...isn't that considered a taboo question even for their generation. Not caring at all...

I responded "145."
He said, "my wife swore you were 105, but then I said you've got to be over 6 foot."
"nah" I said, "I'm 5-10."
"okay...still tall, and beautiful." he says.
"you look fantastic" as a smile came from he and his wife.
"Thank you." I said. "enjoy the beautiful day."

Affirmations of self concepts are a wonderful thing. We need to offer this honesty whenever we see it. Yet I do believe we attract these very things if we believe it ourselves. Its about manifesting our own destiny. We create our realities. If we believe we are beautiful (inside and out) we are beautiful! What do you believe?

SeaOtter Mingles

I just returned from Northern California and watching the classic bike races of Sea Otter down near Monterey. It was rather unique as I brought two non bike racing spectators to the spectacle. Because Sea Otter has intense road cycling events combined with gravity clownhillin' or a mix of mountain bikers and roadies, it was an odd mix to witness (never do you really see them both in the same venue).

I tried to communicate this to Mikey and Mel. "ya see..." I said, "It's like having a nascar race loop around the masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia...really the two never, rarely ever mingle at the same event." Don't you agree?

Drop of a Hat

I landed in SF yesterday. I love this city; its food, its energy, the plethora of whippy-cool single speeds cruisin the blacktop. I passed about a dozen panhandlers. I noticed the intense creativity of these people compared to my fair city. For example, the sign of one gentleman with a dropped hat was simply "conducting an experiment on human generosity, please give." I also noticed that there was less aggression in the approach. Then I searched my embedded intelligence for why such creative marketing tactics exists within San Francisco. I looked to basic economics and the concept of supply and demand.

SUPPLY
There is an over supply of panhandlers in SF; weather is nice year round and city officials are tolerant to their presence. Further it costs a but-load of cash to live in SF, so it throws more people on the street who are at a different psychographic level. With an increase in panhandler supply (and maybe even better educated supply) and no corresponding change in demand (people desiring to give) requires unique marketing and positioning tactics.

DEMAND
The population in San Francisco is well educated and very sophisticated. Although Seattle can boast it is smarter than SF, clearly SF is up a few notches on the sophistication scale. Just looking at the single speeds here affirmed it for me. So with a sophisticated pop, ONLY new and rather avant-garde marketing tactics are effective. Therefore, tactics that shout at or confront the consumer don't work. Only those tactics that allow the consumers to speak about your product (or unique positioning) are MOST effective.

I told several people about this gentleman and his sign. Heck I'm blogging about it right here. Clearly the most effective marketing is the one people do for you.

Addiction

Addicted: Webster's defines it as...The compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful. Bikes, are not a substance...but there are definite physiological symptoms in withdrawal AND persistent and compulsive use is (and has been) harmful. Yeah so, I got my next fix. But wait, I sold two bikes to get it. Well...at least I didn't pawn them. As Shakespeare once said (maybe a few times) "Me doth think you (replace with me) protest too much!" Oh here she is....arrrrrr.


Details of my El Ciclon are found HERE (mine is in school bus yellow).

Madonna Del Ghisallo

Some of you may know Ghisallo as Litespeed's top Ti bike. Others, who are more world travelled realize that the Ghisallo is a beautiful little church atop a tough hill on the north side of Lake Como, Italy; and for bike geeks - the church is filled with cool cycling memorabilia. Further still, Madonna Del Ghisallo (pictured hear with some adorning eye protection), the patron saint of travelers, which has become the patroness of cyclist (how cool is that) can bless us on whatever road we travel. So...today I visited my orthopedic doc, who also happens to be one of the top shoulder docs in Seattle for my 4th WEEK check in (bones usually take 6-8 weeks). Yes folks, the patroness of cycling has blessed my little bones, caused them to heal quickly (plus all that good eating I do) such that Dr. Peterson declared me "fused" and ready for racing. WHAT???? Okay...so I'm physically ready to race, but my mind needs a little work. Oh, Ghisallo????

Loaded

Spring and Beyond

I can hear the birds. After the daffodils, tulips, I wait for the next show of flowers to come from my yard. I dream of this years cycling vacations. Mountain biking in St. Anne Quebec this June? Cycling the Dolomites in September? Mountain biking Norway early fall? Pedaling through Spain in November. Yeah...maybe all of it. Game on!

Trainer Time

The last few days I've been glued to my trainer for 1.5 hour sessions at a time. I've been catching up on my Series 24 TV show (I'm a year behind) - peddling why Jack Bauer is knocking off terrorist. I basically clear out 2 episodes a day while I gradually increase my tolerance for intensity. As for my healing...I'm amazing that every day I'm 100% better than the day before. Breaking bones sucks, but it does cause one to pause and take notice of the things around. Oddly, when I was laying on the chip seal road in Sequim exactly 3 weeks ago today...the first two thoughts that came to mind as I tried to fill my empty lungs with air:

1). Why the HELL am I doing this crazy sport; THEN
2). This was suppose to happen to me, and I'm going to learn something amazing that I would not have received otherwise...so suck it up.

As to #1, I recently read in Velonews interview by a bike racer who went down hard in the Tour de California breaking his collar bone. He said, "if I actually thought about how dangerous this sport is...I would not be able to race bikes at the level I do." As for #2, I've gained some amazing new friends and developed deeper relationships with those closest to me. I've relied on friends and loved ones more than I would have ever permitted otherwise.