Sihing Lilienskold and Sifu Finnamore made history this weekend. While the whole world watched Lance Armstrong and Team RadioShack complete the Tour de France, capturing first place in the team classifaication, the duo from Silent River Kung Fu successfully completed their first ever bike event - the 100km Tour d'Alberta. Although it may seem strange to compare Team Radio Shack to the two novice bike riders half a world away, there is a link. We caught up with pair soon after the event, as they slurped on some delicious strawberry popsicles.
Q. 100km!!!- you gals certainly bit of a big one by choosing to go this distance for your first ever event. How did you prepare?
Sihing Lilienskold: We've been training since March. Claire and I joined spin classes in March. When the weather got good enough -I think that was sometime in July this year - we started riding outside - 35km, and 60km at a time. We rode together only one time during our training because our work and personal schedules seldom jive. I'm a real estate agent and so I have to get the rides in between clients. Claire has a job with a regular schedule, so she took to riding to and from work.
Q. What motivated you to start this kind of training?
Sifu Finnamore. Alot of things, really. First and foremost for me was a promise I made to myself through the UBBT7. I have always loved bike riding, but hadn't done much of it during the years I was raising my kids. I wanted to get back into it, but several years went by, and my bike riding activity remained rather spotty. Totally unsatisfactory. You know how it is - we often make promises to ourselves, (getting into shape, eliminating a bad habit, changing our lifestyle, pursuing a passion, taking control of our lives) and then spend a lifetime breaking them. I signed up for the UBBT7 so that I could do a better job of following through on my promises. So one of my personal requirements was to do a set minumum number of hours bike riding, and to actually take the first step towards entering the biking community and participating in an event such as a ride, or charity ride.
Q. So the Tour d'Alberta was your goal?
Sihing Lilienskold: Well, actually no. Our goal this year is the LiveStrong ride for Cancer, which is being held in Austin, Texas in October. We're doing the 45 mile ride, which is about 72km. It sounds easier than the 100km we just finished, but the elevations (climbs) are much bigger.
Q. Why Livestrong? Why Texas?
Sifu Finnamore: A bunch of reasons. First, LiveStrong is Lance Armstrong's foundation, and if you've read his book "It's Not About the Bike", you know he is a cancer survivor and an inspiration to millions of people struggling with cancer, or struggling to believe in accomplishing the impossible. His mother is an inspiration too - read her book "No Mountain High Enough". So when I came accross this LiveStrong event it made total sense to participate.
Sihing Lilienskold: And we've never been to Texas before - we both want to travel and we've both got a list of places to visit and things to do before we get too old. There were other Livestrong events, in Philadelphia, Seattle, San Jose, Jasper/Banff, etc, but the dates didn't work, or the destination wasn't on our lists. And I think Claire secretly hopes to bump into Lance on the Austin event, because that's his hometown.
Q. So you gals have to raise some money?
Sifu Finnamore: Yes. There's a minimum fundraising goal of $250US each. But we plan to raise more if possible.
Sihing Lilienskold: It's interesting when you think about it. Opportunities to do positive things get you thinking about how it relates to our own lives. My mother died of cancer when I was nineteen. Claire's had a brush with cancer, and her brother is a cancer survivor. We've both lost close freinds and family, business associates to the disease. There's a whole community of cancer patients and survivors all around us - we are really a part of it; the LiveStrong foundation provides funding to both the community, and the research. Cycling and adventure aside, supporting the LiveStrong campaign is a great way to spend your holiday time.
Q. So where do we go to donate?
Sihing Lilienskold:
Go to the Livestrong Webpage: www.LIVESTRONG.org
Click on "Donate".
Choose 'Support Event Participants'
Select an Event - "Livestrong Chalenge: Austin"
Enter one or both of our names: Claire Finnamore or Julie Lilienskold
Donate!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Year of theTiger
Lately, I've been having alot of flashbacks to the beginning of the the Silent River Kung Fu Chinese New Year Banquet. Sifu Freitag, in a seemingly ominous tone, foretold what we could expect to come in the Year of the Tiger. I don't remember the exact words, but the message I got was that we could expect lots of struggle, dissappointment, failure, turbulence. So far, the prediction has been accurate. I hang on to the positive part of the prediction that we will come out stronger, and our accomplishments have the potential to be quite significant. Or something like that.
Take the UBBT7, for example. I remember being in a a place last December, where the goals I set out seemed very acheivable, and very much a part of my lifestyle, discipline, goals and abilities. That rapidly changed. Now, here I am in month 7, and some of the goals that I had assumed would be easy to accomplish given my daily routines, are suffering immensely. On the other hand, the goals that I had considered 'a bit of a risk', are now soaring to the forefront, taking on a momentum of their own. Very exciting.
I feel guilty that it's the non-kung-fu elements of UBBT7 that are successful at the moment. Every day that I cycle the 30km to work, and then do the return trip at the end of the day, I say to myself, "When I get home, I will do the pushups, I will do the situups, I will do the kicks and the horsestance, and the tai chi sword'. So far it hasn't happened. Today, I cycled home through torrential rain, wind and giant mud puddles. Took an extra half hour to get home, fighting that wind. I was so wet when I got home, that my pants were falling down from the weight of the water they had absorbed. I took a shower, then lay down.
Then I wrote this blog. Then I'll go to bed.
Take the UBBT7, for example. I remember being in a a place last December, where the goals I set out seemed very acheivable, and very much a part of my lifestyle, discipline, goals and abilities. That rapidly changed. Now, here I am in month 7, and some of the goals that I had assumed would be easy to accomplish given my daily routines, are suffering immensely. On the other hand, the goals that I had considered 'a bit of a risk', are now soaring to the forefront, taking on a momentum of their own. Very exciting.
I feel guilty that it's the non-kung-fu elements of UBBT7 that are successful at the moment. Every day that I cycle the 30km to work, and then do the return trip at the end of the day, I say to myself, "When I get home, I will do the pushups, I will do the situups, I will do the kicks and the horsestance, and the tai chi sword'. So far it hasn't happened. Today, I cycled home through torrential rain, wind and giant mud puddles. Took an extra half hour to get home, fighting that wind. I was so wet when I got home, that my pants were falling down from the weight of the water they had absorbed. I took a shower, then lay down.
Then I wrote this blog. Then I'll go to bed.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Zen and the Art of Bicycle Repair
I've often fancied the idea of becoming a bicycle mechanic. My father is my role model. When we were young, he'd take us kids to the local RCMP bike auction, and buy one or two bikes that were in a sad state of disrepair. He'd take them home, combine all the good parts, and we'd have one nice bike. I loved going to those auctions, and will never forget the one time my dad bid 50 cents on a bike. It was the third bike he had bid on that that day, the first two had seen no counter-bids, so he got them both for fifty cents each. A few heads in the crowd started to turn around to see who this guy was. And so when my dad bid on the third bike, some smart alec counter-bid with one dollar. My dad let the bike go - so this guy got a bike he had no idea what to do with as it needed alot of work and was probably only useful for the one or two parts my dad needed to combine with the parts on the other two bikes.
The best bike my dad built for me was mostly orange, and pretty much a ten-speed. I biked everywhere - to work during university years, to Horseshoe Bay and back with my brother, on camping trips with my college friends on the Salt Spring Islands, to the library, or just to get away from it all. I used it right up until I left home. And the bike meant so much to me - I called it the 'Road Runner'. I wish I still had it. Lance Armstrong said - "A bicycle is the long-sought means of transportation for all of us who have runaway hearts'.
A couple of months ago, I started taking courses on bicylce maintenance and repair. The beginner course was basic - change the tires, adjust the brakes and gears, true the wheels etc. I worked on my own bike in the class and then went home to practice my new skills on Jill and Janet's bike. The gear adjustement did not go well, as, unknown to myself, the derailleur apparatus was bent. After a little while, I found that I had broken the cable. Next week, I sheepishly brought Janet's bike in to my teacher. "Great course Scott! I worked on Janet's bike: do you think you could possibly fix it now??" Instead, he signed me up for the next Intermediate course, and I learned how to fix the derailleur, and whole pile of other stuff. So next, I'll work on Jill's bike.
The interesting thing about Scott - besides the fact that he is a master of his Art - is his training, or more precisely, his lack of formal training. I had wandered into his shop a few months previous as it was accross the road from where Janet was taking volleyball training. I had an hour to kill. At first I observed Scott at work in the bike shop - an unasuming guy a little younger than me and in charge of about five fellows who looked to be what you would call 'pedal-heads', in their mid twenties or so. As I watched him quietly and patiently imparting knowledge and advice to his charges as they worked on the bikes, I got to envying his station in life. And I decided then and there that he needed to be my mentor. So I approached him and inquired. I quess you could say we make a rather odd looking teacher/mentor and student pair. Scott is not very well educated in that he has no certifcates or diploma's - not even for high school. "How do get to be a bike mechanic?", was my first question to him. "Do you have to go to those schools in Oregan or Colorado?". "I suppose they might be useful", he responded. "But how did you get to where you are today?" I asked. "It's just what I've done all my life", he said. And then he offered to enroll me in some of his courses. Scott is a short, somewhat dumpy fellow, with an unruley mass of sandy-blonde curles spilling over the top of his head. His hands are chewed up and red. His knowledge is profound, yet he imparts it to his students in words not exceding two syllables. His newest student- myself- is an over-educated, cerebral, chatty, gray-haired lady, taller and more athletic, and very naive when it comes to the workings of the bicycle.
Claire Finnamore
Student Member, Silent River Kung Fu
The best bike my dad built for me was mostly orange, and pretty much a ten-speed. I biked everywhere - to work during university years, to Horseshoe Bay and back with my brother, on camping trips with my college friends on the Salt Spring Islands, to the library, or just to get away from it all. I used it right up until I left home. And the bike meant so much to me - I called it the 'Road Runner'. I wish I still had it. Lance Armstrong said - "A bicycle is the long-sought means of transportation for all of us who have runaway hearts'.
A couple of months ago, I started taking courses on bicylce maintenance and repair. The beginner course was basic - change the tires, adjust the brakes and gears, true the wheels etc. I worked on my own bike in the class and then went home to practice my new skills on Jill and Janet's bike. The gear adjustement did not go well, as, unknown to myself, the derailleur apparatus was bent. After a little while, I found that I had broken the cable. Next week, I sheepishly brought Janet's bike in to my teacher. "Great course Scott! I worked on Janet's bike: do you think you could possibly fix it now??" Instead, he signed me up for the next Intermediate course, and I learned how to fix the derailleur, and whole pile of other stuff. So next, I'll work on Jill's bike.
The interesting thing about Scott - besides the fact that he is a master of his Art - is his training, or more precisely, his lack of formal training. I had wandered into his shop a few months previous as it was accross the road from where Janet was taking volleyball training. I had an hour to kill. At first I observed Scott at work in the bike shop - an unasuming guy a little younger than me and in charge of about five fellows who looked to be what you would call 'pedal-heads', in their mid twenties or so. As I watched him quietly and patiently imparting knowledge and advice to his charges as they worked on the bikes, I got to envying his station in life. And I decided then and there that he needed to be my mentor. So I approached him and inquired. I quess you could say we make a rather odd looking teacher/mentor and student pair. Scott is not very well educated in that he has no certifcates or diploma's - not even for high school. "How do get to be a bike mechanic?", was my first question to him. "Do you have to go to those schools in Oregan or Colorado?". "I suppose they might be useful", he responded. "But how did you get to where you are today?" I asked. "It's just what I've done all my life", he said. And then he offered to enroll me in some of his courses. Scott is a short, somewhat dumpy fellow, with an unruley mass of sandy-blonde curles spilling over the top of his head. His hands are chewed up and red. His knowledge is profound, yet he imparts it to his students in words not exceding two syllables. His newest student- myself- is an over-educated, cerebral, chatty, gray-haired lady, taller and more athletic, and very naive when it comes to the workings of the bicycle.
Claire Finnamore
Student Member, Silent River Kung Fu
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Living Hero
Henrietta Lacks died of cancer in 1951, but her cells, known to scientists as HeLa, live on. Henrietta was a poor tobacco farmer, born in the Southern States, who worked the same land as her slave ancestors. She had a grade six education, and had given birth to five children by the time she died of cervical cancer at the age of 29.
The thing about Henrietta is that she and most of her children knew that they were brought into a world of adversity. She was black, in a times when colored people could not expect to recieve the same health care as their fellow white citizens. At John Hopkins Hospital, where Henrietta went for treatment of her cancer, black people were segregated into a separate ward. Henrietta was also poorly educated. She knew that she had a limited ability to understand what was killing her, and what the doctors were doing to her. Her chances of recieving the best treatment possible were nil. Thus, her chances of survival were slim. She also knew that the world she lived in, and the world she had brought her children into was riddled with the harsh realities of discrimination, poverty, lack of education, and dubious health care. Yet she soldiered on in her life, with hope, care, joy and courage.
When Henrietta lay dying in her hospital bed, a doctor took, without her knowledge, a sample of her cells. these cells became the first 'immortal' human cells grown in culture, and they are still alive today. These cells allowed scientists to make some vital advances in medicine; the polio vaccine was developed, cancer and viruses became better understood, great advances were made in the fields of in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. I can't imagine how many lives in the world have been saved as a result. I know I can thank her for the polio vaccine, and for doctors being able to diagnose cervical cancer at a much earlier stage than Henrietta's was diagnosed - too late to save her.
It is a travesty that Henrietta's children grew up in the same conditions as she did. Lack of education and poverty, racial discrimitation have resulted in none of her children being able to afford the type of health care that many of us benefit from today-health care made possible through the use of their mother's 'immortal' cells. This is wrong. I'm sure that, had Henrietta been given the opportunity to give consent to her cells being used for research, she would have asked for one thing. If I had been in her place, I would have asked the doctor that if anything good came of the research on my cells, could he please ensure that my children, and their children be able to benefit from it. In order for that to happen, the doctor would have had to fight for universal health care, rather than health care for only those who could afford it. Henrietta's children could not afford health care. And the doctor would have had to fight for better education so that Henrietta's children could be in a better position to improve their circumstances, access their human rights, fight for what they knew to be right. But Henrietta's children did not even complete high school.
Before Deborah, Henrietta's oldest surviving daughter died in 2009, of health complications she couldn't afford to have properly treated, she told a friend, "It's too late for Henrietta's children. This story ain't about us anymore. It's about the new Lacks children." Those children, Henrietta's grandchildren and great-grandchildren, are about my own children's ages. Deborah is right, we can't undo what was done in the past. We have to make it right for the future.
Take the first step and read this book: 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks', by Rebecca Skloot. The author has established a scholarship fund for the descendants of Henrietta Lacks. Donations can be made at HenriettaLacksFoundation.Org.
Claire Finnamore
Studnet Member, Silent River Kung Fu
The thing about Henrietta is that she and most of her children knew that they were brought into a world of adversity. She was black, in a times when colored people could not expect to recieve the same health care as their fellow white citizens. At John Hopkins Hospital, where Henrietta went for treatment of her cancer, black people were segregated into a separate ward. Henrietta was also poorly educated. She knew that she had a limited ability to understand what was killing her, and what the doctors were doing to her. Her chances of recieving the best treatment possible were nil. Thus, her chances of survival were slim. She also knew that the world she lived in, and the world she had brought her children into was riddled with the harsh realities of discrimination, poverty, lack of education, and dubious health care. Yet she soldiered on in her life, with hope, care, joy and courage.
When Henrietta lay dying in her hospital bed, a doctor took, without her knowledge, a sample of her cells. these cells became the first 'immortal' human cells grown in culture, and they are still alive today. These cells allowed scientists to make some vital advances in medicine; the polio vaccine was developed, cancer and viruses became better understood, great advances were made in the fields of in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. I can't imagine how many lives in the world have been saved as a result. I know I can thank her for the polio vaccine, and for doctors being able to diagnose cervical cancer at a much earlier stage than Henrietta's was diagnosed - too late to save her.
It is a travesty that Henrietta's children grew up in the same conditions as she did. Lack of education and poverty, racial discrimitation have resulted in none of her children being able to afford the type of health care that many of us benefit from today-health care made possible through the use of their mother's 'immortal' cells. This is wrong. I'm sure that, had Henrietta been given the opportunity to give consent to her cells being used for research, she would have asked for one thing. If I had been in her place, I would have asked the doctor that if anything good came of the research on my cells, could he please ensure that my children, and their children be able to benefit from it. In order for that to happen, the doctor would have had to fight for universal health care, rather than health care for only those who could afford it. Henrietta's children could not afford health care. And the doctor would have had to fight for better education so that Henrietta's children could be in a better position to improve their circumstances, access their human rights, fight for what they knew to be right. But Henrietta's children did not even complete high school.
Before Deborah, Henrietta's oldest surviving daughter died in 2009, of health complications she couldn't afford to have properly treated, she told a friend, "It's too late for Henrietta's children. This story ain't about us anymore. It's about the new Lacks children." Those children, Henrietta's grandchildren and great-grandchildren, are about my own children's ages. Deborah is right, we can't undo what was done in the past. We have to make it right for the future.
Take the first step and read this book: 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks', by Rebecca Skloot. The author has established a scholarship fund for the descendants of Henrietta Lacks. Donations can be made at HenriettaLacksFoundation.Org.
Claire Finnamore
Studnet Member, Silent River Kung Fu
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Art is a Science
Just been to a volleyball seminar run by some amazing coaches, athletes, and Sports Medicine experts. We really have to have this guy, Bruce Craven, from Saskatoon come and speak at our school. He's a scientist, and just explained to me the six harmonies - though he's never heard of it. Who said Kung Fu was an ART? Who says the anatomy of training is a SCIENCE? I had this eerie feeling that the only difference between Sifu Brinker, and this guy from Saskatoon, was the words they were using. So it turns out that if Janet really wants to get that powerful hit, a higher jump, more speed and precision in her volleyball game, she needs to start training in the six harmonies. She starts July 11th.
Got some inspirational stuff too from this session.
'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not the act, but a habit.'
Aristotle
'Success is . . . not an accident, but rather the product of a thoughtful and well executed plan' Bruce Craven
The Power of One is above all things the power to believe in yourself, often far beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated. The mind is the athlete; the body is simply the means it uses to jump higher or longer, run faster, shoot straighter, kick better, swim further, hit harder, or box better. The dictum to me ‘First with the head and then with the heart’ means more than simply mixing brains with guts. It means thinking well beyond the powers of normal concentration and then daring your courage to follow your thoughts. Bryce Courtenay “The Power of One”
Claire Finnamore
Student Member, Silent River Kung Fu
Got some inspirational stuff too from this session.
'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not the act, but a habit.'
Aristotle
'Success is . . . not an accident, but rather the product of a thoughtful and well executed plan' Bruce Craven
The Power of One is above all things the power to believe in yourself, often far beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated. The mind is the athlete; the body is simply the means it uses to jump higher or longer, run faster, shoot straighter, kick better, swim further, hit harder, or box better. The dictum to me ‘First with the head and then with the heart’ means more than simply mixing brains with guts. It means thinking well beyond the powers of normal concentration and then daring your courage to follow your thoughts. Bryce Courtenay “The Power of One”
Claire Finnamore
Student Member, Silent River Kung Fu
Sunday, May 23, 2010
To The Book Club
Just had a quick conversation with Sihing Kichko about some books that I have read recently. I explained to her, that I often go on "Reading Jags", which I define as a mini-journey through one particular topic. Right now, I'm on a jag about the recent history of human suffering that occurs in war. Sounds dreary, but what urges me on is the fact that I was enjoying myself in the 1970's, 80's, 90's and now, oblivious to the fact that millions of people were suffering in other parts of the world. How was it that we failed to fully understand the atrocity that occured in Rwanda, Cambodia, Sudan? How did the world get to a place where we could accept the displacement of Palestinians, Afghans? Do we expect these people who survived to treat us and our future generations as friends or complacent purpetrators? Sometimes I feel that the education system has let us down. My daughter is being force fed the grade 10 curriculum, which covers topics such as Human Rights, Globalization. How can she really understand this stuff unless she reads individual personal accounts of people who have survived? If I were teaching, this would be her reading list.
RWANDA:
An Imperfect Offering, by James Orbinski
Shake Hands With the Devil, by James Dallaire
PALESTINE:
In Search of Fatima, by Ghada Karmi
Ambivalence, by Jonathan Garfinkel
CAMBODIA:
Stay Alive My Son, by Pin Yathay
First They Shot My Father, by Loung Ung
Pol Pot: Anatomy of A Nightmare, by Philip Short
SUDAN:
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky; The True Story of The Lost Boys of Sudan, by Benson Deng, Alphonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak
AFGHANISTAN:A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Woman Who Dared to Raise Her Voice, by Malaila Joya
Claire Finnamore
Student Member
Silent River Kung Fu
RWANDA:
An Imperfect Offering, by James Orbinski
Shake Hands With the Devil, by James Dallaire
PALESTINE:
In Search of Fatima, by Ghada Karmi
Ambivalence, by Jonathan Garfinkel
CAMBODIA:
Stay Alive My Son, by Pin Yathay
First They Shot My Father, by Loung Ung
Pol Pot: Anatomy of A Nightmare, by Philip Short
SUDAN:
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky; The True Story of The Lost Boys of Sudan, by Benson Deng, Alphonsion Deng, Benjamin Ajak
AFGHANISTAN:A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Woman Who Dared to Raise Her Voice, by Malaila Joya
Claire Finnamore
Student Member
Silent River Kung Fu
Friday, May 21, 2010
Empty Nest
Time is ticking by so slowly tonight. I'm home alone for the first time in 18 years. Janet and Bert are in Calgary for a weekend volleyball tournament. I really wanted to go to that, but Jill needs me here. But not tonight. She's out with friends and promises to be home by one or two. Its ten thirty. Worse is yet to come. In a few months Jill will have moved into residence. UGH.
Well there's lots of things I've put on the shelf, so now I can start to work on them. But not tonight. I'd rather wallow in my misery, and sense of impending doom.
The UBBT7, is actually helping me with this terrible transition though. Some of the goals I picked, are pointing me towards the things that I had left sitting on the shelf until I was finished parenting. My cycling interest is going awesomely well. (I keep on meaning to update that on the tracker.) Today, my legs ache in places they haven't in a long time. I might just develop those lean shapely cyclists legs yet! We've been doing lots of hills, and it reminds me of the all the hills I used to cycle in West Vancouver. My brother and I used to cycle the hills and winding narrow roads from Ambleside to Horshoe Bay just for fun. I cycled the Salt Spring Islands with my college buddies. And I cycled to work every day in the summer, from West Vancouver to North Vancouver - feeling my legs get stronger and stronger as the summer of tackling ridiculous inclines progressed. But back to the future. Jill and I cycled the fifth meridian last week, and its very nice now that the wide shoulders are there. We are planning a much longer trip on Monday (which will supposedly be dry with sunny periods). Oh, there's trips galore to be cycled this summer. And!!! This is the surprise; I almost took a job as a bike assembler but it was part time and I really wanted 'bike mechanic'. But, I spoke to a fellow at River Valley Cycle who's been a bike mechanic all his life - and he will be doing a couple of courses this summer. And Bert might let me quit my job, and then go to the States for a week at a highly reputable bicycle mechanic school.
Hey, and Lance Armstrong is coming to town. Topic: ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! Tickets are $200. Maybe I'll keep that job a bit longer.
Well there's lots of things I've put on the shelf, so now I can start to work on them. But not tonight. I'd rather wallow in my misery, and sense of impending doom.
The UBBT7, is actually helping me with this terrible transition though. Some of the goals I picked, are pointing me towards the things that I had left sitting on the shelf until I was finished parenting. My cycling interest is going awesomely well. (I keep on meaning to update that on the tracker.) Today, my legs ache in places they haven't in a long time. I might just develop those lean shapely cyclists legs yet! We've been doing lots of hills, and it reminds me of the all the hills I used to cycle in West Vancouver. My brother and I used to cycle the hills and winding narrow roads from Ambleside to Horshoe Bay just for fun. I cycled the Salt Spring Islands with my college buddies. And I cycled to work every day in the summer, from West Vancouver to North Vancouver - feeling my legs get stronger and stronger as the summer of tackling ridiculous inclines progressed. But back to the future. Jill and I cycled the fifth meridian last week, and its very nice now that the wide shoulders are there. We are planning a much longer trip on Monday (which will supposedly be dry with sunny periods). Oh, there's trips galore to be cycled this summer. And!!! This is the surprise; I almost took a job as a bike assembler but it was part time and I really wanted 'bike mechanic'. But, I spoke to a fellow at River Valley Cycle who's been a bike mechanic all his life - and he will be doing a couple of courses this summer. And Bert might let me quit my job, and then go to the States for a week at a highly reputable bicycle mechanic school.
Hey, and Lance Armstrong is coming to town. Topic: ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! Tickets are $200. Maybe I'll keep that job a bit longer.
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