SO, A friend and colleague of mine, Olivia Damge, came into our office the other day all excited. She had a great idea for a podcast about bodies, body types, body image. It started with the common complaint among athletes that clothes don’t fit. Apparently, American clothing companies don’t deal with athletes.

Olivia is an athlete, a “girlie-girl,” a student and a coach. I know this because we talk. If the average American saw her on the street, they would really have no idea how to feel. The young lady is clearly muscled, something that is not often encouraged. Many insecure men would begin making judgements and assumptions right there, even here in active, athletic Colorado. Olivia is not shy about eating, as she knows what it takes to build and maintain muscle; also very off-putting if a guy is insecure. She is very secure in herself and doesn’t really care what these folks think. But this does not mean she doesn’t face challenges in life.

This all started one day when the two of us were comparing notes about buying clothes. Being athletes, regular pants don’t fit normally. The thighs and butt are generally too small if we base fit on waist size. If we compensate for our legs, the waist gaps; not a great look. With shirts, shoulders and arms are too snug, while waists and midsections are too loose. I get crap for wearing shirts that fit my midsection, then bulge at the shoulders and arms. I will wear Lululemon “dress” pants A) because they stretch in the seat and legs, and B) because my wife likes them (this shuts down any other argument, BTW). Then there are those who make assumptions about my insecurities and possible dietary “supplements.”

This all leads back to something we in the Recovery world say often: You don’t know the battles another has faced. I can’t judge another person’s insides based on their outsides.

People will see athletes and say things like “you don’t have to worry about what you eat.” This is a silly statement. Athletes are constantly mindful of the food we eat as we know that it effects our performance, mood, sleep and our general health.

I’ve heard people make ridiculous assumptions, most often about women, concerning looking fit and healthy: she must have good genes. While genetics plays a role, dedication is more often what makes an athlete and the athletic body.

Many athletes run into trouble with eating and eating disorders as a result of society’s old-school assumptions, again particularly female athletes. Skinny is better. But it’s not! Starving does not lead to better running, vaulting, riding or lifting. Most often, it just feeds into insecure men’s notions of how a female “should” look.

This gets us to the next portion of this eventual podcast: what is an athlete’s body? I race on a bicycle, but do not have the typical cyclist’s body. I look very much like the former bodybuilder/power lifter/CrossFitter that I am. This body works wonderfully as a hockey goalie. This body is not great on my bike headed up big climbs. That does not mean I’m not an athlete or even not a cyclist, it just means other bodies are better suited for climbing. I was not the size needed for an offensive lineman or a rugby “prop,” though I played both positions. I lift fairly heavy weights, but I don’t wish to put on the weight needed to be a competitive power lifter. Again this does not make me less of an athlete, just not a competitive power lifter.

I have friends who are Highland athletes and strongman/woman competitors. They do not look like marathoners, cyclists or clothing models, and they shouldn’t. None of those more slightly-built athletes could pick up and carry 300 pounds for 100 feet in 60 seconds any better than a power athlete can run a sub-four minute mile. This does not make one or the other any more or less athletic. The average person, however, will make judgements of athleticism based on the body types.

So this is how it starts. This is primarily Olivia’s project, though I hope to contribute, as I obviously have plenty of thoughts on the subject.

In the mean time, have fun, be safe. I’m going riding!

It has been a long time since my last post. No real reason. Have not felt motivated or that had anything of real value to say. I hope what I say now, right off the top of my head, isn’t too terrible

A friend of mine once pointed out that by working in the recovery and rehab field, I would be surrounded by the disease of addiction all the time. There is good and bad to that. The bad is obvious: I see the trauma, the destruction and the horror that is part of the disease. In fact, last week, someone I knew through this job relapsed, lost his job and house and took his own life. He was young enough to be my kid.

The up side is that I will run into people who look so much better than when I first met them that they are all but unrecognizable. We had an alumni picnic this last weekend and it was just exactly what I needed to help sooth the heartbreak of loosing the other soul.

Addiction is a horrible, horrifying disease. It’s so powerful that it effects not only the addict, but everyone around him or her who the addict loves. It’s a brain disease that changes how the addict processes pleasure, memories and reality. It uses the very processes that evolution gave the brain to find food, find shelter and find mates and turns it toward only finding the substance. It’s a nightmare, except most of the time, the addict can’t find a way to wake up.

This is also why it is so joyful and miraculous when someone manages long-term recovery. We have beaten death. We have taken our brains and our lives back. We have found a way to live without the substance that our brains thought we could not live without, but we were not going to live with.

I suppose the things that were necessary for my day-to-day existence became tools of joy: my bike.

When I started this recovery journey, I could not afford car insurance, much less an actual working car. I used the mass transit around my home town, but it didn’t always run when I needed it. That’s when I bought my first bike, a Schwinn High Sierra mountain bike. It would was rigid. It was heavy. It was all mine.

I rode to work in cold, rain, heat and humidity. I rode to work, to rugby practices, to school and even to the grocery store, once in a while. Eventually, I rode for fun. I even found friends who rode.

Years later, I discovered this was actually helping re-wire my brain. Exercise, in general, helps repair the damage caused by substance abuse. It helps mind, body and spirit. It creates communities, it sets positive examples. It saves lives.

Just a thought.

Have fun, be safe. I’m going riding.

I seem to do my best writing on the road. Literally.

As we roll down I-80 toward our mountain home, I remember why I first wanted and rode a bike. It was all about the fun. Rolling through open lots, off of curds and down steep hills, it was all fun and that was all that mattered.

Years and years later, I’ve raced downhill, cross country, dual slalom, time trial, triathlon, cyclocross and track sprinting. But while I get competitive, it’s still about the fun.

I brought my old ‘cross bike, set up for gravel, with me on our trip back to my old home town. I had finished my TT season the week before, so I had no real reason to bring a more competitive bike. Swooping around the streets and through the parks of my old home town was just a ball. I trued to encourage others to ride with me, but things just didn’t come together. No matter. Not everyone finds riding as much fun as I do.

The trick for most of us is finding or making the time for fun, then finding the activity that suits us. My friend, Mindi, likes knitting. That would make me crazy but that does not matter. It’s therapeutic for her. My dad can spend all day sitting in a boat, drowning worms. Again, for Dad, it’s meditative.

Cooking, fishing, walking or riding, it’s really up to you. Find your bliss. Find what brings you joy. Share it if you can. Find ways to bring people you love together with your passion. If you are doing it for the love of it, you really can’t go wrong.

Have fun, be safe. I’m going riding.

The year has begun anew. Lots of folk have made resolutions, earnest declarations that, this time, it will be different. This year, I will lose weight, I will eat better, I will stop drinking, write letters, join the gym . . . etc. Some may have already fallen by the wayside. The problem is not the feeling or desire. It’s the execution.

“Stop the yo-yo resolutions,” says my wife/partner/fellow wellness enthusiast, Kendra. “People make many different resolutions and set themselves up for failure. Make one promise to yourself and commit.”

Don’t think of your resolutions as a litany of “should.” Think of things you really want to do. Make a promise to yourself. Say to yourself “I want to . . . ” Then make goals rather than resolutions.

This year, I want to race more. I only participated in one real, sanctioned race this past year, so that should not be too hard. I have a list: a couple of individual time trials, a few velodrome TTs and a few sprint tournaments. This year, the mere rides will be “if funding allows.” I love Ride the Rockies and the Triple Bypass, but they will be down this list of priorities.

Making change is challenging. Our brains are wired to stay the course. We find something that feels good, chocolate, sex, new cars, heroin, and the reward center and emotional center conspire to make memories fooling us into believing, “I need this or I will DIE!” It sounds absurd, but that is what goes on. That is why smoking is hard to give up. This is why it’s hard to get off the couch and into the gym. This is why we are in the midst of an opioid crisis.

But here’s the thing; this same part of the brain can be used for good. Strenuous exercise floods the brain and, specifically, the pleasure center, with dopamine and endorphins, attaching to the same receptors as those less healthy activities and chemicals. This is the source of “runners high.” But it does not stop there. After a while, you form a new habit, you may even knock out some goals, which reenforces this new, better behavior. After that, you may begin seeing results, and that really hits the reward center.

But there’s a catch. You have to decide, or realize, that you are worth it. You deserve to feel better. You deserve to take time for yourself. Our daughter told us of a YouTuber who says, “I lost 25 pounds once I stopped fat-shaming myself.”

Make a goal that you are excited about. Eat one new vegetable, find a yoga class, find a workout partner, just one thing. Then, set a time period, say, by next weekend. Make it matter. After you knock out one, then make another goal. Make it measurable, I want to lose one pound by next Friday. Make it challenging without being outlandish. Recruit supporters. If you have good friends, they will want you to succeed and may even jump in with their own goals. Soon, the successes will pile up, creating a virtuous cycle that you will want to continue.

I recommend two books, “Spark! How Exercise Will Improve the Performance of Your Brain” by John Ratey and The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*** Down and Rise to the Occasion” by Lesley Paterson and Simon Marshall. Both are good for understanding our brains, how they help in our athletic pursuits and even help build better, stronger, more resilient brains.

Next time, I hope to interview the ride director for the epic Colorado ride, The Triple Bypass. In February, I will speak to the new director of Ride the Rockies and Peddle the Plains. I also hope to finally speak to “Mr. Shimano North America.”

Until then, have fun, be safe. I’m going riding.

Not a lot of time, today. Let me just say, I have some reviews based on taking stuff out on multi-day rides in the last six weeks. I write about the beautiful Ride the Rockies, but did not hit upon the equipment.
I also hope to talk with Wayne Stetina about the newest Dura-Ace wheels used to win both the TdF and Le Course. Hopefully, we may get some insight on the latest in Shimano equipment, beyond the gorgeous top-of-the-line stuff.
In the mean time, have fun, be safe. I'm going riding.