Biker Dad

And so it begins.

It all started last year (2013) with a walking challenge and a Mountain Bike. The walking challenge turned into a 5K run and the Mountain Bike turned into riding five miles each way to work. I would drop my car off 5 1/2 miles away from work put the front wheel back on the bike and I’m off.

There were two immediate benefits to this regime.
   

1. I saw a pretty quick drop in my waist line, and
2. Where I dropped off my car it was the worst part of the journey to work, so I would enjoy the ride as others stressed out about being late.

This quickly turned into the idea of doing the Super Sprint level of the London (Virgin Active Triathlon) I mentioned in an earlier blog, that Doing it on a Mountain Bike was less than fun, but I have to say that the event was a blast and I am up for it again this year with a road bike instead.

The third thing that I did not see coming was that last year, six of us from work entered. We had a team of three in the relay and then three of us who competed at varying levels of competency (or insanity) depending on how you look at it. What is amazing is this year so far we have 21 people taking part and it ranges from out Managing Director right on down the ranks, including two teams from Finance, that alone is worth the effort.

So I started off today with my first time trial. I completed my first 2 1/2 K in 18.01 Minutes averaging a 7.10 K per hour run. Not bad given that I have not been out since last year. (Now that’s a mistake my body will regret)

Tomorrow is the swim. For the Super Sprint that is 400 mtrs and on Saturday it’s the 10K bike.

Going forward for the next four months the training will be at least three of each of the disciplines per week. This is where I fell short last year by not being committed enough to the training. But after I experienced the thrill of completing the Triathlon (My first ever) I saw the benefit of doing it right.

So here I am:

58
175lbs
39 inch waist (I lost out there)

I have three goals:

1. Complete the Triathlon and be first in my age group
2. Take as many people with me as I can be of inspiration to
3. And as a bonus, I hope to look great in jeans and a T Shirt again!

What are your goals and dream?


See you there.

Biker Dad

Biker Dad

So last year was my first every Triathlon and I was 57. 

I am fortunate that I have my health and I am still reasonably fit. Having said that I did not break any records, in fact, after completing the Triathlon timings and places are put up on the London Triathlon scoreboard. Yes! I came 5^th in my category! Oh, hang on, there were only five entries in that age group. Oh well.

I managed to do everything wrong and still had a great time.

So the first mistake was in getting the wrong type of wet suit for the swim. I got a regular waterskiing suit instead of a Tri Suit. Do yourself a favour and spend the money, they are only about £100 - £150 for a more than adequate suit and you will at least look like you know what you are doing which is half the fun. It is also quite easy to hire a suit for the season at a much greater savings.

My second mistake was in not understanding the swimming course, which is the first part of the Triathlon. I entered the Super Sprint category. This is a 400mtr swim a 10K bike and a 2 ½ K run. Well it was going pretty good until my training kicked in and my body said, “this is about 400 metres.” I stopped swimming to seek the information from one of the guys in the safety kayaks. Who simply started laughing given that I had missed the turn off buoy by a good 100 metres. “Never mind.” I spluttered, “I’ll just keep swimming.’ So I completed the full 750 metres of the sprint category.

My third mistake was to think that I could complete the bike leg in style on a mountain bike with full nobly tires. I had several other entrants saunter past me who even by my age standards were old. Now this was just wrong, but I have to say I was inspired to see so many game people giving it hell. I think I may have been overtaken by a couple of Boris Bikes.

Lessons learned here is my bike for this year.

A Shift In Thinking: Biker Dad

A Shift In Thinking: Biker Dad: In 2013 I completed my first ever Triathlon. I was 57. I am now hooked! Last year the company I worked for ran a program called ‘Fit N...

Biker Dad

In 2013 I completed my first ever Triathlon. I was 57. I am now hooked!

Last year the company I worked for ran a program called ‘Fit Nation’. The project sparked my attention and I got involved. At first it was all about getting a little gizmo called a fitbit and tracking the amount of steps I do each day. The national goal it seems is 10,000 steps per day (Which is easier than you think). In fact because of the amount of walking I do on my my job, I had to up my goal to 15,000 as most days I was walking about 12,000.

Fitbit has an interactive website which tracks your steps and also gives you other information such as calories burned, miles walked, that sort of thing thing. All of this is automatically uploaded every day using the dongle that comes with your Fitbit.

So as I looked at the program being put together by Fit Nation, I noticed several other options. 5K runs, bike rides and the London Virgin Triathlon. So like the mad impetuous fool that I am, I signed up for the lot. Okay, you can stop laughing anytime you want. The thing of it is, it’s very easy to let these things slip by all the while muttering, “If only I had some way of keeping fit.”

I walked a lot last summer and on several days I walked over 25,000 steps, I did not manage to accomplish a 5K but I did manage to sign myself and seven other unsuspecting staff members up for the Triathlon. We entered a Team Relay Event and three of us entered as individuals in several different categories. In all it was an amazing day even though I completed my leg of the ride on a mountain bake with full nobly tiles.

Tomorrow, March 17^th I start training for the 2014 Season along with approximately 20 friends and colleges from work. Obviously they have seen the glory of accomplishing the goal. We still talk about last years achievement as though it were only yesterday. No, we did not break any records and yes we did drag our poor tired asses over the finish, line but we all succeeded in our aim and the smell of that victory is still sweet today.

I have no gain from promoting the Fitbit at all and I am not affiliated with the company. It just turns out to be a good bit of kit.

http://www.fitbit.com/uk  

So Many Missed Opportunities.

In the mid eighties I was part of a team in a Domino’s Pizza in upstate New York. On one occasion we decided to send a couple of team members to the yearly Ithaca Festival, which was taking place in town. We kept them supplied with pizza to give away by the slice and in all it cost us a couple of hundred dollars (far less than any advertising and much more effective). One person came over with his wife to see what the commotion was all about and was heard to say “Why didn’t we think of that?” as he left grumbling. Obviously a competitor who had missed an opportunity. We got considerable good will from it and at least our return in sales.

Later that same year  I was listening to the local college radio station who were trying to raise funds for those in need at Thanksgiving. I called up the station and made a pledge on air to raise enough funds give away twenty turkeys. When asked how I would do that, I replied that every day all of my staff would give a ‘Quarter’, which is about 25 pence. They held me to the challenge and sure enough we raised the money which was matched by our Franchisee Bruce Stark. (something I had not factored in.) In the end we had raised more money than all of the other contributors put together. A lot of people benefited and again our return of goodwill was greater than we had expected, which I can say with a clear conscience was never the aim of what we did.

Over the years as a restaurant manager I have always given back to the communities that I was part of. I never did this with any goal other than to say thank you. I gave to schools and student car washes. I gave when local community members came and asked for support for their projects and always the return was greater than my investment. It’s part of being in the community. It is an honest exchange of goodwill.

So many times I see opportunities missed today. Simple things like going into a DIY store and seeing the worst toilets ever. Surely this should be a showcase for the business not somewhere that you fear for your life in. It would only make sense that you would want your customers leaving inspired to improve their own loo not inspired to visit the A&E.

I recently saw a Tesco’s with what looked like a prison warden on the door half an hour before closing refusing to allow a little old lady to use a shopping trolley. Seemingly they only allowed shopping baskets at that time of the day. Not the best customer service I have ever witnessed. A better idea might have been to help the lady shop and help her with the loading of her car afterwards. Again both parties would have benefited. But alas the short sighted employee with little investment in the company and no understanding of the meaning of service failed and gained a feeling of ill will.

Opportunities are everywhere and are available to all should you be inspired.

At This Festive Time Of Year.

"'At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, 'it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. ... We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.'"

--  Charles Dickens

What Christmas means to us

Christmas in our house is a collection of small things. It’s John Denver’s Rocky Mountain Christmas, it’s Miracle on 34^th Street (The original) and it’s trimming the tree as a family. It’s a pretty simply tradition that we have; we always have a real tree and we each sort through the decorations finding the one’s that are special to us. We each take turns in picking our favourite music. Chris and I have been married 25 years and we have Christmas tree ornaments that go back to 1986. We have ornaments with names and dates and places on them. We have one special one that reads 'Our first Christmas together' Yes I understand that its a bit warm and fuzzy, but I would not trade it for anything. I have ornaments from Theatre’s that I have acted with and Chris has ornaments that she received while working on Capitol Hill. The girls have ornaments that they have picked over the years, which has now become a tradition.

Our tree is a symbol of our love for each other. It is the one time of year when no matter our differences we can all agree on a common thread. We still put Reindeer food out and leave cookies and milk for Santa (Although now we live in England it’s a Mince Pie instead of a Cookie)

There is something magical about watching the Polar express. The last words (and I paraphrase) “Over the years the bell has stopped ringing for my friends, and one year it stopped ringing for my sister. But at Christmas I still hear the sweet sound of that beautiful bell.” I hope your Holiday no matter how you celebrate it will be special and I hope you hear the music in your heart.

Happy Holidays…