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Beag is SOMEBODY!

K9 Addisons Calendar with Beag

If you remember one of the funnier lines from The Jerk, Steve Martin comes out for his apartment yelling “I AM SOMEBODY, I AM SOMEBODY.” It was delighted that his name was in the phone book . . .

Well now Beag is somebody because she is officially Miss January in the K9Addison’s 2010 Calendar. All the proceeds go to research into K9 Addisions Disease. Beag was diagnosed with Addison’s almost 2 years ago. After a lot of ups and downs now seems to have stabilized and is once again happy and healthy, but will always require medicine and quarterly electrolyte tests to make sure she stays that way.

If you are so inclined and need a calendar, please consider buying the K9Addison’s 2010 Calendar. Miss January is SO worth it!

-bikeguy

2009 12 04 bikeguy All Things Dog
Beag & Scotty
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Thankful

Thursday, 6:15AM November 26th, 2009 also Thanksgiving. A day in the US where many celebrate with food and family. That probably should be family and food. While my mom and dad are now gone and I have never been close to my brother and sister who are on the other side of the country anyway, my family hasn’t been TV traditional at any point.

In many way the last 12 months have been one of real transition. In March I turned 50. This past September I was astute enough to leave a job on my own where I was unhappy and ahead of getting laid off I managed to not only find a job in a crappy economy, but one with good money, fabulous benefits, great people, a positive mission. Oh and I love the work and can even ride my bike to work. So there is thankful #1 thru #3.

#1: great job, etc

#2: crappy commute is updated to much better and the opportunity to ride my bike and thereby get healthier

#3 Hey, I’m still here, mostly healthy at 50.

Something over a year ago my border collie Beag was diagnosed with Canine Addison’s Disease. We have battled thru survival, pancreatitis, ups and downs related to getting medications correct. #4 is me being extremely thankful for a healthy and, finally, happy Beag.

After all the ups and downs with Beag and the feeling that I could lose her at almost any moment I made the decision to add another member to the ‘family.’ I am thankful at #5 for a very good fit into the house and a fabulous herding buddy with Scot. Thankful #6 is that Beag and Scot get along have bonded as a pack and are not tearing up the house.

I’m calling this one #6.5: I am thankful for all the ribbons and fun Scot and I won at the Rotty Trial this weekend.

#7: I thankful for the friends I have in the world whether they be in my personal dog or herding world or work and business world, for the friends in the Twitterverse.

#8 and very thankful for the friend that invited me into his family for the Thanksgiving dinner that always seems to make the giving of thanks complete.

Happy Thanksgiving from the

-bikeguy

2009 11 26 bikeguy All Things Dog
Beag & Scotty
Friends
Observation
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Trial photos

Dylan fetches at Valley Center

If you are interested or came here looking for the photos from the USBCHA Trial in Valley Center this past weekend you can find the photos here.

2009 11 03 bikeguy All Things Dog
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Ouch!

Not so much when it happened but after. After I got to the office and when I got home that night. Oh and the next day, but mostly that night.

Riding my bike onto the office on Monday morning I was cruising along Fountain Ave. up to the light at Normandie. The cars were in line waiting for the light to turn green and I was riding up the right. All was normal when ALL OF A SUDDEN this MONSTER SUV pulled out right in front of me. I had no where to go and all I could see was the HUGE fucking side-view mirror.

And down I went. Honestly the rest is a blur. I do remember the guy stopping and caring about what happened and being a true gentleman. That assuaged any anger I might have had. I felt fine, no clothes were torn and the only issue with my bike were the handle bar a little out of whack and easily corrected.

So I told the driver I was OK and please, PLEASE watch for us cyclists before making moves like that. Thinking back I should have told him to drive a reasonable sized vehicle, but probably best I didn’t.

So I loaded the saddle bags back on the bike and checked my parts and all seemed in order so I limped along onward the next few miles to the office. When I got in I sat down and decompressed and checked out my injuries. All I could tell was that I had nice ’strawberries’ on my left shoulder and right hip. No torn clothing and all I could see on my bike was torn handlebar tape. Not bad at all.

As the day wore on I got sore. Shoulder and hip and surprisingly my right wrist. No swelling or discoloration so I must have thrown out that hand to break my fall. By the evening and bedtime my wrist was the most painful part. But again no swelling or discoloration so I wasn’t concerned it was anything serious.

I took a couple of Tylenol PMs for the pain and went to bed and I was fine for a few hours and got some sleep, but around 1 am I was wide awake and couldn’t get back to sleep and ended up taking the dogs for a 1:30 am walk around the neighborhood. Rather pleasant actually.

Two days later and the wrist is good, the strawberries are purple and somehow there was another bruise I missed until the next morning. My big toe on my right foot. Oh well such are the adventures of an LA bike commuter.

I plan on taking the rest of this week to recover and then it’s back on the bike. Wish me luck!

-bikeguy

2009 10 28 bikeguy Bike Commuting
Bikes & Riding
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Awesome heartbreak

Folks, that is a photograph of seven year old Kylie Bruehler. She is at a funeral service to bury her parents, both of whom were killed last week when a driver veered onto the shoulder and drove his pickup truck into them. (Tom Reel, San Antonio Express News)

I am posting this for 2 reasons:

Reason #1: This is an awesome photograph. It tells the story in a way, as a former photojournalist, we always strive. Poignant, strong and with all the elements. A short caption can fill in the few missing pieces.

Reason #2: As a bicyclist this story MUST be broadcast, told and repeated. I am not placing any blame because I wasn’t there, but it behooves all of us whether we are in a car or truck or on a bicycle to recognize that we all need to use care when on the roadways. That little girl might be yours, or your niece or someone you know.

Here’s to hoping the best for Kylie.

Link to post where I found the photo and the info.

Link to the story on the San Antonio Express-News website.

2009 10 12 bikeguy Bike Commuting
Bikes & Riding
Observation
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A Desolate Road

The top of Brown Mtn. is burned clean of live vegetation

I went on a mountain bike ride on my ‘regular’ route this morning. I haven’t been on my mountain bike much lately and this was the first time I have been on it since the Station Fire. I guess technically I wasn’t supposed to be up there, but there weren’t any gates and I had no intention of leaving the fire road/trail so I went on up.

The first mile or so was just as I remembered. No real signs of fire, but as I turned the corner after the corner where the El Prieto Trailhead dumps out, it seemed as if I had moved through some kind of portal onto another world. No seriously, it was otherworldly.

The first thing I noticed was how close the road was from corner to corner. I could see so much of the trail/road. Before there was enough brush to make the road feel isolated, you couldn’t see far and you really didn’t notice the road wrapping around itself. Not today. Everything felt compressed. I could see forever.

The second thing I noticed was the monochrome color. Not that monochrome is unusual for this ride, but it’s usually muted greens and browns. Today it was gray to black. No green. No brown. Just shades of gray.

Then there was the smell. Not overpowering, but omnipresent. The smell of burned vegetation.

Sign and Trailhead on Brown Mtn.

When I got to the top of Brown Mountain I was just astounded at how burned out it looked, in every direction. The other odd thing was the occasional area that was spared. It looked so out of place.

Another was the damage to the road from the all the heavy equipment the forest service had up there to fight the fire. Nothing serious, but it made some areas very sandy. Overall it was a fun and interesting and I look forward to future rides watching the forest come back. Hopefully the rain we are expecting net week won’t be too heavy. Otherwise this area is going to be a real, muddy mess and lots and lots of landslides.

Here’s hoping for several days of a nice steady, light rain. We would all appreciate it.

Redish scarring on brush next to the trail/fire road

-bikeguy

2009 10 10 bikeguy Bikes & Riding
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Downtime

Today was one of those days that if I didn’t have 2 border collies that make me get out of the house I probably wouldn’t have. I wish I didn’t feel guilty about not doing anything, but I do even when I probably shouldn’t.

The weather was outstanding today and I basically wasted it in my LazyBoy watching F1, and football. At least I got most of the weekend details out of the way yesterday.

I vacuumed up the mounds of dog hair off the floor from 2 shedding beasts and got my grocery shopping done. Though I wonder if I would have even got that done if I didn’t have to go to the office to pick up my wallet. I had left it there on Friday.

I redid my bike rack so my commuter bike didn’t sit in the middle of the floor since it was too much a pain in the ass to put it up. I also added slime to my mountain bike tubeless tires in prep of a ride today, but I wasn’t motivated enough to actually ride. At least I know I will get my mileage in commuting to worI k this week. I even took clothes in yesterday when I went in to get my wallet so I could ride 5 days if I feel up to it. My new route is much better on my lungs than the old one, but I do worry about getting hit like I did a couple of weeks ago. That was scary.

I rode my Cervelo to the office to show it off and see what difference the lighter ride makes, but I definitely do not like the backpack over the saddle bags on my Bianchi. It made my back hurt. There certainly is a performance hit with the extra weight, but I prefer the bags and the much more robust tires on the streets I have to commute over.

Well, at least I got a post up . . .

-bikeguy

2009 10 04 bikeguy Bike Commuting
Bikes & Riding
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One of the great things about my new job

. . . Is that I again get to commute by bicycle. The distance is right at 11.5 miles one-way and mostly downhill into the office which means an easier ride in which leads less sweat, etc. I rode a couple for a couple of days each week until a week ago. That week I rode 3 of 5 days. It would have been 4 of 5, but I was so out of breath the last couple of miles on that last day I had to stop several times to recover before I go on.

Needless to say it was disturbing and it took almost 2 times as long on this leg than any leg before. After talking with a friend who has way more experience road riding in the area, I concluded that what was happening was a combination of car exhaust and general air quality. I had never experienced anything like it so it was quite scary.

So after a a week or so of time off the bike, which was ok since there have been nearby fires and super high temps, I am ready to saddle-up once again. This time I need to find a route that includes fewer cars, trucks and other smog producing toxins.

Wish me luck!

-bikeguy

2009 09 27 bikeguy Bike Commuting
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When it rains . . .

throw it, throw it, throw the ball, the ball, the ball . . .

Well hardly ever here in Southern California, but on the blog. Already a couple of posts and now, finally, almost 40 new dog park photos. A couple of them are even pretty good. Check ‘em out!

-the bike-guy

2009 09 26 bikeguy All Things Dog
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