Good Life Cycles progress.

Since quitting my part time job in the media department at SCC a couple weeks ago, I have been trying to split my free time between homework and moving forward with my bike shop. I have been struggling with sleeping in way too long lately though! Hopefully I will get that under control and hammer things out even faster because normally when I get up early I am more productive throughout the day.

The last couple of days have brought some mile markers with them for Good Life Cycles. I believe I finally settled on a logo design, thanks to the help of the Visual Publications program at SCC assigning me a couple of designers to work with. I have my main logo, which is blue, and a female version of it which is pinkish/purple-ish. I was struggling with this idea because normally you want to stay very consistent. I think having the two color variations will be a great thing though. It will help me give the females more customized looks and items, which I think is a great thing. The female tshirts look wonderful already with the female version of the logo. It really adds something that I think a lot of businesses overlook.

I put my DBA paperwork in the mail today along with the filing fee. My first of MANY real business expenditures. I would have had it in long ago but I have been having financial aid troubles thanks to the college, so I am quite a bit behind financially and finally said "screw it" and sent the check in hoping the money coming into my account finally hits real soon. Luckily I had all my bills paid a month ahead or we would have been in big troubles.

As most people probably also saw on facebook, I hired a fantastic business accountant a week or so ago. He is going to be an incredible asset when it comes to fine-tuning my business plan and going to financiers, as well as working with me throughout the whole journey. Things are falling in place wonderfully so far and I just absolutely can't wait until my dream becomes my reality.

Starting in September, you will be able to start finding me hanging out at The Used Bike Shop on N. Cotner where I will start helping out and learning what I can from those guys.

Beautiful Rainy Day

I just HAD to get out and enjoy the weather today, even though I freaked out about my financial aid status and couldn't sleep last night resulting in sleeping in and skipping class today. I got out eventually and pedaled down to the college to try to get that taken care of. It rained/sprinkled the whole time but it felt wonderful. Especially after these past weeks of intermittent 100+ degree weather.

On the way to the college, I swung by The Used Bike shop to speak to the owner about a possible internship. I had previously corresponded via email about it but I hadn't had a chance to speak in person yet. It sounds like he's going to let me hang out there for a couple months! Woohoo! Happy news to cheer up a lousy day of worries.

Made it to the college and it appears that my financial aid is taken care of, now. It should have went through a month ago but apparently the financial aid staff neglected to mark it as complete and send it on. Holy crap. It's not like it's a minor thing or anything. This is practically what we live on while my wife and I are both full time students. Luckily, I had a feeling we were going to run into some crap and I pulled my stock out last month and got us a month ahead on bills. Otherwise, we would be royally screwed right now.

So after that, I realized I was due to donate blood again. I swung by the blood bank and got lectured on no exercise today "or you might pass out". So I got on my bike and road the 11 miles home fighting light-headedness here and there. Not recommended but I made it home conscious and without any mystery injuries or blackout periods.

Oh yeah, and this was my first time to try out my RaceFace rain jacket that Ruby got me for my birthday! It works WONDERFULLY! I would recommend RaceFace gear to anyone!

Sunday Rest/Misc-day

Didn't get much cycling in today. Slept in and attended our church, New Covenant. Came home to some Entrepreneur Financial homeworks and had to hammer out some month by month and annual numbers into some spreadsheets. Fun, fun, gag. That's what accountants are for! ..speaking of that, I need to go meet with an accountant this week.

Anyways, after homework I went to pick up an adapter to mount a water bottle cage on my wife's new Giant which is a step-thru and pick up some hardware to make the metal folding baskets I put on the Surly a little less permanent. I was using zip-ties but the thought of cutting and reapplying new zip-ties every time I wanted to go on a longer ride didn't appeal to me, so I'm using hose clamps now lol. Anyone have any better, quicker to remove and reattached ideas that can still allow my baskets to hold about 30 lbs each please enlighten me.

Luckily I stopped in to browse Shopko and they had $.99 bags of charcoal! WOOHOOOOO! <3 my baskets. Made out with 4 bags, could have probably hauled 6-8 thanks to bungee chords but I figured 4 was good for now.

The biggest load I've made out with, not counting the Rug Dr in the back of the kiddie trailer with the Jamis, was groceries with the Raleigh when I had the baskets on it.

UPDATED:
Finished the night off with a ride into the sunset, and sprinklers.

Monkey Wrench and New Bike for Wife

My dad and I ventured out to pay visit to Monkey Wrench's new location. All I have to say is, LOVE IT! It is 1 million times better than their old location. You can even tell that they all seem happier there. They can breathe now! I love the old vintage look of the building. It is just perfect for them. I could only dream of having a shop like that one. Was falling in love with some Salsa bikes while I was there so I had to bail before I accidentally took my lock and locked myself to one somehow.

Afterwards, we veered off to Cycle Works where I bought my wife a new bike to get her through until I have Good Life Cycles going next year and we figure out what kind she wants for good. This will be a good entry bike like my Jamis was for me. After a while of riding this, she will have more of an idea of what kind of riding she wants to do more and we can narrow her down to what kind of bike would be perfect for her. I'm hoping to maybe build each of us some Salsa bikes next year myself, or some other kind.

I am SO looking forward to graduating SCC at the end of this year. I can't wait to head to Oregon to attend UBI (United Bicycle Institute). UBI is one of the only 2 colleges in the U.S. for bicycle specific careers. I'm starting to work on GLC's projected numbers but it is such a process! I'm hoping to get a chance to speak to this accountant I am wanting to hire to help me nail my projections and get my books set up.

Everything's coming along slowly but surely. I have time. I am just getting impatient and very excited lately. I have been noticing little nooks of opportunity around the country lately, primed for a GLC bike shop! I am even thinking of future plans for a cycling lodge up in the mountains somewhere possibly.

Had lots of good riding miles the last couple of days with my dad who came to town and my wife. The weather was a tad heated yesterday but it was pretty amazing today! I can't seem to find enough excuses to ride the Surly LHT lately. It has been a dream bike of mine ever since I started riding. I am just dreaming up all the different things I can do with it. I feel blessed having found cycling. It is a wonderful lifestyle! I am excited to see my wife begin to enjoy it more now that we have replaced the ol' Shwinn.

Ode to Jamis

Yes, I sold my first bike.

I do miss you. I hope the new owner takes really good care of you (a UNL student wanting to commute on a fast bike). I have this picture of my last memory of you, my dear Jamis. Our last ride together, from North Platte to Lexington. You treated me good and I will never forget you.

But it's time to move on. Shortly after I met you, I had a mental love affair with Surly LHT at Cycle Works while you were getting an upgrade. Alas, the opportunity came for me to have LHT all to myself. Sorry Jamis but we both new an upgrade was inevitable someday. We had a good 1500+ miles together this year with many memories and many pictures.

I Have Returned

Woohoo I'm back! I had changed my password and forgot it apparently immediately after I did it and haven't gotten around to recovering it because my Outlook and everything was configured with the new password so I was too lazy to mess with it.

A few things have happened since my last posts. The MS Ride went wonderful. My buddy and I raised around $760. My bike shop that I want to open is coming along great but I just don't have time to hardly dedicate to it with work, full time college and full time family. Therefore, I'm quitting my job.

I have some students working on logos for me. I have a facebook fan page up for the business also. Once I don't have to work anymore I'll be pounding out my business plan and website. Hopefully I'll have financing within a couple months because there are a couple locations I am very interested in. I have been communicating with several bicycle companies about dealership status but I am kind of back and forth on which ones I want to go with.

If I have any viewers at all from the Dawson County area, I would really like some input on a few different things so please get in contact with me!

This Is My Inspiration..

and future aspiration!

Bad Luck Tuesday

Yesterday was a bad day, but it COULD have been much worse.

Started out like any other day. Woke up at 6am and hopped on my bike at 630 to get to work. Took my same old normal route, uneventful. I got to work disappointed that I didn't get much of a workout. Apparently that means I'm getting in a lot better shape so that is really good. I had some workout clothes with me to put in my locker in the gym and workout after work.

Since it's summer break, I'm only working until noon. Well, I get off work and head to the locker room and get changed. Once changed I head into the gym. LOCKED! I read the sign, apparently they are closing it from noon-1 every day during the break. Too bad that's the only hour of the day that I have available to work out in that gym. Just my luck.

So I go back to the locker room and unchange, get on my bike and head to my meeting at Bellevue University. All goes well and I'm done in an hour and hop back on the bike deciding to take a more challenging route home.

I'm hauling butt the whole way home in the heat to get maximum workout. Come to find out I forgot to refill my water bottle but oh well, I'm just going home right?

Ok so I make good time and get home all sweaty and thirsty but wait.. OH NO MY BIKE RACK BAG IS GONE! I yell up at my wife what the problem was and the route I took home so she can load the boys up in the car and head to the beginning of the route while I jump back on my bike and start backtracking. Halfway there I'm feeling the heat and dehydration and starting to get light headed. I make it to the last spot I know I had the bag and turn to head home empty handed hoping my wife had better luck and I make it to a gas station for some nice cold icewater. Luckily they were nice and let me fill up with the free water because I had no wallet or cellphone to call my wife and pick me up since they were both in my bag.

LUCKILY a very nice man found my bag on the trail and got ahold of my wife after seeing the last number called on my phone. UNLUCKILY, it was a month old HTC Touch Pro 2 and the screen smashed into my ULock when it hit the ground (or at least that's the impression I get when I look at the now-smashed screen). Also, the microphone doesn't work so the only way I can talk is with a headset... BUT at least is still mostly functions and at least I got everything back so it could have definitely been worse.

Here's a picture I stopped and took at the last known place that I still had my bag in my possession.. some nice flooded trail!

Bike Stickers!

I decorated my bikes with all these cool stickers from Worlds Best Bike Stickers. You can order a whole pack for a cheap price. I found them to be a GREAT way to cover up nicks and dings on your frame from the wonderful bike racks, etc. The coolest part is that they have an assortment of REFLECTIVE stickers, like mine that says "Please don't steal my bicycle. Thanks!" (my fav)! I want to order more and slap a couple on my helmet and other places. Check them out. They are very reasonable.

I've also got one slapped on my old bike from them that says "Life is too short to ride new bikes" and another that says "Oil Addict in Recovery". My Jamis has one covering up a nice bike rack boo-boo that says "Faster than a speeding pack of dogs" which I love because it reminds me of my first dog chase experience on my Jamis lol.

They have fixed/single speed stickers, environmental stickers, I wish my boyfriend/girlfriend was as dirty as my bike stickers and a whole lot more!

Day #8.. but slacking..

 Today is day #8 of my AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge. I lost another 3 lbs (now at 213) and I have to admit, I was extremely lazy this week. I have hardly ridden my bike at all. I haven't rode it once to work. This past week was all carpooling with my wife or hopping the bus. The bus always brings entertainment though! You always get to meet new people so if I don't ride the bus for a long time I start to miss it. Especially my favorite bus driver, Marv. He's a great guy and he always has stories and things to talk about!

Total I think I have lost 20 lbs since the beginning of April. I started at a little over 230 and am almost down to 210. My goal is to get back to 190, or less. That is about what I weighed when I was in highschool and healthy and in great shape. I want to start lifting weights also soon. I am planning to hit the gym here and there at SCC before or after work this summer (in between vacationing). Once I get close to 200, I need to build my muscles back up. I want to lose weight but I don't want to be skinny!

The donations for bike MS are doing pretty good and I want to thank everyone who has donated for their tremendous generousity. I can't wait to ride for you all and for those with MS. I did do that Cortland ride a while back with Shane and Dan which was a blast but that was my biggest ride so far and I don't think it was even half of what I'm going to attempt for bike MS and I was BEAT!

Keep the donations coming! I'm still $300 away from my goal but if they keep trickling in over this month I can easily reach it. Thanks again!

PS. I did win the males division of SCC's "Biggest Loser" challenge. Yay me!

Losing Weight, Getting Healthy, Feeling GREAT!

Since I started riding my bike 2 months ago, I have went from right around 231 lbs down to 216 lbs. I am starting to feel a lot better and healthier! I just started a program that some close friends of mine have had a ton of success with through a company called AdvoCare. Today is the first day of the "24 Day Challenge" for me. I should be seeing another nice drop in weight, increased energy, and improved overall health. I even have heard of peoples' skin even looking healthier after using AdvoCare for a while (and I'm not talking about AdvoCare's skin products). I am excited to see these results. I have felt health go down the tube every since high school and it has made a sharper plummet downhill these last couple years. My wife is joining me in the "24 Day Challenge" on Sunday and she's excited to see her results too.

I have been using their very healthy energy supplements called Spark and Slam along with a product called V16 that is caffeine free and along with energy, helps sharpen your mental focus. I have had instant gratification with these products and have been able to successfully ween myself away from pop and carbonated energy drinks (it's only been a very short while but I'm still impressed). I wake up in the morning not wanting to be out of bed let alone ride my bike 11+ miles at 6 am but within moments I am itching to hop on and start pedaling. It really did amaze me as I am very skeptical and had a genuine love for Amp (I am commonly seen sporting my Amp cap). Cutting this out of my life alone would be a huge step for me and a huge step healthwise so I can't wait to watch it continue and start feeling better free from sodey pops and Amp/Monster/etc.

Want to know more about my AdvoCare journey? Check out my profile page.

Wilderness Park Trails!

Ruby (my wife) and I decided to finally try out Wilderness Park. It was wonderful! It feels like you aren't in Lincoln, or even Nebraska! If you have never checked it out before, it is a must for cyclist and hikers alike.

There are nice and easy limestone paths. There are narrow paths. There are muddy paths! There are bridges! And there are steep inclines and declines! Basically, there is some of everything!

The nice crushed limestone path runs along the tracks for part of the way which adds an even extra cool feel to it!

Afterwards, it was time to give the vehicles a good wash and wax!

Happy Memorial Day!

"Training Ride"

After riding around Johnson's Lake with my friend, I decided I "needed more training" for the day so I hit the gravel roads here in Dawson County. I pretty much killed myself. I made a stop in Cozad for a break but I basically did the opposite of what every sane cyclist normally does on this unfortunate day. I caught the headwind on the return trip. Myself and my 29er were both squeaking and moaning by the time I was about halfway back and almost out of water. Needless to say I lowgeared it back slow and steady and chalked it up to a good training ride. My body is going to pay tomorrow and my bike needs to pay a visit to JoyRide if a little lube and cleaning dust off doesn't quiet her down again.

Johnson Lake Trail

Went for a ride on the supposed new addition to the trail out at Johnson Lake with an old good buddy of mine. Definitely not worth a trip to do. It "might" be a couple miles long and you have to ride across the dam to get to the other half. They have not completed much at all. If you want to ride around the lake be ready to ride the highway most of the way with no shoulder. There's a ton of potential if they'd actually get to work and make it go all around the lake but at this rate, it won't be in my lifetime.

Bottom line, don't waste your time going to Johnson Lake to ride. If you're going camping there anyway bring your bike but don't expect much.

Eating gravel to the Platte back in Dawson Co.

My dad came down to Lincoln today to snag me for the weekend. We went straight down to JoyRide to pick up my new Specialized RockHopper 29 Comp Disc as it was finished and ready for me today. Dad hopped on and test rode a few Specialized hybrid comfort bikes and really liked them.

I rode it the short distance home and met my dad there where we picked up Ethan to take back to spend the weekend with his birth father and say goodbye to my wife Ruby.

We made decent time back to Dawson County where my mom had picked up the famous Lexington tacos that I miss all the time. After gorging myself on that my dad mentions getting a ride in down to the river before dark so next thing I know we're hitting the gravel! Putting the first gravel miles on my new 29er, DELICIOUS! I love this Specialized bike, I feel like I can conquer anything on it. We had a head wind down there but coasted nicely back for a great 13 mile-ish ride.

I love this video!!!

The Gravel Metric Invitation from OC Imageworks on Vimeo.

Full-Moon Ride

I went on my first group ride last night! It was a wonderful leisurely ride and a great time finally getting to know some people in the cycling community.. and great seeing Shane T again after like 6 years. My miles for the day was 43. I'm going to call the MS Bike Ride today and try to switch over to the 2 day ride instead of the 1 day one. I have confidence I'll make an easy go of the 2 day 120 miles.

Donations are coming in wonderfully! Thanks so much everyone!

This is why..

Every hour of every day, someone hears the words, “You have multiple sclerosis.” They enter a time of unpredictability when they wonder each morning if they will see, if their legs will work, if they can pick up their child. This is why we ride. When thousands of people ride together in the MS Bike Ride, awareness is generated for the many programs and events provided by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s nationwide network of chapters. Husbands ride for their wives, kids ride for their dads, co-workers ride for their cubicle neighbor, all proudly wearing an “I’m Riding For...” sticker on their t-shirt. Each one is raising money so that the local Nebraska Chapter can provide literature, support groups, and educational programs. Each one is raising money so that we can continue to fund cutting edge research into the cause and cure of MS. Research has already developed five therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Research that will continue, until in the end, when 2 hours pass and no one is diagnosed, then a day, then a week, until the day when no one is diagnosed and a cure is found!

This is Why.. We Ride!!

This is Why.. We Fundraise!!

Taken from http://bikenen.nationalmssociety.org/site/DocServer/Ride_This_is_why.pdf?docID=17575

First Post/MS Excitement

I have kind of missed the "old school" style of blogging over the years. The days about a decade ago where blogs were individual home-made and home-hosted websites. Yes, I was pretty young then and caught up in the craze years before facebook and myspace made it easy for everyone to have a blog-based lifestyle.

Gone are the days of high schoolers competing over blog hits iCarly-style (except with html, not youtube video).

Reminiscing aside, here I am.

Big news? I just registered to participate in raising donations for multiple sclerosis! Achieving $200 in donations towards my goal allows me to participate in a 2 day bike ride for those suffering from MS. My goal is $500! Once $500 is hit, the new goal will be $1500. I am excited and honored for those who are donating to this. Always strive for what seems unachievable. When I chose $500 it didn't seem achievable.. but it's already looking like that may be easily hit with 45 days left still.

It's very exciting for me to watch this all happen! I want to make everyone proud when I line up with my bike to ride on July 10 and 11!

Read more or donate here.