Here is the pain cave @SirJoe
Wifey and I can ride together if she wants. However she is not as obsessed as I am.
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Oh I LOVE this and seeing that the cycling passion remains strong!!!
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If I had a milk fridge there would be too much additional suffering - and not the proper kind (lactose intolerant!)!!
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Holy SUF-ola! You have almost as much muscle as Fluffly’s left leg! No wonder you win so many sprints.
And also…
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Officially Stage 2 photos, but Stage 3 on the menu - this is what happens when you ask your artistic other half if they could “just take a wee shot with me on the bike” 
First time in a while since I’ve done Fight Club one, enjoying the crowd…
…but always someone watching..
…and definitely need a new pair of socks..
Have a good one all 
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I’m definitely in phase three of the Life of a Cyclist. In elementary school, I was the kid with leg braces ending in dress shoes (to correct being pigeon toed). That made me very non-athletic. I was always the last kid to be picked for any sports in physical education class or at recess.
When I was 11 years old, I begged my father for a Sears and Roebuck 10 speed bike so I could ride the 1km to and from school (I received it for Christmas). That bike opened up my life. In 1983 (age 15) I bought the Peugeot racing bike ($500 out of my savings) and entered my first race at age 16…the 9 day long Junior National Tour stage race in Colorado! I held my own in the mountain stages (for a kid from the plains of Kansas) and did okay in the sprints (I’ve gotten better). Still, I expected more from myself.
A turning point that summer (I spent my summer’s at my sister’s in Colorado) and doing an evening ride, wondering if I was really cut out to be a cyclist. A group out of Boulder with a lot of the elite amateurs were riding, so I jumped in with them. The 7-Eleven team was there. At one point I worked my way to the front and started taking my pulls with the leaders of the group. When I hit the point that I needed to turn to go back to my sister’s, Davis Phinney rode up and complemented me on my riding. Each year I do this tour it is a reminder how Davis’ words one summer evening inspired me to keep cycling. It is also a way to give back to him.
As I told my middle and high school mountain bikers a couple of years ago, life is like cycling. Even though there are obstacles, look past them to get through them. If you crash, pick yourself up and go again. On a bike we can only move forward, even if it is slow and sometimes scary. Same with life….same with life.
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Some of us are still cycling at almost 73.
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My Stage One photos shows the muscle factory in the ‘pain cave’. Gotta make the laser goats think twice about what fight they want to pick…
There are so few people who would understand the smoke reference. I wonder if I’ll see the smoke on Cotopaxi when I ride Ecuador this fall?
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Cycling is a fountain of youth. A friend of mine’s father is 90 and rides 3x-4x a week.
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That is glorious, thank you for sharing!!!
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Thats my aspiration!!!
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Awesome story! Thanks for sharing! Did you eventually move to Colorado or stay in Kansas?
The window for entries for the Stage 1 Bottle Drawing is closed!
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Colorado was home for a while but the government likes to move people around. Ultimately I ended up in southern Arizona (where it was almost 90 degrees today!).
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@Chris_Wright Could I cut and paste your story over on the FaceBook Page? A Different mix of SUF riders participating over there…
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I’m a member of the group on Facebook and can post it over there.
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Thanks, much appreciated!
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Does he do strength and flexibility workouts as well?