Saturday, April 24, 2010

Do Unto Others

During the 1970’s, a Texas oilman named Eddie Chiles did numerous radio commentaries. His trade-mark sign-on of “I’m Eddie Chiles, and I’m mad as hell” led to a widely distributed bumper sticker that read “I’m mad too, Eddie.”

Fast forward to 2010 and yes, Eddie, I’m mad too. In this case, the problem is egos.

As the self-appointed High Sheriff of Athlete Ego Issues, I’ve decided that this is Dodge City and I’m gonna take action.

You see, there’s a very small minority within the local cycling and running community that wants to marginalize the efforts of people who are not (in their opinion) good runners or cyclists.

That attitude bothers me. In fact, it’s best described using words that are not printable.

The majority of us put forth a lot of effort encouraging people to exercise. We don’t care if you’re an absolute beginner, slow, overweight, or awkward. We don’t care if you wear the “proper” clothing or use pro-level equipment. We just want to see you working out, becoming more fit, and staying healthy.

Most of the people we encourage will never become a marathoner, an ironman triathlete, or a long distance cyclist. That’s a good thing – it indicates they have a real life and are more socially balanced than most of the extreme athletes.

In a newspaper column that I wrote back in July of last year, I discussed some fitness goals that I set for myself while starting over after a serious illness. Two of those goals were to rebuild my fitness back to where I could comfortably jog four miles at a 9 min/mile pace, and ride a bicycle for one hour at a 17 mile/hour pace.

Those goals, while considered lofty by a fitness beginner, don’t match up to the standards set by the ego-athletes. That’s the problem we need to solve.

As the High Sheriff of Athlete Ego Issues, I’m hereby establishing some Athlete Ego Ordinances that will take effect immediately. No public hearings – no city council approval needed – this is the Wild West and infractions will be dealt with harshly and swiftly.

Athlete Ego Ordinance #1 bans all public display of egos when targeted at fitness beginners. The sole exception will be peer to peer displays of (good natured) kidding about athletic shortfalls.

Athlete Ego Ordinance #2 requires all experienced athletes to encourage, mentor, and support fitness beginners. This includes slowing down while on the bike and actually speaking to slower cyclists, and cheering on beginning joggers who are shuffling along at a slow pace.

Athlete Ego Ordinance #3 will make ridiculing those who don’t wear or own pro-level equipment a class CP misdemeanor offense, punishable by five consecutive days of CP (colonoscopy prep).

In all seriousness, experienced cyclists, runners, and multisport athletes are our best ambassadors for encouraging more people to pursue fitness activities. We’re all proud of what we’ve accomplished (myself included), and best way to leverage our accomplishments is to help other people be successful in achieving their fitness goals.

Doing that may require nothing more than being a helpful, supportive role model and remembering that – at one time – all of us were complete beginners. Luke 6:31 is probably a good place to start.

Ride On, San Angelo, and remember … the new Athlete Ego Ordinances are now in effect!



Upcoming Events

Cycling events: http://www.sanangelobicycleassociation.com//

Running events: http://www.roadlizards.org/

April 24: Back to School Eola run, http://www.roadlizards.org/

May 1: ASU Physical Therapy run www.angelo.edu/asufit

May 7: Bike-Pedestrian Healthy Communities presentation, www.angelo.edu/asufit

May 8: Critter Crawl run, http://www.roadlizards.org/

May 8: HOT Ride Brady, lmunden@bradyisd.org

June 6: Loco Lizard Adventure Race, http://4.bp.blogspot.com/


Equipment for Sale


Elliptical trainer, Smooth Fitness CE 2.7. Paid 1200.00 but will sell it for 700. Contact Jason at 325 617 4137 or mondiesman@yahoo.com

Monday, April 19, 2010

Pedaling backward?

My apologies …I am way behind schedule in getting this blog update posted. My work load in my real job at Angelo State University has been crazy of late, and since it pays the bills I have to focus on it first. The good news is that one of my ASU projects, the university’s Fitness and Wellness program, is really doing well. More on that program in a future blog posting.


The top multisport athletes in Texas converged on San Angelo this past Sunday to compete in the 2010 Striders Duathlon. State Champions were crowned in the short course division, with other athletes competing for bragging rights in the legendary long course race. The event took place on a Middle Concho Park course that was modified due to muddy conditions.

In the Men’s division, Chris Aarhus of San Antonio blazed through the run and bike legs of the short course event in a time of 1:28:56 to collect the overall win and become a new State Champion. Stefani Langehinning of Austin came out on top in the female division, posting a winning time of 1:39:11.

Long course racers began their day with a 5-mile run, and then transitioned to the bike for a challenging 50 mile ride that took them from Middle Concho Park to Christoval, across a hilly stretch of chip sealed road to Knickerbocker, and then back to San Angelo. After working up a sweat on the first run, racers were quickly cooled off by the stiff north-west wind that seemed to be in their face on all parts of the bike course.

Patrick Schuster of Arlington, an Ironman triathlete from Arlington, led the long course pack home with a time of 2:28:46. San Angelo’s Christina Templin took top honors in the Female long course division in a time of 3:26:44. Full results for the Striders event are posted at http://www.mychiptime.com/searchevent.php?id=4559.

I’m troubled by some of what I see happening within the local (San Angelo, Texas) bike-run-multisport community. Through 2008 and most of 2009, there were positive local indicators related to collaborative activities, getting more people involved in endurance sports, and related fitness events. These indicators included things such as a comprehensive master calendar of local/regional events, a monthly meeting of organizations that were working together, and numerous jointly-sponsored events. Fast forward to 2010, and (in my opinion) we’re pedaling backward.

While there has been continued growth in the number of participants, the focus on “community” instead of “my group” seems to have regressed. A master calendar for regional events is non-existent this year, and organizations seem to have gone back to more of a single sport focus (runners, cyclists, etc.). While this may be a good short term growth strategy for some individuals or organizations, it’s detrimental to overall community efforts and to the quality of events. In short, we need to move back to a community effort instead of concentrating on “wear the T-shirt from XXX club”.

On a related note, I attended a TxDot Town Hall meeting last week where we listened to local and state officials talk about transportation issues. My interest was not in learning about how many more reads we’re going to build or re-build, but instead what the outlook is for implementation of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure such as marked bike lanes, off-street paths, and a reversal of the chip seal takeover. The take-home message that I heard was that bike/ped issues are a low priority, and will probably continue to get the same lip service (and lack of action) as has been the case for several years. We need to refocus and re-think our community’s efforts related to that issue. Again, more to come on this in a later blog update.

In my last update, I mentioned a lady who didn’t want to do much cardio exercise “…because I’m naturally thin and don’t want to lose more weight.” That prompted me to add a poll to the blog, and your response indicated that 66% of you prefer a trim, athletic body as compared to movie-star curvy or distance runner thin. The results are in … bike, run, lift, and do the cardio to look good. We like muscles, but we prefer fast ones.

There are some exciting events and activities coming up. On May 7, the ASUFit program at the university will be bringing in Linda DuPriest as the speaker for the monthly Brown Bag luncheon. Linda is a consultant in the field of non-motorized transportation, she’s in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, and … best of all .. she’s an articulate and friendly person. This event is open to the public, so please make plans to attend. Contact Katherine.Garrison@angelo.edu for more info, or call 486-6244.

Other great upcoming events include Tour de Burma, Run in the Sun, and the Loco Lizards Adventure Race scheduled for June 6. Check out the “Upcoming Events” link below FMI.


UPCOMING EVENTS

June 6: Loco Lizards Adventure race (see event flyer above)

June 6: Fredericksburg road race (cycling), http://txbra.org/events/event.asp?EventID=1978

Running events: http://www.roadlizards.org/

Cycling events: http://www.sanangelobicycleassociation.com/events/calendar.html


Equipment for Sale

Elliptical trainer, Smooth Fitness CE 2.7. Paid 1200.00 but will sell it for 700. Contact Jason at 325 617 4137 or mondiesman@yahoo.com

Who Do I Follow On The 'Net?

The response from readers regarding my final newspaper column in the San Angelo Standard Times (which several people referred to as the &quo...