Is this a mid-life crisis?

Leaving my family for a week to ride a mountain bike – is this a mid-life crisis?

I was talking with a co-worker about new things on my calendar and the Desert Rats MTB tour came up. It probably came up because it is hugely on my mind these days, but that is to be expected. I have only been in this job for about 9 months, so my colleague has no real idea of my athletic past. These days I am lucky to get in a couple of workouts per week and then usually only in the gym. Not that I am some former world-class athlete, but knocking off a century just for the heck of it was a pretty common occurrence.

When my buddy asked me, “Is this mountain bike tour your version of a mid-life crisis” it took me a second to respond. Obviously my initial response was “what the hell are you talking about? I’m not middle-aged!” Then I thought better of it. I guess that 41 does count for middle age. Well, let’s hope that 50 is middle age, but 41 more years left wouldn’t be bad. Then I thought about the concept of mid-life and what it means. I’m sorry to bore anyone, but I have absolutely no desire to run out and buy a convertible and trade my wife in for a 25 year old who would probably leave me in a month or two. I quite like my car, and I really like my wife. That eliminates the usual forms of acting out in search of youth, so is trying to get back into ultra-shape my quest to return to youth?

Yes, in some ways, it probably is. The best memories that I have of my younger days were of spur-of-the-moment workouts. Midnight swims on moonlit nights around the Ventura pier. 20 mile cross-country runs that were conceived of during early morning phone calls. And massive breakfasts, always massive breakfasts after whatever crazy, stupid ride, run or swim we accomplished. Even if we pulled up short of our intended goal we always had time for a massive breakfast.
So ladies and gentlemen, it is quite clear to me. Desert rats is a mid-life crisis of sorts. It is my quest to justify eating big breakfasts again. Pass the pancakes.

- Ron

Why I am starting a blog

A couple of days ago, a friend who really knows my weaknesses sent me a link to a 148 mile mountain bike stage race called the Desert Rats Mountain Bike tour that roughly follows the Kokopelli trail from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah. Having not done any race worth mentioning since 2003 due to a series of back injuries (multiple degenerated disks) and starting a family (two incredible daughters) I can honestly say that I am in no position to consider doing anything of this magnitude. However, I am still addicted to ridiculous challenges, and the course lies precariously close to Rifle, Colorado. A few years back, in 2002, I had been more than ready to race an off-road Ironman triathlon that was to be held in Rifle, and I still can’t forget that the race was cancelled. It was a point in my life where the stars aligned (pre-back injury, pre-kids), and I was able to dramatically ramp my fitness level and learn a lot about myself and my capacity for suffering.
Life may have changed since 2002, but my wife made this really easy for me. She said, “Go ahead and do it. You know you want to” And that is the genus of this blog. I want to do the Desert Rats MTB Tour starting on June 13th, 2010. Of course I really want to do the multi-day run instead of the mountain bike, but I’ll save that mania for another post. To get in shape for a multi-day mountain bike epic will be challenge. Like everyone else I will need to balance family, career and training. More correctly, I will try to find a working imbalance that can last through mid-June 2010, and this blog is part of that effort.
Only eleven and a half months to go…
http://geminiadventures.com/DesertRATSmtbiketour.html