Newest additions for the upcoming ride

Business Imaging Systems, the largest Document Imaging systems solution provider in the state of Oklahoma, just recently provided a Trek Vapor 3 bicycle helmet and a 70oz Camelback Bike model hydration unit. The helmet is one of the top ones available from Trek. It has multiple vents for great air circulation, as well as a large visor for keeping the sun out of a rider’s eyes. The Camelback model is one especially designed for biking, as it is designed to allow air to circulate under it to cool the wearer’s back. It also has reflective material on it in case it is worn in low-light situations.

The ride is only a few days away … I hook up with the riders on Sunday and start pedaling on Monday!
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Lego copy of Optical Illusion

I found this recently and thought I would share it here. Click on this optical illusion to see it recreated with legos:

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Amputees Across America

Time is getting close for my bike ride from Oklahoma City to Dallas (OKC to Ardmore on July 3rd & Ardmore to Dallas on July 4th). I will be a guest rider with the the Amputees Across America (AAA) organization. The three full time riders left left Tustin California on June 5th and are scheduled to arrive in Vero Beach Florida on July 31 (complete itinerary). I will be joining up with them the evening of July 2nd and stay with them until either the 6th or 7th.

Besides a ton of bike riding, the AAA riders are taking time to visit several HealthSouth hospitals along the way to meet with patients and other amputees to share the idea that "limb loss" doesn't mean "life loss". Joe Sapere, the ride organizer, is doing a great job of providing daily updates on their journals page. It makes for some great reading, so visit the site as often as possible. I have shared with Joe that while I am anxious to join them for the ride, I am somewhat fearful of what they may write about me on the journal page. Joe told me that I could do some 'guest authoring' in the journal, so I might have to see what tidbits of humor I can add.
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What a sweet ride

When I got home yesterday after work, I found my sponsorship check for the new bike.  It didn't take long for me to get inside and house and ask who wanted to go bike shopping.  After patiently waiting my time in the busy bike shop, I finally got to meet the manager of the store, a wonderful lady I have had numerous telephone conversations with over the past month or so.

Without going into all the details, the purchase of the bike and vehicle rack was finalized.  I told Renee I wanted to ride home instead of mounting the bike rack (gotta play with the new ‘toy’!).  After getting the bike initially adjusted for me (seat height and angle, handlebar placement, etc), I enjoyed a very nice ride home.  It took me a very short time to get comfortable with the new shifting method, but then it was smooth sailing all the way home.

Later that evening (and with the permission of Renee), I brought the bike into the kitchen for the installation of the “pimp my ride” equipment.  After approximately 20 minutes, my Reelights were installed and functioning as designed.  I’m glad the installation was pretty much a no-brainer, because the instructions that came in the packaging didn’t include an english translation.  Next was a Schwinn speedometer, which tracks current speed, average speed, total milage, trip mileage, total trip time as well as an indicator to show if my current speed is above or below the overall average speed.  The part that took the longest for that was the wrapping of the four feet of wire between the sensor and display unit around the brake lines.  Being that there is only 18” of physical distance between the two items, there was almost 2.5 feet of excess wire to be secured.  Last, but not least, was the mounting of a Kryptonite lock bracket on the seat post.  Being that I finally have an XL bike frame, I don’t have as much of a seat post visable as I have had on previous smaller bikes.  This made the positioning a little less cosmetically-pleasing than I would like, so that may be adjusted in the near future.

I will spend the next few days getting complete accustomed to the new bike and be very prepared for the long rides, which are now less than two weeks away!
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The sponsors keep rolling in

I called the Stillwater Summit Co earlier this morning and spoke with Brady, the owner. After a very short intro and explanation of what was in my near future, he generously offered a couple sets of biking shorts! While a good bicycle seat is always needed for riding, a nice pair of (properly padded) biking shorts are always an added benefit. After running by on my lunch break, Brady not only provided the shorts, but also asked if he could give me a SSC t-shirt! He said he would appreciate a picture of me on my bike, wearing the SSC t-shirt so he could put it in his picture collage on the wall. How could I turn down that kind of request?

For a complete list of my sponsors, visit my personal homepage at http://tisgarplen.tux.nu/ and follow either the "Upcoming Events" or "Ride Sponsors" links

Note: No need to fear about me going around in public in spandex-type shorts. The ones Brady provided are more of a dual layer shorts, having a hiking-style outer layer over the spandex piece.
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Friday was a good day (in regards to my upcoming ride)

I already had plans to take a day of annual leave on Friday since Renee had plans with some friends she hadn't seen in a long time. Before she left, we went to Cooper's Bicycle Center to look at the options available to me as a result of Kicker sponsoring me for a bike earlier this week. When I got there, I already knew the highest value I could spend, taking into account the value of the tax that would be added to the sale. Cooper's had a new 2005 Giant OCR3 Sport (in bright red) available that would fall within my budget, with a little to spare. I was also going to be looking to obtain a trunk mounted bike rack, since I really don't want to ride back from Dallas (and to be able to travel to other venues for rides in the future). Cooper's carries the Saris Bones series of bike racks, but both the 2 and 3 bike model were out of my price range. After visiting with the manager of Cooper's, she offered to discount the price of a bike rack to the level that would fall within my Kicker sponsorship value. In short ... another sponsor to add to my list!

Later that morning, I stopped by Dearinger Printing & Trophy to meet with the owner, Tom Dearinger. After a brief introduction and explanation of the Bar Foundation, Ertl Procedure and the upcoming Amputees Across America ride, I asked him if he would like to join my sponsor team. I shared how I had designed a very simple business card for distribution during the ride and other upcoming events. The information on the front would be my personal information, showing me as the webmaster for ErtlReconstruction.com and my contact info and the back would contain information about the AAA ride and a list of the sponsors I had gathered to date. Tom was very nice and quickly stated he would be happy to join up and create my cards. I will be dropping off the rough draft this week for him to polish up and get produced.

If you visit my sponsor page at http://tisgarplen.tux.nu you will notice there are no indicators to the likeness of "Gold, Silver & Bronze", "Tier I, II or III" or any other type of value level separating the sponsors. While there is a difference in value level between the various sponsors, all have stepped up at the level which they have been asked and feel comfortable with sharing. As such, all are "Platinum" sponsors as far as I am concerned!
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Time for a metal escape

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Livin' Loud

Last night I was “Livin’ Loud” when I received confirmation that Stillwater Designs, more commonly referred to as Kicker, was joining my list of sponsors.  Yep, you read it right, I am a member of Team Kicker now!  (For those of you who are unaware, Kicker is a major player/big deal here in Stillwater).  Kicker’s sponsorship will provide for a more road-worthy bike, instead of my current heavy mountain bike, as well as enough Kicker apparel to let everyone know who is helping me out.

I know I should have much more to say here, but for once, I am actually speechless.
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Coming to a web site near you!

I have mentioned Jonathan Day (my CP – certified prosthetist)  a couple of times in past blog entries.  A couple of months ago, Jonathan asked me to come down to his office and assist with a photo shoot that the Marketing Department of OUHSC was conducting.  They had plans of re-vamping their website and they didn’t want the standard “professional person sitting in front of a fake bookcase” images to be used.  The plan was to have the various personnel in clinical settings with patients, for a more “natural” appearance.

Needless to say the day was a blast, but was far from ‘natural’.  Let me explain:
The picture you see here appears to be perfectly natural, a medical service provider standing in front of a patient holding a prosthetic leg (ok, something you may not have experienced before, but I digress).  However, for the picture to look right, Jonathan was standing a lot closer than he normally would have in a true clinical setting.  If you will notice, Jonathan is standing close enough to almost lean against the exam table I am sitting on!  Even with as close as he was standing, the photographer continually reminded us to “lean in a little .. so it will look natural”.  At one point, we both turned to him and stated that this was not even close to being natural, but he assured us it would look good when printed.  All in all, the photographer was right, but that didn’t negate the “this just doesn’t feel right” viewpoint we had.

I am grateful for a couple of things that day:
1. That Jonathan thought enough of me to invite me to be his ‘patient’
2. That I have a good enough friendship with Jonathan so the the un-natural closeness turned into a great laughing session
3. Great fellowship with all the staff that work with Jonathan, as well as meeting additional patients from the office.
4. As much pizza as anyone would want to eat!

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33 miles in 102 degree heat ... what was I thinking?

In the continuing process of getting ready for my riding with the Amputees Across America gang in early July, I decided to go all out on this afternoon’s ride. My new route to the Boomer Lake Kameoka Trail is 3.75 miles, one way.  Each lap around the lake is 3.2 miles. After eight laps and a return ride home, my new bike ‘computer’ trip odometer showed just over 33 miles, with an average speed of 14.5 miles per hour.  I knew it was warm outside, and I was going through the H₂0 pretty quick, but I didn’t realize it was 102^o until after the ride was over.  The humidity wasn’t too bad and there is always a good breeze when biking at 15–20 miles per hour, so I wasn’t totally drained when I got home.

One thing that is really nice about biking at that time (and temperature) is the fact I had the trail practically to myself, if you don’t count all the geese that tend to get in my way as I am riding.  I think the guy below has a few geese in his way, considering the look on his face!
 
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There's a baby in the house

Before any rumors get started, the baby is a non-relative.  Unless you count the fact that the mom is like an adopted sister/daughter of the family.  Remember the new baby announcement in March?  While daddy is on a business trip, mommy and baby came to Oklahoma to see friends (us and others) as well as family.  Renee was so excited to see them, she volunteered to drive to Tulsa to pick them up, and of course Sarah and Hope volunteered to sit with Deacon to keep him occupied during the ride back.

While this is said about numerous little baby boys as they are growing, Deacon really looks like he might grow up to be a linebacker or something.  It’s been a little over two months since we saw Stacy and Deacon and this little guy has bulked up, but I’m not referring to baby-fat.

BRB

bnvmbnb jbngnb bnfjngn

Back now.  That line above was Deacon’s first ‘official’ blog post  I finally got a chance to hold him and then the cameras showed up.  As such, I had to post this image, to show me using my wireless connection (power cord doesn’t count) to post this blog entry and holding Deacon at the same time.  It was just after the picture was taken when Deacon decided to add the above entry.
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Gaining Sponsorship Rox!

Alright! Alright! I realize it was just a few weeks ago I wrote about 'gaining sponsorship sux!', but when you get a "Yes, we'd love to sponsor you" response, it really feels great.

In this corner, all the way from Copenhagen Denmark: Reelight, the company that pioneered the reliable electrodynamic bikelight!. I had a little difficulty getting the request to the right person, but within just a few hours of sending it to the right person I received the "we would be happy to sponsor you" message. Normally I would wait to post about a new sponsorship until the product arrives, but this one is just to great to put on the post-it-later shelf.

These aren't headlights for riding at night, but more of 'daytime running lights'. Check out their website and this press release. This animation from their website pretty much sums up the product:


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Have you got an ICE?

I was talking with a buddy the other day and somehow we got on the topic of emergency contact notifications. During the conversation I mentioned that I had both an ICE1 and ICE2 in my phone address list, one being my wife and two being my mother. He instantly had a 'deer in headlights' look on his face and asked what I meant by having an ICE in my contact list. After the explaination, he thought it was a good idea and decided to do the same in his phone.

If you aren't aware, ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. If an emergency service worker (police, fire, ambulance, etc) is called to a situation which involves an unconscious victim, one of the methods of identification is to look for a cell phone and attempt to locate an ICE in the address list. If one is found, they can call that number, describe the patient to the person answering and be able to inquire about existing medical conditions, etc.

In my address book, I have the entries input as:
     ICE1 - Wife (Renee)
     ICE2 - Mother (Bev)
I decided to use the numbering system, to indicate the need to call Renee prior to my mom.

If you don't have an ICE in your contact list, you might think about putting one or two in there. It is a pretty cool idea (did I really just type that?)
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welcome to the 21st Century

As I posted in Sept 2003, my home connection to the internet has been dial-up ... until today!  For reasons beyond just getting tired on waiting for webpages to download, we have moved from dial-up to DSL service.  For the first year, it will only cost about two dollars more a month than we were currently spending.

So, being that I decided to go the extra distance and splurge for the wireless access point, this post is being posted from the comfort of my recliner in the living room. 

Have a great weekend!

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Can I have $5 worth, please?

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You may have noticed something missing...

In the past few days I have actually had a post or two, but then decided to remove it afterward. One was removed because it was a video that started automatically and that was annoying for each time the blog is openned. The other was removed just because it was a stupid post, even from me.
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