Bike Riding Adventures

I was about 6 years old the first time I remember riding a bike, in Wichita, KS and it was enjoyable, no doubt. A year or so later, my family moved to Colorado and I remember well the day we moved into our new house, I rode my bike down our very steep driveway and crashed. That was the beginning of my bike riding career.

From there, I was riding my bike as much as I could, I remember riding to school and all around town. Fast forward to high school when I was about to go to college, I fabricated a front fork mount in the back of my 1985 Toyota pickup to mount my bike so that I could take it anywhere I needed to go. By that point, I had a red Schwinn 10 speed bike and at some point during college, I acquired a mint-colored Schwinn 10 speed. 2 bikes almost identical except the mint-colored one was too tall.

After college, I bought a Performance Mountain bike that I rode in my early to mid-20s and then I didn’t ride at all for a long time after that. After many life changes and getting my life back on track, my desire to ride cane back and I bought a reconditioned vintage Batavus Champion IC 10-speed in October, 2020 and I was riding once again.

I rode quite a bit up through Thanksgiving of that same year. Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, I was out for a nice ride on the same path that I had ridden on most days for the last month or so and I hit a deep groove in the concrete that threw me off course and my left shoulder hit the ground pretty hard. Hard enough to break my clavicle AKA collarbone.

About a week and a half later I had surgery that left me with a plate and 6 screws holding my body together. A lot of physical therapy later and I am back to close to 100%.

I like the drop handlebars of a road bike and the wider tires of a mountain bike and after doing some research, I learned that a gravel bike was in my future.

There are many big name bikes out there but I’m not a fan of following the crowd however, I am a fan of quality components. I visited my parents in June and my Dad showed me his bike. It was a Jamis, which I had never heard of and it caught my attention.

A few days later, I was at a random shop seeing what they had and they had a Jamis gravel bike. That was definitely an option but I wasn’t feeling this shop. I googled Jamis and found some other shops in the area.

I found a somewhat well-known outdoor store and went to check out what bikes they had and once again, there was a Jamis bike. It was a step up from the one that I saw at the last shop and it was actually a better price. I took it for a ride and fell in love.

It was much lighter and it shifted so smoothly, two things that I wasn’t used to. This was a big enough purchase that I needed to sleep on it, so I did just that. A few days later, we went back and pulled the trigger, so I was now the proud owner of a Jamis Renegade S2.

I have more to say on my bike riding adventures, both what I have done and what I dream of doing, so please stay tuned.

Here’s a picture of my Batavus bike, Made in Holland, as it proudly displays.

The Jukebox In My Head

Over the years, I have had different jobs at different locations in different cities and in different states. Regardless of location, the routine was consistent. Wake up, shower, shave, get dressed, get in my car and drive to work, work for 8, 9, 10 or more hours then drive home, unwind, go to bed only to wake up the next day and do it all over again.

With very little warning or notice, last March, my wife and I found ourselves as 2 professional people suddenly working at home. Over the next 4-6 weeks, the 2 of us transitioned to different work spaces within our home 6 times, 4 moves for me and 2 moves for her. We have each had smaller tweaks here and there but we have both been settled in for awhile now. This process also involved buying new desks, chairs and some other items to help us settle in to our new remote lifestyle.

We have been fortunate to have the space in our home to set up 2 somewhat private offices to allow for each of our phone calls, video calls and other typical day to day office type things without diminishing space within our home. It was challenging in the beginning because she was at the dining room table and I was at a nearby table essentially in the same room and that was a big adjustment.

We each have our unique habits, for example, I was told that I tap my fingers on the table. A LOT, which is in line with music that plays in my head that no one else can hear. She has her unique habits too which I won’t divulge here.

A year ago, I would have never imagined what has transpired over the last 7 or 8 months but now we are fairly well settled in to our new routines and new habits. On occasion, I go into my office for a day or 2 and that is so strange for both us for me to not be home.

Overall, as a society, we have proven in many different professions that we can work and be productive remotely and I am perfectly happy to continue this way. I have at least a few more years of working ahead of me and if I can continue working remotely, I will be a very happy man! Especially now that I can get back to tapping my fingers to the jukebox that plays constantly in my head.

What adjustments have you had to make in these times recently?

The Beginning, So It Seems

So, this is the beginning of me writing after being away for many years. I am not sure of what exactly I will be writing about I know some of it will be related to IT security and cloud technologies. There will be some other random topics as well, I’m sure.

As an IT professional, what are the pressing realities of our current environment? This is an ever changing landscape and if we aren’t staying up on the cutting edge, we are going to miss it. I hope to spur myself to push out to the current state of things and possibly the cutting edge.

Start the conversation here and let’s learn and grow together!