A Long Week... made longer...

Well, I mentioned in a past blog that I had bought a Trek Madone 5.2... I went to pick it up yesterday, with a lot of excitement. I have never ridden such a high tech bike, and my expectations were high... I got to BikeFit, the St. Catharines dealer for Trek in the area... these guys really know what they are doing!

They had sized me the day before, and they had my old Giant Cadex to help with the set-up. I arrived with my 20+ year old riding shoes by Look... since I have already invested untold amounts, I decided to use my old set up for shoe and peddles... and have my Shimano gear shipped to me from Madison next week. The first time in my life I did a rational thing with personal money! Ha!

Well, John and Rick, the owners started my though the final set-up... me on the bike on a dynamo trainer... measuring the angles of my knee and ankles during stages of the stroke... seat heights were adjusted and so on... then what happened... as I dismounted the front wheel un-ceremoniously slipped out, and I fell down and went bang! Holy Jehoshaphat... I thought I had wrecked the bike, John about pooped, and I felt like the old guy that had fallen and couldn't get up!!! Either that, or Arte Johnson's image of toppling off the tricycle on Rowan and Martin's Laugh In... what a mess! Well the bike survived, so now I don't have to "break-it-in" any more.

While I was at Bike Fit, I learned that a good friend and human being with a wife and three boys was killed in a farming accident in Pennsylvania... Ric Porter worked with us at Spectranetics. He was a fine Service Engineer, and was capable of standing in on complex Heart Cath and Lead Removal cases. He was a great guy... always smiling, rarely looking sideways... he got things done... customers loved him, our team loved him... his family loved him... all will miss him. It is a hard way to end a week... his funeral was Thursday... but he will be remembered for ever

In Loving Memory Richard "Ric" D. Porter 2/20/1958 - 9/5/2010

A Great Friend who accomplished Greatly

Well, life goes on... I did have my shake-down cruise on the Madone... It went well, It is fast. I did about 25km getting ready for a Century ride tomorrow in support of the new Cancer Center at the new St. Catharines Hospital. The ride is called the Big Move... should be a blast... but it likely will rain, so it will be a wet blast... don't have to pack as much water!

We watched the "Stand Up To Cancer" program last night.. .it got me into the mood for the ride tomorrow... I will be riding with Ric on my mind... but also this... have a look at the logo that the kind folks at 1st Impressions did for the front of my mock turtle neck shirts that are being given to those that donated more than $200 to 'the ride'. This artwork was approved this morning... if you want one, you can either ride or donate $200 to the givetolive.ca foundation... Canadian Cancer Society, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Ovarian Cancer Canada or Craig's Pancreatic Cancer Foundation

The bicycle will be on the back with many names and the big logo will be on the front.... Kinda Cool...