River 2 RiverArkansas Children's Hospital

Final thoughts on the river...

2007-07-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well friends, this will be the final blog on the River 2 River site. It's not a bad thing at all, I'm just moving back over to my regular blog (www.geocobb.blogspot.com).

We did what we set out to do and that was raise money and awareness for kids with hearing disabilities. We got the word out that this area of a child's life needs attention. There are over 16 million folks like me called Baby Boomers who have a hearing loss. Some are born with it and others got it from rocking out to their Kiss and Fleetwood Mac 8-tracks. Some, like myself are probably both. Technology is really just kicking in on hearing aids because so many of us are striving to live regular ole daily lives but we get tired of not being able to hear so we pester the companies who make hearing aids and we pester out Audiologist. It's called being an advocate! Find a passion, a cause, a charity and be an advocate! Make a difference. Sometimes making a difference is as simple as a hello to someone and sometimes it's pushing your body until it breaks.

Saturday night our friends and my team mates Rebecca and Chris Irons stopped by our house to pick up a couple of things that had been in the team van. Em was off on a date and Terri and I were about to grill out. We talked them into staying and eating, which wasn't real hard to do! HA! After dinner the 4 of us drove over to Shakey's for "ice cream". It was then Chris and Rebecca unfolded the events that surrounded my struggle to get from Cook's Landing to the hospital. It was really hard to believe they were talking about me. Some things I remember in a foggy sort of way and some are clear, all were tough. I do remember someone pushing me as we climbed the BDB. I do remember a group of guys passing right through the group on the right (you know who you are). I remember the hill by Dillards Corp office that I knew I had to get over. I remember the kids by the hospital on their bikes. I remember a lot of faces from the stop. I remember Keith Moore and Jo Spencer being right beside me talking me through it. Those gave me strength!

The fog: I heard that I ran a red light, that I rode off from Cook's Landing with only Blake riding along while everyone was getting their water refilled. I heard I was tilted to the right. I heard I was almost expected to pass out and there were folks on each side in case I did. I rode the wrong way coming in and rode through a barricade with very little room. I remember Lori taking me to the ER. I remember the nurse was named Emily and always was smiling. I remember Yale being there in the restroom after I barfed.

I also have some very good memories!
There was no rain at the start in Ft Smith! It was 80% chance!
The guy that owns a very respectable bike shop (Champion Cycling) in NW Ark was there to lead us out of Ft Smith.
The funny stuff my family and teammates said on the way to Ft Smith.
Getting cracked up watching Yale taking photo after photo after photo.
The police escort in Ozark.
Talking to Kevin on the Point 94.1 while riding in Ozark. Finding out he played it on the radio.
People telling my teammates they were crazy to do this ride with me.
Friends telling me that if I had called them at 1 a.m. and said I was about to ride the rest, they would have come back out. Now that is true friendship at it's highest level.
People telling me that 1/2 the ride was a major deal.
Telling the team who jumped on outside of Russellville that they smelled good and listening to them laugh. The Ft Smith group was stanking by then! HA!
Hearing Jenn giving some long drawn out excuse why she wasn't allowed to bring her honking horn.
Hearing the same Jenn ask a camero at a stop light in Russellville if he wantd to race and when the light turned green it sounded like he lost his muffler. Brain laughed so hard I thought he's fall off his bike.
Seeing Tom (SoundStart) standing on the side of the road in Conway.
Seeing Erik and the Ride bike shop guys waiting for us in Conway.
Having Rob from Conway pull us into the headwind from Conway to Maumelle.

You see the good memories list is much much longer than the struggling memories.

So what happens now? That's the question a lot of folks want to know. I do know that I'll take a little break from the bike just because. Remember all the day after emails? Well, almost all the ones from riders say, "You've got to get back up on your bike." Oh friends, I plan to do that!

Are you going to ride it again? I don't know about the whole 300 but I will finish the ride. Riding from Burn's Park to Forrest City is only 103 miles. I think I can make it the next 37 to West Memphis. I'm pretty sure a group of us will put our jerseys on and head out some fall morning and knock it out. There are so many scheduled rides for everyone between now and fall that I doubt we could work it in before then. Who knows, we wanted to ride this ride so bad we could be crazy enough to try it again but we'll do it under the radar.

I wanted to leave you with some most awesome news that has come from doing this ride...
On June 28th there was a program named the "George Cobb Amplification Assistance Program"!!! It's a loaner program for kids who need hearing aids and FM devices to succeed in school and in life! So you see my friends, the ride was a success right where it was always meant to be.... all for the kids!

The After Shocks

2007-06-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

I'm honestly blown away. I have gotten encouraging emails from people all over the place. In fact there were 200 emails left after I moved the work (hospital) emails.

I slept all morning and got up and returned the team van. Even though I've been sluggish, it's been a nice day.

Terri and I went to the Rave to see Evan Almighty. It's ok but there was a point in the movie where I had to really hold in the tears. There's a part where everyone think Evan has lost his mind building the ark and his wife and kids move out. Evans wife runs into God (Morgan Freeman) would at that moment is playing a cook name Al Mighty. He talks to her about the opportunity she has and standing by her husband no matter how off the hook the idea he has is. I just sat there thinking, yep, Terri has stuck beside me the whole way.

There are so many people to thank for training and riding the ride with me. There are those who are an inspiration just by me being around them.

More later...

The final chapter

2007-06-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry friends , to me it's a long awaited book but the last chapter is an aww crap!

We didn't make it to the river. In fact we didn't make it after the presentation at ACH. Yep, I'm disappointed but it's not a pity party. We did what we set out to do and that was raise awareness and funds for the kids who need hearing aids and Audiology services.

Here what happened:
We made it ACH and if it weren't for the great team I had with me, I wouldn't have made it there. I will never be able to repay you for your kindness.

After the presentation I went over to the fitness center and sat for a little bit and thought if I took a cold shower that would kick start my system and make me feel like I was just starting. I was getting really zoned out. I spoke with my coach a moment and the plan was to shower, get an IV of fluids and then see how it played out. Many endurance folks go this route so I was willing to try it. Things seemed to be going down hill fast. The next thing I know I'm waking up in ACH ER, it's 10:30 and they've already pumped in 2 bags of fluids and started on the third. What I heard was something about muscel tissue breakdown, kidneys and heart rate high.

We finally walked in to the house after midnight and I hugged the girls and told them I loved them and went to bed. I woke a few moments ago and noticed it was daylight. I stood at my kitchen window admiring the beautiful spotted pink clouds and wondered what it looked like on the Mississippi River?

I do have some really good memories and I'll get you a play by play this afternoon but right now I need some sleep.

AFTERNOON UPDATE

2007-06-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well hello everyone! I just wanted to update yall. We are doing good but it is getting a little hot! We are driving through Conway then we will hit HWY. 365 to Maumelle then to River trail the to the Hospital. We should be arrive there about 5 - 5:30!

I have been trying to put pictures on here but everytime i try they don't work. We will show lots later! Sorry!

Hope to see everyone at the hospital at 5ish!

WOOOOWWW!!!!!

Big Day - UPDATE!

2007-06-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys. Its Emily Again! I just wanted to update everyone as fast as i can before i lose service. We are almost to Morrilton and we will stop there for water and cold towels. We have had some traffic so yes we are behind. We should be at the hospital about 5!! PLEASE PLEASE come out and support my dad! He has been planning this for a long time and if it wasn't for all of yall we couldn't have done it. So please come out to ACH about 5 PM to see my dad. He would greatly appreciate it!

I am going to try to do pictures and update again as soon i we get service.

***PLEASE KEEP DONATING***

**AUNT DANA IF YOU READ THIS, TELL BECCA SEAN WILL GET HER MAT. LOVE YA!

EVIE AND GINGER....WE WILL CALL ABOUT CONWAY. THEY ARE ALSO GOING TO RIVER TRAIL TO GET TO THE HOSPITAL SO WE SHOULD BE THERE BEFORE.

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

THE BIG DAY!

2007-06-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

^FATHER^

Hey everyone! Its Emily (Geo's Daughter - the offical blogger of River 2 River) We got off and running at 5am on the dot. Everyone is feeling great and the weather is BEAUTIFUL!! We are stopped for a moment at the FinishLine store in Ozark. There was a sheriff that turned around and was coming very close to Yell's car (that i was driving...VERY NICE). He ended up asking me where we were headed and asked to escort us.

^Yell and Rebecca^

Thanks The POINT! WOOOOWW!!!!!
Kevin...Email me (shbears8890@yahoo.com) and i will give you numbers to talk to dad or get you another update.)

Hey Evie and Julie And Aunt Dana and Angie! Thanks for covering my groups while I'm out!

Check back in a little while... Gotta get back on the bike!

Send in you donations now!! (PLEASE!)

We will be in russellville about 10 a.m. at the McDonalds! Come Join Us!!!!

I will update soon and thanks to everyone for your support!
Please please please donate!!!

Fort Smith

2007-06-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

We made it to Ft Smith and no rain! I hope I don't curse us but there is blue skies peaking through. We just finished dinner at Varsity and it was great!

We have been treated like VIP's at Holiday Inn. I got to meet Becky who kindly arranged the rooms for us and her son is also a Dr. Dornhoffer fan! She went on and on about the difference Dr. D made in her son's life.

Well tomorrow morning will come early... good night y'all!

Sitting on GO!!!

2007-06-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

Well aww right here we go! I'm at the house with the HUGE van. I think I could get half of my neighborhood in this thing. I havw to say thank you to Chris and the folks at the downtown LR Enterprise office for this! This will make our life so much easier over the next 48 hours.

I had a package from Energizer on the front porch! There are cases of batteries! I have enough hearing aid batteries now to last the rest of the year and then some. Shout out to Serge! Thank you friend!

These guys also sent down the Energizer Bunny to say howdy to the kids! They even sent big foam pink bunny ears! It was a hoot. The kids loved it! I know I talk about the celebs that come to the hospital but if you have noticed, I only do it after the fact and the celebs are always long gone by the time I put these out. I simply can't put it out there in advance due to the safety of our patients and staff. After today I will be like all the rest of the staff and hardly ever know who came and went either. I just got lucky to find out about the Kiss mobile because it was parked in front of the hospital at lunch time. Mickey and Minnie... I just lucked out on that one but they were long gone when I found out. We have an awesome Child Life group here and they really watch out for our kids best interest.

Gotta load the van!! Come back later and I'll update!

Tick tock tick tock tick tock

2007-06-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm about to have a baby. Ok, I don't know what that feels like and some girl is gonna give me grief over it but anyways...
Here's the latest mind dump:
Tech check is in the works.
All lights are powering up.
I'm making too many lists
There will be something I will forget but I will blow it off
We pick up the van tomorrow at noon! Thanks for the upgrade Enterprise! Chris you rock!
I have to do my big eating tonight.
Everyone has a way up to Ft Smith tomorrow.
Everyone has a room.
Stress level is going down now.
I'm blown away by the giving spirit of everyone.
Speaking of spirit... to all of you who said, "I'll be praying for you." that's worth more than gold!
Bets are being made on how many times Ginger the PR Queen will call my cell phone.
I'll get tickled after a while and start laughing.
My riding bud, Yale, will call more than her.
Emily will still get the most calls (teenager female = 500 calls)
We had 50% chance of rain today and it was beautiful blue skies.
I heard there will be a police escort in NLR!!
There could be delays due to rain but that's OK
I know that I'll get this ride done
I know it might take longer than I think
I know I'm very happy to have a BUNCH of friends riding with me!
I know without them, I wouldn't be on this ride.
I know sometimes I forget I was deaf a few weeks ago.
I know Dr. Mary Martha Henry is the best Audiologist there is
I know without Unitron and Phonak I would have never heard what Paula Dean sounds like.
I know Dr. Dornhoffer is my hero
I know Brenda Speed is my heroette
I know Dr. Jason Smith was there and played Robin.
I know there is a kid out there that really needs a hearing aid
I know I will be thinking about them during the ride
I know life is just really really good right now!

KKPT Point 94.1

2007-06-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of shots of my buddy Kevin Clay at the Point 94.1 during our interview. Kevin is an all around good guy and what you hear on the radio is really what he is like in real life. Just as happy with life as sweet tea on the front porch.

Check them out! http://www.point941.com/pointweb/

News report link

2007-06-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the news report link to last night's story KTHV did about the ride.
http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=47973

By the way, KTHV have always been a huge supporter of ACH and we thank them!!

Monday Quick hit...

2007-06-25T10:23:00.001-07:00

Howdy! I'm giddy. Serious! It's the week of the event. I'm rocking to go.

The Ginger PR machine is going in full force! (Ginger is our ACH PR chick)
I got to hang out at the Point 94.1 this morning and talk live on air with Kevin Clay. We had a good time and even got invited to return NEXT Monday to talk about how the ride went. As we were walking out I saw a office door sign that said, "Jocks Office".. I stole it! Then I felt bad and put it back. It was too funny.

Then around 10 this morning KTHV came over and we shot in front of the hospital. It should air tonight during the newscast. Once it's aired then they usually put it out on the website and I'll load a link to it.

Be sure to keep reading this week because especially from Wednesday morning on we'll be doing a lot of blog updating.

Funny story: Remember a week or so ago I was talking about the new drink at Java City? My friend Kelley got one and she was saying how it wired her system! Hey it's got a triple shot in it.

One fo the riders for this sent out an email letting everyone know to start drinking a lot of water now, etc etc... then there was some tag about cutting caffeine. I laughed! Dream on sis! If I cut back on caffeine you'll find buzzards finishing me off.

Thoughts on video...

2007-06-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

WELCOME TO RIVER 2 RIVER WEEK!!!!

2007-06-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

WELCOME TO
RIVER 2 RIVER
WEEK!!!!

Shout out to Jeff who rode with me this afternoon. I really was just going to take it easy today but I was bored out of my skull. So I rode...

Terri did make it in from her convention complete with stories of Ft Smith happenings. Let's see there was a sprinkler system rupture around midnight and it released who some said was about 5,000 of water on the 3 floor which made a waterfall down to the indoor courtyard of the hotel. It rained almost every day in Ft Smith last week. But she was in good spirits and even wanted to go out to dinner last night.

Got up and went to church this morning and there is a senior couple that sit in front of us. She is going a little slower these days and he is her biggest fan. Mr. and Mrs. Sherril are a huge inspiration to everyone around them.... they always have been. If you know a senior person or couple that's an inspiration to you, why not let them know? Tell them or send them a card. It will brighten their day!

Had lunch over at Olive Garden (Yes, I did have a take home order of ter-a-mah-sue! HA!) Y'all know I don't do Itilian without the stuff... yep, I know too that a serving equals about 1300 calories... and your point is? HA!

I had planned to hang around the hut today but just like Giligan, I got bored! So I loaded the hot rod into the Explorer and headed down to the river for a flat ride. Just moved the legs a little was all I planned to do. Say hello to my friend the wind! She was sort of messy today and a pest at that. As I was riding along I rolled past another rider and mentioned the wind. Next thing I know me and another Sherwood homeboy have rolled along to the BDB. He was doing a recovery ride from yesterday's Hotter'n'Hell training ride (70 miles). It will be his first one. He was smart and made his reservations last year for this year's event. If he is already riding at 70 miles with a couple months still to go then he'll have not trouble at all with the 100 there (unless Mother Nature sends the fireballs to Witcha Falls again like last year). Shout out to Jeff... it was great meeting you and getting to ride along this afternoon. I am finding out more and more folks who live in Sherwood are riders.

Well, heading over to the valley to hang with friends and have dinner!

Thanks for reading!
Geo.

Saturday 06.23.07

2007-06-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Before and after the clippers! Coworkers said, "Geo, you look like a little boy." Sort of looks like a dog that just got a big haircut if you ask me! I love it though! I could feel the wind on my head all morning long and but did it feel great!

Had a great ride this morning. Had planned to "sleep in" but sure as the sun will rise, I woke up at 5:30 something and I wanted to go ride. That is a good sign for me! I took my time this morning and did a couple things around the hut then headed out to the river. It was a nice morning. Funny story: When I had just started and maybe two miles in I felt a drop of water run down the side of my head. I thought I was sweating already but had forgotten that I washed my sunglasses before I left and didn't get them all dry.I buzzed along North Hills Blvd in North Little Rock and over the bridge as the traffic of I-40 went under me. Not a lot of traffic this morning. I noticed a car was behind me and I was ready the bike lane and then looked up to see my buddy Charile Hight go by. He was on his way out to Cook's for the ABC ride. I spotted them later. I'm looking forward to returning to some of those rides later this summer. They rode out to Scott and loaded up on fresh fruit at their break. They are blogging about how great the plums were.

Rolled along the river and came up on a transition area for a race. I went on but got lucky on the return when most of the racers were coming through the transition. Man, that's fun to watch. There's a half Ironman in Arkedelpha in August that some folks are going to do. I hope to go down and cheer them on. Someday I plan to go see a full blown Ironman event.Spotted several groups this morning out for rides and I got behind one guy who reminded me so much of myself when I first started riding. He was looking around at the trees and really enjoying the ride. Oh, I still do that but just not as much. I always seem to be in the training zone these days. Nothing wrong with that either. I spotted several of our club coming back in from their screaming fast ride in the country. These are the guys that pace about 23-25. there was talk of their ride last Tuesday night going over 30mph at times. Crazy stuff!

I wonder sometimes what the racers of the Ironman think the week of their race? I'm doing my best to stay focused and positive. There's that nervous energy that is sort of there. I have no doubts that I can and will do great on this ride. I have awesome support and I really enjoy riding with the folks that I'll be in this event with. The only thing that's in the back of my mind that I'm wrestling with is getting to the hospital by 4. There are a lot of factors involved like rain, wind, rider conditions, bike conditions. I have it in my mind that if we are delayed, well then we are delayed. If we are delayed at lot then we'll ride right on through because no one is expected to hang out for hours waiting on us. But all in all... I think it's gonna be AWESOME!!! I'm sitting here thinking, ya know, this time next week this will be over. WHA???!!!

Em and I went over to Firehouse subs for lunch and by Academy Sports for gels, cliff bars and I even bought a couple of 6 buck headlights. I know what you are thinking but they could come in handy. Energizer is sending cases of batteries to power us along the ride. Those guys are awesome!

Terri arrives home around dinner time from her convention. This is one happy guy here but she will be exhausted to no end! It's at the same hotel we will be staying at Wednesday night and here's the weird thing. It's been raining in that one section of the state all week. We did have a nice storm come through here just minutes ago but it's broken up and the sun is returning. Oh boy, an Arkansas streamer!

Have I mentioned that my son, Tyler is going to be with us as support in the team car?!! I'm really excited about that in a huge way! I remember the 'round the state ride I did and he was in Denver at college. I remember him saying, "Dad, I missed your biggest day." No, kiddo, this will be my biggest day... you'll be there along with Terri and Emmy! What more could a dad ask for?!

I'll leave you with a couple of photos I took along the ride this morning....

Aren't these flowers beautiful? And they had a rose smell that was out of this world! The leaves are shining and healthy. It's just one of those plants you just have to notice.

But back up the frame and look at the whole picture! Can you believe this beauty is the ONLY thing living at this old boarded up house? The grass has been killed, there is a beer bottle discarded out in the yard. Windows busted out and boarded up. I have thought about this house almost every morning for months now. It's on the way to my office. I think it's very symbolic of life. Here everything around it is gone yet it thrives and grows like it's in one of the finest kept gardens around. You know what else I think? I think of a child who can't hear and how they would do the same if given the chance. They would grow and their beauty explode to capture the world around them. Please, donation to the River 2 River ride today and help us get the equipment needed to help a child hear!

If you would like to donate on line please go to http://www.archildrens.org/ and click on the Donate Now button. It is secure and tax deductible.

If you would rather send in a check, please send it to:

Arkansas Children's Hospital Foundation

ATTN: Geo's Ride

800 Marshall St

Little Rock, AR 72202

Thanks for reading!

Geo.

Friday night at American Pie

2007-06-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

Guess what? I'm using this really cool air card and this is great!!!

Met a bunch of the team at American Pie over in Maumelle. If you've never been there and had the chicken cheese dip then you are missing out. Yep, I thought it sounded weird too until I ate some! The gang was all there and everyone in a great mood. Shawkitty was in top form dishing out prize after prize.

If you'd like to donate to the ride log on to www.archildrens.org

If you'd like to send a check in for the ride:

Arkansas Children's Hospital Foundation

TTN: Geo's ride

800 Marshall Street

Little Rock, AR 72202

Later! (I just wanted to test the air card, showing Emmy how to use this, and checking blogging speeds).

Geo.

Friday quick hit ... Guess who came to see the kids??

2007-06-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Just a Friday Quick Hit.

Y'all know how I am always telling you about celebs coming and seeing the patients? Look who came yesterday!!! Serious! It was really them!

Photo by Kelley Cooper: ACH

To everyone at Disney and Disney Radio... thanks for helping us spread Care, Love, and Hope!

Thursday 6.21.07

2007-06-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

ONE WEEK TO GO!!!!!

What a fast and crazy week this has been. I seriouslly can't believe it's just one week away! I'm excited as can be! I'm ready too! I've planned and my friends are right there with me to help make this happen for the kids of ACH!!

Ironman, Ironmaiden, Yale, Razz, Mark, Robb-o, Keith, Jo, JBar, JMar, Shawdawg, Shawkitty, Rabiddawg, Coach Mark, DWonn, Patrick, Jenny, Brandon, JohnEEE, Paul, Mike, Charlie, Carti Training riders, ABC riders, BACA riders and the will go for miles... to all of you, thanks for getting me here... now y'all ready to go for a little ride?!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!

This is taper weekend so not going to be doing a lot of riding. I've spent every free minute working details and going over details and plans and redoing, etc etc... I've got the equipment I need for the most part for the night section of the ride thanks to my buds! I have to make another list this weekend and start a pile somewhere of the stuff that will be going.

Terri is in Ft Smith right now and even staying in the same hotel we are going to. She is the convention director/planner for their associations summer convention. The weird thing is that it has been raining in Ft Smith most of the week but nice pretty much everywhere else. A sprinkler broke next to the secretary's room on the 3rd floor and flooded her room. Bet Terri will be ready to get home and crash a minute or two. I miss her.

Emily showed interest in the bike races last night when she came to get me. She even wants to go back when we return from FL. I think that's cool that she has an interest in it. I think the guys coming up to register liked having her sitting at the table too. HA!

So what's the plan for the weekend?? Well tomorrow night I get a buzz haircut. It might be the shortest I've ever had. Shock and awe for the ride! HA! Then I head over to American Pie for a club get together. Saturday morning I'm taking my time getting started. I might not go out to ride until 8 or 9. Just a big circle from the house to the river and back. Then I'll work around the house/yard and Terri should get back around dinner time so I'll unload the stuff at her office if that's the plan and then she'll crash. When she returns from a convention she usually crashes hard and fast.

Oh, I get the air card for the laptop so I'll try and do some video and photo uploading with the card. Should be really cool.

The jerseys are selling like wildfire! Everyone is saying they are the coolest jersey they've ever seen. That means a lot to me.

I'll write more this weekend and put some video and photos in for your viewing pleasure.

If you want to donate to the ride you can donation on line at www.archildrens.org.
Or if you want to mail a check:
Arkansas Children's Hospital Foundation
ATTN: Geo's Ride
800 Marshall Street
Little Rock, AR 72202

Thanks and have a great Friday!!
Geo.

Wednesday lunchtime quick hit

2007-06-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

Busy day!!! I really haven't eaten due to getting t-shirts to folks around the hospital. I'll hit up Java City for yogurt later.

We talked in our weekly huddle this morning about "Presentation". Margie did a great job presenting and she said something that really made since. She was talking about how our lobby here at ACH is a stress reliever. It really is! It’s a happy open place with fish tanks, water falls, shops and, a welcoming center. Before you even walk in there are beautiful flowers that line the area. Serious, our hospital is really a showplace.

I rode some last night and the knee is in good shape! Thanks to all my buds and the docs for keeping me on the bike for this. I worried a little. I’ll have a couple more training rides before the big one. Sounds funny but I’m looking forward to sleeping in a tad this Saturday morning. Ok, sleeping in for me means until about 6:30.

Word has it the NLR Mayor will be riding a little with me next Thursday! What an honor! My bud Charlie Hight is going to be out there too!

Well, back to work! We’re on a hiring frenzy right now! Yep, that’s a very good thing!

Hey, I still need some donations for these kids!
Online donations are at: http://www.archildrens.org/

Mail in donations are at:
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation
Attn: Geo’s Ride
800 Marshall Street
Little Rock, AR 72202

Take care!
Geo

Monday 6.18.07

2007-06-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

First of all.. shout out to my bud Blake!! CONGRATS on the time trial championship! Gold metal and the state champ jersey!! Mom Lori works for ACH! Remember the name Blake Mc!! You'll be hearing it a lot in the coming years... trust me on this one!!

It was a busy day at ACH! Fun and good but busy!

I have to send a shout out to Dr. Hardin! Dr. Hardin runs our Sports Med program at ACH and took a few minutes out of his hectic schedule to talk with me about the knee. We have a saying at ACH about going above and beyond and we call it "Crossing the Creek." Dr. Hardin is always crossing the creek for someone. Thanks man, you're the best!

The other shout out flies out to Dr. Brent Sprinkle! He's not an ACH doc but a great doc just the same. I've gotten to ride with him quite a few times. He is a strong rider that can cut loose on a wild sprint that will eat you alive. Brent was also the one you told me about drinking chocolate milk after a ride for recovery. Ok, any doc that tells me to drink chocolate milk is a lifetime friend of mine! HA! Thanks Brent!

Awwright, let's see, I got the bike all cleaned up last night and was looking forward to checking out the adjustment of my cleat to see if that was going to help the knee issues but we got rain showers rolling in about 3 and boy did it ever rain! By the way, ever heard Silver Rain Fell by Evanscence? Great instrumental tune!

Funny thing happened just before I left the office for the day. My coworker, Charlotte, who has the office next door stopped in my doorway and said, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil?" She loves the movie as much as I do! We laughed! I told her I was going to go back and get that statue and get her one too.

Hey check this out! My sponsor FRS sent me a swag pack and I have the t-shirt on! I'm still in awe that the same group that sponsors Lance Armstrong is one of my sponsors. I feel like that guy on the American Express commercial... "Arms folded?" HA! How do you act, what do you say? HA! Thanks FRS! I'll make you all proud!

I got final word from Enterprise and the van is secure! Thank's Enterprise for helping us out!

Above: Just the plants getting a good watering.

Below: One of my biggest fans!

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation towards the River 2 River ride you can go to our hospital secure site at http://www.archildrens.org/ or you can send a check to:

Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation

Attn: Geo’s ride

800 Marshall St

Little Rock, AR 72202

Saturday 06.16.07

2007-06-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

This is a lawn statue at a store in Keo.

Again, I went right past it but then the
light came on that it was the little girl from

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
I'm not ashamed to say that's one of my favorite

all time movies and I don't have a clue why

but when I watch it I laugh til I cry

An Arkansas summer with miles of green fields.

I flew past this sign then realized it was one of my sponsors signs
so I turned around and came back to shoot it. Thanks Delta Grow!!!

The day on the bike started at 7 and the plan was to ride to the river then out to Keo and back, evaluate the legs then repeat the course. As I was riding to the river I spotted a couple of neighbors with their bikes loaded on the car/trucks and heading the same way. Got the "howdy beep" from them as they passed. Both were a big part of the Carti group I've been riding with and then it dawned on me that there was one more Carti ride, a post event ride. It was announced before we took off that Carti's Tour de Rock brought in about $50,000. That's so awesome! Jennifer and the crew put on a first rate event!

Paul Bentley and I rode together a bit then we broke off at the top of the heights. He had to be somewhere at 10:30 and I was riding way to hard to make it go all day like I needed to. We made our way back to the boat ramp at Burn's and bidded each other farewell. I was going to start my Keo training ride. While we were talking JohnEEE came up he was going to ride some intervals this morning. We rode along at a social pace and he is an awesome rider and all around good guy. I was asking him if he had ever had knee issues and after explaining were the pain was (Yes, it's back again today already!). Sounds like I need to drop the seat a tad. Plan to do that and ride maybe Tuesday night easy and see what happens. It goes away really quick after I stop riding but today by the time I rolled back in it hurt so bad I was on the border line of barfing. Yes, serious, the pain was that bad. I was so glad I took the MP3 player because when I listened to the tunes my knee was secondary.

Funny part was that by the time I rolled in, I hated the tunes I had loaded. I wanted to pop Ted Nugent up the side of the head. Stop screaming at me!! HA!!! I told Terri later about this and she smiled then I told her what I really wanted to hear was some nice soft jazz... you know the kind of music that reminds you of your momma pressing you up against her bossom so tight you can't breath and she rubs your head and tells you everything will be awwwright. I thought Terri was going to spit tea! Ya jest never know what's gonna come outta my mouth do ya?! Well, it makes life a lot funner!

Oh yeah, I saw my first live and moving snake on the road today. I rolled right by him and lo and behold the monster started moving!! He was a big un! Looked blackish with a pattern.

I played with the video upload last night and it works but I didn't think y'all wanted to see a video of me chasing Sadie, our dog, around the house. Good video's will probably be posted tomorrow.

Thumbs up to the JB Hunt crew again today and thumbs up to Oakely Trucking of North Little Rock! Both trucking companies gave me lots of room. I was lucky to have a wide shoulder for most of the ride.

Terri and I are heading down to Bosco's for dinner with Chris and Rebecca tonight! Mouth is watering already! Chris and several others will be riding the time trials tomorrow. Good luck everyone on your race! Rock the race!!

Finished the day with a sad 74.41 miles at 16.6 mph average. It's tapper down time for the next couple of weeks. I can not believe the ride is almost here!!

Thanks for reading!
Geo.

Friday night and almost in tears

2007-06-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's Friday night and I planned a low key night and it's so low that I'm watching the sprinkler water the grass. I got bored with that pretty quick and came in as the skeeter spray truck rolled by. I found the Phonak equipment and decided to test it tonight. Where I thought the on/off switch was, wasn't. So I found the instructions online and the next thing I know I was hearing so crystal clear I was in shock. Right now I'm typing in the office which is at the other end of the house and I'm listening to a comedy. It's on TV. Now don't laugh but it's a cooking show called Paula Dean. I have never really heard her before. Oh man, what an Southern accent!!! I laughed and laughed!! The Phonak equipment is putting the TV right into my hearing aid. This is blow away cool! I went walking around in the yard, flipped the switch and there was the TV. What am I going to do with something for cool??? I love this new hearing technology.

All I can think of now is training my butt off tomorrow so that maybe someone will donate a good sum of money so a kid can get one of these systems. They cost about $2,500 each but think of how a kid would succeed in life with one of these!!

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation towards the River 2 River ride you can go to our hospital secure site at http://www.archildrens.org/ or you can send a check to:
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation
Attn: Geo’s ride
800 Marshall St
Little Rock, AR 72202

Thanks for reading!
Geo.

Thursday 6.14.07

2007-06-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

Look at that kid smiling!! Got that new jersey on and everything.

Ok, ok everyone settle down. The FedEx man cometh and delivered the goods. I opened the box and it was a **GASP** moment! I first saw the rich colors and knew these was gonna be something to behold and let me tell you... it is! I serious, I am blown away. I never knew it was going to look this good. I took it over to show my buds over in Audiology, PR, and Transport. They all went nuts. Everyone wants to buy one now. They are limited.

First thing I did when I got home was tried one on. Ahh good fit. Loaded the bike and headed for the river to ride a little of the club ride. My training takes me on these long weekend rides so I have to keep it a bit slow on the regular rides so my legs will be fresh for Saturday's century to wherever ride.

Got a really nice email from my contact at LG (jersey maker) that said they were all watching as they were being stitched together because it was one of the best jersey's that had produced. Now mind you this is a big company and for them to say that made me day even more!

It's sort of a tos up right now as far as the route. Maybe from home to Searcy and back for 90 miles or doing a double shot Keo ride for about 140. I could ride the out and back for 70 to Keo hen see how the legs were feeling and take a short lunch break and ride it again. I do know I'm getting real MP3 crazy these days on these long rides.

Ok, for the persons who sent me the emails wondering what's on my IPod, well don't be shocked but here's a sampling:
Ozzy Osborne - Crazy Train as well as Bark at the moon
The Archies -- Sugar Sugar (Yes, I'm 100% serious and shut up man, I know you have secret tunes too!)
Wolfmother - Guns and thieves
Led Zep - Rock and Roll
Jeremy Camp - Run
Rascal Flatts - Life is a Highway
Rascal Flatts - Fast cars and freedom
Bob Seger - Turn the page
Some Foo Fighters, some jazz, some techno -new agey stuff
There's about a hundred tunes on there.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation towards the River 2 River ride you can go to our hospital secure site at http://www.archildrens.org/ or you can send a check to:
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation
Attn: Geo’s ride
800 Marshall St
Little Rock, AR 72202

Thanks for reading and come back because we're about to take the ride of your life!
Geo.

Wednesday 06.13.07

2007-06-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting but it's been sort of recovery since the weekend.

The t-shirts have arrived and they look awesome! Color print on the front and my wonderful sponsors on the back. Get ’em while you can! Shout out to Larry and the crew at Applied Graphics for all their hard work!

The bike jersey will be arriving via FedEx (shout out to my buddy Keith Hill) and I’m giddy like Christmas morning! It will be one of the coolest jersey’s seen around Arkansas and beyond this summer.

We got word from Energizer that the big pink bunny is coming to ACH!! Looking like it will be here the Wednesday (June 27th) morning before the ride! I can’t wait! Energizer has gone over the top for us and we are very thankful to have them as a part of this.

Someone asked me the other day if I really used the products of my sponsors. Trust me, this is no brown nose thing. I use all of them! Energizer makes the best hearing aid batteries around.

We got an email from FRS (www.frs.com) yesterday and they want to help out too! Ok, if you have been reading a while you know I’m an FRS snob! Love this stuff! If you want to become an FRS snob link over to them and you can get FREE stuff from them to try. You just pay for shipping. The orange stuff is really good to drink and it doesn’t hurt my tummy when I’m really hot and tired. They have these chewable candy stuff that reminds me of Starburst and the Lemon-lime ones or tha bomb! Hey FRS… you guys are alright!

Oh, if you have a Java City nearby, try their new drink!! Espresso Frio! Mick Jagger is singing Start Me Up in the background. This mixture has a horse kick! TRIPLE SHOT baby!! Uh-huh, you heard me!! 3 shots of espresso mixed into this drink. I had one the other afternoon and was buzzing big time by the time I got home and mowed my yard, cut tree limbs, and cleaned the garage. Everyone knows I live for my walk across the parking to our awesome Java City in the hospital lobby. I remember the day Java City opened like the day my kids were born! Ya think I’m kidding don’t you?! I remember walking over there with coworkers and walking right up to the counter and ordering a Mocha Javalanche at 9 o’clock in the morning. I remember my coworkers joking with me about how I already knew what it was when it was the first day they opened. Hey, I do my coffee café homework! HA! We are able to use our badges and have it taken out of our checks and once I checked to see how much I used over a course of 6 months. Y’all don’t even want to know. It was several Ben Franklins! Once I ordered and punched in my number and it kicked back out! I over charged my limit! Everyone laughed and laughed… including me! It’s just a small part of your paycheck but I was on my 2 a day kick.

Looks like the weekend will take me to Searcy and back early Saturday morning for a 90 mile ride. Might keep going if the day’s plans allow. This will be the last long ride before the River 2 River. Oh, I’ll be out riding but just not for hours on end.

More and more friends are giving the thumbs up and jumping on the ride! I’m floored by the number who want to start in Ft Smith! Folks are taking the day off to come ride for the kids who have hearing impairments! It’s just the coolest thing!!

Ok, the midweek tornado siren just went off! It’s noon on Wednesday which means the week is half over! It’s down hill from here kids!! It also signals the end of my lunch break... bummer!

By the way, we need some more money to help us to the goal of $15,000. Please donate and help a kid who has a hearing impairment! You’ll be a hero!
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation towards the River 2 River ride you can go to our hospital secure site at http://www.archildrens.org/ or you can send a check to:
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation
Attn: Geo’s ride
800 Marshall St
Little Rock, AR 72202

(Be sure to note on the memo line on your check that it’s for the bike ride)

Thanks for reading!
Geo

LR to Forrest City

2007-06-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

Last year I sent a congrats note to our Chief of Staff, Dr. Bonnie Taylor on her finish in the LR Marathon. She sent a note back and said, "Thanks, I finished but it was an ugly finish." That's exactly how I felt yesterday after rolling into Forrest City to meet Terri. Yep, ug-lee finish.

I started the day with about 600 other cyclist in Burn's Park at the Carti ride. That was an awesome event! My coach (Mark) and I rolled out with group "C" and hung out with Mike Mitchell and several others. The majority of my group pulled their shorts up tight and jumped up to the front group which rumor has it that they averaged a screaming 25 mph for 50 miles. There were a few local pro's embedded in the group and they had to get back so it was sort of a "Let's go knock this out right quick." HA!

As we rolled along it was funny because the "C" group was to average 16-18 which is a normal pace for most weekend road warriors. Everyone was talking and having a good time and I looked down to see us going 22mph. I cracked up. Most of the group were guys and seems most were trying to grab a spot in the group. I ended up at the back and was happy as a loon back there. Mark was mid-pack and started easing back as well and we headed on down Hwy 70 rather than turning with the group onto Hwy 161. I think one of the volunteers was sort of flipping out when we did it. Most knew what we were about to do.

Rolling down 70 was easy and the traffic was really light for the most part. We stopped in Lonoke for water at Daylight Donuts and the city was having it's free fishing weekend and it looked like Riverfest over by the catfish ponds. Oh yeah, shout to the guys working the fish farms around Lonoke. Some didn't just wave, they wave big.

We rolled on out and through Carlisle and then made a stop at Hazen. OK, there are some towns that I have ridden through that are places I would move to in a second just for the friendly folks who live there and Hazen is up on that list. The guys who work in the c-store, the folks putting gas in their cars, folks sitting in their cars waiting for family members to run in the store right quick. All gave a big smiling "Howdy, how y'all doin'!" It was genuine and it would take me through the day. Thanks Hazen! Y'all are awwwright!

Rolling on we got to the real country where cars didn't pass to often and we could even ride side by side and talk because you could see for miles both directions on the flat farmland roads. Next up was Biscoe. It was a one store town and folks waved from their porches. Ok, the scene is about to change like nothing I've EVER rode my bike through. There is an exit at Biscoe that puts cars over on 70. There was road construction going on on I-40 and many took 70 as the "get around" road. What they seemed to have forgotten was that 70 is not an interstate! Now take that and remove the shoulder of the road! Serious!! Here we are riding through the woods on a highway with no shoulders and trucks buzzing us. There was one time that my bike jerked so hard I really thought I was going down. The sign had read, "Shoulder closed next 6 miles." Wanna guess how long it's closed? 14 miles! Honest y'all that was the most intense 14 miles I have ever ridden my bike. For those of you that went to Hotter'n'Hell last year in Texas.... yep, it was mentally harder than that!

When we finally got to Brinkley we pulled into to first c-store we could find. I was mentally blown! I pulled up to the curb, unclipped and sat in a daze on the curb in front of the store. Mark went on in the store and I just locked my eyes on a tree and regrouped. Minutes later I told myself that yes, it was taxing and yes, you are mad but it's time to get over it and get back to enjoying the ride. I grabbed some V8 and water and we were rolling out again. Luckily we were in the middle of the town and the speed limit was 35 so the trucks and all the classic cars rolling through had to slow down. Then the clouds parted and the rainbows sparkled! We got to turn off and all the traffic went straight. I think I smiled from ear to ear!

From then on it was farmland and trees. Mark let out a hoot when we got to Palestine because that was the last community before Forrest City. As we rolled me knee went south. First time I've ever had knee problems on a bike. If I stopped pedaling it was fine but when I would pedal more it would scream at me. I started playing games with myself and thinking of my buds who push their bodies to the limits and keep going. So here's the list I have to thank for telling me tales of suffering to get through an event: Dr. Taylor, Dr. Lyle, DWonn, Mike Mitchell, Yale, Chris I., Rebecca, Shawkitty, Jo, Vince, Comm, Tracy, Bolder, Boomer, Wes, and JBar. Yes, I really did think about each of you and something you had said that stuck in my mind Thanks for the pull!

We were riding (or in this case limping) along and we spot the bridge on the horizon (you can see it in the photo), the most beautiful site I've ever laid eyes on! Then an even more beautiful site comes rolling up... Terri, my wife! We told her we just had to ride to the bridge and Mark's car was stashed at a store right there. Suddenly I had energy and felt much better. It always charges me up when I see Terri during my rides. Actually, she charges me up all the time. Yep, I'm a lucky guy! Between seeing her and Mark hooting and hollering life become good again!
We rolled into the parking lot and Terri had cold drinks and Mark had iced down Gatorade in his car the night before. It was so cold and felt so good.Bolder, hope you don't mind but I'm gonna steal an idea from you. Bolder has a Good, Bad, and ugly section on his blog so I'm going to have one this time.

Good: Coach Mark, Man I cannot thank you enough for all you do! You're an awesome coach!
Carti ride and the energy of the riders and volunteers! Great Job!
Hampton Inn in Bartlett, TN. Spotless and friendly as every Hampton Inn I've been to.
Hazen, you guys rock!
JB Hunt trucking, thanks guys for slowing way down and getting in the other lane. You guys are true pros.

Bad: No shoulder on Hwy 70 for 4 miles. What's up with that?!
The bathroom in Brinkley. No doorknob and the bathroom is in the front of the store. Yes, there was a huge hole where the doorknob was supposed to be but I was passed the caring stage! HA!

Ugly: A certain trucking company that I have written a stern letter to... it's back to driving school for a refresher course.

After getting cleaned up at Hampton Inn in Bartlett (2 thumbs up!) We had dinner at Bahama Breeze (2 thumbs up), spent some time wandering around the mall and Barnes and Noble. Then finally the day was done! Terri told me this morning that she thinks that was the fastest I had ever fallen asleep. She said I was out cold within 60 seconds....she was serious! Hey, I was a tired but happy puppy!
Distance: 103.53 miles
Average speed: 16.4

Clock's ticking....

2007-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well here we go folks... clock's ticking towards the weekend! I'm hearing Loverboy's 80's hit "Everybody's working for the weekend!" Yeah yeah yeah, call me Mr. VH1 I don't care! HA!

I'm flying solo for a couple days this week as Evie is on vacation this week and Julie flew to Orlando for the Child Life conference. They are great though because they had everything all lined out before they left so it's been really busy but things are running smooth!

I'm going to pick up my packet for the Carti Tour de Rock today at lunch. The ride is tomorrow and the reregistered number of riders is a mind blowing 530!! Way to go Carti! I have a huge respect for Jennifer and the crew over there. I'm glad that ACH is the sponsor for the Family Ride tomorrow with them. ACH and Carti... yep, that's like world peace right there!

You know I told you about all the celebs we have that come to visit? Well yesterday one of my favorite came! Oh yeah, this one is so fine! Like a piece of dark chocolate! Oh wait, it was dark chocolate!! You got it .. the Heresy Kiss Mobile came for a visit! After lunch Dee and Margie from Benefits and myself walked across the parking lot and took it as a photo op. Thank you Heresy for making the day of some kids at ACH!
Ok, the ride plans for the weekend: Start with the Carti ride at 7:30 in the morning then jump off the route about halfway and work it over to Hwy 70 for a ride to West Memphis. Coach Mark and I are driving over to Forrest City after work to take his car and he will ride to there tomorrow. I'll ride another 37 miles to West Memphis if the buzzards don't carry me off first. Terri will pick me up in West Memphis and we'll wine and dine over there and return home Sunday.
Oh the new ACH jersey is due to arrive next week as well as the event t-shirt! I'm giddy as a kid at Christmas! WOOOHOOOO!!!!
Y'all have an awesome weekend and thanks for reading!
Geo

A note from Chris Irons

2007-06-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

Chris and Rebecca Irons

A note from Chris:

The opportunity to participate in a great cause, doing something you love with great people, doesn't come along often. I have ridden many miles with my good friend Geo. I can't think of a better reason for the two of us to add more miles to this friendship. Arkansas Children's Hospital provides the greatest of services. I have a close family member who spent time working in the Emergency Room. She would talk about the heart breaking moments when the children would arrive. It would bring a tear to your eyes as you listened to those stories. The stories about the miracles performed were just as emotional. What greater cause can you support, than one that takes care of our children?

For those of you who don't know, Chris and Rebecca will be riding the River 2 River with me. He and Rebecca are as good as you get! Some of you UAMS folks might recognize Rebecca... Residents, y'all remember those chair massages? Yep, that's her. They trained with me a lot getting ready for the ride and they've taken a few days off to go to the Ozarks and ride the mountains. Yep, they're a little nuts too!

From the bottom of my heart... Thank you Chris and Rebecca!

THE ROUTE

2007-06-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

River 2 River route
Milage
A Ride for Arkansas Children's Hospital
From Fort Smith (Arkansas River) to West Memphis (Mississippi River)
June 28th Start time 5 a.m.
Holiday Inn
Turn right out of drive and continue down Rogers Ave to Arkansas River
Over the bridge and under.
Stop or unload in warehouse area
Over Arkansas River Bridge into Arkansas
Fort Smith:
Turn left on 11th Street (This is one way and will turn into Hwy 64)
Over bridge into Van Buren 6
Mulberry 19
Ozark 14
Altus 5
Coal Hill 5
Hartman 3
Clarksville 9
Knoxville 10
London 8
Russellville 8
Atkins 13
Morrilton 13
Plumerville 6
Menifee 5
Conway 9
Mayflower 10
Maumelle 9
THE BDB 6
Down Rebsamen on bike route 0
turn right on North Cross 0
turn right on Capitol 0
turn right on Woodlane 0
turn right on Maryland 0
Go to front of ACH 3
Head back to Broadway bridge 0
North Little Rock 2
East Broadway 0
turn right to Lynch Drive 0
To Faulkner Lake Road 0
To North Walkers Corner 0
turn right onto Hwy 70 0
Lonoke 23
Carlise 9
Hazen 10
Brinkley 25
Biscoe 14
Wheatley 20
Goodwin 5
Forrest City 15
West Memphis 37
In West Memphis turn right on South 8th street and follow to river. 2

TOTAL MILES 323

Wednesday morning buzz...

2007-06-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

Quick hit before heading to the office this morning.

I rode the north side of the river last evening and had a nice solo thing going on then I had something happen that completely blew my mind.

While crossing the long wooden bridge down by the Burn's Park boat ramp I had a guy fly past me on the right... on the bridge. Man, that was some careless and dangerous riding!! All the good local riders know that bridge is barely wide enough for one bike and to zip across and go under a rider is plain stupid! Here's the weird part. I looked back before crossing the bridge and there was no one behind me then whoa, there he was. If he is reading this... hey fella, that was just lame riding on your part. Wise up before you hurt someone out there!

Ok, I'm off the soapbox now... the rest of the ride was fun. Lots of families out and spotted a couple of ACH folks out riding and saw a lot more heading to the Travelers game last night. I had forgotten all about that it was the rescheduled ACH night at the Travelers game. Hope you guys had a great time!

06.05.07 Check out UNITRON!

2007-06-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hey River Readers!

Check out this awesome web site! It's the kids section from Unitron. these guys made my hearing aid and changed my life! They do awesome stuff for kids!
http://www.kidsklub.unitron.com/kidsklub.html

Also if you think you may need a hearing aid these guys have some of the coolest technology around. Check out the hearing aid called Moxi (http://www.unitronhearing.us/ccus/professionals/products_us/moxi.htm)!! Very high tech looking.

I love how everyone walks around these days wearing ear pieces and calling them cell phones! I've been wearing ear pieces for years now! HA!

Quick hit Monday

2007-06-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Nothing since Saturday. Serious, I was blown after that ride. Happens sometimes. Took today off and spent the day in Benton helping my parents. Mom had cornea transplant last week. She is doing great but it was like being in a room with someone who has a hangover... dim those lights! HA! By the end of the day she was doing a lot better and even reading the newspaper. Dad and I sat out on the front porch and talked all afternoon and watched the word go by. When I got home tonight I checked and had 28 voicemails and 89 emails.

Should be out on the bike Tuesday afternoon for an easy ride since I'll do mega miles on Saturday.

Saturday 06.03.07

2007-06-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Arkansas morning! Left the house and rode over to the Burn's Park socceer fields and met up with a bunch of riders to do the last Carti training ride. Sort of sad that this was the last one because it's been a lot of fun! Chris Irons stood in the back of a truck and preached to the riders. They even had these great lamanated cue cards for everyone.

Ran into a couple old ACH buds in the crowd. Dr. Paul from the ACH Eye Clinic was sporting a awesome Orbea Orca test bike from Chainwheel!! Oh man, let me tell you! It was a beauty and fast indeed! Also in the crowd were James Gaston and Keith Moore. Both are strong riders and always fun to ride with.

We rolled out and headed toward Keo and the group was on fire! I worked my way up toward the front and was determed to stay with the front group. I did fine until we got to the train tracks and I have to snail speed across them. I flipped a couple of years ago on these same tracks doing end over end at 27mph. I've been gun shy crossing them since.

Once I crossed the tracks I pressed on and did my best to regain my spot but several passed me at the tracks. By the time we had our first rest stop I had done ok but never made it to the pull position. One friend said when we stopped, "I looked down and I was going 26mph and I thought to myself, why?" I just grinned and said, "Becuz itza lotta fun!"

When roll out and head toward Keo, our mid-way point a break away group formed and I just sat in the second group. We were doing great but that guy thing took over. I pulled out and sprinted to catch the breakaway and I hit 33mph and was still not catching them. Geesh! I kept it at 25 for what seemed forever and then I blew. Blew so bad the second group caught me then passed me. I sat on the back for a moment then me and my bud Brandon (Our hospital Alltel rep) rolled along at a social pace to the mid-point.

On the way back we rode together at a social pace (18mph) and talked. I've known Brandon and his family for years and they are as good as it gets.

Note to Coach Mark: I know, I know it was supposed to be recovery.

Next weekend is gonna be great because I start with the Carti ride on Saturday morning and break off and ride to West Memphis then Terri and I are going to hang out in Memphis for the night.

All in all it was a great ride!

Friday quick hit

2007-06-01T06:23:00.000-07:00

About to head to the office for a busy day but took the night off from training to go see Cirque de Soleil's Delirium at Alltel last night. So cool! I took Emmy with me and we had a blast. She kept telling me thanks for taking her.

Plans are falling in place for the weekend and it looks like a CARTI training ride and this weekend will be recovery weekend menaing a max of about 4 hours tomorrow and 3 on Sunday. Should end the weekend with about 70 miles total.

Next weekend things are falling in place to start off with the Carti Tour de Rock (http://carti.com/index.php?fuseaction=p0010.view&mod=50&rec_id=14) but jump off in mid course and ride on to West Memphis where Terri will pick me up and kidnap me for the rest of the weekend over to Memphis! Coach Mark will be riding with me to Forrest City it looks like.

Bring on the weekend!

2007-05-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Sort of sad how I live for the weekends huh?! Nah!

Awww right, here's the rest of the week stuff.

Thursday evening: River trail riding with the gang. Coach says, "I don't want to see you out there hammering! Save the legs for the weekend."

Friday: Bike cleaning if my wife and I don't have a date night... we usually do. Hey, y'all ever been to Roma in Jacksonville? Oh man, it's tha bomb!!!

Saturday: Last CARTI training ride. 8 a.m. at Burn's Park soccer fields. Next Saturday is the Tour de Rock that CARTI does and it's an all out blast! ACH also has a family ride in connection with it. This last training ride will be for 45 miles. The course next weekend for the actual ride is 50. This has been a lot of fun to train with because some of these riders are riding their first 50 mile ride. That's so awesome! It's the Little Rock Marathon on bikes for them. I so proud of those folks!

After the CARTI ride I'll either keep riding for the remainder of the day or I'll ask my coach to flip my recovery weekend and let this be recovery weekend and next weekend ride to Memphis. I would start with the Tour de Rock but jump the course and keeping on riding. Just like my sponsor dudes Energizer... just keep going and going! I need to ride that part of the course and Terri and I have talked about her picking me up in West Memphis and jumping the river and playing in Memphis for the weekend. I guess I could go really crazy and ride back to Sherwood. the next day.

ACH story: The other day I was walking over to Java City (Y'all stop laughing!) and there was a guy sitting outside in the reflecting pool area. He was talking on the cell phone and had his head down. He was crying. Nothing breaks my heart more than seeing a parent cry. I guess sometimes folks think we all just get used to it but we have too much compassion and there are many of us who have been at ACH for years and still get choked up. That's what makes us the best!

Thanks for reading! If you are just jumping on to reading the blog...welcome to River 2 River!

Later y'all!

Geo.

To donate go to www.archildrens.org and click on "DONATE NOW"

or send your check to:

Arkansas Children's Hospital Foundation

River 2 River Ride

800 Marshall Street

Little Rock, AR 72120

Then later that day...

2007-05-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hey River Readers!

Yep, I still feel great even after yesterday! I've heard from all but one of the riders and everyone seems to be doing great! We all agreeed that it was good to have had a real long ride to iron out kinks and listen to what our bodies were telling us.

Here's some things we learned:
Keep a nice social pace and you can ride forever.

Eat light but eat often

Drink up!

Make sure those shorts fit.

Sunscreen is a beautiful thing! Just don't wipe your hands on the back of your shorts or your have white hand prints on your rear.

Sunglasses are a must. You should see my eyes today! Dracula red! Bad Geo bad!

Laugh and sing songs.

Laugh at yourself.

Surround yourself with good people and you won't notice when you get tired.

Take a friends advice.

Folks, I am getting so excited now about the ride! The training yesterday just boosted my confidence level 100%

We did it! Training ride to Russellville and back!

2007-05-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

Jack, Me, Rebecca, Coach Mark, Chris, Jim, Razz, Marvin, Keith H,

Shawdawg, Shawkitty, Everyone's Mom and Yale

Heading out from Cook's Landing

Proof that we were really there!

We did it! We went to Russellville and back yesterday and I logged 147.87 miles!

12 of us started out at Cook's Landing and rode through Maumelle, Mayflower, Conway, Menifee, Plumerville were we were met by Yale's mom and her husband Jack. They are the most awesome folks! We had cold drinks, and fruit as well as cold water soaked towels.

Several were only planning to ride to Conway and back but everyone was feeling so good they stayed with us until Plumerville. 5 of us headed on out and by the time we got to Russellville it was the perfect time to stop. We all felt great but were ready for a break.

We crowded around an outdoor picnic table at McDonalds. I was as nervous at that point more than any other time on the ride. I usually can't eat a meal on a long ride. My tummy hates it but I knew I had to eat something so I got a fish sandwich without the tartar sauce and drank a Sprite. I worked with no problems at all!

We then reloaded our water bottles with cold drinks and hit the road for the ride home. One of my bottles had water and the other had green tea. I love that stuff and it has a calming effect on me. I usually drink it with my lunch at the office. Sweet tea does the same thing.

We rode into the wind and worked as a team taking turns at the front pulling. At times we would be rocking along at 18-20 then others when the wind would gust we could be seen going 14mph. The ride ended with and average of 16.6mph. My actual ride is set at 15 mph so I really felt good about that.

I did get a cramp just outside of Morriton but it quickly went away as I took a replacement cap.

As we rolled into Morrilton everything was closed except the Big Star grocery store so we loaded up on water and ice and Yale picked up a 6 pack of small V8 drinks. He stands by those as the drink to have when riding long rides. Again I decided to experiment with something while hot and getting tired. I drank the V8 and it was awesome! I had no idea those tasted so good! I'm hooked! Thanks Yale!

My coach had also given me a drink mix to try. It was great and I could tell between the drink mix and the V8 that I was going to do good the rest of the ride. Thanks Mark!

We rolled on pushing through the winds. They weren't wicked but just enough to make you wish they weren't blowing. I was excited as we rounded a curve to spot the hill that takes us back into Conway. It was one of those "almost home" feelings you get after a long trip.

We stopped at the Citgo (sp?) station on Tyler and Hogan St and we were all just having a great time. Everyone was still feeling good with over a hundred miles already behind us. Yale's mom comes driving in and what do they have? Cold drinks!! I had another almost frozen V8 drink and I was so good!

We then headed toward Mayflower and stopped on the side of the road for just a moment and rolled on to Maumelle. I remembered the hills just before Maumelle and the last one before the turn onto Maumelle Blvd smacked me up the side of the head. I was glad that that would be one of the last hills on the actual long ride on June 28th!

We got back to Cook's Landing and everyone was smiling from ear to ear! We had done it! Yale opened the back of his Element and there sat an ice chest! We had cold drinks and Yale made turkey sandwich halves with a thin slice of dill pickle. I laughed and told him it was the best sandwich I had ever eaten! We chased it with huge strawberries and blueberries!

All in all it was a fantastic day with great friends... great memories and great training! My hat's off to the greatest friends in the world for coming out and riding this! Yale, Ironman, Rebecca (Mrs. Ironman) and Razz... they stayed with me the WHOLE ride. Shawdawg, Shawkitty, Jim A, Coach Mark, Keith (Hey, you smell really nice! HA!) H., Robert, and fearless Marvin ... you guys rock!

Sunday

2007-05-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

Great weekend so far! Met up with friends and rode some of the Carti training ride but a few of us had a late roll out due to a flat among our group. We caught up with the back of the group and then we got off track somewhere along the way. Still had a good time.

This afternoon I drove from Maumelle to Conway to check the route I will be riding tomorrow. There are several of us going out in the morning and riding the day out on the course. I'm looking forward to time on the actual course.

If all goes well then I will log 142 miles tomorrow. Tough day ahead but it's a good route that almost runs right along the interstate and there a small c-stores dotting the route as well so if anything were to happen to any of the riders it wouldn't be hard for a family member to pick him/her up.

Memorial Weekend just ahead

2007-05-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

Well awwwwright! The weekend is about to start so this is a quick hit!
Tomorrow finds me at 8am at Burn's Park soccer fields to meet up with riders doing the CARTI training ride. We've been having a lot of fun on these rides! Planning on riding out to the farmlands toward England. I have a great sponsor out that way -- DELTA GROWS. Everyone who knows me knows I love the farmlands.

Sunday is an easy ride and then... Monday....
143 mile ride from North Little Rock to Russellville and back. I love it love it love it!!

Have a great Friday y'all!
Geo.

Honored

2007-05-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Remember when I was laughing about the Governor's Office calling mine? Look what came in the mail yesterday! It's the appointment letter from Governor Mike Bebee for the advisory board of infant hearing. What an honor!

5.23.07 Part II

2007-05-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Work day over and clipped in and rode to the house. Well not straight home. I rode along the river and got 15 in before heading to the house. Saw JBar out crankin'. Good ride and good wind most of the time. The one real climb on the way home was met with a pushy snot headwind. Nothing like a shoulderless road, lots of traffic, a hill, headwind, and the Cow God. But hey, I survived. I keep telling friends about riding to the Cow God. I'll take a photo of what I'm talking about this weekend and post it. There is a meat warehouse on top of this hill and it has a huge black angus cow on the roof. One day a year ago I was really hot, tired and bonking to the hilt and it was like the cow was putting some evil curse on me. It was one of those sweat in your eyes and stinging like crazy sort of days. Since then I've called it the Cow God. When I climb that hill I won't look up because it's head turns a looks at me and it's eyes turn red. Ok, I'm lying but it sounds cool huh?! Speaking of things comin' to life -- Transformers the Movie comes out July 4th! Oh Yeah!!

Anyway, the ride home was good and it was one of those rides where when you stop and every sweat gland explodes. I was sweating a river!

Ok so the weekend plans (hey, it's Wednesday night! Long weekend is almost here!)
Coach tells me to save the legs... I tell him he's a pain in the butt some days. So I'll save the riding for the weekend... maybe. (I see Coach M. rolling his eyes! HA!)

Thursday: Maybe easy spin
Friday: No ride
Saturday: House -- Carti Training Ride -- not with the front group since I'm saving the legs.
Sunday: Easy spin
Monday: (Fasten the seat belt baby cakes here we go!!!) Cook's Landing and on wheels at 7am for a ride to Russellville and back for about 143 miles. Several folks are going. Some all the way out and back and some part. It will be steady and easy pace due to the distance. Ya wanna ride with us a bit? Come on out and feel tha loooove!

Hey, check this out -- Coach M likes Blue Coast Burrito's Fish Tacos and Baha Tea. I knew there's was something about this guy. Blue Coast owner lives just down the hill from us too. I need to get them on as a sponsor. My family thinks I'm the only person that likes fish tacos.

Don't forget to go over to www.archildrens.org and make a donation to the ride or send a check to the hospital for the ride! Man, it's a tax write off and you know you need it so send a lot!

Well awww-right, I'm outta here!
Geo.

Wednesday 5.23.07

2007-05-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

Rockin' Mount Nebo!

The Rock and Republic pro racing team is awesome!

Sorry, forgot to post Sunday. I went to Mt Nebo to watch the pro's race. Found a new team to cheer on -- Rock and Republic (www.rockracing.com).

Monday -- Pop up rain shower. Weirdest thing happend. I was sitting in the den and started to get up and I couldn't. Serious, on my knees couldn't sort of stuff. Felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat. I'm all bent over and walking like an old person. It was sore most of the night but I was able to sleep and woke without any pain. Maybe it was just a catch or something. Never had that before and don't want it again.

Tuesday -- Plan was to ride home from the hospital. Storm came up. Daughter's car in the shop,they called and said 4 days and over $1,000. I gave her my Explorer and Went to Enterprise and picked up a truck for the week. Yep, I'm a manly man now with a truck. Only the truck bed is too short for the bike so I had to turn the wheel and lay it down. I was able to get out and ride after the storm past. It was one of those cool, humid rides and a fast 24 miler.

Today -- lunch almost over and I'm riding to the house after work if no rain. Plan to get some miles in and maybe ride tomorrow too. In-laws coming in from FL (They live there) so plans may change.

Oh hey Phonak will be here tomorrow with test gear! Oh yeah!!!

Funds are coming in for the kids and we are 5 days from the 1 month count down. I have one more large batch of letters that need to go out and will work those over the long weekend.

Saturday

2007-05-19T15:04:00.001-07:00

Woke to a crisp 48 degree sunrise this morning. Not sure why I woke so early but was glad a did. I had time to eat and let it digest before riding. I rolled out at 7:20 and met the Carti riders for an 8am ride leaving Burns Park and heading out to the farmlands and Scott community.I

t is a training ride and some of the riders are new so there is a little antsy feeling going on in the middle of the group. Everyone was having a good time and the morning was just beautiful. I took off my wind shirt when I got to Burns because it warmed up pretty fast on the ride in.

We kept it at about 17-18mph on the way out until a couple of guys took off. I was in mid-pack and couldn't seem to get a break long enough to chase. The front group got about 50 yards ahead and stayed there until the first rest stop for regrouping.

After the break we headed towards Scott and I was right behind JBar and Keith H for the lead out. Next thing I know a dude on a bike with areo bars came flying by and of course that set the stage. We go! There is a breakaway group and I'm a few behind and I thought areo-bar-man was going to keep it going but he blew. 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17 Ok, I gotta pick up a bit so I go out and around and me and a doc from the hospital cruise on out at 22. I pulled and pulled and pulled and then I couldn't figure out if they turned and they didn't but when I slowed down doc thought I was blown and whizzed around and I jumped behind to cruise on in to regroup area #2.

On the way back we caught a little head wind but not bad since we got to turn and then had great tailwind pushing us along. I rode with Dan H for a bit and we talked about his trip (cruise) he had just taken. One of the stops was Jamacia. I asked him if he liked it and he said no. I was surprised because all the commercials they run on the tube make it look great. Said the people aren't friendly. Ok, I'll mark Jamacia off the list as places I want to go.

I headed on to try and jump on the front group but was back to far and the wind was acting a fool! Paul B and I got us a little train going on and cruise at 23 on into NLR. Paul is a great guy to be around and I always enjoy my rides with him. Same with Dan H. Just good guys.

After the ride we all stood around sharing stories of wind, attacks, some car that flipped off the front group, etc. Then I headed on to Sherwood to the house. Rolled in at a little after 11.

Ended the morning with 55.43 and a 17.6 average speed. Should have been higher but had headwind and a big hill on the way home. All in all it was a most excellent day mate!

Photos from Rubicon ride

2007-05-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of Rubes with Jenn, Razz and Jo

The photos below were all taken by Diane B.

Zippin' down Ft Roots

The crowd riding through Riverfront Park in North Little Rock

Listen up! There's JBar in the yellow with the black crow on it, Jo and me.

Mayor Hayes. Yep, our mayor rides.

Police dudes tellin' us not to pop wheelies.

Another Dime???

2007-05-18T12:25:00.001-07:00

Hope y'all know how to ride your bikes 'cause gas has gone from $2.70 to 3.15 and then to 3.25 and as high as 3.35 around the city!!

I know I know...

2007-05-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

I know I know... I've gone into blog-slackerville! I'll update this afternoon... I hope.

We interupt this silence with a post...

2007-05-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

So gang, it's been a busy time at the office and Em was using the home laptop for school work.

Ok, update since Saturday's ride, lemme see...
I woke Sunday feeling like I hadn't ridden the bike the day before. I felt great! I really wanted to spend the afternoon out riding but I knew I needed to work around the house cutting grass and cleaning the garage. Y’all ever do that? I didn’t think so! HA!

Last night it rained – yep, another one of those pop up afternoon showers.

I was asked to speak at the Soundstart conference this afternoon. What an honor! It’s a conference for parents with deaf or hearing impaired kids. My part was the, “Don’t let a hearing impairment stop your child from being whatever they want to be!”

Team Rubicon is parked right out here in the parking lot right now! They are in visiting the cancer kids! I haven’t gotten to met them but they will host a ride at 5:30 today. I’ll be there! I see them now!! They are heading to the van.

OK, y’all aren’t going to believe this. When I went home yesterday they were right beside me but the team car says “Russ” on the side. I thought it was another team in town. Dang, they were in my neighborhood! Geo, you dork!

Oh well, more tonight…

Great day for a ride!

2007-05-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

It was an awesome training day! I left the house and rode down to the river then out to the farmlands. I rode through England then planned to ride even further out but it was getting sort of like it was trying to build those spotty rain showers again so I headed back to North Little Rock. The corn was knee high, the wheat was ready and the rice was just starting and the snakes were everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. All kinds and sizes. All dead in the road. There was a swamp that I passed and I'm not sure what the splash was but it was a big animal. I kept thinking it might have been one of the alligators the Game and Fish have been talking about. we have them so bad now that there will be a first ever alligator hunting season this fall. But the air was filled with Magnolia, honeysuckle and several other smells that just made me so glad to be alive and able to enjoy the ride. Funny story: while I was out on the farmlands I could hear something and glanced over my shoulder to what I thought was a oncoming car but it was a whole herd of Carve riders ou for their training ride. They had a huge group. Always a bunch of friendly guys. They turned on Honey Road and I went straight to head on out to England.

Just as I get back to the river the BUZZ BBQ was in full swing! Oh man did it smell good! I rode a bit longer then stopped by my office and dined on Cheese Peanut butter crackers and an oatmeal cream pie. At first I thought the Little Debbie snack was going to make me ill because my tummy kicked a few seconds afterwards buy I strectched out for a few moments and was was well. I got back on the bike and headed out. 82 miles, not bad. I was in the office 17 minutes but it seemed like a lot longer.

I headed back over the Broadway bridge and over to the soccer fields to met up with friends for the CARTI training ride. I was feeling really refreshed and ready for more riding which was a big confidence booster! There are 2 groups and my buds talked me into going with them. When we hit 20-22 mph I thought this was a bad idea. I told Shawdawg and Shawkitty (yep, they are married) than if they dropped me not to wait. Dawg gave me the smile and said they weren't planning on waiting! We laughed and I told him I'd put a garage sale sign in their yard! They just put there house up for sell about an hour before they came. I hope it sells fast for them!

Any way we had a great ride and even went through a bust rain shower that lasted about a minue and a half but it was fairly hard. I stopped under a tree to drop my hearing aid into a zip lock. Nope, not getting that thing wet!

I rolled over 104 miles by the time I was home. I felt good all day. I mean ready good! When I got home and cleaned up I was feeling the love. I had a juice glass of Java Chocolate milk which set a little off with the tummy. Guess I ought to cool off a tad before drinking that stuff. But once I showered I felt good. I wasn't expecting that at all. I didn't feel any where near this good last Saturday after the ride.

Here's a few things I did different. I kept my gears in the small ring on the front most of the day. This was a coach trick and I think it worked. I love the big ring but it seemed to tire me out a lot faster. I drank FRS as my supplement drink. Yes, I really believe in the stuff. I rode solo all morning and kept it around 17 except for a short stretch on the farmlands where the wind was beating up on me and dropped to 14 at times. Wind is wind and if your solo riding it's going to slow you down. I rode with friends in the afternoon which seemed to help build up my confidence as well as allowed for a draft and get my speed up a notch. Jenn, Chris, Yale, Keith, Marvin and Razz... thanks friends!!

We headed down to see my folks who had just come in from FL today. They had a perfect trip thanks to Cathy and Doug and perfect weather and water. Both seemed rested and happy. My sister Sherry came over and brought mom the biggest mothers day card I've EVER seen. It was poster board sized! She's a third plotter!!! (Family joke). It was just really nice to hang out with the folks and Shery and my little bratty sister Barbie and her husband Tim. Never a dull moment.

Ya'll call your momma or think of all the good things about your momma!

Quick hit heading into the weekend...

2007-05-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

Ok blog-o-nites and blog-o-nettes here we go with the weekend... Starts in 20 minutes!

Eat out with the wife for dinner. Go to Home Depot and maybe to Barney Nobels.
Home and check over bike. If eat and then home then I'll mow the yard then tell the neighborhood he needs to mow his. He he he.

Goal for the night: Stay away from the sweets!

Check over the bike. Bottles in the freezer. Put gear in the office so I don't wake anyone up in the morning.

On bike around 7 to Cook's, then out around the Cartin training loop or maybe longer. Back to the river. Stop by Murray Park to say howdt to BACA folks I've not seen in a year. Now that's really sad huh?! Over to the office if needed to break a moment and eat lunch if it's time. Back to river and ride until start of CARTI training ride (it's on Saturday at 2 this week). Then just ride out the time until stopping at 10 hours. Yeah baby! 10 hours on the bike tomorrow! I will feel the love by the time it's over! HA!

Then I have to head to the house and go to Benton to see my mom if they are home from Florida. I saw a couple of live cameras from down there this week and the beach was perfect! The water looked like a pool! Super clear!

Let the weekend begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!
Have an awesome weekend friends!
Geee-oh!

It was just a pishhh shower

2007-05-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

The river trail

The river is raising but you can't keep the fisherman off the point.

It was really prettier in person. It was one of those spiritual looking sunsets where the rays of light shoot across the sky.

The family just hanging in the grass and chomping an occasional bug.

It turned out to be one of those pishhhhh showers. You know the kind that is sort of like when you turn the shower at home for a few seconds. Rained at the hospital but not at the house. Awww ya gotta love those summer showers.

So I geared up and headed out to ride. The womens running club was out and there most have been a 100 women running.

The river is way up and flooding a little. I was wondering if it was going to be over one of the smaller bike path bridges but everything was clear.

I did spot a small group of riders that it looked to be the Fast Girls Slow Guys club ride. They are now going so insanely fast that most folks can't really ride with them anymore. They are a racing club through and through. There is nothing at all wrong with that but they are way to fast for me and many of he riders from last year. I did see quite a few of last years riders out tonight.

I had been telling folks about all the duckings or gooselings or whatever you call baby geese. They are everywhere. I also saw a goose that looked as if it had been tangled in fishing line for a long time. It was limping pretty bad and I tried to get closed but it hopped away. I thought about calling my niece with the Game and Fish and ask them to see if they can retain it for a moment and just cut the line off. Just sort of pains me to see an animal in pain like that when it would be so easy to correct.

I rode down and back and down at a comfortable pace since coach will get me if I get caught riding fast just before an long weekend training ride. I plan to get an early start on Saturday morning and ride all day. I'm taking stuff to my office so I will have a place to stop and eat and take a short recovery. I'm looking forward to the training. The weekend calls for a 10 hour ride. Weeellll doggie, let's saddle up!

Tomorrow is TGIF and not a moment to soon!

Later y'all!

Geo.

Another afternoon shower??? Ahhh now come'on!

2007-05-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this mess? Every afternoon it has clouded up and thundered and blown and rained. I don't want to sit on the spin bike tonight and watch TV. I need to feel the air, smell the honeysuckle, blah blah blah!

Another afternoon training busted by storms

2007-05-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

Storms popping up. In fact loud thunder and big rain outside the office window. Bummer!

Hearing aid day #2

2007-05-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

This morning a funny thing happened. I almost walked out the door without my hearing. Hey, it is a habit ya know! I've had it on all day and people will walk by my office silly funny stuff and I'm responding and we all laugh. They seemed to all have gotten used to me being deaf. It's taking a minute for everyone get back to a "hearing" Geo.

I was fun hearing the TV last night. It was fun hearing Terri talking in he car on the way home from work. It was fun hearing the kids. I heard Sadie bark too! Now thinking back you have no idea how comical it was to watch Sadie bark but not hear it. Ok, it's funny now but not then.

Well, it's Wednesday afternoon which means it's the other side of the week and heading toward the weekend. I told Terri this morning that I have GOT to find time to ride more or I'm going to be in trouble come June 28th. She said, "Well why don't you take you're bike to work and ride home?" Why did she marry me? Smart marries dumb (She marries me). I really thought about heading out to the house and bringing the bike back and riding home. I'll just bring it with me tomorrow. As I look out of the office window the afternoon pop up storms are already building. Those guys didn't waste any time today.

Tomorrow is the big hospital ice cream party for hospital appreciation week. Semi's with ice cream come in and we get to build these giant sundaes and they give out hospital wear like polo shirts and such. There is usually music blasting and someone will always start dancing. Usually someone who can't dance. Hey, it's a large office party, what can I say. All the elements of a TV sitcom. Oh well, everyone seems to always have fun.

Weekend ride this weekend is a 10 hour training ride! That's something like 7am to 5pm will be spent on the bike training. this time I'm planning a little different. I think I'll ride from home and go to the farmlands, which by the way they are building a shopping center out that way. Ride the farmlands for a while, come back and ride along the river, Maumelle, back to river, to my office and eat and break a moment (20-30 minutes at the very most). Then start riding along the river some more then maybe the CARTI training ride route, which is heading out to the farmlands again but not as far. Then I'm not sure. Since I have my hearing back I can go out on long rides away from normal spots and not worry.

Special shout out to my blogging buddy WES -- Congrats on your first Tri! And you've signed up for how many more already?! HA! You sound like some of these guys around here! Hooks you more than Meth!

Well, lunch is over... sigh...

RE-WIRED & HEARING!!!

2007-05-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Oh this is so good! But y’all everything is sort of loud in the world of the hearing folks!

Yep, today Dr. D checked the ear and poked around and even shot purple dye down into my ear canal and then said, “Do you want to put your hearing aid on?” I did and he was standing there with Dr. Smith and started talking and I jumped. Hold everything!! I haven’t even turned up the aid yet and it’s too loud?!! WHA??!!! Oh my gosh, is there going to be this big of a difference? There were smiles all around the room then he gave me the pep talk and the caution talk as well.

I then went across the hall to Mary Martha’s office and she made a new ear impression for a new ear mold. I’ll have a new one with the air vent so I can let the heat and moisture out when I’m training. That was the caution part. I’m still really in the infection zone right now so I have to continue the drops every night and clean with alcohol. That’s doable.

I told Mary Martha that I didn’t realize her office was so loud. She has an air vent and a return in her office and it sounds like you are sitting in a jet. She was telling me that it’s hard for people with hearing impairment to hear in there because of that.

The rest of the afternoon was spent much like the first day I got my new hearing aid learning sounds. When a coworker in the next office coughed this afternoon it sounded as though it was in my ear! No, I didn’t have it turned up.

I was really hoping to get out and test sound on the bike this afternoon but once again the afternoon pop up thunderstorms are rolling through. I can hear thunder so I’m not going out. Instead I’ll work on donor letters tonight.

Ok, so what did I learn from this experience? I learned that I’m not as strong in the fact of sickness as I thought I was. I wondered if it would have been something that was going to be permanent if I would have handled it different? I didn’t have to learn sign language even though I think I will now. I saw the world in a different way. No one meant to but it is a world of isolation sometimes. Many people have no idea how exhausting it was to sit through a simple meeting. People naturally turn their heads while they talk but when you are forced to read lips it can wreck you. Some people don’t move their mouths very much so it’s hard to follow there speech. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just hard to keep up.

So it makes me think really hard about this ride and what it means. I wondered if after the recovery period if I’ll have a different outlook on the ride and how I can help those kids that can’t hear … oh boy, you have no idea how it has changed me! No idea!

All for the kids!
Geo.

Sunday ride recap

2007-05-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

I always forget the beauty of sunsets while riding. I waited today to ride after 6pm. It was crowded with walkers, runners and family bikes. Everyone having fun and wrapping up the weekend.

I kept a brisk pace of 17-18 and knocked down 27 miles quickly. The sunset was awesome! I really wanted to ride up on the BDB and lean on the rail and watch.

Legs felt good.

Plan for the week is to get a good ride in Tuesday. An easy ride one other evening and another long distance on Saturday. I think I add another hour this week which would be 10 hours of riding. But hey I'll be plugged in and can hear so I'll ride to who knows where!

I get to plug in tomorrow a little after 1pm and it's like waiting on Santa. Actually it's more like having the present you always wanted under the tree and you've started to lift the corner of the wrapping paper but then didn't. that's exactly what I did today! I started to lift the wrapping paper. I am so excited that this morning I got out my hearing aid and put it in the nice case and brought it to work. About mid morning I look over and there it is sitting on the corner of my desk. I simply couldn't stand it any longer and I opened the case, put a battery in and put it up to my ear. I needed to push it on in and as I was doing it, something just didn't feel right and I stopped and closed everything back up. It will be fine I told myself. it's just the odd feeling of not having worn a hearing aid in weeks. OK, I'm under 24 hours to being a hearing person again. You have NO idea how exciting this is...

Saturday -- Long ride recap

2007-05-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Oh where to start???How about opening the garage door?Yep, that ‘s a good place… Ok, so it’s Saturday morning and I plan to meet Brandon in the bowling alley parking lot about 5 minute downhill ride from the house. I open the garage door and what do I feel? Sprinkles and the road is damp. Oh no no no! Mr. Weather guy said a nice day was on tap. I walk back in and flip the tube on and no rain around. Says it’s high fog and will burn off about midmorning.I met up with Brandon and we head toward the river. I was feeling good. We ride the river and meet up with Keith on the bridge and head down the LR side.1st stop was Central High. (http://www.nps.gov/chsc/) for an insiders look. Brandon’s folks work there so he gave us some cool facts. I felt excited and ashamed at the same time. Excited that I was seeing it close up for the first time and ashamed that this was my first time to visit this historic place. It’s huge! My goal this week is to find out what the 4 statues are on the front of the building. Who are they and what do they mean?

There is a Mobil gas station that is a museum and then across the street is a memorial time line. As I was looking at the photo on the timeline, I was looking at the Mobil station and then as I looked up I was looking straight at it in real life and it’s exactly as the photo from 1957.

Afterwards we rode over to the hospital expecting the Miracle Walk to be coming around but they were still over at the capitol doing the rah-rah stuff so we rode over there. We got to the start point and over to the side and off they go. I was a walk and not a race but the kids at the front were running to keep up with the pace car who slowed way down when he saw this.

Next was a ride through the heart of downtown and over to the Heifer Project. Keith told us about the building and I didn’t pick up all of the conversation but the put I did was really neat. I plan to get him back over there sometime when I can hear so I can get all the details.

Ok, play was over and it was really past time to get some long riding time in. We rode back to the BDB and Keith pulled out to ride home. He had already been running that morning. JMar had jumped in and rode with us a while. Then we headed over the BDB and he jumped out at Cook’s where his car was. He had already been on a farmlands ride (a fast one at that!).

Brandon and I rode out to Maumelle and at the turnaround I told Brandon I was going to get a little cash out of the ATM. So here I am doing that and not really watching what Brandon’s doing. It’s a Saturday and even though there were no cars going through the bank was open but he didn’t know that. He’s over there pushing the buttons and the canister goes flying up the tube then the voice comes on to ask if he needed help! HA!!

We take a back road back through Maumelle and it’s great because the wind has picked up and it would have been some stiff headwind coming back but it wasn’t bad since we were hidden in the trees.

The rest of the day was ride, ride, and ride. Brandon rode on home about mid afternoon and I rode the river some more. It was nice and then it was not nice. I enjoyed having folks riding with me and when Brandon left I sort of didn’t know what to do with myself. What I mean is that while he was riding I didn’t have to worry about being a deaf rider because he knew where my phone was, he knows Terri, he could talk to other riders or let me know if cars were in the area. It made for a semi-stress-less ride with him around. Brandon, if you read this, thanks for riding most of the day!I finally rode over to my office and waited for Terri to pick me up. I was tired but felt a lot better just stopping in a cool place for a little bit.

When I got home I got cleaned up, ate and rested a bit then went out to the garage to check over the bike. I had been having computer problems on the bike and knew that I had 6 miles more than Brandon when he left off. I added and subtracted and then just sat there. Oh man, 99.7 miles! UGH!!!I still really enjoyed the ride and getting to learn about places around my own city. Thanks guys!

135 mile training ride

2007-05-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, everything is falling into place for my longest training so far for this event. Saturday is looking like prime weather for me to training. I do my best riding in 80 degree weather and tomorrow it will be in the 80's. I didn't want to leave Terri without a car so I'll ride from home and use my office as my stop and rest station. I can fill water bottles, eat, cool off, whatever right here and even make blog progress notes during the day.

Start time is about 7:00 from my house. I think there may be some other riders meeting me down on the river around 7:30 to ride along along for a bit. Then others when they come back in off the farmland rides. Should see a lot of friends tomorrow and looking forward to it!

These shoes are made for walking!

2007-05-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

Great way to start your Saturday morning! Weather is going to be perfect! Y'all come on out!

Sign up now for the 2007 Miracle Mile Walk benefiting ACH. The Walk is set for Saturday, May 5, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. ACH employees are encouraged to join representatives from Children’s Miracle Network National Sponsors in this one-mile walk, from the State Capitol to the campus of ACH and back, to raise funds and awareness for Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Registration is $25 per person (kids 12 and under are free). Registration opens at 7:00 a.m.; Walk begins at 9:00 a.m. Register online at http://www.miraclemilewalk.org/ or call 501-3641477.

If you are an ACH employee and will be on campus Saturday morning, please come out and cheer on the participants as they walk past the hospital. The group should begin walking down Marshall (in front of the hospital) at approximately 9:15 a.m. Please come out and cheer on the many people that are donating their time and resources to support ACH!

Come on weekend!

2007-05-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well friends we are getting closer to the weekend by the minute! I’m ready too! We were supposed to go over to Memphis to the Memphis in May music festival and I was going to get to see Wolfmother before they had back across the pond but due to not getting to put my hearing aid back in it looks to be a local weekend.

Emily turns 17 tomorrow. That is so hard to grasp. At times she’s my little girl and runs across the room and lands on my lap and at times she walks through the room as she’s about to go out looking better than any model that graced magazines. She can still make me laugh harder than anyone else. She can make me laugh until my tummy hurts. I have a year and a few months left before she goes off to college…sigh….

Ok, training… here we go! It’s going to be an eat and drink on the bike training. I’ll have some supplements (Endurolytes and Perpetuum) that I’ll be trying. One of the things long distance folks are told to do is get used to eating and riding. I read one account where a female long distance rider ate her meals while she was on a trainer. Nothing like a trainer at the dining room table! HA!

The plan is to ride the river for hours. It is actually for a 9 hour ride. I had planned to go up the road about an hour north of town and ride a charity ride (Plan B), Tour of the Wine Country but with no hearing aid, guess I best not. The ride is a charity ride for the hospital and a festival.

I’ve been planning my start time and want it to be around 8 a.m. and that gets me off the bike around 5p.m. Gee whiz, I’ll be riding a whole work day. If I keep at 15 mph pace for 9 hours that will be 135 miles. That’s the distance from Ft Smith to Cook’s Landing. Half of the ride for June 28th. I’m really hoping to some how get a chance to get up toward Ft Smith or even to Ft Smith and ride back before the actual ride. May be a nice thing to do for Memorial Day Monday. I usually ride from my house to Searcy and back on that Monday or that weekend for 90 miles but I think this year I’ll change it up.

Even though Dr. D asked me not to wear the hearing aid until Tuesday, I’ll honor that but boy it’s going to be a good mental exercise if I stay down on the river riding for hours with no sound, no music, etc etc… I still find it really funny that folks know I can’t hear but they will just talk and talk. I just do the best I can picking up bits and pieces. If you only knew what I thought some people have said!

Well, lunch is about over… back to work.

To donate to the River 2 River ride to help children with hearing impairments go to http://www.archildrens.org/ and click on the donate now button and note it's for the bike ride.

Later y’all!
Geo.

Should have done what they told me to do...

2007-04-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

I rode yesterday and it felt great so I ventured out for a real group ride and met up with the CARTI training ride at 2. John, Bandon, Jenny, Lauren, David and Blake (proud owner of the Allez!) were all there. Everyone for the most part knew I couldn't hear but I was still surprised I could communicate a little while riding. Brandon hung back with me a bit then I told him to go on I was fine. For some strange reason my throat was getting raw by the second. I would drink and not a few minutes later it was hurting again. I felt fine otherwise. We got to the regroup point and being temp-deaf really bites because I couldn't really cut up with the others.

We take off again and I am determined to stay with the front group on the way back. Another rider pulled up beside me and was telling me something about my bike. Oh great I thought, here I am completly deaf and I have a guy I've not met before talking away about my bike. I couldn't tell if he was talking about he liked it or what then I realized there was something wrong. I flat I say? No riding fine. Then something else so I stop... dang, there goes the front group. Come to find out it was purple gum that I rode through and it stuck to my tire then flew and stuck to the rear brake and then stretched and was all over the place back there and that included my shorts. I had a big purple Specialized "S" symbol on my shorts. Looked like someone sprayed silly string. Man, I was embarassed but climbed back on and rode. I laughed and told the guy I'll just have to keep my shirt pulled down back there.

I drafted behind a couple guys for a bit then when on around and hoped to get the second group where David and Blake were. I caught up and did fine until we split at the red light going back to the river. UGH! Now I can't be dropped by the second group too! There were 4 of us at the light and I went on ahead as we got close to the river, looked back and there was no one. I did not break off that fast at all.Well I got to the river and then everything went downhill! I wasn't a normal bonk, it was a sick feeling. I spotted the second group and tried everything to catch but never happened.

Finally got to the car and it seemed like a hundred degrees and there they were... the chills. Oh crud! I grabbed the water and drank... ugh... it's warm. I slow down and sip, then have a little FRS and switch back and forth slowly. I'm having real chills and it's tripping me. I'm wanting to pull over on the side of the road and sleep a moment. I've never done that! I run through the mental checklist. All I can hear are 3 people I trust telling me I should have an easy ride schedule this weekend. I also see myself firing back that it was only 30 miles...geesh. How much easier do I have to go? Then I start really thinking... ok you had a pain pill last night and you have 3 different antibodics going through your system. Maybe a fast 30 is a bit much. Sigh...

I get home and clean up, drink and eat a bit and flop down on the sofa and watch... bicycle racing. And what do I hear? How such and such is riding really well today even with such and such injury. Gawd, I hate young pros and their super human strength! No not really, I deeply admire them!I begin to feel much better but stay put on the sofa with my trusty dog.

It's really been a great weekend! I'll take a very very easy spin tomorrow, try and ride with the group on Tuesday, easy on Wednesday, maybe a easy spin on Thursday, nothing on Friday then go up to Altus and ride the tour of Wine Country on Saturday if I can wear my hearing aid. Terri is excited because it's a festival. She can shop... oh boy-ee! Goody! HA! I can actually do the century (100 miles) if I feel up to it. If not, maybe the metric century which is 63 miles.The training for the River 2 River ride is kicking in major league big time this month so I'll be on the bike a lot. I'm ready to return to serious training.

I read a quote from Helen Keller that goes... "Being blind seperates you from things. Being deaf seperates you from people." That is so true. I still am shocked by how isolated a deaf person must feel sometimes. It is a very very isolated feeling and it's making my training have a really special meaning. I don't want kids to go through what I'm experiencing right now. I am very blessed that my deafness is temperary... very blessed!

To donate to the River 2 River ride to help children with hearing impairments go to http://www.archildrens.org/ and click on the donate now button and note it's for the bike ride.

It's all for the kids!

Geo.

Sonic Boom, Mr. President and I rode!

2007-04-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

That title got ya didn't it? Here, I'll break it out for you...

Sonic Boom: Mary Martha who is my hearing aid and audiology guru wanted me to try what is called a "Boomer" hearing aid in my deaf ear while my other ear was healing. Said it might not work at all but then I may pick up some sound like a car or something. I stopped by and Mary was out and Patti and Nan worked on the set up. First aid was nothing so Nan went to get a kicker boomer. With the first I could feel the vibes bouncing off my ear drum and that is a sign that is loud. It really makes you dizzy. So we plug in the second on and BOOM!!!!! It was knee jerk effect. Serious. It hurt so bad that I jumped and my knee banged under the table. No sound but oh man could I feel it. I told them that was wilder than Space Mountian. Thanks but no thanks friends!

Mr. President: Ok, we have a lot of celebs that come to the hospital and most come and go and the staff, for the most part, don't even know it. Well that happened to me yesterday. Angel One (Yep, my Transport heros) went to Mexico to get a little boy that needed a heart transplant. It was all over the news the day I had surgery. So I go across the street to the main lobby to Java City and there were all these people coming towards me. I didn't really think a lot about it because sometimes we have kids with very large family support groups so it's not unusal. I walked through the doors as they were walking out, said the customary ACH Hello, how are you... and proceeded to get my order from Java. I noticed that Sonya and the others from Java kept looking over at the doors at all the people on the sidewalk and whispering. No big deal. I walk back over to my office and get my afternoon work done. Ok, so here I am sitting on a Saturday morning drinking coffee and watching a little of a local morning news show and what do I see??? A film clip from the front of the hospital and those people... Oh gosh!! Geo, note to yourself... be aware of the people in your surroundings. I walked right by President Vincent Fox and the First Lady of Mexico. I was sitting there with my mouth open in awe that I would do that. You know it's just one of those things when a "star" is in a different setting you just don't recongize them. They had come to the hospital while he was in town for a speaking engagment to visit the little Mexican boy.

I rode: Yes, I did! I rode a solo ride along the river trail on the north side a time and a half. It felt so good! Weather was back to normal and the state soccer tourney was going on so people everywhere. A lot of folks having picnics along the river banks. The ride felt good and it was nice to wake the legs up after a week and a half off. I'll be back out there tomorrow and ride a little longer and try to ride a little all week and get back in the groove.

Fun weekend so far!

The grinch who stole my fun!

2007-04-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

He looked at me with evil red eyes and took it. He did I tell ya! I just stood there wondering what on earth just happened? Am I having a nightmare? Pitch yourself. It all happened in an instant but then again it was in slow motion. I just stood then in awe. Really I did. I just stood there.

I broke the cleat on my shoe!!!! UGH!!!!!!

I looked forward to the ride since about 10:30 this morning. I thought about the ride. I planned the ride then that nasty foul breath Grinch broke my cleat and I couldn't clip into the pedal to ride.

Just as I was about to push off I saw the club ride by. Smooth as a pro team could ever be. I was behind the car off to the side parking lot about a mile or so from the start point. Just after they went by I started to clip in and noticed I couldn't clip. I tired everything and finally click and I'm in but something is really off center here. I try to unclip. Nope, not gonna happen. Try and try and try and finally pop and it's off. I mean completely off. The cleat is broken and part of it is still on the pedal. Awww man!

Back in the car I go and drive back to the house.

Ok, now the nice part of the story... as I got out of the car I could smell someone cooking out. Yes-izzz, it's us! Well, my wife. Grilled chicken is on the menu tonight and that made this ole boy feel a lot better!

Well kids, there's always tomorrow! I hear voices telling me "Ahh young grasshopper, one must learn to be flexible." I just lean back and look at the wise one and say, "Yeah, man, ain't that the truth?!"

******BONUS CLIP******* DELETED SCENE********
Here's a blurry on purpose shot of the back of my ear. Look close, the incision really goes all the way down the back of my ear. Ewwww! HA!

Thanks Dr. John Dornhoffer and Brenda Speed!

2007-04-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Released to ride again!! Yep, that’s what they told me!

I went to the ENT clinic over at UAMS where Brenda removed the packing from my post-op ear. I saw the first of it coming out and closed my eyes because it was nasty! I talked myself into releasing the tension in my shoulders and relax my hands and breathe. A few seconds later I was cheering her on saying stuff like, “Ohh, that was a big piece.” The cool thing about Dr. Dornhoffer’s clinic is you get to watch a TV monitor of what they are doing. I could see down into my ear. It’s the coolest thing! I wish I could have had a tape of it. By the way, if you want to know more about the Otolaryngology clinic over at UAMS click here…www.otolaryngology.uams.edu/otology/team.asp

The visit went super easy and fast and I was about to leave and was asked not to put my hearing aid back in for a couple of weeks. Bummer, we’re going with the 3 week plan huh? But then I was given the best news… “Geo, you can train again!” Stop, turn and look, smile really big!!! I got the thumbs up to return to training?! Yea-izzzz!!!! I felt the spring in my step return at the moment and I felt like I grew a couple of inches!

First thing I did was emailed Mark (coach) to let him know I got the “Get out of Jail free” card. He said the timing of everything is just right. Man, I was glad to hear that!

I am counting down the seconds until 5 o’clock comes around so I can bound out the back door and down the steps, jump in the car and get home. I have been mentally getting my gear together all afternoon. Don’t forget water. Don’t forget sunglasses. Grab ya a gel or two. WooHoo! Oh, air those bad boy tires up. Oh man, you still haven’t put the computer on your new bike. Yeah, I know. It does me good sometimes to just ride. That’s the plan today anyway, just get out and enjoy a ride.

Oh yeah baby… life to goooood!

To donate to the River 2 River ride for children with hearing impairments, log on to www.archildrens.org

Chipping away

2007-04-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

Chipping away is what I’m doing today. That last blog entry must have been more out of character than I thought because I’ve gotten a ton of emails from friends, family and training buds. I didn’t mean to come across as negative Joe but the world of no noise is one that you have to get used to. I seemed to hit the bottom yesterday and when I went home I was completely exhausted. Serious, it took everything I had to get through the day. But I did it didn’t I?!

This morning I attended my first staff meeting and even though I didn’t get all of the discussion it was good to be in there and follow what I could. By the end of the meeting I knew what the new policies and procedures where going to be. I did it all without sound.

I’m counting down the moments until I get to get this packing stuff taken out of my ear! I keep thinking I am hearing certain sounds and getting excited! On of the things that is unusual is the consistent hum. It sounds like an air conditioner running all the time. It’s not loud at all.

Also I hope to get my bike release on Thursday! I almost feel like a little kid…. Please please, I’ll never ask for anything else again as long as I live. HA! I know I’ll have to take it easy and do recovery type rides but still just to be able to get out there and ride will do me wonders!

You know that new bike I bought? Well I’ve had plenty of well meaning friends offer to ride it while I’m off. HA! You have to understand my buds. If I were to crash they would ask if the bike was ok?! Ya gotta love ‘em.

Did I tell you about the banana pudding? Oh man! Talk about timing! Sunday night I was surprised with a bowl of banana pudding from Janice and Terry Williams. My teeth were hurting from the swallowing and it just plain was a pest to eat but this was soft and sugary goodness! If you go to the Symphony Designer House this year and see the name Terry Williams… yep, he is guy I’m talking about. He is also the guy that got me into this home remodeling project. Awesome designer and he and Janice are the nicest folks in the world. I ALWAYS laugh when I’m around them. Thanks guys!

All for the kids!
Geo

To donate to the River 2 River ride go to www.archildrens.org and click on donate!

In the land of silence.

2007-04-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

In the land of silence.

In the land of silence where I live today is a very different place then I knew last week. I see things but there is no soundtrack to go along with the visual. This is very strange.

I know so many times we take our hearing for granted. Never again will I do this. This is just a short list of things I didn’t hear this morning:
1) I didn’t hear our dog wanting back in after I let her out.
2) I didn’t hear if I shut the door too loud.
3) I didn’t hear if I was banging the dishes in the kitchen.
4) I didn’t hear if the TV was turned up when I flipped it on.
5) I didn’t hear Emily tell me by this morning
6) Nor did I hear my wife tell me by either. (Both were in the form of a hug).
7) I didn’t hear the cars around us as we drove to work (Terri drove).
8) I didn’t hear the car door close
9) I didn’t hear my keys as I unlocked my office
10) I didn’t hear anyone say good morning
11) I didn’t hear people walking by my office door
12) I didn’t hear my phone
13) I didn’t hear my printer
14) I don’t hear the tapping of the keys on my keyboard
15) I don’t hear the people talking in the hall even though I see them
16) I didn’t hear any cars as I walked to the lobby of the hospital
17) I didn’t hear the greeters telling me good morning
18) I didn’t hear the waterfall in the lobby
19) I didn’t hear the “phish” of steam that the espresso machine makes at Java City
20) I didn’t hear Sonya joke about my order
21) I didn’t hear coworkers ask me how the surgery went while waiting for my coffee.
22) I didn’t hear the fire truck coming
23) I didn’t hear the music playing

… and it’s only 8:30 in the morning…. What will the next 3 weeks be like?

Yes, being deaf will make me a better man… much better!

All systems go!

2007-04-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's the latest fashion statement...
sport supporter cup for the ear!

(It's actually the protector for the packing in my ear)

Got to the hospital at 6 and was in preop by 6:10. That was fast! Got to wear the paper gown and everything.

High points of the day.
Preop nurse was Sheila, super nice lady.
Versed (pronounced vers-said). It's the shot in the IV that makes you not care.
Judy, the OR nurse.
John, my doc
Brenda, doc's nurse (the boss)

The recovery staff that thought I lost my mind! Keep reading!

When I came out of the land of ZZZ's the recovery nurse was standing there rubbing my arm and talking nice to me. I had a bet with some friends that I'd act a fool if I could remember so I did! I looked up at her, put my hands on my chest and asked her if my breast implants took alright?! She looked at me then busted out laughing and the nurse helping the person in the recovery bed next to mine busted out laughing too then she told a whole desk of staff and they were all laughing! Jason owes me lunch! They knew I was joking but I was hoping to brighten their day a little. I heard it was a very busy surgery schedule.

I came home and slept a while then got up and watched Ray on FX. Ok, here's a funny story for you. Here I am watching a movie about a blind guy and I'm deaf. Ain't that a real Helen Keller combo for ya?! By the way, the movie is awesome!

My parents came by for a few minutes with my sister. Man, dad looked great! He has lost a lot of weight since he is eating right again.

It's killing me that the weather has returned to beautiful Arkansas spring time and the club is out riding right now and I can't. All in good time!

Ok, on being deaf: friends, this is not fun already. I figured out that I can read some peoples lips real easy and others hardly at all. My dad is one of those I could read very well. He doesn't move his mouth much when he talks so he would say something and then I'd look at Terri and she'd repeat it and most of the time I knew what she was saying. I think by the end of this 3 weeks I will really have a feeling towards deaf people. In all honest, I thnk this is going to make me a better person.

I watched Wheel of Fortune tonight and there was an Energizer commercial and it was for hearing aid batteries! Thanks Energizer you're a great sponsor!

Heading in...

2007-04-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

Heading to the hospital this morning for outpatient surgery (canalplasty). Should be home around noon. I start my 3 week recovery period of being a complete deaf person. I'll log back in as soon as I can...

All for the kids!
Geo.

Tuesday's quick hit

2007-04-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

I got a ride in after work yesterday for about 1.15 hours. You wopuld have thought it was Sunday afternoon out there. People running and biking in groves! There were several times I had to slow to crawling before going around families but hey, glad to do it. The bike paths along the river are for everyone!

The club cranks out a training ride this evening if the weather stays good. Big chance of thundershowers but they are saying after 11pm.

I'll update more after the ride tonight.

Sunday 04.16.07

2007-04-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

Fun ride today! Took the new bike out from the house, rode down to the river and around the trail. Tons of folks out! After the freezing Easter weekend then rain and cold yesterday I think everyone was ready to get out for some fun. After riding a loop and a half I wanted to try a new group ride that was meeting at 2 over at the soccer fields. It was actually a training ride for CARTI Tour de Rock this June. I rode up and I knew one person out of about 35 riders. It was GREAT! I had a lot of fun meeting a lot of the new riders. We had 2 groups, one that would average 16-18mph and another that would average 12-14mph. Yes, I went with the first.

Super tailwind on the way out to the farmlands made for a super easy ride. We got out to the regroup area and didn't really have to wait to long for the others. Took a break then the whole group headed back together.

The organizers were smart and got us over into the forest roads so we had some wind blockage. Man, once we came out of the forest it was hard (22mph) wind straight on. The girl in front of me hit a pot hole and her water bottle went flying. I dropped out of the line to return to get it but another rider in the next group got it so then I had to sprint to get back to the lead group. Giddy up pony! Myself and the rider that had picked up the bottle took turns pulling into the wind until we made the first group and then hid inside the peleton to recover. We were laughing and having a great time.

We finally got to our turn off road and the group was able to recover a tad then over the first set of railroad tracks and back to the road that would get us back to North Little Rock. The front took off and I chased a bit then another guy went to the front to pull and I planned to move up but the line closed so I headed straight to the front to pull into the head winds. I haven't moved my computer to the new bike so I had no idea how fast I was going. I kept my head down and pulled as hard as I could pointing out potholes, glass and sticks along the way. I could feel myself tiring a bit and was ready to pull out of the line and I looked back expecting to see a wheel on my tail but n-o-t-h-i-n-g. There was no one behind me. I felt really bad to have jumped like that but I really didn't know how fast I was going. I heard later that the group was going 20-21 mph. I slowed to go over "the" railroad tracks.

Sidebar: "The" railroad tracks as you enter into North Little Rock from the southeast side are still a fear of mine, even after 2 years. On Sunday a group of friends and I were returning for a great ride and we rolled over those tracks at a screaming 23mph and my wheel dropped down and flipped me and a rider behind me. Cracked helmet, beat up bike and blood. Sara’s bike was gone, as in nowhere to be found. It flipped off down into a deep ditch while she went over me. To this day, I have no idea how we kept from breaking bones. I still fear the tracks.

The front group got back together at the light and we headed back to the trail (it’s really a paved bike path about the width of a street). The soccer fields were a welcomed sight and as we rolled into the parking everyone was once again smiling and laughing. After talking a bit and meeting more of the group I started my ride to the house into the wind. I locked out about mid way and got to have tailwind just in time. This ole boy was getting tired! I had one big hill to climb and it was on a road with a lot of traffic. There was a guy in a motorized wheelchair going up the hill (no sidewalks) and had traffic really backed up about ½ mile. Man, I felt sorry for him but no one honked and were very courteous.

I finally rolled into the driveway and unclipped from the pedals and smiled! What a great day to be out! New friends, a fun ride… just doesn’t get much better!

Going out for surgery is going to be a bummer because next weekend is calling for sunny skies and temps in the upper 70’s to low 80. I’ll be sleeping off anesthesia on the deck at the house.

All for the kids!
Geo.

Saturday 04.14.07

2007-04-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Rainy and quite Saturday morning. Perfect for a little rest after spinning at 16-18mph through the whole movie I rented, School of Scrondrels. Funny movie!

Plan today is hope for a break in the afternoon and get a couple of outside hours of riding in. If not, I might have to find another movie and ride through.

Ironman AZ is going on today in AZ. Several men and women who I read their blogs are a part of it. Swim 2.6 miles, bike 122 miles and run 26.2 miles. Love love watching it on webcast!

We got the bunny!!!!

2007-04-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

We have a great new sponsor! Energizer has come on for the River 2 River ride!! This is such an honor to have them. Everyone knows the bunny!!

Yep, big chance of rain starting any moment now. Once again I'm facing a rainy Saturday. Not exactly the best training weather. And yep, once again, Sunday will be nice meaning early services then hit the bike for the afternoon until sundown. I really want a 100 miles on Sunday. I really NEED a 100 miles.

I have decided to move the spin bike into the den and if I am going to watch any TV then I have to do it spinning. That will start tonight. Emmy is going to be out with her boyfriend, Tyler will be working, and Terri will be at the Women of Faith conference at Alltel. Do you know what that means??? It's gonna be a Blue Coast Burrito night with a basket of fish tacos, Baja Tea and a movie that is NOT a romantic comedy! I'll beat my chest and be all manly! HA!

I did ride last night. It was a fun club ride mostly spent in a pack with Brandon, Bill, Dan and myself. I got to the top of Ft Roots and then something happened that totally deflated me.... I shifted to a baby gear accidentally and threw the chain and couldn't unclip for the pedal fast enough. Yep, I fell over. I haven't done that in years and I was so embarrassed! I took the hit with my elbow and knee so I wouldn't scar my new bike. The gearing on this bike is a little different from my old one so I'm still getting used to it at times. I still love the thing! Sooo smooth!

Have a great weekend!
Geo.

We went national!

2007-04-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Audiology Online published a bit about the River 2 River ride! What a rush!

Fr-Fr-Freezing cold training

2007-04-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

Almost every blog and journal I read today during lunch was slamming the weekend weather. There are several journals I’m reading by cyclist riding the Southern Tier route from CA to Savannah, GA. Yep, they are mostly in TX right now and talking about the cold and wind. I feel sorry for them but it’s about to warm back up!

As for myself, yep, I was cranky too. I did ride both Saturday and Sunday afternoons but didn’t get anywhere near the time in the saddle I should have. I actually had on full winter riding gear on Saturday and pushed slowly through the wind. Of course I got to loop around and had fantastic tailwind too.

Sunday, I went to Easter services then to spend time with the family then out to ride. I kept holding out wishing for warmer temps but didn’t seem to get there. I told myself it was a little warmer and took the sleeves off the jacket and wore regular half fingered gloves. Nope… I rode a couple of miles, signed and returned to the car. Too cold for this gear. I put the sleeves back on, put full fingered gloves on, skull cap and shoe covers. Uh-uh… yep, full winter riding gear for day #2.

I was leaving the river, which I shamefully drove to, and spotted a couple of my club and one was on the side of the rode. I circled back to be sure they were fine and it was Jenny and Patrick. Screaming fast club riders. Everything was fine and we chatted a moment and they asked when do they get to see the new bike? Like a rock star getting out of the back of a limo, I rolled down the back window for them to look in. OHHHH… AHHHHH… sweet! Made me feel good to get thumbs up from them! Patrick is like racing god. They asked if I had been riding and fessed up to “yep, if you want to call it that”. I told them I rode but I was just not there today mentally. The cold just defeated me.

Since the after work temp should be maybe 60, I plan to ride the neighborhood. Plenty of hills to work on.

On another note… have you guys seen Discovery Channels Planet Earth? Man, what video! I’m hooked!

By the way, I'm over my 1,000 mile mark for training!

Warm veni latte’s to everyone!
Geo.

Sick

2007-04-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

No, not sick like as in "cool" but sick as in sick. I was feeling bad yesterday as the afternoon wore on the worse I felt. I kept thinking a short ride around the hood would do me good but I didn't even want to to that. Terri saw me in jeans and looked at me like I was from outer space.
"You're not going to ride?!"
"No, I just don't feel good."
"You must feel bad then."

Yep, I could feel the disappointment of the new kid out in the garage wanting to go play.Bummer to have a new bike and not feel like riding. A r.e.a.l bummer!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a long training riding ... and ... tomorrow is only supposed to be 53 degrees ... and ... it's the last chance for a long ride before Thursday surgery. Guess I'll bungle up , stop whinning and go ride and ride and ride and ride!! HA!

It's Friday!

All for the kids!
Geo.

Here's the NEW BIKE!!!

2007-04-05T00:27:00.000-07:00

It's a fine ride and waiting for me to get off from work so we can go play! Makes me work that much hard so time will go by fast!

Lunch is over... time to knock out those reports.

It's a boy!!!

2007-04-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

It's a boy!!!
Delivered at 3:13pm
56mm
Wrapped in white bar tape with the Specialized Gerlosteiner seal
Both dad and bike are resting comfortably
Photo's to come
Delivery Arkansas Cycle and Fitness
Assisting in delivery were Joe, Eric, Robb and Richard

"Governor Beebe's Office is on the line."

2007-04-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

"Geo?"
"Yes ma'am?"
"Governor Beebe's Office is on the line."
(Laughing)"You're messed up!"
"Geo?"
"Yes?"
"I'm uh really serious, they are on the line."
(I'm thinking of picking up the line and saying "Yo baby!" but ditch the idea at the final second....)
"Hello, this is George"
"Mr. Cobb?"
"Yes"
"The is Governor Beebe's office..."

She goes on to tell me that I have been asked to serve on the Governor's Advisory Board for Newborn Hearing & Screening.

I forget to breath...

The phone call ends and I'm sitting in my office in shock. Did this really just happen?
Stop what you're doing and live the moment I tell myself. I can't relive the moment because it was surreal and I don't remember it.

Life these days is just magical! It is a true honor to be asked something that I feel so strongly about.

It's all for the kids!
Geo.

Testing... testing...

2007-04-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

I'm going to take this beauty out for a test ride

on the Tuesday night club ride.

Yep, she's out in the garage right now!

2007-04-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Oh before I start... there is NO new bike! I thought it would be an early April Fools joke but no one reads the comments posted so it was a bust. I will have a bike out testing it Tuesday night on the club ride.

The rains ended Saturday afternoon so I got a nice 32 miles in but the rain brought out every bug in Arkansas to the river. I could not ride hard at all because the minute you open your mouth you'd get some tasty all natural protein. There were times when I would go through swarms of bugs.

Ok, yes I rode all day (well, after early services) and I ended with 106 miles at 15.3 average. I felt really good the whole day until the very end and I took a big drink of some left over sports drink that was hot in one of my water bottles and about 15 minutes later my tummy went south. I forgot about hot sports drinks. Ugh!I ran into Rebecca Irons out early and rode with her a little. Chris was with the team in NW Ark for the race. Fast Girls, Slow Guys did well it sounds like with fast girl Jo doing some smoking in the Ozarks! Way to go Jo baby! Wooooo! Brian was in the big crash but is fine. Bruised up a bit as is Loren (?) Jenny's daughter. Way to rock the race FGSG team!

Oops, got off subject... so I rode with half a dozen different folks today. It was really good to get out and see if the legs could handle the 100. They did great but the tummy incident really ticked me off as I was going to ride 4 more hours to sunset.My first very brief stop was at the offices of Safe Foods (http://www.safefoods.net/). It's the offices where my coach works. When you go to the website and the different screen change then when you see the smiling guy with the suit that has the title of Legal Guru then that's my coach. Don't let the smile fool you because if you have him for a coach he can "motivate" the snot out of you. Ok, honestly, he is an awesome coach!

My second stop of the day was while I was riding solo early and stopped at the state capitol. I never get close up to the place even though I drive in front of it every morning. I took a close look at the front of the capitol which is really a work of art then I rode over to the side and stopped at an memorial that I really wasn't expecting to have an effect on me but came very close to bringing tears to my eyes. The Little Rock Nine. This is a memorial to the first nine black students that went to Central High in 1957. It was a ... well, there really aren't words to describe it. It was a lesson, turning point, blessing, and hell all at the same time. Each of the nine have a plate with a quote. As I read the one from Ernest Green I stopped and looked beyond the trees to see the children's hospital. At that very moment it became very clear why I will ride for those kids. The quote is, "We wanted to widen the options for ourselves and more for our children." I want the kids to have a better shot at hearing technology as a child then I did. I want them to hear and to succeed. Ernest Green, thank you!

Later I caught up with some others and rode out the rest of the day with them until the end when I dropped off after spotting my niece Shannon on her way to a soccer game. This was a guy out enjoying the river and super spring afternoon.

All in all it has been a great weekend!
Geo.

Ok, Plan "B"

2007-03-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's a Plan "B" day...

After a fitful nights sleep, which I always do if I have an early ride time schduled, I woke at 5:15 and got ready to ride. The deck out the back door was damp but no rain! I ate a quick breakfast and flipped on Weather Channel. Yep, rain is heading this way but maybe we'll get a few minutes of riding in today.

I grab my gear bag and head out into the garage, open the door and here it comes... rain. Big sigh of disappointment then turn around and head back into the house, flip the coffee maker on and stand there and stare at it.

I return to my stack of donor letters and it's a growing stack to say the least. I plan on making an impact for these kids I'll be riding for. If I can help make the life of a hearing impaired kid a little better and help him/her to succeed in life then I'm happy. To change it for many? Well, honestly that would be like winning the lottery, I can't comprehend it! It's too good! But it does happen to people! We all dream!

Ok, true confessions... actually two. First, the story about the new bike was an early April Fool's joke but not many folks read the comments attached to the daily entry's so it was a bust. I really do love that bike and am actually taking it out for a test on Tuesday night for the club ride.

Confession #2: Yes, I'm becoming very nervous about going for 3 weeks without a hearing aid and basically being completely without hearing. It's just outpatient surgery but the ear has to heal. Dr. Dornhoffer, you is a hero to me and many others, said no bike for 1 week but no hearing aid for 3!! No music or laughter is just something that spooks me to no end. Serious, can you imagine not hearing anything? Stop for a moment and list all the things you can hear at this very moment. Now take them ALL away. Nope, you can't even hear the tapping of the keyboard, no music, no family voices, no friends voices not even the lawn mower if you were standing right beside it. Spooky huh? That my friends is EXACTLY why I am riding for these kids!

Plan "B" calls for riding in the beautiful forecasted sunny and 80 degrees tomorrow! I can't wait!

All for the kids!
Geo

Weekend!

2007-03-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ok lunch is almost over so I have to write fast! Here are the weekend training plans.
Saturday morning:
6:30 start time from hut at the bottom of the Big Dam Bridge (yes, that's really what it's called)
We'll ride until the start of the diabetes charity ride, Tour de Cure

We'll ride the century at a social pace (about 15mph) due to the long day in the saddle. When we finish we'll stay down on the river and continue riding until every falls over.

Ok, Plan "B" -- There is a 70% chance of rain tomorrow (Saturday).
Move long rides to Sunday, start around 10:30 (after early service), ride until the sun goes does around 7:30.

Goal: Must have 100 miles in at least one day this weekend.

Oh goodness, what have I done?

2007-03-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

I bought this jewel and she's fast and I'm in soooo much trouble! My wife is out of town on business and I haven't mentioned it to her yet. I was supposed to buy a new lawn mower but I bought a bike instead. Oh friends... someone let me stash this Specialized beauty in your garage until I figure out what to do!

Rained out ...

2007-03-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

There are rivers of yellow flowing down the roads! The rain finally came and started washing the pollen off of everything. It's been a mess! Everyone has yellow cars.

Since we are having rain I took it as a cue to work some more on the donor letters. It's actually fun to do but really time consuming so I get up a lot earlier so I can work on them before the sun raises and then I can spend after work on the bike and with family. I don't see how these men and women that train for the Ironman races do it. I have one bud that gets up at 4am to swim.
Everything is really come together for a great ride event. I got an email from Unitron, the maker of my hearing aid, and they will be a part of the event and gave me news that made me jump and yell! Serious! They made a donation. It's a major one! More details later... yep, it's like getting that little bit of frosting off the spoon and wondering how great the dessert will be when it's all finished! To Sue, Brian and all the wonderful staff at Unitron, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have changed so many lives with your products. I still remember the day I stepped out of my car that afternoon I got my Unitron and I heard the dry leaves rolling across the parking lot.... magic doesn't even capture it! Hearing things I've not heard since I was a kid. It was a then and there moment that you just never forget! Thank you!

Audiology Online has also jumped on with a great donation and a story that will be worth gold! Paul and Joanne are the best in helping me tell the story in hopes that folks want let a hearing impairment stop them from what they love to do.

Tomorrow will find me back out on the bike and training on the hills. This is one of the little hills out the back side of my neighborhood. It's a nice hill that makes me think of new words as I climb it. I took this photo about midway down. What you can't see is that after what looks like the bottom of the hill, well, it goes on and on and on. It's great for training and car are used to seeing cyclist back there some they're good. I've only had one crazy car in all the years I've been training on this.

I saw the forecast for Saturday and we are supposed to ride in the morning, then ride to the Diabetes ride called Tour de Cure and ride their century then ride more after the ride. On the saddle for at least 8 hours Saturday is the plan. Keep your fingers crossed the weather plays fair! I'll go nuts if I have to cancel a whole training day.

I have this weekend and next then I have my canal plasity (sp?) and have to stay off the bike for a week and no hearing aid allowed for up to 3. Man, it's going to be an experience when I enter 3 weeks of no sound. In all honesty, I think it will make me a better man. It will make me understand what a deaf person goes through. It will make me train that much harder to ride that much better for the kids.

Remember... it's ALL for the kids!
Geo.

Sunday's ride

2007-03-26T04:36:00.001-07:00

Today took me from the house through North Little Rock and to the river up to the Heights and then over to Downtown to met my wife. Great afternoon of riding. Finally got to catch up with my friend Jason who is stationed at the Jacksonville Air Force Base. Yep he has been over in the "sandbox" (Iraq) and got home a couple of weeks ago. He had some great stories!

Stats:
Miles -- 42
Average: 15.23 (We climbed a lot! They don't call it the Heights for nothing!)
Total miles 2007: 910
I'll see my first 1,000 miles this week!

All for the kids!
Geo.

Saturday 03.24.07

2007-03-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

What a day I tell ya'll! It was great right from the start. Beautiful morning with spring time temps and light wind. I was just about to head out and Emmy and Terri got up so I stuck around to greet the morning with them. I rolled out about 8:30 and headed down North Hills to the river. I was feeling great this morning! Full of energy and had a big smile on my face ... well til the bugs started hitting my teeth! HA! Nothing like a little protein huh?!

When I got down to the river I remembered that last week I noticed the new baseball stadium had it's gates open for the workers to come and go. I decided I would take a chance and sure enough the gates were open and I rode my bike right through the gates and into the stadium. What a beautiful place! I can't wait to go to a game there!

Just after I left the baseball stadium I rode right by the Hilton and there were two tour buses there. I had forgotten that Evanescence (sp?) is in town. Actually they are back "Home" tonight. They are from Little Rock! The buses were all roped off and it was funny because one of the buses also had a black hummer sitting in the roped off section as well. I suspected that the leader singer Amy Lee went home to crash. Alltel Arena is non stop shows and concerts this spring. The Who was here a couple of nights ago and I heard it was great. Rod Stewart is coming, Evanescence is tonight. Cirque is coming in late May. There are several others I'm sure.

While I was riding by the Hilton another rider rode up beside me and lo and behold it was Rick Beall! He is one of the guys that got me back on the bike several years ago. We had a great ride and rode together until we got to the boat ramp and dropped off for the Trek bikes demo days. They were really ready and would be there until 4 so I left and got more miles in. I came back a while later and spoke with the demo guy and got to take a sick Trek Pilot 5.0 out for a while! I'm in love! The bike I have is actually too big but I've been happy with it for over 3 year now. Well, I finally rode one that was my size for the first time and it was candy! It was smooth, quick to change to giddy up, just pure love! If I can get a good trade in I might do it. Richard, the owner of the bike shop, found out today that his shop sold me the bike and said he was sorry several times. I told him it was cool and that I have been happy with it for 3 years now. I really am. Yep, that's the Pilot over in the photo. He also suggested an different Specialized so I'll probably go at least look. Maybe since I have them as a sponsor then I can get are really go deal. If anyone wants a bike, go see Robb or Richard at Arkansas Bike and Fitness and tell them I sent you!

Stats: 46 miles
Average speed: 16.2
Did not count miles on the Pilot demo.
Year to date miles: 868.10

Thursday 03.22.07

2007-03-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Great training ride tonight. Everyone was in the zone and playing hard. When I got to where I normally park my car it was close to 6 already so I expected to see them coming through within seconds but no club. I rode toward the starting point and I could see them up on the hill in the parking lot about to start. They would be coming my way so i started down the route. Just as I got to Ft Roots they fast guys caught me. I rode the rest of the ride in the mid group.

Awesome afternoon and evening to be out. We had to stay away from Alltel since The Who was in town.

I'm ready for the weekend!
Geo.

Wednesday 03.21.07

2007-03-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

No riding today. It was clean up the bike and give the legs a rest day.

I'll be out Thursday night training and then carbing up on Friday night for a long ride on Saturday. Weather for the weekend looks like epic riding conditions!

Next Saturday is my first century (100 mile ride) for the season. It's a fundraiser for diabetes. Tour de Cure in Little Rock.

I'm hearing that donations are coming in now!! Foundation will be sending me a report soon and names and company logos will begin to appear on the site!

If you are a donor, I thank you very much for your support!

All for the kids!

Geo.

2007-03-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Kelly (Phonak), Patti (Director of ACH Audiology/Speech), Me, Nanette (UAMS), and Mary Martha (ACH -- my Audio guru)

Wow! What an awesome day yesterday was! I had so much to get done but somehow it all feel in place.I met with Phonak rep Kelly in our Audiology Center here at the hospital and we discussed all sorts of things to do during the ride in June. Kelly wired me for FM and it was mind blowing to say the least! Kids these days have such an advantage when it comes to hearing impairments. Kelly had me put on this necklace and then she had a control that looked like a remote. She was able to pick up my hearing aid signal (that was mind blowing enough!) and then she started talking and I sat there with my mouth opened in awe! Serious! Everyone in the room was laughing. Hear speech was actually IN my hearing aid. Then she got up and walked down the hall a long ways and I could here every word she said and very loud. What this was, was the FM device that they now use in the school system to help kids with hearing problems. There were all sorts of ways to configure the system. I could even answer the cell phone by a touch of the button and not even pulling the cell phone out and the voice was inside my hearing aid. Thanks PHONAK!

I met up with the club and we rode out to Ft Roots for climbing and socializing. After we all flew down the hill we rode the road a little bit then turned around to head back to Burn’s Park. I was riding along with David M and his son Blake (up and coming bike star!). We rode up Ft Roots again instead of chasing the crew to Burn’s. On the way up it was great to listen to David coaching his son. David has been around the cycling world for a long time and is know as a strong rider. He is also married to Lori who works here at the hospital as a Telecommunications Director. While going up the hill the second time Blake told me this was his first time to climb Ft Roots. Wha?!! The kid is a turning into a strong riding machine! I think his is 13. I remember last year when he came out with us and he did great then for a young rider but now he is really zoning in on his skills. When you hear the name Blake Mc talked about on the Jr circuit, you remember where you heard it first!

The rest of the ride was good and I met up with the guys over in Burn’s for the tail end of the ride and social jabbering in the parking lot afterwards.

All in all it was just a great day!
Geo.

Stats: Milage -- 25.3
Average speed: 14.9 (due to climbing)
Miles year to date: 798

Presenting the River 2 River jersey

2007-03-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 03.13.07

2007-03-13T19:17:00.001-07:00

It happened tonight! The "family" was all back together and what a fun time it was! The 6pm start time at Cook's and as I rolled into the parking lot I'm greeted long before I ever roll to a stop. Sort of like the beginning of the tv show "Cheers". It's just a warm fuzzy feeling when you have a bike group like the one I ride with. Ok, it was warm fuzzy until after a couple miles then it was "eat my shorts!". The kids are soooo fast this year. I remember when I first started riding with them and we rode along about 18mph. I think the 18mph was within the first couple of pedal strokes tonight. But it was all good! No wrecks, no pukes... just a good time had by all.

When we started it was like a rolling dust storm heading across the desert! Folks could see it long before it hit and when it hit, you knew it. There was a running club that had just finished as we started and they all sort of stood there with their mouths open in awe. Or maybe they were gasping for air. Then there were families walking along that stopped just to watch us roll by. Several smiled and waved. I always wished we had water bottles to toss over to kids. Hey, they don't know we don't ride "that ride over in France".

Spotted several Carve out training and one of the Competitive Cyclist guys rode with us tonight.

Yale took a bunch of photos so as soon as he post them I'll beg to snag a few and post here so you can see just how big the ride was.

Later y'all!

Saturday 03.10.07

2007-03-10T13:44:00.000-08:00

It's here and I'm so happy! I woke this morning to see sunshine and blue skies after a rainy evening last night. The streets were already drying and the temp was comfortable. It was setting up to be an epic day!

I had a light breakfast of just a couple of cinna-sticks and a cup of coffee and then was in the planning mode. I knew I was going to ride a lot today and wanted to get it started. Loaded up and headed to the river. The plan was to ride laps around the river as well as some side trips. I pulled in to teh parking lot and Fonda, Mitch and another guy had just come in from a ride out to Scott (farmland). We spoke for a little bit and they headed home while I started getting my stuff ready to ride. Then the big "Ot-o"!! Ok they must have slid under the seat... nope. Big sigh... no shoes! I always check before leaving the house but somehow missed putting my shoes back in the bag after my last ride. Back to the house, got shoes, back to the river... 40 minutes blown.

Finally got going and it's getting foggier and foggier. It's getting cooler too. The more I rode toward the dam the darker and colder it was getting. Everyone coming my way had jackets and tights on. I have on shorts and a short sleeve jersey. No way, I turn around and start riding back toward the car and will ride toward Scott (farmlands). I ride to England!

It's one the the best rides! Very light breeze if any. No traffic for most of the ride. The fields are being turned for planting and several have dark green grass growing. Not sure if it's a cover crop or for hay. It's really a mental lift to see the field all green.

I ride back to the parking lot and still feel good so I ride around the river trail. Lots of bikes out and everyone seems to be smiling and happy winter is over!

I met up with Paul Creel over at Cook's. For those of you who pray, please pray for Paul's dad. He's been in the hospital for a month and has heart problems. Paul was finally getting to get out and ride a bit today and was waiting on some friends to show up.

I pedaled on but after stopping and talking to my body got out of sync. I wasn't tired until then. I guess when I stopped I must have cooled down. I was still moving at 17 but I was feeling the love now. Bummer. I rode back to the car and called it for the day.

I was surprised to see my readings: 78.1 miles with a 16.6 average. Not bad at all for my first good long ride of the spring!

Since tomorrow is the beginning of daylight savings (excuse me a moment I must do a little jig!) and it's basically Christmas to me, I'll ride a recovery ride tomorrow of about 30-40 miles then maybe start riding home from the hospital. There are lots of options!

I started putting the donor letters together last night after Terri and I got back from eating out. I have 500 return envelopes. I have no telling how many companies with owner names in the cities along the route. I will hit them first since we'll be riding right through their towns. there are several cities that I can't go after such as Russellville, Conway, Clarksville since they already have ACH Circle of Friends chapters there rasing money for the hospital. The rest is fair game!

I sent a letter to FRS yesterday and got a response back from a staff member and the letter was heading over to sponsorship dept! I'm hoping since the ride is extreme distance they will jump on board! And yes I used their products today. Between that and the weather, I think that's why it was an epic riding day!

Enjoy the weekend!
Geo.

2007-03-06T18:30:00.000-08:00

What a great afternoon to ride after work!! Got to ride from a few minutes after 5 until about 6:45!

Tuesday 03.06.07

2007-03-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in posting but it's been very busy!!

We had about a thousand kids running in the Little Rockers Marathon! Lots of fun and the hospital is a major sponsor. We chalked up the streets all around the hospital with messages to the kid runners.

In a few minutes I'll head out from the office on my bike and ride until the sun goes down. Should get close to 30-35 miles in.

Coach Rogers has really turned up the heat on my riding. Long saddle time.

Daylight savings starts next week so I'll be able to train a LOT after work and outside now! i LOVE daylight savings!.

Chris Irons, on of the River 2 River riders raced his bike on Saturday and threw down a sick 1/2 marathon on Sunday. Crazy man!

The jersey is going into the coloring stages so we'll see a color version of the front before long! Yes!!

Thanks for reading!
Geo.

Tuesday 02.27.07

2007-02-27T18:43:00.000-08:00

WooHoo... It was a rocket boy ride home. A little longer than I expected but still a lot of fun. I left the office at 5:15 and rolled in at 6:28. I didn't realize it was that much longer. I even rode about 200 yards on a really busy road but (Thank you Lord) there were on about 5 cars that passed and all were nice. No horn honking and this 200 yards is all up hill. there are a couple of parking lots so I'm able to pull over and let folks by. I had my reflective road worker vest over my backpack and had my rear flasher light blinking so I was visible. This will certainly be a training habit. Next Sunday when the time changes it will be so much better.

Ok, I admit, I'm an FRS snob now. I LOVE this stuff! I drank it about 30 minutes before riding and I was pushing 18 solo into the wind and wasn't tired. How sick is that?!

Hey the Little Rock marathon is this weekend! I love watching these guys run! The hospital is a major sponsor of the Little Rockers. Cool deal where the kids have run 25 miles over the past months and they run their last mile on a course that starts right by the LR Marathon but runs from the state capitol over around our hospital and back for one mile. I was asked again to ride in front of the group. Big honor! We have a lot of fun! We also have a lot of folks from the hospital that run the marathon! Go guys go!!!

Life is good!

Tuesday 02.27.07

2007-02-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, some folks talk about the beach being paradise but we’ve got it here in Little Rock! Another beautiful spring day!

The bike in down in the employee kitchen and I’m riding the baby home! I’m almost giddy with excitement! I'm going to zip over to the capitol then down the river trail, over the BDB and through the back of the neighborhood into Sherwood.

Sorry for the short entry but lunch is about over.

Sunday 02.25.07

2007-02-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those perfect days! I went to church, went to my parents and had momma’s cooking and even got home in time for a good 3 hour ride! I rode later than usual for a Sunday afternoon and saw a lot of folks I’ve never seen before. Also saw a bi-zillion families on the BDB enjoying the afternoon. As I was coming back over the BDB I noticed a large group of folks had completely blocked the bridge and then I saw a bike laying down. Oh man, first thought was that a bike and a person had collided. There was a lady sitting down leaned against the rails and I made my way through the crowd and asked if everyone was ok? I know, dumb question. I thought if it was a biker, I meant know them. I didn’t but a man asked if I had some sugar. Seems she was a diabetic. She got a couple of espresso gels. Oh yeah, I bet she was rocking about 30 minutes later. She seemed to be ok and I headed on with my ride. The whole ride was solo but that was good since it was for training. I didn’t need to draft. I needed to have the wind try and push me back (headwind) and that it did. Then it times it pushed me forward (tailwind) to the point of wanting to yell out, “I’m rocket boy! Weeeee!” HA! Some days are just like that.

Looks to be a good week ahead and I have my fingers crossed that I’ll ride the bike home from the hospital tomorrow. Mrs. Geo has a reception after hours so I can either bum a ride or I can bring my bike to work and ride it home. It would be my first ride home since the BDB opened. I’ll only have a short section of road (Camp Robinson) where there will be traffic and traffic there will be! But from here I can ride all the way to the BDB and then some on the NLR side before I ever have to get on the road. My thinking is that by the time I get on the busy roads it will be about 5:30 or a tad later and most will have already gone through. Weather is light breeze, sunny and lower 60’s. Does that not sound like the perfect commute home weather?!

Stormy Saturday

2007-02-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

Woke extra early just in case I could get a ride in before the forecasted storms came. At 5:30am I opened the back door to see that the rain had already started but it wasn't raining at the moment. Considered grabbing the bike and getting out there even if it was just a little. Coach Mark has me on a 6 hour ride plan today. Oh man, six hours on a trainer in the house? Don't think so. I plan to flip my days and do the 3 hours on the trainer and the 6 hours after church tomorrow.

It was a great work week at the hospital but I'm glad it's the weekend!

02.20.07 Happy Fat Tuesday!

2007-02-20T17:08:00.001-08:00

It's Mardi Gras day! Fat Tuesday! The kids were having a ACH Mardi Gras parade today and even threw beads at us! What a hoot! I'm proud of how the staff get together to make hospital stays as fun as they can be.

Even though I'm not Catholic, one of my coworkers that used to work across the hall from me taught me a lot about lent. I think it's a good think to give up something for 40 days. So until Easter I vow to give up something that will be very hard. My coworker said that it is to be a personal thing and not something you broadcast.

I took yesterday off the bike as a recovery day from Sunday's ride. My quads were shot after that ride.

I got home from the hospital and jumped on the bike for a fast and hard ride through the neighborhood. Coach told me to work on speed and less hills but I have nothing but hills around here and I wanted to get some time in before the sun went down. I pushed as hard as I could and got home to find an average of 18.2mph!! WooHoo!

Great ride today! Warm temps and longer daylight! Yep, it's all good!

Almost a week since? Had no idea!

2007-02-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a week since I blogged? Guess I was busier than I thought... or lazy.

I got to ride with the club today! The riding was good! I saw and spoke to a lot of guys I haven't caught up with in a while.What's in store for this week? Like I said, warmer temps and longer daylight. We do have a storm day about mid week I think with winds of 20-35 mph. Afterwards I think that's when life as we know and love it returns. I'm turning off my hospital card privledge at Java City so the sole purpose of getting out of the latte habit. I love the stuff but added up my habit and the calories attached. Thanks but that will help the tummy to go away faster! By the way, the jersey I had on was a small today. No kidding. I very relaxed fit small.

Funny article in the paper today. The LR Marathon is coming in a few weeks and the hospital is a major sponsor of the Little Rockers. It's where the kids run 25 miles over the course of months and then run their last mile at the marathon on a different course. It's huge! I mean a bi-zillion kids. Anyway they asked me last year if I'd ride in front of the runners and I did and it was fun and those kids can run a lot faster than I had given them credit for! So I'm reading the artilce and it says that I'm going to be riding as the lead out for the kids. Cool. then it says and he will be wearing a bunny suit?!!!?? WHA???!!!!!! A bunny suit? Buh ha ha ha ha!!! Oh, this is going to be a hoot! I'll do it since it's for the hospital and for fun but how did I ever agree to a bunny suit? Excuse me, I probably need to turn up my hearing aid! HA!

Y'all have a great day! Lots of folks off for President' Day tomorrow.

02.14.07

2007-02-14T13:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay in blogging this week. We've had raining, windy, and now cold weather so no one could really do anything but spin inside. I have the next few days off (Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun) so I should be able to get in some good rides plus my wife and daughter will be out of town. that equals no schedules!

I met with the director of Audiology, Patti, my Audio hero, Mary Martha, Ginger from PR and Alyssa from Foundation to talk with the Unitron Rep, Sue. Super nice lady. Everyone was excited about the possibility of having Untiron play a role in the ride. We have our fingers crossed!

Mary Martha gave me some very cool swag yesterday! Check this out! They are sweat bands for my hearing aid! The really cool deal is that they are open in the back so I can wear my IPOD tunes while riding/working out and sweating. I'm ready to do a hard spin and see how well they would. I like the name of the product. EAR GEAR. Thought you guys would like the photos. The one of the back of my head is just so you could see me "plugged" to tunes with the sweatband cover on it. Hey they had some wild colors!

We are continuing to work with Jon on the jersey design and it looks so awesome!

The donor letter and the corporate donor sponsorship letter is getting close to finished and they'll be going out soon.

We got word the ENTERPRISE RENTAL is hooking us up with 2 cargo vans for the ride. Thanks Enterprise for helping us. We'll use one in the front of the team and one in the back especially during the after hours riding across the farmlands.

There is a lot of excitement building with this ride and much earlier than my last one.

I'm ready for daylight savings to return so I can ride after work. Remember all those days of riding the 30 to 40 miles every afternoon? Ahh yes, it will be here in a few short weeks.

02.08.07

2007-02-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

I'm on top of the world! I met with the PR group at the hospital and they are excited and full of ideas for the River 2 River ride. The room was crowded around the big conference table and everyone was in the mood. The ride is going to be so awesome and as we get more stuff wrapped up I'll tell you the details. One of the really really cool things is that it will be live streaming video. You'll be able to watch it as it happens! Technology is so awesome! There will also be a lot to do with hearing impaired children and I'll be including them as much as I can!Coach has me on the recovery this weekend. A 3 hour ride is it. Next weekend it doubles. The training is really about to up the bar. I'm having the time of my life these days!!Geo out....