Goodbye my friend

I received a phone call at 12:08 pm today from Mike Both telling me that my friend Theron Nestripke had passed away this morning. I couldn't believe it then, and I still can't believe it. I was able to spend a few hours with Theron on Thursday night, and we had a nice visit. I feel like I did right by him. I was able to talk to several people that I had neglected for too long. Theron was one of my closest friends, and he had a great heart. He poured his heart in to the training classes at ETFC and he genuinely cared about people. We had so many good times pranking people on the night shift. We even held a few friendly sparing matches in the late hours when the calls died down. Theron struggled with pain issues for the 11 years that I knew him, and AJ pointed out that he isn't in pain anymore. I know he is in a better place, but my heart aches for his wife and kids. His three kids are the ages of my three oldest, so it's hitting home for me. It helped to talk to Mike, Patricia, Melissa and others. Mike and I went for a 90 minute bike ride to be away from things and talk about Theron. We did the same thing when I was laid off last year. I've had this Alter Bridge song going through my head all day, and it seems to fit. I don't want to be haunted by the ghosts of days gone by. I need to make a greater effort to stay connected to my family and close friends.

Pony Express Days Century Ride

Yesterday I did the Pony Express Days century ride, which was actually 105 miles. We started at the Stake Center near Silver Lake, which is closer to home than the starting spot last year. With a 146 riders it was hard to find people I knew at the beginning. I ended up riding with Nate McArthur to Elberta, and we averaged about 17-18 MPH through the first two sections. I felt really good on the nine mile climb from Elberta to Eureka. I made it in 54 minutes, but this section seemed much faster than last year. After a ham sandwich, two cookies and Cheetos we headed down the hill. Nate had to take a pit stop, so he told me to go ahead. This was the section that started my misery last year. The wind was so bad I was only able to average about 13 MPH for the last 60 miles. This time I was closer to averaging 27 MPH to the next Aid Station. I even hit 34 MPH. It felt great to hit and hold such a high speed. Section five was almost as good as section four. Nate had to take another pit stop so I sped off for the next Aid Station so I could get out of my saddle. I averaged about 25 MPH on that stretch and it felt good to fly like the wind. I took a few extra minutes at the last Aid Station because I needed a break from my bike seat. Nate took off and I didn't see him again for 10-15 miles. This was the hardest section because my energy level was up and down, and the wind became a factor. We pulled in to Cedar Pass Ranch and had a few quick hills before we dropped on to Pony Express Parkway for the sprint to the finish line. It felt good to have energy to sprint the last mile or so.

My riding time was 6:24:03. My elpased time was 7:45:55. My average speed was 16.1 MPH, with my maximum speed at 34.7 MPH. My average cadence was 86, with a maximum cadence of 126. I discovered that my optimum cadence is 88-92 RPMs. Based on my average cadence and time in the saddle I pedaled my bike approximately 33,000 times.

My legs feel great today. I'm a little sore when I stretch my quads, but I'm ready to ride again tomorrow. I felt so much better mentally and physically than I did last year. I was slower on the first two sections, but much faster on the fourth and fifth sections, and considerably faster on the last section. The course was a little bit different than last year and I liked it better. I hope to be able to do this ride every year.

This Is The Place

I got to go on a field trip with my daughter to This Is The Place monument. I've been in Utah for a long time but never visited the monument. I actually thought that it was just a monument, not a replica of a pioneer town. It was a cool place to visit, and it was nice to spend time with my daughter. This is a picture of Heber C. Kimball's home.This is the blacksmith making the steel part of flint and steel. I wish I could work steel like that.A list of the hancart companies. I can't imagine doing what they did. I think things will come full circle soon, so it may be easy to understand before too long.

Thanksgiving Point

Today my son had a field trip to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. I really used to hate Thanksgiving Point. It made me mad that they pitched it as giving back to the community while everything was outrageously expensive. The gardens were really cool though. There were thousands of flowers like these.
The man-made waterfalls.

The Italian Garden. It reminded me of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, even though the design was different.

The passage to Secret Garden.

It was nice to have a few hours to wander through the different gardens and see the color and variety of the flowers. It was a peaceful and relaxing experience today.

Teams I hate

In honoring the the sweep of the Dallas Mavericks over the Los Angeles Lakers today, I wanted to list the sports teams that I hate the most. The Lakers are at the top of the list. I hate everything about the Lakers. The players are rapists and thugs. The flagrant fouls in the fourth quarter tonight show their lack of sportsmanship and character. So here's my list-

Los Angeles Lakers

Chicago Bulls

New York Yankees

Dallas Cowboys

New England Patriots

University of Utah Utes

Florida State Seminoles

USC Trojans

ESEE 4

Last night I was researching knife prices for a friend when I decided to look at ESEE, formerly known as RAT knives. I found a dealer in Lehi so I paid them a visit today. A friend gave me an older RAT 5, but the previous owner used a grinder to remove the powder coating. Why? Anyway, I had seen the RAT 3/ESEE 3 at a gun show but it seemed a little small. The ESEE 4 felt like a great all around camping/utility/survival knife so I settled on this over other knives. The warranty is fantastic, and Randall's Adventure & Training is known for their survival skills and reliance on their knives. RAT used to contract with Ontario Knife Company to manufacture the RAT designs, but Ontario had poor quality control which led to their business divorce. RAT changed their name to ESEE and has better control over the manufacturing process. It was a struggle to decide between the desert colored knife and the orange handled knife. I decided on the orange so it would be easy to recognize in the outdoors if I misplaced it. I'm excited to use this knife on our camping trip next month.

Finally!

SEAL Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden last night in a joint mission with the CIA. Almost 10 years after the September 11th attacks, he is finally finished. Thankfully the SEALs were allowed to do what they specialize in and train for. They are the baddest fighting machines on the planet. Thank you to all of you that serve in any branch of the military. I appreciate your sacrifice and dedication. You are not forgotten.

Immortality

This is one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs. Verona was in my mission boundaries, and though I never got to visit the city, the feelings are the same. I look at the images of the rain and I can feel what it was like to be there. I love this song.

Twenty years ago

This is my favorite Kenny Rogers song, and it's perfect for today. I have written in my journal everyday for the last 20 years. I wrote 5-6 times per week for the eight months prior, and a few times in high school. I really started to write in the MTC when I started my mission. When I was in Lucca, my first city, I met JD Smith. He used to draw things and put things in his journal, which seemed like a good idea. I included post cards from every city, some bus and train tickets and other souvenirs. I wanted to be able to see what things were like in Italy during that time period. One day I was riding my bike when I heard a loud noise and something hit me in the chest. Two cars traveling in opposite directions were too close and their sideview mirrors hit, sending glass in my direction. I saved the piece of glass and cut the bottom edges out of my journal so I could include the glass and still close my journal. I was in Belluno when I finally got sick of writing about what I did the previous day and decided to commit to writing every day. And here we are. This picture is of my bookcase containing my journals.

I have heard a lot of people tell me that they don't have anything interesting to write, but I don't believe them. My entries aren't always exciting, but that's because I lead a real live. I would love to travel the world and save the day like Jason Bourne or James Bond, but unfortunately I am neither of those people. I wake up tired, sometimes I shave my head, I drive a car with over 100,000 miles, I try to exercise everyday, I love dessert and junkfood, and I hate the cold weather in Utah. My life isn't that exciting, but I know it's important to record what I do, think and feel. I want my posterity, especially my kids, to know the smart, stupid and funny things I've done. I want them to celebrate my triumphs and mourn my failures. I want them to know that it's okay to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them and repent when necessary.

This Kenny Rogers song is also important to me because I am at the point in my life when I am looking back 20 years ago and remembering how things used to be.

If you don't keep a journal, I encourage you to start. I promise you will not regret it. For those of you who have done it for 15 years, I welcome you to the circle of trust. You know who you are.

Blog changes

I just changed the layout of my blog. I liked the Travel template, but I felt like it was too difficult to read the blog with the transparent background. And I just got back from Fruita, so I needed to add a mountain biking touch to help speed along the good weather. It's time to get out and ride!

Fruita wrap up

We woke up to rain yesterday morning. We tried to wait it out but it got worse. It was still a fantastic road trip. Great trails, no mechanical problems and no accidents.Agent Peck returning his rental bike.
Our hotel. Thanks Mike Both's dad.

Fruita links

Click here to see a link to Tim's Garmin GPS recording for our ride yesterday.

Click here to see a link for our ride today.

Fruita part 2

Agent Peck joined us late last night so he could ride with us today and tomorrow. We dropped on to Mary's Loop, then went counter-clockwise on Steve's Loop. We got back on Mary's Loop and rode out to Horse Thief Bench. That was an awesome section. We went back on Mary's Loop and did Steve's Loop clockwise. I felt sick at the beginning of the ride because I ate and drank too much, but I felt great for most of the ride. We put down 18 miles today. This picture is the Colorado River from Steve's Loop.

This is Tim and Mike overlooking the Colorado River on Horse Thief Bench.

This is me and Agent Peck on Horse Thief Bench.

This was taken on Steve's Loop overlooking the lower section of the same trail.

This is Mike Both's bike in the shower of the hotel.

Fruita

Mike Both, Tim Shaw and I came down to Fruita, Colorado this morning. It is so beautiful here. We rode up Prime Rib, down Joe's Ridge, then cut up Kessel. We rode down Prime Rib, up the road and down Kessel. After a 10 minute break we braved the heavy winds to go down Zippity Do Dah. We were losing daylight so we came down Kessel again.

This picture is Tim and Mike as we were climbing Prime Rib.

Me on Joe's Ridge.

Mike and me on Joe's Ridge.

View 4.21.11 Thursday Fruita in a larger map

The right friends at the right time

Our washing machine broke the night before we went to Boise. This morning I took it apart to see if there were any broken parts or obvious reasons for the break, but I couldn't see anything. Travis Laursen let me borrow his truck to pick up a washing machine we found in Provo on Freecycle. I made a call to have someone help me unload the machine, but that person couldn't do it. My second daughter suggested I call Jason Haskell. After we unloaded the truck he said he might know what the problem is, so we took it apart. We had to move the motor to find the broken part, which Jason happened to have at his house. We replaced the broken part and hooked it back up, and it seems to be working fine now. A simple fix could have been missed if I hadn't have listened to my daughter.

Gossling Rescue

Erick and I were driving down a busy street today when Erick spotted a small gossling near the side of the road. We turned around to help the little guy. I caught the gossling and we walked to the canal looking for the parents. Thankfully we found them and returned the lost soul to his family. As we walked back toward the car we heard more sounds, so we investigated. We found another gossling so we caught that one. We thought we heard more noise, so Erick investigated while I returned this one to the fold. The noise came from a rundown shack, but we couldn't find anymore gossling. Erick lifted me up to the top of the shack, and we found two more gossling and two eggs. We returned the third and fourth gossling to the canal where Erick almost engaged in an epic battle with the mother goose. Maybe she shouldn't have left them at the shack. In any case, we were able to save the chicks and return them to their family, so it was a successful endeavor.

How to avoid paying taxes

This was posted on MSN tonight. Very insightful. http://money.msn.com/taxes/latest.aspx?post=26d490bd-7317-4f93-8b43-e1da1151ea5f&GT1=33005

New choke hold

I just invented a new choke hold based on the popular guillotine choke. I came up with the idea yesterday when I was thinking about the Bushi-Ban choking set. It's a set with nine chokes that ends with variations of the guillotine. I think this will be a nasty choke that will put someone down with the quickness. I can't wait to try it with full force on someone. Any volunteers?

General Conference

Today ended the 181st Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The talks seemed to be as timely as ever. Welfare seemed to be a common theme, with this month being the 75th anniversary of the creation of what we now call Church Welfare. Many things that were said seemed to resonant with my life and challenges over the last year. I think I am still learning the what and why, but I definitely feel like I have more compassion for people and the challenges they face. I know there must be something more to learn here, but I have definitely relied more on my God in the last year than in years passed. I know he has given me the capacity to overcome all things if I will continue to make the effort to improve myself. Over the years I have come to understand many principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but the one thing I have always known is that God lives and he loves me. I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not know this. There have been many times that I have not understood why certain things were happening to me, but I have never doubted God's existence. I cannot doubt out. I remember being a small child and knowing this fact. Regardless of what others say and do, I know He lives. I know he gave us families to help us grow and become more like him. I know families can be sealed in his Temples and be together forever based on obedience and repentance. I know that God celebrates our triumphs and shares in our disappointments. He loves us so much that he gave us agency. He also gave us his Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered so we can repent when we make mistakes, and be forgiven of our sins. He loves us no matter what choices we make, and he waits for us to choose to follow Him. I know this is true.

QR barcode

This is the QR barcode I just created. You can scan it with your smart phone to link to my blog. It's awesome.