Annual Omro Cycling Classic

Well, just finished my first race. I wasn't going to do any races, but thought it would be a good learning experience being a 45 mile race of mixed skill level. To my benefit it was shortened to 35 miles due to construction. I was still feeling the 52 miles I biked on Friday. So my goal was to finish and not to come in last! I made both, although I was hoping for better than 93rd out of 101! I started out a little fast and pooped myself out on the first hill a few miles in. Took me a while to recover from that and then went at my own pace and still felt like I finished strong. I ended up improving my average mph to 17.9 mph and learned a lot. On top of that, it was a beautiful day and a beautiful route, so it was a great ride! Helped get my weekend total mileage up over 85 miles too!! Another new personal record. In all actuality I have had less than 1/2 dozen 20+ mile rides on the road bike or any road bike for that matter so I feel pretty good, aside from exhausted. Unfortunately I have no pix as Maddox was to tired and fussy for that stuff. I guess the 9:45pm start for fireworks last night was as ridiculous as I had been ranting about. All in all it was a great ride and a great day. I hope next year if I do it again, I can ride my bike to Omro and then do the race!! To big of a goal??


Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

Maddox Sportin' Proper Attire

Just a pic of Maddox at the 1st annual Irish Fest in Oshkosh. This was taken after my 5k warm for the Bellin. Note Maddox rocking a cycling hat and his own kilt!!


Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

Back to the Original Game Plan

Ok, back to the original gameplan. I started riding the road bike again last weekend and am planning on 30+ miler a week and getting on the fixed gear at least 2 or 3 times a week. Last weekend I road to Neenah from Oshkosh and back. That was a 32.1 mile ride and nice. I realized by mile 28 that I could actually stop peddling! The fixed gear paid itself off already, as I felt strong at the end of the ride felt good about my time too! I remember the last time I just went for a 20 mile ride, I was hurting pretty bad! Saw a massive turtle on this ride too. I've never seen a turtle this big around this neck of the woods before. The thing was the size of a basketball trying to cross the hwy! I gotta remember to take some pictures of this stuff!!

Well, today I decided and surprisingly got approval to take the day off at the last minute so I decided to go for a slightly bigger ride. I went to Appleton and back from Oshkosh. This was 51.2 miles and I also scored my first sunburn in a few years!! Not too bad though. I would have had a nice time as I felt pretty good throughout this whole ride if I hadn't stopped to help some kid with a duck crisis in Appleton on Memorial drive. 3 ducklings fell in a sewer and this kid was stopping traffic trying to get the ducks to the river. So I stopped to help, we ended up getting the police involved, got the ducks out of the sewer, caught the Mom and the other ducklings and the cops took them down to the river. I guess the break wasn't so bad and I did a good deed! Finished the rest of the ride strong and with more confidence for the next rides I'm planning!!

I'm thinking about doing the Omro Cycling Classic this Sunday. It is a 42 mile race. I wasn't so much into the race thing, but think it will be good practice and fun. Most importantly I feel confident I can finish it and avoid last place!! So that is looking like a possiblity. I also mapped out a ride to work in Green Bay. Some morning I'll have to leave a few hours earlier but can now ride to work someday. Most importantly I think I have secured a shower to use near work too!! Probably a pretty good idea, I'm guessing Corporate America wouldn't want you working in spandex!!! Hopefully I'll get a little more dedicated with this thing and offer up something for everybody to follow along too!
Cheers


Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

7/3/09 - Fixies, Car Wrecks & the Bellin

Hmmm, where to start, there has been a lot going on and I've been slacking on this blog big time!! Well, until recently I've been slacking on the road bike due to some running. I signed up for the Bellin Run in Green Bay which is a 10k. I did the 1st annual Oshkosh Irish Fest 5k for preparation also. That was very fun but definitely cut into my biking.

I have however been riding the fixed gear religiously. At least 2 of the 3 nights a week I have class I ride from work to class and back. It is 8.6 miles there and 9.3 miles back. So it is just long enough to beat me up and just short enough for me to push it the whole time!! I have realized how much this helps on the road bike now too! As getting on that was very easy and I forgot until after 28 miles that I could actually stop peddling when I was tired! Lolz!

I did have 1 scare on the fixxie though. I was coming back from class on Military Ave in Green Bay and 1/2 a block in front of me this lady skips through the red light in an SUV and clips the tail end of some little Honda, the SUV flips over and slides all over the road right in front of me upside down. I raced up and somebody else had called 911 by the time I got my phone out of my bag. The driver was scared to move but was talking when they got her out of the truck. Fortunately the other girl was not hurt but pretty shook up. 1/2 a block up and I would have been 1 with the pavement, little surreal!!



Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

Uno Mas Fuji Pic

Here is one more as I realized those last pics posted were a bit small, hopefully you can see the new beast a little closer!





Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

First Pix of my new Fixed Gear Beauty!

Alright, I've been stuck home with a sick little boy all week but I managed to get this and start the transformation a little bit! Here's a few pix, 1st 2 are how she looked coming home from the store and the last one is after the 1st step in transformation! I'm thinking Sugino Messenger Crankset, blue of course, and possible a black and blue Fizik Arione seat as the red looks sweet on the road bike! I'll post up some more picks after a little more work is done! I'll also make some new posts after I can finally return to work and ride this thing to class after work! Fixed Gear is a whole new world, even just riding circles around my living room and kitchen!! Maddox loves that though!! Thanks as always for checking this out!!











Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

A Couple of Pix for You

Here you have it a couple of pix of a few of the bikes! I will add some of the new Fuji Track as soon as it comes in, hopefully this weekend! That will be the new commuter from work to school and back to the car at work again on school nights. Should make for a fun extra 20 miles a pop with a few bonus hills in between!



This is the bike that I will ride in the LiveStrong Challenge this October in Austin. Not top of the line, but my baby none the less!




This is the Shorty Toten' Cruiser!




This is Maddox's 1st 'Big Boy Bike'!! He'll tell you it's a motorcycle though!




Look how proud my boy is of his 1st Battle Scar!! 20 seconds of fussin' then he told me we should go, I asked if he wanted to ride his bike and he said Yeah! Yet another proud moment for Dads!




Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

Yet Another Training Obsticle, at least I'm not the slacker!

Yet another training obstacle, at least I cannot be called a slacker....(and my 1st real post!!!)

So, I've been sick again, road on the trainer for an hour this past Saturday and felt like I was slacking, just didn't have any juice. Got done and looked at my results from my heart rate monitor and I busted my ass for about nothing. Can't figure that one out! Then I started feeling like I had my life force drained from me! For real! I swear I don't let myself play video games outside of any 2 week break I have between quarters from school, same type of deal as the 'don't date a roommate' kind of rule, just bad results! As a co-worker says, "Don't dance with the borg!"

So the following days are spent in in bed with a 103 degree fever. Literally not leaving my cave for 24 hour increments! Can't even count how many sweatshirts I sweated through!

Right when I start feeling better my throat continues to kill and I still cannot eat or swollow even though I finally have my appetite back after 3 or so days! So I go to the doctor rather back to work in case it may be strep and I need antibiotics and had an interesting experience, got the antibiotics and the ok to go to work tomorrow. Just in time for a beautiful weekend and, hope, hope, (fingers crossed) some biking this weekend! After I make up my midterm that I was supposed to take on Monday anyway!!

The intersting hospital experience was just a really thorough run through, that interestingly enough started out with a little kid in the next room going into respitory arrest and doctors running into my room to grab my doctor who asked for my permission to go, which was odd, but polite! I was like, get your superman outfit and get the heck out of hear, I'm already missing work and I'll wait!
So after that I got thrown on an IV for fluids, blood drawn, carted off for xrays and was left to watch fixie vidz from Tokyo on youtube on my phone. God bless smartphones! Found out strep test was negative, blood was great and xrays didn't show anything abnormal! He gave me antibiotics for strep to be on the safe side because I have had this and got a bad fever from it for so many days. Hopefully it is taken care of now and things are on the up and up!
Oh and for the record after about 10 minutes of my Dr being dragged out of my room, I could hear him talking to the kid, so that must have been all good! No screaming parents either, another good sign! But the Dr came back in while he was still in mid-sigh! Guess I'll have to remember that next time I have a stressful day at the office!

And for the record, I plan on post some pics up on here shortly!! Hopefully everybody feels better than I have this week!


Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.


https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

Test Post

This is a test post, please hang in there with me as we get this ball rollin'!! And tell all of your friends and family about this blog and my fund raising efforts.

Please click on any LiveStrong Banner on this page or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible. Every dollar counts! ;D Thank you for your support.

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027

My Story

Unite with me in the fight against cancer and support my fund raising efforts

Hello, if you are reading this you know a little bit about what I am doing already. Here is a little bit about why I am doing it. Some of you already know my father passed away February 15, 2008, less than a month before my sons 2nd birthday. We found out my father had Brain and Lung cancer about 3 weeks prior. This is my main motivation in registering to do this year’s Live Strong Challenge. It is a 90 mile bike ride coming up this October in Austin, Texas put on by The Lance Armstrong Foundation. The main purpose of this is to raise money to help fight cancer.

I feel there are a lot of things I had not been able to do for and with my father. One was to buy him a boat. I guess this is a way for me to try and get my father his boat. Instead of the boat I think it is suiting for me to put this effort towards those who have had to, are, and will have to fight cancer. There are many children and adults alike who could have a better chance at surviving their fight, or even extending their time here with their loved ones. Precious time I wish my son had more of to be able to remember how much his Grandfather loved him.

I am not just doing this for my father, but for his twin brother who died from cancer earlier, and for my grandparents. I am also doing this for anybody diagnosed with cancer and any family member or friend of anybody diagnosed with cancer. Knowing that there are very few out there who have not been affected by cancer I hope that I may have your support, thoughts and prayers. And I ask that you make a donation to help this cause. I know times are rough, but every penny helps, whether $1, $100, or $1,000.

Regardless if you can or cannot donate please tell all of your friends and family about what I am trying to do and ask them if they can help also. I am fortunate for the many friends and family I have and thank you all for everything you have done for me.

~Shawn Wilkinson

Please click on the LiveStrong Banner to the right or on the following link to be directed to my fund raising page. Donations go directly to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and are tax deductible.

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=294758&supId=241018027