I Want To Ride My Bicycle...

I want to ride my bike.  I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like...

These are lyrics from Queen's 'Bicycle Race.'  Actually, there are a couple of reasons why I selected this song to go along with this entry.  First, I really do want to ride my bicycle again.  It has been about four years since the last time I even tried to ride it.  Balance has been a major issue for me, and I just haven't felt comfortable enough to even get on to a bike.  Well, that and the fact that my really nice Trek bicycle was stolen several years ago and the bike that I replaced it with just isn't all that great...  Second, VidaCell and GreatLife International has sponsored a cycling team that has been doing wonderfully in their races.  I wanted to share a recent article about their success here.

For my part, I am really hoping to get back on my bike soon.  I have been walking a lot more and feel considerably stronger than I have in a long time.  Balance is still a bit shaky, but if I don't challenge myself I will never improve.  I need to clean up and adjust the bike a bit before I can use it, though.  Hopefully I can work on it and get a ride or two in before the end of summer.

Here is the article about VidaCell's bicycle team:

Team VIDACELL Zacatecas racks up multiple wins! 

Mazatlán, Sinaloa - June 4, 2010 - Team VIDACELL Zacatecas made its cycling debut last year with The Solidarity Road Circuit and have since racked up multiple wins in over a dozen road races throughout Mexico. The team’s initial successes won them an invitation to participate in the “Santa Rita 2010” held in Mazatlan, Sinaloa this past week. This $150,000 purse “Tour de France” style race is considered to be the most difficult and challenging cycling event in the country and covers over 250 miles in 3 days of competition.  What makes this new winning team so unique? These athletes are well into their 50’s and competing against 35 year olds...and WINNING! All nine members of VIDACELL Zacatecas team will quickly tell you the “secret” to their success. It’s a strict regimen of training, diet and, most importantly, VIDACELL! The fast muscle recovery and extra endurance from VIDACELL provides them more time on the training track to improve their performance.  In all of their events, the VIDACELL Zacatecas team has had significant wins on the “pedals” of Ricardo Reyes Gómez in the Elite category, Domingo “Asphalt Wolf” González and German Noé Camacho, the second current national champion in the Masters division, and the Mexican Cycling legend Hilarión Sánchez.  And the Santa Rita 2010 race? The photo in the upper left (of the composite photo) says it all as Miguel Ángel Barcelo triumphantly celebrates his first place win for the Master Category. Other team members placing high in the ranks were Hilarión Sánchez who won first place in the Master Estrella category, Juan José Andrade, José Garza López, Domingo González, Rafael Soto, José Ángel Meléndez, and Noe Germán Camacho. Congratulations to all of these athletes on Team VIDACELL Zacatecas!

Well, my own bicycling may have to wait a bit longer.  Our new obsession is to go letterboxing.  About a month ago, our local library held their regular Green Children event.  This is group meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month.  I wrote a quick article about Green Children a couple of years ago. Anyway, at this particular meeting, we were introduced to letterboxing.  We had previously heard about it but had never had a proper introduction. For this event, there were three letterboxes placed around the library with individual sets of clues as to their locations.  Prior to going on our hunt for the boxes, we were treated to an explanation of letterboxing, provided with our own, personal log books, and given the opportunity to create our own, unique letterbox stamps.  We were then released onto the library grounds with clues in hand to seek out the letterboxes.  Inside a letterbox, you will find a log book and a stamp.  Additionally, you may find an ink pad but this is not always present.  The idea is to use the stamp that you find in the box to stamp your personal log book and use your stamp to record your visit to that box in the box's log book.  Well, we had a blast doing these introductory hunts so we have continued with this activity.  Since the event, we have gone on three letterboxing hikes - our most recent one was today.  Well, during the hike today, I stepped on a rock incorrectly and turned my ankle.  It is not a serious injury, but as I have been able to take weight off of my foot and relax a bit, I can feel things tense up.  Walking on it has become somewhat painful, so I am going to need to let that injury recover before trying anything that might aggravate it.

If you are interested in exploring letterboxing for yourself, I encourage you to visit letterboxing.org to learn more about it.  If you like orienteering, you will likely love letterboxing.